Martian Army Headquarters

Mars

General John Ragner slammed his hand down on his desk, making several objects on it jump and sending several papers scattering and said, "Damnit! We have the entire resources of the military intelligence community at out disposal and we can't hunt down the bastard!"

A nervous young man with the rank of Captain on his uniform jumped up at the violence that Ragner displayed. He no doubt didn't want to be in the room, Ragner didn't give a damn. This was serious business, if word of what had happened got out…hell if word got out of what had been TAKEN, the public would call for the heads of those responsible. One of the men chiefly responsible was of course, John Ragner.

"Sir, Colonel Ashtin is well aware of our counter-terrorist measures, as well as virtually all of our resources and their placement," said the Captain, whose last name was Boyd, he paused, pushed up the rather large framed glasses that were perched precariously on the edge of his long hooked nose and continued, "after all, he helped design and emplace most of them."

"I know that!" snapped Ragner back at his subordinate, "God, if only the operation hadn't been mishandled, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"That is true sir, but regardless, we must deal with this problem," said Captain Boyd soothingly.

"What other options do we have?" Ragner inquired, settling back into his chair and hunching over his desk.

"We could mobilize the entire military, put out orders to-"

"Out of the question, you know full well why we can't use the military as a whole to deal with Colonel Ashtin and his band," Ragner said, cutting Boyd off.

"Perhaps there are other options we haven't thought of using yet?"

"What options are there?" Ragner's eyebrow rose inquisitively. In many ways he didn't care for Captain Boyd. The man clearly was out to rise in the ranks as quickly as he could he wasn't a warrior, had never been in a firefight of any kind.

"Treat them exactly as they are, as a terrorist group. Say that Ashtin and his group went rogue from the rest of the military and that they are a threat to order in the System."

"You don't honestly think that any of the bounty hunters scattered across the Solar System could do a damned thing to even slow down, let alone stop Colonel Ashtin and his men?"

"No sir, I don't. However, if we have hundreds if not thousands of bounty hunters trying to track Ashtin down, we could discover where he and his men are hiding, possibly what their next move is."

Ragner sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh, "Damnit all to hell, I didn't want this to get public, but I'm afraid that as much as I hate to admit it, your idea is the best one I've heard yet Captain Boyd, make the necessary arrangements with the government put out a sizeable bounty on Ashtin's head along with his men."

"Yes sir, right away," Captain Boyd turned and exited General Ragner's office.

To the empty room Ragner muttered, "Deric you bastard, I'll see to it you stay dead this time."