The Second Saga: The Beginning of Change

Colonel David Sames had mixed emotions about his missions now, he was glad that the war was over and the killing has stopped for the most part but the missions were kind of boring. Oh well, he lived through the short war with the pirates that preceded the war and made it through the war himself there's been more than enough excitement. Now he got the typical milk-runs of patrols and delivering various supplies to help the people of Earth. " Delta squadron, fuel check. " David said. " Eighty three. Seventy five... " they went down the line. Suddenly his radar gave off a strange flash and went blank.

" Colonel you see that? " said Jonathan. He began to give orders when one of the ships exploded it's pilot Peter Haren gave a loud and fearful last scream. He broke left in a tight turn just in time to avoid a volley of powerful lasers and dumbfire missiles. The other pilot's ship exploded and it's pilot ejected only to be ruthlessly rammed on purpose, by what seemed to be an alien fighter. He made some hard turns and loops to avoid laser fire and let loose his own barrage just in time to knock it off Julia's back. As his missiles made contact there was what looked like an electric flash and the fighter veered off without any damage done to it. " Shit! " David cursed. He began chasing a large fighter that was going after the transports

" We gotta protect the transports! " he said hysterically. He let loose all he missiles he had on his exofighter along with a barrage of laser fire. He finally managed to get a kill off the alien squad as he watched with a certain satisfaction of seeing the thing spin out of control and it's metal and other instrument fly off the ship and explode. He all of a sudden got the dreaded warning siren of missiles coming at him. He gave a quick glance in that direction and was totally horrified by what looked like a cloud of missiles coming straight at him. He shot at the missiles making many explode but still a lot slammed into the belly of his exofighter. He quickly managed to separate from the back of the ship but was still thoroughly pounded and rendered unconscious for the rest of the battle.

When David awoke he heard the continuous beeping of his damage control systems or what was left of it telling him all the damage to his ship. He moaned from the pounding in his head because it hit the console when his exofighter was hit. Trying to ignore it as much as he could David looked around to see destroyed screens, blown out panels with wires that once connected the systems to the main computer hanging out all cut, some were still crackling. Almost all of his systems except for life support and some damage control were destroyed or too damaged to operate and he was unable to fly. Outside there was nothing but the charred frozen remains of his former squad members and the space debris of the fighters and transports they had failed. David looking at the damage was surprised he was even alive, he should be splattered across the cosmos by now. " Better count my blessings and send out a distress beacon, if that even works. " he thought to himself. He pulled the lever to put out the emergency distress beacon, laid back in his seat, closed his eyes and waited.

J.T. walked onto the flight deck where his squad was talking and playing cards, Bronski was asleep and snoring louder than ever. J.T. came up to them with a serious expression on his face and they immediately stood at attention. Rita lightly kicked Bronski in the ribs " What the, hey! Oh. ", he quickly stood up and stood at attention with the rest. " Alright people Admiral Frazer's finally got a mission for us. At ten hundred hours we picked up a distress signal coming from around the former location of Mars. Our job is to go find this guy and pick him up. " he said. " Sounds simple. " said Kaz " When do we leave? " " Right now. " J.T. replied " Alright let's move it people. " Everyone began to put on their gear and then climbed into their e-frames. They took off toward the area when they got a message from the comm officer, Patricia " Hold on, guys. I've got some recent info on the area you people are going to and it does not look too good. It turns out that a lot of squad have gone in and have never come out, this is the first time someone has managed to send out a distress signal. It now been renamed the spaceship graveyard. " " Your point. " said Kaz who was the first to answer. " Just be careful. "

They soon arrived at The Spaceship Graveyard. It had pieces of space debris from various ships just hanging around everywhere. " Wow, Patricia wasn't kinding about this place. What happened? " said Maggie full of awe and fear. " Don't know. Let's just find the guy and get out of here A.S.A.P. " said Alec. They flew around for a long time weaving in and out of the debris looking for the distressed ship when Kaz found an intact front of an exofighter. It was riddled with the marks of laser fire and blackened from damage but it's cockpit was intact. He flew closer to the area and scanned it, he picked up one lifeform from the exofighter. " I've found it. " Kaz called to the rest of his squad. He tried to communicate with the fighter to see if it's pilot was alright but just got static, his squad just then flew up behind him. " It's that ejected part of the exofighter, there's someone alive in there too. " Kaz said to J.T. " Alright, Maggie. " J.T. said " Lets bring out that towing cable and haul this guy out of here, and quickly I want to be out of here as quickly as possible. " " Sure thing J.T. " she said and began to fly up the remnants of the exofighter

David opened his eyes and noticed the squad of e-frames flying around and patrolling the area, two were flying toward him. They were a yellow field repair e-frame and a light orange field sergeant e-frame. The repair e-frame turned around and let out a tow line, field sergeant attached it and they began moving. They were at the edge of the Spaceship Graveyard when David and other of the squad noticed a strange shadow move near some of the larger debris. " Hey guys it thought I saw something. " said Bronski in low tone of voice. " It's just debris Bronski keep moving. "; responded Rita. It was on the open channel so even David could hear part of it. " Hey J.T. I've got something here. " said Kaz in a sort of nervous tone. " It's probably just a malfunction, keep flying. " he responded in a calm tone. Shadows were moving all around them now. " They've probably noticed it by now so why are they so calm? " David thought to himself curious and confused. They advanced slowly and steadily toward the area where the shadows were moving, ignoring the shadows. Just as they passed the area were the shadows were moving one of the alien ships came zooming out shooting a barrage of lasers several of which snapped the cable and impacted on the repair e-frame ahead sending several sheets of metal flying of the frame. " Maggie ! " screamed Alec as he quickly flew down and let out his own barrage on the small alien fighter. There was the same electric flash as the fighter was knocked away from the e-frame but remained unharmed.

J.T. barked orders to everyone in the squad and they all began going after a fighter. J.T. finished his target rather quickly employing the same barrage tactic David used and moved to help Nara. As David observed the flying tactics of Able squad he noticed that they had much more skill than his former squad. Although they all had taken quite a bit of damage they had suffered no casualties. The exofighter let out it's tow line that was attached and they continued on to the Resolute II saying no more.

As they landed, they detached the tow line and two e-frames with hands flew his ship down. There was a medical crew waiting and several technicians. The technicians pried open his cockpit, he took off his helmet and he jumped out. The med-techs began following him trying to convince him that he needed to go to medical for an inspection. The pilots of Able Squad who were watching seemed slightly amused by David's behavior, Nara laughed a little. They themselves went to get checked out and left.

Admiral Frazer, David Sames and several intelligence officers were going over the pieced together video and images of David's DR log. Some remained calm and some had expressions of amazement on their faces. Admiral Frazer finished the log, sighed, folded his arms and gave the now still picture a serious, solemn look. " Come with me colonel, I need to speak with you. " he said in a serious voice. They entered his office which was a medium sized, unattractive room with beige and gray metal walls and a large window on the far end. It had a desk at the far end, center of the room, a computer and various papers and things heaped on one side of it, Admiral Frazer never did keep his desk too neat.

I've got somewhat good news and really bad news which do you want first? " Frazer asked casually. " I could use some good news admiral. " David sighed. " The good news is that we've found you a new squad. " he said. He then regained the solemn look, " The really bad news is that even though we know who our enemy is and their just sending fighters so far we've detected a large number of capital ships moving into the system. " " They're in the system! " David yelled hysterically. " Some of them, and their numbers are still growing. " Frazer said in a surprisingly calm tone. " Just one question. " David said trying to calm down, Frazer just looked at him " Why are you telling me this? " " Because I want you to relay it to your new squad, Able squad. "

Able squad was on the flight deck as usual, talking, playing cards, drinking and doing the usual nothing. J.T. was also talking to Colleen about things as usual. A young man could be more than 19 or 20 walked onto the flight deck " J.T. Marsh? " he called. J.T. looked up from his discussion and hopped down from the crates. He walked up to the young pilot and said " What is it trooper? " " Admiral Frazer wants to see you. " the young pilot said. J.T. walked to the office the young pilot tagging along the whole time. They entered and there he saw admiral Frazer and another fairly young pilot who appeared to be into his late twenties with brown hair, brown eyes, and had medium height. Admiral Frazer looked up and said " Thank you trooper that'll be all. " and the kid left. " You asked to see me sir? " J.T. asked quizzically. " Yes commander, I have another edition to make to your squad and we have something very serious to discuss with you. " Frazer said now very serious. Admiral Frazer got up and lead them into the new edition which of course was now familiar to Colonel Sames. It was a fairly large room that was very dimly lit. In the middle of the room was a large table with a display covering the top of it which currently was in still motion with a display of an image from David's DR log on it

" This is a larger version of the wardroom. It has advanced jamming devices installed into the walls so any bugs or attempts to listen in without permission will be scrambled. " said Frazer. They walked up to the table and the admiral switched it to what looked like a grid with a whole bunch of tiny dots at one end and a location box around it. To the right was a bunch of ship numbers. He told J.T. the same bad news that he had told Colonel Sames, J.T. looked thoroughly surprised afterwards his mouth moved as if to say something but no words came out, Frazer stood looking at him worried for a few seconds. " Now I'd like to introduce you to your new squad member, Colonel David Sames. " he said and David stepped forward and nodded. J.T. was pay no attention to either of them he was concentrating on the display. " Excuse me J.T.... " David began " I'm a fool for not bringing this up sooner and now humanity may well pay the price for my silence. " J.T. said in a low intense voice. Before Frazer could say it David who was confused and dismayed said " What the... What the hell are you talking about. " J.T. turned to David his eyes cast down to the metal floor.

" A little more than a year ago, I received a distress call from a former comrade named Hollis. " he paused, " He said that they had detected a UFO and asked me to deal with it. I tried to save them but I was shot out of the way and the planet Mars was totally disintegrated by the aliens. As I looked on I found there weren't one but several alien craft, organic looking craft. " he paused again and his face grew tense and pained. He finally broke down and collapsed to his knees " There was nothing I could do, I couldn't save them and one of my best friends were killed. " The looked at him silently, thoroughly disturbed and dismayed about his confession. This was going to be kind of a problem.

The exosquad took an almost immediate liking to David. He was a kind, understanding and compassionate person to say the least. As far as his skill in fighter combat and flight was concerned he was good, better than anyone in the squad and as good as J.T. Unfortunately J.T. hadn't been that focused and had been acting melancholy lately, in fact they could tell something was really wrong. Colleen, who wasn't part of the squad but had also noticed it took a deep concern in his state of emotion. David knew what was wrong but he didn't think that J.T. would appreciate it if he blabbed the secret to his squad and fiancee without asking him first. Lately though with the extended emotions he had been growing more concerned, this kind of behavior wasn't good for him in any way and it wasn't good for the squads morale and he was thinking of talking anyway. On certain days he became so into it that after people tried finding out what was wrong again, they avoided him all day. Colleen was more determined though and she was getting kind of annoyed. She told him that this was not good for him and kept insisting, so far she's giving up after a long amount of time. Finally she built up her resolve and planned to stay till she got a full answer. She approached him and said in a calm voice " J.T. we need to talk. " He looked and said nothing, got up and the walked to his quarters were they could talk privately.

" I know I've come to you over and over about this and you won't want to answer but what's going on with you? I mean you been acting so depressed ever since you came back with that new pilot. Does this have anything to do with him? " Colleen asked in an insistent and worried tone. " No. Not really. " J.T. said in what was lately his usual depressed tone. "; What do you mean not really? "; Colleen asked in a slightly suspicious tone, he said nothing " I want to help but your not make this any easier. Listen all you have to do is tell me I won't tell any one else I promise. " she said. " He brought the subject up but he had nothing to do with it. " J.T. said. " With what? " she asked a bit annoyed, she could tell he was stalling on purpose. Remember that day I got that distress call from Hollis? " she nodded he gave her the same explanation he had given in the wardroom, lacking the same emotion though. " Now they plan to invade us and our chances of repelling the attack are very poor. I just feel that if I had told them we'd be ready, we'd have a better chance. " he said now with slight emotion. He felt something slightly tighten on his hand and he looked down. O'Reilly was gently squeezing his hand to make him know that she really cared for him and had great sympathy for him in what he was going through. He looked up and her eyes were closed and here face reflected how she felt. She opened them, looked at him and said gently " Why didn't you tell me, I'm so sorry. " " I never thought that it'd come to this and don't be, you had nothing to do with it. " he replied. " Are you going to be alright? " she said. " I'll live. " he said " Okay. " she said slowly giving him a small kiss " See you later? " " Of course. " he said smiling for the first time in several days. She smiled back at him and left the room.

J.T. returned to the flight deck several hours later with another assignment for the squad. " Attention troopers! " ordered Rita as he approached them. " Alright people the admiral has another assignment for us. " J.T. began " It's about time, what is it? " Kaz burst out excitedly. J.T. gave him a scornful look and he shrunk back knowing J.T. hadn't been in a good mood lately. " Our job is to fly to the other end of the Spaceship Graveyard and determine the current strength of the enemy fleet. " Alec muttered something inaudible to himself and waited for further orders. " We have been advised not to engage the enemy unless totally necessary. " he said. " What's considered necessary? " asked Kaz. " When there's no way out. " J.T. replied. " Alright people, let's frame up. " J.T. said the normality returned to his voice. The squad became relieved and ran off to get in to their e-frames and then took off.

They were nearing the Spaceship's Graveyard and so far the trip had been rather boring. " Picked up anything yet? " J.T. asked Alec. " Nothing, are you sure this is were they're supposed to be? " Alec replied the boredom and annoyance clear in his voice. " Alec's the intelligence officer. " J.T. said. " Yeah yeah. " Alec muttered. They entered the graveyard still nothing showed up on their scanners. " I hope it's not stealth technology. " said Maggie growing a little worried. " Believe me, the feeling's mutual. " said David. " Ya know, they did say that the fleet was located at the other end of the graveyard. " Kaz said sardonically. " True, but with these new extended range scanners we should have to go all the way over there to detect and determine their numbers. " David said confused. " So. " Kaz remarked in the same tone. " Do you really want to go up to them and count? " asked David who was thoroughly annoyed with the last remark Kaz made. Kaz remained silent.

Bronski looked down at all of his scanners when he saw a quick and faint bleep move across his radar screen. " Hey guys I got something, it was one bleep but it's gone now. " Bronski said, " There it is again, you see it? " " We saw it Bronski, it's probably one of their own little scouts. Unfortunately we're not supposed to engage the enemy. " J.T. said. " But won't letting him go blow our cover anyway? " Bronski asked a bit confused. " Yeah but if we attack they'll be on us like bees on a bear trying to steal their honey. This way we can get some more information. And besides... " J.T. barely managed to begin his third sentence when a heavy armed, medium sized alien fighter came zooming out and bombarded J.T. with laser fire, fortunately most of which missed. David snapped off a few missiles aimed at the enemy and destroyed. " Our cover is blown scatter and get out of here! " said J.T., another missile exploded right next to him. They all scattered in random directions not caring or noticing which way they went. Looking for some backup Kaz followed David in whatever direction that they were going in.

They emerged from the debris facing the enemy fleet head on and it was absolutely huge. " Holy... They have to be numbering in the hundreds of thousands, even millions! Well never beat these guys! " Kaz moaned his voice full of despair. Just then four high powered laser beams came at them both and they both maneuvered out of the way to avoid being destroyed. For the first time they got a message from one of the alien pilots " I am prince Khaln' Achat, next to the throne of the great T'quan empire. Gaze one more time upon your people's new rulers for you can not stop us! " the T'quan gloated in menacing and foolish tone. " Well that depends on what your the rulers of. " David said merely mocking the prince. " I do not understand what you are talking about Terran but for that I see you will die. " it said in an angry and insulted tone. " Okay bye now. " David said still in a mocking tone. " What! Nooooo! " the prince screamed. The prince turned around just to face a barrage of laser and missile fire. The prince swerved out of the way only to be knocked several hundred kilometers away and have his fighter heavily damaged along with terrible injuries. When that debris cleared, J.T.'s e-frame was floating of the other side they flew up to him turned around and took positions on his flanks. " Hey thanks for the help J.T.! " David yelled trying to be heard over the constant noise of combat. " No problem. Think of this as payback David. "

They began to retreat in the direction of the Resolute II when a whole bunch of thoughts ran through David's head. " Wait we can't go back to the Resolute II, not yet. " he said quickly. " What?! " yelled Maggie hysterically. " If we go there we'll have the job of defending ourselves and the ship. Let's split up and take 'em out before we get there. " David said. " Agreed. Split up and be sure to take out every one of those things! " J.T. ordered.

As they split into two the alien numbers did too, " Suckers! " said Kaz under his breath. He sped up and let one of the alien fighters case him, they both wheeled around a large piece of debris. Kaz quickly pulled up and as the fighter was about to pull up Marsala de-cloaked and let loose a large barrage on the tiny fighter. Nara also let one follow her directly behind her and then made a sharp turn and came to directly facing the fighter and coming toward it. David came from above the fighter and let loose a stream of laser fire, Nara did the same. The fighter bombarded by the laser fire spun in place from the force for a while and then exploded. Maggie flew up behind her target grabbed it by the tail, ripped it in half and quickly threw it as it exploded. One fighter was damaged enough to be nearly disabled but it's pilot was killed or knocked unconscious. The other exploded as a result of everyone shooting at it at once. " Maggie take that damaged fighter for study. We need as much help as we can get where ever it comes from. "; said David. " Understood David. " Maggie replied.

Elsewhere the rest of the exosquad was having just as much fun with the aliens. Bronski allowed one to get in front of him and another in back. Just as the one behind him closed in for the kill Bronski hooked the other one with his grappling hook and swing it into the his pursuer. Rita extended her power blade, raised the arm and made a quick stop. The enemy fighter came right over her and her blade after bypassing the shields slashed the thing right up it's belly. J.T. let out his solar fireball which the fighters turned into balls of flashing energy one second and balls of fire the next. Both teams met up at the Resolute II as David's team was landing. Despite the kills and little scences of glory all the e-frames were so heavily damaged that the technicians just replaced them and there were some injuries. They were commended for bringing back the alien fighter and got medals of valor.

High command decided that they were all trustworthy enough so they were now all allowed to attend the mission briefing in the dead room for special missions. During a second meeting Admiral Frazer expressed his concern for the pilots performance when faced with the enemy. After so many confrontations with the alien menace he said that they might have to change the structure of the e-frame or replace it all together. It was simply that current type of e-frame were no longer maneuverable enough, fast enough, nor didn't it have enough or strong enough armaments or protection to last in a fight. Others in the room expressed concern that even if they were able to produce things that would be improvements that nothing would be ready before the aliens invaded the homeworlds. It was generally a boring session of arguments and hopeless statements.

After the initial meeting the rest of the was squad was brought in for their next assignment. Admiral Frazer began the briefing " We've gotten word, that the enemy fleet has stopped growing and that they are moving into attack formation. They've split up into three groups so that even if we win the first invasion there won't be much chance of it happening again. The waves are the same size all except for the first one which is significantly smaller than the other two. Now they've begun to move out of the area and have begun to attack some of our military ships as well as freighters and the like. You job will be to go along with other squads and temporarily relocate on the Liberty so you can take care of the problem. Once you arrive you will have further briefing from the captain on individual missions. Any questions? " " Yeah, do they have any idea how big this break-off is? " asked Kaz. " We have estimations but not exact numbers, and besides that's something you don't need to know. " Frazer replied. " All right then, let's go people. " said J.T.

A few hours later they were beginning their landing approach toward the Liberty " This is Commander J.T. Marsh of Able squad. We request permission to land Liberty. " J.T. said. " Permission granted, welcome aboard, we've be waiting for you guys. " They landed and were immediately greeted by the captain and the unofficial welcoming committee. " Welcome to the Liberty Commander Marsh. As you see your people's names have been known throughout the Exofleet ever since the end of the war. I'm Captain Gregory Sarson and ya know I'm also kinda eager to see if you can live up to your reputation. " Captain Sarson said cheerily. "; We won't let you down sir. " J.T. said surprised to know all these people we here to meet them . " Good why don't you guys go get some rest for now and we'll meet for your next briefing ensign Jackson here will show you to your quarters. " said Sarson casually. J.T. and the captain saluted each other and they followed the ensign to their quarters. The spy who was following and watching the entire time slunk back further into the darkness into a remote part of the ship and activated his comm-link. There appeared a 3-D image of Prince Khaln' Achat "; Spy, report. " it said in a low tone. " The terrans have brought some more terran pilots on board. Most of them you won't care about but there is one terran I sure you will want to destroy. The pilot who forced you to have the bionic implants installed on you and humiliated you and his name is J.T. Marsh. " the spy said. The prince barely resisted destroying the console but he did pound the controls and turn it off. He growled menacingly for a moment and then formed what might have been a smile and laughed an evil laugh.

The prince left his room and walked down the dark gray corridor cursing his luck lately. He cursed the new bionic additions and cursed the name of the pilot who made him have to have the additions. The walls were a deep gray but all he could see was red. He entered the bridge keeping the same attitude any who were looking in his direction quickly turned away out of fear of Khaln' Achat's wrath. " How far are we from the terran military convoy. " it said in a low and wrathful tone. " About 6 parsecs my lord. Shall we attack? " one of the bridge officers replied. " That will not be necessary, their weapons and pilots are so pitiful our light fighters could destroy them in not much time. Launch all fighters and prepare my personal fighter I will destroy the terran who did this to me! " the prince said. A swarm of T'quan fighters of all types launched and began speeding toward the Exofleet ships. The guards flying around the ships were disintegrated by the onslaught of enemy fighters. Several of the smaller ships were also destroyed in seconds and a carriers metal seemed be shredded from many fighters attacking them at once

Also during this time many Exofleet capital ships managed to launch their own host of e-frames. Unfortunately most were also destroyed by the superior T'quan fighters almost immediately. Only one squad was able to hold them off and that was as usual Able squad. DeLeon activated his jammer and aimed it at a squadron of four heavy T'quan fighters and stopped them dead in their tracks before Maggie destroyed all four of the fighter with her chain lightning weapon. Kaz came up behind a group of three medium fighters, strafed the top of two of the T'quan medium fighters with a barrage all four forward laser cannons. Then he took out what seemed like the commander with his two plasmic rockets and laser-guided missile. they continued taking out most of the fighters for hours when J.T. got a transmission from Prince Khaln' Achat. " Remember me, J.T. Marsh? I will destroy you! " Khaln' Achat said and snapped of two tracking missiles at J.T. He managed to destroy the two missiles and he went after the prince and said " Fat chance of that happening in either of our lifetimes pal! " J.T. shot off most of his missiles all of which hit Khaln' Achat's fighter. Fortunately since the last battle with J.T. the prince has had his shields improved so despite taking heavy damage he was not destroyed. He began running from J.T. but he managed to spout off a comment that would affect J.T. for the rest of his life.

" You may destroy me but always remember that you failed to protect the planet Mars and you failed to protect your friend and they will always hate you for that! " the prince said. Just then two fighters showed up to protect the prince and shot at several missiles at J.T. who had lost all heart and ability to fly for that mission. David came up from behind J.T. and shot the missiles and one of the fighters down while the prince and the other pilot retreated. " Let's go get 'em J.T. " David said excitedly " J.T.? " he said all of a sudden curious about what J.T. was doing " Come on J.T. we've got to move! " he demanded. " Forget about him for now he's froze up. " said Nara flying by " We can't the T'quan will definitely shoot him down. " David said " Well then we fight from here. " she announced. She just then passed close under them and nailed another T'quan medium fighter.

David decided they didn't have time to wait for him to snap out of it and immediately took command of Able Squad. " All Able Squad pilots, this is Colonel Sames. As the highest ranking officer of the squad I am assuming command of this squad. For some reason your normal commander has frozen up and since we don't have time to wait for him to snap out of it I will be giving the orders from here on out to at least the end of the battle. And my first order is that you all converge on my area and help me defend J.T. " The other pilots of the squad voiced their compliance except for Kaz. " We can't abandon our area's. Have him land. " he said. " He's not responding to anything I'm saying and e-frame pilots don't abandon other squad members. " " All right. " Kaz said in an annoyed tone. Kaz took one more pot shot of DF missiles at the fighter he was currently pursuing. It tried to avoid the shot but in it's hasty reaction it managed to slam into another fighter coming to help it and they both were destroyed. The squad came as close as they could to defending J.T. without becoming idle. They still went after the enemy yet because J.T. was frozen he made it a little harder for them. It wasn't long till the tide turned and the T'quan fleet retreated. The squad landed along with J.T. who finally had unfroze. He walked by them without saying a word looking more dispirited than ever. " J.T. " Kaz said trying to get his attention but he just walked off the flight deck and to his quarters.

A week later as he walked into his quarters and got a pleasant surprise, at least to someone in good spirits. He found his fiancé Colleen O'Reilly sitting on his bed waiting for him typing something of her portable computer. He made up for his melancholy feelings but putting on a front of surprise and happiness while she wasn't looking. She looked up at him and smiled and cheerily said " I was wondering when you'd get back. " He laughed slightly " Well I have to do my job. What are you doing here? " he said as cheerily as he could. He really didn't want her to be there since he felt she'd end up just like the people on Mars or that she'd cheer him up a little only to go deeper into depression later. " My squad has been sent over for the next mission of yours. We're gonna try and capture a larger specimen of T'quan technology. " she explained " Uh, I know that you just got here and want to be with me but could you leave me alone for a little bit? We had a rough time out this time and I just want to get some rest. " he said accidentally showing a bit of depression. She looked at him for a second " Are you all right J.T. " she inquired suspiciously. " Yeah I'm fine just a little tired. " he said quickly making up for it. " Alright, see ya later. " she said slowly and left. He humphed to himself and thought " Oh great first you fail your own squad now you're lying to Colleen. " He laid down and closed his eyes.

She entered the flight deck over to Maggie not believing him for once. "; Hi Maggie. " she said casually looking at Maggie who was working on a damaged e-frame. " Hmm? Oh hi Colleen. " Maggie said looking up from her work and then went back to it. " J.T. told me you guys had a rough time out on your last mission. " Colleen said casually. " How's he know that? " Maggie asked looking up from her work again looking surprised. " Well didn't he go out with you? " Colleen asked a bit suspiciously. " No, he hasn't come with us since that onslaught of alien fighters on this part of the fleet. Didn't he tell you? " Maggie asked quizzically. " No. How long ago was this? " Colleen asked more suspicious. " About a week ago. " Maggie said " What happened? " Colleen asked. " Did he act depressed to you? " Maggie asked. " No, what happened? " Colleen asked again, insistently. " Well everything was going just fine J.T. was about to destroy this fighter, it was different from all the others so I guess it was the commander of all those fighters. Then he just froze up for the entire rest of the battle and when he got out of his frame he was worse than his first slum of depression. Not only will he not speak to us he's real nasty about it. " Maggie explained confused herself. " Thanks Maggie. " she said and walked off. " Where are ya goin? " Maggie asked " To try and snap him out of it, again. " Colleen replied and continued walking.

She quietly walked into his room, he wasn't there. She gave an exasperated sigh and was worried. She well remembered how he was the first time he was depressed and if he was worse she was worried about what else he did all day. She turned a young man who was walking down the hall and asked " Do you know were J.T. Marsh is? " she asked calmly. " No ma'am but you might want to check with commander Sames he might know. He's in the rec-room right now. " the young man replied and walked off. She came into the rec-room and found commander Sames sitting at a table and playing cards and talking with his friends from the exosquad as usual. She walked up to them all and asked them if they knew where J.T. was lately. " Last I remembered he was in his quarters. " said Nara " How about you guys? " she said looking to David, Wolf, Marsala and Kaz " Nope. " " Not a clue. " " No idea. "; "; I haven't seen him. " they all said one by one. "; Alright thanks. " Colleen said and David acknowledged her and she walked out. She asked the captain who passed by. " I think he's on the observation deck but don't count on that ever since whatever happened he's just been going all over the place. He wasn't in his quarters huh? " Sarson replied. " Nope, I'll check the observation deck and thanks. " she said in mock gratefulness.

She entered the O-deck and saw him leaning on the railing with a drink in his hand and she walked up to him and said " Maggie told me about what happened. Why didn't you tell me, you know that I don't like for you to be this way. " she said softly. " Please I don't want to talk about it here and now. " he said blatantly. " Oh no. Your not going to get out of this. Listen, all I want to know is what happened out there and why you lied to me about what was going on. If you don't want to talk about it here we can go to your room. " she said insistently. She took him by the arm and they went up to his room.

He sat down on his bed and began drinking again " Now. " she began and pushed the glass from his mouth to make sure he was listening " Could you tell me what's going on? What happened out there to make you like this again " she asked. " You wouldn't understand. " he said in a low, gloomy tone. " How do you know that? Just tell me J.T. It couldn't be another secret because you already told me the secret. " she asked. " Alright then it's because I failed to protect so many in my lifetime. The pilot I was chasing reminded me of that. It's just ... there have been so many times when I've screwed up. So many more times when I will screw up. " he finally told her. She was looking at him wide-eyed and said in a surprised voice " Now how'd you get off thinking like that! " He stared at his drink and said nothing. " J.T., your the best pilot I've ever known and I am sure out of all the times you screwed up there have been more times when you haven't. In fact I know so if you remember from a year ago. " she said still surprised but a little more softly. " I was lucky. " he replied curtly. " Oh come on. " she said " What about all those things you did to get the rebellions going and bring the Exofleet back from the brink of destruction? " He turned to her with a frustrated look on his face "; You don't know a lot about me do you? " he said angrily " You want the truth? Well I didn't even want you to come not only because I have to worry about you but because I knew you'd do this! " " Yes, it's because I care about you. Look at how you've become, I was afraid of this the second Maggie told me that you've become worse than before. " she said trying to stay calm. " " Get out. " he hissed in reply. " Why are you being so stubborn? Why won't you let anyone help you? " she asked insistently again. " Get Out! " he yelled angrily. " But... " she tried again, " OUT! " J.T yelled again. O'Reilly turned her head away, trying to keep him from seeing her anger. She felt the chips of ice that was his stare on her back and decided it was no use. " Well, if you don't want to be helped then I'm just not going to try anymore. Just forget it. " she said coldly. She left the room after that. He sighed and threw the glass on the ground breaking it and spilling the drink upon the floor it stained the carpet looking like the color of blood.

Colleen stormed on to the flight deck and shoved her way past David. He looked calmly up from his work and said " What's with you? " She ignored him and told Maggie " I should have taken your hint and stayed away from him. " " Whaddaya mean? " she asked quizzically. " When I tried to help him he got angry for no reason. " she said angry herself. " Well ya gotta expect those things from him, he's pretty upset " Kaz said walking up to them. " Humph, well I kinda saw that. " Colleen said sardonically " After I left I heard him throw a glass and break it. " " While you were there. " Kaz said surprised. " No I said I had left. I was just outside the door when he did it. " she said. Captain Sarson walked up to David as he was talking to Colleen " Ah, just the people I was looking for my I talk to you all for a moment? " he asked " Uh could it wait for a little while sir? " Maggie asked. " No. " he said curtly.

They followed him into the briefing room and the captain began his briefing. "; We've gotten word that the enemy fleet has decided to move up their attack we've been put on constant alert so you guys won't be sleeping for a while. " he began. " Oh great! " Kaz blurted out, the captain merely looked at him annoyed and continued. " We've been assigned the task of reporting to Earth and escort civilian refugees while the rest of the Exofleet gets ready to defend against the upcoming invasion. For right now I want you and your squad to fly an escort pattern around the Liberty and the nearby ships and defend them from any aliens who would try to stop us from reaching our current destination. " " Yes sir " David replied. " O'Reilly I want you to prep your squad and have them on stand-by in case we need you guys for some reason. " She saluted him and left. " So what happens after that? " Nara asked. " Well we wait and defend Venus in the mean time. " the captain replied. " But they may need us! " Kaz blurted out again. " I'm sorry it's Admiral Frazer's orders. " Captain Sarson replied calmly. David put his hand up and told Kaz to quit it and asked " What are we going to do with J.T. sir? " The captain shrugged and said " Well we'll just have him hang around like we've been doing, nothing we can do right now but hope he snaps out of it. Dismissed! " They saluted each other and David led his squad out of the room.

" I don't understand why you shut me up in there. " Kaz said bitterly " Because you asking all those questions wasn't gonna get us nowhere. Besides Admiral Frazer knows what he's doing and there are plenty of good pilots in the Exofleet and I'm sure they can hold their own without us. " David replied calmly " But that fleet is huge! " Kaz cried " And... " He was interrupted " Kaz? " Rita said, " What?! " Kaz replied excitedly. " They'll be fine, and if they need our help we'll give it. " she said as they climbed into their e-frames. Kaz turned on his comm-link " I still think we shouldn't wait for them to call us. What if their communications are jammed? " he continued as they flew out into space. " Cut the chatter you two! We've got to pay attention to the mission right now. " David ordered. " Yes sir! " Kaz and Rita replied in unison. They flew around the Liberty for a while and then changed course to the Valiance which was the closest ship to them and the sister ship of the Liberty. The whole mission was pretty boring until they came back to the Liberty. A high powered energy beam struck the arm of Maggie's e-frame almost sending it into Bronski's frame who moved out of the way just in time " Whoa, what the! " " T'quan! Let's burn some bugs people! Break and attack! " David ordered. " Gladly! Yaaahoo! "; yelled Kaz, David smiled marked him for a chewing out later.

A white hot blast of laser fire hit another exofighter in the cockpit and sent it spinning out of control exploding almost right next to Nara's e-frame. She flew back losing control of her e-frame and screamed. Rita rushed behind her and managed to catch her " Thanks. " Nara said in a relieved tone. " No problem, let's get back into the fight. " Rita said excitedly. " Agreed. " Nara said and they flew back into the thick of it. David came around and shot a few laser blasts from his frontal exofighter guns to knock a medium fighter off Marsala's back. Surprisingly the fighter's shields flashed a few times and exploded ";; What the. " David said surprised and confused. ";; How do you like the modifications I made of our e-frames. I managed to find a way to increase the strength of our weapons greatly. Now we don't have to empty a payload of missiles on one fighter. " Maggie said proudly. " Great! Why didn't you tell us about this before? "; he asked annoyed and pleased at the same time. " I was but then we had to make Colleen feel better. " she said. " You know that we should share this with the fleet. " he said. " Yeah. " she began and then stopped as they both destroyed two enemy fighters coming near them. " I'll do it as soon as we reach Earth. " she said. " I think you should share it with these people when we land. ";; David replied. " Done and done David. " she replied happily. The battle ended in a shorter amount of time and Able squad landed.

They all came over to Maggie and gave her compliments and patted her on the back. " What's going on here? " Captain Sarson said in an interested and curious tone. " Sir, Maggie here has something to share with you that I think everyone in the Exofleet will be interested in. " David said happily. " Come with me sir. " Maggie said excited and proudly. The entire squad left the flight deck. Several hours Maggie entered the rec-room where the entire squad was resting.

" He's estatic about it. " she said excitedly and proudly. " Cool. " said Kaz. She calmed down and said in a normal tone " Unfortunately, I won't be flying with you guys for a while. He's asked me to work on the weapon systems of all the e-frames and exofighters and increase their power too. He also asked for me to work on the weapon systems of the Liberty and teach others how to do it. " " Why? " asked Kaz looking up from his drink. She put her hands on her hips " Well ya don't expect me to work on all the weapon systems in this part of the fleet myself. " she said. Alec got up and over to her, kissed her and said " This is wonderful but I hope you get back soon. " " I won't be gone that long, Alec. " she said happily to him. She sat down with him and they watched the news together. Just then Colleen and J.T. walked in, they were talking calmly which was a good sign, but J.T. still looked depressed which was a little frustrating. " Hey the commander's finally come out of his funk. " Kaz said loud enough so they could hear him. Rita got annoyed and hit him on the shoulder "; Ow! What was that for? "; he whined. " She's probably making progress with him, do you want to set them back again? " she said in an angry tone. " No, but you don't have to hit me. " he said. " Then be careful what you say around him. " she replied. Bronski changed the subject and said " So Kaz whatcha got? " " Hmm? Oh yeah. Full house. " Kaz replied. " Aw man! " Bronski said and threw down his cards. " Give it up, Bronski " Kaz said happily, Bronski muttered and gave Kaz his chips.

" See I told ya they were alright. " Colleen said to J.T. They were both looking at Able squad drinking soda. Colleen had got him to stop drinking telling him it would just make things worse. " I hear we're retreating to Earth. " he merely opened up. " I wouldn't call it a retreat just preparation. " she said. " Uh hum. Listen, I wanted to apologize for the way I acted when you arrived. I' m just so tired of it all. " he said looking at the deep green carpet. " It's alright J.T. " she said putting her hand on his shoulder. She took the other hand and he said " I do appreciate what your trying to do, your wonderful for it. But I won't lie to you when I say that it's not having that much of an affect on me. " " Even if it's just a little at a time that's good enough for me. " she said and kissed him gently and lovingly. They turned in the direction of one of the screens and began watching the news.

There was a story about the military's plans to try and repel the alien invasion. They were interviewing Admiral Frazer who began telling them a whole bunch of technical stuff but not the strategy fortunately. " How many people interviewing him and the people listening on Earth do you think actually understand what he's saying? " Colleen asked leaning over to J.T. trying to cheer him up by making him think of something funny. " I'd say less than fifty percent people listening and none of the people interviewing him. " he said. " Ya know, I think the reason that interviewer isn't saying anything is because he's probably fallen asleep. " he said smiling, " I would be. " Colleen merely returned the smile. David was looking over at them for a second and then turned to the group and said " That's the first time I've seen him smile in a while. " " It's really good that he's smiling again. " Nara said thoughtfully. David looked at his wrist watch and said " Come on guys it's time for us to be reporting to Captain Sarson in the briefing room. " The whole squad got up, some slowly, and left the rec-room. " They look tired. " J.T. said observing them. " We all are. Most of us have gotten little or no sleep since we started the trip back to Earth. My troopers and myself have managed to sneak in short intervals of rest here and there, I don't know about them. " she explained. " I know what that's like. " they both got up and left.

Just on time commander try to not cut it so close though. " Captain Sarson. " Sorry sir we're all just a little bit tired. " David replied. " Understood, it's alright. Now let's get down to business. " he said suddenly solemn. " Yes sir. " David said and the squad walked up to the holo display and the captain began. " Alright we've reached our destination and so far the skies have been pretty clear. Your mission is to simply make you way down into Earth's orbit and come into an escort pattern with shuttles carrying civilians and escort them to frigates that will carry them to Venus and Mercury. You need to make three loops four shuttles each pick-up. After you finish your escort shift you'll return here for further instructions. Come right back here after you land. Any questions? " " What kind of opposition are we looking at? " Nara asked. " Beat me to it. " said David jokingly. " Not much, probably a few T'quan light fighter squadrons. The place is pretty heavily guarded and if any more heavier fighters get through I'm sure you can handle it with those new weapons Lieutenant Weston's been helping us to make. Any more questions? " No one asked anything more " Alright then, Dismissed " There was the usual saluting and they ran off. " Just a second Colonel I need to talk to you. " the captain began and David turn around and looked at him and said " Go on guys I'll catch up to you. " Several minutes later David ran onto the flight deck the squad got into to their e-frames and finally took off.

Several minutes later David ran onto the flight deck the squad got into to their e- frames and finally took off. Several hours into the mission the exosquad was just finishing it's last loop and was making it's way back. " That was sooo boring. I thought there was going to be some action. " Kaz whined. " I don't know it's kind of nice to have a peaceful ride out in space. " said Nara calmly. " Yeah and besides we'll have plenty of action when the invasion begins. " David said casually. " What?! " they all said in unison in a surprised tone. " When the captain asked to talk to me he told me that the admiral decided he needed the new carriers more so he sent another group to move the civilians. " he said. " So we're staying here. ";; Nara said. " That's it for the peaceful space flights. " Kaz laughed. " So is this a good thing or bad thing? " Rita asked half-humorously. " Depends on how you look at it. I do got some more news and that is we will be getting some rest after this. " David said. " Thank god! " Rita said a little relieved. " Yeah a complete rest time, no one nudging or hitting you to stay awake. " Kaz said and Rita gave him an annoyed look. " Then we had to stay awake. " Rita said. " Okay you two get ready were coming in for a landing. " David interjected. They staggered out of their e-frames as usual lately. " Hey David do we still have to report to captain Sarson? " Bronski said yawning. " Yes. " he said as the squad walked back to the briefing room.

" Back so soon? " the captain asked looking surprised. " We didn't run into anything captain. " David explained ";; So whaddaya got for us? " Bronski asked " Well as you all may know by now we've been reassigned to one of the front lines of the defense force. " they nodded. " We've been getting in a lot of badly needed new recruits. Your assignment is simple and straight forward and that is to train some of these new recruits in any way you know how. Your records are all so good as far as your skill goes that high command thought it would benefit the new recruits to have some training from you people. " he said his voice full of pride. " We'll do our best sir. " " I'm sure you will commander, dismissed! " and they left for some badly needed rest. Two hours later commander Sames got up and went to get the rest of the squad. With some effort he managed to get Kaz and Bronski up but the rest pretty much were already up when he got there.

As the squad was walking to the flight deck Kaz noticed J.T. walking down the hall like he was in a hurry to get somewhere. He stopped and watched him turn the corner and then began to follow him quietly, the squad didn't even notice that he was gone. They got down to the flight deck and introduced themselves to the class of newbies and that's when they noticed he was gone. David became upset and asked Rita to go and look for him and he and the rest of the squad split up the two other groups between the people in the squad and began the first step of training. Rita walked down the many corridors asking people if they've seen Kaz. She was directed every which way but she failed to find him and began to get angry. Meanwhile Kaz continued to follow J.T. to wherever he was going. He got frustrated with all this waiting and just called J.T.'s name " J.T.! Hey J.T.! " he yelled after J.T. He stopped and turned around looking surprised " Were are you going in such a hurry? " he asked curiously. " No where you'd be interested in going. Aren't you supposed to be with your squad. " he said kind of annoyed. " You were hurrying off like you had an important job to do when everyone in the squad knows that you've been to depressed to attend any of the meetings. " Kaz explained. Just then Rita rounded the corner and said " There you are! Boy is David upset with you right now. What were you... " she noticed J.T. for the first time. " Oh hi J.T., sorry if Kaz bothered you. " she began. " No sergeant he wasn't. You'd better get back to whatever your supposed to be doing there's nothing for you to be worried about. " he said and then walked off. " Why were you following him? " Rita asked upset herself. " Well as we were going down the hall I noticed J.T. hurrying off like he had something important to do and I wanted to see what was going on. " he explained again. " Well it's none of your business what he does now come on. " she said and they walked back down to the flight deck.

David saw them coming on the flight deck and asked Nara to take over for him for a second. He stalked up angrily to Kaz and aid angrily ";; Where the hell do you think you were going? We have a job to do and a very short amount of time to do it. " " I saw J.T. walking down the hall in a hurry so I got curious and followed him. " Kaz replied nervously. David looked even more intimidating than J.T. when he was angry. " You left us hanging to satisfy your curiosity?! " he said trying to remain calm. " Come on David it was only one hour out of seven that we have to train these guys today. " Rita said coming to the rescue. " Alright but if you do it again you'll be grounded as soon as this thing passes. Right now I don't have the luxury of grounding people, we need all the pilots we can get. " he said calming down. " You gotta be careful around people right now because not only is everyone tired but we're hella stressed out. " Rita said and then they walked over to help. J.T. was watching from the upper catwalk of the flight deck and nodded sadly. " No matter how much we prepare we'll never beat them. " he said sadly. " You've gotta have more faith in them commander. " he turned around and saw the captain standing behind him. " Listen no offense but I don't like it when one of my men are depressed like you've been. Depression like happiness is infectious and 'm worried that with your attitude you'll be a drag on the morale of the ship. " " I know that's why you haven't seen much of me and, no offense taken. " he said and looked back down on the flight deck which was now empty. " Ya know I don't understand how one phrase can bring a man's morale down so low. Why are you so affected by this guy? " he asked. " Colleen told you about this didn't she? " J.T. asked in turn, the captain nodded yes. " Well it's kinda part of my history and until recently no one ever knew about it. Did she tell you the secret I've been trying to keep for a while? " J.T. said. " No, and it's not a secret if someone knows ya know. " Sarson said. " No, I guess it's not. I'll tell you but not here. " J.T. said looking at him again and standing up. " We'll go to my office. " replied Sarson and they walked off.

" Alright commander, let's hear it. " he said as he sat down to his desk. " It all began when I was sent to Chaos on assignment to make sure that they don't unify against us again. I received a distress call from the Mars base that they had picked up a UFO on radar and asked me to come take care of it. As the alien craft and I neared the planet I tried to shoot it down but before I could do anything it shot some kinda energy beam at me knocking me clear away from the planet. It began to orbit the planet at an unusually fast speed and then the planet just shrunk into nothing. " He paused and looked down, a pained look came onto his face and he began shaking but resisted another emotional breakdown. " It took hundreds of innocent people with it and my friend. And I couldn't stop it ... I couldn't save them, they didn't have a chance. " he said in an equally pained voice. The captain sighed, got up and looked at a picture of what was his family. " No, you couldn't, you didn't have a chance to save them neither could I. " he said as he looked sadly at the picture but then changed back to a serious face. ";; But I learned to accept the death of my family and the fact that I couldn't save them. " he turned to J.T. " It's time you learned to accept it too. It was a totally new enemy which you knew nothing of, who's entire ship was superior to your own and without any knowledge you never could've stopped, it was beyond your control. " the captain said insistently. " If you believe an alien more than your friend then you are failing them. So how do you believe more? An alien who's probably crazy himself or your team members and friends? " he said in the same tone. J.T. got up and looked at him with a serious face now also.

Able squad filed into the rec-room and plopped down to what ever they want to do. Kaz took out a deck of cards, began shuffling it and played with his usual game buddies. Rita and Alec plopped down of the sofa and began watching TV. David went over to the bar and ordered some black coffee and moaned " We'll never get those kids up in space. " " Problem with your students? " David looked up and noticed J.T. next to him for the first time. " Yes they won't listen and they keep bumping into each other during take- off. Fortunately they move too slow an low to do any serious damage. " David said sounding frustrated. J.T. and ordered some coffee himself. " Ya gotta be harder on them and keep 'em practicing. That's the only way to get through to them. " J.T. said taking a sip of his coffee. " Your seeming a lot more confident today. " David said curiously. " I had a talk with the captain this morning. " J.T. replied. " I thought he gave up on you. " David said and Rita scowled at him. " Well obviously not. What made ya think that? " J.T. said looking at him. " He told us to forget about you and had me take command of the squad. " David said. " Rita walked over to David and whispered " What do you think your doing? " she hissed. " It's alright sergeant ya don't have to act like I'll blow up at anything you say. " J.T. said in a half-sarcastic and half-joking tone and Rita walked back to the couch. " They're worried about you judging by the way you've been lately, we all are. " David said. " I know I actually wish I could be with you guys right now. " J.T. replied. " Who says you can't. I think I may have enough sway to convince the captain that your ready to fly again. It'll be getting him to give you back your command that'll be hard. What'd you think, you ready to fly again? " " I guess and besides sounds like you need my help any way training those newbies. " J.T. said and David laughed.

" He's feeling fine captain, besides we can't keep him here doing nothing for god sakes! " David said insistently. " I'm just not sure he's ready. He still seemed pretty depressed to me even after we had our talk. " captain Sarson also insistently. " I know he's still a little depressed but I feel if we start putting him back on missions it might restore the confidence he needs to get going again. " David said maintaining. " Alright, alright I'll put him back on the flight roster but want to wait for I while before I restore his command. Don't make me regret this decision " the captain said reasoning with David. " I won't and captain. " David began, " Yes? " the captain replied, " Thanks. " The captain nodded and David made his way down to the flight deck where his squad was waiting. J.T. was standing in the middle of the group talking to some friends who were glad to see him. " Your back on the flight roster but the captain said he want's to wait to give you back your command. " David said " Understood. Shall we begin? " J.T. said talking to the entire squad. He began walking right next to Nara and asked her " So what are we on? " " Standard formations. " she replied and J.T. gave an exasperated sigh. David walked up to his group " Well? Come on let's get into our frames. " he ordered and they all took off. " Alright we're starting with what left off with, so let's see if we can do the standard formation. " David said calmly.

They tried and like yesterday they ended up crooked or upside down or bumped into each other constantly. This went on for an hour and a half until they finally got it right with the help of several instructors. Nara said as she was flying back to her class " Don't worry we're all having the same problem with our classes. " " Alright now try flying forward like that. " he said. They managed to fly forward in formation but it was under average speed. " Faster! " he knew it bad form to yell over the comm but by the end of standard formations David felt as if he would explode. David went through all the standard formations and basic movements even some of his own simpler specialty movements. Several seemed to have the natural flair and a girl named Sarah Hall who was usually the object of ridicule for his group, seemed to have it all down to an art but all the others left him shaking his head in despair. They met up and got back into the standard formation lining up like veterans which was one of the few things that pleased him during this time up. He turned on the open communication channel and said " Alright time to make combat landings all of you and make them sharp. I'll go first to demonstrate. " He then switched channels to the Liberty's communications and requested permission to land and then told the flight deck officer to prepare for him and his squadron to make a full squadron landing.

He lined up with the Liberty and made his approach giving a last burst of afterburners coming in sharply and coming to a stop fifteen meters shy of the safety net. The panel he had landed on turned him around and then used it anti-gravity engines to lift the panel up. The ground technician led a ground crew up at the run and hooked the panel to an electric tow cart which towed David's fighter off the flight ramp. The next fighter made it's approach trying to imitate David as much as he could. David saw in his rear sensor screen that it came in hard and stopped it's nose just touching the safety net. " A pretty good landing if I say so myself. " he thought admiringly to himself. The next one that came in came in too hard slamming into the safety net and becoming tangled in it " Oy! " he said silently to himself putting his hand over eyes. Several e-frames and exofighters had to abort their landing while the ground crew attempted to untangle the exofighter. He opened the canopy and climbed out " Prep her for another run, Harrison. " he told the head technician as he hopped out of his fighter " Yes sir. " the head technician said.

The next fighter pilot called in that one of his engines was overheating and he had to shut it off. He came into the launch and recovery room and just caught the launch and recovery officer saying " Do you wish to declare an emergency? " " Negative on that I can bring down this thing in one piece. " the pilot said. He reminded David of Kaz, he patched in on the officer's line " Who is this? " " Gressel sir. " the pilot replied. " Bring her down slow and easy and forget about the combat landing and make a normal landing. " David said " Sure thing commander. " the pilot said. The pilot didn't listen though, and attempted to make a combat landing anyway. David tensed as he came down sharply, Gressel was trying to show off, to prove himself to his commander. Gressel pulled up hard and his ship yo-yoed back down. The kid tried to escape at the last minute and wheeled around quickly. Unfortunately he was too close to the wall and he accidentally rammed the fighter's engines into the wall of the flight deck. They malfunctioned and exploded sending trooper Gressel's fighter into the floor, hard. His fighter skidded for a while stopping short of a bunch of crates of newly shipped fusion packs. The fighter's cockpit was almost totally crush along with the full destroyed landing gear and fire consumed the back of the fighter in seconds. The officer activated the crash alarm and the fire retardant nozzles activated spray the flight deck with foam. The safety and rescue crews ran down and put out the fire. They managed to open the cockpit with a laser cutter and flames shot out. A blood curdling shriek came from the cockpit and one of the crew dragged out the screaming, struggling blackened form of a man and gave him to the med-techs.

An hour later, when it was safe David came back down to the flight deck. he walked straight up to the ruined fighter which had been dragged anyway from any crates. he cursed out loud and angrily kicked a piece of burnt plastic which had fallen from the cockpit. Just then he heard footsteps from behind and he wheeled around. Nara stopped a little surprised by the reaction. " Everyone else is somewhere else around the ship. I thought I might join you. " The ice cold stare that David had given her faded somewhat and he turned away. " Right now isn't the best time Nara. " he said coldly. She ignored him and walked up beside him and looked at the destroyed exofighter. " I'm guessing that your in a bad mood cause of this. " Nara said, motioning to the wreckage she seemed a bit nervous. " What was you first clue. " he replied coldly. " Now don't you dare get to be like J.T. We need a stable leader. " she said. David ignored her and said " He just didn't listen. This is the result. " " Why do I feel you also feel bad about something? Tell me about it. " Nara insisted. David paused and then looked at her " Sure. Whatever. " There was another long pause " So. " Nara said. David sat down on one of the crates. " It's always been a thing with me, that I feel responsible when someone I am in charge of dies. In some ways more than other people. I just keep asking myself if there was anything I could've done to prevent this. " he mused. " I understand how you feel. Since the last war has been over I kept hoping that the dying and destruction would stop. " Nara said understandingly. " I'd feel that way even if there wasn't a war. " David paused again. " I also stupidly balled out the rest of the squad even though it was none of their faults. " David said. " You were angry. Listen no matter what happened, this is not your or anyone else's fault. The kid didn't listen and he paid the price for it. " Nara replied. " Yeah I guess, thanks for listening Nara. " David said thanking her. She nodded and smiled, David returned the smile and left the flight deck. Nara then got up, walked to the wreckage and looked at it thoughtfully.

After getting some more rest, Able squad came back and separated into their waiting groups. While in space David turned on the open channel " First off I'd like to apologize for being so cold-hearted a few hours ago, us full combat pilots are seriously stressed out right now, believe me you'll recognize the feeling when you get into the battle fields. " " What I said about not listening and being too proud stands though. " he said calmly. " Alright what we're going into now is merely called holo combat a more full training session for advanced trainees. " he said and a still 3-D holographic image T'quan attack force appeared on all the pilots screens. " Your weapons are set to the lowest possible setting and your computers are programmed to show false damage on your systems and it will shut down if you are shot down. " he said " Alright get into standard formation. " he said and moved into the middle of the group. The image unfroze and the holographs attacked them just as the real enemy would. " Break and attack let's fry ourselves some cockroaches! " he ordered just as if in a real battle and some of the pilots laughed. A few seconds into the thing some of the pilots stopped and new ace of the group, Sarah took out two light fighters in one shot of all her guns. Some other pilots although slower also were good at combat. After taking out the fighters they chased the enemy holographic light carrier. Many more were rendered still until David joined them and they took out the carrier by going at it's engines. He kept repeating the battle until he got all the pilots to make it out still moving. During the practice each time pilots narrowly avoided running in to each other. " Good but your flying styles are still erratic. Fast speed and being all over he place won't get you anywhere soon so try to keep it smooth and professional. Tricks are okay but there no style in that. " he said seriously. The group laughed again, " It wasn't a joke. " he said sternly and they quieted.

" About now we were supposed to return to the Liberty but I have something that I think you'll find quite informative. " he said. They moaned but he ignored them and continued " You see part of the simulation works one physical fighters to make sure you don't shoot each other. That computer program is pretty stupid so you don't get the full affect of a fighting veteran or ace pilot. I other words you people get to go up against me one at a time. " he said. He could imagine them liking the idea of being able to get a shot at their commanding officer. A kid named Rodriguez volunteered to go first. " It's your time ya old bastard. " the pilot said tauntingly David drew a sly smile and said " We'll see, rookie. " taunting the rookie back. The rookie grew frustrated and they charged each other.

David let out a barrage of hot laser fire and peeled off Rodriguez's fighter sending one more laser blast into his reinforced cockpit stopping him dead in his tracks. " Next. " he said circling Rodriguez's fighter once and engaged the next target. No one was a match for him, he chased Sarah Hall into clear space. She pulled a tight move of her own and came up behind him and shot a bunch of laser fire into his back bringing down his shields there. " Shit! She's good " he moved in time to avoid being stopped cold. He turned around and sent another barrage into her front they sped past each other their shields flickering. " Be careful! We can still kill each other if we run into each other he said hysterically. She turned around again above and behind him and got ready to finish him off. Deciding she was high enough he cut his engines and she blew past him. He tilted his ship up slightly and sent another barrage into her shutting her down. He ended the program and they could move again. They made their last landing with him and became full pilots.

Nara sighed as Able squad went back up for another patrol. They had just finished teaching their students and were sent on patrols to patrol the outer perimeter of the Earth defense line. Things had been peaceful lately which she liked but they were that way for so long she began to agree with Kaz and the rest of the squad that this was getting boring. J.T. was staring out into space also wondering where the enemy was and what they were doing. He wished that it was just a passing fleet and that they were going somewhere else but from everything that happened before there was no chance of that. He wondered what Colleen was doing and if she was alright. He hadn't seen her since before they trained the pilots which was a month and one week. As they daydreamed and were stuck deep in thought they wandered off the flight path and into deep space. It was not until they were a significant distance from it that a little alarm warned them. " We're off the flight path. " Alec said calmly. " I know let's turn around and ... " David replied in the same tone. They suddenly stopped awed by the size of the enemy fleet as it appeared in the distance.

They all stopped behind a large asteroid and watched as it came closer. David unfroze and turned to Marsala and Nara's channel " Nara is it possible for your to get the numbers of that fleet? " he said slowly. " Not without being detected. " Nara replied. He turned on the open channel to his quad and asked " Do any of you want to take the risk of being detected while we find out the ship numbers? Nara and Marsala's e-frame can do it. " " You crazy we'll be swarmed. " said J.T. slightly hysterically. " Besides you can tell from looking at it it's bigger probably more than the three million estimated more like about five million. We definitely won't beat these guys. " Kaz added also excited. " Three million was the estimated number for the entire fleet and their coming in waves. " David replied. " Oh yeah much better then we've only got two point five million to face each wave. " said Bronski sardonically. " Actually judging by what we'd be facing if they all attacked at once, then yes that is better. " J.T. replied also sarcastic. David sighed and merely said " Come on let's get back and tell the captain what we've found. " and they turned and left quickly.

" Requesting permission to land Liberty. " David said and without permission they made their approach. " Permission granted colonel you seem impatient. " said the captain interested. It was unusual because the comm-officer was supposed to give clearance. He continued " All the better I have something very important and urgent to tell you so report to the briefing room, all of you when you land. " " We were going to do that sir. You see we also have something urgent to tell you. " David said remaining calm " We'll hear it in the briefing room. Sarson out. " the captain said and turned off the comm. " What did he mean as in 'we'? " David thought with curious and suspicious implications. They went in for a landing, hopped out of their frames and headed for the briefing room.

When they entered the captain, some intelligence officers and Admiral Frazer were waiting for them. " Good your here and as I understand you and your squad have something important to tell us? " the admiral said inquisitively. " Yes sir. My squad and I were flying the routine patrol as ordered when we wandered off the path. " He paused and looked around, everyone was watching intently he ignored them and continued. " I gave the order to return to the path when I noticed the enemy fleet coming into sight. It looked far bigger than intel had said. It looked more around five million than three million easily. We need to call all of our ships over here, we anticipated three million in the entire fleet not five million. " David said hysterically. The admiral looked at him for a moment and said " All ships have been called to the front and new orders given. " Frazer said calmly. " intel found a serious bug in their system and after cleaning it and recounting ships it came out 2 million more than the original three million. We called you over to tell you the same thing. Guess you found out for yourselves. your e-frames have been prepped and are ready to go. At twelve hundred hours tomorrow we will expect you to be in your frames and taken off. Once in space you will receive further orders. Dismissed! " they saluted and left for their rooms.

J.T. was sitting in his room taking his gear off and getting ready for a short nap when someone pressed the door bell. He gave a tired sigh and said " Come in. " the door slid open and O'Reilly walked in " I haven't seen you in a while, it's good to see you " he said happily moving to a soft tone. " You just saying that or do you mean it? " she said jokingly. " I mean it this time. " he said. She looked away from him for a second and said " I passed Admiral Frazer in the hall and he advised me to go see you now. " she said looking back, looking serious. " Let's just regard it as a visit. I ... don't want to think about the possible future right now. " he said looking worried. He walked over to his desk and took out a flask walked over to a refrigerator. O'Reilly looked unhappily at it, crossed her arms and said " I thought I had got you to stop. " " It's water. " he said holding out a bottle of water " Good. " she replied and they sat down on his bed. They talked for a while about their relationship and what it meant to them. " So what about what I asked you a while ago? " he said gently and lovingly. She pulled the ring that was on a chain around her neck out from under her uniform, looked at it for a while, closed her eyes and said " I, still don't know yet. It's so hard to come to a decision " she said gently. " Take as much time as you want. Right now I want to get some rest, real rest, even if we win this battle and I survive I probably won't be sleeping for a while after that. I'll join you in six hours. " he said. " Six hours, promise? " she said " I promise. " he replied " Alright, see you later. " she said and left.

He slept for five hours and spent the rest of the time going through his personal stuff. He went through a journal he had bought when he enlisted and been writing in it since and then picked up a picture of his family after graduation. Everything seemed so easy then, so simple. It was his sister who took him up in an airplane once that sparked his love for flying His love in flying and his dreams, led him to become what he is now, an e-frame pilot. He wanted so much to be able to fly in the things he only saw in the air or on TV. He looked up and around his surroundings and though " I never wanted this. I never wanted the death, destruction, fear and sorrow that came with fighting a war. I just wanted to fly. " he looked back down at the picture at his sister who was standing next to him. The first real sorrow that came after he joined was the e-mail he got from his parents telling him his sister had died in a plane crash over Salt Lake. After he returned from the funeral and the remembrances of his life with the family he pushed that to the back of his mind only for it to come out now. He squeezed the p[picture in his hand remembering a more recent and horrible tragedy of find out his entire family was killed during the last moments of the Second Neosapien War. To think just a little longer and they would've made it. He got a pained look on his face and tense for a second holding back the extreme feelings of sorrow he felt at the moment. He relaxed and merely said in a calm, yet slightly submissive tone " I may be going you guys soon. " He put the picture back in the journal, put it away and left.

J.T. entered the flight deck, it was empty and quite except for the occasional technician working on an e-frame and the humming of machinery, skeleton crew hours. He looked around for a short while and walked up to one of the people working there " Hey buddy do you no where Commander Colleen O'Reilly is? " he asked " No sir. " the technician replied " Thanks anyway " he said and began looking for her. He found her on the observation deck over looking the huge open vista of space. He walked up next to her and she without even looking next to him said " It's beautiful isn't it. Hard to imagine there's even a war going on out there. " she said looking at him smiling. " Uh hum, kinda ironic that even out here we can't escape the evils of war. " he said and they walked over to the couch and sat down. They began talking about more stuff for a while when the captain came on the loudspeaker. " Any pilots who want to come report to the flight deck immediately, the rest listen on the loudspeaker. " " Wonder what he wants? " J.T. said curiously and Colleen shrugged " You wanna come? " he asked her. " He said pilots. " she said " So. I don't think anyone will mind. " he replied ";; Alright she laughed and they walked to the flight deck.

When they got there it was crammed with pilots wondering what was going on. They waded through the crowd most of them ignoring them but some stared as they made their way through. The captain was up on a platform whispering something to one of his officers. He faced the crowd and began speaking. They listened for several minutes to a an attempt at a moving speech. " He's obviously not good at speech making. " Colleen remarked " He's trying his best. " J.T. replied. The crowd after that cheered and began to slowly disperse to report to their fighter and stations. J.T. and Colleen suddenly noticed J.T.'s squad come up on the back of the platform. Captain Sarson came over to talk to them and they walked off the platform. He noticed that unlike everyone else the captain and his squad were not cheering or even smiling. It was instead filled with dutiful purpose and grave seriousness at the same time. He looked at Colleen and said " I gotta go see if the squad needs me. " she nodded and replied I'm going with you. " " They probably won't allow you in. " he said. " So, this is probably going to be the last time we see each other and I want to be with you for as long as I can. " she said softly. " Alright, come on. " he said and they pushed their way through the crowd to Able squad.

" J.T., Colleen we were looking for you both. " Nara said wide eyed and glad to see them. " What is it lieutenant? " J.T. said taking a step closer to Nara. " Captain Sarson and admiral Frazer are planning something that requires our two squads to work together and he wants both squads to come into the briefing room and hear it. " Nara said becoming serious. " Not all of Charlie squad can fit in there. " Colleen said. " Well I guess they mean the officers. " Nara said looking to Colleen. " Come on there's not much time left. " said the captain urging them on. When they entered the briefing room it looked almost as crowded as the flight deck. There was Able squad, the two other officers of Charlie squad and officers that they didn't know. " Is everyone here, good. " the captain said. " As you all know we are about to fight the fight of our lives and we're trying to use every resource we have to stop the invaders. Some of the exosquads and jumptroop platoons are being assigned more specific jobs than the many other defenders. This is one of those special operations. Now to get to the point. Even though we probably won't win the commanders are preparing for the second wave through boarding tactics. " " Well thanks for the vote of confidence. " Bronski mumbled sardonically. The captain merely ignored him and continued, " Able squad your job will be to escort three military shuttles each carrying one full platoon of jumptroops to one of the enemy capital ships. The shuttles are equipped with a new type of electromagnetic output device to bypass the barrier system over the ships. Once past the barrier the shuttles will lock on to the side of the ship and attempt to gain control of it. Until they give the okay will you under no circumstances leave the shuttles unguarded. " he said. One of the officers, Longfeather said " I have a question. " " Save the questions till after the briefing. Now, Charlie squad along with the two other platoons will engage the defenses in the ship and attempt to gain control of the three vital areas which are the bridge, engineering and the flight decks. After gaining control you must fly the ship to the back lines of our fleet where we will attempt to gain as much information as we can on the enemy. Expect heavy losses though. Now someone had a question? " he said looking around. " Yes what kind of opposition will we be facing. " Longfeather asked. " Heavy opposition they will likely fight to the death. If you can try to take prisoners though. Anymore? " the captain said. " How are we supposed to find our way to these areas? " asked an officer from another squad. " That's up to you. Any others " he said and no one asked anymore " Very well then your dismissed, and good luck. " they left.

O'Reilly joined J.T. again on the flight deck as he got ready. " It's going to be tough. " she said as he prepped his e-frame. " Yes, but you have good soldiers in your platoon and I in my squad we'll just take on a smaller ship. " he replied checking out his frame. " I have something I want to give you. " she said " Oh? " J.T. replied turning around. He noticed the second chain hanging around her neck, she took it of revealing a tiny turquoise ceramic angel. " It's my good luck charm, I want you to have it, for good luck. " she said handing it to him. He pushed her hands away saying " You'll need it more where your going. " " Yes, but I have the cover of the hallways and once we capture it we can leave, you can't, you have no cover and you'll have to avoid both the shots from the cap ship and her defenders. Just take it will you. " she said insistently getting a little emotional " Okay, okay, just be careful. " he said taking it and hanging it around his neck. They held each other for a long time and she laid her head against his chest for a second. He could tell by her shaking body that she was crying, scared for him, her friend and herself, she cried so quietly and softly. He merely held her close to him for a long time as this might be the last time they see each other maybe until the next lifetime.

David who was just standing around waiting was looking at them with a fairly worried expression, Nara walked up to him and asked him what was wrong, he nodded his head at the couple. " Oh. You worried about them? " she asked. " Professionally and socially, I know his depression will affect him in this battle when they come and, he's my friend. " David said. " How do you know that he's still depressed? " she said looking at David intently. " It's very subtle but in all my years of commanding squads you get to know these things. Besides, you don't think he would've gotten over it that quick? " he said calmly. " Mm. I'm worried too because either one could very well die and I'd hate to see them separated when their this close. Listen I know that he's been depressed but last I saw Alec he was looking kinda worried himself let's go take care of him. " she said. They walked up to Alec who was spinning his sidearm.

" What's up Alec? " Nara said trying to sound confident. " Nothing. Just waiting for whatever will come next. " he said in a detached tone. " Nara here told me you seemed worried about something you wanna talk about it? " David said worried himself he couldn't afford for his squad to conk-out on him now. " Isn't it obvious what I'm concerned about. Maggie's been away for several weeks and I haven't heard from her once. I don't know what's going on with her. " he said annoyed. " I'm sure she's just fine. She's been with the fleet this whole time and we haven't suffered any major attacks or accidents since she left. She's probably been very busy that all. " David said trying to reassure Alec. " It's not about what has been going on but what's going to happen. These aliens are superior in almost every way and a lot of the fleet is definitely going to be destroyed. Maybe even the place where Maggie is located will be destroyed. We're not going to win this there are just too many. " he slightly hysterical. " Don't ever say that! " David said slightly angry " Alec I'm not going to let the thing that happened to J.T. happen to you. I have to tell you honestly that I don't like your attitude or the attitude of anyone who takes the same outlook on a mission. If you want to get something hard done like this you have to have the will to do it. You are letting one thing get you down, sure she may die, and we have a small chance to win but if we don't have the will that chance vanishes all together. The more you believe something the more likely it'll come true, my father told me and most of the time he turned out to be right, the same goes for you. She doesn't have a chance unless you are willing to fight fiercely for her " he said in a greatly annoyed and whispering tone. David lifted his head and kept his eyes focused on Alec's surprised form. " So either you get rid of the attitude or you don't fly, we don't need anyone who doesn't have the strength to do his work. " Alec stared at him surprised, and said " I can fight. " " Good so you'll stow the attitude? " David said "; Yes sir. " Alec said trying to be more confident. David looked at his watch and saw it was just five minutes before they had to get into space. " Time to go people get into your frames and get ready to launch. " David said.

He got up walked over to his e-frame and got in. He closed the canopy, striated out and started his engines. The launch officer saluted him, crouched down low and pointed forward. He gave a slight kick of afterburners and launched from the flight deck breaking right as soon as he cleared the Liberty. He straightened out and sped up to normal speed looking out at the huge spacescape sprawling out all around him. The stars shown brightly, their own sun shining with bright golden light two hundred klicks off his port, his home four hundred klicks in the same direction. It was a glorious day, too bad so many were going to die that day. He admired the vista with mixed emotion for a while and then noticed his entire squad was up in space awaiting orders. " Alright we're supposed to make a circle pattern patrol around here until the jumptroops are ready to go and the battle begins. " he said and got acknowledgment from his whole squad. They began the circle and waited.

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