Remembrance

The next morning David woke up with a serious headache. He rolled out of bed, almost literally and went to the bathroom to wash up. Since he had been allowed the five hour rest he looked a lot better than before. They had gone two weeks with little sleep everyone sneaking in a little nap now and then which totaled up to ten hours in two weeks. That kind of thing made him look tired, a bit pale, deep shadows under his wide-eyes. He still looked tired and had shadows under his eyes but he was no longer pale and generally looked more healthy, but his uniform was thoroughly wrinkled and stained he hadn't shaved in two weeks. He took an old- style shaver which he had to use since they weren't allowed even enough extra power to shave. He did all the other stuff when preparing to shave and began. He became lost deep in his thoughts concerning the squad and his own personal thoughts about the things that have been going on. He was brought out of them by the flash of pain from nicking himself with the razor he picked up his towel and then cursing silently dabbed at the cut with it. There was a knock at the door, the ringers were broken. He washed the soap off, dried off and said " Come in. " turning to the door.

The door slid open and Jenny stepped in. She still looked physically horrible, her eyes bloodshot from crying and her features droopy and tired from no rest. He looked upon her with concern and said " What's wrong Jenny? Didn't you get any sleep last night? " " Not a wink. And you know what's wrong. " she replied in a low yet harsh tone. David ignored to comment and looked herup and down pondering whether he should take her on the next mission. While in more normal circumstances he would've had her stay behind and check up with the ships psychologist, he didn't have such a luxury now. Still he worried about her performance during the upcoming mission. He looked at his watch and noticed they had one more hour before they had to go anywhere. " I want you to go and try to get at least forty five minutes of sleep before we have to be at the briefing. Even though that's very little some is better than none. I need you to be at least relatively alert. " David said in a serious tone. " Yes sir. " she said silently and turned to leave.

" Hold it, hold it. You had to come in for some reason now you have to tell me what's up. " he said walking over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. " Oh it's not important sir, just a little thing of mine. " she said removing his hand. " I have a feeling it is. I know when someone has something important to say when I look at them. I was a commander before I came to Able squad and one of my duties as commanding officer of the squad is to be sure of the well being, physical and emotional, of my squad members so now, tell me what it is. " he said in a more concerned voice. " Well, I know what you said about people forgiving me and that stuff but, I still am having trouble figuring out if I can forgive myself. About not saving J.T. and all that. " she said in a silent, low sort of guilty tone. " Jenny I don't know what I would've done in your place but I'm sure that your decision to retreat is just as good as finding a way to save him. Either way you yourself told me that you didn't have a lot of time so it's not like you could have talked it out with him he wasn't gonna go. Imagine if you had stayed a little longer. Maybe you could've pulled it off but most likely those marines would come through the doors and trap you guys in there and everyone with you would be dead. Now think about it, how much worse would that have been. Like I keep saying there was the slight chance you could have saved him but they were very slim. You made the right choice, don't feel bad about it. " David said and walked out leaving Jenny to think about it more.

David walked over to Colleen who was still asleep. He tapped her on the shoulder lightly to wake her up. She turned around and looked up a him squinting from the bright light and waited for her eyes to focus. " Oh hi David, what is it? " she said in a tired voice. She was visibly still depressed from her loss of J.T. but otherwise she was reasonable and ready to go. " Captain Sarson just told me to tell you to attend the next briefing in about three hundred hours. " Three hundred? I've only gotten two hours of sleep. " she said still tired and depressed. " What happened to the other four? I was able to get in five hours. You could've gotten eight hours counting the time we were in the meeting. " David said looking surprised and a little concerned. " I was up thinking. " she said. " Thinking about him? " he said softly. " Why do you care? " she said getting up and turning away getting a bit upset. " Because I like to make sure that the people I work with are in the best mental and physical condition they can be, I care about the people I work with especially the ones in my squad, because I see most as friends. " he said stepping forward. They noticed the squad for the first time, they were still asleep and she turned to him with a understanding face " If we're gonna talk let's go somewhere else. They went to a place behind some crates were it was quite and private so they could talk in private. " I was about to say thanks, I don't have many friends left and yes I was thinking about J.T. " she said a pained expression coming across her face. " I'm angry and sad at the same time. He left not considering how it would affect me or my friends which makes me angry at him. I'm sad because at the same time I keep having this feeling that if I would've only gone with you guys. If I would've put down my duties and somehow get to him before he was wounded I could've done something. Just that I should've been there, like I said what he did is a jumptroops job rarely an e-frame pilots. He died doing my kind of work and I just can't forget him, what we went through, what we had planned. And when you told me what had happened it felt as if my world had been shattered. " she said tears coming to her face and she looked down again. " Well you may know this but it isn't. You still have friends that care for you. " he said trying to make her feel better. " Natasha was the best of them but she's gone now too. " she said composing herself and still looking down. " Colleen I know I can't make you forget J.T. nothing can. But I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be like this. He didn't wanna leave but he had to and I'm guessing it was to save you and your decision to stay here and help the people on the Liberty probably helped save more lives. Don't begrudge his decision or feel bad about yours because in probably a strange and twisted way they were good, they were meant to happen. Now I want you to get some more rest because our squads have a mission soon and we need everyone alert. " he said in a very understanding and gentle voice. " But someone has to get the gear ready. " she said now looking at him with wide eyes. " Get someone else to do it. You need your rest. " David said, got up and walked off. She walked back to the place where her squad was sleeping and nudged Longfeather with her foot. When he didn't wake up she kicked him. He looked up at her sleepily and ordered him and some others to get ready their stuff for another mission and she herself went back to sleep.

David walked over to where his squad was talking and playing cards as usual feeling good about himself. There were some duties he didn't mind it having to do as a colonel and commanding officer of a squad. He joined the card game and they began talking about stuff trying to avoid the mentioning of J.T. wherever they could since it had only been aboput a week since his death and it was still a relatively sensitive subject. Kaz beat them several times at the game and got a lot of money for a while until David began winning. The captain had been watching them sadly for a while. He had lost people too but no longer had many friends like they did or the same hopeful kind. He recalled what he said in that speech about a month ago about their strength coming from their numbers. Now they would need each other more than ever since the war was not yet over. Yet despite all of their losses he believed in his troops no matter what the situation, he had a tendency to do that.

David looked up at Kaz who was now shuffling the cards angrily. He watched Kaz's behavior as they played and decided to let him win by folding. Something was very wrong with Kaz he did not have the same kind of quiet sadness that all the others had, his was a silent rage that seemed to be building as he lost at cards as frustration was added. He decided to wait till after the next mission to talk to Kaz about it. " Pay up guys. " Kaz said happily as he once again pulled the winning cards and the squad groaned some giving up the rest of their chips and the rest left before they lost everything. " How 'bout you David? Ready to loose yer money. " Kaz said looking to David. " Well I don't think... " David began and captain Sarson walked up to them. They all, all of a sudden sprang to attention and saluted him " At ease. " he said returning the salute.

" It's time for the briefing. " he said seriously. " Sorry sir. " David said they realized that the had spent a bit too much time playing and now had to go to the briefing. " It alright just come on. " he said and they all walked into the briefing room where Colleen and another squadron commander was waiting. " Everyone I'd like you to meet Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Juliana. Elizabeth this is Able squad and their fine Colonel David Sames. " they nodded their heads as they were introduced. " We've located strangely the missing planet Mars out side the orbit of planet Chaos. It so far has been rotating and conditions seem normal judging from the readings our probes got a little while ago. The only unusual thing is that it does not orbit the sun like it should even out of it's original orbit. You will all will be allowed use of the new fighters on this mission since you will likely need the speed and firepower. Your job is to get down there and escort the jumptroops down where they can get a closer look at the planet through human eyes. Charlie squad five and four will touch down and gather information and then your squad will be picked up by the shuttle that will be hidden in Chaos's cloaking atmosphere. " he said turning to Colleen for a second and turned back to the exosquads. " It is imperative that this mission succeed because it could hold the key to if not to begin winning but to bring our two forces at a stalemate. It also might give us some insight into the alien social structure which can prove to be useful in a war. There are many possibilities to what we might gain from this but no matter what this mission must succeed. Your secondary objective, all of you is to minimize casualties if any and get out as fast as you can. No telling what might happen if we stay to long or how much it will cost us if we lose too many more pilots and jumptroops. Questions? " the captain said and looked around for a while. After no one raised their hands he dismissed them and told them to spend their time prepping their fighters.

Able squad walked on to the flight deck and to the area where their e-frames were supposed to be waiting. They were surprised when they found that with the exception of David's fighter which was a new model all of their e-frames were gone and replaced with other new fighters. They were the colors of their former e-frames dark blue, brown, yellow, purple, etc and had their names on the side. " Not as personalized as our old e-frames but they'll do. " Kaz said in a kind of sarcastic humorous tone. David looked at him strangely and then slide under his fighter so he could work on it. Not long into the wait David was just about to finish when Elizabeth walked up to him and said " Colonel Sames? " suddenly. David looked up at her and hit his head on the wing as he did so, she and his squad at the sight. Rubbing his head he got up slowly this time and turned to look at her kinda annoyed and said " That's not funny, it hurt. " She only laughed more, he looked at the squad sternly who went back to work and he sighed an exasperated sigh. " What is it Juliana? " he said still having an annoyed tone. She finally caught her breath and drew a more serious expression " Captain Sarson wants to see us both. " " Well then we should go shouldn't we and stop fooling around here. " he said in the same tone. " Oh don't be so sensitive. Your squad and I thought it was funny and it's good for us. " she said nudging him with her arm. He caught it and looked at her with kind of a slyly humorous expression and said " I'll remember that next time. " and continued walking. She caught up to him with a worried and confused expression and said " What is that supposed to mean? " " Nothing. " he said still smiling. " Come on. " she said getting a bit more worried. She kept insisting for him to tell him what he meant all the way to the office but he refrained from telling her.

They continued into the captains office and he looked up at them. " Welcome David. Having a friendly discussion I see. " the captain said smiling with his own humorous face. They simultaneously disagreed and the captain merely laughed at the two. " Now. " said becoming serious again " If I heard correctly you had something to discuss with us both. " They walked into the briefing room where they could conduct the briefing more effectively. " I've been able to receive a little bit of information from the probes and it does not look good. We have found that the mission while it will proceed will be much harder because the planet is inhabited. " he began. " Inhabited by what? " Elizabeth asked. David just looked at her with an annoyed expression again and let captain Sarson continue. " Well, the answer is obvious, T'quan and human. The things we don't know is the population and if it's military installations or civilian colonies. " the captain said. " Humans and T'quan, together?! " David asked thoroughly confused. " We're guessing that the humans are prisoners and what is down there are most likely military installations. Either way you are not to try and be some kind of hero or something else stupid. Just get in and get out as fast as you can. " he said " It won't likely be our squads you have to worry about. It'll be us look out for Charlie-squad and you know who " the captain nodded and said " I've discussed this with commander O'Reilly already and while she promised not to do anything stupid I see what you mean. "

" Who were they? " Elizabeth said confused since she knew of none of this. " J.T. Marsh was the former commander of Able squad before me. He and Colleen O'Reilly were lovers and J.T. died in the last battle trying to save the fleet by blowing up the flagship. " David said turning to her with a slightly sad look on his face from remembering his friend. " Oh. " she responded in a soft tone, It being her only response as she suddenly felt sorry for David and put her hand on his shoulder. " I'm alright. My squad and I have gotten past the depression for the most part but like I said I'm not sure about O'Reilly. " he said as they walked down the hall back toward the flight deck. " Is this O'Reilly a friend too? " she said in a more normal tone. " Somewhat since she seems to like to talk to us more now. Listen why don't we go to our squads and tell them what we have to tell them, do the mission and then we'll talk about this some more if you want. " David said. " Sure. Friends? " she said holding out her hand. He took he hand and they shaked on it and he said " Friends. " " That means you won't play any nasty tricks on me or laugh at my misfortune right. " she said inquiringly. " We'll see. " David said laughing as he said it and walked off leaving an annoyed Elizabeth.

Able squad lined up in order for take-off as usual starting with Colonel Sames. He gave his usual short burst of afterburners quickly pulling out of the airlock and then breaking sharp right. He came up behind the jumptroop shuttle on the left carrying Charlie-five squad. He toggled on his comm and switched to the shuttles channel " Ready for some offensive action commander O'Reilly. " she said with a broad and confident smile. " Sure thing commander Sames it's about time. " she replied, her helmet was on so it was impossible to see her expression right now. The rest of Able squad finished catching up and they entered a standard tight escort pattern. One hour later David toggled on the open channel. " Alright people we'll be approaching Mars from the outer ice ring in the shadow of Chaos and her moons. It'll be just about impossible to see with visual in the dark but nonetheless I want you all to keep on eye on the ice and one on yer sensors and fly slow. They entered the dark field of ice and slowed down severely flying carefully through the ice. Kaz began to not pay attention for a while and narrowly missed running directly into a block of ice. " Whoa! " he said and almost ran into James McDouglas from Steel squad " Watch it rookie! Do ya wanna run me into someone or something. " " ROOKIE! You... " Kaz said getting angry. " Kaz just ignore him and pay attention. " David said sternly, breaking in on the channel. " There it is. Just above our heads. " Marsala said pointing out the planet Mars. " They saw several patrols out also flying just above their heads.

" Let's show these bugs how it's done. " David said and the two squads burst out of the ice field. They came out in huge force all firing streams of fusion and pulse energy at the alien fighters. Many of the patrol exploded caught in the hail of fire coming from the two squads. " Don't give 'em a chance to communicate. " Elizabeth shouted over the comm. Kaz and James crossed each other and destroyed each others targets as they passed breaking off from the exploding fireballs to engage the next target. David quickly nailed the last two as they came at the jumptroops shuttle and they exploded just a few feet away rocking the shuttle but causing no damage. They made the rest of the way and everything was fine until they reached Mars. They battled and rather quickly eliminated the first wave of alien defenders. They descended upon the planet and they were met by a hail of ground to space lasers from a military base. They swerved to avoid it all almost hitting each other and returned fire with their own missiles and lasers to silence the bases defenses. Again they bombed the small base together as they neared it and pulled up skimming above the reach of the explosions.

The base had barely managed to launch more fighters but they came quickly and tried to swarm the two exosquads. Able and Steel squads broke formation so the swarm hardly had anything to aim at. David pulled up, over and came back down again coming at a superiority fighter that was chasing him. Guns blazing he seemed to fly right through the target and fly into a canyon breaking hard right and righting himself. Kaz lined up on a T'quan light fighter and nailed it with an IR missile, the ship turning into a bright orange fireball. Nara was chasing down another light fighter that had discovered and were going after the jumptroop pods. " General H'tah I have found ...~bzzzt~...! " the creature began trying to communicate with the base. The pilot had not been paying attention and was riddled with gun fire before dropping like a rock into the ground. Nara in turn was hit several times from behind and she swerved into a canyon and took off down the canyon. It followed her through hairpin turns and jagged or narrow corridors taking pot shots at her nearly crushing her several times with falling rocks. The enemy pilot's fighter was more built for this kind of flying and though Nara was not hit by him her fighter took damage caused by the strain of the turns. All of a sudden Alec came down behind the enemy fighter and quickly said " Pull up Nara! " She pulled up sharply just as a dumbfire missile streaked underneath her plane slamming into the rock face ahead of them. The surprised T'quan fighter kept going and was crushed by the shower of boulders coming out at it from the rock wall. Alec pulled up and out of the canyon flying over and settling next to Nara's fighter who happy to see him said " Thanks DeLeon I owe ya! " " Nothing. Let's just get back into the fight. " They banked and dived into the thick of it. A T'quan heavy fighter sped up and headed right for a mountain side Maggie pursuing. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was trying to do and she shook he head chuckling to herself. She followed it in and shot a dumbfire missile under it the missile slamming into the mountain side and sending a shower of rocks at the fighter. The fighter turned around sharply and came back at her narrowly escaping the rocks and sent two IR missiles zooming at her. At the last second she rolled ninety degrees presenting a vertical silhouette causing the enemy missiles to streak past. She shot off her own IR and the enemy tried to do the same with the roll but the missile slammed into it's engine causing it to spin out of control for a second. After that the planets pull of gravity took over, the pilot might've been good in space but in the atmosphere if you were hit bad by an IR like that you were usually on a one way ride. Jenny finished off another fighter from three that had been chasing her but the last one gave her problems. She broke hard left and dove into the smoking cauldron of fire that used to be the enemy base. She noticed a heavy tank raise it's gun and get ready to fire on her. She rolled ninety degrees to the right just as it fired and the barrage instead hit the T'quan medium fighter that had been chasing her. It exploded into an orange fire ball and crashed into the heavy tank both of them creating a mini mushroom cloud as they exploded. Marsala risked his fighter and charged two surprised T'quan in medium and superiority fighters. Just as he got to them he launched two missiles at them both. They rolled to avoid the missiles but accidentally rolled into each other. " Alright people the jumptroops have landed and are in cover. Mission complete, for now. " They all pulled up and headed for the atmosphere allowing several more fighters to chase them. The fighters lost sight of them and broke off as they entered the ice fields. They landed on the nearby Gorgon, a temporary landing, refueling and rearming light carrier till the operation was totally over. They all were congratulated for their efforts which they mostly ignored and headed for the rec-room.

Vince Pelligrino poked the top of his head and eyes out of the patch of rocks where they were hiding. Several fighters laid on their sides, bellies and backs in smoldering ruins, there were no survivors. About 200 klicks to the right and 1200 kilometers away lay what was left of the T'quan outpost. It was blown open enough to be considered destroyed. He saw looking through a built in telescope in his helmet that there seemed to be no major activity in the base nor enemy soldiers or support seemed to be around that wasn't destroyed. He turned around and jumped down from the rock he was on. " Coast is clear commander. " he whispered as he walked up to O'Reilly. " Good. " she said as she laid out a map on a hand held holo display she had with her. " Now there's a major T'quan military base not too far from here. That outpost the two exosquads knocked out was all their sophisticated tracking devices and long range communications and sensors so we shouldn't have much trouble getting to the main base. Once there our sole mission is to gather as much info as we can like technology specs, weapon and ship specs, history, anything useful you can find on their technology, culture or history. Once that is collected, Charlie-four which will have planted explosives will set off an explosion and we will meet up back here, understood? " Colleen said in a very professional detached tone. " Commander I have a question, I understand technology and stuff like that but what's with culture and history? Shouldn't knowing that be a frill of info? " Lori asked as they made their way through the rocks and up a short incline. " Mostly, but it can also give us more insight of their ways and psychology. In other words we might be able to guess their plans better in the future using other intelligence info with it and maybe use psychological and cultural weakness against them. " Colleen said still in a detached professional manner. " I see. " Lori said still not really understanding Colleen. The jumptroop squads reached level ground with the base and dived for cover in pits and behind rocks. " Alright you all know what to do. Equipment to gather and store the information is already prepared and mounted on your armor. I want you to split into pairs so you have cover but not so many people that you'll be easily discovered. Oh and try to avoid tripping any alarm, understood? " Colleen whispered to her squad just loud enough for them to hear her. She got several grunts and nods of acknowledgment and pairing off with Longfeather they went to work.

The millions of stars glittered in the night sky casting faint points of light on the jumptroops armor as they carefully and silently made their way past the fences into the base. Two jumptroops from Charlie four waited silently in the shadows as a security guard left it's security station for a bit. They rushed in and one took position beside the door will they other worked at the console. As the guard walked back in it noticed the jumptroop but before it could react the other grabbed him and snapped it's neck and stabbed it in the back to make sure. The other jumptroop shut down several detection and security systems in the ventilator shafts and some in the hallway like surveillance, tripwires and stuff like that. The only security left would come from the guards, they unfortunately couldn't shut off the alarms from here so the troops would have to still chance it a little. He turned to the open signal on his comm-link and messing with a few dials sent off a signal to the other troops to let them know they could go in now. From the sounds nature if anyone working at the base heard it they would likely dismiss it as a random noise instead of any signal. O'Reilly and Longfeather crawled down a ventilator shaft looking for a place which might hold important information. Except for the occasional guard or staff walking by the halls and rooms were totally empty, they had come upon the skeleton crew hours. Whenever someone did got by they laid still for a while and one time were held up for six minutes. Finally they ran into an empty lab room and they came down. They both suddenly flew for cover as a ganitor came in to clean-up the place. Longfeather picked the wrong place to hide and knocked over several canisters making a loud clattering noise. Fortunately for them instead of getting on the comm and reporting suspicious activity it went to check it out itself. Longfeather came up and grabbed the creature by what seemed to be it's hands and mouth. He then shot the creature through the head with the laser with a silencer on it and dropped it. She came out and looked at him with an annoyed expression for a bit, he wasn't being as careful as he should be. She told him to stand by the door and she wen to a computer console and connected to it.

Lori and another jumptroop had a similar experience but they had to drop two officers instead of one. They came over to an area that looked good but there were two T'quan working there so they thought to pass it up. The area of the grate were they had to pass was unusually weak though. Lori passed over it. The metal shaft in the area groaned and buckled an collapsed under her weight and she fell into the room. The two officers fortunately froze with surprise and the second jumptroop jumped down and nailed one. The other began to take off but Lori raised herself and fired off a shot just in time to stop it from triggering the alarm. Lori connected herself to the console and began to negotiate into the system.

Pelligrino and another one of Colleen's best friends, Joana had what seemed like the easiest time of all but it turned out to be the worst time. They hopped down into the computer room which seemed empty. The only T'quan in there dived behind some crates and watched them. Pelligrino walked over and connected himself beginning to try and get into the system. The button to sound the alarm was on the other side of the room from the engineer almost right next to Joana. It began debating with itself whether or not to sacrifice it's life to sound the alarm.

Meanwhile O'Reilly had just began downloading specs and history files. Unable to screen what she got she just stood their waiting for it all to download. She looked around and became wide-eyed as she realize something very strange. Every bit of engineering they've seen of the T'quan has been weird and organic looking, but the walls of this base didn't look like that at all. It looked more like this was built by human influences. She cocked her head slightly as she looked around thinking it probably was built by humans and the T'quan now used it against them.

The T'quan finished debating after an hour and a half. It shot out from the crates and Joana opened fire immediately. It slammed into her slamming her against the wall and one of her arms while flailing for a second hit the button and sounded the alarm. She pushed alien of her and ran for cover as guards began to pour in and open fire.

Longfeather pushed over and took position behind a desk as the guards poured in and opened fire. Longfeather began making his way to O'Reilly on his hands and knees firing upon the enemy whenever he got the chance. Colleen fortunately already had cover behind some crates stacked on top of another desk. " Someone screwed up. " Longfeather said as he took up position beside her. " Yeah. Listen don't worry about me. Find a way to get over there and shut that door. " Colleen responded not even looking up from her work. A laser beam all of a sudden whizzed right by her head and hit the computer which sparked and a part fell off. She got a short blank of info when that happened and she cursed to herself. Longfeather was making his way to the door shooting the guards as they came but there were so many of them. He pulled out his grenade launcher, something he had hoped not to use for fear of drawing too much attention but it didn't matter now. He popped back up fully on his feet and fired several shots into the crowd and the hallway. The explosion drove the guards back long enough for Longfeather to run over to the control panel and close and lock the door. He then took up position beside the door and waited for the next wave to come. " How much longer do ya got to go. " he said hysterically as more guards started to try and break down the door. " Not much longer just keep them off my back. The guards violently broke down the door and Longfeather used the butt of his gun to hit the first guard in the head and knock them back again. He jumped behind some crates and headed back over to where O'Reilly and the good cover was. From there he once again went back to picking off the enemy as they went through the door. He missed one and it made it's way all the way up to O'Reilly and Longfeather. It jumped at her but was grabbed in mid air and flipped into the computer frying the guard and doing more damage to the system. " Watch it! I lose data that way. " Colleen said in an annoyed tone still not looking up from her work. " Hurry it up then. " Longfeather said and flipped another the other way and shot it. He leaned over from the crates and laser beam began whizzing by him one hitting his gun arm. " Ah. " he grunted and despite the pain he raised his grenade launcher and fired anyway killing every guard in the group that was in the room.

" Transfer eighty-five percent complete. " the little computer said the words coming through the comm in her helmet. Lori sat silently as the transfer was completing itself. The other jumptroop she was with had managed to shut the door as Longfeather had done but now he had pushed up several crates against the door. More guards came through the door and violently pushed aside some of the crates only to be shredded apart by the hail of fire that came from the jumptroops auto-gun. Another guard reached around the frame of the door and shot at them missing the jumptroop by an inch and damaging the system Lori was working at. She got a large blank at ninety percent which then the computer said " Transfer ninety-five percent complete. " she cursed and silently whispered " Come on you stupid computer. Come on. "

Joana stood near the opening in the ventilator shaft and shouted " Hurry it up. " " Transfer complete. " the computer finally said and the people doing the transfer disconnected without bothering to be careful of security checks. Pelligrino shot up the computer with his gun just as he went up into the ventilator shaft which exploded in a display of sparks and flying metal, spearing several guards near it. O'Reilly stuffed an explosive into the computer panel and closed it. Longfeather merely shouted to her " You go I'll draw their fire. " She looked back at him surprised and ran for the opening. He jumped up and shot a spread of fire dropping the three guards in the room yet they themselves got off a few pot shots. The three shots hit him in the chest and shoulder. He stood there for a second feeling the sharp hot pain run through his body and then merely collapsed. Colleen didn't have time to do anything but look at him before she had to scramble back into the ventilator shaft to escape more guards as they entered the room. Lori disconnected herself and scrambled back into the ventilator shaft pulling the other jumptroop with her. They eventually met back outside and ran for the rocks the security guards and robots at their heels. The head security officer ordered them to stop as they followed Charlie-five down the hills and the guards stopped and stared at it. " Let the Nusheki get them. We have other matters to attend to. " it said and the guards ran back to the base.

Charlie five eventually recognized the fact that Ramon Longfeather was no longer with them. When they were a good distance from the base Joana ran up to Colleen and said " Where's Ramon? " " I've lost him. " was Colleen's only response. Joana turned her head and looked to the ground slowly, there would be more mourning for the lost in battle and more letters to right for Colleen O'Reilly as soon as she got back. For now everyone was I a sort of silent prayer for their lost comrade. Lori spoke up and said " Listen, no offense but I think we should what till we're off this rock to discuss this. " They all nodded in various states of agreement but Joana brought up the fact that they had to wait for the signal from Charlie-four till they could call anyone. " What's the signal? " Lori asked quizzically. " Believe me kid, you'll know. " Pelligrino said looking at her with a serious expression. They waited in silence talking about stuff and basically waiting around for the signal. " Hey Colleen when was the signal supposed to go off. " Lori said looking to Colleen who was lost in her own thoughts right now. " Hmm? " she looked up " Oh in about five minutes at least. They have an extra five minutes after that. " " What happens if it doesn't go off? " Lori said and cocked her head. " Then we have to do it ourselves. " Colleen replied and looked away again. Lori's eyes widened and she merely went back to fixing her hair. " Know I really do know how you felt. Helpless to do anything about what's come to pass. " Colleen thought remembering how J.T. felt when he lost his friends. She narrowed her eyes when thinking about what else has been going on. " This war has ruined everything! My love, my friends. Everything would've been alright if this had never happened the way it did. Why could J.T. tell us sooner about these creatures. We might've had time to prepare to stop them from taking this world from killing so many. But that's just the way it went didn't it, I guess I was never meant to love was I?... " she thought beginning to doubt any of the good thing that had happened to her in recent years. Colleen's train of thought was interrupted by the staticy signal and then a bright flash of light in the distance. They all peered over the ridge to see flames erupt from the center of the base were the main generator was located. " They did it! Now we can get outta her " Lori shouted impatiently. O'Reilly took out some machinery out of a hidden bag in the rocks. She began assembling it and attached it to one of the comm-links. " What is that? " Lori asked quizzically. " Extended range communications device. " Colleen merely replied. She then contacted the Liberty to send down the shuttle to pick them up at the Martian Dust Plains not too far from here. " Alright people let's go! " she shouted of the roaring flames. They quickly took off following Colleen O'Reilly down the hillside.

Both Able and Steel squadrons took off rather quickly. They took up standard escort formation and escorted the pick-up shuttles on to Mars. Kaz and James were having their usual argument about who was a better pilot. " Oh yeah if your so good then why couldn't you have taken out those two fighters that were chasing you on the last mission? " Kaz stated. " That was a matter of bad luck and I could've handled 'em. What about you Mr. Forgetful who didn't see a light fighter coming right at him and had to be rescued by yours truly. " James replied. " You bumped into that fighter. I had to tow you back. And ... " Kaz said. " Will you two cut the chatter and and stay alert. " David snapped breaking in on the line. They flew back into the ice field which was easier to maneuver in since Chaos and it's moons were out of the way. Still they would be in big trouble if they were attacked here. There might be light but the ice fields were still very hard to maneuver especially in a battle. The trip was pretty boring and David allowed James and Kaz to go right back to arguing which they had begun gain anyway. Facing out toward deep space there wasn't that much to look at. Sure there were the nova's, stars and constellations but no planets or suns to look at, nonetheless David and the rest of the squad spent most of their time maneuvering and admiring the spacescape. Mars came into sight above and ahead of them, normally it would've been bright red but since it was so far from the sun and the earth it appeared a dark red, almost magenta. He couldn't help asking himself as he looked at it, what did the T'quan want with it, why did they need it? Kaz and James had stopped arguing and he assumed they were looking at it and paying attention now, everyone else was silent now too. They floated closer to the top of the ice field, stayed steady on course and drew closer.

Several beams of light whizzed by Pelligrino's head as he dived behind a large rock. The T'quan had sent two Nusheki squads after them and the two jumptroop squad were now seriously out gunned. The Nusheki had the advantage of a higher position but fortunately the jumptroops in Charlie- four and five were better shots and fighters. Colleen quickly shot out from behind a bigger rock and shot down the Nusheki warrior that had Pelligrino pinned down. She pulled him up by the arm to hurry him up and shouted " Come on, it's not that much further. Lori shot down two more hitting one in the chest it's armor seemed to tear open and show a gruesome display of spurting blood and innards, the send hit square between the eyes the laser beam bursting out the other side of it's skull. The Charlie squads retreated further down the hill losing many on their retreat whenever the Nusheki caught up to them. They arrived at the Martian Dust Plain and noticed it's name spoke for itself. At the edge of the rocks they were just out of range of the Nusheki, the Nusheki would have to come down and face them on a level battlefield with no advantage. As they passed, The last four jumptroops from Charlie-four stopped and began wiring plastic explosives to fusion packs and attaching them to rocks. The Nusheki appeared over the ridge and shot down all four of them in second showering them with laser fire even seconds after they were dead.

The troopers from Charlie-five watched from behind cover with silent rage as they saw their comrades bodies ripped apart. They saw the commanders of the two Nusheki squads arguing among each other for a second and then, as planned they began to make their way down the ridge into the rocks and into the jumptroops weapons range. They commanders stayed on the ridge speaking into comm-links saying something in a language they could not understand. This worried O'Reilly because usually that meant something bad. Being nothing she could do though she took up firing position beside Pelligrino and Lori and opened fire. The first row of the enemy squads fell rather quickly but the T'quan soldiers were determined and hyped up. Some of the enemy began making their way from rock to rock getting closer to Charlie-five. Finally T'quan soldier lept from the other side of the rock and landed in hand to hand combat with Colleen. It slit her thigh with a knife and she grunted with pain but fought with the same expertise. She fell back and flipped the creature of her and head first into a rock hitting it hard. It fell dead leaving a bloody smear on a sharp edge of a rock. She sat up and shoved her pistol up against the chin of another T'quan that leapt over the rock in mid-air and squeezed the trigger dropping it like a stone. Lori was now struggling with another T'quan Nusheki warrior. She kneed it in the crotch and did a high kick to it's chin. She then ripped out it's blaster and shot it as it fell. It's neck broke on a low and fairly sharp rock. To add insult to injury it's gun went off as it hit the ground hitting the next warrior in the chest and killing it. Pelligrino sat there blasting away at the approaching T'quan Nusheki when he was grabbed from behind by another Nusheki by the neck. Another Nusheki leapt over the rock and landed in front of him jamming a long knife into his side Pelligrino gasped and looked at the creature surprised but then merely grabbed the other from behind and used it for leverage to kick the one in front in the head. Joana grabbed the other one from behind and shot it's shoulder causing it to let go and fall back. She then also shot under Pelligrino's arm and hit the other one as it got up. She then quickly caught Pelligrino and ripped the knife out of his side, he screamed and Joana slowly laid him down. She shoved the head of the Nusheki down who used it's own knife to stab her in her leg and then she jammed the knife in the back of it's neck. She then kneeled down and tended to the now unconscious Pelligrino's wound. Colleen stood up her leg bandaged and peered from around the rock, seeing the enemy's number's now greatly depleted and smiled. They ran back up the ridge followed quickly by some jumptroops and being picked off. All of a sudden they heard something they dreaded to hear and the T'quan cheered. Over the ridge shot five T'quan medium fighter which bombed her squad killing ones on the ridge and injuring several more. The T'quan Nusheki warriors came running back down only to be met by another hail of fire from the now closer and desperate jumptroops but they kept coming. There were very few soldiers to worry about but they had air support. Charlie-five's salvation would come till much later, since they could only dodge the fire from the fighters since they were too fast and protected to take down, it was gonna be one of them days.

David launched a single missile at the damaged and panicking superiority fighter. It swerved to avoid the missile but forgot it was an IR which merely followed it and slammed right into it's left engine. " That's the last one. " Nara said flying to his side. " Okay now let's ... " David began giving more orders when O'Reilly using her extended comm-link broke in on the line in a desperate plea for help. " A... ~ bzzt~...quad mission comple... but enemy has sent ... ~bzzt~ ... and fight... at us. There... ~bzzt~ few of us left and we request immediate fighter ...port. Come in Able squad. " Colleen said in a frantic tone. " We'll get there as fast as we can. " David replied calmly " JUST GET YOUR A.... DOWN H...!" she screamed and then her comm went dead. David toggled on the open channel and said " Well you guys heard the girl. My squad we're gonna go up ahead and see if there's anything we can do. Steel squad I want you to stay by the shuttle and guard it best you can, but try and push it to go as fast as possible. " he got simultaneous acknowledgment and then he kicked in his afterburners and he and his squad headed for Mars, top speed.

They saw the last of Charlie- five's soldiers scattering around like frightened ants, there were very few of them left. Nara got a lock on one of Charlie-five's assailants and launched two missiles at it. It sped up and turned around shooting down the missiles coming at it and hit Nara's left wing. She pulled up and headed toward another enemy fighter. They both fired a barrage of fire at her but she pulled up just in time and the two enemy pilots shot each other down. Alec shot one missile above another fighter's head causing it to swerve down and then he nailed it with several fusion blasts. It exploded into a flaming fireball and streaked right down into the area where the enemy commanders were. The other two began to retreat but Bronski and Kaz came down in front of them and shot two missiles at them both. On pulled up and was hit in the belly by the missile and exploded and other accidentally swerved down only avoiding the missile to slam into the ground. Charlie-five squad cheered as they flew overhead and ran for the clearing.

In the distance they saw a horrible sight as the pick-up shuttle exploded into flames and four of the once proud Steel squad came zooming for protection by Able squad. Two superiority squadrons led by Princes Khaln' Achat and Juxama came zooming into sight and they laugh at the squad as they came down. David immediately was engaged in another one on one duel with Khaln' Achat who seemed to fly quite well in an atmosphere. The Prince shot several missiles at David who turned around at them all down also hitting the Prince and getting hit many times by gunfire. It felt as if his fighter was about to quit and then he would be on a one way trip down but he retained control. As he pulled up he got a lock and shot missile at Khaln' Achat who quickly shot it down and began tailing him. They reached the higher atmosphere before David fought back again and he fought fierce. He took a heavy hit and cut his engines to simulate engine failure and began dropping straight down. Khaln' Achat followed him down maintaining speed with him just so he could watch David crash and burn. About five hundred feet up he restored power to his engines and fired his afterburners in Khaln' Achat's face blinding the Prince. David pulled up only about 20 feet from the ground skimming along the top of the rocks and he launched another missile at a fighter that came down in front of him causing it to crash and burn also. Khaln pulled up to late but just in time to avoid total annihilation. They belly of his fighter hit and was ripped open by one of the taller rocks and his right wing came down and was crushed on the Martian floor. He then flipped over and came to a stop upside down so close to the ground that he couldn't get out. Juxama and Nara were also in a duel but he was much more immature about it shouting insults to her continuously. They headed straight down as he tried the same trick David had pulled on Nara, it didn't work. In fact she managed to shoot of two missiles in time causing him to speed up at the wrong time and forcing him to again eject and his plane hit the ground. She laughed at him and pulled up to engage the next target. Elizabeth drew two fighter in her sight and nailed on with her pulse and fusion guns and then quickly nailed the other with two missiles in a matter of seconds. Another enemy fighter began skimming close to the ground hot on Kaz's tail. One very quick and brave Joana raised herself up from laying down and shot a concentrated laser blast hitting the thing's rear thrusters. The fighter being already severely damaged gave in to the last blast and it's left thruster exploded into flame. It then leaned over and it's wing hit the rock Martian floor, but unlike Khaln' Achat's fighter it wasn't so luck and as soon as it came to a stop it exploded. The rest just watched as the two exosquads whittled away at them enemy fighter squadron, and wondered how they were going to get out of there.

David quickly came up with a solution and ordered Kaz, Nara, James and Elizabeth land and pick the jumptroops up immediately. They was a small space for quick storage in back of the ships that was big enough to carry the jumptroops. Elizabeth and the others quickly landed and ordered for the jumptroops to get inside. Despite the cramped space they gladly obliged. Marsala got a lock on and fired a missile at a light fighter charging to destroy Elizabeth's fighter while it was landed. The fighter attempted to pull up and avoid the missile but was hit by it full force anyway. It streaked a bright orange fireball over Elizabeth's and Colleen's head and crashed several feet away. They all finally scrambled into small areas and sat there in somewhat uncomfortable positions. " It's a storage compartment. " Lori said complaining about the small space. " Too bad it's better than out there ain't it. " snapped James and they took off and headed for orbit. O'Reilly eventually found a way to straighten out and come up on her knees. She looked out the canopy and back down at the battlefield. The rest of the two exosquads were just leaving, leaving more smoke and ruin in their wake. She couldn't help but think that even during the hot spots of the battle they were being watch by someone she shook her head and thought " No. No one would be left around after a battle like that." The cloaked figure watched them take off and thought " They couldn't have known I was there the battle was too heavy. But I see that these people, this exosquad will be a great help to our cause and restore honor to our people. " The crouched, cloaked figure stood up and ran off.

" This is Colonel David Sames of Able squad requesting permission to land. " David said as they made their landing approach to the Liberty. " Permission granted sir. Glad to have you guys out of enemy space. " Felicia the new comm-officer said. David gave their usual last burst of afterburners and then coasted down doing a normal landing. While he was being pulled off the landing pad hopped out of his fighter and approached his fellow squad members. The last jumptroops staggered out of the fighter cockpits and were carried off by some med-techs. " Good job everyone. Dismissed. " David said calmly and they all began to run off " Except for those in Steel squad, I want to see all of you. " Elizabeth stopped them and they all walked over to David who seemed slightly angry. " I want to know what happened out there. " he said sternly with his hands on his hips. " You saw youself, those prince things were with them sir. " one of the young pilots burst out, Elizabeth put her hand over her eyes and shook her head. " What's yer name kid? " David said looking to the young pilot. " Kevin Gorad sir. " the pilot replied and David's eyes widened. " The admiral is my uncle. " Kevin continued in a haughty tone. " What's that supposed to mean? You expecting some kinda special treatment, kid? " David said suddenly annoyed. " No sir. " Kevin said maintaining his tone. " Good because I don't care if God is yer uncle, on this ship, under my or Elizabeth's command yer no better than anyone else. " David said in an angry tone. Kevin got angry and opened his mouth to say something but Elizabeth put a hand up and glared at him. David calmed down and continued speaking " As for the rest of you just do a better job of guarding the shuttle next time. A specific pilot or more being there is no excuse for messing up. Dismissed. " Everyone left except for Elizabeth she stay looking at him her arms folded. " Yes, lieutenant colonel, what is it? " he inquired somewhat impatiently. " While I understand that you're angry at my squad not being able to guard the shuttle I'd like you to have a little more respect for my men. Kevin, while he could be a royal pain in the ass sometimes, this time didn't say anything so you had no right to snap at him. " she replied with a seriously annoyed tone. " I don't want to hear about it Elizabeth. " David said, himself annoyed. " Well that's too bad. You may be higher rank than me but I still won't let you disrespect my men no matter what mood your in. " she retorted and walked off

David walked into the mess hall and noticed Colleen O'Reilly leaning on the railing on the far wall staring out into space. He cocked his head think about what was wrong this time and walked over to her. He walked over to her and leaned over to look at her face, her eyes were cast down and she had a despirited expression on her face, she didn't even notice him. He leaned over looking at her face and softly said " Still messed up about J.T.? " Colleen closed her eyes looked down and replied " It's not just that, it's a lot of things. " " Like what? " he asked in a gentle and understanding tone. " Oh this war, the fact that during the last mission we lost Longfeather... " she began and looked up, David interrupted " How'd it happen? Oops sorry. " he said noticing he interrupted her. " It's alright, I'll explain. " she looked down again and began " As you know our job was to infiltrate the enemy base and gather as much information as we could. Everything was going well we had a few run-in's with base personnel but those were nothing to worry about. I had gone with Longfeather whose job was to watch my back while I gathered the information. During mid-transfer of the data someone I guess messed up and a T'quan managed to sound the alarm. We were almost swarmed by base security if it wasn't for the fact that there was only one normal sized door we would've been overwhelmed in no time. Longfeather managed to hold them off fine for a while until he was delayed by two guard that he didn't see and had gotten into close combat with. Fortunately I finished in time to avoid them overwhelming us but more guards had entered than we thought. Longfeather offered to draw their fire and I having no choice because we needed the info accepted. He jumped up to cover me and managed to shoot down the guards but they got him too. He just stood there for a second and only when he fell over did I know what happened. I had to leave him there because of the guards even though there was a good chance he could've lived, I left him just for words and picture and he died. " she collapsed into tears covering her eyes with her hand. " He died for a good cause just like J.T. and you shouldn't feel about your decision. " he said trying to make her feel better. " Like I said it's not just that it's this war, all the people I've lost, friends and family included. Tell me, why does everything that's important to me and I love have to be destroyed. " she said calming down. David opened his mouth to speak but she spoke again " Ya know when Phaeton was defeated I thought it was all over. That we could go back to our lives, rebuild, I could be with J.T. and we be left in peace, wishful thinking I guess. " She opened her eyes and looked at him sadly " It'll never end will it? We'll just sit out here and fight till someday someone shoots us down. " " Yes it will. Some of us may die but it'll end and we can return to our lives. " David began trying to sound more confident. " Can we after all that happened? " she said maintaining the same depressed tone. " It won't be exactly like before but we'll rebuild and go home. You'll fall in love with someone else and... " Colleen's expression became angered and she said " No, David I'll never love anyone else, never. " her voice having contempt and she walked out of the room. David sighed and looked out at the passing stars asking the same question to himself " Will it end? Will we be able to have lives again? Yes, we have to be able to. War is not forever, is it? " He stood up straight and also left the mess hall silently.

Nara sat silently of a crate in the flight deck twiddling something in her finger which J.T. had given to her on her birthday when he first met her. He told her this would make it so that no matter what happened they'd never forget each other. He was very close to all of his friends and seemed to be able to understand them whenever something went wrong. David also reminded her of him since he was very much like him, he didn't give gifts when he first met them but his friendship was great and he was very understanding. David walked onto the flight deck looking deep in thought. She got up and walked over to him and sat down next to him. " Whatcha thinking about. " she asked interested in his thought's. " Oh just trivial stuff that O'Reilly was talking about. " he replied. " Is her depression rubbing off on you? " she asked in sort of a concerned manner. " Naw. But there is something you reminded me of that I have to talk to you about. " he said and looked at her. " Okay, shoot. " she said. " Well I've already talked to the others about this but I've been helping take care of other people's problems so far. Calming them down, making people feel better stuff like that. " he paused and she nodded " Uh hum. " " I just would like other people in the squad to start doing the same. I won't stop talking but I can't be the only one holding the squad together. " he said calmly trying to express what he was saying. " I understand David I'll try my best. What was O'Reilly talking about? " she said suddenly turning interested. " She was more hysterical about it but she talked about if the fighting would ever end, if we would ever return to normal life stuff like that. " he said calmly. " Your so casual about it. " Nara said her eyes widening. " Well that's because I'm pretty sure it will end and well be able to live normal lives. Not today or next year but we will. " he said smiling at her got up and walked away. Colonel Sames entered his room and sighed almost collapsing on his bed but he had work to do. He sat up and walked over to his desk, pulled out a keyboard and turned on the computer console. From there he went to a sort of word processor type thing and began typing.

Forty-five minutes into that the comm link on his console began beeping. David stopped typing and brought up the video display showing captain Sarson and merely looked at him. " David, admiral Gorad is talking about getting to know better his commanders and officers. He's read your record and is quite pleased, he want's to see you right away. " the captain said in a pleased tone himself. David nodded and turned off his console and muttered to himself " Yeah, yeah I'm goin. Wonder what he wants. " David walked through the halls to the admiral's office. The admiral's office was in a more rebuilt part of the ship so it was actually quite nice compared to the rest of the ship. As he looked around he could see various large potted plants, pictures on the wall to the right and left, and a sculpture to the far corner right wall.

" Nice compared to the rest of the ship, ain't it? " David said looking at the admiral inquiringly. " Yes quite. But we have to start somewhere in rebuilding the ship know don't we. " admiral Gorad said looking up from his work. David opened his mouth as if to say something else but then he shook his head and said " Never mind. Anyway you wanted to see me sir. " " Yes commander, I did. First I have read your record and am quite pleased. Second I wish you to become sort of a secret operative for the military. " the admiral began. " 'Scuse me sir? " David said kind of confused. " The eyes and ears of the military inside and out commander ... " he began again when David interrupted. " Wait wait, you mean I be spying on both the enemy and my friends? " David asked a bit hysterically and inquiringly and the admiral nodded. " For security reasons commander, you have no idea how people can change during a time like this. You are the only one I trust enough to do this job. " " Sir one I have a duty to my squad as a commander and a friend. Two I can't believe that you distrust this crew that much what you asking me to do is a simple, needless waste of time and my skill out of paranoia. " David said insistently. " Yes Colonel but... " Gorad said in the same tone. Just then Nara burst in without permission looking harried and hysterical. She ran up to David and said a hysterical and worried tone " Commander, Kaz's gone AWOL. He took of in one of the fighters and is waging his own personal war with the T'quan. He took off in the direction of Mars. " " Have you sent anyone to go get him? " David said in an excited tone turning to her. " No he must've planned it out because our fighters all won't start for some reason. Only yours which is under the deck will work. " she said trying to calm down. David shot a glance at the admiral which had the mixed expression of I told you so and seriousness. David turned to him and " I gotta go, my squad needs me. " and ran out with Nara leaving the admiral staring in their direction.

David flew at top speed, saving his afterburners for combat or when he found Kaz. " Damn kid don't make me have to write another letter. " he thought as he flew through space. Not long into his flight he encountered a large patrol of twelve T'quan light fighters that charged him just as they saw him. David also kicked in his afterburners swerving looping and doing all sorts of tricky movements to avoid the hail of fire coming from the enemy fighters. As soon as he got a lock he fired two missiles from his wings and two from his frontal missile bays all aimed at a different target. With that the patrol scattered and tried to attack him from different directions. Two of the missiles at that moment slammed into their targets knocking them into one of their comrades destroying or disabling them in turn. Despite taking a few hits he managed to escape the next maelstrom of fire, most of them hitting each other since they became so tightly packed doing further damage to each other. He wheeled around toggling on full guns and shot his own extended stream of fire into the back of one of the undamaged fighters. It spun in place for a while shedding metal and parts of instruments out of the hull then snapped in half followed by an explosion. Another fighter came up behind him and shot an IFF missile at him. David discharged a string of five decoys and broke hard right the missile yawing into the first pod. He then did a quick afterburner slide shooting down the leader and streaking past the second fighter causing it to stop suddenly. He then wheeled around again and nailed the other fighter with an IR missile. The other enemy pilots seeing how quickly he took out their wingmen broke and ran. David having no time to pursue them resumed his original course.

He flew for another hour till he saw fighting in the distance " It has to be him. " David thought and kicked in his afterburners again. As he got closer he noticed one fighter of the same type engaged against five superiority fighters and their carrier. David charged into battle shooting another stream of fusion and pulse fire and four missiles aimed at two targets that were especially a problem for Kaz. One managed to swerve out of the way of the fire but the other wasn't so luck, all four missiles slamming into it's aft and belly. The fighter went dead and it's pilot ejected, Kaz flew back doing a victory roll nearly hitting the fighter streaking through the other fighter as it exploded , his shield flickered slightly. " Kaz come on you'll never beat these guys. " David shouted over the comm, no response. " Kaz the rest of the squad's worried about you and we don't feel like facing the death of another squad member. " he said again more calmly, no response. David suddenly fired a stream of gun fire over Kaz's head destroying two missiles. Kaz pulled up and came at the fighter who shot the missiles and launched two of his own missiles knocking it for a spin. It's engines went first and then the rest of the ship. David strafed the top of another T'quan superiority fighter and launched a missile at the cockpit destroying utterly. " Kaz it not worth it, your death won't change anything. It won't bring back either of them, just come back with the rest of us we'll talk about it. " David said trying to reason with him and finally got an answer. " It's all we can ever do David talk about it. I've lost so many of my friends they'll just keep dying until we die ourselves and be forgotten, why not just get it over with? " Kaz replied in an upset tone. " Yes but why not keep living and keep fighting so we can get as much done as we can? Are you just gonna give up on the squad are you just gonna leave because your depressed from the loss of others? What about your friends? Rita died protecting her squad, J.T. died trying to save the fleet. Your dying for nothing Kaz, your running away from your problems. Save your anger for another purpose and come back to the Liberty, you have so much to live for. " David replied in a understanding and insistent tone. Just then a particularly good T'quan pilot they've been fighting got a lock on David as he was talking and wasn't paying attention and got ready to fire. " Yeah and I want a rematch at that game, kid. " Bronski suddenly said bursting in one the line. He streaked over David's fighter and shot down the surprised enemy fighter pilot that took aim at David.

The T'quan in the carrier weren't going to let them get away though it launched five more superiority fighters, three heavy fighters and eight medium fighters. " Whoa that'll put some scratches in the paint job. " Bronski said surprised at the numbers. " Break and attack people. " David said and the exosquad scattered each targeting their own target. David seemed to streak right through his target as he first let out a strong burst of his guns and then launched one missile, the ship just seemed to disintegrate from the fire. He then wheeled around to his next target, a superiority fighter and nailed it with a smart long burst of gun fire. Nara flew off to the side of two targets and fired her guns drawing it across the one medium fighter and one heavy fighter destroying the medium and damaging the heavy fighter which broke left in time. She turned to go after the fighter, it had turned around and began pelting her with shots from it's own guns. Fortunately since it was already damaged she took it out first but the enemy had stronger weapons and it did heavy damage. Her radar and tracking plus three of her weapons were destroyed and her engines and the comm-link was heavily damaged. Panels came open and wires snapped and crackled under them, and several pieces of hot metal flew at her cutting her forehead and arms. Another heavy fighter closed in for the kill but Kaz quickly shot past shooting all of it's guns and three missiles at it.

" Kaz, Bronski, Jenny I want you to guard Nara's crippled fighter and help her get outta here." David ordered. No sooner had he said that but both Jade and Bronski were drawn away by two targets. " BRONSKI, JENNY GUARD THE CRIPPLE! " David yelled angry that they disobeyed him. Kaz tried his best to guard Nara, David gave a burst of afterburners and shot over to Nara and Kaz but it was too late. The last superiority fighter streaked in guns blazing aimed at Nara. " NARA BAIL OUT! " he yelled to her not knowing that there were holes in here flight suit. She ejected in a panic to get away and felt air immediately start to rush out of her flight suit and she began to suffocate. " David, can't breath! ~*gasp*~ Flight suit ~*gasp*~ torn up ~*gasp*~ " she said panic stricken and obviously suffocating over the open channel. " David guard me I'm gonna try something. " Kaz said slightly too confident. He didn't even wait for an answer and he stopped near her, slapped down his visor, opened his canopy, unhooked his straps and jumped out after Nara. He grabbed Nara looking at her for a second, she was already unconscious. He then desperately attempted to get back to his fighter but since there was nothing for him to push off of he went nowhere. Kaz began to get hysterical for a second as Nara was quickly running out of air and he was so close to his fighter. Just then he heard a fighter stop right in front of him, it was David. Without saying anything he used the nose of David's fighter to push off of and then he sat them down in his fighter and closed the canopy. He undid the clamps on Nara's helmet and pushed down the collar for a second putting two fingers on her neck, she was still breathing a little but she needed to get back to the Liberty quickly for medical treatment. He strapped on his harness and moved forward again and toggled his comm to David's channel " Thanks David. " he said. " No prob now get outta here and get her some medical attention. " David said curtly. " Yes sir. " Kaz said and kicked in full afterburners and headed back in the direction of the Liberty. David turned to Marsala's channel and said " Marsala I want you to go back with Kaz and make sure they get back alright, understood. " David said calmly. " Understood David. " Marsala said and then shot off after Kaz. " Maggie, Alec I know it sounds risky but we have to get over to that carrier and take out it's ability to launch fighters, otherwise it'll just keep launching. " David said turning to Alec and Maggie. " Sure thing David. " " Gladly. " Maggie and Alec said acknowledging him.

They battled their way to the carrier taking out four more fighters on the way. David charged toward one of the launch bays on the carrier and shot his full complement of missiles into the launch deck. He could see the many explosions going off inside the carrier people panicking and running around trying to control the sea of flames that washed over the flight deck. Barrels of fuel took of like rockets smashing through catwalks some running into fighters that were landed. An elevator coming from another launch deck opened it's people coming to get extra supplies since they had run out of ordinance on a lower deck. The explosions rushed in disintegrating the T'quan inside and the elevator, rushing down the shaft and exploding in the flight deck below. The ship reeled from the internal explosions it suffered pieces of metal ripping away from the hull. Maggie made a strafing run on the side of the ship taking out several turrets and ripping a visible gash in the armor more explosions erupting inside the ship. Alec went for the rear engine nacelles shooting several missiles up them causing more explosions inside engineering. The ship finally gave in to the internal explosions and exploded in an awesome show incandescent light and fireball. David, Alec and Maggie rushed out barely escaping the explosion and engaged the retreating fighters. David rushed up at the superiority fighters belly firing a large extended stream of fusion and pulse fire that seemed to rip through the fighters belly exploding out the other side. The fighter shattered it's pieces exploding every which way and David engaged the next target. This one wheeled around and shot it's own stream of fire at David. David pulled up then came back down at the fighter which turned to meet him but it was too late. David fired another stream of fire from his guns ripping through the cockpit and the middle of the fighter exploded taking the rest of the ship with it. Maggie charge the medium fighter she targeted from the front and launched her last two missiles the fighter turned around and discharged a string of chaff pods. The two missiles ignored it and continued on to hit their mark. Alec then destroyed the last fighter with a stream of fire and then a missile as it streaked past to go for Maggie. They met up and David said " Where's Bronski and Jenny? " in a low and angry tone. The two all of a sudden flew up two them doing victory rolls Jade saying " We got 'em, we got two superiority aces! " very happily excited. " Let's go. I want to talk to you to when we land. " he said in the same tone as before. Bronski and Jade were silent detecting the anger in his voice. They all quickly flew back to the Liberty and landed.

They were all met by Kaz and Marsala who seemed worried but not too worried. Once again without him saying anything Kaz said " The med-techs say she'll be fine but she'll be in medical for quite a while. " He looked down for a second and said " Ya know David before you haul off on Jenny and Bronski I wanna say I can't help but feel this was all my fault. I mean if I hadn't gotten like I did and took off you guys wouldn't even have to have gone after me and that wouldn't have happened to her. I'm real sorry. " he said. David didn't even spare a glimpse at Kaz and said " Goddamn straight you are but this particular thing ain't about you so don't worry about it for now. Wolf and Jenny I ordered to stay with Nara and they didn't listen, she was almost killed for that. They had no reason they just went after the fighters to rack up their kill score. You did good controlling yourself and staying with her. If you hadn't she would've died. " he said and looked at him sternly " But I still do want to talk to you later about what just happened. " Kaz nodded and walked off with the rest of the squad Marsala and Maggie patting him on the back.

David turned to Jenny and Bronski who waited for him side by side looking worried. " I'd like to know what was going on in your mind when you went after those targets after I ordered you to guard Nara's crippled fighter. " he paused and then yelled in a very angry voice " WELL! " " W... we didn't completely get the order sir. " Jenny said stuttering. " You didn't get it or you didn't listen? " he seethed. " We ... didn't totally listen sir. " Bronski said trying to be brave. " You didn't totally listen. " David said still angry. He was about to say something when Jenny suddenly worried asked " Is Nara alright? " David looked up at her with an angry and annoyed expression and she stepped back. " Don't try and change the subject. Tell me what you meant by not totally listening? " David asked looking at them both. " We ... we got worked up. Hey those fighter would've caused more problem for Nara than just the one we... " she began also trying to be brave in front of him. " You were trying to show off. I asked you to guard Nara and you could've guarded her from them just fine if you hadn't took off! Because of what you did she almost died, fortunately Kaz and I were near her to pick her up. " David said maintaining his tone and calmed down. " Fortunately for you I can't afford to ground any of my pilots right now. But consider yourselves on probation for a long time. " Bronski quickly stepped forward to defend him and Jenny and began " We... " David interrupted " Get out of my sight. I don't wanna talk about it anymore. " he said in a low still angry tone. Jenny looked at him and then Bronski and walked off slowly, Bronski just stood there looking at David who was talking to Elizabeth and then stormed off. " They screwed up it's okay. " Elizabeth said calmly. " Yeah, I guess I'm just not used to facing things like this. Besides, it was their killer instinct kicking in, Jenny's young and Bronski excitable. " David said looking in the direction of Jenny and Bronski's fighters. " Yeah I guess. Come one let's get some R&R in the rec-room I'm bushed. " Elizabeth said in a tired voice. " I'll join you guys in a minute I have to go and talk to someone first. " David replied. Elizabeth smiled at him and said " I understand. Just don't take too long. " then she walked off.

David sat at his desk typing when someone knocked on the door. " Come in. " he said saved his work and blacked the screen out. Kaz came in with a slightly worried look on his face and said " You wanted to see me sir? " David got up looking serious and understanding and said " Yes, you don't need to be worried but I want to know what was going through your head when you did what you did back there. " " Well sir. I ... I don't know. I guess I'm just more messed up about J.T. than I thought. " Kaz said. " I thought you said it was more than that. " David said in a concerned but gentle tone. " It is, but it's like J.T.'s death, it just was the top of the mountain, the thing that pushed me over board. Ya know we had been friends but we've butted heads quite a bit, and I never once got to say I'm sorry. " Kaz began to cry and wiping the tears he said " Sorry David. " " Don't be it's alright. I think that he knows that, even though you never said you were sorry for whatever happened he knows, what's important is that you were his friend, all friends butt heads once in a while but they don't stop being friends. " David said in an understanding still gentle tone. David paused for a second and looked at Kaz thinking for a moment and said " You know I think one of the things your suffering is something called survivors guilt. Extreme depression, sensitive emotion and sometimes actions like the ones you took. Sort like the way J.T. was when he was so down. " " Who made you the know it all? " Kaz said looking at him wide-eyed. " I've had experiences of my own, that and a good commander will always recognize that kinda thing. " David said turning serious again. " And because of this, as a responsible, good commander I am gonna have to take you off the flight roster for a few weeks or a month to make sure that nothing bad happens to you or the squad as a result. " David said in the same serious tone. " I'm fine David I can fly. " Kaz said in a slightly stubborn tone and standing up. " Your actions and possible ones in the future are a danger to the squad as well as yourself, I have to do this Kaz. Don't worry it won't be for long I'm only asking for two weeks. " David said becoming serious. " Two weeks?! But... " Kaz said more hysterical. " It's for the best, Kaz. Besides at least I'm not making you see a shrink that won't help. It's just a little time for you to cool off and cheer up. Hey, I know how you feel I've done it before and it was the most boring thing in the world but other than flying you'll have all the same privileges as before. " David said and patted Kaz on the back " Now come on let's go join the squad for some R&R in the rec-room. " " All right David. I guess it can't be that bad. At least I'm not in trouble. " Kaz said calming down. They left his room talking about the more interesting stuff.

" Hey David I thought you said you knew how to play this game. " Elizabeth said as she walked to the other side of the pool table. " I do, but I never said I could play it well. " David said. Elizabeth hit the one of the balls with her que and it bounced off the side of the hole she was aiming for and went into one of the side pockets. Elizabeth clapped her hands and said " That's 5 to... Hmm, let's see 20. " her eye's widened and she smiled slyly at him " We've got a few more rounds to go but I think your gonna own me 20 credits. " " I guess it's one of those trade-off's in life. Lucky in cards but unlucky at pool " David said casually she smiled at him and they went back to the game. Wolf, Maggie, and Alec were sitting on the couch watching the news. Bronski was almost nodding off to sleep and Alec and Maggie were just trying to watch and hear the news over Bronski's buzzsaw snoring. Once and a while Alec would move closer to Maggie and try to get more friendly with her but she always pushed him away. Jenny, Kaz, Marsala and the new kid in Steel squad, Kevin were playing cards with Jenny. Kevin looked at David with an expressionless face and said " So he's not that much of a square. " " David was never a square Kevin. He's very nice understanding and the most lenient commander I've ever had and seeing how our last commander had those qualities down too that's saying something. " Jenny said looking at him kind of annoyed. " Then why'd he ball me out a little while ago. " Kevin said looking over to Jenny with a questioning tone. " Then you shouldn't be so uppity. Five aces. " Kaz said looking up from his deck smiling and then putting it on the table. " You have to earn his respect with more than association and money Kevin, he's easy but not too easy. " he said looking to Kevin. " Listen, that's just the way I am. Besides it's not like I'd go crying to my uncle every time something doesn't go to my liking. " Kevin said in an offended tone. " That's a start. Hey listen can we talk about something more friendly 'cause I really don't wanna argue. " Jenny said. " I heard that. " Kaz said and they returned to general talking. Just then captain Sarson walked into the room and up to David who turned to him and immediately saluted. " Admiral Gorad wants to talk to you colonel. " captain Sarson said calmly. " Oh I think I know what this is gonna be about. " David groaned and walked off with the captain. His squad members just look at each other and went back to what they were doing.

David walked into Admiral Gorad's office, up to his table and saluted him. Admiral Gorad stood up and saluted him back then said " I didn't appreciate you running out on an important discussion like that commander. Therefore I have decided that you're no longer the right one for the task I was to give you. " Gorad said in a calm professional tone. " Well gee ain't that too bad" David said in a sardonic tone. Admiral Gorad looked at him with an extremely annoyed expression and then clearing his expression he said " I'd like to know what possessed you to leave like that? " " I wasn't going to just let the kid die and in case it was your next question I'm at least the best pilot in the squad if not the fleet and my fighter was the only one that hadn't been tampered with so more than one pilot coming with me immediately was out of the question. " David said in a very sincere tone. " Kaz Takagi was totally out of line. He is the type of pilot that I was talking about earlier, you should've left him to die. " Gorad said coldly. " What?! I think you're the one whose outta line. Kaz did this out of emotional ties to his friend J.T. he didn't snap for no reason, he never fought his own people. " David began getting upset and angry. " Do you think I care. It is beyond my logic why anyone would let anyone who would do such a thing out of pure emotion live. " the admiral said trying to express his point. " There's nothing in any book that prohibits emotion. " David said narrowing his eyes still angry. " But there's plenty against doing what he did colonel. I want you to either confine him to his quarters or have him thrown in the brig with maximum monitoring no exceptions. You know what will happen if you don't. " the admiral said again in a slightly threatening and serious tone. " Yes sir. " David growled in a low tone and stormed out of the office. " Aren't you forgetting something? " the admiral asked inquiringly. " No. " David said coldly and the door closed behind him.

David entered the rec-room and walked up to Kaz who was now watching the sports report. " Kaz? " he said calmly and Kaz looked up at him " Hmm? " " I need to speak with you for a second. " David said and Kaz blinked at him and they went to David's quarters. " I talked to the admiral... " David began and Kaz said worriedly " It was about me wasn't it. " and David nodded a yes. " He did quite a bit of ranting and raving but he also demanded that I make the disciplinary actions more serious. He's given me the option of either sending you to the brig or put you under house arrest and confine you to your quarters both with maximum monitoring. He also seems to have some way of... " David said and again was interrupted by Kaz. " It's alright David. It'll be just like what you gave me except with less space. Same amount of time? " Kaz said and David again nodded with a yes. " He didn't say what time you had to start though. I'll start you tomorrow, for now go back to the rec-room and enjoy yourself.

Elizabeth Juliana sat on the observation deck drinking soda and watching the stars go by. She turned around and looked at Katherine who was playing the piano, one of the many solitary activities she did all day when not on duty. She seemed to have a knack for music, not only could she create beautiful music on the piano but she also carried a nice tune in her voice and could sing well even though she seldom did so. Many people called her Katherine " Nightingale " Martina. The only person she's ever been known to talk to was her, they had been friends since high school and had been fortunate enough to be able to go to the same places all through life up until now. Elizabeth looked back at the stars wondering now not what was there but who would be their allies and who would be their enemies. David walked up beside her and said " What ya thinking about? " " Nothing. Just who and what is out in space that's all. " she replied in a soft tone. " David? " she said looking at him and he looked back at her " Hmm? " " Do you think that there are any friendly aliens out there? Aliens who aren't out to destroy or enslave us? "she said with questioning and slightly sad eyes. David put his arm around her and said " Of course there are we just haven't discovered them yet. " " We just happened to go to war with the first aliens we met. " she said in a bitter low tone, only David heard what she said. " Well they can't all of be bad. " David said in a reasoning tone. " I have yet to see a good T'quan. " Elizabeth replied still with a bitter tone. " He's right but it will be a long time before we see the friendly ones. " Katherine said. David and Elizabeth turned in Katherine's direction and David said " Who said that? " " Katherine. She's a long time friend of mine. Kathy, this is a newer friend of mine, Colonel David Sames, come and let me introduce you two. " Elizabeth said her voice suddenly turning to a happy tone. Katherine looked up and looked at David with a kind of nervous, shy look, David waiting quietly for her to get up and introduce herself. Elizabeth leaned over to David and said " She's kinda shy so it might take her a bit. David felt like saying something more after that but he just continued to wait. Katherine finally got up and said " My name is Lieutenant Katherine Martina that's all. " Katherine said quietly and then left. " You were right about Katherine being shy, do you have any idea why? " David asked looking to Elizabeth. " I've known Kathy since high school and she's never given me a reason. Don't worry she'll get used to you eventually just as she got used to the rest of Steel squad. " Elizabeth said and David nodded in agreement. Suddenly David's comm-link began beeping and he picked it up and said " Go ahead. " " Colonel, I need you to come to my office for a little talk. I have something important to give you. " Captain Sarson said in a serious tone. " Yes sir. On my way. " David said turned off his comm-link and then looked at Elizabeth " I have to go but where can I meet you in a few hours? " " I'll be here David. Nothing else for me to do right now. " she replied.

Colleen twiddled an old military style dagger in her hands looking at it. It had belonged to her father who also was a jumptroop. He had always been the family role model since her mother had never really been there. Out of her two sisters she was the only one to ever follow his example, her sisters with the exception of her mom's exact problems were more like their mom. Her mother was caring but reckless, intelligent but ignorant, independent but not respecting herself, beautiful but not satisfied with herself. The only thing that Colleen ever had in common with her mom was her looks but she was determined not to become her mother. Nonetheless she loved her mother very much with all of her faults, she loved her more than her father but her father's career example was the only one she knew to follow. Her father was a strong stubborn man who always wanted to do this his own way. He died at the time when she was in college and she was the only one who knew why. After her year of college ended she left college and joined the Exofleet academy to become a jumptroop taking her fathers dagger with her. She decided that emotionally she would be like neither of her parents nor any relatives she was going to be like she wanted to be and her she is. It was bad enough that after the war she found out that the rest of her family had died she considered J.T. the only one who cared about her more than her friends. Then he died, it was something she could barely handle. Her friends outside and inside of her squad told her it was going to be alright and that they'd be there for her. After Longfeather, one of her best friends and a man she considered to be like her brother died she wasn't so sure. Should she plunge this dagger into her heart leaving the pain being but making her friends feel the same way she did, or should she keep going on with her life keeping the memories and pain and try and see if everything was alright? They all left her without even saying good-bye. Yes, some couldn't have helped it like her biological family whose luck didn't allowed them to do so. Others like J.T., Longfeather and Natasha could've at least tried to say good-bye, in fact they could've lived and didn't have to die. Yet, even though she had many friends in this life no one actually loved her, they were friends but there was no love in her life anymore. It was like after J.T. died it all was just sucked out of her heart so suddenly. Colleen began to silently weep for them all not just because she missed them but she was no longer sure what to do. Just then she noticed Jenny approaching her, she knew she was not just walking by because she was directly in front of her.

Colleen dried her tears, sheathed and put away her father's dagger and looked up at Jenny and said " Yes trooper? " in a calm almost emotionless voice. " My squad and I were out on a patrol and we found this still floating around in space. No one knows if it still works but we agreed to give it to you since you were the one closest to J.T. " Jenny said calmly and held out a small black box and Colleen took it and gazed upon it for a second. Jenny spoke again " It's yours if you want it. It is supposed to be one of those modified versions that also carry his personality. You know the possibilities with that but like I said it's your decision. " Colleen gave it back to Jenny and scornfully and angrily said " Get rid of it. I've got enough things to remember him by already. " She calmed down and spoke again " He may have died for a foolish reason but he died for a reason. It's not for us to say if he lives or dies after he's already died. If this holds everything until his death then it holds his pain too. He'd probably just try to kill himself again and leave us again. Let him rest, let him go. " she then gave the black box back to Jenny.

Jenny put it down and said in a concerned voice " Ya know I did notice you fiddling with that dagger and for some reason I don't see that as a good thing. What'd you plan to do with it? " " It was my father's from when he was in the military and I was thinking. " Colleen replied. " About what? " Jenny said in the same tone, Colleen was silent. " Colleen, you know you can tell me. I am one of your friends and if you don't want me to I won't tell anyone about this. " Jenny said a little more concerned and sat down next to Colleen and waited for an answer. " We established that a little while ago and I don't think you'd really understand. " Colleen finally replied in a depressed tone. " Try me. " Jenny said and waited again for her to say something. Colleen told her about her past losses of her family friends and then her love, most of which Jenny already knew it even pained her to hear about J.T.'s death again. " The war hasn't even been going on for that long compared to other wars and it's already taken so much from me. Yes, I have friends like you and David and others but it isn't the same thing as when someone loves you. After I lost all the people who loved me in one way or the other I felt like the love that had been in my heart had just been drained away, and I don't know how to handle it. I just don't know what to do. " she said and looked away more tears running down her face she was silently weeping to herself. Jenny just stared at her feeling very sorry for her and spoke softly " I know how you feel. Before and during the second Neosapien war I lost almost everything I loved to many different things, and I sorta felt the way you did. I also felt that it would be impossible for me to love anymore also. Ya know your friends could be more helpful than you know. If it wasn't for my friends and the squad I would've killed myself a long time ago. They took me and we became part of a family. Many of them too lost their lives in the same war. Like you in desperation for direction I joined the Exofleet. All of my friends after my family died also helped me discover the love that was still in me, it's in you too Colleen. The depression your in right now masks it but this will pass. For you it might not be the kind that involves a relationship but it is there. " " Your situation while it was very similar was different from mine. You didn't lose your lover but I lost mine how do you know it's still in me. " Colleen said her weeping showing up in her tone. " I know that love can be damaged but it can never be destroyed, not completely. That's how I know. " Jenny replied in a very understanding and sympathetic tone. " What about right now what can I do right now? What's here for me? " Colleen asked and turned back to Jenny. " You have your friends... " Jenny began, searching for an answer. " And. " Colleen interrupted in a harsh annoyed tone, Jenny knew that Colleen knew that. " Well you have your health. " Jenny said still obviously searching for an answer, Colleen sadly laughed a bit at this she was trying so hard to cheer her up. " You also have everything about you that attracts friends as well as lovers. I bet you never had trouble making friends as a child and teenager. " Jenny said and Colleen shook her head. " Don't be so quick to discount your friends. We are all the few if not the only people who can understand and help you. Who knows maybe things will just get better from now on. " Jenny said and stood up " So you not gonna kill yourself? " " I don't know I still don't really know what I should do. I have to think. " Colleen said staring out into space past Jenny. " Well I can't tell you what to do with your life but I suggest you go on living for as long as you can. You don't know how your life may turn out if you live and to be honest it wouldn't be that different from what J.T. did. It's taking the easy way out. You have plenty to live for and a long time to live it. " Jenny said turned and began to walk away. Colleen looked to her " Jenny. " she called after her and Jenny turned around " No matter what happens I just want to say thanks. " Jenny nodded in acknowledgment and said " It what friends are for. " she again turned and walked off leaving Colleen to think about her life.

Jenny felt very good about herself, she smiled slightly as she walked down the corridor of the Liberty. Suddenly another thought popped into her mind about something that she had done wrong not too long ago. She turned and began walking down other corridors until she reached the medical rooms. She walked up to the room where they were keeping Nara and looked around. It had been about two months since the last big battle against the T'quan but the rooms were still very crowded with the wounded. The people had various war wounds such as amputations, shredded limbs, bloody wounds and the like. Jenny walked up to the only med-tech in the room " Excuse me, I'm a friend of lieutenant Burns over there and I wanted to know about her condition. How's she doing? " Jenny said in a low silent tone so as to not wake any sleeping patients. The med-tech silently turned to Nara who didn't seem to be awake and shrugged " I'm not the one taking care of her. I do know though that she woke up a little while ago and is asleep now. If you want you can wait here until either she wakes up or Dr. Alman comes back. " he whispered to her for the same reason. The med-tech then walked past her and out of the room. Jenny silently moved up to the end of Nara's bed and looked at her for a second. She was still a little pale from the cold and lack of air but that's really all she could see. She looked down and picked up Nara's chart to look at it. " Ya know it's illegal to look at someone's chart without their permission. " said a familiar voice. Jenny looked up in the direction of the voice and found that Nara was sitting up a little her head resting on her right arm. " Hi Nara. I thought you were a sound sleeper. " Jenny said in a surprised tone still keeping her voice a bit low trying not to wake other patients. " I wasn't asleep really. I was just dozing. Besides your not good at being quiet. Oh and don't worry the rest of these people either still haven't waken up or are heavily sedated so don't worry about it now." Nara said. " How're ya feeling? " Jenny said pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Nara's bedside. " I thought the chart told you. " Nara said in a kind of joking sarcastic manner. " Well I didn't really get a chance to look at it so you tell me. " Jenny said curiously " Oh, I could be better but I'm not as bad as before. Most of my cuts and bruises have healed up it's just a matter of completely healing and getting my strength back. " Nara said and then sat up a little more. " Ya know not to lay on the guilt anymore but David musta really yelled at you after that battle. " she said looking at Jenny. " Yeah, me and Bronski. We are sorry ya know. I don't know what he was thinking but I just got a little excited, didn't listen. " Jenny said looking away for a second and then looking back at Nara. " It's alright, your still very young and you have a lot to learn. Believe me all pilots are like you and Kaz when they start out. Young, impressionable, quick to want to gain respect in battle, excitable and all the like. " Nara said in a very understanding tone. " I know, I know. I'm not that upset anymore, not now. " Jenny said and Nara smiled. Jenny stayed and talked with Nara about what's going on and sometimes laughed like school girls at recess. " Well it was nice talking to you again, hope to see ya again in the squad soon. " Jenny said getting up. " Yeah me too. Especially since they have food outside that isn't stuffed into me constantly. I feel like a guinea pig the way they feed me. " Nara said and they laughed again. " Bye, Nara. " Jenny said and turned to leave " Bye. " Nara replied and watched Jenny go.

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