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:

….The ship is loaded with weapons, not the kind of thing I would have wanted to see fall into the hands of the Colonials. I can’t bring myself to call them Rebels…I can’t blame these people for wanting to remain free, I have to question my own actions, for all these years I’ve accepted the idea that peace and security justified the suppression of dissidents, now I’m not so sure. I sense that a majority of my people would go over to the Colonial side…If they could.

My new People are young but professional with the exception of Antonovich. I feel sorry for him having to deal with the pressure from the Rogons all this time, but he let his crew down, I will have to make an example of him.

The Rogons masters had ordered me to come up with a plan to stop the rebellion, but they tie my hands. They’re keeping me out in the belt and using the deathsheads for frivolous purposes. I will have to make demands of this Rogon krett, that will be a dangerous gambit, I have too much to loose.

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!”

Stuart Compound, Morning A+3

“Frak!” Kara yelled.

“What now?” BJ tentatively asked.

“Frak frak frak. Frakin’ frak. FRAK!”

“Uh, Kara sweetie, I don’t understand the Frak language. Could you please translate?” BJ asked in his nicest voice.

“Where are the god dammed diapers? How the frak can we be out of frakkin’ clean diapers? Who used the last one and didn’t say anything?”

BJ heard trashing noises and muttered to himself, “Frak.” Then he thought to himself, “I’ve been holed up with Kara too long. Her sailor mouth is rubbing off.”

“See if you can find some somewhere,” she yelled.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not snooping around Andy’s house!”

“Which is worse, him knowing we looked around for clean diapers, or him coming home to naked bottomed kids? They’re going to be home very soon, we have to do something, all the clean ones aren’t dry yet. And where are the twins? I bet they’re just loving this.”

“I think they’re hiding from you.”

“Why?” Kara said, still yelling.

“Oh, no reason, hon, they’re just being kids,” BJ said knowing full well the girls were now frightened of Kara, who had been becoming increasingly agitated as time passed.

BJ was now in the room with Kara, who was holding Terry up in the air, and rushed over to help. “Oh, I see the problem.”

“Yeah. I’ll carry Terry while you hold the towel underneath and we’ll run to the bathroom. We can at least get him cleaned up. Then we can search for something to use as a diaper.” Kara was finally calming down.

When they got to the bathroom, Kara handed Terry over to BJ and grabbed the shower head. BJ’s eyes got wide. “Are you serious? What am I supposed to do?”

“Just hold Terry still while I spray him off. And just watch out for….stuff.”

“Kara, I can’t believe we’re doing this. Whoa, watch the water!”

“Just keep him still, dammit!”

BJ thought to himself, “Andy better not be taping any of this.”

“Incoming!” warned Kara.

All BJ could say was “Frak.”

Alchibah, Dawn A+3

Andrew Stuart

Gabe and I had poured on the coals very carefully. We were not going to show the Rogons anything more than they had already seen. Firebirds ship I was not worried about, UNWG standard procedure was for SAR birds to be stripped down and fast. Any of their human advisors would tell them that, hopefully that would move her well down any threat list. It was up to the rest of us to annoy them enough to make that true.

Mariana quipped, “Before you two really open these things up I need some more anti-nausea pills.”

I turned grinning, “Why does it never bother you during a shooting match or when you are driving?”

She laughed, “Try adrenaline, it beats lots of things.”

“Well, you can pick up your pills at the Lab, burn over there as fast as you can. Dr. Wood has to be overwhelmed and you know that place better than he does. Hell, you and Kurt just built the place.”

We flared in killing the ACHE at 20 ft and sat down on the under jets. When the main drive cut Mariana was moving for the hatch and before I could unbuckle, she was gone.

I had seen the destruction from the air and started up the hill from the landing site. The first person who got to me was Connor Benjamin and it was the Father not the LTC whose agonized face I saw.

“Connor, She and River are flying a SAR mission. We might have lost Travis and Fallon, plus there is one Goonie floating up there we want a chance to save. And before you ask John, Summer will be down around mid-afternoon. She and Mike are going to fly cover for the Bus with Jan and Kurt.”

Scythe still looked concerned, “She has no real dogfighting time, what if one of those Dragon ships comes over the Horizon?”

“John, their top cover is Ghost and Digger!”

Joe Fortson’s voice came from uphill, “And that’s that tune in one note Major.”

I turned and grinned, “Ain’t no way they were gonna get you. What you got Gunny?”

“Nothin’ particularly good, and a lot of the other stuff. And in my old age I am beginning to worry some. Just from the little I’ve seen it looks like the Rogon’s could swat us like a bug and I wonder why they don’t. Beyond that there is the whole problem with the Guardians. We have no explanation for why they aren’t talking and no idea what they were really up to in the first place. And then there’s the destruction of so much of what we built up over the last year and a half. Makes a grown man want to cry.”

“Don’t know if you heard yet, but we found Robbie McMaster’s body out by the crater where the First Inn used to be. He was stretched out beside a Rogon that had somehow got hold of McMaster’s knife and must have decided to try a little acupuncture to cure a sudden heart problem. Guess that don’t work any better here than it did on Earth. We’ve lost a lot of good people and we’re going to loose some more. Maybe all of us before this is over. We better make sure it was worth it.”

“Yeah, I hear you. What about the people in the caves and on the southern continent, Joe?”

“Not a damn thing yet and that worries me too. We saw a ship head that way but have no way of knowing till we start getting scans from the Mayflower it she went there or it was just coincidence. We have too many balls in the air and too few hands. Hell we got balls up we can’t even see, mush less catch.

“Les is getting ready for a council meeting but we better have a private session first. Make sure we have a united front and plan. I think that is going to be a problem too. Buchanan somehow has convinced a few of the weaker sisters to try and bring off a Peace at any Price scenario. Kinda walk out in front of the caves and reach our hands up to the sky begging for forgiveness and mercy. I’d kick his ass from here to Bombay if I had a choice but I don’t. We got a constitution and rules, with Nash gone I’m the one who’s handcuffed so I do what I must. I just hope when the day of reckoning comes I get my licks in first.”

“ Tell you what, if we can prove Buchanan Dirty; I’ll grit my teeth and let you have the lead, that way I can swear he tripped a few times. Besides we have to get this place off of a War footing. The Rogon’s aren’t coming back to here because we kicked their Ass Flat up there.

“If there is anymore fighting, I think we can keep it out in Space where it belongs.

How’s Bart making it?” Andy asked.

“Same old Bart. You probably heard about the excitement that first night. But the Dora ain’t doing much flying now. Energy and fuel, our reserves went up with the town so he’s kinda watching things in the caves for me to make sure no one does any thing they’d regret later.”

“I’d ask about your day but I’ll save it for later at the planning session. See ya in a few hours, gotta go see a man about a dog.” And with that Joe trudged back towards the ruins of Liberty City.

“OK, here’s what we do! Stonewall, release any Militia attachments you acquired during the fighting and tell then to find the Gunny. Then, take your pure Strike Force assets and do a perimeter sweep for stragglers. Use those suits hard, we don’t care what the damn Goonies know now.

“As soon as you finish that sweep, you become Councilor Benjamin again. Find Les and inform him that at the very least Mariana will be available via teleconference for a Council Meeting. Offer him the Briefing room up at the Ft. if he needs a place.

“Scythe, likewise as soon as you finish you are John Pierce the Contractor again. Find out whose homes were destroyed or are unlivable and get with Kara about getting them into those spare bungalows up at the Ft.

“Kat, hike it up to the Dam Complex and open up the throttles. Start the Liquid H & Liquid O cracker back up, get with John and light this town back up. Unless the Rogons have a fool for a Science Officer, they know they have stumbled into an Industrial Base that ain’t Stone Age. Better yet, you and Gabe take your bird up there. While you are working you are our Alert+5 crew.

“I am going to take a look at town center, then go try to get the Comms up. I just hope Tim stayed holed up like I told him instead of going out and playing PBI like Robby.

While the crew was having a fast huddle and coordination meeting. John looked up the hill to the edge of what used to be Hanna’s. “What’s the Boss doing?” he asked.

Gabe turned slowly and gazed, “Wait till you know him a few more years and you will understand. The Laird always cries alone!”

Complied from Various logs

Kat Jamos

The table had pretty well recovered from Mariana and Andy’s flat declaration and plans of immediate actions were being made. Just as we started to break up Ash as usual drawled out the question of the moment.

“Iffen we are going to Huff and Puff like some mangy ole Cur, ain’t it time some people around here showed their game?” He was pointing to his ten and JoAnn’s five Kill Pins as he said it.

Andy, Mariana and I cursed him softly and I was the first to speak intelligibly. “I hate to say it but he’s right. If you are going to run a bluff it don’t hurt for the other guys to see some cards!”

We all three popped out our short sleeve knives and Corrine cracked, “Damn, Boss who are these Guys?”

Al leaned back with a great big grin, “Why knuckle dragging simpletons of Commandos, didn’t you get Redmond’s memo?”

It was her turn to chuckle, “Was that before or after we used the stuff these Guys built to blow his ship out of Space?”

Every shaggy dog has a punch line and Al delivered with a perfect straight face, “That would have been just before we shot their asses off. There might have been a slight problem with e-mail delivery about that time of course.”

About the time the laughter died down Andy, Mariana and I had finished pulling off the cloth strips covering our pins which, tradition said were never active devices but always solid metal. My three, Mariana’s four and Andy’s six ran the total up pretty fast.

Al said it best, “As best I recall there were only fifty-four of those thing ever awarded in all Services and I am looking at twenty-eight of them…. is there a pattern here that I don’t get? At least as a civilian, I don’t have to worry about those things.”

The whole table groaned, Al had just stepped in it big time. Andy leaned over and reached into his gear bag; coming back up he flipped a small box at Al. “Wear my Patch, live by my rules remember? Put it on Al, if anyone ever deserved one it’s you. Now there are fifty-five, we are going to have to have a long talk about Ghost and Digger’s kill. We may have to go back to the old USAF and USN model where the Pilot and the Wizzo both get a pin but that Cruiser was yours Al. We of all the people in two worlds know what it means to bet your ass on a weapon that has never been tested against a defense you have never seen. Wear the damn thing Al, you fracking deserve it. And yes there is a pattern, we have some Sheep that came to Alchibah, we have some Sheepdogs but, of the Wolves we got the cream of the Crop. Those bastards may have swallowed Earth but, Alchibah is gonna stick in their throat.”

Corrine took out the pin and pulling open his flight suit put it on his right breast. Closing his suit she grabbed his head and kissed him, “Remember, you Cheap bastard; make mine a double and very Dry.”

Andy shook in laughter, “What the Hell am I running a Military Force or a damn Dating Service? Get off your duffs and get to work.”

Ash Andrews

We had been working in the main Bay for about forty-five minutes when I told Andy that the Command bird was ready.

“Good, get on the horn and have Jai and her Wizzo meet me in the briefing room downstairs.”

Andy was moving for the elevators before I could even start to talk. He had something on his mind for sure.

Jai Benjamin

River and I were rested and ready but, the Boss looked grim as hell.

“Your bird is ready but, I want you to see this first. Larry Monroe got it from a combot sweep. You tell me what you think it is?”

We had to watch the loop on the briefing room display twice before we nodded at each other. “That looks like someone either dumb or damn brave opening one of those suicide hatches the UNWG still uses. If what came out was H3, he would have to be called real brave.

“We must have hit that thing harder than we planned.”

“What I think happened,” Andy said, “was we put a golden BB in his H3 tank and it ruptured internal to the ship.

“So, tell me girls; think that guy’s worth saving?”

May and I could not get the “Frack Yes” out fast enough.

“OK, Jai you are taking the Command bird. It’s got the best electronics and commo gear we have. Natasi’s bird down checked and will take too long to fix so, you are going out single ship.

“Here, catch this file on your wrist comps. That’s the vector we could compute for him; the code is one that will cause Emergency Locater to start talking if the UNWG hasn’t changed that. And finally, that countdown timer is our best guess at how much air he has left.

“Maybe we can get lucky and the goonies might have improved the air tanks on their suits and buy him a little more time. Don’t bet on it though, ride hard and get there fast.”

At that point his wrist comp went off.

Mariana Stuart

Having lost the toss with Kat, it was my turn to be the Bad Cop. Entering the room we fond Dr. John Chandler among the Spacers present. “What in the World are you doing here Doc?”

Chandler grimaced, “Well we needed someone here to honcho the Linguistics program on the computer and Gabe told me that if I touched another wrench he was going to bend me into a pretzel.”

I was watching one alien in the corner cringing and muttering something in their native language. “What’s that one doing,” I asked?

“I am not sure Mariana, he does that every time somebody wearing a Strike Force uniform comes in. We have the second word figured out it’s ‘not’, so he is saying ‘thespis.osso’s not’.”

“How are you getting what you have,” I asked?

“Mostly by listening them talk amongst their selves before they answer a question. They think we are stupid for letting them do that. It’s enough that we are starting to get some hits to various Earth languages. They are not exact matches but, we are finding that context wise they are quite enough to work.”

“Doc,” I had to grin, “did it ever dawn on you that Gabe may have made that threat just to get you to where you were needed most?”

He grinned, “Why yes! I have been informed by several around here known collectively as the Young Guns that that was actually preferable to the Colonel ‘Ripping a Strip off of My Ass’.”

Both of us were interrupted by his console chiming and we looked to see that it had hit a new correlation. Blinking on the screen was one line.

“Confirmed: thespis.osso’s Equate Spanish ‘El Diablo’.”

Chandler chuckled, “So they think someone wearing Black and Silver is the Devil Incarnate. How quaint.” But the smile never made it to his eyes, “Dear God, I am no interrogator but, we have to be able to use that!”

It was my turn to give that Wolf’s grin, thumbing the secure infra-reds: I asked Kat, “Wanta go right past Good Cop/Bad Cop right straight to Good Cop/The Devil Himself?”

Kat turned and gave a grin that just might be more dangerous than my own, “That sounds like a table bet. You got an idea?”

Just and that moment the hatch opened as Natasi and Summer came in with a couple of loads of parts for Doc Chandler, Kat quickly noted the reaction of all of the aliens to Summer’s uniform. “Never mind,” Kat laughed, “I think I have it figured out.”

“Reaper, Magic: get your ass to Interrogation, STAT.”

Andrew Stuart

The two young Officers had heard their orders. I just started grabbing gear and flew out the hatch. I was headed through hatches like my tail was on fire. To come so far to get an Emergency Call from my life. If she was hurt someone or something was going to die this Day. I bounced off the outside wall of the last corner to see her leaning against the wall almost unconcerned. She bounced up and grabbed me.

“Hold on to it Love. We need to use that rage and hate that everyone in sight can feel. Listen!”

Mariana Stuart

I came back into the compartment and signaled to everyone, counted to five and waited for the Fireworks.

When that hatch opened everyone even the special sense dead Chandler, knew The Reaper had just entered the room. Summer locked her heels and her back as did Kat and I. Chandler with Natasi and the rest of the Mayflower crew straightened. The Rogons freaked out, they started huddling and the translator just kept spitting out “El Diablo is; El Diablo have not (unknown).” The latter resolved rapidly to one line again.

“Confirmed: El Diablo have not Please.”

Natasi won the day, maybe it was her Russian background but she knew at some gut level exactly what to say.

“Snake, want Diablo have Not. Tell me true. Lie Not. El Diablo have not.”

“Tell True. Lie Not. Have not.”

I muttered under my breath, “Get the Hell outta Here Andy. You done your job and we found the perfect interrogator.”

As he turned to leave he muttered on secure, “Wrap your and Kat’s part up fast. Our birds are ready, time to go home.”