Death's Shadow

It was about three hours since they arrived in the Minat system, what Q'muia told them people called it. The Maranar was at it's least busy hour for war right now and the flight deck was almost empty except for a small group of commanders and squadron leaders who were making a short trek from the Maranar to the Pendiente for the mission specifics. David, Elizabeth. Maya, Colleen, and Captain Baris stepped out onto the damaged flight deck and to their fighters, Baris was the only one still fumbling with his flight suit causing sniggers and smirks throughout everyone watching including David. Baris shot David, who was already in his fighter, a threatening look. David, trying not to laugh merely said " I offered to help. " " And I said I don't need your help colonel. " Baris snapped back finally managing to zip and snap together his flight suit and began fiddling with his . " Uh sir, you do it like that and you won't be able to get flight helmet hooked up correctly, and you know what that obviously means. " David said smartly, Baris glared at him again. David looked at his watch and noticed at this rate they were going to be late if Baris didn't get his flight suit on now. " Damn. " David swore under his breath and then unhitched himself from the cockpit and jumped down. To Captain Baris' surprise David grabbed him unzipped his flight suite pulled the breathing apparatus' hose through connected the helmet to the hose and handed it to him. " Put it on. " David said in a low and now annoyed voice and without a word obeyed. David quickly resealed Baris' flight suit and then hopped back into the fighter. Baris glared at him one more time, climbed in and snapped together the harness. " At least he did that quickly. " David thought as he brought his fighter's main systems online. He ran a quick systems check on his fighter and then radioed in flight control, " All systems green flight control, and I'm ready to take go. " " Roger that Able One, It about time. " " We had a few problems with setup at first. " " Everything okay? " " All green control, can we get on with it. " " Yes sir, flight deck is clear and your cleared to take off, over. " David slowly brought up his speed to full speed and glided on his own power past the flight deck shielding, then making sure Baris was paying attention all of a suddenly hit his afterburners and did a few tight loops and interstellar acrobatics and then straightened out as they neared the Pendiente.

" This is Colonel David Sames requesting permission to come aboard. " David said in a serious tone. " Welcome colonel, " Dominguez, captain of the Pendiente answered " Your right on time. You have permission to land and come aboard. " Just then the sickened and groaning voice of Captain Baris spoke " Was that totally necessary? " " We were gonna be late so I used the afterburners to make up the time. " David said calmly hiding a partial smirk. " No, I mean those acrobatics. " " The flight controls were kinda stick last time I was out so I thought it would be good to test them. " David replied, there was no response from the back. David landed on the flight deck of the light carrier and was calmly and quickly taken off the landing strip. David jumped out while Baris quickly stepped down the ladder and ran into a corner where he could relieve his upset stomach.

A welcoming committee came up to him with Captain Dominguez and another Captain standing next to him. David and the captain quickly exchanged salutes, " Welcome to the light carrier The Pendiente, colonel, " Captain Dominguez began and paused glancing at the air sick Captain Baris still wretching in the corner. " Captain Baris isn't really up to space flight is he? " " Not really, no sir. " David replied and turned a wondering eye to the other captain. " Oh, excuse my rudeness, this is captain Reikstein of the Destroyer the Greywolf the another of the four other truly military ships in our fleet. " Dominguez said quickly as Reikstein and David exchanged salutes, " Sir. " David said acknowledging the captain. Reikstein was not a young man, with the wars they've been through looked aged considerably earlier, balding head, wrinkled skin he looked slightly older than old admiral Winfield. Yet he still walked stiffly upright and looked as strong and healthy as a man half his age. Captain Baris, who was finally done with his wretching and cleaned up a little, walked up acknowledged them with a salute that was sloppy and disregardful in nature yet adequate. " Well if we're all here let's get to the briefing room. " Reikstein said nonchalantly. " Yes sir. " David said saluting them again and then he and Baris followed Dominguez and Reikstein off the flight deck.

They entered the rotunda style briefing room and David immediately noticed Maya and Elizabeth leaning against the wall across the room, talking. David immediately began to head toward them preferring their company to the captains'. They noticed her and waved a hello " Colonel Wralings, Lieutenant Colonel Juliana. " he said formally. Elizabeth suddenly became nervous and nearly dropped her drink when she noticed she forgot to salute him. " It's all right Elizabeth, formalities like that aren't important to me. " David said calmly. " But your soldiers... " Elizabeth said in a confused tone. " Are my soldiers and I command respect among other things, you are not under my command and besides even if one of my soldiers forgot I wouldn't bother to chew them out, that would be just little bit excessive don't ya think. " David replied. " Mmm, anyway colonel, couldn't stand Baris. " Maya said changing the subject to something more interesting " Don't wanna stand him right now. " David replied and leaned his head back. Captain Dominguez and Captain Reikstein finished whatever discussion they were in and they finally began the briefing.

Reikstein stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat in a way tha= t commanded silence looked around at everyone and spoke. " Ladies and Gen= tlemen, the mission we are about to undertake is of the up most importanc= e. If we are successful not only will it drive the remainder of their for= ces from our system it may tip the balance of this war in our favor. Yet = at the same time if we do not succeed we may forever condemn our race to = destruction or slavery in the shadow of the T'quan Empire. " he began. " = Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence. " Maya grumbled under her breath= , Captain Dominguez glanced up at her worriedly as if he knew. " Fortunat= ely as far as we have deciphered the odds for victory are slightly in our= favor as there are various things that need protection and a majority of= their fleet had left to try and conquer us. As a result their forces wil= l still potentially deadly are spread thin. Now, there are three targets = which must be wiped out no matter what the cost and these are it. " Reiks= tein nodded to Captain Dominguez who pressed a button on the console of t= he holo table. A 3-D holographic representation of the Minat system appea= red with two outer worlds and an orbital station around one of them was m= arked in red. " The fleet will split up into two groups, one will head ac= ross the asteroid field to the planet Hiros, as they call it. A world who= se sole purpose is to bring up resources and manufacture goods to supply = the T'quan military. The other half will move to R'tik, a military planet= with the comm station by it. For those going to Hiros the objective is c= lear, wipe out all refineries and stop the suppliers from further aiding = our enemies. As I said due to their invasion there should be few major hu= rdles in your path. For those on the path to R'tik it should be a bit har= der since it contains two large shipyards and a full blow military base. = For this reason some of the better armaments and pilots will be sent here= . Our first objective, obviously is to take out the comm station so they = will be unable to call for reinforcements. I would advise those stuck wit= h that part to be careful since both the planet and the station have two = layers of defense batteries orbiting them. " A scattering of orbital lase= rs appeared surrounding both targets. Able, Hunter, Scorpio, Dragoon, Ome= ga, Leo, Gigantis and Guardian squadrons will have that job " The rest of= you are to defend the fleet and the jumptroop's shuttles in their attack= . The jumptroops will run in, sneak or fight through the defenses, arm t= he explosives and get out, which after they are to be picked up and esco= rted back to their ships. The leaders of the jumptroop platoons will prov= ide the detail of that mission which they will be provided with later. Af= ter, both fleets are to join up and move your butts toward the jumppoint.= Any questions. " he finished and looked up at the group of stunned comma= nders.

Immediately everyone tried to bring up their questions at once which q= uickly turned into a shouting match. Reikstein and Dominguez had to yell = at everyone repeatedly to quiet them down " QUIET!! Quiet! One at a time.= " Dominguez said in a severely irritated tone. Colonel Sames slowly rais= ed his hand, " Colonel Sames? " Dominguez said acknowledging him. " I hav= e several question most of which I think will answer others questions als= o. " David began and the captain stared at him patiently. " First, of all= are the numbers of the fleet and the risk factors accurate this time? As= you know with the enemy invasion fleet intelligence was of by several mi= llions of ships. As a result our fleet was largely unprepared and we lost= nearly half our fleet, no, nearly lost the war if we hadn't discovered t= hat weakness. " David said in a slightly suspicious tone. The captains st= ared at him for a moment and then looked to the intelligence officer in t= he corner who they hadn't noticed before. The officer gave a nod and snap= ped his fingers and then looked away. " Uh um, well the problem that caus= ed the inaccuracy of the numbers during the invasion was a more specific = thing. This time intelligence checked and recheck the numbers and their s= ystems and I assure you colonel this time the readings are right. " Capta= in Reikstein answered in a slightly nervous tone. David glance suspicious= ly at the officer and continued. " What are the chances of survival. " " = Oh. Well, I'm guessing you mean success first of all. " " No I mean survi= val. " " Best case scenario over fifty percent of us get away. Worse case= scenario we die trying. " Dominguez said taking over for Reikstein. " Ov= er fifty percent? So that means... " David said in a slightly surprised a= nd suspicious tone, he still had his mind on the officer. " That many peo= ple will die, yes colonel. " Dominguez looked up at the crowd " This is a= taxing mission people but it's a price we have to pay for victory, the p= rice of freedom. " he said in a determined yet apologetic tone and return= ed his gaze to the colonel. " Is that all colonel? "Reikstein said, his c= omposure returned. " What kind of enemies are we expected to face asked L= ieutenant Colonel Juliana, breaking the silence. " Carriers, fighters, ma= ybe a destroyer or two and the planets orbital defenses... " Reikstein an= swered and the intelligence officers head snapped back to them " And mayb= e, maybe a cruiser. But still, a majority of smaller, easier to kill enem= ies. " That caused a mutterings and mumbles to ripple through the crowd. = The captains ordered for them to quiet down again and Dominguez once agai= n asked trying to yell over the crowd " ARE THERE ANY MORE questions? " T= his time everyone including Colonels Sames and Wralings and Lieutenant Co= lonel Juliana said nothing. " All right if there are no more questions or= comments on the matter you are all dismissed. " Everyone stood up and fi= led out of the room except for David and Maya who headed toward the two c= aptains talking to the intelligence officer.

As they began to be able to overhear their conversation it was apparen= t he was more than just an intelligence officer. " Beware your words my f= riends, they can get you in trouble. " the officer hissed through his fac= e mask. David stared at where his name tag would be, it was blank except = for his rank, he was another lieutenant colonel. " And be careful who you= talk to in what way. There are a lot more of us than there are of you ou= t here and plus I out rank you. " David interrupted and was met by the st= eady glare of the unknown officer. The officer wore a full body suit of a= rmor, a mask with obsidian black eyes to cover his features and was cover= ed in a dark, black cloak. All this made the person look very intimidatin= g and not human, but David wasn't impressed. " A formality, for what I am= and what I do still makes me have power over you all. In fact the only r= eason I do nothing is that your all going to die anyway. " the officer sa= id his metallic voice coming calmly from the mask. " Well aren't we secur= e on our perch all covered in black. I bet you wouldn't have half the gut= s if I could see you. " Maya said stepping up behind David, standing to h= er full height about a quarter inch taller than David. " Continue getting= in our business and I will have to take action against you two. " the of= ficer said calmly. Elizabeth stepped up behind them " My friends don't yo= u think we should be going. We need to talk with the others. " Elizabeth = said in a questioning yet calm tone. " Yes, colonel go back to your littl= e pilots and deal with them. You two are of no use here. " the officer sa= id bringing in an air of superiority. David looked at the two captains wh= o looked at him with renewed strength, " We can take care of it son. " Re= ikstein said calmly. David smiled knowingly and the two captains smiled b= ack and nodded. David walked back up and Maya still staring angrily at th= e officer said " I ain't done with you yet. " " Maya come on. " David cal= led from the top of the stairs and they left.

" What was that all about? " Elizabeth asked confused a little. " Just= a little showdown with what's probably one of Gorad's spies. " David ans= wered with just a bit of pride in his voice. Elizabeth gave him an annoye= d stare and said " You should be careful ya know, Admiral Gorad... " " Is= n't here. " Maya said interrupting her " His power only extends so far. "= " Still if we come back he'll... " Elizabeth tried to begin again. " He'= ll what? Court-martial us for arguing with one of his flunkies? It wouldn= 't get past the board, they'd throw it outta court. " Maya said, interrup= ting her again. David who was in thought at the time looked up " Did eith= er of you ever get on his bad side or displease him in any way? " They bo= th gave him confused looks, Elizabeth nodded and Maya answered " Multiple= times, why? " " I think this mission is his little way at getting back a= t us all. " David replied, Elizabeth and Maya traded even more confused l= ooks. " Come on guys! It obvious to anyone that this is a suicide mission= do you really expect us to do all this with less that have the fleet and= less than half of our jumptroop compilation? The one thing they didn't m= ention is we're gonna be the bait for the entire T'quan fleet. We ain't e= xpected to survive! He's trying to get rid of all those he deems a securi= ty risk and we're on the list! " David exclaimed. " But, but that's craz= y he's giving up a whole lot of good pilots, commanders, soldiers and sup= plies with this little act. Some of the best in fact. " " Who ever said h= e was sane? " " Oh great so we traded a possible pirate admiral for a cra= zy one. " Maya said in an exasperated tone. " I'd rather have Simbacca to= o compared to this guy. What happened to him anyway. " Elizabeth added. "= When Mars disappeared the pirates were left without their present for he= lping to defeat the Neos, plus they lost a whole bunch of guys. He's just= been trying to rework a deal with the new council. " David answered. " H= ow'd you know that? " Maya asked. " Read the newspaper my friend it carri= es this kind of information. " Elizabeth replied sarcastically. Maya coll= apse with her face in her hand and groaned " So now what we've got oursel= ves and our troopers possible on a one way trip to hell and they don't kn= ow it. Now I know how Jack feels all the time. And we're gonna have to te= ll them, we're all gonna die. " " Who said we're gonna die? " David said = with a sly smirk on his face. Maya looked up from her moaning and looked = at him with a surprised look " You just did David. " " I don't understand= . " Elizabeth said looking just as distraught and confused as Maya. " I s= aid the admiral planned for us to die. I personally am determined to brin= g at least some of us out and complete a few of the mission objectives al= ong the way. " " How!? " Maya said in a slightly desperate tone, grabbing= him by both shoulders. " I don't know yet. That's why I need both of you= and possibly some of my squad to help me figure that out. Your supposed = to be plenty strong Maya, despite what I've seen already will you help? "= David replied hopefully. " Damn straight I'm gonna work with you on this= . If it'll help us win this war and save my friends. " " I knew I could c= ount on you Maya. Elizabeth? " David said. " Of course, of course my frie= nd. I am as determined to save lives and live as you. " " Alright then, t= hat's settled. Now the only hard part is getting this all across to our s= quads. I'll leave that up to you too. " David said with a sudden air of d= etermination. " Alright, see ya David. " " Goodbye, my friend. " David he= aded back onto the flight deck where Baris was waiting quite impatiently = in the co-pilots seat of his fighter. " What took you colonel your a half= an hour late. " he snapped yet was unable to hide the nervousness in his= voice. David looked at him for a second, he talked tough but he looked s= o nervous he could keel over in a second. " Business, and besides we're n= ot on a clock anymore sir. " he replied nonchalantly. " And don't pull an= other one of your stunts, I suspect you did that last one on purpose. " h= e said very suspiciously. David merely laughed out loud and as soon as he= was sure he was clear he hit the afterburners and made his way home.

Alec paced the wrecked flight deck nervously contemplating all of what= had happened so far. Suddenly he hear the whine of the engines of a crui= sing fighter and looked up at command fighter as it touched down and was = moved off the landing strip. He continued to watch the other commanders f= ighters land one by one and was reassured by the order and relative calmn= ess of the procedure. The flight deck's crew had become accustomed to acc= epting the fighter for a relatively small space plus the fact that it was= only one at a time made it easier. Thanks to Maggie's quick recovery, sh= e was able to get back to work quickly, making cleanup and tech crew work= double time to get the flight deck fully operational again while at the = same time retaining order. " You over there, help that guy move that big = hunk of metal. We gotta get this bay up to full launching capacity before= the raid. " Maggie shouted at one of the people on the cleanup crew who = without a word turned around to do what she asked. Alec walked up right b= ehind her " How's the work going. " he asked softly, aware of her tense s= tate. " Horrible. I got problems and delays of almost every kind, the cre= w is slow, over fifty percent of the launch bay is still buried in rubble= , large heavy pieces I might add. Plus we're now taking in one and a half= squadrons worth of fighters and trying to go on with business as usual. = " she said seriously without turning around. Alec looked around and clear= ed his throat. " That was some bomb wasn't it. " " Don't remind me. " Mag= gie groaned " Whoever it was had some experience in demolition's. Managed= to rig it in the right place so the explosion would wreck the entire fli= ght deck. " Alec continued. " Alec! Did you here what I said? " Maggie sa= id in a very irritated tone " Huh? Oh sorry. Ah, I need to tell you, even= thought it's just how I feel, I have to. " Maggie turned around and gave= him a curious look " Do you mind? " he asked hopefully. She gazed a long= and thoughtful gaze and turned around " Lieutenant can you take over for= me for a while. I have something important I have to, attend to. " she s= aid to a young woman who was helping haul some debris away. She nodded an= d said " It's okay Maggie I know what you mean. " " Thanks. "

They walked to a relatively empty and quiet spot. They sat down on a d= etached spare arm from an old e-frame and Maggie asked " So what do you h= ave to tell me? " Alec gently lifted her arms and held her hands " I've b= een thinking, about all that's happened to our people, our squad, to us. = I've decided I want to do it, I want to pursue a relationship not just be= cause of what's going on Maggie, but because, I love you. " he said with = complete sincerity and passion. His last three words caught her totally o= ff guard, ringing inside of her head due to her lack of readiness and the= ir power. " Alec I... " was all she was really able to get out at the mom= ent. " I feel, I just feel that we're running out of time. It may not see= m like it but we are. Remember, J.T. and Colleen or a better example befo= re I died. I have to be honest, I felt this way before I died on that mis= sion. We would've run out of time if, not for Algernon's invention... " h= e said noticing that Maggie had abruptly had turned away. " As far as I r= emember that's what's keeping us apart Alec. I already am clear on all th= ese things but... " she began her voice trembling on something in between= sadness, fear, surprise and maybe even frustration. Alec stood and looke= d at her with fear and curiosity but still love " With all these memories= and feeling between us, I'm afraid Alec for you, myself, us and our poss= ible relationship. Oh Alec I just don't know. I... I can't not right now.= I gotta get back to work " she said and quickly walked off leaving Alec = alone in the quiet dim light.

Not much later David came up the flight deck with another group of peo= ple all talking and not paying the least bit attention, except for David.= He noticed Alec was leaning on the railing on the catwalk just above the= stairs seemingly staring at nothing it particular. David knowing that th= is wasn't regular behavior of Alec told Elizabeth and Maya whom he had be= en talking with to go on ahead. They looked at each other from a second a= nd then at Alec and agreed. David walked up behind Alec and looked in the= general direction Alec seemed to be looking in. What he found himself lo= oking at was more or less the cleanup and maintenance crew Maggie had bee= n assigned to and generally Maggie herself. " Problems with you interest,= Maggie. " David asked in a gentle tone suspecting Alec wasn't in the bes= t of moods. " I told her I loved her and I wanted, to have a relationship= together like J.T. and Colleen had, she said she wasn't ready. " Alec re= plied with a calm yet rejected and sad voice and turned around. " Is that= all? " " No, I also told her, that we're running outta time for each oth= er. That I was afraid that if we didn't get together and begin to share o= ur true feelings that the same thing that happened on the moon with me dy= ing would happen again and we'd be left with nothing, again. " Alec added= hesitantly. David stared at his friend for a second " I'm kinda rusty on= this area, since it been a while since I tried to have any sort of relat= ionship other than friendship or but I have to ask you, does she love you= ? " he asked inquisitively " Well we're really good friends and she cares= a whole lot about me but I don't really know. " Alec managed to ramble o= ut. " Okay do you think she loves you? Not from what you've seen but from= what you feel. " David replied trying to be more specific, Alec nodded. = " Then time makes no difference. If she were to die it would make no diff= erence whether your in a relationship or not, it didn't for Colleen and J= .T. What will make a difference between you to is time. " Alec stared som= ewhat blankly at David wondering what his point was. " What I'm saying is= that it's better for you to develop a good relationship over time than i= t is to hurry things, cause if you hurry the relationship may get ruined = anyway. Short and sweet is better than long and bitter Alec. " David said= in a gentle yet firm tone as if he was giving his son advice. " Think ab= out it. " David said, patted Alec's shoulder and walked away. Alec merely= stared bleakly at Maggie once again but this time meeting her gaze. She = quickly turned and walked away continuing to shout orders and trying to c= over up her feelings for him. Alec's reaction was nil since he was too bu= sy thinking about what David had just said.

David was rounding the corner to go and find his friends when he notic= ed Elizabeth leaning against the inside wall smiling yet somewhat serious= " Just your not as rusty as you thought. " she said with gentle humor. "= What's that supposed to mean? " David inquired curiously. " Nothing. " s= he began and her face turned dead serious and a bit worried. She motioned= for him to walk with her " That problem is fixed so what about the big o= ne. " " I can't tell them yet. Not until I have something good to give th= em as compensation. " David said as they walked. " It may be too late by = then my friend. " she replied in a concerned and worried voice. " I have = you and Maya to help me. " " But even that may not been enough. The longe= r you wait will make it harder to tell them. Besides, you've already comp= ensated one. " she said implying Alec. " She's right ya know. " Maya said= leaning against the briefing room door and she motioned to it. " I'm gon= na tell them but after we get started and clarify our situation. So I'll = have something more to tell them than they're all gonna die. You were rig= ht in that aspect David. " They entered and walked to the relatively larg= e holo-map in the center. " Don't you think we should be doing this in mo= re private quarters Maya? We don't want to let our people know about our = problem yet and who knows how many of Gorad's flunkies are around. " Davi= d said silently and stressing his point. " Well David, one we're only rev= iewing the problem, not making any plans and I could give a shit less abo= ut Gorad's flunkies. " Maya replied as she turned of them map and set eve= rything up.

" Here are our objectives. " she said as they watched it run through t= he pieces of the mission they were told. David stepped in front of her " = Good thing this is interactive, " he began punched in a few things " Or e= lse people wouldn't know about this. " Just as the mini fleet they where = in turned to the jump point to leave a whole bunch of other enemy ships r= epresenting the fleet in the Sol system jumped into their system and met = the fleet halfway. " The path to Earth is blocked. " Elizabeth said obser= ving the obvious. " I don't know if anyone told you when you left, but Vi= ce Admiral Sandra Namier made a surprise appearance at the briefing just = before my squad and I left the Liberty for this ship. My entire squad kno= ws about the enemy fleet coming what they don't know is the set-up. They = think that all we're gonna do is rile up the locals and go home, they don= 't know there's only one way back. " David said starting to get a bit hys= terical. " Our biggest problem isn't the main fleet. It's those damned se= condary and tertiary fleets. Because we'll be already engaged with them t= hey'll do the worst damage. Then there's the thing about completing our m= issions. " Maya said drawing their attentions back to the map. " Oh god, = it looks bad. " Elizabeth said " Well thank you for stating the obvious. = " Maya shot back and they began arguing David leaned against the inner ra= iling rubbing his forehead and thinking. Suddenly for no reason he though= t of the green gas giant with the blue ice field around it they had seen = in the distance on their way to and from the Pendiente. " Of course the i= ce field. " he muttered under his breath and walked quickly almost runnin= g up the stairs and out of the briefing room. " What is it David? " Maya = asked looking up from her argument with Elizabeth catching David. " The i= ce field around Minat four. " he yelled back and disappeared. Elizabeth a= nd Maya looked at each other and then the representation of the gas giant= on the map, Minat four. They walked over and punched in some information= on the planet wondering about David's revelation. " David's guess about = using the ice field was right. The ice field is big enough to hold a lot = of our mini fleet and deep enough to block most sensor scans from a while= . For once I'm glad the ships we're on are small and crude. Most sensor p= enetrations would likely pass us of as debris at first since they're used= to more advanced and deadly machines. " Maya said happily bringing hope = back into the picture. " Some of our fleet? " Elizabeth said still worrie= d and concerned. It's better than none lieutenant colonel. It tells us so= me of us may still get out alive to deal with our new Admiral Gorad. " Ma= ya replied happily. Just out of their site shrouded by darkness and quiet= er than a mouse a figure shifted uneasily and watched silently as they le= ft.

David continued quickly down the hall to where he knew he would find h= is squad. He entered the rec-room noticing only Bronski who meandered bac= k and forth in front of the window looking deep in thought. " What're ya = thinking about Bronski. " David asked in better spirits than a moment ago= . " Eve. " Bronski merely replied " Who? " " Eve Hanley. " Bronski repli= ed again and widened his eyes momentarily. " Oh yeah, you haven't been wi= th us that long. Well ya know how almost everyone has an interest in the = squad, Maggie and Alec, J.T. and Colleen, Nara and Marsala. I have one to= o, except she ain't here. " " Really? Nara and Marsala haven't really exp= ressed that much interest in each other but back to you, where is this Ev= e Hanley? " David replied calmly. " Back home, on Earth. I found my feeli= ngs for her during our last war with the Neos when she saved my life from= being trapped and drownin' in a hover train tryin' to save her squad. Th= e day we took off to fight this damn war was the last day I ever heard fr= om her. " Bronski said and hit the window with his fist. " Well I'm sure = you hear from her again, no reason to worry it ain't like she's fighting.= " David reassured Bronski. " Not unless we screw up and don't nail this = mission. The way things have gone with all we've been through and all we'= ve lost I feel some nights she's the only thing keeping me from losing it= . " Bronski said, his mention of their mission stung David though. Actual= ly it was more like a kick in the face, either way the mention brought Da= vid back to his initial purpose, getting the word out to Able squad that = there was a good chance some of them would've leave here alive. He shook = his head " No, they'll make it! I'm gonna make sure! Even if it costs me = my life. " he thought with grim determination. " Huh? Why'd you shake you= r head like that and what's with the expression? What's going on David? "= Bronski asked suddenly confused. David realized that his feeling were sh= owing through he looked up suddenly very serious, very quickly almost sta= rtling Bronski with his change in expression. " Bronski, where's the rest= of the squad? " David asked curiously. " " They went down to the flight = deck to check out how their machines are. " " What kind of mood are you p= eople in today, with the exception of you I know your mood, overall? " Da= vid asked before Bronski could ask why. " We're all in a kinda good mood = today with the exception of Alec who seems down for some reason and Mags = whose too busy for ya to tell. Why? " Bronski replied confused and a bit = suspicious. David let out a heavy sigh and swore under his breath, moral = from what Bronski said was good right now, which was what they'd been aim= ing to get ever since the beginning. Up till now it was either bad or at = a low medium and now he was about to make it plummet again with his bad m= ood. " Hello. David, what's up. " Bronski asked again after a long pause.= " Go down to the flight deck and gather everyone, including Maggie and A= lec. I have something that I don't want down there early, I don't want to= have to say it at all but I have to. " " I'm guessing it's bad. " Bronsk= i said. " Very. Now go do it. " David replied a little annoyed and Bronsk= i ran off to go get them. " David paused for a while looking out into an = almost empty void, his own spirits depleted.

" Wanna drink tae drown 'em sorrows lad? " a voice with a slight Irish= accent came from behind. David looked over his shoulders to see Lieutena= nt James McDouglas still smiling at him. " Elizabeth tell you yet? About = the mission? " David asked dismally. " Sure and we've gotten ourselves in= fix right now, but it's been worse. I'm pretty confident that we're gonn= a get outta this one too. " " Yeah but this time there's the little extra= factor of admiral wanting us dead and those lackey of his are gonna try = and make sure. " David said darkly, a bit of rage coming into his voice a= s he thought of it. " True enough. Well I dunno about you but I ain't afr= aid of a few black cloaks with metal masks. All the same you shouldna' be= either. From all o' what I've heard of ya leading your squad through alm= ost all the problems in this war, it just doesn't sound like you. Actuall= y sounds more like the coward that commanded them first, J.T. Marsh. Idio= t couldna take one loss left the squad to wallow in self pity. It's hard = ta believe anyone like that was ever any kinda hero. " James rambled on t= houghtlessly. At that and the other things James said against his decease= d friend David grabbed James by the neck and slammed him against the wall= almost lifting James of the ground. David had the overwhelming urge to k= nock him one right it the jaw but instead calmed and released him. " It's= not cowardice James it's much more. For J.T. it was a harrowing experien= ce of meeting something that wasn't suppose to even exist come and take a= ll those people some friend away. For me, It's having to look into the ey= e's of your friends, some barely outta their teens and telling them that = there a good chance your gonna die. Then you half to try and give hope ba= ck right after that with a plan you're not sure is gonna work. " David hi= ssed James leaned back against the wall gingerly rubbing his neck where = David had grabbed his neck startled by the action, David obviously didn't= know his own strength. " Well I'm sorry for insulting your friend but it= 's till my opinion however inaccurate maybe you've change my mind maybe n= ot but don't take it so personally. " James said slightly in a apologetic= tone. " Like I said on the other note though, it's a tough road we got a= head of us emotionally and physically, but your helping 'em none if you c= ome to 'em with yer spirits down like this. That was quite a bit of spiri= t ye had for your friends right there, that devotion that fire ye have is= what they need. Save th' fire for th' what lies ahead lad. " James said.= He was right all except for the thing about J.T. this wouldn't help anym= ore than when J.T. felt this way, he'd have to go and face them, all of t= hem including his squad. " Yeah well, sorry for cutting off your air supp= ly. With the exception of J.T. I think your right, thanks. " David said a= pologizing to James for his outburst of anger and acknowledging what he j= ust said. David patted James on the shoulder and left for the flight deck= .

David had been laying on the wing of his fighter staring at the ceilin= g when he noticed Bronski who had just finished gathering the squad enter= ed with them trailing and talking behind him. David sat up, jumped down a= nd walked over to meet them. " David, I gathered everyone like you asked.= " Bronski said calmly yet still confused about why. Nara pushed her way = through the squad to the front to face David " Bronski already told us yo= u had something unpleasant to tell us, so what is it? " Nara asked in a f= irm almost demanding tone. David sighed heavily " All of you come over he= re, you may want to sit down for this one. " They obeyed without question= though eyeing him somewhat suspiciously. What was with his stalling they= all seemed to wonder simultaneously. " I know by the look on your faces = you are really wondering what's going on here. Well I am going to tell yo= u but I need you to not be too afraid, not panic and trust me. " he began= pacing back and forth and stopped right in front of them finally looking= straight at them into a few of their eyes. " You already know that our i= nitial mission is to go in rile the natives up and draw their main fleet = from our fleet from Vice Admiral Namier. Unfortunately what they didn't w= ant us you all to know is that the conditions under which we must do this= isn't set up for our escape and that there will be none to help us home.= In fact the admiral who sent us, Admiral Gorad has set it totally up so = we don't escape. The briefing with Vice Admiral Namier wasn't even suppos= e to happen. We were suppose to go in to do our job and be told when it w= as too late to turn back. We we're sent because of a few commanders which= include who he deems a security hazard, but because his intentions would= be too obvious if he dispose of us other wise he sent the commanders and= those associating with us on a suicide mission. " his squad was silent e= ither shocked, enraged or both at who he wondered. " So we're all gonna d= ie. " Jenny asked softly and fearfully. She was one of those he mentioned= barely out of childhood even though one cut short by the Second Neosapie= n War and this one, which made it twice as hard to say this. " It's likel= y many will die one thing I can assure you is that I not gonna just let t= his go. " he began again but was cut short by Alec. " Then let me help. I= 'm one of the few who can. " he said with tenacity instead of just fear. = " We're all gonna help. God knows you need it " Nara added. " Then you ar= en't mad. " David said to here a bit overwhelmed. " Why should we be. Not= hing you could do to change it. Besides with all the stuff you've done fo= r us so far you're the best commander we've had since J.T. it's the least= we could do. " Nara replied happily. " Then I'm grateful. Fortunately, t= hat piece of news wasn't the only news I have. I told you that Gorad sent= us on a suicide mission but I never said I was just going to let him get= away with it. I have a plan I'm working on with two other with the comma= nders for Phoenix and Steel squadrons, it's a barebones idea, but it's so= mething. " David replied his moral and confidence boosted by their show o= f support. " Well, you can never have too many people working on somethin= g like that. I insist that you allow me to help you with that. I'm not to= o bad with tactics either. " Alec said firmly. " Most of you can help me= by just staying with me during the fight. And possibly if you can helpin= g me pull together other squads. " David said seriously. " That's a given= David. Able squad never has and never will abandon their own. " Nara rep= lied. " All right, nothing we can do right now. Anyone need's me I'll be = in the ward room. " " Do you have the captains permission? " Maggie acted= shocked that the captain would actually give him that time. " No but I m= anaged to organize something with Elizabeth and Maya's squads to keep him= more than busy and out of my way. " David said a smirk creeping to his f= ace. Maggie and Nara's' eyes widened with surprise but Alec merely smiled= back. " All right then. If this is all settled, dismissed. " David said = nonchalantly closing the discussion and they once again headed their sepa= rate ways.

David stood hunched over the holograph of the system in the dim light = of the wardroom. He peered up for a second meeting the interested gaze of= Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Juliana then looked to Maya who was also de= ep in thought and finally to Alec who had just joined their little planni= ng team. " I'll ask again, you guys got a sound plan for when we get ther= e and a fair one for how to get there but it's over twice the distance fr= om this planet to the proper jump point. How will we make it from the pla= net to the jump point when they're still faster than us and have better w= eapons? " Alec asked breaking the long silence. He phrased the question a= bit better this time than the last time taking into account their speed = and weapons but it solved none of the problems. It was true it was easy e= nough to go and stay in hiding but not to get through the final part of t= he plan. There was also the spy factor and the possible traitor factor, n= o telling what they would do when the plan was set into motion. Gorad's o= peratives would be easy to take care of since they were easy to recognize= when spotted and the others had agreed to actively take care of the prob= lem. The traitor on the other hand, if there was one for now was unidenti= fiable, no one knew if or how the traitor would strike. They didn't even = know if there really was one, with the advent of the operatives. Then aga= in with the situation they may just be content to sit back and watch them= die unless they started to break through. " Only a few are faster than = us and those are the small ships and fighters. " Elizabeth pointed out re= assuringly. " Yes but we are in a small with just as small ships many of = which weren't built for war. " Alec countered nervously. " Well then we m= ay have to have some ships act as decoys. " Maya suggested. " No. " David= broke in suddenly and firmly " We can't do that to them it isn't right, = it isn't honorable. It's... it's what Gorad is doing to us right now! " h= e continue his tone becoming more excited. Maya stared at him with the up= most understanding, he especially was always one who held a pilots honor= high, they all did actually, but in this case that couldn't be. Some wou= ld have to die for them to get away. " David, I know how you hold things = like your honor so high at times. It's what I've always admired about you= ever since Phoenix squadron was put together and we met. But what good w= ill it do anyone in the fleet if none of us get home alive. If we die Gor= ad will get his way, we'll be outta his hair while he remains in command = possibly to do the same thing again to others and quite possibly ruin the= fleet. Some of us have to survive even if it means intentionally turning= someone into a decoy. " Maya reasoned in a soft tone. " No. They'd proba= bly either ignore them and let the bigger boys take care of them or tear = right through them and move right on to us. Besides this plan is based on= the cooperation of just about everyone in this convoy that'll listen. It= 's hard enough to drudge up support as it is. What makes you think they'l= l cooperate when we bring this to them. There has to be another way. " Da= vid countered stubbornly standing his ground. " David we're almost out of= time here. The fleets splitting as we speak and in three days we'll be a= ttacking. " Alec urged, adding his support to Maya. Elizabeth stood back = from the group not wanting to take sides. Though Maya and Alec probably k= new David longer she understood what he was saying best. " If we were to = throw an effective decoy at them we'd probably have to throw just about h= alf this convoy out at them. When they rip through our decoy we'll be lef= t loads more vulnerable and weak than before and like Alec said some are = faster and better equipped and these ships aren't meant for war. They'd s= imply catch up to us and empty their lasers on us and be done with it. " = David yelled responding to something Alec shouted earlier, Maya had backe= d out of their shouting match. After a while Elizabeth's' understanding t= urned to annoyance then irritation then severe irritation until finally s= he shouted " I'M SICK OF IT! SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP! " Everyone imm= ediately stopped and stared at her with shocked expressions and the room = fell dead silent for a while. Elizabeth took several deep breaths to calm= down. " Arguing amongst ourselves is going to help nobody just like what= you two are talking about! " she still exclaimed referring to Maya and A= lec's suggestion " I didn't want to take sides but I agree with David, to= a point. Something like that should only be used as a last resort. Now I= want you all to go out and think of another way to do this, if you can, = I will too. If and only if there's no other way will we go through with t= his decoy thing, is that understood! " she said angrily. " Hey you can't.= .. " Maya began anger coming into her voice now. " Maya, don't she's righ= t. No matter what happens arguing and being angry at each other is only g= oing to make things worse. We're going to do what she suggests and take t= wo days to think about it then if we haven't gotten anything new then wel= l do your guys plan. " David sighed " Leaving us one day to do two briefi= ngs with all the supporters. " Alec grumbled. " That ain't such a big thi= ng, I did it during the Second Neosapien War. It can be done if your real= ly have to just as long as people are cooperative. " Maya said becoming c= alm again. " The special word of the day is cooperation. " Alec said sard= onically. " Uh-hu. If you don't want to you can always go back to whateve= r you were doing Alec. " David replied. " No, no. I'll do it. Listen this= isn't one of my better days okay. " Alec replied suddenly tired. David e= yed him skeptically for a second " All right then. Let's get some rest an= d try to think about this for a second. Well reconvene in two days. "

" Namier let out our little secret eh? Well then we'll just have to ta= ke care of that. As for our tenacious friends, you can sabotage a few thi= ngs maybe assassinate a few people at your discretion. " said Admiral Gor= ad in a haughty and over confident tone to the his spy on the screen. The= officer and commander of the spy squad that was assigned to watch the Ma= ranar was taken aback by the admirals words. The face plate which he wore= showed no emotion whatsoever but the man behind the mask was having seri= ous reservations about the orders Gorad gave him. He had joined this blac= k operation out of hatred for the alien race and a certain measure of ven= geance but he had never been ready to work against his own people. " Sir = are you sure an active role in destroying them would be such a good idea?= Besides, with the enemy force and the traitor that should be more than e= nough to seal their fates. " the man said hesitantly. Admiral Gorad looke= d up and eyed the officer very suspiciously. Though the man felt the admi= ral might turn on him too he continued " There isn't any honor in this si= r. If anyone else were to find out... " The admiral broke in on his sente= nce " I'd take care of them in an effective fashion. You know major, if I= didn't know better I'd say you were having serious doubts about the inte= grity and ability of my command. " he said with a interested and suspicio= us look and tone. " Well sir. It's just that I joined this group for reve= nge against the T'quan Empire not our own. " the major said nervously. " = Well you better get used to it because when you agreed to my proposal you= also agreed to follow my orders without question. Don't forget major, if= you are unwilling to follow those orders you can easily be replaced. " t= he admiral hissed. " I never said I was not going to follow your orders. = I apologize if it seemed I questioned your orders. " the major responded = trying to sound calm, the admiral thought he heard a bit of sarcasm in th= e majors' voice but dismissed it. " Apology accepted major. Gorad out. " = the admiral said in a professional tone, snapped a salute and the screen = went blank as he disconnected. Then major then growled something to himse= lf as he hated kissing up to the admiral. Unfortunately for now there was= nothing he could do about it and he was in no position to argue with the= admiral. Still, he had strong convictions in the feelings of wanting to = do right by his people and honor, he couldn't let the admiral do this to = all those people who have served the Exofleet loyally for so many years m= ost of them no matter what it may cost him. He switched his computer to p= ersonal mode so that it came back on but no one else could see what he wa= s doing. He called up the map of their current system along with the surr= ounding ones'. There wasn't one way home like most claimed there was anot= her way.

David Sames headed down the hall in deep thought about the current pro= blems. He also thought of the argument he had with Alec and Maya recently= . He wished it was that easy for him to just send almost half their mini = fleet to die so they could get away but his convictions of honor wouldn't= let him. He looked at a rough sketch of the most important parts of thei= r plan and mission. " There has to be another way, it can't happen like t= his it costs too much. " David whispered to himself in frustration as he = tried to think of an alternate solution for getting to the jump point. " = Captain Sarson said he'd help us but no telling if he'd be there in time = or if it'd be enough. If we wait too long in the ice field they'll discov= er us. " he muttered as he entered his room. " Then you obviously don't k= now about the back door. " a metallic voice said coming from a dark corne= r in his room. " Wha... What?! " David stammered out in a startled tone. = He ripped his blaster out of his holster and pointed it straight at the n= ow visible officer, the man remained calm. " I would put that away if I w= ere you. Besides I have some information regarding this system that I thi= nk you'll want. " he said in a spy's' usual nonchalant tone. David calmed= down and while keeping his blaster trained on the man he flicked on the = light switch. His expression changed from startled and fearful to interes= ted " What kind of information? " David asked warily. " Like I said there= is a back door of sorts right near the place your are hiding which leads= to neutral territory. The trip you would take travel through here is lon= ger yet overall easier as there are many places for you to hide. " the ma= n replied in a calm yet serious manner. " And plenty of places for the en= emy to hide. How do I know I can trust you, major? " David said skeptical= ly and noting his rank for the first time. " How can you? I don't know. H= ow can I get you to trust me? " the man replied, despite his metallic voi= ce and the officer sounded sincere. " Is there anyone else watching us? "= " No. I have sent them off on seemingly important tasks which are really= useless. Yet they trust me and will do whatever I say without question. = We are trained not to question authority, however they assume that the fe= eling of vengeance and hatred we feel when we join is enough conditioning= for loyalty. Most of the time they are right, I am the exception. " " Th= en take off that mask of yours. " " What? " the major stepped back quickl= y with alarm. " Show me who you are. Maybe then I'll trust you. " David r= eplied now calm. The man stepped back again as David stepped forward, Dav= id was partially annoyed yet partially pleased " So they can be moved. " = he thought with grim satisfaction. " What's wrong? There's no one else he= re? You men have been sent elsewhere. Afraid that what you told me is a t= rap and that I'll recognize you when I get home cause goddamnit some of u= s are going to make it. Even if I died I'd make sure they'd know. " David= said accusingly and took another step forward. The major took another st= ep back and straightened to his full height " I have no intention of lead= ing you into a trap. I was a pilot and commander of a squad like you, I a= lso, like you hold honor high. The admiral is mad and dishonorable, we co= uld never hope to win the war if he kept sending off the ones' he didn't = trust to die on missions like this one. No one wins, our people will be e= nslaved and killed, and people similar to me won't have their revenge. " = the major shot back obviously offended by the accusation. " Then why won'= t you take off your mask? " " Because if anyone does find out I can no lo= nger be of any use to you as well as endangering your own life. " " You w= on't be any use to me if you don't because I don't trust you right now, a= nd I'm used to danger. " " All right then, but no one else can know who I= am. " " Why not? " " Both my own reasons and the one's I mentioned. " " = I can't make any promises like that. I've hidden too much from my friends= anyway. " " You won't have hidden it if they never ask. " " They'll ask = me where I got it from. " " Not until it is over. They will be too desper= ate to question it. " " You don't know my friends. " " Do you want this o= r not? " the major asked becoming thoroughly annoyed by their back and fo= rth arguing. " Then take off your mask. " David replied calmly bringing i= t back to the beginning. The major gave an annoyed sigh and pulled back h= is hood reached the side of his head to undo some fastenings. He continue= d one by one until he got to the neck which unhitched with a hiss of air = and lifted it off.

Vice Admiral Namier was doing the usual boring paperwork when someone = pressed a button signaling they wanted to come in. " Come in. " she calle= d and looked up as the door opened. Admiral Gorad stepped in with three a= rmed guards surrounding him. " Admiral! What is the meaning of this! " sh= e said raising her voice in an alarmed tone. One thing she immediately n= oticed was that their name tags had a rank but no name, they were really = Gorad's operatives. " It has come to my understanding that you, Vice Adm= iral Sandra Namier are responsible for leaking confidential information w= ithout authorization against my command which is by the way a federal off= ense. " Admiral Gorad replied in a cold and professional tone. " You were= sending them off to die without adequate reason Admiral. I at least want= ed them to no why. " she replied defensively. " Oh stop blubbering and ly= ing. You were given an order which you where supposed to follow without q= uestion just like anyone else, but you don't believe that. All thoughts a= side we both know you can not be trusted and you will pay for your crime.= " " Those people have served the Exofleet for years, loyally, each and e= veryone of them. Who are you to question their loyalty now? What's gone w= rong in that head of yours? " she spat even as they came to take her away= . She struggled with them to try and get away to no avail. " Oh you are v= ery wrong Sandra, I haven't felt this right in my head in my entire life.= We are heading into a new age, one of interstellar space travel. If we a= re to make it in this galaxy, this age we must have each and every person= s', civilian, government and military absolute cooperation and loyalty. G= one will be the age when we are as disorganized, foolish and questioning = of each other as it is now. It will be replaced by an age of law and orde= r, and I will be there to bear it on my shoulders " he replied in a comma= nding and self righteous tone. " Your insane admiral, INSANE! " she screa= med in a outraged and very fearful tone. He let out a loud, amused and sl= ightly demented laugh in response as the he left following the guards. Th= ey never questioned the admiral once.

" Well as small and crummy a kind it is at least there's a piano here.= " Katherine Martina said contentedly. " Hmm. If it's good enough for you= that's good. " Elizabeth replied. She appeared to be mixing a drink by t= he bar and turned around carrying a shot glass of some alcoholic reddish = liquid and a bottle of either artificial or mixed alcohol. Never the less= it made Katherine concerned as she new very well what was going on right= now with Elizabeth. " Are you sure you should be drinking that right now= Elizabeth? I mean don't you have those plans to be worried about? " she = asked in a worried and concerned tone. " No. But I feel like having a dri= nk right now. And besides it is artificial alcohol which is less intoxica= ting. " Elizabeth said in her totally unconcerned tone. " Yuck! At least = if your going to drink something like that make it something, tasteful. "= Katherine replied making a gagging gesture. Elizabeth laughed softly " L= ike you said I have to help think of a way to get us outta here so I shou= ldn't be drinking things so alcoholic. " and downed the liquid in one go = and poured herself another. This as always partially startled Katherine, = though she was more used to it she still could remember a time when her f= riend wouldn't touch the stuff, she quickly decided to change the subject= . " I've noticed you've taken quite a liking to David. " " He's a friend.= " Elizabeth replied swirling the red liquid in the glass and staring at = it as if deep in thought. " Oh come on Elizabeth. People can read you lik= e a book. We know what you're really thinking. " Katherine said urging El= izabeth to get it out. " Okay maybe I'm a little interested but it'd prob= ably be a waste of my time since the feeling probably isn't mutual. " Eli= zabeth sighed wearily. " And how do you know that. " Katherine asked in a= n expectant tone. Elizabeth didn't answer and downed her second glass. Ka= therine got up and walked over to where her friend was sitting " I'm goin= g to put this away before you put it away. " she said in a stern tone mot= ioning to the third glass of liquor in Elizabeth's hand. She quickly pick= ed up the bottle, took it over to the bar and put it away. " Hey! " Eliza= beth said offended with a slight slur in her voice. " You see a bit drunk= already. So are you going to answer my question or not? " she said chang= ing from one thing to another already. " I don't know. But listen I don't= ... we... I can't. " she staggered out, the thought of him and any possib= le relationship was very sobering. " Enough of your head holding you back= Elizabeth. If you truly care for him, if your really do want a relations= hip you have to let you heart lead. You can't move forward while standing= still. " Katherine urged her. " I really, really need time to think abou= t this. " she laughed yet in a hesitant tone. " You don't have forever. "= Katherine warned. Elizabeth merely got up and walked out, now she had tw= o things to think about.

David stepped back in shock and confusion as he saw the man behind the= dark mask. " J... J.T.!? " was all he managed to stutter out for the mom= ent. " David. " J.T. said nodding an acknowledgment to his observation. H= e looked at David's firearm and noticed he hadn't put it away, in fact hi= s grip was tighter and his gun was more leveled to his head. " So I guess= this means you still don't trust me? " J.T. asked sardonically. " How do= I know it's you and not just another black suit bastards. " " David hiss= ed in question. " That's up for you to decide. I came to help you guys be= cause you're all my friends. If you can't trust me I'll find another way = just not through you. " J.T. replied the offense coming back into his voi= ce. David looked at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck into thought = and then looked back up at J.T. " J.T. you know our histories together. W= e were friends first, then rivals then friends again. You remember that? = " David asked sounding slightly less distrustful. J.T. nodded " But what'= s that have to do with anything? " he asked in a confused tone now. " All= right then why did we come rivals? " J.T. blinked at the unusual questio= n not understanding the purpose at first but then slowly began to underst= and. " It was mainly a misunderstanding between an friends. I started han= ging around with Yuri not wanting to grow up. You became more serious and= grown up and more popular with the entire rest of the squad including ou= r commander, you got promoted more often. I basically hated your guts for= it and thought you were a butt kissing, uptight bastard. " he recited in= detail." What was our commanders full name and rank at the time? " " Ist= Lieutenant Maya Wralings. " " What nickname did the squad have for you t= hat you really hated? " J.T. stopped beofre guessing and looked at David = strangely. " You guys didn't have a name for me that I hated. " David sto= pped and looked at J.T. as if thinking. " How many more questions are you= gonna ask before your convinced?! " J.T. said in an exasperated tone. To= J.T.'s' relief David holstered the blaster and said " That's enough, I'm= convinced it's you. Oh and just in case you were intending to ask that l= ast one was a trick question. If you where not him, you might've guessed= with some really stupid, immature sounding name. But you didn't because = know, we both know that there was no such nicknames. " David explained an= d gave J.T. a serrious look with a slight smile. David blinked and sudden= ly got a confused look on his face. " Actually, I do have one more questi= on. You were with us during the first and second invasion or so I saw. Ar= en't you supposed to be scattered across Sol by now? " J.T. stared at Dav= id annoyed by what to him seemed to be a stupid question, but then he rem= ember that he knew nothing of his feelings of vengeance, his pact with th= e admiral, his abandonment of O'Reilly and his clone which was used to fa= ke his death. " No. That's kind of obvious as I'm here now. But the reaso= ns I have to explain it all are ones I'm not proud of. " he said beginnin= g to explain. He then looked at him wide eyed suddenly aware of how much = more time this was taking than intended. " Um, you know, I'd like to stay= and chat. But my friends won't be occupied for too much longer and... " = David put his hand up " I understand your reasoning you don't need an exp= lanation. " he said understandingly. " Do you want the information. " he = asked pulling an optics disk out of a compartment in his cloak. " Are you= kidding. Now that I know I can trust you I don't have any reason not to.= " " I guessing that's a yes. " J.T. said a bit humorously and gave him t= he disk. " It was nice seeing you again my friend. " David commented and = pocket the disk. " You too. Good luck old friend. And god speed. " J.T. s= aid. He snapped his helmet back on and with the help of hydraulics in the= legs of his armor he jumped up through the open grating that David hadn'= t noticed was open before and moved silently down the ventilator shaft to= god knows where. " Sonnuva bitch. " was all David could say for the mome= nt. " See ya on the other side my friend. I hope you can have as much luc= k getting Colleen to forgive you as you did with me, 'cause she ain't gon= na be happy. " he thought.

David turned on the lamp on his desk and sat down with the disk lookin= g it over. It was a regular 2 inch optics disk with no label or way of id= entifying the contents. Yet despite the various factors that could be inv= olved in this strange, extremely unlikely and unexpected reunion he trust= ed J.T., he would never be the kind to turn on long time friends so easil= y and quickly, if it was J.T. There was only one way to find out. " Power= on. " he said to his console with an interested tone. The computer ran t= hrough the usual boot, diagnostic, and user voice recognition procedure i= n less than a second and then replied " Good Morning Colonel Sames. What = is you request today. " in it's cold metallic voice. " Evening computer. = " David corrected and slipped in the disk " Do a complete scan of this di= sk of any and all regular and suspicious contents and display. " " Scan c= ommencing. " the computer said and took a couple of seconds to run throug= h the disk and another two to display it's contents. " No suspicious or d= estructive code detected. Contents include... " it began and David cut it= off " Switch to manual user mode and allow full access, until I am done = or say otherwise. " Out of the desk in front popped a traditional keyboar= d and mouse. David always chuckled to himself that people of this time st= ill used such ancient yet practical technology. " Well David, now it's up= to you to sort the good stuff from the bad. Let's hope J.T's still as tr= ustworthy as you remember him. " David thought to himself and immediately= got to work on the disks' contents.

A nervous yet relatively occupied J.T. sat on a sort of perch high abo= ve the going on's of the flight deck far below. Among other things it was= amazing the way the black suit armors' various mechanisms gave him enoug= h balance for him to stand, crouch or sit on a least a quarter inch beam = like the one he was on now. J.T. contemplated the new name people down th= ere had for his kind " Black suits " and what they had associated and ass= umed about them. Crazed and cold blooded killers and liars, with no regar= d for anyone's' life or safety, not even their own, but worshipping their= commanders like gods whoever they were. It partially hurt J.T. to know f= or the most part they were right, but not all of them were like that, esp= ecially this black suit. This one had a different mission now from all th= e others, to protect his closest remaining friends and try to undo the da= mage done by his commanders, his fellow operatives and even himself. Even= though it was hard and took a lot of discipline, J.T. managed to hold ba= ck his emotions whenever one of his close friends came by, especially O'R= eilly who was on the flight deck going about her business. He stared at h= er for a while, longer than the others due to his relationship with her. = Meanwhile below the watchful eye of J.T., O'Reilly began to fell slightly= uncomfortable, as if she was being watched. She turned to look up in the= general direction of J.T. but because it was so dark in that area where = the lights where burnt out and melted she couldn't see a thing. J.T. noti= cing her gaze move to him shifted slightly backwards into the darker area= so he was sure he couldn't be seen. Another one of her friends walked up= behind her and stared in his direction too. He began to become slightly = nervous thinking that they might still see him even with his dark armor s= itting in almost pitch blackness. Colleen noticed the other girl joked ar= ound with her for a bit and left. " Major Marsh? " he heard a low and som= ewhat raspy voice coming from his comm-unit. He activated his night visio= n eyepieces and scanned the area for whoever was talking to him. The pers= on would have to be quite close to him for him to pick it up without anyo= ne else knowing. He finally looked upon another one of the younger operat= ives, " What is it ensign? " " The rest of the squad and I must speak wit= h you for a moment. " the young ensign said a hint of suspicion in his vo= ice. " Very well. I'll be along in a moment. " J.T said curtly, hiding hi= s emotions totally from the boy and the boy disappeared into an unseen pa= ssage. After he was sure that the ensign was gone he couldn't help but co= ntain a shudder and slight feeling of fear, what if they knew of his betr= ayal, that he planned to betray them to save his other friends. They had = less than pleasant ways of dealing with traitors, he knew because more th= an once he was forced to watch them deal with any traitors found among t= heir organization. No the ones he planned to save were his friends the sp= y's he worked with he referred to as associates since because of the way = they normally acted around each other he could hardly call them friends. = " Only one way to find out. " J.T. said under his breath and followed the= ensign into the passage.

Joana came up behind her friend Colleen as she was still searching the= ceiling for whatever was so recently nagging at her. She walked right up= behind Colleen and stared at the ceiling for a while. Colleen turned sen= sing someone behind her and smiled on seeing her friend. " Can I help you= with something? " she asked in mock annoyance yet unable to hide the hum= or on her face. " No. Just wondering what's so interesting about the ceil= ing. " Joana replied jokingly and looking to Colleen. " Well aren't we th= e nosy one. " Colleen replied. " It's nothing, I just thought someone was= watching me. I guess that ever since all that bad news I've been really = on edge. " she said in a nonchalant tone. " Yeah, we've all been feeling = that way. Actually if the rumor's true it was probably a black suit. " Jo= ana replied in the same tone. Colleen shuddered at the thought of those k= ind of people watching her all the time, people who sounded so simply and= absolutely evil. " Oh god I hope for all our sakes it isn't. " Colleen r= eplied with her tone sounding as if she was talking about the devil himse= lf. For her religious background Joana could've made the sign of the cros= s for how she felt about those people but didn't, not even that would pro= tect her against these people. " Cheery thoughts. " Joana began, " Hey wh= at do you say we forget about this stuff and something to make us forget = about this stuff, like get blind drunk and then pass out in the dorms? " = Colleen looked at her as if she had pulled a weapon on her or confessed t= o being the traitor and said in shock " What?! " " Kidding, kidding. You = know me a lot better than that Colleen. " she said but with a smirk. " Wi= th the way things are going you never can tell how people change. " Colle= en said calmly. " Well I have no idea what we should do. What do you thin= k. " Joana said and leaned against a crate. " I don't know. But whatever = we do it'll have to wait till I'm done here. " Colleen replied. " What ar= e you doing anyway? " " Keeping order, helping with the physical work kno= w and then, going over orders. " Colleen replied. " Well, then I'll see y= a around. " Joana replied. " See ya. " Colleen said and walked off to con= tinue going about her business. Joana stood there for a second and gave a= nother glance to the area where O'Reilly had been staring at, narrowed he= r eyes and left.

Trooper Sarah Hall sat down to take a break after all the work she had= been doing on the flight deck to clean up what was left of the debris fr= om the explosion, check and recheck machine and computer systems with Mag= gie and generally do what people told her to do. Now she was left with no= thing to do but stare at things and people until they gave her something = else to do. Honestly though, she'd rather be watching TV, playing pool or= some kinda card game, talking to someone or even fighting but because sh= e was inserted in the job of being part of the replacement deck drew she = couldn't, not really. They were to close to when they'd have to take off = and still too unprepared, the explosion from a few weeks ago really screw= ed things up. As she was just looking around her gaze just happened to la= nd on Second Lieutenant Ramsy Alkana, who even though looked in a very fo= ul mood was someone to share the time with. Sarah got up walked over to h= im and attempted to strike up some kind of conversation " Hi, " she pause= d noting his sour expression, " My name's Sarah. Wanna talk about somethi= ng? " she got no response. Sarah then noted that her introduction was rat= her childlike and that she might try to talk a little more like the older= pilots did. Unfortunately, this was one of the rare times that she had t= ried to talk to someone about something and the first time trying it with= someone outside her squad and she really didn't know how the others went= about it. " She walked in front of him and looked bent down to look him = straight in the face. " Whaddaya want. " he snapped annoyed by her persi= stent wanting to talk. " What's with you? " she said a bit defensive at h= is reaction but not surprised. " Didn't anyone ever tell you to mind your= own business? " he retorted in a very angry and rude tone. " Let me gues= s you've been put on clean-up crew and when on break aren't really allowe= d to do leave or really do anything until they say you can? " she asked o= ffended by his tone but she preferred it to boredom. Ramsy suddenly laugh= ed out loud and said " You don't know anything do you. I'm an officer. Wo= rk like that is left to the grunts and newbies like yourself. If anything= I'd be telling you want to do. " his tone was mocking and contemptuous. = Sarah growled in anger and reached out to grab him and pummel the arrogan= ce right out of him when she was met by the front of a blaster. " No no n= o. We wouldn't want anyone to get hurt here know do we? " Ramsy said stan= ding up holding the blaster firmly in his hand yet he showed no sign of a= nxiousness, fear or even irritation. She stepped back and stood firm look= ing him up and down a glimmer of fear and anger in her own eyes. " You wo= n't shoot me not unless you want to answer to my commanding officers and = jumptroop security. " she said bravely. Ramsy laughed out loud again and= mocked in a menacing tone " You think I care who you are? Sarah Hall one= of the members of the mighty Able squad downed by a regular old pilot li= ke me. Me have any respect for a member of Able squad? After what they di= d to me, not to mention the fleet? " " What the hell did we ever do to yo= u? " she replied in an angry and shocked tone. " That's none of your busi= ness. Your right about one thing though I won't shoot you, besides you're= more likely to be killed by the enemy than anyone on this ship, and quit= e soon too. Now get outta my face before I change my mind. " he said hols= tered his blaster and sat back down to brood. Sarah knowing better than t= o stick around left in a hurry. Not long after she was met by Lieutenant = Colonel Elizabeth Juliana and Lieutenant James McDouglas. " We saw what h= appened over there. " Elizabeth said raising her eyebrows. " Didn' we war= n ya lass. You don't try an' talk ta Ramsy, he's outta his mind. " James = added with sincerity. " Yeah I kinda guessed that. " she said feeling ver= y embarrassed and very stupid instead of afraid at least now that they we= re here. " I think I'll stay on that side from now on. " Sarah added walk= ing over to the general region of Maggie Weston. " All right, we'll deal = with the crazy jerk over there. He may be an officer, and have a gun but = I have one too, " Elizabeth said patting the blaster in the holster " And= , I am his commanding officer. " " If your sure it's safe, for all of us = I'll leave you to your work. " Sarah said and continued walking. " Don't = worry it is. " she said after the retreating figure of Sarah " Now for ou= r insanely stupid friend. "

" What is it Ensign Franklin? Why do you call me from my post? " J.T. = asked demandingly and holding back against the dire possibilities. "1st L= ieutenant Derek wishes to speak with you, it is a matter of the up most c= oncern. " the ensign stopped and looked of his shoulder nervously reactin= g from J.T.'s tone. There was actually very little to fear from J.T., he = was different from the other commanders but each soldier for Gorad's caus= e was also taught to fear as well as respect their commanding officers. "= Let me guess, it's about our current mission? " J.T. inquired further. "= What else? " the ensign said and continued to move down the wide ventila= tion shaft. They had learned to take advantage of each ventilation shaft,= crawlspace, dark corner and small room for their operations making them = quite deadly and hard to dislodge if they were discovered. They emerged i= n an empty storage room which was rarely trespassed upon even in this sma= ll ship. Yet despite it's wide almost emptiness, it's location in the shi= p was almost perfect as a temporary hideout for this mission. At first it= appeared as if no one was there except him and the ensign, however J.T. = had been among them long enough to merely almost detect their presence. "= Lieutenant Derek? " he greeted a seemly empty shadow, yet at that moment= one lone soldier emerged from the area J.T. stared at. " The new world i= s upon us. " the soldier uttered, his deep voice was almost dark and demo= nic with the mix of amplification and the metallic tone. " Show we shall = greet it with open arms. " J.T. replied in the same cryptic tone, at the = moment it almost seemed like a true prophecy. Without waiting any further= J.T. asked in the same impatient and demanding tone as earlier " Why hav= e you called me? What concern is so important? " The lieutenant shifted u= neasily at first and lifted off his helmet, he looked slightly confused o= n an otherwise emotionless face. " As head officer of intelligence in our= mission groups I am supposed to pay attention to everything that goes on= around us. " he paused to look at J.T. who merely motioned for him to go= on. " I've noticed that even with the knowledge of the true nature of th= e mission at a time to late to do a thing that moral among most of them i= s actually up. The only reasons I could think for this is that either the= y know something we don't, know some of our secrets or at the very least = are extremely foolhardy. " he went on with a hint of suspicion in his voi= ce " And you needed to tell me this right away? " " Yes sir. I unfortunat= ely lean toward them knowing something either way. The only chance they e= ve may have had was when you sent us off on those, rather meaningless cho= res. We were thinking... " Derek continued but was cut off quite sharply = by J.T. " You're accusing me of being a TRAITOR!? " J.T. roared accusingl= y and stepping forward to the lieutenant, in an attempt to frightened him= out of coherency for his own fear of been discovered. The lieutenant ste= pped back looking more angry than frightened, a flaw in the training. " N= o, we just wanted to know if you knew anything. " Derek quickly and takin= g a lot of offense. J.T. recomposed himself " No I was out on my own duti= es. " " Which were those? " Derek inquired, " None of your business lieut= enant. Anyway, if you discover who this person is bring that person to me= and I shall personally take care of him. " " What about the other traito= r? " another officer asked from behind a crate. " He is a danger to every= one including us, he hates the entire Exofleet not just Able squad as som= e perceive. First chance any of you get, kill him. " J.T. said relatively= curtly and coldly. " He's more of a help than a danger still since he's = more of a hindrance to them, he doesn't know about us. By the time the mi= ssion starts they'll all be too busy with the enemy and the traitor to go= after us. " Derek countered. " Destroying them at the battle zone as you= suggest will require us to reveal ourselves and keep pressing on them. D= estroying them period requires that and even though he partially blames A= ble Squad for what happened he'll hate us even more and actively work to = destroy us. This effectively puts several possibly deadly roadblocks in o= ur path as I do not doubt he'll attempt to take as many of us out as he c= an giving them the chance they need to escape. Now stop being so cocky De= rek and get on with your duties. " J.T. snapped and turned once again to = leave. " If I didn't know better I'd say your nervous about something. Tr= ying to hide something. " Derek shot back in an accusing and suspicious t= one. " If I didn't know better I'd say you're being defiant and disobedie= nt. How do we know you aren't hiding something? " J.T. replied and disapp= eared into the darkness.

David had just finally finished what might be the key to get most of t= hem out of this shit hole of a system. He still couldn't tell if it was t= ruly trustworthy or merely a trap, but for know he'd like to believe it w= as good news. David shut the disk in a tinted dark jewel case pocketed it= and mumbled " We'll decide what this is when I bring together Elizabeth,= Maya and Alec. " and then left the room. The hallway outside, as usual w= as pretty empty except for the occasional group or couple of pilots, secu= rity guard or errand boy. Most people were either busy constant prepping = for battle, running messages from between commanders and crew or drowning= and forgetting their thoughts and worries in drinking and entertainment.= Surprisingly, even with all the bad news going about and the bad rumors = moral wasn't as low as he thought it would be around this time. As he con= tinued down the hall and in and out of rooms looking for his fellow unoff= icial planners he came across a rather stormy looking Ramsy Alkana who he= remembered was a member of Steel Squadron and decided to ask where Eliza= beth was. Noticing the obstacle in his path Lieutenant Alkana looked up a= t Colonel Sames about to snap but recognized superior for who he was. Not= that he was afraid of him or any superior, but he didn't feel like deali= ng with another one on account of his attitude. In the nicest most respec= tful tone Ramsy could manage he asked " Is there anything you want col...= I mean sir? " " David, and yes if you could direct me to where Lieutenan= t Colonel Elizabeth Juliana that would be good. " David replied in a prof= essional but equally respectful tone. Ramsy was a bit surprised by this a= s he wasn't really used to anyone voluntarily giving him any kind of resp= ect, he was used to having people talk behind his back, start nasty rumor= s about him and generally make fun of him. At best he normally to scare i= t out of them like he did with Sarah who he had a good feeling still didn= 't respect him in any way. " She's on flight deck " four A " sir overseei= ng preparations in her squad. " "Shouldn't you be helping them. " David a= sked in a disapproving tone. Of all times, it being less than two days ti= ll the beginning of the battle he should be working with the squad, getti= ng ready himself for the battle. " I was, until I got chew out by the lie= utenant colonel and kicked out for a while. To think her talking to me in= that tone. If it wasn't for the fact of all those people and security I = might... " Ramsy complained and growled his hand flexing and loosening by= his gun as if to take it out. " And why was this? " David asked reprovin= gly and giving his blaster a questioning look. " Bad attitude. Sorry colo= nel, I'm not good with stress " Ramsy replied nonchalantly. David looked = him up and down for second and said in a very indifferent tone " Well, no= thing I can really do. Just make sure you return to your duties before ta= ke-off. And by the way, we're all in this together, working for the same = goals and causes so we all have to work together. That includes everyone,= you me, your commanding officer Elizabeth Juliana, everyone. So let's ma= ke it happen shall we? " " Yes sir. " " Well I gotta go organize a few th= ings between me and some of the squad commanders and help with the final = preps in my squad Able squad. So ya later, kid. " David said casually and= walked off. Ramsy went off in his own direction not thinking anything of= it, until the name Able squad rang a bell in his mind. He stood somewhat= shocked still in the middle of the hallway staring in the direction of w= here David went " Able Squad!? "

Alec DeLeon stood in usual spot leaning against the railing of one the= catwalks leading into a hallway leading to small storage rooms. From her= e he could constantly look out upon the flight deck almost all day if he = could or wanted to watching over Maggie whenever she was there. Right now= he was particularly thinking about what David told him about dealing wit= h Maggie as far as a relationship was concerned. He had to try and restar= t some kind of relationship between them. Alec knew that David had told h= im things like this would take time to grow but that didn't mean it could= n't start small and grow. " That's how they get started right? " Alec tho= ught to himself still full of uncertainty himself. " I've got to try. But= this time I'll just start smaller. " he thought half determined and half= uncertain. Alec got up off the railing and headed down the stairs to the= flight deck and made his way to Maggie. It being so close to take launch= and so many problems abounding in the fleet right now that people were p= articularly busily making it actually somewhat difficult to maneuver from= one part of the flight deck to another. Alec several times nearly trippe= d over equipment carelessly scattered on the ground a few feet from vario= us technicians and pilots attempting to do their own work. The pilots whe= re the worst since they knew nothing of technician procedure, protocol an= d safety. " People don't do much cleaning up after themselves. " Alec sai= d in a casual tone attempting to get Maggie's attention. " People are in = a hurry to get things together we barely have time to be clean. Still I w= ill require them to get most of the junk off the flight deck come tomorro= w. Any mess will make any damage to the flight deck worse. " Maggie said = fiddling around with some connections on Alec's fighter. " What's wrong w= ith her? " Alec said continuing to make small talk. " There's a problem w= ith the pilot command to targeting computer relay. Probably caused by tak= ing a hit in that explosion on the flight deck. I'm going to have to disa= ssemble the entire thing and get a new one otherwise you'll have to targe= t with your eyes and you won't be able to get any missile locks and have = to get good at targeting DF's. " Maggie said in a professional and oblivi= ous tone. Maggie finally got herself out from under the fighter. " Alec y= ou never come to talk to me without a reason. At least not lately is ther= e something you want to talk about? " Maggie asked turning concerned. " A= ctually I'd like to apologize for coming on so strong when I last tried t= o talk to you... about starting... a new love relationship. Maybe we shou= ld go somewhere else. " Alec said moving from sincerity to nervousness as= he for the first time realized how crowded the flight deck was and how m= any people there were around them. She gave him an understanding yet sadd= ened look " There's no use in hiding your feeling from anyone. It's been = so obvious seeing you constantly watching over me like some guardian ange= l. " she said, stood and turned away. " When you came to talk to me about= it that day, yes it was partially how you came on, " she said and whirle= d back around to meet his gaze " but it's mostly me. I mean at this time = when things seem so dark and hopeless, people betraying us, friends dying= around us. I know it seems kind of strong and harsh but it's partially w= hat's going on in my mind. It just, it so completely scares me out of any= commitment of any kind. " she whispered to him in an upset and frustrate= d tone. " I know, but love or not, friendship or not any kind of commitme= nt won't change anything. Death, in war never targets lovers specifically= , just the unlucky ones. J.T. didn't die just because he loved Colleen. H= e didn't plan to be in that explosion but his luck ran out. Harsh or not = it's all true. " Alec replied in an urgent tone " But I won't force you i= nto anything. Take as much time as you want deciding on what you're going= to do. I already made the mistake of rushing this once and I won't do it= again. " Alec turn to walk away. " Alec? " Maggie called him back. Alec = stopped and turned around to give her a puzzled look. She walked briskly = up to him " I've already decided. " she whispered and kissed him a long a= nd loving kiss. " I love you. " " So I guess this means you want a relati= onship? " Alec asked in light hearted humor. " More than anything, but le= t's start out small. " Maggie replied softly. " All right. Lunch at thirt= een hundred? " Alec said in a cheerful tone attempting to sound casual. M= aggie chuckled lightly " Sure, lunch at one in the afternoon. " she repli= ed more simply. " Actually, " Colonel Sames broke in on their conversatio= n " If you don't mind Maggie, I need to borrow Alec for a while. " " How = long. " " Until five. " " All right, dinner after that then. " Alec said = returning his attention to Maggie. " Sure, and you better be there. " " O= f course. " Alec replied and walked off with Colonel Sames.

" So what's so important that you had to drag me away from that. " Ale= c asked David sounding slightly annoyed. " I may have found another, bett= er way to get outta here without sacrificing most of the fleet in the pro= cess. That also means you have a better chance of meeting with Maggie on = more than two dates after this is over. " David replied calmly. " Whadday= a have? " Alec said suddenly becoming interested. " Hold on buddy. I talk= about it as soon as our unofficial strategy planners can get together. "= David chuckled humorously at Alec's change of heart. " Where are Elizabe= th and Maya anyway? " " In the wardroom. Oh I gotta warn you it might be= a bit crowded in there. Supposedly word got out among some of the pilots= and their commanders and there been a sharp increase in interest. " Davi= d said nonchalantly. Alec's eyes widened in surprised and somewhat horror= " Isn't that bad when plans like this begin circulating? " " Normally, b= ut here in this situation people are being more careful. They know about = the black suits and the traitor, so they aren't gonna give it to just any= one. " David replied keeping his calm demeanor. " Yeah but someone they t= rust can easily be the traitor, if there is one. " Alec countered. " True= , we'll just have to wait and see how this goes over. And just act like t= here's a traitor for safety's sake. I've told most of the additional peop= le who know to keep their mouths shut, Elizabeth and Maya took care of th= e rest. You fears are valid ones my friend and not ones to be taken light= ly. " David replied " But still, it won't help if you panic. " Alec nodde= d in agreement. He look behind himself back to the flight deck where his = beloved Maggie was working. Due to the advent of both spies and a traitor= he was doubly worried about another event like the explosion. David look= ed at whatever he was looking at " Something bothering you Alec? " he sai= d in a concerned tone. " Huh? No just thinking about Maggie. " Alec repli= ed unable to hide the worried feelings in his tone. " Come on Alec. You c= an tell me these things. " David said continuing to try to convince Alec = to tell him. " Well, to be honest David. With all the bad new about Gorad= 's spies and the possibility of traitor combined with the fact that previ= ously closely guarded info is getting out, I'm just a bit worried about M= aggie back there. You remember what happened. " Alec replied obviously hi= s words for worry for Maggie where an understatement. " Uh hu, and that h= appened before we had any kind of plan or even knew everything about our = mission. Besides the only thing people know is that were working on a pla= n they don't know any specifics. This will change very little. " David st= ated in a matter of fact tone. " Sarah had a blaster pulled on her. " Ale= c stated. " What?! By who?! Is she all right?! " David stopped and looked= at him in worried surprise. " She's fine she was just upset. She told us= , me, Maggie and Jenny who where the only people in our said on the fligh= t deck that he seemed very angry about something and that he blames us fo= r something no one knows what it is. The worst part is he didn't not shoo= t her out of any sense but as she told us he said were more likely to be = killed by the enemy. I'm willing to bet Ramsy wasn't unhappy about the pr= eparation work and that he isn't the most stable person. if people like t= hat know it's likely to get to the wrong person or that the person itself= may be so disturbed he may try and stop it himself. " Alec said anxiousl= y. David looked at him thoughtfully " And Elizabeth merely sent him to hi= s quarters like he was no more than a kid. " he said with a hint of conte= mpt. " Well there's nothing we can do now. I'm gonna have to have a littl= e talk with Elizabeth and Ramsy. No one, pulls a gun on my squad members.= " he said angrily and continued walking. Alec waited staring at the retr= eating form of Colonel Sames who had been a friend to almost everyone ins= ide or having to do with their squad, yet still no matter how much anyone= resisted the two wars combined were having profound affects on everyone,= including David. Alec's main worry was how was it affecting his friend. = " Hope you don't turn into another J.T. " Alec muttered under his breath.= " Hey you coming? " David said who was still visible at the end of the h= all. " Oh! Uh, sorry David, comin'. " Alec replied startled out of his tr= ain of thought. He caught up to David who was waiting patiently and the b= oth headed to the wardroom.

They entered the wardroom where the other squadron commanders where pa= tiently waiting for them to enter so they could start. David and Alec mad= e their way through the group to the holo-table which currently displayed= a map of the system. Maya look at them with a serious and determined loo= k and said " Now that we're all here we can begin. " The small group stop= ped their muttering and conversations and looked at them. " It has come t= o our attention that you, David, have somehow acquired some new informati= on on the Minat system which would allow us to escape without less damage= to our fleet, this is true? " Maya inquired in an interested, yet at the= same time suspicious tone. " You know just about as much a I do on this = Maya, we discussed it before the meeting. " David said in a totally calm = and professional tone and then he produced a small unlabelled optics disk= from his pocket opened the case and slipped it into the holo-table's opt= ics disk reader punched in a few buttons and a second map of the system a= ppeared yet this one was much more detailed than the first including more= jump points, indicators of more traveled space lanes and the exact locat= ions of the enemy fleets. One jump point that was of particular interest = was a small, apparently rarely transversed jumppoint near the planet in w= hich they planned on hiding. " And that jumppoint that's our new escape r= oute? " Elizabeth asked looking up at him " Where's it lead? " David ackn= owledged here question and pushed a few buttons causing the image to zoom= out exposing several more systems that normal intelligence didn't know a= bout of didn't know much about. With a few more buttons several systems w= here highlighted including their own, there where a few interested mutter= s but they quieted down quickly. " Unfortunately as you see taking this a= lternate route is a lot slower than going back the way we came. However t= he systems connecting the Minat and the Sol system are sparsely populated= and are full of asteroids and have no significant jumppoints. Almost per= fect for the running and hiding we will have to be doing. " " Yeah, and a= perfect place for an ambush, who gave you this information anyway? " a b= urly, middle aged man spoke up. " Let's just say that not even all of Gor= ad's spies are as loyal as he'd like to think they are, commander. " Davi= d replied. " How do you know we can trust this spy? " asked another major= in the back. " I ran through the information, carefully several times ov= er and, went over it with Lieutenant Colonel Juliana and Colonel Wralings= here. The information contained on this disk seems to have a legitimate = route back to Sol. We also found that even if there is some kind of ambus= h waiting for us that they enemy could be easily lost in the asteroid fie= ld since the asteroids are large and close together and we are smaller th= an them. " David said answering both their questions. " But what if the i= nformation is wrong? " asked the major. " That's just a chance we'll have= to take. Our other options as you may have learned aren't much of option= s as you may have learned. If it is wrong you can be sure I'll find this = guy shove him out an airlock and use his body for target practice in my b= ird. " David replied with sly humor, the rest of the people in the room l= aughed nervously. " Any other questions? " Maya asked the group, no one s= aid anything, " Very well then, I'd like to remind you all to remind your= squad to make sure this doesn't spread any further than it already has, = dismissed. " David turned to meet Elizabeth's gaze as she stared at him d= eep in thought. He turned to Maya, " Are we done? " " As far as I know, w= e agreed on this before the meeting. " Maya replied a bit confused. " You= agreed on it. I'd like to know a little bit more about it. " Alec broke = in on the conversation. " You're free to look at any part of it you want = and add any comments but it is still a better option than the others. " "= Are you sure? After all, you got it from a source that a few days ago yo= u were telling us to absolutely not trust and ignore. What makes you trus= t this one source? " Alec asked suspiciously, Maya and Elizabeth looked t= o him expecting an answer. " I have my reasons and reasons that you cant = know yet. " David replied " But I will tell you. " " When? When it's too = late and we're trapped and dying cause you made the wrong decision. " Ale= c snapped accusingly. " Are you calling me a traitor?! " David snapped ba= ck. " No. What I am saying is that you might be falling into a trap and f= alling into it because you don't want to go with the previous one. " Alec= stepped back at the accusation. " It not much a plan if you sacrifice al= ready half of what will probably be a severely damaged fleet hoping that = they'll ignore the rest of us. That plan won't work, how many times do I = have to tell you?! " David yelled. " You don't even know that... " " Godd= ammit Alec will you look at the numbers, at what has happened before. " "= Be quiet! " Elizabeth shouted abruptly ending the argument as she had be= fore " I will not have you fighting any of you! Now I'd hate to take side= s but David is right. They have more than enough numbers to eliminate all= sections of the fleet without much trouble. They have a full defense fle= et we do not. " " Agreed, besides we all agreed that if any of us could c= ome up with a better plan than before we'd listen and possibly agree on i= t. You were not there when the time to reconvene came Alec that is not ou= r fault. We cannot stop for you and your relationship. " Maya added. " Wh= at?! Why is everyone turning against me all of a sudden? " Alec stepped b= ack and asked nervously and accusingly. " We're not that's what happened.= By the way Elizabeth I need to speak with you. " David said dead serious= and somewhat still angry. " Can't it wait David? I have to... " " No. " = David replied and grabbed her by the arm. " David. " Alec said and David = turned his head, " You know once your squad learns about this they won't = approve. " " We can't afford to argue on it anymore Alec. This whole effo= rt, no matter what plan we choose depends on trust and teamwork. If we ca= n't trust each other then we might as well surrender now. " David replied= and left. " My sentiments exactly. " Alec muttered audibly. " You really= distrust him that much? " Maya said. " And you trust him that much. " Al= ec countered. " I have known David for years, many more than you have. He= has never been one to betray anyone or trust just anyone for any reason.= David is much more intelligent than that. Actually the ironic thing is t= hat J.T. was that type of person, when he was younger given. You should h= ave more faith in him. " Maya replied confidently. " Not the J.T. I knew.= All I want is to get outta here safely and continue to fight for what is= right. " Alec replied calming down. " So do all of us Alec. " Maya said = thoughtfully and left.

I can walk without you holding onto me like this what's the big deal. = " she said wrenching her hand from his grip. " Ramsy is the bid deal. Tha= t and the fact that he threatened one of my squad members with a gun and = all you did was send him to his room. That's the big deal. " David hissed= so that only Elizabeth could hear him. " Second Lieutenant Alkana did no= thing. Not serious anyway I didn't see him as a threat. What reason do yo= u have to think he is dangerous? " Elizabeth replied defensively. " The f= act that as I understand he'd be willing to kill one of my squad members = for a reason we don't even know and that the reason he didn't hold back d= ue to any common sense. " " So generally you are accusing my squad member= of the same thing you didn't want to be accused of a few minutes ago? " = Elizabeth asked questioningly. " He also had an overly bad reaction to wh= en you chewed him out. And threatened you behind your back. He also lied = to me about the true reason. " David stated, Elizabeth glared at him not = convinced, David let out a tired sigh and said " He's a suspect. I wouldn= 't talk about anyone like this without good reason. " " I see, well next = time you decide to accuse one of my trusted squadron members I suggest yo= u get some more convincing proof. " she said severely offending and rough= ly pushed by him. " I can't believe I defended you. Goodbye colonel. " Da= vid sighed heavily and walked off " What a day this is turning out to be= . Nothing to do she'll never listen might as well try to get some rest be= fore tomorrow cause it's gonna be the last I get for a while " he thought= wearily and disappeared to his quarters. Hunched over against a wall wit= h his flight helmet on to conceal his features Ramsy smiled evilly to him= self " Oh you're gonna pay for this Colonel, you and everyone else who " = crossed " me. No matter what, I'm gonna make sure you all pay for your cr= imes against me. Maybe I should make an example of someone first. " he th= ought and made his way to the flight deck to pick someone for his evil ex= ample. He first person who he happened upon was O'Reilly who was walking,= talking and laughing with her friend Joana. He watched her for a time as= they walked by " She'll do. "

Lieutenant Colonel Juliana stormed down the hall and into her quarters= hoping to be able to calm down with some sleep. She prayed that she'd be= able to get to sleep since being infuriated like this normally kept her = up. She turned on the lights in her quarters and made her way to the bath= room. After a short shower she slipped into her nightgown and bathrobe an= d made her way back into her room drying her hair with a hand-held dryer.= For the moment she was gratefully and significantly calmed down until sh= e heard a voice that seemed to becoming from behind her, " He's right und= er your nose and you don't even know it. " it said in a contemptuous tone= . She whirled around in the direction of the voice but there was nothing = there " Who are you?! " she replied in a startled and wary tone. " Maybe = you should trust your friends more. He won't stay silent forever. " the v= oice said this time coming from her left. She quickly turned in that dire= ction and managed to catch a ripple in the air. " There you are. No use h= iding from me when there's so little space to run and hide so just turn o= ff the cloaking device and face me. " She heard a click from behind her a= nd she once again whirled to face it catching a man in a light and dark g= ray camouflage cloak with dark gray, almost black armor, excellent from h= iding in shadowy areas, one of Gorad's officer. " Black suits! " Elizabet= h gasped in horror at being so close to something so deadly. She dove for= the gun on her night stand but was yanked back by a rough hand " I would= n't. I came here to talk not to fight, but if I have to I can take you ou= t faster than you could pull the trigger, so if I were you I'd sit down, = shut up and listen. " he said and forced her to sit by shoving her into a= chair. " A black suit like you, have any concern for a pilot or a comman= der like me? You must be the one David is working with. Tell me, what kin= d of drugs or mind control are you using? " she spat contemptuously. " No= ne, " he growled " David is working with me under his own free will. If a= nything I'm betraying my own fellow spies not the other way around. ' Bla= ck suits ', as you call us weren't always Gorad's lackeys and yes men, we= were once pilots and regular officers like you who were during our weake= st times such as after we lost something dear to us or went through a sev= erely traumatic experience approached and conditioned to obey no matter w= hat the cost. We joined for revenge against the T'quan but due to the con= ditioning most will do whatever Gorad's commanders tell us to. However, o= n some of us the conditioning wore off real fast when we were asked to be= tray our own kind due to Gorad's paranoia, I am one of those. " " Am I su= pposed to feel sorry for you, or trust you. Oh you'll need a much better = excuse than that. Who are you talking about that's right under my nose, w= hy are you telling me this, what do you want from me? " she asked in a co= nfused and wary voice. " You know very well who I'm talking about, Lieute= nant Colonel Juliana. " he replied in a dead serious tone. " Ramsy? Until= one of you bring me more proof I won't do anything against him that's wh= y we live in a free system, that's why we have the constitution. " " A wh= ile ago if I was told the same thing about one of my squad members would'= ve reacted the same way as when David spoke too you about it. " he replie= d in a slightly apologetic tone. " Like I said he won't stay silent for l= ong. He'll find out about our various discussions he may go after one of = you he may try and kill everyone on this ship, I don't know. All I know i= s that unless he's stopped he'll just keep on going. Hell, I'll stop him = myself to keep him from her. " he continued no sounding very determined. = " Who is her? " Elizabeth asked suspiciously. " That is none of your busi= ness. But if she does die, I'll blame you. " the officer replied. " How c= an I protect her if I don't know who she is? " Elizabeth asked in frustra= tion. He didn't reply, he only turned on his cloaking device and disappea= red from her room in a slight and quick ripple of air.

Elizabeth sat leaning back in her chair looking harried and fatigued a= t the same time. She noticed for the first time her heavy, frightened bre= athing and cold sweat drenched body and her hand clenching the dryer tigh= tly like a blaster. She sighed, leaned her head back and thought " Oh gre= at I'd just blow dry him to death. Well no chance of getting to sleep now= . " Elizabeth willed herself to calm down and organize her thoughts. " If= it'll help to talk to anyone then I probably should go talk to David. " = she thought despite her now underlying distrust of him due to his associa= tion with the person who just had a talk with her. She went into the bath= room and changed from her now drenched nightgown and bathrobe back into h= er uniform. As she was coming out she looked at the vent where the man ha= d disappeared into. Besides the anger and menace she sensed with this man= she had also sensed things that would actually make someone pity him. Th= ough his outside was rough and frightening there was an underlying sense = of pain and desperation coming from him and a strange sincerity. The same= sincerity that might have made David trust him and not something you wou= ld expect from a normal black suit. She continued out of her quarters, do= wn the hall and up a floor till she found his quarters. She knocked on th= e door loud enough so that he could hear even if he was asleep. She got a= surprisingly quick and undrowsy " Who is it. " from inside. " It's me El= izabeth she said clearing her voice of all traces of fear for the moment.= There was a short pause from inside and then an exasperated " Come in li= eutenant colonel. " from behind the door. Just as Elizabeth came in he bl= anked his screen and stood to face her " What is it lieutenant colonel? "= " Still up? I thought you be trying to get some rest by now. " she said = evading the question by now. David cocked an eyebrow at her and looked he= r up and down " I couldn't sleep due to certain issues. Now what is it, I= know you didn't just come to ask me that? " he replied warily. " How do = you know. " Elizabeth asked in a slightly defensive tone and forced a smi= le. " Your entire body is as stiff as a metal rod, your face is sweaty, a= nd the look in your eyes make you look fatigued. The picture of a stresse= d out, nervous or harried person. " Elizabeth's eyes widened and she step= ped back slightly surprised by the fact that he could read her just by lo= oking at her features. " How did you know that? " " By paying attention a= nd making logical connections. Now what - is - it. " Elizabeth eliminated= the telltale features and tried to look as serious as calm as possible. = " Oh nothing. It's just that your so called friend and ally threatened me= in my own quarters. " " What, why? " he said suddenly becoming concern. = " He came to talk to me about the traitor said he's right under my nose = and I don't know it and also that he wouldn't stay silent forever. " she = recalled in a slightly nervous yet thoughtful tone. " It's true you know,= except for the part about you not knowing it. I know that this is hard t= o expect, that for the most part he's be loyal but he's the only one on t= hat flight deck with the reasons, the means and the experience. " David s= aid in a gentle yet insistent tone. David walked over to his computer the= turned back on the monitor. Elizabeth hesitated walked over to the monit= or. There she saw a list of profile names of all pilots on board. " Compu= ter select and bring of the entire profile and background of Second Lieut= enant Ramsy Alkana. " he commanded and the computer immediately brought u= p what he had asked for. Elizabeth looked at the screen and scrolled down= scrutinizing everything. " Experience in espionage, explosives, knows ho= w to move and act like nothings going on so no one sees or at least suspe= cts a thing. Boy's a work. Unfortunately his lifetime experiences, more s= pecifically the loss of his family during the Second Neosapien War drove = him insane. He blamed Able squad instead of the Neosapiens for their deat= h because they went down to earth more than once and never tried to rescu= e anyone in any of the internment camps. He didn't care so much about tha= t except for the fact that his family was trapped and killed in one of th= em. Both a motivate and means. " David narrated as she read. " But why bl= ame them and not the Neosapiens, and why did he start just now? " she as= ked in an utterly defeated tone. " I don't know exactly, but likely just = because they were easy target, plus they were friends with Marsala. As fo= r his timing I have no idea " David suggested thinking more about it hims= elf. " But whatever reason, he has to be stopped, and soon. " he said and= began to leave " By the way David, " she began, he stopped and looked ov= er his shoulder, " He mentioned someone else, some woman. He ranted about= how we had to protect ' her ' and that he'd blame me if ' she ' died. Ho= w can we protect her if we don't know who she is? " she continued becomin= g more worried and confused. " I know exactly who she is, come with me. "= he replied in a decidedly determined manner, Elizabeth opened her mouth = to protest but shut it deciding to take the strange man's advice and have= confidence in David.

A few moments later they were out on the flight deck were all three fl= ight squadrons and Charlie squad were stationed. Most of the remaining te= chnicians and jumptroops were scattered out on the flight deck camping ou= t under the wings of fighters and various other niches they could find. E= lizabeth looked at David inquisitively in silent communication. " There's= your answer Elizabeth. " he said lowly so as not to disturb anyone and p= ointed to the leader of Charlie squad, Colleen O'Reilly. " Why is she so = special to him? " Elizabeth asked more confused than before, David merely= replied " Guess. " and led her back up into the halls. She suddenly star= ed at him with a look of realization " But I thought that J.T. died on th= at alien flagship almost two years ago. How could he... you can't... I me= an he... " David raised a hand to stop her saying " I know, I know. I tho= ught he was dead as well before he revealed himself to me a few days ago.= That's why I trusted him, because I know him better than anyone else eve= n in his own squad. He wouldn't sacrifice his old friend much less to wom= an he loves to satisfy someone's fear or ambition. " David said sincerely= . " But how can he be alive. And if he was so honorable and kind how come= he threatened me in my own quarters " she asked insistently, and stared = at him dead serious, expecting an answer right there and then. " To answe= r your first question as far as he told me he agreed to allow himself to = be cloned, his clone died not him, he was busy doing convert ops missions= for Gorad against the T'quan Empire. As for the second one it's kinda ob= vious, Able squad and Colleen are the only things he has left and despera= tely wants to protect them at all costs. Your adamant arguments against t= he fact that Ramsy is a traitor must have angered him, causing him to pic= k you out to deliver the message of his intention to protect us at all co= sts. " David explained with a look of genuine concern for both of them on= his face. " This war has changed all of us greatly. " she said regretful= ly, and closed her eyes and shook her head in a tired and sorrowful expre= ssion " Some less favorably than others. " " Just be glad most of us are = still mostly sane. " he said and managed s slight smile. Elizabeth looked= up at him and smiled at the thought of him trying so hard to keep them t= ogether and their personal friendship intact " Yes, but who might that be= . " " Right here, Izzy. " he teased in reply. " I told you not to call me= that. " she said and whirled around her face suddenly flushed in embarra= ssment at the continuation butchering of her name pointing a stern finger= in his face. The sly smile he had on right now broke into laughter, her = eyes widened in anger and then softened back to their regular look, reali= zation the ridiculous state of the situation at the moment. The grim feel= ing of the situation and seriousness broke down for those few seconds and= she began to laugh herself partially that of humor and that of relief th= at he wasn't becoming a grim man like so many other squadron commanders s= he knew. David controlled himself, took a deep breath and managed to hold= back his laughter yet his smile revealed his lack of sincerity " Hey, li= sten since we don't have that much time till launch why don't we head our= separate ways prepare for launch and then meet back in the rec-room mayb= e share some memories about the better times. " Elizabeth also controlled= herself and nodded in agreement. He offered her his arm and for now they= walked arm in arm down the hallway for the time being, happy. " Enjoy yo= ur idiocy while your can bastards. Soon you'll have one less reason to be= happy. " Ramsy thought hiding around a nearby corner totally silent and = undetected. He slipped out of the hallway and headed quickly down the hal= l to the flight deck where O'Reilly slept with the others.

He slipped stealthily into the darkened flight deck and across the dec= k without a light stepping carefully across the bodies. He slipped by the= apparently soundly sleeping Lori Kenith his dark shadow falling across h= er. He stopped quickly as she shifted but didn't appear to stir and moved= on. He picked up the pace while remaining silent and stealthy as he cros= sed Vince Pellegrino, who wasn't as heavy a sleeper as the rest of them. = He finally reached the area David had motioned Elizabeth to where O'Reill= y was sleeping against the cockpit of a Griffon medium class fighter. He = stopped suddenly as she came into view noticing a small light on paper. "= Damn! She's awake. Time to try and see if I can use my charm or persuasi= on to get her where I want her. " he thought nervously yet determined he = held back a sneer and forced his face to become calm and normal. He walke= d silently up beside her and cleared his throat. She gasped whirled to me= et his penetrating gaze and relaxed when she saw it was only a pilot from= Steel squadron, on the outside. " Is there any reason why you had to sta= rtle me like that second lieutenant? " she growled, understandably annoye= d. " Sorry ma'am, I guess I just don't make that much noise. " he said no= nchalantly. " It's all right but is there anything you need. " she said s= eriously and stood to meet his gaze with an even more intimidating one. R= amsy shifted uncomfortably swearing for a moment that she knew everything= he had in store for her. " Uh, um, oh yeah my commanding officer wants y= ou to help me with the moving of some cargo. " O'Reilly narrowed her eyes= suspiciously " We already finished transporting things that needed to be= transported. " Ramsy's thoughts raced as he searched for an excuse, any = excuse that would work, even if he couldn't kill her tonight he at least = had to get away without anymore suspicion. " Yes, but unfortunately one o= f the men from your platoon moved some, weaponry to the wrong place and m= y commander wants it fixed. " " O'Reilly sighed " Fine I'll send one of m= y troopers to go and help you. " " Uh, she also needs to have a words wit= h you. " Colleen sighed wearily and finally said " All right let's go she= said and threw her book on the floor next to her blanket and sleeping ba= g. It hit the floor with a loud thwack sound cause Ramsy to wince and loo= k around nervously. A few people stirred But didn't wake up. He smiled de= viously to himself and followed quietly off the flight deck, so far his p= lan was working.

Ramsy and Colleen both headed through the halls of the ship further an= d further away from the area's were there were people. The only thing Col= leen really noticed was that Ramsy kept trailing behind her and giving he= r strange looks for extended periods of time, looks that weren't exactly = friendly. Ramsy stared at her for the entire time absorbed in his thought= s. " She's getting war. If she gets too aware I might fail or be discover= ed. Better make conversation to make the situation seem more regular. " h= e thought suddenly nervous. Ramsy quickly searched his memory for anythin= g he could use, " That's some fight we're gonna hafta put up when we get = to the T'quan bases hmm? " he said almost amiably. " Hmph, more for us th= an it is for you though. " she snorted. While she liked those in Able squ= ad, was okay with the commander of Steel and Phoenix squadrons, and love= d, the former commander of Able squad she took the same attitude toward a= ll other pilots in the Exofleet as other jumptroops. " Only cause we've f= ought more and done more of the work than you guys have. We're, a bit mor= e use to them. " he said biting his tongue to keep from snarling or pulli= ng his blaster. " Plus the fact that there are less of them, and you guys= are protected behind several meters of plasteel all around flying new fi= ghters while we are still struggling in the older jumptroop armor. " she = said accusingly. " Hey that ain't my fault some don't even try to get sna= ppy with me. " he hissed in reply. She looked back at him with a smug loo= k on her face, " It is just to easy to get to you ya know. " she said. Ra= msy stopped and looked at her narrow-eyed, they stood that way for a whil= e until Ramsy forced himself to calm down. " That's it girlie. This is th= e end of the line for you. " he thought noticing the storage room door ju= st ahead of them and deciding they were far enough. He sighed an exaspera= ted sigh and said " Here we are. " " Took us long enough to get there. " = she said return the attitude to her voice and looking at the door. She on= ce again led the way keeping an eye on him. The room inside was large, da= rk and empty, Ramsy picked up a wrench he had taken with him and threw it= into a dark crevice, it hit the floor with a loud clang which echoed thr= ough the high ceiling and large room. " What was that? " she said suddenl= y commanding them both to be quite. " Don't know, I'll go check it out. "= he said a corner of his mouth curling in a slight sly smirk. " Wait a mi= nute. " she said and turned only to find that he had already disappeared = without a sound or trace. She shrugged her shoulders " Ahh well might as = well look for Juliana. She probably made the noise in the first place. "<= /P>

Back on the flight deck the rest of her squad was already being woken = up by technicians and pilots in last preparation for battle. Maggie ran a= few last minute check on her squadrons fighter with the on board diagnos= tics. Maya was sort of coaching her squad into confidence or trying. Eliz= abeth was doing roll call and had just sent one of her pilots to look for= Ramsy. David was on the bridge awaiting the word that it would be time t= o take off soon. He was awakened from his vigil by some relatively loud a= rguing at the entrance of the bridge between some of the captains officer= s, Captain Baris himself and another person. David walked over wondering = who it was, because they were trying to talk all at once it was a bit dif= ficult to make out voices. That quickly changed as he listened carefully = and came closer. What he heard was that Alec was fighting with them becau= se he claimed he needed to talk to David but Baris being his usually self= refused to listen. He walked over to them and stood behind the officers = and captain patiently for a second and attempted to get their attention "= Excuse... Ex... Excuse me, shut up! " he raised his voice and they shut = up. " Now as I understand you need something from me lieutenant? " Captai= n Baris opened his mouth as to say something when David held up a hand an= d said " I didn't ask you captain, now don't you people have bridge to ru= n. " he said curtly and firmly. " Come on Alec you can talk to me outside= the bridge. " he said calmly and casually. " Yes Dav... sir. Follow me d= own to the flight deck please. " Alec replied calmly. David decided to go= with him and they headed down to the flight deck but started the discuss= ion on the way. " What'd you need to talk with me about. " " Shouldn't th= is wait until we're on the flight deck? " Alec asked looking around sudde= nly nervous. " The flight deck ain't any more secure than the halls or li= ving quarters so just spit it out. " David answered curtly. " I guess I c= an start with something more having to do with earlier. " he began and st= opped " I just wanted to say I apologize for the way I acted about the in= formation you brought us and it's source. Maya as she left gave me someth= ing to think about it and I was thinking well, after all you've done for = us it is kinda like your another J.T. and hard to believe you'd outright = betray us like that. " " Yeah, well, Maya 'll do that and apology accepte= d Alec. With the things that have been going on lately I wouldn't blame a= ny of you for being a bit paranoid. Speaking of which I am seriously feel= ing calling that early meeting was a big mistake. " David replied amiable= at first and then dead serious. Alec gave him an inquiring look " I thin= k our traitor, whoever he is knows about it. " David continued. " I agree= which is on the same subject of the other thing we need to talk to you a= bout. But you need to come down to the flight deck for a reason other tha= n security. " Alec said in a worried tone, David nodded in agreement and = they continued.

Several minutes later they arrived on the flight deck and Alec directe= d David over to where Able squad, more specifically Maggie was. She stood= up and they quickly exchanged salutes " Well Alec you said there was som= ething you needed to tell me here so we're here, so what is it? " " It's = two things David, first of all Maggie here noticed that there had been so= me tampering the insides of the your fighter plus the other two fighters = belonging to the commanders of Steel and Phoenix squadrons. " Alec answer= ed and let Maggie take over. " As you know when we had that explosion on = the flight deck that wiped out a lot of our regular technicians and alert= ed us to the possible presence of a traitor we had to employ the help of = many of the pilots for the work technicians would do. These pilots where = given a general layout of our three new fighters and limited knowledge of= how to fix certain parts. However from what I saw it didn't take a profe= ssional technician to do what this person did. " she paused and allowed h= im to survey his fighter. There were various panels all along the fighter= hanging open with wires hanging out. " Basically what this person did wa= s go all along the fighter and cut, rip and knick and basically screw up = various vital systems such as life support, power supply and stabilizers = among others. Fortunately, the damage was so restricted to one or two are= as of each system I was able to fix it by just replacing the wires. Plus = it's a good thing that the power and fuel supply is encased in those armo= red shells so he wasn't able to tamper with the actual systems just some = of the wires connecting to them. I am currently in the process of running= diagnostics onboard and outside to make sure everything's fine and fixin= g that which isn't fine. " she continued in a very serious and profession= al tone. " Is there anything else? " David asked thoughtfully. " No as fa= r as I've checked all the others are fully functional, prepped and ready = to go. " Maggie replied. " I mean did he do anything else. " Maggie and A= lec looked at each other surprised " He? What do you mean by he? " Alec i= nquired confused and slightly suspicious. " It was something Lieutenant C= olonel Juliana and I talked about last night. We have a pretty good idea = who our traitor might be. " he paused to let them take it in. " He has ex= perience in espionage and demolition's, he's pretty damn convincing, he h= as a hell of a temper, he's the quietest, weirdest person on the ship and= he has the reason and motive to do so. " he continued and stared at them= as if expecting them to answer. " " Jack Akieny? " Alec shot out. David = shook his head " Jack is a manic depressive by nature and you can hear hi= m coming from a mile away. " They both though some more until both Maggi= e and Alec just happened to think of the other bit of suspicious news. " = " You don't mean 'Crazy Ramsy' do you? " Maggie spoke up quickly. " That'= s the exact person. If you read his profile and think of what he did to J= enny it's all too obvious. " " The reason we found out is because, well, = he and Colleen have turned up missing. We've searched everywhere they mig= ht be and we can't find either of them. " Maggie spoke up suddenly nervou= s. David turned to her wide-eyed " Are you serious? " They nodded, " Then= I'm more than willing to bet that Colleen is in deep shit. And so is Eli= zabeth. " he said nervous and grimly serious. " Excuse me? " Alec asked c= uriously. " Alec, Maggie gather everyone in Able squad around and the lie= utenant colonel of Steel squad. This talk is gonna extend longer than you= thought it would. "

" There is absolutely no one here, this has to be some kinda stupid jo= ke. " O'Reilly thought as she surveyed her surroundings one last time. Th= e small but bright light from her flashlight only managed to dimly illumi= nate a fair sized area cast dark eerie shadows in walkways between crates= . Due to the size of the boxes she couldn't see what stood on top of them= . Standing shrouded in darkness peering at her from the edge was 2nd Lieu= tenant Ramsy Alkana. " She's not close enough. She has to be closer or sh= e'll get away. " he thought as he peered down on her. In the time she had= been walking around he had managed to hastily assemble a small explosive= device which he jammed in between two unevenly spaced crates. Because of= the crude nature of the explosive he would have to set it off by shootin= g it, his aim, do to it's position would have to be perfect and he'd have= to be quick or the resulting explosion might take him with it. He gritte= d his teeth as she wandered further from the area. If she tried to leave = he might have to personally take her on which with a jumptroop would not = be an easy task. At the last minute he decided to try some quick thinking= and threw his wrench to try and see if it would call her back. She stopp= ed sort, obviously now fully alert and shined her light in the area where= she had heard the sound. Something shiny glinted in the light and she wa= lked over to go and see what it was. " What the? " she muttered as she pi= cked the wrench up. Ramsy stood back at what he estimated was a good dist= ance from the explosive and shot at it hitting it directly. O'Reilly jerk= ed her head up at the very loud roar of the explosion and tumbling debris= . She stared for one second at it as the debris felling from the top two = of almost the entire first and second rows of filled and heavy crates fe= ll toward her and took of to try and get away. To Ramsy's dismay her spee= d and agility was still enough to carry her well beyond the main part of = the falling debris. Unfortunately for her though a large heavy piece of b= lasted debris managed to hit her in the back and in the lower part of her= head. She still went sprawling onto the deck bashing he knee her arms an= d chin as she hit the floor.

Ramsy, satisfied with the result as he saw it, came down from his hidi= ng place and made his way down to the area where she was. He kneeled down= to what he thought was an unconscious O'Reilly and spoke almost lovingly= stroking her hair " Very nice my dear but I was thinking something a bit= more messy and frightening to look at. I hear your quite popular with th= ose you associate with and I want them thoroughly demoralized and frighte= ned " She froze not moving or making a sound as she realized what was hap= pening. Ramsy was a traitor and was trying to use her as an example to de= moralize Able, Steel, Phoenix and Charlie squad the main and most importa= nt players in winning the upcoming battles perhaps the entire war. A cold= well of anger and disgust welled up in her and she resist form shutterin= g at his touch. " Oh well then I guess we'll have to finish this ourselve= s. " he said leaning in close to her and taking out his blaster. He barel= y had any time to noticed something was wrong before she decided to act, = " You mean something like this. " she roared and jammed her elbow as hard= as she could into his chin. She rolled over in time to kick his blaster = out of his hand and send it sliding a good distance away. He sat back stu= nned as she rose despite her protesting injuries, grabbed him by the thro= at and arm and slammed him against a stack of crates. She took a deep bre= ath so as to calm slightly and speak and stared directly into his defiant= and crazed looking eyes, " So you actually thought you could just lead m= e down here, create a little explosion and actually get away clean!? "she= yelled and tightened her grip on his throat. He gagged and attempted to = rip her arm off his throat without success. " It seems someone got a litt= le too confident eh Crazy Ramsy? " she taunted, he began to struggle even= more fiercely at the mention of the name used so often to taunt him. He = finally managed to kick her already bleeding and open knee wound and bend= her arm painfully and throw her to the ground. Without a word he took a = dive for his blaster only to be tripped and fall flat on his face by Coll= een who was still partially kneeling with her twice wounded leg sticking = out to trip him. They both managed to get up at the same time yet she was= quicker and kicked Ramsy in the back. He staggered forward and slipped o= n his own blaster causing it to slide to her feet. She picked it up and s= aid " Looking for this. " He roared and came flying at her once more in a= n attempt to get the blaster from her but only met a fist and a push down= for his troubles. As he fell he tried to stop his fall by grabbing onto = her but managed to grab the hilt of her fathers dagger and pull it out of= her belt. He didn't even look at it and just turned around to slash her = shin and ankle as it came forward to kick it again. She staggered back at= the sharp pain that suddenly lanced up and down her foot and leg from th= e relatively deep cut. Ramsy seized the moment and came at her ramming he= r with his head and elbow and putting the full force of his body behind t= he blow. She nearly fell being slammed against the crates herself and scr= eamed painfully as he made a deep gash across he arm and slashed her acro= ss the forehead. She lashed out and clawed the hand with the dagger and t= wisted it causing him to scream and drop the dagger. " Not gonna be killi= ng me with my dad's dagger anytime soon. " she said. He tried to throw he= r down but she dragged him down with her causing him to hit his head hard= on the floor. As she stood he landed a punch in her stomach causing her = to go down on her face again. He got up himself and once again dove for h= is blaster this time managing to get a hold of it. O'Reilly noticed as he= turned to shoot her with his blaster when she grabbed her fathers dagger= and threw it to have it miss his hand but dig itself into his arm. He sc= reamed in pain, dropped his blaster and reached to pull it out. Colleen q= uickly got up just at that moment and kicked his other hand as it was rea= ching to pull the dagger out forcing it further into his arm. " SONNUVA B= ITCH!! " he screamed and returned the favor with a kick in the stomach an= d punch in the jaw. He grabbed a large but blunt piece of metal and while= she was dazed slammed it into her other leg. She twisted her ankle going= down and he swung again just missing her head as she hit the floor. Coll= een turned over unable to get up swearing that her leg was broken but did= manage to catch the piece of debris just before he could swing it into h= er chest, wrench it out of his hands and pull him down with her still rel= atively good arms. He went down hard but quickly got up and retrieved his= blaster. " That's it you bitch, end of the line! Time to join that basta= rd lover of yours. " he said and positioned his boaster right for her for= ehead. Her battered and bloody body began to react but far too slowly, th= is time he may be right. He all of a sudden heard the faint sound almost = like that of a cloak flapping.

Ramsy finally turned just as one of Gorad's spies landed heavily just = behind him. In a panic he raised his blaster to shoot the spy but it was = already on top of him. " Oh no my friend. I think it time for you to chec= k out. " the spy said in an angry, metallic yet still sinister sounding v= oice. " W-who are you?! " he asked suddenly terrified at the cold black m= etallic mask and deep red tinted eyes. He merely snapped his gun arm in r= esponse and began " That... " he ripped out his out blaster and with what= seemed like a casual gesture snapped his neck and shot him in the chest = for good measure " ...is for me to know. " he continued coldly. Colleen O= 'Reilly who could only look on for those few seconds wasn't truly sure wh= ether to be grateful or terrified. The adrenaline which kept her consciou= s during the fight seemed to drain from her all at once and as he approac= hed her the world faded to black. The spy kneeled down slowly next to her= unconscious body and removed his helmet revealing himself to be J.T. Mar= sh. He brushed a bit of bloody, matted hair from her face and wiped some = blood off then he lifted her and cradled her close to him and whispered "= I never should've left you. " He all of a sudden heard the silent shuffl= ing thanks to the sound enhancer he had temporarily attached to his ear o= f other spies coming his way. He slowly laid her down and stood to meet h= is comrades who had just noticed them. He replaced his helmet to see thei= r ID signals and names flash across his eyes, 1st Lieutenant Derek and En= sign Franklin. They exchanged salutes and Derek leaning toward him " Sir = your never supposed to remove your helmet except in the station camp. " h= e said a bit nervous. " She's unconscious and he's dead. " he said motion= ing to the two bodies beside him. Franklin stilled and stared at the body= of Ramsy for a while at his twisted mangled body and terrified look on h= is face and then snapped back to attention. " Then we should finish the j= ob shouldn't we. " Derek suggested in a sinister tone. J.T. looked at her= as if thinking, he had to stall long enough so that he could get her bac= k into friendly hands. " Mmm, not now I have bigger and better plans. One= 's that will insure our success. " he replied coldly. " Sounds like a goo= d idea to me. " Franklin burst in before Derek could reply. Derek looked = at both of them in a cold, angry and defiant look, " Remember who's the c= ommander of this outfit Derek. " J.T. reminded him. Derek merely growled = " Fine. Let's take her back and bind her up real good. " J.T. picked her = up and draped him cloak over her as much as possible. Franklin came over = and draped his cloak over the rest of her and J.T. merely said in respons= e to Derek's look " Wouldn't want her blowing our cover now would we. " T= hey turned on their cloaking devices left the room and headed deeper into= the ship.

Captain Avery Butler was directed down the stairs by the people who ca= me to get him Vince Pellegrino and Lori Kenith to where Charlie five and = the commanders of the fighter squadrons were. Though there was little to = no change in Charlie-five he couldn't help but notice each time he came h= ere the big change in the kinda toys the pilots were flying around now. C= olonel David Sames was the first of the commanders to come and greet him,= " Welcome Captain Avery Butler. Because none of us has a lot of time let= 's skip the pleasantries and get right down to business. I hope these two= have familiarized you with the situation surrounding the reason you've b= een temporarily reinstated for combat? " " Uh hum, the ensign here told m= e that O'Reilly's missin'. Don't worry I sent a good portion of my securi= ty team to look for here. Hope we can at the very least catch the little = bastard before he gets away. " he replied with a hint of anger in his voi= ce. " Well if he does manage to kill her your men might have a little mor= e trouble taking him down than they expected. I mean if he can take out a= jumptroop... " David replied calmly. " A jumptroop Colonel there'll be m= ore than one soldier after him if the do catch him. " in the middle of wh= at Avery Butler the noise level grew immensely with the taking off of sev= eral fighters and the increase of activity all around. " KID MAY BE DANGE= ROUS BUT HE AIN'T INVINCIBLE. YOU REALLY NEED TO HAVE MORE FAITH IN MY PE= OPLE COLONEL. " he said yelling to be heard over the noise. " YEAH WELL I= 'M KINDA MORE CONCERNED WITH THE SAFETY OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS SHIP. IF HE= GETS AWAY NO TELLING WHAT END OF TROUBLE HE'LL CAUSE. ANYWAY CAPTAIN... = " the noise died for a second once again, " I have to be going, you may n= ot have to go anywhere too soon but we have to take off now to protect th= e ship. Half my squad's in the air already. All I can tell you about your= mission is that your squad'll be pounding the ground. Your fellow squad = members will fill you in of the details. See ya on the battlefield. " he = said quickly and then ran off to his fighter. He looked at Pellegrino " W= ell? What are our instructions lieutenant? " " Same as always. Hit the gr= ound and take out the installation. " he said casually. " It won't as eas= y this time. It ain't like last time where they were barely set up and la= cking the right amount of the defenders. This time we're gonna be facing= a lot more defenders with a lot less air cover or roles are reversed. Pl= us it has orbital batteries which are too numerous for our flying friends= to take them all out. We ain't gonna get any brakes till we're dead or b= ack home. " Lori spat out grimly. " Still mission's a straight forward ha= ck 'em up and stomp 'em down. " Pellegrino countered calmly. " Yeah but o= ur battle plan can't be. " Lori warned. Avery got the idea that the discu= ssion was turning into more of an argument than just a informative talk a= nd decided to break in and either get them back on track or shut them up.= " Do we have a battle plan Ensign Kenith? " he inquired. She stopped arg= uing to his relief and looked at him solemnly for a second hesitating, no= t good " Lieutenant O'Reilly had one sir. Or at least she told us she had= somewhat of one but she never told us. " she replied once again grimly a= nd totally serious. " Damn, then how're we gonna get through this. You go= tta have a battleplan before you go into something like this. " he cursed= suddenly very nervous. " Bring plenty of ammo and pray you have enough t= o make it through both times. Either that or try and think of a working b= attleplan in the next few hours. " Pellegrino said in a strangely matter = of fact tone. They both stared at him unamused, it was true though, an ef= fective battleplan in a few hours wasn't likely to come to mind. " Well t= han that's it then. Now what? " Avery said in a somewhat subdued tone. Lo= ri shrugged " We wait. "

David sat back in his fighter, all repairs and last minute check were = done, he was fastened into the cockpit and his helmet was secure on his h= ead. It was a repeat of the many take-off's he'd already been through in = his entire career. Each time he had felt a mix of fear, anticipation, exc= itement, exhilaration and determination. This time it was different he st= ill felt fear and sort of determination but there was also now this deep = pit of the sorrow and anger and the feeling he had once again failed a fr= iend. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, now was not the tim= e or the place his squad and all those working with him to survive needed= each other now more than ever, there wasn't any room for self doubt amon= g anyone anymore. He looked up from his console and to Elizabeth who was = taking off immediately after him. She too had been stalled by the sudden = occurrence of events and had to deal with the facts and situation surroun= ding Ramsy. He noticed that she had been staring at him with a concerned = and apologetic tone. David did his best to smile and give her a thumbs up= . She merely seemed to give him a weak smile and look down quickly. With = a sudden jolt of movement he began to move away from he to the left and i= nto take-off position.

Elizabeth stared at Colonel Sames secretly longing one to make it all = up to him, and in another way. On the outside she looked concerned and ap= ologetic, both were also part of what she was feeling right now. She want= ed so desperately for him to survive even if she didn't, she didn't want = it to end the way he and his squad said it had with J.T. She was also fil= led with a self loathing, though she was involved it was he and his old f= riend Maya who had worked the most to assemble this, plus with the past t= hings he'd done for people. Still she let this happen, with her pig-heade= dness and her overtrusting of Ramsy. It was like he had almost allowed hi= m to do the things he did and take Colleen and possibly condemn her to he= r death. Now they all could only pray that at least the security forces w= here there in time to take down Ramsy if not save O'Reilly. He suddenly l= ooked up at her smiled and gave her a thumbs up, she smiled in response a= nd jerked her head away. " I don't deserve the friendship and love you s= how to you other squad members and comrades, your family. You did all thi= s and I didn't do enough to repay you. " she thought sorrowfully. Suddenl= y he began moving away from her into position for take-off and she watche= d him again even after she could only see his silhouette through the ligh= tly tinted glass of the canopy. The fighter hesitated for a second as two= more fighters shot out of the hanger barely missing each other. Without = anymore looks out any shows of what he might be thinking he himself shot = of into the inky blackness of space. Now it was her turn as she began to = move to the take-off path and waiting to make sure no one was coming or a= t least to close shot out into space.

All the squadrons designated to attack which included Able squad moved= well ahead of the fleet while as designated squads like Steel and Phoeni= x squadron stayed just in front of the fleet. The fleet itself had alread= y split in half and where going to attack the supply planet and routes. D= avid sat silently having pushed all thoughts out of his head watching the= form of the approaching target planet R'tik. " Colonel? " Captain Reikst= ein said as he appeared on the display for David's comm unit, he seemed c= onfident for the situation. " Yes captain? " David replied in a professi= onal and indifferent tone. " I heard you boys in Able squad there are the= best the Exofleet's got, let's see if you can live up to your reputation= . We're gonna really need some of that fire today. " Reikstein commented = hopefully. " I'm know, we won't fail you captain. " David replied. " I'm = sure you won't. " Reikstein paused " Oh and Colonel good luck. " " Thank = you sir. Good luck to you as well. " David replied with a slight smile. "= Warning enemy approaching. " his on-board computer said bringing him bac= k to that battle at hand. His proximity alarm sounded as the first one sn= apped off a missile at him and he banked left leaving a stream of three d= ecoys, the missile shot past the them and then spinning around as if conf= used hit the third decoy. " Sorry sir. As you might've guessed. I have to= get busy decorating the spaceways with those T'quan carapace's. " he sai= d getting back to the captain. " Totally understood colonel good hunting.= " Reikstien replied and then broke the communication. David changed to o= pen frequencies contacting all pilots on the attack, " All right people y= ou know the drill. We don't want any of their friends coming to play too = soon so try and engage as few defenses as possible and take out the comm = station first. After that you can have all the fun you want with the defe= nses. So let's go dissect ourselves a few bugs. " he said putting as much= confidence into his voice as possible. There were a few muffled excited = shouts and cheers and without any specific command they broke formation t= o engaged the enemy. Two enemy superiority fighters recently name Sor'tak= 's by Q'muia came at him guns blazing and he quickly and skill fully forc= ed his fighter down and up shooting in between and effectively startling = both of them with the maneuver. He then forced his fighter into a 360 and= nailed the Sor'tak on the right. he then launched a Friend or foe missil= e straight into the cockpit of the fighter as it wheeled around and began= to open fire again. He then turned around again and headed straight for = the comm station.

Kaz had begun not but too long ago to use sneaking moves to engage all= of the enemies on his tail with other fighters making an almost total be= e line for the station however it was impossible to distract the defense = batteries in such a way. Despite taking the hits though he still had pass= ed most of them, taking out a few on his way. He switched his missile lau= nch and guidance system to fire the Inferno torpedoes that had been mount= ed on the attack fighters. It slowed them down a little and drastically r= educed the number missiles the Vigilance could carry but it would make su= re they could crack the comm station's armor and shields. Another down si= de was that it took fifteen seconds to target a long time in hot combat l= ike this. Already four Ch'han T'quan medium fighters where heading full s= peed toward him. swerving, diving and looping through the batteries as t= he continued to fire at the approaching terrans. Thankfully, his missile = targeting system chimed that his torpedoes had a full lock. " This is tro= oper Takagi to Able squad, I got a sweet lock on the bugs den and am firi= ng my first torpedo. When are you guys gonna get down here so we can fini= sh the job. " he toggled onto the open channel and said in a rather annoy= ed tone, launching the torpedo at the same time. Despite the heavy criss = crossing of fire it hit it's mark causing a quick flash of the shields an= d still causing a quite satisfying amount of damage as the explosion clea= red. He was only answered by David and Marsala who were also coming into = view, " I'm coming, can't totally avoid the defenders you know. " David r= eplied calmly. " Making my round now. " Marsala said also unsurprisingly = calm, Marsala was never one who could be easily gotten to. Kaz took the t= ime to sweep by the defenders who had changed course to attack David and = Marsala. He strafed them with fire from his positron bolt gun, a new fair= ly slow firing but powerful weapon and managed to take out the first two.= The other two unfortunately, where able to use the slow refire rate and = reinforcements from their side to get away and continue on course to atta= ck the stations attackers. A Wer'kan light fighter and Sor'tak came at hi= m from above and below shaking him with their fire and breaking through t= o his fighters armor. The battle was quickly joined by their own side as= two fighters from another squad on either end drew away the fighters and= took both of them out. " Kaz your too close to the enemy comm station, I= fire and you'll likely be damaged by the explosion. I ain't particularly= partial to staying here too long either, so if you don't mind. " David's= annoyed yet reassuring voice came on to Kaz's comm unit breaking him out= of his disorientation from being spun by the blasts that hit his fighter= . He hit the afterburners despite the fact that he was facing the station= and pulled up at the last second skimming close to the surface of the st= ation. A mistake, though minimally the station itself was arming causing = him to do evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit and delaying other people'= s attacks. judging from the annoyed shout on the comm. He cleared the sta= tion to about 1500 kilometers and wheeled around to make another run of h= is own.

The rest of the ships of the terran fleet quickly advanced upon the pl= anet R'tik. Almost it's entire form was slightly obscured by the battle g= oing on just above and inside the atmosphere. Half the defending force ha= d been sent off to lay down a suppressant fire to make it possible for th= e jumptroops to land and successfully complete the mission. Though the en= tire mission had been a lure for Gorad to get rid of the one's who were i= n his eyes unfavorable it was totally true that if they didn't lure the r= est of the enemy fleet and disrupt the colonies humanity might as well su= rrender. They didn't know how many colonies the enemy had, the number of = resources they had at their disposal or the exact technology level but fr= om the size and power of their fleet it was apparent that the enemy did h= ave significant advantages over them. Down on the flight deck jumptroops = were check and rechecking their equipment and saying their goodbyes. No o= ne knew who or how many people would come back so might as well say goodb= ye to all of them. The only person ho was actually silent right now was A= very Butler, they couldn't do this without some kind of plan so he was re= ading and analyzing the information he requested on their mission over an= d over again developing a rudimentary form of battle plan. " Attention al= l jumptroops, we are nearing the planet's upper atmosphere take you posit= ions to be ready to take off and jump when we reach the upper atmosphere.= Good luck we're all counting on you for this part. " the flight control = officer announced just about without any emotion in his voice. The groups= and pairs dissolved into a mass of people hurrying to their jump pods. B= utler nodded accepting the rudimentary plan he had thought of so far stoo= d up to the gathering crowd that was Charlie five. " Too many new faces, = just kids a lot of them. " he thought as he looked at his squad with few = old faces. " All right people in the time we had after the fly boys took = off I managed to assemble a simple battle plan for our section of the mis= sion. It involves all the information I've been given a other possibiliti= es. I'll give you the details over the comm when we get into our pods. " = he said calmly and professionally. As he got to his jump pod he turned ar= ound and look at his troopers facing him " Good they know what to expect.= " he thought. " Any heroes in here. " he shouted to them and they answer= ed with the traditional " No sir! " " Good let's do this. " They climbed = into their jump pods and waited for the shuttle suddenly the comm was act= ivated on all screens and there was Avery Butler. " Like I said I'd tell = you the plan when we we're in our pods. As from what I've learned most of= the terrain around their bases is flat, makes it easier for thing with m= ultiple legs to move around. Also makes it easier for their to attack in = swarms and clusters. As part of an overall plan, they had planned to land= us in the area with rough terrain so we could get dug in and try and tak= e out all their outer defenses. Also a way to get trapped and not be able= to move out with the help of our air support and constant moving we shou= ld be able to move and at the same time mass our fire so as to clear a pa= th and get through quickly. Don't plan on staying in one place too long a= nd whatever you do don't stop firing. For the entire time inside and outs= ide the base I want the demolition's experts to be surrounded. Because of= the hard carapace armor of the enemy and the light weaponry of the you e= xperts are equipped with you won't be able to do much good. For the insid= e of the base I don't know exactly what it looks like but the information= I got says everyone of them is different. Basically try and use the what= ever amount of space you got to your advantage for whatever enemy you fig= ht. "

Elizabeth and her fellow pilots we're dodging and jerking their fighte= rs from side to side in a desperate attempt to avoid the fire and be able= to snap off a few shots of their own. She found an opening and switched = to IR missiles and snapped of one and pulled up shooting through the blast just high enough to come out undamaged. As she= emerged she found herself sailing straight toward a turret on a collisio= n course. With a split second thought she switched to weapon link mode an= d fired all her blasters continuously sheering off part of the turret but= it wasn't quite enough. She made a desperate attempt to pull up and out = of the way and for the most part was successful except the turret was sti= ll operational. It managed to get off two good belly shots before she cl= eared it and one of her engines, it would've gotten more if not for the f= act that McDouglas was able to finish what Elizabeth had started. Elizabe= th stared at her damage diagnosis, those turret were designed to do a lot= more damaged than fighter armaments and the blasters had cut clean past = her armor and damaged several of her systems including the shield generat= or and targeting systems. If she was planning to stay in the fight she co= uld forget about missiles. The panels didn't burst open or wires pop out = since they had fix them to be more resilient than that but they began to = smoke like hell. She ignored it the best she could and headed for higher = ground.

Major Martina quickly observed her long time friends moves and mistake= s and took note. She had learned to learn from others mistakes and never = to repeat them. She paired up with Kevin to take out their targets and th= ey drew the fire of several while the other close in for the kill alterna= ting as bait. " Damn where's the power supply for these things. " she com= mented on the still thick fire. The ones who had made it through actually= stayed quite low and hung around the larger structures making it harder = for them turrets to target and fire at them. However they traded the dang= er of the turrets for the danger of the Kralaki a newly discovered T'quan= atmospheric fighter, newly discovered as just learned about them in this= battle. " No one was kidding when we heard as the word that the T'quan e= mpire would be a lot more prepared for us this time. " she commented in a= harried tone. " Well what'd you think they'd be like after we even took = out one of their bases. " Kevin shot back sardonically. His proximity ala= rm went off and he noticed a Kralaki peeling away as it shot off two frie= nd or foe missiles. He smiled a sly smile and hit his afterburners headin= g at full speed toward what looked like a docking tower. " Kevin what are= you doing! " Katherine yelled over the comm and blanched white fear and = anxiety. " You'll see. " Kevin returned in a calm and somewhat confident = tone. He headed straight for the tall, spindly, alive looking tower and p= ulled up just as it seemed he was about to run into it and skimmed over t= he surface. The missiles with more speed but a lot less maneuverability s= lammed into the base of the unshielded tower. " Good thing their still tr= ying to launch ships. Shields are down because of it. Hey hit with a few = more missiles will ya. I'll take care of the brilliant bug here. " he sa= id as he peeled away from the tower to engage the atmospheric fighter att= empting to make the same pass on Katherine. he came down at in from it's = top back angle spraying it with his pulson cannons and managing to punch = holes in it's armor. It disengaged Katherine and hit it's afterburners sp= eeding ahead and turning to face him. I charged letting loose two missile= s but Kevin caught it with his full blasters. It then attacked again desp= ite taking hits to the front scoring a hit on his vulnerable canopy. If n= ot for the fact that it was heavily shielded he might've been a goner but= it did crack the canopy enough to severely obscure his view and question= whether his craft was still space worthy. He angled around in the tighte= st turn he had ever made almost colliding with it in the process and pump= ed several shots up the engine nacelles. They burst into flames which qui= ckly consumed the organic material on the fighter and race up the fighter= causing it to go down in what was just a plume of smoke, fire and twiste= d metal.

" Kevin, you all right? I say that hit you took " Katherine asked with= concern. " Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll just have to hold my breath for a wh= ile. Either that our wear this stuff helmet we always use but never reall= y put on. " he replied with sardonic humor. Katherine looped around once = more sending the last of her more powerful missiles into the tower cursin= g as she did so. The tower swayed continuously but appeared to have taken= minimum damage. " Kevin why did you have me do that. I wasted my more ef= fective missiles on that thing and it hardly did any damage? " she groane= d in an annoyed tone. " See how it keeps swaying. Well if my huge amount = of studying pays off it should be showing it's affects in a bit... Uh may= be we should get away from the tower. " She did as they said and they ret= urned to more regular fighting. The swaying became less and less pronounc= ed. " Oh damn! " Kevin hissed and made a pass on it sending two dumbfires= into it's already damaged midsection where it was thinnest. The tower se= emed to literally reel from the explosions reacting to the explosion more= than Kevin expected. Ships begin to disengage from it even if the were s= till locked to it peeling sheets of structure and armor off which look ex= ceedingly painful since they were organic structures only for the tower t= o sway back their way and hit them like a club. Only some smaller ships w= ere luck enough to escape and those ships already disengaged and a good d= istance away survived. " OH SHIT!!! That's a bit sooner than I expected! = " Kevin said as he panicked and peeled away narrowly avoiding being clubb= ed by the tower. He cleared the bulk of the thing just in time to here th= e combination of groaning metal and wet tearing sound of organic compound= as the tower finally snapped smashing all those unlucky enough to be und= er it and exploding claiming more on the ground. Kevin was traveling fast= enough to only catch some smaller debris and be pushed by the force of t= he explosion " WHOA! You just saved the jumptroop's a BIG job right there= ! " Katherine said taken aback by the collapsing of the docking tower. " = Just some of the side job of trashing as much of the stuff as they can. T= hey have to blow the generators and ultimately the entire base. " " Won't= blowing the generators do just that? " " If they can stay alive to take = out all of them. " Katherine look down at the scattered yet massive amoun= t of enemy troops and weapon platforms, " then we can only pray they make= it to the base at all.

" We have now reached the upper atmosphere all jumptroop's need to be = in their pods now. The shuttles are coming to pick you up. " the controll= er stated. Not but a few minutes later troops in the pods where jolted by= the sudden movement as the shuttles came by and the clamps pulled them i= nto position along it's sides. " Shuttles are cleared for launch. " the s= huttles lurched forward slowly floating out at first on their own power a= nd gaining speed as they went. They have a tougher time clearing the bay = doors in the smaller cargo ships but they'd had to deal with any problems= and keep going if something did go wrong. The Pendiente being a light ca= rrier could launch about two at once side by side and close together but = the other smaller ships had to settle for one at a time. Fortunately do t= o lack on any delay or serious problem it only took about thirty minutes = to have all the shuttles launched. Phoenix squadron took up position arou= nd the Charlie squad shuttles and defended the shuttles best they could. = Most of the danger they faced where from fighters and ground to space mis= sile turrets on the planets surface. Fortunately the where either effecti= vely decoyed by advance forces or shot down due to their larger size. The= y where like torpedoes made to take down larger vessels that got too clos= e not small shuttles or fighters. " That's strange. Where are all the dam= n T'quan cap ships. " Lieutenant Janice Karabac spouted out unconsciously= and confused. " Janice, never ask a question you don't wanna know the an= swer to. " Maya replied in an annoyed tone. " Sorrrrry. " Janice replied = defensively.

Janice, Pietro, and two others from their squad shot ahead to survey t= he landing area. From the looks of the approaching ground forces Charlie = five could easily be overrun quickly " Geez, the fun just never ends. " P= ietro commented at the massive amount of enemy forces which seemed to bla= nket the ground in black, chittering and growling forces. Pietro went in = for a deep nose dive aiming at a particularly thick and bunched together = ground and shot one dumbfire at them. It exploded on impact sending a sho= wer of body parts, rock and flame spewing across the area claiming a good= number of T'quan ground forces. Janice and the other two pilots from her= squad quickly followed suit. However not soon after the first bombardmen= t they were attacked by five Kralaki fighters. They easily avoided the fi= rst attack and caused the Kralaki to take out some more of their our grou= nd forces but the T'quan pilots quickly recovered and split off to attack= again. Two of the five fighters went after Pietro pinning him between fi= elds of fire to either side which changed constantly in an attempt to hit= . Pietro was lucky managing to avoid being hit. As the changed their fiel= ds of fire again Pietro took a risk and as low as he was dove for the gro= und . He unfortunately took several hits to his wings and causing him to = dive further than he had intended. Pietro managed to pull up a few feet f= rom the ground ramming a few larger targets and sending them flying into = others. One T'quan weapon platform which looked like a sinister cross bet= ween a ladybug and spider lowered it's front part down and opened it's wi= ngs to expose three large holes in it' s back and fired three shots of pl= asma energy He pulled up and banked just barely avoiding the three shots = that sped past him and hit the ground causing a large explosion another r= aised it's two claws in an attempt to catch him and pull him down for a m= eal in a can but failed as it's arms went up quickly and where too high r= esulting in him ramming it's spiky yet ineffective arms and tearing them = and parts of it's body off. Pietro pulled safely into the air, he was luc= ky that his shields had held through that ordeal and he came out with sur= prisingly little damage.

It didn't last however, as he once again was attacked by the two atmos= pheric fighters. One made a mistake and charged him from the front. He qu= ickly locked on his target and fired two seeker missiles. The seekers nor= mally needed the heat of the engines to track effectively and passed it b= ut once the engines where exposed they looped around and struck home and = it exploded in mid air. " Why am I so special? " Pietro whined from what = was happening to him. " Cause you where the one who first though about bo= mbing their forces. Just as the second atmospheric fighter was about to g= et a good shot in with both missiles and weapons Janice shot past her fin= ger on the trigger all the way. It spun out and hit the ground. " Thanks.= " " Your welcome. Now if you don't mind I have a little problem of my ow= n. Pietro looped over and pulled up just above a startled enemy pilot spu= n around again and strafed it along it's whole length before firing anoth= er seeker. " Six o'clock Macknazin. " one of the other pilots said and he= instinctively pulled up while Janice came around and got a bunch of good= shots on it's belly. She then came up behind it's and pounded it from be= hind until it faltered and crashed to the ground sliding along until it h= it a tank and exploded. The other two nailed the fifth one and they all h= eaded for higher ground to protect the now falling jumptroop pods.

Charlie five was among the last to touch down in their entire squad. T= hey immediately came out and hit the ground to avoid a plasma bombing fro= m one of the enemy's weapons platform. After that had passed despite the = thralls of enemy heading across the landscape toward them Avery put it pl= an into action. " Into formation! Go go go go go! " Vince Pellegrino too= k up position as close to Avery as possible and said nervously " Are you = sure this is the best idea sir? " " It's the only one we got, beside we d= on't have a lot of time here. Listen, if you don't like it you can stay b= ehind and cover us yourself. " Avery replied sardonically. " No thanks. B= ut I mean it ain't like the don't have guns. Unfortunately they are more = intelligent than animals. " Pellegrino replied. Several fighter sped past= flying low over them and let loose several more missiles blowing away mo= re of the front line. " We have help. " Avery said in a reassuring tone a= nd motioned above them. Several larger shuttles descended behind them and= disgorged their contents of e-frames, walkers and a tank or two. The tan= ks hovered into position and the e-frames and walkers took up position be= side and immediately behind the jumptroop's. " When I give the signal we = move forward. " he said into the comm contacting everyone in Charlie squa= d. The tanks behind them had been upgraded with ERM's, extended range mis= siles, so their first target were the plasma bomber strategically placed = near the back. The large, slow and unwieldy things where easy targets and= several flipped over or was flung into the air spraying boiling blood an= d pieces of it's reinforced carapaced everywhere. The walkers all at once= launched their cluster bombs which passed over the heads of the first li= nes of troops and struck several Krith medium tanks, due to their increas= ed weight the front part of them merely exploded and they slumped to the = ground. Suddenly the multitude of creatures Nusheki of both kinds, and so= me strange creatures that look like a cross between one of those spiders = the met in the other base and some humanoid creature with the intelligenc= e of a table leg. No matter what the other two creatures where they all o= pened fire with everything they had. Nusheki dropped like flies in the on= slaught but the other seemingly less intelligent creatures took much long= er to take down. Several of them crouched on all eight legs and jumped am= azingly high in the air landing right in front of them. The entire first = row fell to slashes of the creatures by scythe like hands and in turn fel= l due to the fact that damaged from their weapons was even more devastati= ng at point blank range. One jumped and landed right in front of Lori Ken= ith. She screamed and raised her fusion rifle as it opened it's four part= maw and pumped several shots into it splattering her with it's whitish b= lood and slumping to the ground headless. Another came skittering toward = her and she shot it's head but instead hit a bulbous protrusion on it's n= eck causing a similar effect " SHOOT THE THING ON THEIR NECK. " she screa= med over the explosions and sounds of battle. One lunged at Joana and Lor= i screamed " JOANA LOOK OUT! " and took several shots at the protrusion o= n the creatures neck before hitting it and spraying hapless yet alive and= uninjured Joana staring in the direction where it had come from. She the= n shook her head and took the hint spraying the creatures with laser ener= gy from her repeater and hitting the creatures in their weak spots with p= ure mass of fire. Slowly but surely the jumptroop's took the hints of oth= ers and they began to actually slowly but steadily were pushed back, some= even plain turned and ran further into the ranks. " Well their intellige= nt enough to retreat. " Pellegrino observed with satisfaction. " Let's mo= ve troops. Now doubt help is on the way and we don't wanna be here when t= hey get here. " Avery said professionally. The force of beasts slowly dis= persed as more and more abandoned them and the jumptroop's and support pr= essed forward. Even the tanks where unwilling to risk the reinforcements = and moved ahead as well, letting loose plasma blasts from it's cannon. So= far Avery's plan despite delays and difficulties was working.

High above the battlefield the terran fleet was also pressing forward = finishing of the comm station and the orbital defenses. " Sir several ene= my fleet fast approaching. " said one of the bridge officers nervously on= Reikstein's ship. Reikstien rushed up behind him and looked at the long = range radar map. Indeed the radar had pick up six Ra'Tinka destroyers and= Frath'jaka cruisers, Five Gra'la battleships and Jaxa medium carriers, t= welve Be'naki frigates and about ten Tresh corvettes. " What direction ar= e they coming from. " he asked apprehensively yet still trying to stay as= calm and cool as possible. " It's coming from further in T'quan territor= y this is not their main fleet. " " Well it's enough to make short work o= f this fleet. How long until they get here " he asked in a still worried = tone yet more calm than before. " About five and a half hours sir. " " We= have the comm station down but it's questionable whether the jumptroop's= can complete their mission, or if we'll have time to pick them up if the= y do. " said his second in command as he approached. The captain raised h= is eyebrows " That isn't that bad. " " Sir the jumptroop's mission will t= ake about four hours and fifteen minutes to complete, once their inside. = That's not counting the process of escaping and fighting which to the bas= e and getting out will probably take forty-five minutes or more at best. = " the second in command asserted. " Are you saying we abandon our troops = down there? " Reikstein shot back accusingly. " Yes, partially, we either= pull them out now or leave them. " " Lieutenant Selione you sound like a= man that give up way too easily. " the captain retorted. " It only makes= sense sir. We don't stand a chance against those numbers. We must... " L= ieutenant Selione shot back insistently and was cut off. " And I refused = to abandon the mission or our soldiers they've fought just as hard as we = have Smith. You don't just abandon loyal, experienced people like that. A= nd this mission for whatever purpose is too important to abandon itself. = We must stay and fight as long as our strength will allow. " " Even if it= means we won't have a chance to escape? NO! I CAN'T LET YOU DO THIS TO M= E! I GOTTA GET HOME! " Smith screamed whipped out his blaster and aimed f= or his head. In one obscure, fast moving moment one of the security offic= ers ran down and jumped from the stairs leading to the lower level of the= bridge where they were and jumped on the lieutenant taking him down, but= unfortunately not before the man got a few shots off that hit Captain Re= ikstein in three places on his left arm. Several bridge officers caught t= he captain as he staggered back and hoisted him upright. Captain Reikstei= n stared at his second in command enraged by what had just happened, yet = still thinking of him as once a friendly, calm, reasonable, family man no= w turned raving, screaming, gun waving lunatic. " Get this man out of my = sight. " he hissed furiously, clutching his bleeding arm. He opened his e= yes a fraction, " AND WHAT ARE YOU ALL STARING AT! GET ME A FUCKING DOCTO= R! " he yelled and several officers began scrambling toward the door. Rei= kstein though calm and cool and general a nice captain was downright frig= htening when he was this angry, which was rare. " Everyone, every war no = matter what it's about or how long it takes pays a toll of some type. Inc= luding the best of us. " he thought sadly as the officers disappeared dow= n the hall and several others temporarily bound his wounds with a first a= id kit.

Though they were in the same situation on the outside, the situation o= n the inside of the Pendiente was much better. Even with the news of Capt= ain Reikstein's second in command going insane and Reikstein himself bein= g badly wounded. Captain Dominguez sat back heavily in his captain's chai= r and let out an exhausted groan. With Reikstein in medical the decision = of whether to continue, call back the troops or abandon them fell on his = shoulders. " We're getting a message from the captain of the Maranar sir.= " the comm officer spoke up breaking Dominguez's chain of thought. " Put= him on screen. " " Captain Dominguez, I have be notified of the incident= involving the captain of the Greywolf. While I do not condone what the s= econd in command of Captain Reikstein did I think that the lieutenant urg= e to flee is sound. There is no way we can last against that fleet. " Cap= tain Baris insisted urging captain Reikstein to recall the troops and lea= ve. " That maybe so but the first of the fleet won't be arriving too soon= . Besides this is an important mission which we can not fail. " Dominguez= replied in kind. " Captain Dominguez I do have the majority on my side. = Talk to the other captain and you'll know that. " Baris said a bit smugly= but still insistent. At that moment the screen was divided into nine win= dows and eight other captain's appeared. " I must agree with Baris on thi= s one captain Dominguez. We are merely converted cargo ships with weapons= just glued on, we are not military ships. " said Captain Jukan from the = cargo ship the Virgo. " The times already counted by the Greywolf's offic= ers don't count all the time it takes to land all of the fighters and tra= nsports. We would be thoroughly locked in combat with the enemy fleet by = the time it they land. We can't risk it. " Captain Anderson of the Wander= er added. They all vented their reasoning and complaints only managing to= give Rodney Dominguez a bid headache and actually even divide each other= . " All of you, quiet! SILENCE! " he said stopping most of them in mid se= ntence. Before even Captain Dominguez got a chance to say any more the co= mm officer spoke up again, " Captain I am getting an incoming transmissio= n from Able squad commander Colonel David Sames. Should I put him up on s= creen? " Dominguez gave a sigh of relief, from what he had learned in Dav= id's bio file and accounts of actual people he is among the least likely = to have his self preservation on his main agenda. " Excuse me ladies and = gentlemen. " he said to the captains on screen at the moment and then bef= ore any could protest he merely said put the colonel up on screen. David'= s face appeared on screen " Afternoon Colonel, how goes the battle? " " A= s well as could be expected captain. We've pretty much bagged the comm st= ation it isn't going to be making any transmissions soon. Unfortunately w= e've lost a lot of pilots and despite the loss of defense lasers it doesn= 't look like we doing to much to their defense grid. " David said calmly.= He paused and changed his expression to look a bit more hopeful " By the= way I couldn't help but overhear your discussion with the other captains= and I would like to add input to the discussion as well as a possible pl= an of escape. " Dominguez gave him a slightly annoyed yet humored look, "= At this point I don't mind you eavesdropping a bit Colonel. Between thos= e who wish to stay and fight till the right time and those who wish to re= treat we could use all the help we can get so what is it Colonel? " " Wel= l first of all those who are afraid of time and wish to retreat also forg= et something themselves and that is that there will at the end of this ba= ttle be, eh hem, less jumptroops and fighters to worry about landing. " h= e began. " And your plan? " the captain said growing slightly but quickly= impatient. " It's a simple yet effective maneuver that I worked out betw= een me and several other commanders of the squadrons of the Maranar. Basi= cally first chance you guys get you are to have the shuttles land and tak= e off without us. Then you should head to the gas giant, Minat Four and h= ide within the thick ice field there any sensor scans at first should mer= ely pass you off as space debris. The fighter squadron will remain here f= or a short time and attempt to keep the fleet at bay. What's left of us s= hould be able to make it to Minat Four on our own power. " David said cal= mly but there was a sense of grim determination about him. " What!? Are y= ou mad colonel!? Going up against that fleet with merely fighters is craz= ier than the all of us staying and fighting. " Dominguez said thoroughly = shocked as his suggestion. " I'm not totally done captain besides this ha= s already been decided between the fighter squadrons. " David said remain= ing calm " What about the other squadrons. " " We've been sending transmi= ssions back and forth between squadrons and we found there were a surpris= ing amount of willing pilots. Anyway as far as the rest of it goes once w= e have gathered all that is left of our fleet and the main enemy fleet pa= sses us we should be able to sneak past and make it to a nearby jumppoint= . " " I'm not surprised that Captain Baris minds he is a man absorbed in = his own self-preservation. By the way what did he say about it. " Captain= Dominguez said not afraid to add his own opinion. " He uh, doesn't know.= We waited to tell any more people than from those people involved in the= planning for security reasons. Namely we didn't want any of Gorad's spie= s catching on and screwing the whole thing up plus you also may have know= n about the problem of the possibility of a traitor on our ship and what = happened recently. By telling you know there's very little they can do ab= out it. " David explained and smiled slightly. The captain leaned back an= d smiled himself, " Well despite the unorthodox way you've done things so= far good work colonel I like your thinking, I agree to this plan. Not on= ly for those reasons but it's the best thing I've heard since we were sen= t on this suicide mission. I'll take this to the other captain and I'll n= otify you of what comes up. " They snapped each other a salute and the sc= reen switched back to that of the captains. " All right gentlemen. I have= a little something here that might be of interest. Let's talk. "

The Maranar shuttered from another missile blast to it's weaken port s= ide. The crew of the ship rushed around putting out fires , trying to rep= air damage and riding out the battle. Their manpower was also divided by = their other duties on the ship such as the refueling and rearming of vari= ous fighters from various squadrons. Fortunately some squads such as Able= squad and a few others gave them a break due to the fact that they used = their guns a lot unlike others who wasted their missiles like water. On t= he bridge Captain Harry Baris waged his own battle between those who want= ed to stay and those who agreed with him that they needed to retreat. " J= esus, my ship is already taking on heavy damage as well as others and you= insist on staying due to what some mere flight jock has told you all? " = " It is much more than you have suggested captain. Besides Colonel Sames = does have more tactical experience than you'll ever have. " Rodney Doming= uez replied patiently. " You can't avoid the fact that we're dying out he= re captain. No matter with or without you those who choose to retreat cho= ose to live and we are leaving. " Captain Baris spat assertively. " You h= ave no authority to do that! " Dominguez shot out alarmed at Baris's acti= ons. " What are you going to do captain? Shot us down. Your very welcome = to write up a complaint, if you ever get back. " Baris replied arrogantly= and broke the communication. " Helm, turn this ship around we're leaving= . " Baris commanded and the crew cheered unaware of what was about to hap= pen.

At the same time as the argument between the captains another group wa= s moving on more immediate plans, like getting off the ship. The ship aga= in was hit by a missile blast and crews continued to scurry about their d= uties. Smoke filled even the deepest corridors of the ship. The stuck out= as the only truly calm group yet despite this in the flurry of activity = involving keeping the ship together made their skulking ever more easy. T= hey were only minutely slowed by one thing, the lead one, J.T. Marsh carr= ied a heavy bag on his shoulders, which was really the one he sought to p= rotect from his squad, Colleen O'Reilly. she was wrapped thoroughly in a = long plastic cover, since carrying an unconscious beat up jumptroop would= definitely attract attention and that's something they didn't want. " Th= e shuttle should be here soon. Why do you insist on carrying that girl wh= ich is slowing us down and likely to be much more of a nuisance than any = help? " 1st Lieutenant Derek admonished using their concealed comm links = to speak. The conceal comm links were heard to detect by sensor and sound= -proofed on the outside so they could here each other when there was a lo= t of noise and no one could here them. " I told you lieutenant, I have p= lans for her. " he merely replied in annoyance. " What are these plans th= at you speak of. I have heard nothing of them. " " It is not my duty to t= ell you Derek Isnov. " J.T. snapped calling him by his full name. " I tol= d you never to call me that! It's just Derek now. " Derek snapped back. J= .T. gave no response all of these people were like that about their names= , in fact during the conditioning it had been encouraged to hide one's id= entity. Despite the minor slow downs, they made it to the flight deck qui= te quickly thanks to the fact that the Maranar is also a small ship they = moved out onto the flight deck when J.T. was stopped by a security guard.= " Hey buddy, we're kinda busy refueling and rearming. You gonna have to = stay of the... " The guard didn't get a chance to finish as one of the ot= her spies stepped forward and pulled out a long, ridged dagger and plunge= d it straight into the guards stomach and ripped it out taking some other= things besides blood out with it. The guards who had been watching hadn'= t even said anything when they reached for and whipped out their blasters= . Unfortunately even that took too long as the Black suits rushed forward= and cut into, smashed or shot various parts of the men's bodies. J.T. pu= t the body down lifted his blaster and shot into the group of oncoming gu= ards killing several of them. The spies waded through the bodies of their= attempting attackers killing and maiming so quickly and fluidly that it = seemed like a dance. They even rushed toward pilots who where still in th= eir fighters waiting to take off again. In a panic the pilots closed both= their canopies and face plates on their helmets. The lucky ones where fa= r enough away for the crazed killer to get their canopies closed, the res= t were slashed to death or have something more painful and less quick hap= pen to them.

High above the miniature battle other guards and pilots who had been f= ortunate enough to decide to leave the flight deck watched in horror. Sev= eral arguments had begun about whether or not they should try and do anyt= hing fortunately it was blocked out by at shouts and sounds from below. "= Listen we have the guns and we have the high ground it'll be a while bef= ore they make it all the way across the flight deck and up here. " a guar= d argued confidently. " You see those guys. They move like lightening no = way I'm risking my butt. " one of the pilots replied " But they're distra= cted we can easily pick off quite a bit of them. " countered another pilo= t. Another young trooper walked up between them and raised her hand, " Tr= ooper what business do you have interrupting an important discussion like= this. " one of the arguing pilots who was a captain snapped. " This impo= rtant discussion isn't going anywhere. Besides I agree partially with the= guard. The distraction can be used much better and we can get more of th= em if we move to the stairs. They may move fast but up those stairs they = can only move on at a time and if we stand in the right position we can p= ick 'em off as they come up. " the trooper reasoned calmly with a smirk o= n her face. Honestly there was no arguing that, the armor they were weari= ng couldn't be much tougher than jumptroop armor. Plus there were only tw= o stairways up to were they where and eighteen of them. " Besides we can'= t hide here from them forever. " the trooper added. The captain finally n= odded in agreement and the commander for the security guards spoke up " H= ey ain't too bad for a kid. What's your name trooper? " " Trooper Darla V= aldez at your service sir. " Darla saluted the commander proudly. " All r= ight then, let's get to work. " the captain added slightly embarrassed at= his lack of insight and support. The groups split and despite the noise = sprinted as fast as they could for the two stairs. " That was something y= ou came up with there Ian. " a young woman said running up beside Darla. = She looked at the woman and smiled " I didn't play all those tactical gam= es when I was a kid and learn nothing Mary. " " You looked spaced out eno= ugh for it. " Mary laughed a bit and smiled widely. " All right, enough o= f that. " he began turning a bit red from embarrassment. " Be careful sis= . " she said and the two sisters turned away to take up position.

J.T. quietly observed his men still ripping people apart and clawing a= t the canopies of pilots who where so panic stricken they didn't think to= just take off. J.T. was as a commander displeased and as a person distur= bed by the rash outbreak of slaughter once again seriously questioning hi= s motives of why he ever joined these people. He looked toward the darkne= ss of space lit up slightly by presence of the shuttle coming to pick the= m up, it was very near now. His sight wandered over to the shadow filled = catwalks above where more panic stricken terrified people lurked when he = caught a distinct gleam of a positioned weapon. The railing up there was = too dirty for such things, he shouted to his men who seemed to intent on = slaughter to listen. Most of them had truly fallen into insanity ever sin= ce this war had started except for him and the person he trusted more tha= n his second in command Derek, Ensign Franklin. That exact same person wa= s the only one who heeded his words and rushed forward to take care of th= e problem. J.T. quickly grabbed him by the shoulder, Franklin squirmed an= d attempted to rest his shoulder from J.T.'s strong grip " What the fuck = are you doing?! " " They'll learn when the first of them goes down. You r= ush up there like an insane fool and they'll just gun you down. " J.T. sa= id firmly. " How do you know there's more than one? " Franklin said calmi= ng down. " Contrary to what you may have learned during the conditioning,= we aren't much smarter than them. In fact it's them who has the advantag= e of organization. Their quick learners especially the insightful ones. I= f it was me up there I'd know better than to try and take us on by myself= . In fact... " J.T. was going to say more but was interrupted by the sudd= en start of gunfire from both stairs of the catwalk. Due to the massing o= f fire the spies where only able to whether the shots for a short time be= fore some shots found their marks. As expected the spies still in their f= renzy didn't think to pullout their own blasters but instead merely charg= ed. J.T. looked at Franklin as if he was sorry but also to urge the fact = to learn from this. Franklin unfortunately had become hysterical again an= d before J.T. could grab him he ripped out his blaster and charged. Some = of the massive fire swung in his direction and awoken suddenly by a shot = that got through to his arm and he dove behind some crates. J.T. looked u= p quickly at the now looming shuttle and audible sound that came from it'= s engines. He suddenly also was attracted by the whine for the engines of= the fighters whose pilots had regained enough sense to start them. They = didn't expect for them fighters to just let the shuttle go by. The shuttl= e pilots also found this out and charged their weapon batteries and fired= on several aiming for the cockpits and gaining several kills.

The shuttle slowly glided in and touched down allowing the rest of the= fighters to take off, they would dare destroy them inside it would do to= o much damage to their precious ship. The turrets on the shuttle smartly = aimed for the catwalks and fired. Pilots and guards alike scattered unfor= tunately not in time as several where hit by the blast and others were vi= olently thrown off the catwalk. Mary lied now face down and bleeding from= being thrown off several feet across and down. She had several pieces of= shrapnel buried in her arms, legs and torso fortunately the ones of the = torso where not deep. Already her sister, Darla who suffered a similar fa= te but didn't suffer as bad of injuries was dragging her away from the ba= ttle behind some crates where she once again took up position and fired i= nto the squad of maniacs. The shuttle opened and let several more of the = same kind of people however less bloodthirsty and more calm. However no o= ne yet had seen or paid any attention to J.T. a silent observer of the ba= ttle. He had been the only one to spot her and moved along quickly huggin= g the shadows under the overhang. He gave the now unpinned Franklin the s= ignal to go and guard the still unconscious body of Colleen O'Reilly, he = didn't trust the others with her for one second. Darla fired continuously= only noticing him as he was almost upon her eyes widened and she fired a= t him as he ran along to her dismay missing every shot. he suddenly came = up behind her rested the gun from her arms and wrapped his arms around he= r neck. " Very good shooting girl but not good enough! " he hissed into h= er ear. Just as he was about to snap her neck her sister who had been slo= wly coming back to consciousness reacted quickly by grabbing J.T.'s leg a= nd pulling as hard as she could effectively tripping him. He landed on hi= s back stunned by the unexpected action and Darla wrenched away from him.= Mary knowing the danger she was in quickly stood up and grabbed her own = blaster.

The shuttle slowly glided in and touched down allowing the rest of the= fighters to take off, they would dare destroy them inside it would do to= o much damage to their precious ship. The turrets on the shuttle smartly = aimed for the catwalks and fired. Pilots and guards alike scattered unfor= tunately not in time as several where hit by the blast and others were vi= olently thrown off the catwalk. Mary lied now face down and bleeding from= being thrown off several feet across and down. She had several pieces of= shrapnel buried in her arms, legs and torso fortunately the ones of the = torso where not deep. Already her sister, Darla who suffered a similar fa= te but didn't suffer as bad of injuries was dragging her away from the ba= ttle behind some crates where she once again took up position and fired i= nto the squad of maniacs. The shuttle opened and let several more of the = same kind of people however less bloodthirsty and more calm. However no o= ne yet had seen or paid any attention to J.T. a silent observer of the ba= ttle. He had been the only one to spot her and moved along quickly huggin= g the shadows under the overhang. He gave the now unpinned Franklin the s= ignal to go and guard the still unconscious body of Colleen O'Reilly, he = didn't trust the others with her for one second. Darla fired continuously= only noticing him as he was almost upon her eyes widened and she fired a= t him as he ran along to her dismay missing every shot. he suddenly came = up behind her rested the gun from her arms and wrapped his arms around he= r neck. " Very good shooting girl but not good enough! " he hissed into h= er ear. Just as he was about to snap her neck her sister who had been slo= wly coming back to consciousness reacted quickly by grabbing J.T.'s leg a= nd pulling as hard as she could effectively tripping him. He landed on hi= s back stunned by the unexpected action and Darla wrenched away from him.= Mary knowing the danger she was in quickly stood up and grabbed her own = blaster.

Franklin reached for his blaster and prepared to charge out to J.T.'s = aid when out of the corner of his eye he noticed for the first time that = the cover O'Reilly was hiding in was flopped over and flat. " Shit she's = conscious. " he thought and looked around in a panic. Another thing he no= ticed was that his long ridged dagger was gone as well He found them in t= he least preferable way as a sharp pain shot up his back and he twisted t= o see her bruised, injured but not beaten as she pulled his blade out. " = How's it feel? " she hissed angrily, " How's it feel to be the victim of = your own blade? " He strained to get the words out his throat stifled by = blood and pain keeping him from speaking, all he managed to get out were = gurgling choking sounds, a few unintelligible words and then he died. Wit= hout any remorse for what she had done she took the rifle off him and wal= ked toward the battle, actually more of a slaughtering than any kind of f= ight but still the guards and pilots and others the black suits had attac= ked were fighting valiantly. One of the pilots for the shuttle leaned out= shouting " HEY! JUST LEAVE THEM SORRY ASSES AND LET'S GET OFF THIS GOOD = FER NOTHIN' TUB THEY CALL A SHIP! " Colleen merely raised her rifle and e= mptied two shots one into the head of the pilot and another at the main v= iewport of the shuttle to keep him from reacting. Before heading into the= battle she ran all the way to the shuttle as the pilot began to close th= e door leaping in climbing in and almost being dumped on the floor as the= stairway raised and slid in to allow the door to close. Upon making it i= nside she met a frightened pilot with a small hand blaster pointed at her= chest. The pilot she saw looked so young that she could swear that he wa= s probably only about eighteen to twenty. " I... I'm not afraid to use th= is. " he said in a shaky terrified voice, definitely a strange contrast t= o the kind of people he shuttled around. " What happened to make a kid li= ke you want to hang around a bunch of maniacs like these. " she said in t= he calmest voice she could manage. " Some of them are my friends. " he sa= id quietly and uncertain of his answer. " Friends? Those are your friends= ? Look at them out there, they are slaughtering innocent people fighting = for their people who merely were sent on this mission because of ones par= anoia. Excuse me, if I find the idea of them being friends with anyone lu= dicrous. " she scoffed in an unbelieving tone. " NOW YOU JUST SHUT UP! " = the young man screamed in a desperate attempt of a reply and squeezed the= trigger of the blaster a bit more but not enough for it to go off. " You= 've never killed anyone in your life you won't shoot me. "she said calmly= and carefully. " No, he's not one of them. If he was he would've killed = me by now and not thought anything of it. " she thought as she eyed him c= onsciously. Still instinct and the fact that his hand was tense and shaky= told her to back off she resisted it knowing full well it would actually= do her little good due to what was happening outside. " I won't hurt you= I... " she began but he interrupted " Then why did you shoot my partner = than come inside with that rifle poised to fire? " " Instinct I guess. Li= sten we're both to good for this bullshit just open the door and don't tr= y and hurt anymore innocent people and I'll leave. " she said and then as= a gesture of her honesty put down the rifle. Despite his fear of her, he= reluctantly holstered his own blaster.

Suddenly the doors were opened by someone with an override on the outs= ide. " Ian what the fuck is going on... " he turned his head to look at t= he unconscious girl they had been carrying now awake and armed with a dag= ger, " Holy shit! " the black suit said out loud and stunned. He quickly = shook it off and grabbed for her but she whipped the dagger out at surpri= sing speed and attempted to plunge it straight into his chest. Instead sh= e hit the place just below his left shoulder. The black suit resisted the= pain unlike regular people and grabbed her around the neck and chest eff= ectively pinning her arms in the process, he then reached around with his= right arm still holding her around the neck and ripped the dagger out. "= I predict that it was not the kind of effect you were looking for, HMM?!= " he said in a smooth but menacing voice. " Who are you? " she asked fri= ghtened. " Should I tell you? Or should I keep it under wraps? No, no har= m in telling a dead woman eh? " he said pressing the dagger to her throat= . " They call me Lieutenant Derek. You know I've been watching the comman= der and you how he saved you and protects you and you know I don't think = I like it. " Derek said sparing a glance at Ian and continued " You see s= omething like sympathy, mercy, love, are all signs that well your not tot= ally with our cause. You've destroyed our commander and now, I must destr= oy you both. " " You can take your puke shit, insane, stupid cause and sh= ove it down your ass! " she hissed. Derek yanked her closer pressing the = blade slightly harder against her throat, she cried just the slightest in= fear and pain as he drew blood from a shallow cut he made. " Oh it'll ge= t much worse than that. So maybe you should shut your mouth. It'll only g= ive me the idea to prolong your death. " " What the fuck do I care?! This= war has ruined my life anyway! " Derek didn't answer and removed the dag= ger from her throat only to trace it down her torso to her stomach. He gl= anced again at Ian who looked hesitant even somewhat afraid, more than be= fore. " You know girl, you need to be taught a lesson. But I won't be the= one to do it. " he said and looked straight at Ian, " She shot your copi= lot and friend, Reggie, right? " Ian merely nodded and Derek smiled in a = slightly both evil and friendly way, " Then I'll let you do the honors. "= Ian understanding what Derek wanted drew his blaster and pointed it at h= er head then her chest indecisive on where it would be the quickest. " Ia= n, you don't have to do this. You don't have to listen to or work for the= se maniacs. " Colleen urged him with a hint of desperation in her voice. = " Ian she shot your friend without reason and tried to kill you. Shoot he= r and it'll just be over with. " Derek countered insistently. " Ian their= maniacs all of them. They'd kill you whenever they thought you were grow= ing weak. Didn't you her what he was saying? Doing? What any of them were= doing? Their not your friends. " " Don't listen to her Ian? You've been = with us for a while and none of us have hurt you. " " They didn't do anyt= hing to the commander either till now when this, black suit decides to el= iminate him because of a decision he made to save me. Do you want that to= be you someday? " " It won't if you'll just shoot the bitch. " Ian squee= zed the trigger almost to the point where it would go off. " Ian no. " " = Kill her and it'll be over. " Before either of them could say anymore Ian= shook his head, lower his blaster and shouted " Will you both shut up! T= his is my decision! " he said and raised the blaster again aiming for a t= otally different spot. " Yes! Now! " Derek said excited almost jubilant, = Ian merely looked at them one more time as if thinking. " I'm sorry. " Ia= n whispered sadly and fired not at O'Reilly but at Derek hitting him in t= he shoulder knocking him off Colleen and allowing her to escape. He fired= again at Derek's now exposed chest to try and make sure Derek wouldn't g= et up again. O'Reilly stopped at the ramp as she left and said gratefully= " Thank you so much Ian. I'll never forget this or you. " " I just hope = it was right. " he said in a slightly sad and worried tone. " It was. " "= Were are you going? " " To find someone. "

Charlie squad made it to the organic walls of the enemy base. Almost h= alf their men had been killed and many where injured. The ones who were t= oo injured to get up and continue on their own where left behind to fed f= or themselves. Avery Butler, Charlie squad's commander had to do it, caus= e while not all of them knew the true nature and purpose of this mission = they sure as hell were well aware of it's importance. Some of the demolit= ion's specialists moved to the front when they got there carrying special= explosives designed to the organic compound so it wouldn't take forever = to get in. They set a few seconds on the timer and told everyone to get b= ack. When the timer ran out however, there was no massive explosion, inst= ead, some kind of energy or signal was released causing visible ripples o= n the surface of the thing. Not long after that a very large hole quickly= formed expanding in the direction of the ripples allowing them and some = of their support in. They carefully stepped into the same kind of organic= , inside of a creature looking halls. Most of them were used to it lookin= g upon the halls with suspicion and wary eyes, who knows what kind of oth= er defenses lay in these supposed quiet, damp halls and more prepared bas= e. Avery was the only one who look at it with any awe or fear of any kind= and returning his attention immediately to the task at hand " All right = now, let's make this quick. Those things that made our door will run outt= a power and their the only ones we got. You know the drill escort us down= there as fast as you can, we'll set up the bombs, get outta here and rem= ote detonate them when were far enough away. If anything goes wrong, like= we can't make it out for whatever reason the bombs can be voice activate= d when you by it our by this speaker which would activate it if we were t= rapped away from the bombs with this code. " a specialist wrote somethin= g down on a piece of paper which he somehow produced from his belt. It re= ad " Gamma six, Delta, Tango. " " Don't wanna set it off now that's why I= didn't say it. " the specialist added. " Got it? Good, now let's get thi= s over with. "

Internal explosions literally erupted from the surface of the T'quan c= omm station. Huge sections were ripped of it's structure spraying not onl= y organic matter but some could swear they could see T'quan bodies tumbli= ng out into space. Finally in one big flash and flare it exploded causing= almost all the pilots on this part of the mission to cheer. However, no = one in Able squad really gained any satisfaction from the comm stations d= estruction as they knew full well that they had a lot more to go before t= hey could even dare to call it a victory. Now that their primary objectiv= e was fulfilled they had to defend the fleet. Alec split off from the squ= ad again and headed toward the Maranar to for some minor repairs on his f= airly damaged fighter when he noticed it was surrounded by other ships an= d their own fighters where swarming around it as if to attack. He contact= ed the Maranar and was faced with a pale, harried looking comm officer. "= Maranar what is going on? These guys out here look like their ready to k= ill you. " Alec asked in a bewildered tone. " Those 'black suits' that we= 've suspected have been hiding in the ship have come out to play and that= ain't a good thing. they've been massacring what's left of our guards an= d technicians and have landed an unmarked black and gray shuttle. The pil= ots and ship you see outside have order to shoot and destroy our ship if = it's taken over or not let that shuttle escape. So if I know what your th= inking your a outta luck for repairs, refueling and rearming, sorry lieut= enant. " the officer answered in a tone of resignation. Alec didn't give= a reply and switched off his comm unit for a while. After a moment of si= lence he shook his head and said silently " Holy shit, god help us all. "= He then switched his comm to David's signal " Hey David, where are you? = " " Coming up behind you. " David answered and a Ch'han banked right shoo= ting almost right by Alec's cockpit trailing parts and heading toward one= of the converted cargo ships surrounding the Maranar the Hercules. Witho= ut another word or thought Alec moved up behind the medium fighters tail = and emptied all his guns into it and destroyed it before it even got clos= e to the Hercules. " Nice shootin' Alec now what's on your mind. " David = said looping and turning around in front and taking up Alec's right. " Li= sten, I know it's too late to think of another full escape plan. But, I'm= kinda doubting the sincerity of this traitor black suit's offer to help.= For some reason they've come outta hiding and are now slaughtering peopl= e on the Maranar. It's mainly centered in the flight deck but somehow fro= m the report I doubt your friend is going outta his way to help others. "= Alec replied totally sincere with little skepticism except for the part = about the J.T. being helpful and no humor. At first there was dead silenc= e and then Alec could have sworn he heard David muttering a few short but= probably not pretty phrases.

Charlie five ran down the individual mass of tunnels they had agreed u= pon lost and confused. Some jumptroops on the side shot long flashing mar= kers so at least if the y couldn't find their target they could find thei= r way back. The entire place was a huge maze of organic tunnels with vary= ing widths, heights and slopes some even actually headed straight up or d= own. There was only the dim glowing of spots on the walls and the occasio= nal unknown dripping sound but no terminals or doors. No one was directly= touching the floors or walls but from appearance the tunnel was fairly d= amp. They knew enough about practicality and remembered enough from the o= ther base that this time they were not following the main halls but it wa= s obvious they were in some kind of vein or shaft. So far they had met no= defenses but still remained silent just in case. Their journey down the = tunnels abruptly ended when they crawled up to a large hole with a huge s= lope that filled the corridor. They shined their lights down and around t= o see if there was anyway to get around the hole or climb down it. The ho= le was actually fairly shallow with a reducing slope a few meters down. A= t the floor of the hole it was darker and wetter, a ripple it the liquid = told them that there was something moving down there, something they gene= rally agreed on that was likely not cute and furry. Unfortunately from th= eir past ventures into other hallways when met with multiple hallways and= from the looks of the wall there probably was no way around. They had ma= de the plan to split into smaller groups or even pairs whenever faced wit= h multiple choices for hallways and most of them ended in similar fashion= s, some with no possibility of getting down or nothing to climb over to. = " This is taking way too damn long. " Avery hissed, he was normally a ver= y cautious man but in this situation that wasn't much of an option. " Mos= t hallways are the same way. It'll take much longer to go back and find t= he best way down and we don't have a lotta time here. We're going down. "= he said calmly. Some jumptroops looked at him with varying looks of sile= nt surprise however none complained. Avery wasn't one to be trifled with = and he had a very good point. Joana nodded to herself, put down her repea= ter and pull out a hand gun. She then emptied several shots into the liqu= id of the tunnel below gaining several startled, annoyed or questioning l= ooks from her comrades, otherwise nothing happened. She stared back at th= em and said in a casual tone, " Testing the water. " " Well, try and test= the water as little as possible. We need to conserve ammo for our escape= and the design of these halls tell me that we ain't gonna be able to com= e back this way. " Avery replied calmly but annoyed. Without a word more = from anyone they all began to try to climb down the tunnel. All of them a= short while after starting ended up sliding down.

The tunnel as far as appearance was what it had appeared to be, dark a= nd wet. Strangely enough there was ever so often a light breeze which cau= sed the liquid to ripple. They walked down the long but fairly straight t= unnel until it once again became dryer but narrower height wise as the fl= oor began to rise but not the ceiling. The jumptroops had to improvise as= the tunnel soon became too narrow for them to carry some things or crawl= . They were soon reduced to sliding along their bellies, pushing their we= apons forward and moving in single file. Fortunately the narrowing tunnel= didn't last much longer as it stopped abruptly at a web like structure a= pparently a grating as from what anyone who could see it saw that it open= ed into a wide space, probably into one of the rooms in this base. It see= med like a huge lucky strike as Pelligrino shined the light and peered ca= utiously through the grating to see what he recognized as a power generat= or, the encased energy ball with the things surrounding it that looked li= ke consoles. He unfortunately also noticed that the room at the moment w= as full of T'quan technicians and guardsmen. The number of guards also to= ld him that they too had learned from the last mission and wouldn't dare = to leave the generator unchecked again. He looked over his shoulder at Jo= ana who was just behind him and whispered loud enough for her to hear, " = Joana, I don't know how much longer it'll last but luck is on our side. W= e're right above one of the power generators that we need to blow. We hav= e one problem though and that's that it's heavily guarded. " " Whaddaya w= ant me to do about it? " she inquired with a just as low whisper. " Nothi= ng really but I need you to pass the message down the line until it reach= es Avery, he might know what to do. And don't get the message mixed up. "= Pelligrino replied. " Shouldn't too hard he's only two people behind me.= " she replied nonchalantly. " Just do it. " Pellegrino said becoming irr= itated with Joana. " Okay, okay, just don't get on my case like that. She= relayed the message to a young man behind her who in turn relayed it to = Lori who was just behind him who relayed it to Avery, all without getting= the message mixed up. Pelligrino watched the positions of the guards bel= ow in silence only barely able to hear the mumbling of the message being = sent down the line to Captain Butler. Finally a message came back to him = to notify him that they were going to back into the wider tunnel to chang= e position, it'd be easier for Avery to think if he could see the positio= n of the guards themselves.

They finally backed into the wet and dimly lit tunnel and the front ju= mptroops shuffled around to change the order with Avery coming up front, = Pelligrino was second, the other jumptrooper made third, Joana fourth an= d Lori fifth. Avery turned to look at the line of jumptroops and now that= they were out of earshot of the T'quan guards Avery spoke up, " Now I kn= ow we haven't met anything in these tunnels yet but I want you all to sta= y here and guard the tunnel in case anything does decide to crawl through= here. So I can have a look at the guards positions. With our situation I= think you all can expect this to be short and the plan less than spectac= ular. Our mission is to blow up this generator at whatever cost, even if = we don't make it out. " He then disappeared back down the narrow tunnel a= nd soon moved out of sight. " Nice pep talk. " Lori grumbled. " Unfortuna= tely Lori, it's all the truth. But if I know Avery he'll still try his be= st to find a way to get us outta here. " Joana replied hopefully.

Avery shuffled almost all the way up to the grating and peered into th= e generator room. He saw the very same thing Pelligrino had seen. Guards = almost totally surrounded the generator itself as far as he could see eac= h one two shoulder lengths away from each other. There were also three or= four wandering guards scanning various parts of the room for possible in= trusion. Whether they stood stiffly in place or where patrolling, each wa= s vigilant and cautious. One seemed to look at the grating to the tunnel = where Avery was and cock it's head as if it had spotted him. Avery resist= ed the urge to move back further or stiffen up know that those actions mi= ght actually give him away. The T'quan guards equivalent of a stone-faced= look remained and it moved on. Despite the fact that they were on lower = ground the enemy definitely had the advantage. only one jumptroop could f= ire at a time while they could mass their fire picking the jumptroop's of= f one by one. When he saw none of them were really looking in his directi= on he cautiously reach one with one glove hand and pressed the grating. I= t moved quiet easily under even a slight touch which told him that it was= either very elastic or very fragile and could be ripped off easily, Aver= y hoped for the latter. He thought about the nature of all the weapons th= ey carried and only the grenade launcher had any kind of curve that would= allow them to shoot at the enemy without being shot at and hit. Unfortun= ately, the jumptroop Ensign Zachery Besser who carried the grenade launch= er would have to be at the right distance for it to not blow up in their = faces or have it over shoot. Avery didn't want to risk merely trying to s= hoot it through the grating for fear that even if it did blow out the gra= ting that it would also explode when it hit causing it to blow up in the = tunnel, something they definitely didn't want. He'd actually have to rip = off the grating and cock the launcher so it shot down and hit the enemy. = No telling if they would've spotted Ensign Besser by then and opened fire= . One could only hope that the first shot and explosion would scatter the= m enough for the jumptroop's to enter. Fortunately, the drop was small an= d they were used to falling so that wouldn't be the problem. Then there w= as the final idea of escaping. Thoughts began to clutter Avery's mind unt= il he shook his head and thought " We'll take care of that when we come t= o it. "

The entire time Avery was gone the entire squad remained silent. Final= ly Pelligrino heard shuffling from the tunnel Avery had gone down. Despit= e his doubts that anything had happened or was going to happen up here he= cocked his rifle cautiously. Avery finally emerged from the dark and nar= row tunnel totally calm and undaunted looking. " Well? What's the word si= r? " one of the other jumptroop's in the back asked. He looked in jumptro= op's general direction. " It doesn't look good down there, they obviously= have the advantage of mass fire. What I've thought of is a way to scatte= r or at least reduce the number of weapons they can bring to bear on us. = Ensign Besser. " Avery said and brought the attention to the same young m= an who had been behind Joana in the tunnel. He looked up from his chatter= ing with another jumptroop gave Avery a questioning look. " Your going to= be heading in first. That grating Pellegrino encountered is too tough, i= t moved even if I only slight touched it which means that you should be a= ble to just tear it off. Then I want you to fire a few shots at the guard= s with you grenade launchers, however many you think you can snap off the= resulting explosions should hopefully scatter the guards long enough for= us to get in and be able to fight in a better position. Got it? " the sq= uad nodded in silent surprise at the risky plan. " Good, cause we don't h= ave anymore time to waste on this stuff. " he continued as they changed t= heir positions once again, " Now let's move. "

They headed as quickly and as quietly as possible back into the narrow= tunnel, Zachery was in front holding his grenade launcher in a relativel= y readied position. The reached the grating and he stopped abruptly as he= noticed several of them were observing the area suspiciously. " What the= hell is the problem? " Avery whispered in an irritated tone. " I'm waiti= ng till they aren't paying attention. No offense sir but it won't help if= I get shot before I can get off a shot. " Zachery replied in a nervous t= one. He then returned his attention back to the guards, who after a while= moved on once more. Zachery then put down the grenade launcher and reach= ed for the grating with both hands and pulled hard and fast. It stretched= a little before coming off with a surprisingly noisy, wet tearing sound.= Zachery then instinctively lowered as close to the floor as possible and= reached with one hand for his grenade launcher and picked it up. He slid= forward slightly to get into position only to be hit several times in th= e shoulder and arms. He winced at the seething pain from the multiple wou= nds and resisted letting go of his grenade launcher or grabbing his arm. = Zachery narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth aiming best he could at h= is assailants and managed to shoot of three grenades taking hits until be= ing shot in the head by an Ionic rifle. Avery easily ignored the mess tha= t splattered on him from the shot unlike the scream but he ignored it on = the outside pushing Zachery Besser out of the vent and into the room. As = he came to the edge of the tunnel he fired off a few shot to make sure th= ey didn't try and shoot him down and pushed himself out of the tunnel han= ging onto the edge for a second to make sure he didn't land on his head. = He narrowly managed to avoid a hit as an laser blast hit just where he ha= d been hanging. Avery would've landed on his feet if not for landing on Z= achery's chest. The armor still protected him from further damage but had= know use now as Zach was obviously dead and became a bane for those tryi= ng to land on their feet. He quickly rolled over avoiding another blaster= shot and brought his own fusion rifle to bear on the guard who was takin= g shots at him and fired dispatching the guard in a satisfying fashion. A= very stood finally to take a quick look around, Zachery and his grenade l= auncher had done their job as the room was filled with smoke and quite a = few dead bodies. In that instant Pelligrino and Lori had also come down a= nd dragged the body out of the way, Lori firing into the smoke as the gua= rd refused to surrender. Joana watched were the laser and ion shots came = from came from and fired here repeater into the smoke. They heard a roar = and two groans telling them that she had hit a few of them whether they w= ere dead remained to be seen. One of the creatures in the smoke now prote= cting an injured guard and surrounded by it's dead comrades aimed with it= 's ionic rifle just barely missing it's target Joana. It still had some a= dvantage due to the natural fact that it's people's sight ability was dif= ferent from that of humans so it could still see fairly well through the = smoke. It took several more shots at her causing her to drop her gun and = run along the wall to avoid being hit. " Damn this one just doesn't wanna= die. " Pelligrino commented raised his rifle and shot in it's general di= rection finally joining it with it's comrades on the floor.

The demolitions specialists, who had been watching from the safety of = the tunnel finally slide out pushing their gear along in front of them. A= very barked orders to the rest of the jumptroops telling them to take up = positions for defense and a few to go on a scouting mission. He then walk= ed over to the specialist who were already fiddling with the gear, " How = long should this take? " Avery asked. " Well, were a bit hindered by all = the smoke but it shouldn't take too much longer. Just make sure no one in= terrupt's us and things'll be fine. " one of them answered calmly. He wal= ked over to some jumptroops surrounding a T'quan guard body rifles poised= . When Avery got a better look at it he noticed it was still alive, the j= umptroops looked at him inquiringly and he merely responded " Put it outt= a it's misery. " They shot the creature causing it to gasp suddenly and r= emain still but it still drew to attention of several other jumptroops. "= Nothing to see pay attention to what I told you to pay attention to. " A= very called to them and they returned to guarding.

Ten minutes later one of the specialists rose and walked over to Avery= . " Explosives are wired captain. So what's the situation? " " I don't kn= ow the scouts I sent haven't returned yet. In this situation that could o= nly be a bad thing. " Avery replied suspiciously. " It's only been a few = minutes " the specialists replied eyeing the door half afraid and half ho= peful. " Yeah but we don't have time to waste. " Avery said and walked ov= er to the jumptroops guarding the door, " Open the doors. " he said curtl= y. The jumptroops gave him a questioning look and he just glared back at = them and they opened the door, everyone quickly moved to the side of the = door. In case something unpleasant waited behind it, nothing happened. Av= ery stuck his rifle and waved it around just in case and finally peered t= hrough, they were faced with a fairly large and empty hallway. " Most mus= t be outside fighting on the front. " Joana commented seriously. Avery sl= owly edged his way out into the hall and stopped one more time looking ar= ound cautiously and then motioned for his troopers to follow.

They transversed the halls on the look out for remaining defense so fa= r only encountering minimal resistance. " Where are all the soldiers and = guards. Many of them are in front but I can't believe they'd leave the in= side of this base this unprotected. " Pelligrino whispered at the lack of= action they had seen so far. Joana elbowed him in the ribs, " What the h= ells was that for? " he said out loud in surprise. " Keep it down Pelligr= ino. " Avery hissed. " Never ask questions you don't wanna know the answe= r to. " Joana whispered in an irritated tone. " How do you know I don't. = " Pelligrino whispered back. " Believe me we no one, not even you do. Now= shut up. " she snapped still keeping her voice low. They didn't bother w= ith any of the rooms or doors along the hallway for obvious reason.

Finally after a long time of skulking through the halls they happened = upon a large rounded cavern that was darker than any tunnel they'd been i= n. The walls were slanted at an extreme angle and lined with holes and po= ds hanging or sitting side by side in strange order, almost like that of = a beehive. If that wasn't enough, the cavern floor was also lined with p= ods and holes in various places with much less order only leaving them th= in and sometimes incomplete walkways. Another thing they noticed was that= the pods were stuck to the walls and ground via a secretive residue and = slimy residue making an kind of climbing or running treacherous at best. = The cavern was also strangely hot and muggy, they then remember than this= was a volcanic world with barely enough oxygen or atmosphere to support = life. They must be above one of the thermal pockets on the planet. They a= ll looked at each other and nodded, there was nothing else to do but try = and cross it. They cradled their weapons in a half ready position and car= efully making their way down a slick and thin walkway with two large hole= s off to it's size. " Ya know this reminds me of an old 20th century movi= e I once saw. What was it called again? " Pelligrino said to another jump= troop in front of him who paid no attention to him, " Ah, I forget but an= yway. It was about these aliens that came down and invaded this base and.= .. " " Shut up, man! I don't care. " The jumptrooper finally responded wi= th an irritated, thickly Hispanic accented voice. " All right don't hafta= get snappy. Just trying to relieve some tension. Sheesh! " Pelligrino re= sponded in an offended tone and turn his attention to Lori who was behind= him. " You know this reminds me of... " he was again interrupted quickly= by a shadow of something skittering among the pods something that didn't= look like a human or guard. " Shit! You see that! " he said startled by = the shadow. Lori looked up among on the pods which where almost as tall a= s they were searching for whatever he was taking about and then shook her= head at him. Vince turned back to the other jumptroop and asked him the = same question and the other jumptroop only replied with a curt and annoye= d " No. " The passage widened up a bit enough for them to group up. Unfor= tunately it also lead to a similar problem that they had earlier with not= as easy a solution. They were faced with another hole it the ground that= covered the entire walkway in front of them with no way around and no wa= y down this time. " Don't we have anything we can throw across? " Lori as= ked as they all began to ponder a solution. " Yeah we have a grappling ho= ok but there's nothing the latch it onto. " the jumptroop Pelligrino had = been trying to talk to said as he came out of the group and motioned to a= t large coil of black cable with some the folded hook at the end. " Sure = we do I mean we have all these pods around. why not hook it onto one of t= hem. " Lori replied calmly. " Are you sure that's I good idea. I mean we= don't even know if these things are stable and can support our weight. "= Joana brought up that factor. " I also could've sworn I saw something mo= ving through these things and I'm not making that up. " Pelligrino though= it would be good to add, unfortunately very few took him seriously and s= aid nothing. Of course Avery being the cautious person took a quick glanc= e around and caught sight of something the size of a horse disappear into= one of the other holes. " Keep your weapons ready at all times there are= too many things we haven't seen yet and when we do see 'em I want them t= o be lying still. " he said curtly. One on the jumptroop's inspected the = pods, they were hard and stuck to the ground well enough that they should= be stable. .As for the material " They're stable, shoot the line. " The = jumptroop with the line unhooked it from his belt opened one of the hooks= and they rapped it around one of the pods finally jamming in into one of= them. Again something shifted in the darkness. He then began twirling it= and tossed it as hard as her could the hook opening in mid-air and loggi= ng itself between two squeezed together pods. The jumptroop then gave it = a firm yank and when they decided it was safe they all started across. As= they crossed the large hole it became considerably hotter, definitely a = thermal pocket. As soon as they all made it across the jumptroop yanked a= s hard as he could finally tearing the pods open, something that was the = size of a four year old tumbled out dead. " Why do I think that was a bad= idea? " Pelligrino said nervously. " Hey shut up! " the other jumptroop = yelled back in a panic. Suddenly they heard a loud screech sound and the= thing both Pelligrino and Avery saw came flying out from in between the = pods and swept by impaling the jumptroop who was carried away to another = ledge, screaming in agony and terror. When it landed they got their first= look at it. It had a large spider body with open ladybug like wings and = a bestial head with a large pointed beak and clawed mandibles on either s= ide of it's mouth. It ate him alive tearing huge pieces of flesh, muscle = and other things out of his body stabbing with it's beak first and tearin= g and scooping with the mandibles. The whole of Charlie squad could only = watch stunned horror not answering his barely audible screams for help. H= is screams soon became bloody gurgles and finally Avery ripped out his ri= fle and fired madly at the creatures head. It's carapace made a loud crac= k under the shots as it broke and the shots began to tear into the soft f= lesh below. More and more jumptroops joined in pumping shots into the wre= tched creatures body until it tumbled into the mass of pods below. Howeve= r that only made the situation worse as multiple screeches came from the = holes in the wall and among the pods. Charlie squad immediately hit the f= loor but not everyone made it as a few were scooped up anyway to meet a s= imilar fate as the first jumptroop. They began to crawl along the ground = thanking god that the walkways were too narrow for the creatures to land,= though it wasn't that they didn't try, swiping with their claws and cran= ing their necks. The ridgedness of their carapace stopped their head from= scoring any though they came dangerously close to some troops but not cl= ose enough. Unfortunately their claws were still able to do some damage. = Those who kept trying had fusion and laser shot emptied into them. They c= ame to another large clear clearing where several of the creatures landed= and skittered along roaring hissing and taking swipes at them. That wasn= 't bad though, what was bad was that a number of close combat and regular= gun totting Nusheki had come in to see what the noise was about. So far = fortunately they hadn't seemed to notice the jumptroops crawling along th= e bottom of the cavern floor.

One of them who by it's severely varied color scheme appeared to be th= e leader of that group widened on eye and peered at the creatures. It sho= uted a command in it's guttural croaking sounding voice " Dussshet amarrr= u zenarrr! (disperse filthy creatures) " and nothing happened. " Dussshet= genga! (disperse now) " it screamed at the creatures again angrily " GEN= GA! " it yelled finally and the close combat warriors stepped forward and= hit the creatures on the back with it's halberd like blade splitting it'= s carapace but not killing it. Finally the creatures got the message and = began to fly back into their holes or at the very least settle down. some= of the jumptroops seeing their chance headed for the cover that the pods= gave and lay limply among them as if causalities of the creatures attack= s. Others smeared blood from their injuries or dead comrades on themselve= s and dropped where they where in various positions of death. It finally = noticed the gored, half eaten bloody bodies of those who were really dead= and then spotted a few of the pretenders who large parts of their bodies= were covered. It assumed that they too were dead, " Ssso'orrro harrr ala= nok gokamah anu Gorrrssshamassseki borrrso narrr ( Those who are not wort= hy of the Grand Expansion shall die). " it said and left.

Everyone in Charlie five got up, or at least those who were still aliv= e, and others carefully made their way out from in between the pods and c= ontinued to move. The creature that had been swarming over them seemed to= have lost interest in attacking at the moment but they were all sure the= y were being watched. They walked over to the platform where the T'quan N= usheki had entered and disappeared looking for a way up the steep and sli= ppery incline. They didn't see any more opening with the exception of bac= k the way they came so this had to be the way out. Avery spotted an area = where the surface though slippery had rocks jutting out of it probably th= e only way up or down. As a test he jammed one foot firmly on a rock and = then with grabbed onto another one with both hands and pulled himself up.= Unfortunately his feet slipped before he could get a full hold and he fe= ll over backwards onto the floor. The rest came over to see what happened= and noticed the jutting rocks. " They must have some other way of gettin= g up there. It's too slippery for us. " Avery commented, he felt slightly= embarrassed at the fall. Another tried with similar results except he la= nded on his feet slipping forward. " If only we still had the grappling h= ook. " Lori commented and looked back at their first casualty clutching t= he grappling hook in a death grip. Those familiar with her work even wish= ed O'Reilly was with them, she was better at this mission than any of the= m and damn resourceful as well. Avery suddenly noticed one of the special= ist fingering the speaker device which would set the bombs off " Put that= damn thing away! " he hissed. The demolitions specialist looked at him q= uestioningly but did as he asked. " Well now we know what likely happened= to those scouts. " Pelligrino said eyeing the holes. " I know it's proba= bly not gonna work but maybe we could help each other up. Ya know stand o= n each others shoulders. " Lori suggested. " And how do we get the last f= ew people when we're done? " one of the other female jumptroops named Ash= ley Tanara asked quizzically " Well maybe they have something up there we= could use. " Lori suggested. " Won't work there'll be way to much weight= on the bottom persons shoulders by the time we reach the top. " Ashley a= rgued. " Well then what do you suggest hmm? " Lori argued back. Tanara lo= oked around for something they could use, anything and then noticed the p= ods that were growing next to the rocks. " We could try and climb the pod= s. " she suggested " What?! Are you crazy?! Look at what happened when Ca= rlos back there ripped one of them. We're out in a large opening. If one = of those things is damaged we're as good as dead! " Lori said alarmed by = the audacity of the suggestion. " What Carlos used was a sharp object whe= n using all his strength to remove the object. I was one of the people to= lay among the pods and they are quite sturdy. " she argued calmly Some o= f the jumptroops began to back away for cover as she planted one leg on t= he pod and reaching over grabbing a rock in one hand and the pod above he= r in the other pulled herself up. It seemed quite difficult as some of th= e pods where larger than the others causing her to lean back but to their= surprise she climbed onto the last one and quickly crawl onto the platfo= rm. She quickly stood up almost falling forward due to the residual slime= on her boots but steadied herself on the wall and peered in. Some troops= move to do the same except that she motioned for them not to as she slip= ped into the room beyond. They heard a quick scuffle in the room, a shot = of a rifle and final a large thud sound as one or the other collapsed pro= bably dead.

Ashley Tanara thankfully emerged with some strange looking ropes and t= ossed them down the rocky side and tied the end to something in the other= room, they could see what. Avery walked over and tested the rope, seeing= that it was sturdy he tried again to climb the surface. His feet slipped= again but the rope remained in his hands and he didn't fall over. Lori w= alked over and began to assist him allowing him to get a good head start,= combining ideas as Ashley at the top observed was working out pretty wel= l. With a few more slips and struggles Avery made it to the tope with the= assistance of her at the end. They climbed the rope one by one with the = assistance of Lori and the other jumptroop and when they were all finally= up there they assisted her in turn by pulling her up part of the way to = give her a head started and pulled her up at the end. The jumptroop who h= ad gotten the rope walked over and untied it from the torso a very large = guard with a rifle in the sling on it's back, a halberd weapon in it's ha= nd and a hole in it's chest. " How did you... " Avery said astonished at = the kill. " It was sleeping on the job so I got the drop on it. Plus it d= oes pay to have long ranged weaponry in a battle with a close combat atta= cker she said in a casual tone and patted her fusion rifle as if it was a= n old friend. " Well I guess Colleen ain't the only one who's really reso= urceful. " Pelligrino commented admiringly. " Thanks, I got it from havin= g to grow up in Richmond. " Tanara replied in relatively friendly sarcasm= , if there was such a thing. " All right people, We may have that behind = us but we have a lot more area to cover and more things like that to down= . So let's get moving. "

They headed back to the relatively silent and comparably friendly hall= s of the base avoiding combat whenever they could now. They had emptied s= o many shots into those things in the cavern that they had to conserve en= ergy if they ever hoped to have enough energy to make it across the battl= efield. The only weapon designed to be used a lot was the repeater, the f= usion rifle had a battery that while it recharged and had a lot of usage = in it recharged slowly, and the grenade launcher, when it ran out of ammo= it ran out of ammo period. As they went they began to notice smaller les= s deadly versions of the bugs in the cavern Carrying T'quan sized cocoons= on their backs. They had no idea or didn't want to know what was in them= there were also injured T'quan soldiers scattered almost everywhere. It = was actually a good sign that told them they were nearing the outside. Th= ey already could tell that they were on the surface by the drop in tempe= rature and moisture. On the other hand because there were soldier almost = everywhere that was a sign that the big fight to the outside and past the= enemy lines would begin soon. Avery checked the power gauge on his rifle= , it read seventy percent. The repeater Joana was carrying would come in = very handy. Avery sighed heavily, even jumptroops had some kind of code o= f honor and part of it was not kicking an enemy when it was clearly down = and no threat. Most of the creatures were so injured that they were littl= e to no threat, but still to get out without stirring up the other defens= es on the base they'd have to come out firing. " All right as far as I se= e with all the injured around the corner we can't be far from the outside= . Now there are a lot already injured and no threat to us, don't bother w= ith them it's a waste of ammo. Those who are an immediate threat are fair= game. " he said adding that word to make sure they didn't shoot at the u= narmed either. He couldn't really stop them, he'd heard what they've been= through throughout the war and they were hardened and desensitized again= st all death or violence of any kind even the kind that went against the = idea of basic human decency. While he believed they were better than that= the facts still remained and all he could do was make subtle tries. He g= ave the signal and they quickly rushed across the hall firing into the cr= owd hitting those who could do harm and sometimes inadvertently hitting u= narmed doctors and assistants when they stood up in sudden alarm. Others = crawled along the floor seeking places to hide. The battle didn't last lo= ng since there were few who were uninjured most were severely hindered by= injuries to various part of their bodies some still open wounds oozing b= lood. Avery stepped among the dead and injured bodies heading to were an = enemy doctor was hiding. " Listen up you poor excuse for a piece of crap!= I know from experience that you all can understand us so you'll understa= nd clearly when I tell you to show us the way out or I'll blow your fucki= ng brains out myself. " Avery said in a very threatening manner, another = thing he had learned got thing done in this society. " Tarozo (Please)...= Ti kak nok sera arem nar (I do not wish to die)... " it stuttered in it's= own language. Avery merely gave him a menacing look and hissed in a low = tone " Take us outside. " and pressed it's rifle to his gun and pointed a= t the doctor and then in the opposite direction than where the strange cr= eatures with cocoons were going. The T'quan being fully intelligent and i= ntent on living through the ordeal stood up and began walking in that dir= ection, being followed closely behind by Charlie five. Avery wished he ha= dn't had to do that but there was almost no more time and they were despe= rate. The T'quan was apparently desperate enough on not being shot that i= t actually opened the wall for them to the outside. Before Avery could do= anything else the doctor darted off into one of the other passages.

They ignored it from then on and dove for cover as a spray of shots ca= me their way taking two other jumptroops with them. " No more easy going = folks we've finally encountered their forces. " Avery yelled above the no= ise of the creatures and sounds of battle. A large group of terran fighte= rs swooped above the enemy forces and pulled up heading for space. " No w= ay back now so we might as well get going As they made their way cautious= ly from cover and down a slight slope and were immediately on set by ten = on the creatures they had met before when they landed. They now automatic= ally aimed their shot for the neck. One of the other jumptroops who had p= icked up Zachery's grenade launcher shot at the same area and missed the = grenade instead shooting in it's mouth and exploding there splitting it's= out carapace and ripping apart it's insides killing it instantly. What t= hey didn't notice however coming up behind the creatures were two Rorik T= 'quan light tanks each of which sprayed twin streams of highly corrosive = acid at them. Due to the spread and range of the acid no one escaped it's= affects, just some came out in better condition. Ashley took the grenade= launcher from the hands of it's disgustingly corroded user ignoring the = site and shooting at one of them continuously. shredding it to pieces. Th= e other turned it's head and sprayed acid at her striking her in the arm = shoulder and faceplate. She screamed and collapsed, holding her arms to h= er face in which the acid began to eat away at them to. Joana noticing th= at angrily sprayed the second tank with laser fire from her repeater lite= rally covering it with so many holes that when it fell various otherwise = sturdy part of it snapped off. Joana and Lori then ran to help Ashley up = and noticed the acid had eaten clear past her mask and scared her face. L= ori took her canteen from her belt unscrewed it and began to douse Ashley= 's face with water. Joana did the same with her own and Ashley's canteen'= s making sure the acid was diluted enough not to be dangerous enough. " I= can't see, it's so dark. What's happening you guys. " she said in a weak= and panicked voice. " We're getting outta her Ashley and we're taking yo= u with us no matter how injured you are. " Joana replied in a determined = tone and glanced at Avery. She then looked to Lori who nodded and began t= o take off her jumppack which as hard as it was would when tied together = with other would make an adequate stretcher. Joana also took of her jumpp= ack and called to Vince Pelligrino and another jumptroop from the same sq= uad in a assertive tone " Vince, Rick we need your packs now. " They both= gave her a startled look and noticing Ashley on the ground disconnected = them immediately Pelligrino and Joana and then lashed them together to ma= ke a makeshift stretcher and swiftly but carefully placed Ashley on it. "= Could we please hurry up? " Avery said becoming irritated. " We're movin= g we're moving but we I think we all agree that more than one out of our = original ten should survive. " Joana yelled in reply. " Me too but we're = on an important mission here. " A very argued back and poked around the c= over they had found to down more T'quan Nusheki. She obviously was becomi= ng very unsure and distrustful of Avery for some reason. " Charlie squad = doesn't just leave it's own to die. " Joana growled. O'Reilly did do thin= gs differently, she didn't leave her squad members behind as they had bee= n doing with the severely wounded so far, especially if there was a chanc= e they could make it. " If we can help it. I never said that we weren't = gonna take her along. " Avery said. " Not if we won't let you. " Lori mut= tered under her breath in support of Joana. " We're gonna try this again.= This time try and lay low. " Avery said to the rest of the group. " How?= " Pelligrino asked. Avery merely motioned to the smoke, the mountains of= bodies and debris that had pile on once flat land. " Let's go. " he said= and all four people Rick, Pelligrino, Joana and Lori lifted the stretche= r to try and increase their speed. Lori and Pelligrino did their best to = keep one hand under the stretcher and one on their weapons so Avery would= n't be the only one shooting and they were better at aiming than the othe= r two. They did their best to make it to the next area of cover which was= a smashed heavy T'quan tank. Suddenly another one of the semi intelligen= t creatures climbed onto it and leapt out at Avery. He fired but not befo= re it got a chance to slash his stomach and put a nice deep gash his leg = with both of it's three foot long claws. Avery staggered and leaned again= st the destroyed enemy tank grasping his stomach as it was of more conce= rn than his leg wound. Lori began to look for something anything to bind = the wound. For some reason though Avery turned looking out of breath and = told them to move on and he himself began move with a pronounced limp gra= sping his stomach and firing into enemy lines. One had to hand it to him,= Avery was tough as hell. They picked up Ensign Tanara and moved on.

This time it was actually a while before they made it to adequate cove= r. Rick had left moving the stretcher to help hurry up Avery whom the lon= g amount of moving was very hard for. Lori had also left the stretcher to= play cover leaving Joana and Pelligrino to carry the stretcher, thank go= d for their strength which kept them moving at a tolerable rate. The tons= of adrenaline pumping through them also helped, they were used to that b= y now. They suddenly noticed three tanks and five other jumptroop up ahea= d backing away from the enemy and firing continuously with repeaters. The= y could just barely make out the various insignia's of the Fleet and what= platoon they were from, Eleon platoon, it wasn't their own but it was go= od enough. All of a suddenly Two Kralaki fighter swooped by and dropped b= ombs on the remaining number of people killing everyone. They moved as qu= ick as possible behind the tanks, put down Ashley and Avery sat against o= ne. Lori and Pelligrino began to search the wreckage's and the nearby dea= d troops for various things they could use so the remainder Charlie five = wouldn't end up all causalities. Lori hit the jackpot as among the ruins = she found two med-packs one in two of the tanks, the third wasn't even ac= cessible. They quickly unraveled the bandages and Avery cooperated as the= y wrapped them tightly around his wounds and tied them off. He had alread= y lost a lot of blood but this should keep him from loosing a lot more. T= hey all noticed the encouraging sight of the ridge and a nearby high, lon= g wall of cover they could use to try and climb it. They quickly began to= move on putting the med-packs on the stretcher with Ashley. They quickly= surveyed what was left of Charlie five they had themselves and two of th= e specialists who would definitely be needed to set of the remote trigger= , some of them questioned why they hadn't set it off yet. Joana glanced a= t the still loaded grenade launcher that had been tied to the stretcher s= o it wouldn't be lying heavily on Ashley. She couldn't use it herself but= Rick or one of the specialist could, technically. Joana unstrapped it fr= om the stretcher and then retied the strap to support the stretcher. She = ran over to Rick and shoved it into his arms and took to rifle. " We made= need some heavy cover to make it over that ridge and behind what's left = of our lines. " she walked him over to one of the specialists who valiant= ly plugged at some of the enemy with his measly blaster. She quickly yank= ed him back before he was shot in the head by an enemy off to the side ho= isted her rifle quickly and shot it down. She then shoved the rifle into = his arms and said " I want you two to trade places. You Rick will cover u= s as we go and you will carry Avery the rest of the way. " Both of them w= ere surprised by her sudden take charge attitude but did as she said, it = was at least preferable to Avery's " at all costs " attitude. For Joana t= hat was hard to take, not just because she had become used to O'Reilly bu= t Avery was different before, not as distant from his own men, sure he ha= d always been a hard liner but he did at least care for his troops somewh= at. That was a question she had to find an answer to when they got back. = As soon as she got back to the stretcher they hoisted it and the speciali= st helped Avery up and they were on their way.

It was a painfully slow climb up the medium sized ridge especially wit= h them carrying something as heavy as four jumppacks and a fellow jumptro= op. As they got to the top of the hill they immediately noticed that some= thing was seriously wrong from the telltale fiery glow. They got to the t= op of the hill as fast as possible and set the stretcher down gaping in h= orror watching close combat and regular Nusheki prowling around checking = the jumptroops bodies for any survivors that they could do away with.

" Welcome terrans. " an alien voice spoke up. They turned to face a T'= quan dressed in tawny colored armor highlighted on the edges on the torso= in blood red and it wore a bluish purple cloak. The fur on it's hands an= face was multicolored varying from flat brown to golden brown to reddish= colors and it's eyes were a rare deep green color. These were as they le= arned from the information they lifted a while ago attributes of the roya= l clan. That and the fact that he was surrounded by royal guards. Of cour= se the deep green color meant they were relatives to the emperor. It rode= one of the semi-intelligent bug like creatures as one would a horse, wit= h the expected covers of course. " I am the Baron D'Varr and you have in= vaded the Minat system my province, I am not pleased. " he continued. " Y= eah well we're not too pleased about you trying to invade our system eith= er. " Avery spoke up. " SILENCE! I did not ask you to speak. " he hissed = out loud. " Hate to break it to you but you ain't my commanding officer. = Anyway as I was saying, we humans have a saying for what's happening here= and that's ' turn about is far play ' " he said ignoring the anger of th= e baron. There was a deep rumbling of a growl that came from the baron, w= hatever Avery was doing he was sure as hell managing to provoke the baron= well. The Baron sat up straight and stopped growling and make what looke= d light a mix between a smirk and a sneer. " I don't care about your peop= le or what any of you think, Terran, now the choice is here and obvious. = Surrender your men and whatever device you have that you plan to use to b= low up my base or die. " " It ain't that simple though. There are multipl= e devices, multiple explosives and multiple men to activate them. " Avery= said. " The rest of my guard are taking care of them as they speak. " D'= Varr said haughtily. " As I also understand your people are all given the= chance to fight to the death and die with honor. " he said in mock respe= ct. " Humans have no honor! They are lower than animals. Human are nothin= g but filthy maggots who crawl around inside the ground and infest the fi= lthy rotting bodies of higher creatures. Now give me the device. " D'Varr= said with a sneer. " All right, all right! " Avery turned around and wal= ked over to the specialist holding the device and slung his rifle over hi= s shoulder, " Hand it over son. " The young man looked at him in absolute= shock, " Hand it over, now. " Avery repeated this time in his most intim= idating voice. The young man still hesitated and Avery leaned in very clo= se to the man " It ain't what it seems like kid. Give me the device, I'll= pretend to give it to him and say the code. At that moment I want you to= run as fast as you humanly can. Just run don't worry about me. " " But t= rooper Tanara she... " " I know what kinda injuries she took and the thin= g did not hit her legs she can run especially if she has to all you have = to do is guide her... You'll have time to warn the squad thanks to these = injuries. " Avery interrupted the young man. Avery then snatched the remo= te device away from the specialist and yelled " Give me that fucking devi= ce. Do you all want us to die! " and then nodded slightly. The specialist= reluctantly decided to play along " Your a fucking traitor you know that= ! A fucking traitor. " he young man yelled back in the most convincing to= ne he could manage. Avery merely whirled around to face Baron D'Varr who = was smiling evilly. One royal guard leaned backwards and asked, whisperin= g " Your Grace are your really going to let these things go? " " What are= you an idiot? When he give me the device shoot them down take their head= s off. " the baron whispered back. The young specialist ever so slightly = slide over to his partners and began whispering what Avery had told them.= Avery meanwhile limped over ever so more slowly without help. Fortunatel= y D'Varr was a patient Baron who expected to get what he wanted from thes= e oh so foolish Terrans.

" What's he doing what's he trying to prove. " Joana whispered and ste= pped forward after hearing Avery's plan. " I don't know. " the specialist= whispered back. " Maybe he's trying to make up for the way he's been? " = Lori suggested in the same low whisper. " Dammit he doesn't need to do it= like this. " she said continuing in a whisper and began to move forward.= " Avery we... " she began and was stopped by a growling guard pointing a= n ionic rifle her way. Knowing better she quickly backed off. " I don't k= now even though I'd rather Avery survive too look at all those guys, espe= cially that Baron bug. They don't intend to let us go, don't kid yourself= like that Joana. " Pelligrino reasoned. " He ain't following his own adv= ice. Only hero I ever saw wasn't breathing. " Joana whispered back quotin= g Avery from back a long time ago back during the Second Neosapien war, t= hat war seemed civilized compared to this one. Avery drew close to the Ba= ron whose seeming grin grew even wider by the moment and even with their = reservations they drew back visibly.

" Stay where you are! " the Baron said out loud " Or I will kill you a= ll! " " Nevermind them. Your gonna let us go anyway right? " trying to su= ppress his own grin Charlie five hadn't fallen, ever and they weren't abo= ut to today, especially not to some backstabbing, royal brat bugs. " Yes = of course. I just want to make sure I get what I ask for. " the Baron cor= rected quickly. Avery glanced back at his watching team who was already w= orking to stand Ashley up and rehook their jumpacks. Avery limped on righ= t up to the baron shifting the weight of his rifle so it would be easy to= grab when the time came. " I just have one thing left to say to you befo= re I give you this thing Baron. " Avery said holding the device near his = mouth to make sure it picked his voice and the code up, " GAMMA SIX, DELT= A TANGO! " he yelled to code into the device. Immediately on command the = bombs were activated and exploded blowing up a huge portion of the T'quan= base. " NOOOOO! " D'Varr screamed. Avery grabbed his rifle and began fir= ing and moved behind The baron and just out of immediate reach and began = firing at the guard.

Joana, Pelligrino, Lori and Ashley who had help from the specialists s= printed off in the immediate opposite direction of the guards. Searching = vainly for other shuttle that would get them out of there. The only shutt= les they saw were off in the distance being loaded. Immediately there was= another huge explosion coming from the base. Joana looked in the distanc= e back at Avery who was already being violently slashed, shot and gutted = by the royal guards she couldn't help but watch as they disappeared behin= d smoke from the battle and burning base seeing just before they disappea= red the Baron riding up and beheading Avery as a final blow.

In the suddenness of the explosion and the frenzy to kill the terran c= aptain they hadn't noticed that what was left of his squadron had fled. "= Cowardly terrans, running when their commander was to be slain. " the Ba= ron thought. If any in the T'quan Imperial army had done the same thing t= hey would be killed on the site when they got back, unfortunately humans = weren't like that. No they'd run away and escape, their commanding office= rs would allow them to live to fight again under a different command. The= terran army must be full of dishonored ones. Still despite the opinion o= f the royal clan the Baron thought it was strangely noble and courageous = for their leader to have sacrificed himself for his cowardly squad. He wo= uld've been honored with a ceremonial heroes burial and feast in his name= if he were a T'quan Nusheki commander not even noblemen got that one had= to make a great sacrifice, " Oh well onto business " the baron thought. = " After the filthy, cowardly maggots you fools! " it screamed at it's roy= al guard. The guard without question screamed their war cries and took of= f after the jumptroops. The baron himself took off on it's " steed " ridi= ng ahead of all of them like a nightmarish knight in search of blood. Unf= ortunately for Charlie five this creature was faster than a horse and mor= e deadly. The shapes of the fleeing terrans quickly came into view and th= en their full forms. The baron rode by and lopped off Rick's head before = he even had a chance to turn around the baron then impaled one of the spe= cialists and one of Ashley's assistant's. Lori turned around in mid strid= e and fired her fusion rifle at the bulbous protrusion on the creatures n= eck only to learn that the baron had smartly armored it. Joana and Pellig= rino also stopped and fired this time at the baron but missed utterly. Th= e shapes of the guard were catching up. He rode toward the jumptroops get= ting ready to decapitate another one, when Pelligrino quickly got an idea= . As Joana and Lori ran to get out of the way. Pelligrino hoisted his rif= le and instead of firing it he swung it as hard as he could into the baro= ns chest doing little damage to the baron himself except giving him chest= pain but effectively knocked it off his mount. Lori then took the chance= to provoke it grab a grenade and as to create opened it's mouth to snap = of her head she threw the grenade in it's mouth.

Pelligrino meanwhile was currently locked in hand to hand combat with = the baron who because of it's crescent blade had the advantage. " Cowardl= y human I will mount you and your fellows skulls upon my walls! " the bar= on screamed and slashed at him with it" Talk about cowardly. If your so = great my don't you fight me without that handy dandy blade you got yourse= lf there. " Pelligrino said successfully blocking it with his rifle but h= aving his rifle cut in half. " Nice try human." the baron said in a jeeri= ng tone and gave him a kick to the stomach. " You abandoned your noble co= mmander and that makes you a coward and a maggot. " D'Varr continued. " H= e wanted it that way. that was the entire point of the action and if we'r= e your a lying backstabbing sonnuva bitch! You weren't intending to let u= s go weren't you?! " Pelligrino screamed back and swung at it with his cy= bernetic hand which was particularly hard but missed again. " Your a cowa= rdly maggot but observant. " D'Varr taunted. It came at Pelligrino and be= gan kicking and punching and slashing him with it's hand, feet, blade and= claws on it's hands. " You're a fool to challenge me. The royal clan doe= sn't just sit around as I read yours did, we are the best in hand to hand= fighting in all the empire and all the clans. " it said proudly and rais= ed it's blade to impale him. Just as the baron began to bring it down Joa= na shot her rifle just in time to knock it out of his hands. " What?! " t= he baron said startled and confused. Vince took the time to kick the baro= n in the crotch which thank to the armor didn't do much good but startle = it further and jump up and hit it straight in it's vulnerable face severa= l times. Joana and Lori then both ganged up with Pelligrino on him. Lori = spin kicked the baron in the back while Joana brought her gun up hitting = it's stomach and then the back of it's head. Pelligrino then brought his = knee up to smash D'Varr's face and punched it again with his hard cyberne= tic hand. He staggered and fell over backward alive but unconscious.

The T'quan royal guard were almost in good range to attack now. The cl= ose combat ones had gotten ahead of the gun totting ones due to their bet= ter physical condition. Joana quickly grabbed D'Varr up making sure to pi= n his arms down and grabbed his own dagger from his belt and pressed it t= o his throat. They stopped short eyes wide in surprise ready to pounce bu= t unwilling due to the fact that one of them held their baron hostage wit= h it's own blade. " That's a good bunch of bugs. Stay there or your maste= rs blood will pain the ground. " Joana announced in a cautious but threat= ening tone a tone they understood well. She motioned for her partners to = start running, " Go. With this guy as my hostage I'll be fine. " she whis= pered. Pelligrino become defiant, " That's the same way the captain added= now he's without a head. I'm staying whether you like it or not. " " But= Ashley... " " Has the specialist and Lori to take care of her. Now come = on I'll help you with these guys and the baron. " Pelligrino said and hoi= sted the unconscious baron by the legs. " Nath borsonok shozoka jath mah = krat beva yola anu Zethen, terrans! (You are not getting out of here aliv= e with him terrans) " " Yeah and what are you gonna do about it. I'm kind= a handy with a knife you now, but if you try and stop us I'm afraid my ha= nd might slip. " Joana said sardonically. " We want that do we, so BACK O= FF! " Pelligrino added. The warrior were only able to watch as they made = off with the baron.

" You know this guys kinda heavy " Joana commented as they lugged the = baron along. " Which is why I'm here. " Lori spoke up. " LORI! I thought = I told you to defend Ashley and the specialist! " Pelligrino said surpris= ed and horrified at the same time. " I ran ahead and got help. " They bot= h looked at her surprise, Lori merely walked over and took up some of the= weight of the baron. " Baker one squad's gonna wait for us but only a li= ttle while so let's move. " They began walking and Lori looked at the bar= on " You're gonna hafta explain this to their captain though. " " He's a = baron remember he oughta be of some importance to us. Just think of him a= s a prisoner of war. " Pelligrino answered. The suddenly heard some loud = screeches and battle cries. " Uh oh looks like his boys are gonna trey so= mething. " Lori said. " Just keep moving were almost there. " Five jumptr= oop s rushed past them raised their fusion rifles and fired into the onco= ming guard, one glanced at them and the body and then paid attention to h= is business. They staggered right up to the captain and relieved themselv= es of the boy dropping it on the floor and saluted him and the captain sn= apped a salute back " It's about time. " he said in a gruff tone . " Well= we had a few problems. Got a POW for ya captain. This one's a baron memb= er of the royal family or something. Thought he might be of some value to= our forces. " Joana commented. " We'll take him up and see what command = says. Doesn't have any value to the jumptroops but he might be up there. = Anyway lieutenant we have no more time so were leaving. Everyone here? " = he said looking at the addition to the shuttle. " Joana looked at them wi= th sorrow but and turned back to him turning serious to hide here express= ion " Yeah that's everyone. "

The last of the jumptroops ran on inside even as the ramp began to clo= se. They had to shoot off several of the enemy close combat fighters and = punch them off but it was a minor detail right now. There was a loud rumb= le and the ground shook as a third explosion erupted from the base. They = all strapped themselves in to prepare for takeoff itself and finally the = engines whined signaling they were taking off and lurched as they headed = for space. Three other jumptroop meanwhile where making sure the baron wa= s disarmed and then tied him up securely so he couldn't even use his claw= s to get out. " Hey Charles, got those explosives ready. " the captain sp= oke up. The specialist obviously named Charles from another squad said " = Just give the word boss. " " Blow it now. " the captain snapped. The spec= ialist took out a device different from the one Avery had used and larger= flipped open a panel and squeezed a button under it and on the other sid= e and the final set of explosions and leveling the base once and for all = and giving the shuttle another jolt. The loudspeaker leading to the cockp= it crackled to life. " We've lifted off and our on our way outta here. Es= corts will be joining in a minute so you guys just sit back and relax. " = " Relax my ass only time I'll be relaxed is when we get outta this shitho= le of a system one of the ensigns shouted back and got mutters of agreeme= nt from the rest of the squad. They were joined and escorted by Reaper sq= uadron from the Pendiente itself which was apparently where they were goi= ng. " Well forget about asking Avery about his actions. I guess we'll nev= er know. " Joana thought looking at the floor sadly. Pelligrino and Lori = on the other hand where just glad to have made it even though Lori felt s= orry for Ashley in her condition right now. All of them despite their tho= ughts relaxed a little and leaned back for full well-earned rest.

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