Zero Degrees
(Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. The. Star Fox. Franchise. Is. This. Clear?)
Check out the Dark Cloud Inc bio page for upcoming works and info!
Oh, Fox McCloud's age is placed AFTER Star Fox Adventures. And if you're going to complain about typo's, I am quite aware of thm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the long wait, we had some computer problems and something came up that sort of blew us off track. Just remember, usually all of our stories are updated on a Saturday or Sunday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We arrived back at the spaceport, and it was as dreary as yesterday. It was early morning. The false dawn of Geeza's moon washing the dormant ships sitting at their pads in a pale yellow. Some spacers(sailors) and other curious tourists dotted the uneven squares of pavement. A customs offical called out rules, checking times, and terms of conduct with the exitement of a boy reciting a passage from a history book.
We did all arrive at the port together, but I decided to check out the Zero Degrees and find Dimitri while Katt, Falco, and Slippy went to retrive supplies from the Crow's Beak. Deep down, I knew Falco and Katt were just bringing their belongings, but Slippy would actually use his head and bring food, water sives, tools, spare parts, and most importantly, toilet paper.
I walked through the empty lots, occasionally checking tags near ship gates for number 24.
The grounded ships were either one of two types. Some were covered with gray metal, hyperdrive shields. These were high-maintenece ships, after a few spacejumps, pressure bulges and warps would shift the shields. And if you don't have a reliable hull crewer, you were either stuck in space or you had to land in a port.
The rest were black ships. Covered with solar panels and heat-absorbing pads, these ships were personal craft or Defense patrol vehicles. These ships were comparably smaller to the gray ones. Quite a few people bunched together to board these, probably touring ships.
I neared gate twenty-four, and the most bizzare piece of metal I've ever seen was sitting behind the metal fence. I took the card that Dimitri gave me and swiped the black strip through the card reader fused to the gate. With a rusty clank, the gate opened and I walked into lot twenty-four and spotted the sight that was the Zero Degrees.
And what a sight it was.
The Zero Degrees had the most erratic and random style I've ever seen before. The mostrosity was propped up on landing skids. What seemed to be the bridge looked sunked into the body of the ship, and what I assumed to be the main fore and aft engines--each shaped shaped like a waining moon-- cupped the sides of the torpedo shaped bridge. The massive engines gave the bridge a minute look. And this was only the front of the ship.
The rest of the ship seemed to be just slapped on at will. A huge bulge under the bridge stuck out like a sore thumb. It was a small hangar and a few segmented areas shaped like the hangar. I assumed that they were the living quarters. Behind that was something that resembled a sphere. It wasn't very conservative, because the main engines ran their course *through* this section of the ship. A few port and starboard engine vents pockmarked this entire portion of the ship.
I took a walk to circle the Zero Degrees. After a while, I came to the rear of the ship. I noticed the atmosphere entry wings resembled those of the Great Fox. Two smaller aft engines peeked out from under the ship. I decided to save some time and walk back from under the ship. Then I found a strange structure built into the ship.
It seemed that when all of the features of the ship flowed to join together under the ship, they suddenly melted together to a large, egg-shaped bulk of metal on the underside. I'm going to have quite a few words with Dimitri inside. I came around to the entrance to the gate and found a few strangers standing in front of the ship. A male hawk, a male wolf, a male iguana, and a vixen. I approached them.
"You Pollock's crew?" I said as I greeted them. The hawk turned to me.
"Yeah, you McCloud?" the Hawk said. I nodded. The hawk wasn't very tall, probably a few inches shorter than me. His feathers were a deep red, with black markings patterned around the area below his beak. He was wearing a denim jacket and black boots. He was a lesser anthromorph, his hands were his wings.
"Where's Pollock?" I asked them. The fox spoke.
"I'm not sure," she said. She, like all female foxes, had an unbeliveable beauty. Like most, had a small frame and was tall. She wore a normal spacer's utility jacket and straight-legged pants. Her bushy tail swayed from behind her.
"Where's your crew?" the iguana asked me. He donned loose clothing over his green scales.
"They'll be here soon," I replied. "You must be..."
"Lance," the iguana said. "You name it, I can fix it." He gave me a handshake. His grip was firm, like you would want a mechanic to have. He paused and pointed to the fox and hawk. "He's Taris and she's Fara Pheonix." He turned to the wolf. "Execpt I don't know him."
The wolf spoke up as he took out what seemed to be a fold of paper out of the inside of his black jacket. "I am Jeff Schider, the Defense sent me."
"What? Why would the do something like that?" I asked as I took the papers and unfolding them, showing certificates of his boarding of the Zero Degrees and Defense papers showing that he was supposed to be "security" over the special cargo. Though I didn't know what it was. I could ask him later, I suppose. But of course, we were only pilots and specialsts, not secret agents.
"You're waiting out here for the rest of us?" I asked. The wolf nodded. "Do you do anything else?"
"Hull repair and medic. I try to be useful," Jeff said. "How familiar is everyone with this ship?" he said as he turned to the group, away from me.
"We're all strangers here," Taris replied.
"Aren't any of you part of his crew?" I asked. This was getting strange.
"Not until last night," Lance said. "He found us around town. Told me to find some guy named McCloud at gate twentyfour.
"Dimitri picked you guys off the street?" Jeff said. "Then what happened to his crew?"
"He told me that his ship's crew broke off into factions and jumped ship before the other knew that they were leaving too," Fara replied.
"How come you all aren't in the ship?" I asked the group of strangers.
"Can't," Lance said. "The bulkhead's locked."
"He probably wanted for us to wait before we go inside," Taris said to me.
"Is there another entrance?" Jeff asked. Everyone shook their heads.
"No. The one you see is the only way in," Fara said. "The hangar's locked from the inside." The gate re-opened and Falco and Katt walked into the landing pad. They carried a few boxes in their hands, belongings as usual.
Falco used a suspected response to the ship, "What the hell is that!?"
"Lombardi, where's Slippy?" I asked the falcon. Katt dropped her box to the ground.
"He took a forklift and started to unload some of the Crow's Beak's cargo," Falco replied.
"That's what I expected from sombody with a brain," I snorted.
"Hey, don't be mean, McCloud," Katt spoke up. "I had to file out the Crow's Beak for grounding."
I turned to Falco, "Katt's good. But what about you Lombardi?"
"Hey, the frog snatched the only forklift near us," Falco replied. An annoying rumbling rolled through the gates: Slippy driving a forklift, stacked with numerous boxes, humming to the tune of the diesel engine. He turned off the ignition and hopped out of the small seat (for him).
"Heya Fox, ya got our crew togetha?" Slippy greeted. "Are we going to launch soon?"
I shook my head in response. "No, we have to find Dimitri." Taris yelled at us.
"Hey, the hatch is open!" he exclaimed. He was standing on the metal launch stairway that was wedged between the bridge's cone and the left engine. With a gentle push, Taris let the bulkhead slide away to the side.
"I guess that Dimitri put a time lock on the ship," Fara said. Her expression went into a worried one. "Let's go get aquainted with the ship while we wait for him," she suggested. We all shuffled up the stairway, sans Slippy.
"McCloud, I'll wait here untill you open the loading hangar," Slippy said. "I want to see how big the space is in there."
"Good idea," I replied. "See how many Arwings we can fit from the Crow's Beak. If you can, all three of them."
"Yes sir," Slippy said before I retreated into the Zero Degrees. Jeff was behind everyone.
Inside, the interior of the Zero Degrees were equally as random as the exterior. And I was just standing in the airlock. The airlock was actually a hall, with bulkheads at each ends. A worn map greeted us from the wall in front of the entrance. It showed the entire layout of the Zero Degrees. Most of my assumptions during my inspection was correct. Below deck was the hangar, and just behind that was the living quarters. The main computer frames were located all the way to the rear of the ship. Strange feature, since they would be near the bridge. Complaints flowed from the crew.
"Why would enginering be below deck?" Lance asked. "That's entrirely across from where I need to be."
"The shield supplies, they're in the lower deck?" Taris said.
"You're a shield repair?" Katt asked. Taris nodded. "Me too," she said.
"It would do us good if we did have two of us aboard," Tairs added.
"Or three," Jeff added.
"I guess I'll have to get used to being across from the bridge," Fara commented.
"But at least Fox and I are where we belong. Up in front on the bridge," Falco said. I turned to him.
"Not so fast," I stopped Falco's comment. "Pollock and I will be the pilot of his ship. You will be escort during non-jump paths."
An angry expression marched over the falcon's face. "Fine, Fox. Alienate me. But what will I do during in-between jumps? Am I navigation?"
"That's Slippy," I smirked. "Everyone, say hello to our cook." Before Falco could yell a compaint, Fara gave a suggestion to the whole group.
"We should get familiar with our stations, Dimitri is taking long," she said to everyone. I suddenly remembered Slippy.
"Taris," I addressed him. "Since the ship's supply hold is near the hangar, can you open it for the frog waiting for us?"
"Sure thing," Taris said before he turned to the Anterior bulkhead at the end of the hall. Before he opened it, he called to Katt. "Hey, Katt, you coming with?" she nodded, picked up her box, and followed him.
"I guess I'll do the same," Lance said while he nodded. He and Fara walked through the posterior bulkhead. Jeff jumped toward the map, searched around and walked to the anterior bulkhead, leaving only Fox and Falco in the airlock hall. I didn't bohter to stop the wolf, I trusted his actions. Falco felt that this was an appropreate time to tell his feelings of the situation.
"Fox, you asshole! I don't care if you're second-in-command! Cook!? What kind of shitty idea is that!?" He nearly screamed at me. I gave him a quick push to his chest to shut him up.
"Falco, don't lose it on me," I said to him. He did what I expected: he stopped and listened. "Look, I don't want to misguide Slippy. And I can't trust Katt with such a resposibility."
"Fox, what are you getting at?" Falco asked.
"Listen carefully," I said quietly. "The new crewers. They said that they were picked off the street and Dimitri hasn't showed up yet. We don't know what we're dealing with. So keep your eyes open."
"Ok. ok." He paused for a moment. "There must be a special reason that we have to use the Zero Degrees." he turned to the map and pointed to a section of the ship. "This says 'sealed cargo'."
I looked to where he was pointing. It was the egg dome on the bottom of the ship. "Sealed Cargo". The map didn't display any doors, pipes, ducts, wiring, or vents that lead to the egg. I gave a comment.
"We have to find Dimitri soon and see what kind of stunt he's trying to pull on us." A loud clank assured us that the hagar doors were open. We could hear thumping footsteps below us. Falco looked around.
"Go check on Slippy and help the launch crew load up the Arwings," I said. The bird nodded. We both walked to the anterior bulkhead and opened the hatch. Falco found a spiral stairway that led to below deck. I pushed forward, and came through an automatic door.
The bridge, compared to the layout of the ship, was as I expected it to be. Dusty and dated computer monitors cluttered the front pilot seats. Wires, shaped like slaughtered medusas, hung in corners and through some gaps in the tile ceiling. The piloting room was smaller than it looked from the outside, and everything was cramped together. Everything in the room was a smoky, gray color. I took stood near one of the pilot positions, and noticed a box sitting on top of a nearby controll panel. A sticky note was attached to the lid that read "McCloud".
I flipped up the brass knob on the wooden box and looked at the contents inside.
A one page letter
Registration certificates.
Destination port cards.
And a large, brown envelope. I opened and shook out eight five-hundred-thousand cash cards.
I began to read the letter. It stated to take the Zero Degrees without him. It said that he will meet up with us on Corneria, the destiation of the ship. It then listed login numbers, edit passwords, and small details about the ship's problems. I heard the sliding noise of the automatic door behind me. I spun around and came face-to-face with Fara. I noticed small, nearly gray dots around the tops of her cheeks, giving a frekled look.
"You're done, Pheonix?" I asked. "That was quick."
She shook her head. "No, I hoped that there was a backup computer console here." She wiggled past me to go to the pilot's dash.
"What's with the one you're assigned?" I asked.
"I've seen graphing calculators faster than that thing. I just came in to start the enviormental system running." She ran her index finger over some of the keys, pressed one, and the whole ship hummed to life as the monitors flipped on, hard drives spun, and circulation vents whisled. She looked at me, and then the letter in my hand. "Did Dimitri leave that?"
"Yeah, it says to leave without him," I replied as I handed it to her. Her eyes ran around the paper.
"Do you want me to round everyone up for launch?" she asked. I nodded yes. This was one hell of a hot potato that the Defense had dropped into my lap. Now to see to it that everyone stayed alive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Read and Review!
(Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. The. Star Fox. Franchise. Is. This. Clear?)
Check out the Dark Cloud Inc bio page for upcoming works and info!
Oh, Fox McCloud's age is placed AFTER Star Fox Adventures. And if you're going to complain about typo's, I am quite aware of thm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the long wait, we had some computer problems and something came up that sort of blew us off track. Just remember, usually all of our stories are updated on a Saturday or Sunday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We arrived back at the spaceport, and it was as dreary as yesterday. It was early morning. The false dawn of Geeza's moon washing the dormant ships sitting at their pads in a pale yellow. Some spacers(sailors) and other curious tourists dotted the uneven squares of pavement. A customs offical called out rules, checking times, and terms of conduct with the exitement of a boy reciting a passage from a history book.
We did all arrive at the port together, but I decided to check out the Zero Degrees and find Dimitri while Katt, Falco, and Slippy went to retrive supplies from the Crow's Beak. Deep down, I knew Falco and Katt were just bringing their belongings, but Slippy would actually use his head and bring food, water sives, tools, spare parts, and most importantly, toilet paper.
I walked through the empty lots, occasionally checking tags near ship gates for number 24.
The grounded ships were either one of two types. Some were covered with gray metal, hyperdrive shields. These were high-maintenece ships, after a few spacejumps, pressure bulges and warps would shift the shields. And if you don't have a reliable hull crewer, you were either stuck in space or you had to land in a port.
The rest were black ships. Covered with solar panels and heat-absorbing pads, these ships were personal craft or Defense patrol vehicles. These ships were comparably smaller to the gray ones. Quite a few people bunched together to board these, probably touring ships.
I neared gate twenty-four, and the most bizzare piece of metal I've ever seen was sitting behind the metal fence. I took the card that Dimitri gave me and swiped the black strip through the card reader fused to the gate. With a rusty clank, the gate opened and I walked into lot twenty-four and spotted the sight that was the Zero Degrees.
And what a sight it was.
The Zero Degrees had the most erratic and random style I've ever seen before. The mostrosity was propped up on landing skids. What seemed to be the bridge looked sunked into the body of the ship, and what I assumed to be the main fore and aft engines--each shaped shaped like a waining moon-- cupped the sides of the torpedo shaped bridge. The massive engines gave the bridge a minute look. And this was only the front of the ship.
The rest of the ship seemed to be just slapped on at will. A huge bulge under the bridge stuck out like a sore thumb. It was a small hangar and a few segmented areas shaped like the hangar. I assumed that they were the living quarters. Behind that was something that resembled a sphere. It wasn't very conservative, because the main engines ran their course *through* this section of the ship. A few port and starboard engine vents pockmarked this entire portion of the ship.
I took a walk to circle the Zero Degrees. After a while, I came to the rear of the ship. I noticed the atmosphere entry wings resembled those of the Great Fox. Two smaller aft engines peeked out from under the ship. I decided to save some time and walk back from under the ship. Then I found a strange structure built into the ship.
It seemed that when all of the features of the ship flowed to join together under the ship, they suddenly melted together to a large, egg-shaped bulk of metal on the underside. I'm going to have quite a few words with Dimitri inside. I came around to the entrance to the gate and found a few strangers standing in front of the ship. A male hawk, a male wolf, a male iguana, and a vixen. I approached them.
"You Pollock's crew?" I said as I greeted them. The hawk turned to me.
"Yeah, you McCloud?" the Hawk said. I nodded. The hawk wasn't very tall, probably a few inches shorter than me. His feathers were a deep red, with black markings patterned around the area below his beak. He was wearing a denim jacket and black boots. He was a lesser anthromorph, his hands were his wings.
"Where's Pollock?" I asked them. The fox spoke.
"I'm not sure," she said. She, like all female foxes, had an unbeliveable beauty. Like most, had a small frame and was tall. She wore a normal spacer's utility jacket and straight-legged pants. Her bushy tail swayed from behind her.
"Where's your crew?" the iguana asked me. He donned loose clothing over his green scales.
"They'll be here soon," I replied. "You must be..."
"Lance," the iguana said. "You name it, I can fix it." He gave me a handshake. His grip was firm, like you would want a mechanic to have. He paused and pointed to the fox and hawk. "He's Taris and she's Fara Pheonix." He turned to the wolf. "Execpt I don't know him."
The wolf spoke up as he took out what seemed to be a fold of paper out of the inside of his black jacket. "I am Jeff Schider, the Defense sent me."
"What? Why would the do something like that?" I asked as I took the papers and unfolding them, showing certificates of his boarding of the Zero Degrees and Defense papers showing that he was supposed to be "security" over the special cargo. Though I didn't know what it was. I could ask him later, I suppose. But of course, we were only pilots and specialsts, not secret agents.
"You're waiting out here for the rest of us?" I asked. The wolf nodded. "Do you do anything else?"
"Hull repair and medic. I try to be useful," Jeff said. "How familiar is everyone with this ship?" he said as he turned to the group, away from me.
"We're all strangers here," Taris replied.
"Aren't any of you part of his crew?" I asked. This was getting strange.
"Not until last night," Lance said. "He found us around town. Told me to find some guy named McCloud at gate twentyfour.
"Dimitri picked you guys off the street?" Jeff said. "Then what happened to his crew?"
"He told me that his ship's crew broke off into factions and jumped ship before the other knew that they were leaving too," Fara replied.
"How come you all aren't in the ship?" I asked the group of strangers.
"Can't," Lance said. "The bulkhead's locked."
"He probably wanted for us to wait before we go inside," Taris said to me.
"Is there another entrance?" Jeff asked. Everyone shook their heads.
"No. The one you see is the only way in," Fara said. "The hangar's locked from the inside." The gate re-opened and Falco and Katt walked into the landing pad. They carried a few boxes in their hands, belongings as usual.
Falco used a suspected response to the ship, "What the hell is that!?"
"Lombardi, where's Slippy?" I asked the falcon. Katt dropped her box to the ground.
"He took a forklift and started to unload some of the Crow's Beak's cargo," Falco replied.
"That's what I expected from sombody with a brain," I snorted.
"Hey, don't be mean, McCloud," Katt spoke up. "I had to file out the Crow's Beak for grounding."
I turned to Falco, "Katt's good. But what about you Lombardi?"
"Hey, the frog snatched the only forklift near us," Falco replied. An annoying rumbling rolled through the gates: Slippy driving a forklift, stacked with numerous boxes, humming to the tune of the diesel engine. He turned off the ignition and hopped out of the small seat (for him).
"Heya Fox, ya got our crew togetha?" Slippy greeted. "Are we going to launch soon?"
I shook my head in response. "No, we have to find Dimitri." Taris yelled at us.
"Hey, the hatch is open!" he exclaimed. He was standing on the metal launch stairway that was wedged between the bridge's cone and the left engine. With a gentle push, Taris let the bulkhead slide away to the side.
"I guess that Dimitri put a time lock on the ship," Fara said. Her expression went into a worried one. "Let's go get aquainted with the ship while we wait for him," she suggested. We all shuffled up the stairway, sans Slippy.
"McCloud, I'll wait here untill you open the loading hangar," Slippy said. "I want to see how big the space is in there."
"Good idea," I replied. "See how many Arwings we can fit from the Crow's Beak. If you can, all three of them."
"Yes sir," Slippy said before I retreated into the Zero Degrees. Jeff was behind everyone.
Inside, the interior of the Zero Degrees were equally as random as the exterior. And I was just standing in the airlock. The airlock was actually a hall, with bulkheads at each ends. A worn map greeted us from the wall in front of the entrance. It showed the entire layout of the Zero Degrees. Most of my assumptions during my inspection was correct. Below deck was the hangar, and just behind that was the living quarters. The main computer frames were located all the way to the rear of the ship. Strange feature, since they would be near the bridge. Complaints flowed from the crew.
"Why would enginering be below deck?" Lance asked. "That's entrirely across from where I need to be."
"The shield supplies, they're in the lower deck?" Taris said.
"You're a shield repair?" Katt asked. Taris nodded. "Me too," she said.
"It would do us good if we did have two of us aboard," Tairs added.
"Or three," Jeff added.
"I guess I'll have to get used to being across from the bridge," Fara commented.
"But at least Fox and I are where we belong. Up in front on the bridge," Falco said. I turned to him.
"Not so fast," I stopped Falco's comment. "Pollock and I will be the pilot of his ship. You will be escort during non-jump paths."
An angry expression marched over the falcon's face. "Fine, Fox. Alienate me. But what will I do during in-between jumps? Am I navigation?"
"That's Slippy," I smirked. "Everyone, say hello to our cook." Before Falco could yell a compaint, Fara gave a suggestion to the whole group.
"We should get familiar with our stations, Dimitri is taking long," she said to everyone. I suddenly remembered Slippy.
"Taris," I addressed him. "Since the ship's supply hold is near the hangar, can you open it for the frog waiting for us?"
"Sure thing," Taris said before he turned to the Anterior bulkhead at the end of the hall. Before he opened it, he called to Katt. "Hey, Katt, you coming with?" she nodded, picked up her box, and followed him.
"I guess I'll do the same," Lance said while he nodded. He and Fara walked through the posterior bulkhead. Jeff jumped toward the map, searched around and walked to the anterior bulkhead, leaving only Fox and Falco in the airlock hall. I didn't bohter to stop the wolf, I trusted his actions. Falco felt that this was an appropreate time to tell his feelings of the situation.
"Fox, you asshole! I don't care if you're second-in-command! Cook!? What kind of shitty idea is that!?" He nearly screamed at me. I gave him a quick push to his chest to shut him up.
"Falco, don't lose it on me," I said to him. He did what I expected: he stopped and listened. "Look, I don't want to misguide Slippy. And I can't trust Katt with such a resposibility."
"Fox, what are you getting at?" Falco asked.
"Listen carefully," I said quietly. "The new crewers. They said that they were picked off the street and Dimitri hasn't showed up yet. We don't know what we're dealing with. So keep your eyes open."
"Ok. ok." He paused for a moment. "There must be a special reason that we have to use the Zero Degrees." he turned to the map and pointed to a section of the ship. "This says 'sealed cargo'."
I looked to where he was pointing. It was the egg dome on the bottom of the ship. "Sealed Cargo". The map didn't display any doors, pipes, ducts, wiring, or vents that lead to the egg. I gave a comment.
"We have to find Dimitri soon and see what kind of stunt he's trying to pull on us." A loud clank assured us that the hagar doors were open. We could hear thumping footsteps below us. Falco looked around.
"Go check on Slippy and help the launch crew load up the Arwings," I said. The bird nodded. We both walked to the anterior bulkhead and opened the hatch. Falco found a spiral stairway that led to below deck. I pushed forward, and came through an automatic door.
The bridge, compared to the layout of the ship, was as I expected it to be. Dusty and dated computer monitors cluttered the front pilot seats. Wires, shaped like slaughtered medusas, hung in corners and through some gaps in the tile ceiling. The piloting room was smaller than it looked from the outside, and everything was cramped together. Everything in the room was a smoky, gray color. I took stood near one of the pilot positions, and noticed a box sitting on top of a nearby controll panel. A sticky note was attached to the lid that read "McCloud".
I flipped up the brass knob on the wooden box and looked at the contents inside.
A one page letter
Registration certificates.
Destination port cards.
And a large, brown envelope. I opened and shook out eight five-hundred-thousand cash cards.
I began to read the letter. It stated to take the Zero Degrees without him. It said that he will meet up with us on Corneria, the destiation of the ship. It then listed login numbers, edit passwords, and small details about the ship's problems. I heard the sliding noise of the automatic door behind me. I spun around and came face-to-face with Fara. I noticed small, nearly gray dots around the tops of her cheeks, giving a frekled look.
"You're done, Pheonix?" I asked. "That was quick."
She shook her head. "No, I hoped that there was a backup computer console here." She wiggled past me to go to the pilot's dash.
"What's with the one you're assigned?" I asked.
"I've seen graphing calculators faster than that thing. I just came in to start the enviormental system running." She ran her index finger over some of the keys, pressed one, and the whole ship hummed to life as the monitors flipped on, hard drives spun, and circulation vents whisled. She looked at me, and then the letter in my hand. "Did Dimitri leave that?"
"Yeah, it says to leave without him," I replied as I handed it to her. Her eyes ran around the paper.
"Do you want me to round everyone up for launch?" she asked. I nodded yes. This was one hell of a hot potato that the Defense had dropped into my lap. Now to see to it that everyone stayed alive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Read and Review!