Alchibah - Day 885.
Les Reye looked at the colonists, all those seated and standing, waiting to hear his presentation. It was cold and dark in the thirty by forty five foot cavern; not enough power for heat unless a lot of insulation went up on the walls, they didn’t have it and they hadn’t strung all the lighting as of yet. The meeting was restricted to adult citizens only, no children would be eyewitness to this little bit of history. Not really enough room even for the eighty adults. And he was missing his gavel. He saw when Bart and Janie arrived and stood in one of the two entrances and figured he had best get the show on the road.

He raised his voice to cut through the din. “Quiet everyone! Quiet! I call this Council session to order.” The babble subsided and he began. “Everyone with a com unit should have read the download we sent out earlier today already. I am not going to repeat anything we said there but I will answer questions at the end. Remember much as we would like to answer everyone there are many things that we just don’t know and others that we will not comment about.”

“What do you mean you won’t comment about,” Lars Neilson called from the rear, “We’re all citizens here and have a right to know what’s going on just as much as you or anyone in the military does.” There were murmurs of support from a half a dozen others scattered throughout the room.

“Please, no interruptions, but I will answer that point. It is possible that our enemies have means of finding out what we say. This will come as a surprise to most of you, and I apologize for holding it from the colony, but we have known for some time the Guardians had the ability to watch and overhear pretty much whatever they wanted to. The Rogons may be able to do the same thing.”

“More than a few of you have asked if there might be spies in our midst. All I can say to that is it is a possibility we cannot afford to ignore.” Les paused a moment and watched as most of the people in the room started turning their heads and looking at their neighbors. “If the evidence is strong enough we will not hesitate to arrest and restrain anyone we suspect. So I don’t want any of you getting an idea and taking things into your own hands.”

Les paused again to let that sink in. He wasn’t going to say in the open about there being strong suspicion and circumstantial evidence pointing straight at Burt Buchanan and that they had decided instead to watch him closely, hoping he might do something that would let slip some information that could help the colony’s defense. Buchanan sitting up front looked fidgety and nervous but not all that much different from a lot of the other folks here.

“To all of you who have lost family I give my heartfelt condolences but this is not the time for a memorial service and I must move to other things. The only monument we can raise to those that have lost their lives is to make sure that Liberty City survives. This must be our only focus. And yes, we may fail. But we are sure to fail if we let anything get in the way of working towards that end.”

“We are working on a number of things now. Some I can talk about and some I can’t or will not. There is one thing though, that is so pivotal, I must tell you all about it and bring it to a vote.” Les paused again, marshaling his thoughts before continuing.

“Every one of you should know that the Guardians have warned us about interfering with the Soessossins. We have tried repeatedly to get in touch with the Guardians and all of our efforts have been met with silence. For some reason they have left Jedediah Dobswell and his band of Leviticans alone, and have no doubt…They are interfering in a big way.”

“When Dobswell left we had a choice about whether to leave him be or bring him back. For better or worse we left him alone, but using our orbital cameras kept an eye on him and waited for the Guardians to handle the problem. No such luck. Now there are Rogons and Goonies down there with him and it looks like some kind of a battle is shaping up. Our choice is to try to help him or to stand aside and watch him and the Llamas with him and on his side die. Because with the kind of power the Rogons command, and we’ve seen first hand what it can do, he has no chance at all.”

“Let him fry!” came a voice from the back.

“No interruptions!” Reye said. And before anyone else had a chance to jump in Les spoke again, “That’s a damn popular sentiment and not one I am sure I disagree with. But… Any of the Rogons and UN forces he can tie up are that many fewer that we have to deal with. And with that in mind the military people have stated that we need to do what we can to help that misguided band of religious fanatics in any manner we are able. So…what does that mean?”

“It means we send them weapons, rifles and ammunition, grenades. At the Stuarts and here in the caves we have far more of that kind of thing than we can use and with our numbers. And with our low numbers it‘s mostly too low tech to bother the Rogons and Goonies that we face. But on the southern continent, it looks like the Llamas siding with Dobswell vastly outnumber the Rogons, Goonies, and Llamas on the other side.”

“Of course when we judge the military quality of spears against energy beams we find they don‘t count for much. Rifles and explosives just might. And I recall hearing once that an old time military man, maybe Napoleon, said ‘Quantity has its own kind of Quality.’ We run a risk here in that the Rogons detect us making delivery or that the Guardians see that kind of aid as the last straw. And except working on our defenses here, at least on the planet, there is not much else we can do right now.”

“I will answer questions on this point, nothing else, and then we vote. When that is out of the way I will open the floor to general questions. So…Anyone have something to say about aiding the Leviticans.”

It was almost like she was primed and ready. Michelle Seaworth jumped to her feet and in a voice tinged with palpable fear, said, “You can’t do that. We need everything we have to protect us here and my daughter isn’t going to risk her life again by driving the cargo bus anywhere.”

“Mother, be quiet!” Laura Seaworth’s soprano, icy cold compared to her mother’s tone came through sharp and clear. “I will speak for myself thank you!”

Les spoke rapidly, not giving time for an argument amongst family members to break out, “Mrs. Seaworth, we have made no decision about how we move the weapons and certainly none considering who does the job. Your daughter is a full citizen and you fail to honor her or the memory of your husband when you speak for her in this fashion. If that sounds hard then so be it. We know where you stand so please be seated and let someone else take the floor. And try to think about what is at stake.”

Les Reye was almost thankful, no that wasn’t strictly speaking the truth, he was relieved, or maybe just reacting to previous training when Mrs. Seaworth made the comments that set the rest in motion. He watched without alarm as she slowly deflated, just to sink silently back into her seat. And he was more than grateful Laura had cut her off in mid stride. Just maybe he could make sure that the debate was based on the merits of the plan and leave out the emotions. Les had pretty much used all of his emotional reserve up by now. He hoped that those emotion were buried and couldn’t somehow recharge on their own. He needed time to face them. It was like pulling teeth but finally had convinced his wife Judith to say nothing and support the council’s position.

And then came a torrent of questions.
“Who will you send?”
“I can’t say.”
“When will you send them?”
“I can’t answer that either.”
“How do you know they even want our help?”
“No comment.”

Frank Turner spoke, “If any of us has another plan I think he or she should say what it is now or else we just get on with the vote.”

“Thank you Frank. Can we do just that?”

Burt Buchanan had been biding his time and figured now was the moment. “Mr. Reye, I would call you Mr. Council President but you are shredding the constitution to such an extent that I cannot bring myself to refer to you by that name, under what used to be the constitution, what gives you the right to withhold information from us in a public session? How can we be expected to vote on such an all-important matter without all the facts? What you are really saying is ‘Trust me, do what I say is best,’ and that kind of attitude and behavior is what we all left Earth to avoid.”

“I for one will vote no on any proposal when the details are kept by a cabal of the anointed, be it the Leviticans, or you and your precious Council. And every one should take a good look around and see how well things have worked out so far following your lead. Yes, I call for a vote too, and I say, protect Liberty City and to hell with the Leviticans.”

Reye ignored Buchanan and addressed the room as a whole, “Well there it is. Tie ourselves up in knots and wait for the Constitution to come to our rescue. Back on Earth there were a lot of people who said that the U.S. Constitution held our guiding principals and was not a suicide pact. And that was true until it wasn’t. That Constitution got stretched and nicked, and then chipped away until it meant whatever those in power wanted it to mean. And for all I know it’s still there getting reinterpreted back on Earth even as the Rogons run everything instead of the UNWG.”

“I won’t lie to you. I won’t say that withholding information is justified by our Constitution, but I will say that I will not stand idly by again and watch our Constitution, the one we worked so hard for, replicate the one we had on Earth and become another suicide pact. Mr. Buchanan, in so many words, is accusing me of turning into a tyrant.”

“Taking any kind of chance, doing anything that might possibly weaken Liberty City in order to help the Leviticans and Soessossins wasn’t my idea, but I have come to support what we propose now, and so does every other member of the council. You can see, we are all here, none are drugged or being held in a cell somewhere waiting for our marching orders. So let us get on with it.”

“Do I hear a second for Mr. Buchanan’s motion for a vote?”

It was a lot closer than any of us thought it would be, but the vote came home. We were going to the aid Jedediah Dobswell. The rest of the session seemed anticlimactic and I was more than happy to have the other Council members do most of the talking.

The Caves: Alchibah - Day 885

Janie Bartlett sat at the back of cave holding the cloth wrapped bundle with a gurgling Tammy Jane Bartlett inside. A hundred feet inside of the hillside it was cold but quiet. No sound of the storm outside could penetrate this deep and the other children were all asleep. The baby, after being fed, had stopped crying and her eyes were open, blue grey, the same color as Bart’s, but many shades lighter. No longer hungry, she was quiet now, but that wouldn’t last for long. The Jeep stood at the room doorway, squared up and with a proper door finally installed. He, expressionless as only a robot can be, said quietly, “Bart says the meeting is about to start so you should hurry up.”

“Thank you JP. Let him know I will be out in a min. See if Hanna is clear to take over for a bit.” Janie set the infant into the small crate being used in place of a cradle, the one the folks in the furniture shop had made as a present was in the nursery in their home on the point. She added blankets and instructed the nursery bot to keep an eve on her then followed the Jeep from the room. In the small connecting room she saw Hanna and gave a pleased smile.

“Glad your here already. I hate to leave the babies with just a bot watching. And by the way, I can’t get over how you and Jules have changed. You both look twenty five years younger than you did before slizard serum reset your clocks. And I sure am glad it didn’t reset your personalities the same way.”

“Yes we were both thankful for that,” Hanna said. “Experience and maturity in a young body, the best of all possible worlds. And a good thing the regression stopped when it did, I was worried we would keep getting younger until we were children, then babies, then… I can’t bring myself to even think of being any younger than that. They told me at the Biolab that the age reversal stops where your mind thinks your body ought to me. They added some mumbo jumbo but I know it came as a surprise and wasn‘t like they were predicting this in advance.”

“I understand that part Hanna, I’m kinda’ happy Bart and I Haven’t had to take any of the stuff yet, it seems creepy but it is good to know that it’s there. Have you gotten over the destruction of the Inn yet?”

Just then Bart walked in, gave Janie a hug, and said, “Got tired waiting for you Babe.” Then he said to me, “And good to see you too Hanna.”

“Why thank you dear, I didn’t think you would even notice little old me.” And then on a more serious note, “Janie just asked me about the Inn and yes I miss it, but it’s only bricks and mortar. If we get through this thing we can rebuild again. It’s the people that really matter. Do either of you know what Les is going to say? And have you heard anything about JJ?”

“Don’t know more than anyone else about what Les has up his sleeves and all I know about JJ is that he is still alive, we are expecting to hear details when Les gets the meeting underway. And that means we gotta’ hurry Janie. And thanks again Hanna for taking over the nursery.”

“My pleasure, glad to be of use. I would have nothing much to add, certainly nothing that’s new, and if a vote comes up I can push a com button here as well as anywhere else so I’ll watch and when you and Jules come back you can all fill me in about what the people grumbling in the back were saying.”

Alchibah Early Evening A+3 (Day 884)

Compiled from various Logs

Mariana Stuart

Things had really improved when Kurt got back in here. He really was a better Cutter than me and faster. We had this situation under control and it seemed our test case was even going to live. He was not going to out of here anytime soon, but he wasn’t going to leave in a body bag.

Kurt Kellerman over to the coffee pot where I was, “I don’t think they needed us, they really held their own.” he said.
Sally wandered over, “That’s all we were doing, Dr. Wood is good but he ain’t the A-Team. We just could not find the bleeder on that Christopher kid and Kurt comes in. Damn we were ready to close in five minutes.”

I had to ask, “How did Rich get hurt anyway, I thought he was staying up at the caves?”

“He volunteered to escort the sick and wounded down here,” Sally answered. “They got jumped by three Goonie stragglers who hadn’t got the message they were beat.”

I grimaced, “How abut the stragglers?”

Sally grinned, “Rich got em all three on the way down, Then drug himself the rest of the way here. He would not let us touch him till we had checked everyone in the convoy. That kid is Black and Silver material for sure.”

“Oh Great!” I said, “That is so not going to make Andy’s day. He promised Chris’s parents he would try to keep him out of Strike Force. Oh well, you have any other problems?”

Sally plopped in the chair, “Well, we have the prisoners. The Cpl you seemed to have pegged and the one that everyone says seems slow, I checked him over and it’s strange. He appears to be slow but the EEG shows intense activity during the pauses.”

“The Cpl popped an old Mossad recognition code that Andy had taught me. We put him on a loose leash until Andy or preferably Connor can grill him. Let me take a look at the other one!”

Sally led me over to a exam table that had a Goonie private strapped to it. “What’s your name son?” I could feel the lie sliding into place. It was either probe him deep and maybe break that controlled mind or go the old fashioned way. I waved Chris Petersen over, “Would you mind covering this jerk while I search him cause he is lying out his ass.”

Chris pulled out that Kimber in one smooth move and locked into a cold stance, “Just don’t cross my sight line Doc.”

“I may have done this once or twice before Chris.”

I watched the kids eyes as I searched him and he was hiding something. As I continued to shake him down I could feel the worry as I got to the right breast area. Zeroing in it took only a few moments to find the hidden pocket that had the laminated picture in it. “OK kid, what’s this picture got to do with anything and what’s your real name?”

The truth came rolling out at once and I could feel the relief. “My Dad told me never to tell anyone that except the other guy in that picture. That’ll never happen now he’s dead.”

“OK, what’s this picture got to do with it?”

“My Dad is the guy on the left.”

I turned away, and motioned Kurt to follow me calling over my shoulder, “Tie him back up Chris.”

Around the corner I showed the picture to Kurt. He grinned, “Well as I live and breathe, SFC Andrew Stuart slightly potted. Wonder who the girl is?”

“That’s the second thing I want to know. Get Andy on the land line and ask him to come down here. Keep it quiet if you can.”

Andrew Stuart

I had just started thawing out and Tim was just finishing checking out the new gear when the call came in. “Damn, I was just ready to go up to the house; now they want me at the Lab quiet like.”

Tim grinned, “What was it you said, ‘No good deed goes unpunished’, seems like that has come home to roost.”

“Tim, one of these these days; one of these days.” As I reached the door, I heard the laughter peeling behind me. As I reached the Lab I walked in saying, “There had better be a cup of coffee here!”

Mariana was standing in the back corner with a large mug in her hand waving me over.

“Keep it down,” she said, “would you please explain this?”

I took the offered photo and had to grin. “Shit, where did you get this, that’s old Tommy Moore and the Sabra he married.”

Mariana stared, “Sabra, and why is she hanging on you?”

I grinned, “Well, I was single. A Sabra is a native born Israeli. This was ten years before I meet you, it was the night before we went Op-Secure for Second Tehran. She was the waitress and the tab was in my name. Next question and I repeat; where did you get this? Kurt said you had two problems, what’s the second?”

It was Mariana’s turn to grin, “Well, I have the kid who had this photo who claims the guy on the left is his Father. He also claims that his Dad told him to give his true name only to the guy on the right. Funny though he thinks that guy is dead. Second I have a middle eastern looking guy who gave me that old Mossad first level code you gave me.”

“Well, the easy one first. I’ll turn my back and finish this coffee, you bring in the man who passed you the code and let me play it.” With that I went to work on the mug of coffee. It took about three minutes when I heard a scuffling sound behind me, then the voice of Kurt “Colonel” I dropped the mug and spun and in one smooth motion grabbed the guy by the collar and stop cocked the defensive swing.

“Pop Quiz, asshole. Timed count. What sees all, knows all and rules the fracking night? Five, four.” At that point he croaked, “Mossad.” I set him down, “OK kid, I don’t know anything past the second level code. You stay here till our resident expert on the resistance gets here. My XO Ground is the resident guru. Till then, try not to get in trouble. He’s yours CPT.”

“Now Mariana, untie the other kid and let’s see what happens when I take him by surprise.”

Mariana disappeared around the corner and about four minutes later, Sally looked back and waved. I went around the corner with my best Hammer of God look on my face. The kid was setting on the edge of the table and looked up. Then he caught us all off guard.

He jumped up off that table and locked his heels and snapped the best salute I had ever seen a Goonie give.

“Sir, Robert Thomas Stephan Moore reporting, Sir!”

His eyes were as wide as saucers and Mariana was giving me the sign that said he was not lying. “And how did you get that name Maggot?”

“Sir, Robert for Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas for my Father, Stephan for my Mothers Father and Moore because that’s who I fracking am!”

“Not only that asshole,” I replied, “you are the absolute spiting fracking image of Tommy Moore the week after he graduated Boot. Mariana please record for the Council.” I waited till she signaled ready.

“Kid, here is how it is going to be. We are going straight to Ft. Stuart from here. You will get into civilian clothes ASAP. You will present yourself to my new Intelligence Analyst, as soon as she accepts the job; as her Military Advisor, you will keep your ass low for at least two years. You will blend into the background until everyone trusts you like I do. Understood recruit?”

He snapped even tighter, “Sir, Yes Sir.”

“Mariana, please inform the Council that I personally vouch for him. I owe his Father. Anyone who cares to dispute that is welcome to meet me for Coffee and Pistols at Dawn!” With that I grabbed the kid and drug him out.

Kurt looked at Mariana, “Guess that picture meant a hell of a lot?”

Mariana grinned, “I want to hear that story. It has to be a good one.”

Mayflower A+3

From The Logs of Ashcroft Andrews

Finally we had the birds ready and I had done everything I needed to do for the Hamilton. It was time to go back Home. Funny how that phrase sounded, I thought Andy was crazy when he started using Clan Alchibah. I watched as Thorn and Jan came off the elevator trailing Sawbones and I knew he was right. This was the true family fate had never let me have, suddenly I understood, I like Andy would die before I let these people live as Slaves. From behind me came a voice.

“Figured it out did you love,” said Digger in that accent; “you at least had a semblance of a family and you at least knew your Father. I never did, He and Mom both died when I was two in the Jihad strike on Melbourne. This place is the first family I have ever known. I saw this coming long ago, do you seriously think Mariana will let that man quit now?”

I just had to ask, “You know the gamble Andy is fixing to pull and neither of us know if it’s going to work? Trouble is that I agree with him. We just cannot huddle down on the planet and get Alamoed by those Aliens. ”

Digger just grabbed me and kissed me, “I married the craziest damn Fighter Jock anybody has ever seen. Like an idiot like that would never take a chance, Saddle Up Love; let’s go get em.”

Summer Pierce looked at Mike Reye, “Guess that means we have three crews that won’t back down.”

Mike sighed, “Five if you are thinking. Steel and Williams will not back down and you clearly forgot Jai and May. I am almost willing to bet you can make it six with Natasi and Glenda. The only question left is, do we make it seven?”

The face that looked back at Grinder was clearly Thorn, “I guess we do. Crazy aren’t we?”

“Did you think the Boss kept anybody who wasn’t. Ask Laura! Nobody wearing this Patch is going to quit!”

I yelled hard enough for all to hear, “Saddle Up. Let’s go home!”

As we cleared Main Dock I asked, “Jan what can you guys take?”

Her laughter was like a breath of fresh air, “Ask Sawbones Ghost, he is the limiting factor.”

Kurt’s voice was right behind her, “I got my nausea pills and Ghost gave me a set of speed jeans. It’s not like I am real necessary on the way down anyway.”

I had to finish suppressing my laugh before I spoke over the chuckles on the General Channel, “OK Jan, you set the pace we will match you. When we get there Thorn, follow Jan right straight down, then I will pull out and do two high orbital passes all the way around for a weather check.” The replies were laconic.

“Thorn, Right.”

“Jan, oh sure!”

Digger stared at me, “Weather, like they believe that!”

I gave her my best dumb Fighter Jock grin, “Sounds Good for the Guardians ya know!”

Castle Stuart: Alchibah - Day 885
Four days after the attack on Liberty City and things had quieted down. We had communications back with the Mayflower and to the best of our knowledge all the Rogon and UNWG forces in the area were accounted for. That is to say we had a couple of dozen prisoners and the rest had left. Some to the southern continent the rest back to their ships.

Except for pickets in the belt and in the near planet space most of us were in Liberty City area at three locations, the caves to the north east of town, at Castle Stuart, or in the med facility under Windmill hill.

Les Reye had put off a town meeting for about as long as he could get away with, pleading the lack of information, and lack of enough council members to make a quorum. Much as he dreaded a general meeting, which might just turn into a gripe session, he knew that he owed these people what their Constitution promised. First though he wanted to talk to all of the Council members in private, he was hoping for some kind of a united front and a measure of hope rather than the litany of disaster that the bare facts seemed to support.

It was impossible to have a private meeting in the caves, too many people, not enough room, so the principals were all at the Stuarts. It had survived petty much unscathed. The attendees aside from Reye himself were, Andy, the Historian, Connor, Kara, Mariana, and Joe Fortson.

Les began, “Histy will be recording everything we say here for the record but I am going to move that we don’t publish the minutes until we can be sure that we won’t ruin morale. It’s fragile enough but we have to be honest, brutally so if required, amongst ourselves. The way I would like to run this thing is for each of us to sum up in as few words as possible what you have done and seen in the last four days. We all know fragments but I want to make sure we aren’t missing anything. I’ll go first.”

“Around midnight four days ago we were attacked without much in the way of warning by UNWG troops under the control of an alien race called the Rogons. A few hours of fighting and we beat them off loosing fifteen colonists and 21 bots in the process. Most of the town was destroyed. We know that there are now Rogon and UN forces down south. We have not heard from the Guardians and we find that very troubling.”

“The people from outlying areas have come to the caves, where we are crowded but have supplies enough for three months anyway. Let’s hope that’s enough. We are short on fuel for the Dora and Cargo bus and our only ground to space defense is here at Andy‘s”

“Who wants to go next?”

“I’ll take it,” Connor started. “I know we probably all know this already, but just for the record we have twenty nine human and six Rogon prisoners - eight of the humans and two Rogons are here and the rest are in space, though two of the humans probably shouldn’t be described as prisoners, per se. Eamon Lyons and Ari al-Yaram are both confirmed members of the resistance. For now Ari is helping us in the Lab and Eamon is still back on the Mayflower with the majority of the prisoners. Eamon also provided quite a bit of information on the Rogons.

“Questioning by Lisa and Mariana indicates that seventeen of the other twenty seven prisoners can safely be integrated into the colony. I’ll let her elaborate. And I guess the last thing I have to say is that no children died in the attack. Not one. And that’s not nothing.”

“How is it going up above Andy?” Reye asked.

“The Military situation is this.” Andy started. “The fight we saw coming we won and won big. A SAR mission is ongoing for Travis and Fallon. We are in the middle of significant upgrades to both our drive systems and weapons. Ash made a ‘Weather Pass’ yesterday so we have a fair picture of the Southern Continent. The Aliens have established a compound and have grounded one their two ships there. From the high orbitals it appears to be tied in as their power source, they still have one active. There is still one more Large Alien Vessel out there; Capt. Monroe on the Mayflower is tracking that from out in the belt.”

“We are ramping up power and fuel production and are refitting the Dora. The second shuttle will be modified to a full System Drive sometime tomorrow. This means we can save all H3 for use on planet. The Nift tankers are making a run, skimming the gas giant low and slow, as we speak. Upon their return they will be upgraded with new Dives and Shields. Mayflower is good for H3 so both tankers will deliver here. All Strike Force Ground personnel have been instructed to report to Joe and if you need anything from the rest of us; you have but to ask.”

“Histy? Kara? What do you have on the combined enemy strength and casualties?”

They looked back and forth at each other and the Historian said. “This is very preliminary, we still have more data to gather and some of this is unconfirmed by multiple sources.”

Then Kara started reading. “Estimated enemy losses: So far we count 3 skull ships destroyed; 1 Skull ship shot down by Bart all aboard, about 60 we think dead; 1 Skull ship destroyed on the ground with 8 captured and about 40 killed and something in the high teens or low twenties rescued; 1 Skull ship destroyed in the Mayflower attack with, again, about 60 killed, including Major Watson who was the regimental commander of the UNWG force. On the Mayflower there were 21 UN troops (including Eamon) and 4 Rogons captured and 39 humans and 26 Rogons killed.”

“In the Liberty City and Sarra Farm raid we estimate Rogon and UN casualties as something over 55 dead and wounded with 8 humans and 2 Rogons captured.”

“How many Rogons and Goonies still out there?” Fortson asked.

“At the low end it could be 500 Goonies, 500 Rogons. At the high end four or even ten times as many. We just don’t know.”

“Thank you all. Histy would you make a summary of what we have said to this point that leaves out anything that could be militarily useful so that the colonists can see it before the general meeting?”

“Censorship? Isn’t that something we are all opposed to?” the Historian said.

“Histy, I am than near 100% certain there are traitors amongst us, at least one and maybe more, not any of us here but in the colony at large. So write up enough so we can have our general meeting. Give it to me first and I’ll do the cutting and take the fallout for it afterwards should that become necessary.”

“So what do we do now? What can we tell our people to give them some hope?”

Andy was quick off the mark, “We can tell them that even after catching us with our pants down we gave as good we got and now it’s our turn.” And with a hint of a rueful smile, “We just leave out the details. Joe you talked to me about a plan for down here so why not spill it now.”

“Ok, Listen Up. Our first priority has to be to beef up the defenses for the people we got left in Liberty City, try to make sure any other landing attempts get stopped cold. But defense ain’t enough so I think we ought to try and help out Brother Dobswell if we can.”

“Hold on, hold on,” he said as a couple of the others started to break in. “I know he’s an asshole and up to no good. Still the enemy of my enemy applies here. The data Ash brought back shows a bunch of the Llamas heading towards the Rogon base down there with humans, and that means Dobswell, in the van. They’re in a damn hurry and armed to the teeth, at least for a bunch of Soessossins. I sure can’t figure out why but it looks like they are going to war. That being the case we need to try and help them.”

“You said it yourself Joe,” Lester said holding up a hand, “Our first duty is to protect Liberty City. I can’t see how we can spare anyone for anything else.”

“We don’t send soldiers Les but we can ship them a bus full of weapons that are a darn sight better than bow and arrows and spears. That and give them all the info we have and can gather about the Rogon and Goonies, locations, movements, that kind of stuff. Andy has quite an arsenal built up. Seems he left the production of things more or less up to the bots and they decided that every man woman and child in the colony needed both a couple of rifles and shotgun of their very own along with enough ammunition to fight a small border war. That’s what we send down to Dobswell, that and a few bots to give them some remote eyes. And by giving them bots to use we can make sure we know what’s going on as well.”

“You’ve almost convinced me. Say again how we get these weapons to them?”

“With the cargo bus, maybe Bart and the Dora as well, Andy and I are still working out details but we can be ready to go before another day is done.”

When Joe was finished Les looked around waiting for objections. When none surfaced he said, “Ok, your plan has the Councils blessing but this is another thing that needs to stay with us. Nobody in town with the exception of those making the delivery hear a word about this. Joe, I’ll have Sabbu, issue you a couple of bots from the labor pool to do the loading and go along.”

“Thanks Les but I think we should keep even Sabbu out of this for now. I’ll send my bot RoDan and try and talk Bart into letting the Jeep tag along. Both of those bots have an extra bit of programming and hardware not built into most of the others.”

“Good enough for now,” Les concluded, “Histy write the meeting up and give it to me when you’re done.”

“Got it already,” the Historian said pushing the send button on his com unit. “Time to get back to the caves and set up the general meeting.”

Alchibah System North of the belt
A+3

From the depths of space came a torch. Plasma heated to tens of millions of degrees, electrons protons and neutrons, too hot to combine into atoms streaked through the vacuum of space at just under light speed. The source of this artificial solar flare was the passenger liner New Palmtree, backing into the Alchibah system, shedding the velocity that had carried her between the stars.

Paul VanWert was the officer of the watch, in fact the only officer who could stand watch, as every other member of the Palmtree’s crew and her 213 passengers were down in the main hold in cold sleep capsules.

In the 3 years since passing trough the wormhole he had been thawed out to stand a three week watch once each year. Now this solo watch would be the last, in 2 more days, he would wake the Captain and the rest of the crew and the old Palmtree would make its final approach to their new home.

“Do not blame the messenger” Paul whispered, for the messenger of bad new was what they were.

The New Palmtree had been in dock at Ceres free port, when they got the word; The UNWG was mounting an expedition to go after R.J. Hamilton and his flying asteroid. And so the old mans final orders had been executed and from all the scattered rocks came the rebels of the belt, wanted and unwanted 213 men women and children, everyone a season fighter in the belts struggle for freedom.

A struggle that had seen hard times of late. When Hamilton left so suddenly and ahead of schedule the funding for the war against Earth had gone with him. Anti-ship missiles and mines don’t come cheap, and the rebels had to hoard what they had when the money dried up. That amazing hoard of weapons was down below with the frozen colonists.

But these thoughts barely passed through Paul’s mind. Eighteen years, he had been on the Palmtree, but as a cargo officer; and so he’d never got used to the glory of the god’s perfect universe, and certainly not as he saw it now.

Riding high above the plain of Alchibah’s ecliptic, facing back the way they’d come was a sight that defied comprehension. The rarified gas and dust of Alchibah’s asteroid belt flickered and glowed like a neon rainbow 30 degrees wide from one side of the sky to the other waves of color swept through it almost like the Aurora Borealis he had so rarely seen from his native Holland. Paul’s imagination wandered, he could see shapes and images in the

BRRaaaCK! … BRaaaCK! The belt was singing. BRRaaaCK! Paul thought he should have gone to sleep in the captain’s day cabin. And not have to listen to that noisy BRRaaaCK!… Collision Alarm!

“Mien Gott!” he exclaimed as he jumped out of the reclining couch and staggered to the offending radar screen. “Must I wake the Captain?” He asked himself aloud. And hit the silence button.

The story on the red glowing display told too much and not enough; this was no near miss from a meteor, whatever this was had come on them fast and was enormous, dwarfing the ship itself. Even as he watched the threat of collision ended and the mysterious object came to rest in space relative to the Palmtree.

“Of Course!” he said “It must be flying asteroid” Paul fumbled his way to the unfamiliar docking controls and turned on the ships powerful landing lights.

What he saw was not StelCo’s flying asteroid that had departed Saturn years ago. Filling the viewport, looking like some vast brandy keg was the biggest ship he had ever seen. He could make out markings on the oddly shaped hull that were in no Earthly script. Strange misshapen projections cast grotesque shadows against the hull. In the floodlight beams small shapes could be seen approaching…Space monsters!

The navigation radio broke the terrifying silence, “Attention Rebel Ship!” the voice blared from the speakers.

On Board…Deathfang

“This is Rogon Battlecrusier…Deathfang…Captain St James Commanding, prepare to be boarded and taken as a prize, under United Nations law.” Hunter said into the microphone “offer no resistance and the navy will be lenient, no-one will be hurt”

“Do you think they will fight sir?” asked Ensign Taylor.

“No, they probably would, had we given them time, but whoever’s awake over there obviously didn’t see us till we were right on top of them. They didn’t even turn on their floods till we were 3000 meters off, that’s pretty lax”

The bridge of Deathfang was deep within the ship; no glass portholes offered a view of space. Instead 3-D holographic displays provided a visual representation far superior than any viewport Hunter had ever seen. Somehow it wasn’t the same.

The young officer stood with Hunter as they watched the tiny figures of UN marines and navy crew enter the liners many airlocks. “Eighty people in space armor should be enough to take the ship even if they resist, and we have a second wave ready just in case.”

Hunter had been tempted to send the second wave if only to let the troops practice boarding ops. Eventually he decided not to because such training would have been unrealistic, and therefore ineffective. It was almost 15 minutes before they were contacted by the boarding party.

“Prize is secure” Came the electronic flavored voice of Lew DeWalt “All crew and passengers in deep freeze…except one officer… we found him under his bunk”

From the private log of Hunter St. James:

I am still having disturbing dreams; I’ve had such dreams before…dreams that came true. Now this Col Stuart haunts my sleep, a man we all thought dead…more of Redmond’s never ending lies. I know he is trying to reach me, I can almost hear the words, but I wake up too soon. The last dream was the strangest, Stuart was on a boat… a boat with sails, on a blue ocean, and the wind blowing…and Sharon was there.

Andrew Stuart

I was back up to Main Dock, still a little pissed. It was for a good cause I guessed but, still. “What you got for me Ash?”

“Two birds ready to go and uprated. Summer and my bird’s are gonna take a little work. We are on schedule for Dancer and the parts for the Dora are on your bird. As well as detailed Instructions for the Drive work I might add.”

I just had to laugh, “I will never claim I know more about the Drive than the “Mad Whackos’, Are all the Weapons parts cross-loaded?”

“Yep,” Ash grinned, “what do you want us to do?”

“Load all those Emergency rations on-board Jan’s Bus and when you and Summer are ready to fly; fly cover for the Bus back down. How long do you think that will take?”

Ash thought for a moment, “We can get you down early morning of A+3, we can be down mid-afternoon of A+3, best we can do.”

“Good enough, BREAK.

“Capt. Monroe, Stuart: I can not give you Orders Sir but, can I highly suggest you keep the Mayflower hidden here in the Belt as a SAR base and put your efforts into the Lancer II project.”

“Andy, Larry: That sounds smart for all concerned. Be advised it is under serious advisement, as in that’s what we are going to do! One question, Lancer II is not what you and Glen were really going to call her, is it?”

“No Larry. Get her flying and christen her the RJ Hamilton. You have seen her Guns!”

“Uh, yeah Andy, that I have!”

“Gabe, Kat and Marina; Let’s go Home!”

Mariana Stuart

Five Hours Later at the Lab

I walked into the Triage from Hell, the first thing I saw was some asshole in a Goonie Uniform praying over what I thought was one of ours in really bad shape. I went there first thing.

“Get out of my way Boy!” I saw him rear up and suddenly see the light.

“Y’hay shlomo rabba min sh’maya . . ..” Ari turned, tensing for an instant at the imposition. Quickly his eyes scanned the intruder. While his face remained mostly impassive, the movement of his eyes betrayed his checklist. Non-UNWG Trooper, check. Armed, check. Not physically threatening, check. Officer, check. High ranking, check. Banned US. Special Forces patch, check. Female . . . interesting. “Na’Aam?”

“Don’t ‘Ma’am’ me, just get out of the way and let me look at him.” Mariana bent over the burnt form, the called out “Chris, Sally, clear some space – this one’s still with us.” Simultaneous “Yes, Doctor,” and “Yes, Colonel,” came from across the room. Still focused on her patient, she questioned the troop in front of her. “You; did you put this blanket on him?”

“Yes’m.”

“Good thinking, even if you were giving him last rights. Linda, get me three shots of that new Regen Compound. If there has ever been a better test case, we’ll never see it. He’s gonna die without it. Whoever you are, grab that blanket and heave on three. We are going to the open operating table.”

Ari moved to the other side of the bed, and grabbed the blanket. “Ready, Ma’am.”

“We lift on three. One, Two …”

“Zanek!” Ari muttered. Mariana started at that; as a result the lift was rocky. The body moaned at the indignity and the pain it caused. “Gottenu, at least he’s with us,” he continued. They moved the rest of the way to the operating table in silence.

As the body was placed on the table more gently than it was listed, Mariana caught Ari’s attention. “Sorry Tzair, I only fly with pro’s. You don’t cut it Rookie!”

Ari paused, letting the meaning sink in. Then he drew himself to attention rendering one of the few proper salutes during his military career. “Ariel Samal Meir al-Yaram al-Bedu, at your service, Colonel.”

Deep Space A+3

Strike Force 7 SAR

“Jai, you know this guy is running out of time don’t you?” May said from her Wizzo seat. “Isn’t Travis more important?”

“May, just keep the main dish on the sweep of the belt and the secondary array on this guy. I am not ready to give up on him until that counter goes plus 15 or we get a solid hit on the Capt.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you sound more like the Boss every day?”

Jai grinned at her, “And get away with it? Only John and he’s the pot calling the kettle black!”

May leaned back and laughed, “Yeah but, what’s it like knowing the man you love is the Boss’s hand picked Assassin.”

Jai’s face got serious, “Given my family background, how would you like to know in your heart that the man you love is not real likely to suddenly get dead on you anytime soon?”

May’s face drained of humor, “It would mean a hell of a lot. I know I worry about Ryu even with him by my side as my shooter. Oh Shit, ping. Forward 100.000: Port 15: Nadir 30. UNWG suit Beacon, no telemetry.”

Jai barked as her hand flew on the keyboard, “Hang on, the Boss ain’t going to like me!”

May’s vision tunneled, then Grayed, then blacked out as Jai threw the MK V into 10 G’s perceived deceleration. The stars blurred as the fighter slowed at 250 G’s Real. Until it was in juggling range of a suit that they could see with the naked eye. May slowly came back into the real world with Jai dancing on one side then the other of 1 G as she fought to match vectors.

“Still with me River, get ready to go get Him or Her.”

“That Suit is a fracking Short Range UNWG POS, it’s a Him and yeah. But what if he don’t wanta come in?”

Jai stared at her, “Then do your signature Dance on his head till he’s ready!”

May startled, “What?”

Jai rolled back her eye’s, “Bring him in River, whether he wants it or not. ‘For we are WinterBorn’, remember?”

“I forget sometimes OK, he comes in!”

Jai fought the fighter to a match as the mid-line air lock popped open and May went out on her tether trailing a tether and an airline. She snapped the tether into a buckle and snapped the airline into his life support as Jai looked at her countdown clock, which said 4 min. May was crawling back up her tether with a form that was not resisting at all. She heard the airlock open and May’s shout over the comms.

“He’s out already, was the guess wrong?”

“Frack if I know, get his faceplate open and secure him on his side in case we have to do some crazy stuff. I would really hate to spend all this effort then loose him because he drowned in his own puke. If he cracks some ribs one of the doc’s can fix that. Hit him with a shot of quick heal just in case.”

May ripped open his faceplate and reached though it to the soft spot just under the collarbone that Mariana had made them all find in their sleep and drove the Emergency shot home. She finished strapping him in so that he could not reach the buckles and was turning for the bridge when he spoke.

A soft voice asked behind her, “Are you an Angel?”

Jai’s irreverent influence overcame her, “Hell no, He’s a Black guy about yeah tall.” She said reaching towards the roof with one hand. “Crap, I can’t reach that high. Just pray you never meet him on a Bad Day.”

May slid back into the Wizzo’s seat as Jai asked, “Think he’ll behave?”

“Pilot, I would not be a bit surprised!”

Three and a half hours later they were still running cold. May asked, “Think our guy in the back might be hungry?”

Jai laughed, “I am for sure, let’s call a break and stretch some. I’ll throw us in a holding loop for a while” Both reached for the CAWs and slung the friction rigs. Moving into the cramped rear area Jai asked, “First, what ’s your name and Second, if we untie your hands so you can eat are you going to give us any trouble?”

Guy Anselmo looked up. He had seen women in uniform, some of them very tough. But never with so many unfamiliar weapons and that look of a natural born killer in the eyes of the one wearing the LTC rank tabs. “Anselmo, Guy Anselmo and no; I won’t give you any trouble. I knew I was dead and I have no idea why you Gals would come find me.”

Jai answered in a heartbeat, “We have sensor tapes of that damn suicide move you made with that UNWG hatch. The Boss is not going to let that kind of guts go unrewarded and neither are we. Don’t confuse that with us trusting you yet.”

Anselmo said the only thing that seemed smart, “Understood, Colonel!”

May chimed in, “Well our choices are canned Slizzard or canned Unicow.”

Jai was quick, “Make mine Unicow, cold Slizzard just don’t cut it! What do you want Goonie?”

Guy was a little shocked by the vehemence in that voice and the question itself. “Since I have no idea what you are talking about, you tell me. How does a substance level refugee society produce anything canned anything?”

Jai snarled in his face, “We aren’t Refuge any damn thing, you have no idea what we are. May, what is the Boss’s favorite saying?”

May looked like she was going to puke, “Logistics, followed by Logistics; then more Logistics. Amateurs talk Tactics, Pro’s talk Logistics.”

Guy looked stunned, “If it’s not classified for a POW who the hell is the Boss?”

Two voices chimed at once, “COL Andrew Stuart. Ex US SOCOM, currently Commander Strike Force Alchibah!”

Guy’s voice echoed surprise and disbelief, “Impossible, he is dead. I have seen the pictures!”

Two voices rang again as one, “Not hardly, tell my bruises!”

Suddenly a chime started ringing from the cockpit. Guy was still shoveling down the best beef he had tasted in a long time as the two females scrambled back up front.

“What you got, River?”

“One MK IV at 120,000: Zero on: Zenith 10. Looks like it’s beat to shit. Shield is at 5 percent, BOD at 25 percent. Everything else is dead as a doornail.”

“Roger, got it. Strap in Goonie, we are going for our own!” With that Jai threw the ship into a series of sharp High-G maneuvers as she threaded deep into the belt.

Rivers voice rang true, “Damn the hatch is still good we can dock!”

“Got it River,” came Firebirds cold official voice.

May just hung on and watched as the Woman described by Ash Andrews as the Second Best Fighter Jock alive fought them into a dock with the most beat up piece of shit May had ever seen.

“Let’s go River, Button up Goonie. We might lose pressure through that damn hulk.”

Guy pulled down his faceplate and noticed his life support read 100 per cent and thought, “Who are these people?”

On board the MK IV Firebird exclaimed, “Damn the frame is still good. The shield held but a DEHEE dive got overwhelmed. This Bitch took a lot but got hammered up against a rock.” Then she got to the cockpit.

“Oh God, River we are going to need a body bag. Looks like Fallon. Do you see any sign of Travis?

“Nope Firebird, not a damn trace.”

‘”Great we are bringing Fallon home, where the Hell is Travis?”

River waited then replied, “What did Ghost say just before we left?”

Firebird replied coldly, “The Galloping Ghost of the Belt ain’t dead till you see the body.”

“Right.” River replied. “So, where the Hell is He?”

Alchibah A+3

Andrew Stuart

I went over Windmill Hill to the west side where the Communications Bunker was. Stopping well outside the perimeter I adjusted my Mil-Spec wrist comp to the frequency I knew Tim was waiting on. “Tim, it’s Andy. Allee Allee Oxen Free. The cats in the cradle and the cow is in the moon.”

Hearing the agreed upon code Tim started shutting down the defenses, secure that I did not have a gun to my head. After a few minutes Tim opened the door, “Man, the way we got hit I never thought I would see you again.”

I gave him that graveyard stare, “Tim, we won the one we had planned for. These damn Aliens weren’t in the play book. I saw the the old L-3 Windmill Tower was still up, ready to get back on the air?”

“Crap,” Tim exclaimed, “how could we get cables to it and what do we do for Antennas and Power Amps?”

“The cables are already in place and the replacement active components are stored in secret compartments here. Our paranoid Buddy here planned for everything but those damn Aliens.” The voice of Subbu Akai filled the room. “Tim, why don’t you make sure the Lab is ready to take the feed?”

“Sure,” Tim replied, “I’ll be back in about 10!”

As Tim left Subbu turned to me, “Joe and I saw that scene at Hanna’s or the hole in the ground that used to be Hanna’s. Andy are you OK?”

“Subbu, I was 7.62 nanoseconds from loading Mariana and the kids and all the supplies I could grab on a MK V and seeing just how close I could get to light speed the hell away from here. Hell I was hallucinating, I was having a conversation with my Grandpa.”

“Oh really,” Subbu grinned, “and what did he have to say?”

Andy gave him that sick grin, “Get off your dead rear end, find the bad Guys and kick their rear ends. What we are going to do is replace the master Repeater and put up an omni link for deep space. Mayflower is hiding in the Belt. No way we want to give away her location by using a tight beam up. She will tight beam back to us. I would like to have this up before Ash, Summer and Jan come into orbital range.

“Once I get back up to the House, I will throw up the repeater already installed there. That should cover the town and the Caves. We can tie them together through the buried landlines.”

Subbu grinned, “If you are dumb enough to climb that ice covered piece of crap, I am dumb enough to ground dog you.”

We had just finished getting the gear together when Tim came back in, “Any more useless errands you two need done so you can talk?”

Subbu shouldered the pulleys and ropes and grinned, “Nope, we are good. Be ready to power this crap up!”

Alchibah A+3

Andrew Stuart

I finally came back into the real world with one knee on the ground and icicles hanging off my chin. Par for the damn course, I stood slowly and stared around. Two years I had worked myself and almost everyone around me to near exhaustion to try and prevent this.

I had worked to win a War with one fast knockout punch, and fate had thrown me Aliens no one could have predicted. If Earth had not faded like a piker.  Hell, if they had just had the guts to purge their data bases; these fracking Aliens would not be here. No way though, not while slime like Redmond cared about their Power and personal comfort more than anything else.

Damn this is just not worth it. Then a voice flared in my head, “ Andrew William Waker Stuart. I have gone to War beside you, and I love you more than life itself. I have borne you two children that I thought could never be. Do not tell me for one second that you would consider allowing those gifts from the Gods to live as Slaves!”

I knew where Mariana was so that was memory and was stunned when another voice slammed into my head, “I’m expendable. You guys are the warriors. Let me see what they want. I’ve got guns. If they snuff me, you all haven’t exposed yourselves and you can still show-and-tell.”

I sank to my knees, I had not asked for this. How much could the Universe ask of one Man. “Boy I know you can shoot, can you make the Shot?” I looked up and in front of me was GrandPaw. “Can you make the Shot when Fire and Flames rage around you; when Lives you love are on the the line? Are you a poser or are are you a Damn Warrior or maybe just another wannabe?” I also heard in my mind the answer to GrandPaw that Day when I was only eight years old. “Grampa, they get me or mine when I am dead!”

“So stand up Boy, make em face a Celt!”

I stood and wiped the snow and mud off of my knees and headed for the Communications Control Center.

Up on the ridge to Ft. Stuart Hanna Parker had stopped and was staring down upon the town. “What drives that man?”

Jules Parker smiled, “Some will tell you hate, but they are wrong. Love and Duty are the whips that drive him.”

Hanna turned, “I thought you did not understand Him?”

“Never said that love, said I could not follow Him. He needs a special kind and we ain’t it. Let’s go, people need to feel like they have a chance!”