Harrigan's Heroes

by Warlord-Shirt

A trio of unlikely comrades are dispatched to find Crichton. But things don't go quite as planned. WARNING! Some chapters have higher ratings! Check chapter headings! NOW A FINISHED WORK.

22. Chapter 21 : Hot LZ!

Chapter 21 : Hot LZ!

Once everyone had found out where the forward galley was, and made their way there, they sorted out a light meal for themselves and waited for the rest of the team to turn up.

Captain Kran and his family were the first to arrive. It turned out that the forward galley wasn't far from the quarters he had chosen for his family. Moratha was hard at work preparing her husband's favourite Kruldan Scorcher from the varied supplies that had been left in the refrigeration units by the previous owners.

Harrigan and Talannah came next. As soon as Harrigan entered, he picked up the distinctive aroma of what was becoming his favourite dish as well, yelled "Kruldan Scorcher! YES!!" and went to sit by Captain Kran. The rest of the Scarrans came in quickly over the next few microts, chatting to each other as to what their Commander's home planet would be like. Shor and Ryalla sat close by Harrigan as well, but on a table of their own.

Finally the two newest recruits came in separately. Hellbolt walked in slowly,nodded at Harrigan and sat down at the far end of the table by the recon specialist. Keyah came in with a little spring in her step and sat by Shor and Ryalla. She had a Kalish's natural curiosity about new things, and knew that if she sat by the Commander she would find out sooner.

Once Moratha had brought out the food, Harrigan tapped his fork on his plate and called the room to order. "OK, people" he stated "We're here to dicuss the best way to make our approach to the planet. First item on our agenda planetside is to contact my old CO, Captain Lazarus. From there, we'll probably go to the Canaveral launch facility and secure a place to operate out of – probably out by the launch towers themselves. But before we get to that, we have to reach geostationary orbit around Earth".

Hellbolt opened the questions. "What kind of spatial defences will we have to worry about?" he asked. "None at all" Harrigan replied rather sheepishly, much to everyone's surprise "Most humans don't believe that there's any intelligent life outside of Earth. Many of those that do think it'll be hostile – due, in part, to the popular entertainment available. Ergo, no spatial defences. There's treaties preventing the placement of weapons in orbit even if people wanted to put them there. Plus, nobody would trust that those weapons would not be turned against planetary targets if their owners wished them to be".

Everyone reacted with varying degrees of incredulity. Many muttered things along the lines of "...paranoid xenophobes..." and even the occasional "...how sad...". "Surely you friend Crichton told them about the threat posed by the Hierarchy and the Peacekeepers – even if they are a long way away" Kran asked.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "The Hierarchy?" Harrigan replied "Not likely. I think Officer Sun spoke a little about Earth's susceptibility to attack, and mentioned the Peacekeepers at some point because that's what she knows. But no mentioning of specific possible threats apart from that. Governments are especially paranoid in this area. They don't trust other humans – what makes you think they'll act more rationally with non-humans? We'll probably end up meeting some IASA reps at some stage – that's the group that deals with space travel – but otherwise we'll keep 'official' contact to a minimum. I'd trust the word of Emperor Staleek before I'd trust most human politicains".

"How likely are we to be detected on our approach?" Keyah asked. "Good question" replied Harrigan "And one I'm not completely sure about. Once we reach geostationary orbit, we'll be seen – at least by the space-capable nations and maybe their allies. There should be an international space station as well – but we've got more danger that they'll spot us with a telescope than with radar from there. So I'll send Tovak out ahead of us in a stealth capsule to intercept the station's comm traffic. That way we'll know if they've seen us". "Why not me?" asked Hellbolt, a little crossly. "Because" Harrigan responded "Tovak has experince with Scarran equipment and you do not – and that's what we have here. Once you're up to speed on that, you'll get more missions. We'll need you for other stuff, anyway". Hellbolt nodded and turned back to his food.

"How will the people receive us?" asked Talannah. "We're going to have to be very careful there" Harrigan replied "But mostly that'll be the Scarran members of the team controlling their tempers and lack of patience. Shor, and Ryalla as well if she wears some kind of hat, could probably pass unnoticed. Hellbolt's pale skin may cause a few comments, especially from children, but he'll be fine as well. Keyah – her orange colouring is more unusual, but the IASA people saw the Nebari and Kalish who came with Crichton when he was here. Just spend your time on the ground instead of the roof, Keyah, and you'll be fine". A few laughs came from those who'd been on the bridge – Keyah seemd to prefer avoiding the floor if at all possible.

"Once I've convinced Captain Lazarus that I'm really me, we can trust him. Same goes for Crichton's father at IASA, Jack - though as he's fairly high- up there, assume that whatever he hears may be passed on to the government. Don't tell him anything about military matters – that'll only make our lives harder. You Scarrans will stand out the most" Harrigan said "Humans won't expect bluish-purple scaly skin on anything upright and walking. So cover up – we don't want lynch mobs after us".

One hand was raised from an unexpected quarter. "Yes, Karroch?" Talannah asked him. "Can they understand us?" he said "Do your people have translator microbes?" "A very good question!" Harrigan replied "In general, no on both counts. Some people at IASA will have them from when Crichton was here. That includes his father. I'll be taking some for Captain Lazarus too. So Keyah will have a marked advantage here. All she needs to do is go over the basics once and she's fluent in the language. I've been teaching Talannah some English – but Keyah and I will be doing most of the talking until you lot get better".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- A smile came over Keyah's lips as she heard that. So, I will have a place here, she told herself, over and above my combat skills. I never thought I'd be employed as a negotiator and diplomat. Harrigan took her to one side, and the pair of them went slowly over what she would need to speak English. After no more than maybe 600 microts or so, Harrigan leaned back in his chair, saying "Perfect! You're a natural! Everyone gather round Keyah – she'll teach you a few basic conversational phrases, in case of emergencies".

"I'm just glad you started teaching me this 'Eeengliss' before we left Ithlin" Talannah groused as the others started practising "It's a very hard language to learn. So much depends on context and inflection". "That's 'English', love" Harrigan corrected her, taking the opportunity to run his finger slowly over her face and around her lips. Talannah smiled and kissed him slowly, before replying, in fairly good English, with "I know, dear. I may not be a Kalish, but I pick up new languages fairly quickly anyway". "Just one of your many...", Harrigan punctuated his reply with a kiss, "...many...", another kiss, "...many...", and another one, "talents, my love".

About twenty momens or so into the language lesson, a computer alarm sounded. "Yes?" Harrigan barked. The others, especially the Scarrans, stood stock-still. "A small craft is approaching. From out of the wormhole, as we did" stated the computer's monotone voice "Initial scans show it as a Raider. Orders?" "Grab it and bring it into the portside forward flight bay. Talannah and I will be there shortly" Harrigan replied, then turned to the others and said "Keep on with your language lessons. One craft shouldn't present enough of a problem to require troops".

Harrigan and Talannah ran back to the bridge. "Computer, hail the incoming craft" Harrigan ordered. A few microts later, a face appeared on the forward viewscreen. The newcomer was a high-caste Scarran, with very dark grey skin and bright green eyes. "I seek an old friend" his smooth voice explained "I was told she was on board your ship. Infiltrator First Class Talannah is her name". "Why do you think she is here?" asked Harrigan suspiciously. "I arrived on Ithlin as the victory celebrations were in full swing." the newcomer replied "Some of the palace staff were a little loose-lipped and told me that she was on board a giant craft with the saviour of their city. Further questioning of some space command officers revealed that you went down this wormhole. Since it is stable, I followed you down it. Luckily, I emerged at the same point that you did".

Luck had nothing to do with it, Harrigan knew. From Crichton's explanations, he knew that you had to have a clear picture of where you were going. This new Scarran's concentration on his target brought him through, not 'luck'. "We'll bring you aboard with our docking web. Myself and one other from my group will meet you on the flight deck" Harrigan replied, before cutting the call and directing the computer to bring the Raider aboard. The two of them caught the transit train to the designated flight deck, and stood out in full view as the newcomer's vessel was lowered to the deck.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- When the newcomer emerged from his ship, Harrigan got a better impression of him. He was perhaps 25 hentae tall, not huge for a Scarran, and some 4.5 hentae shorter than Harrigan. But he appeared very tough-looking, and it was obvious by the way he walked that he was confident he could handle any trouble he encountered. "You are?" Harrigan asked bluntly when he approached. "My name is Trannak" he revealed. Then Talannah stepped from behind Harrrigan's back, saying "I thought it was you! You still look like you did when you went through my classes! What brings you here?"

"Purges have started in the military" Trannak told them "Anyone considered 'politically unreliable' is called back to a Hierarchy stronghold for a fresh loyalty assessment. Some are returned to their units. Others are given a show trial and executed. I got out while I could, and earnt a living by my skills until some members of a Scarran loyalist group found me. Eventually I found out about your going AWOL. So I decided to look for you, and here I am".

"He's trustworthy, love" Talannah told Harrigan. "You sure?" Harrigan replied, stepping up to her and placing one arm around her shoulders. "He's another former Deadhead. An ex-field agent, like me. Reached the rank of Infiltrator Second Class, didn't you?" "Yes, ma'am" Trannak replied proudly "But there must have been an informer in one of our regular squad bitching sessions, because I soon detected the dogs had been sent out after me. I had to leave while I still could. Who is this man? He's not Scarran, that much I can tell. Yet you act like he's your husband".

"He WILL be my husband, though" Talannah said happily, squeezing Harrigan tightly. Harrigan just leaned into her grasp and smiled. "He is already my 'matchless one'. We marry soon. He found me shortly after I'd left. He is a special-operations officer, and commands this ship as well. As my John said to me – 'The rest is history'". "Enough chit-chat" Harrigan decided "Since you're here, and Talannah trusts you, come with us and meet the others. Now we've got three former Deadheads on board".

Once Harrigan, Talannah, and Trannak had got into the transit car, it moved off for the galley. "Three former Deadheads, you say?" asked Trannak curiously "Talannah and myself would be two of them, but who's the other one, I wonder...". Then all talk stopped as they reached the galley again. When Trannak entered, Kran rose off his feet with almost meteoric speed and drew his Viper. "WHO ARE YOU?!" he bellowed "Explain youself, and you presence here – now!" "My infantry training officer, Captain Kran" Harrigan explained. "Don't worry, Captain – he's an old colleague from Talannah's past life, and she trusts him. Put that Viper away and sit down". Kran did as he was ordered, but still looked somewhat suspiciously at Trannak.

Koronna came back from the kitchen counter with a full plate, when she saw Trannak as well. "I didn't think I'd see you here, of all people" she said. "ITC Koronna?" Trannak replied, astonished. She nodded. "Well, well" Trannak said to Harrigan "You do have some excellent personnel here, sir. With your permission, perhaps I might find a place here as well? I give you my word I will not turn you in".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "I'm Harrigan" Harrigan told Trannak "My Talannah gave me the rank of War Commander, so you can address me as War Commander Harrigan if you prefer. Get over there with Keyah - the Kalish over there. You may as well make yourself useful now you're here and learn some of the local language". Trannak nodded and sat down by Keyah. He proved to have a talent for new languages, picking up the basic conversational English fairly smartly.

"So who is this guy?" Harrigan asked Talannah, nodding in Trannak's direction. "He was in the covert-action wing as I was" she replied, thinking back "Though he was good with weapons, his talents ran more towards extracting information from people and recruiting agents". "A military spy" Harrigan stated "Well, as long as he keeps his word not to turn us in he can stay. His skills will be more useful as time goes on, rather than right away. I hope he can shoot straight".

"While this lot learn to ask who's got the food and where the toilet is" Talannah reminded him "we'd better get the ship moving towards your Erp". "Right enough, dear" Harrigan replied "And it's 'Earth', my love, E-A-R-T- H". Fifteen momens later, they arrived back at the bridge after a leisurely walk. Talannah immediately headed towards the nav desk while Harrigan assumed his seat at the helm again. "It's the third planet out from the sun that we need, Tal" Harrigan told her. "That's the next one in from us" Talannah revealed "Crichton aimed that wormhole well". Harigan laughed a little, then added "I don't think he wanted a bunch of Scarrans just charging straight on in. By putting us this far out, he gave us time to collect our thoughts and decide on the best insertion method".

"If you want a straight-line course, this is it" Talannah said, putting the course plot on the main screen and entering it into the autopilot. "May as well" Harrigan replied "It probably won't take long for someone to find the wormhole. So the sooner we turn up, the better". He then pressed the button for voice command for the computer, then said "Lock that course in. All ahead two-thirds. Slow us down to one-eighth once we detect the international space station. Get the DRDs to prep a stealth capsule for scouting".

Talannah got on the comm back to Keyah. "How are the language clasees coming on?" she asked, in English. "Very well" Keyah replied, surprised "They can now ask for beer, spirits, food, and the location of the toilet. The usual 'How are you?' kind of thing as well. I've also taught them a few phrases like 'Put the weapon down, now' too". "Who's doing the best?" Harrigan probed. "That new one, Trannak, and Koronna" Keyah replied "I'm not sure I like him much. He seems a little too smooth, especially for a Scarran. But he's as good with languages as I can expect a non-Kalish to be. Shor and Ryalla are doing well. They've asked how to tell people they're in love and a bunch of relationship stuff as well. Shall I tell them those things?"

"Better had" Harrigan decided "They'll be our first choice if we need to send anyone out to do anything special. We can't have them blowing their cover because they don't know how to say they're inseparably in love, can we?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Captain Kran's not doing too badly" Keyah continued "But his wife and children are all doing better than him. Urana, the older daughter, is the best of that family – though Karroch is catching up fast. Koronna is probably doing the best of anyone after Trannak. Probably her Deadhead background showing through".

"We've got two or three arns until we need to make a move" Harrigan told her "Stuff them full of as much as they can take. Send the best student with experience piloting stealth capsules in an arn and a half. Harrigan out". Harrigan stepped out from behind the helm desk and collapsed on to the Captain's chair. Talannah joined him and wrapped her arms around him before leaning on his shoulder and joining him in sleep.

Keyah turned back to her students. "Well, there's a little incentive for some of you" she explained "Harrigan said that the best student with experince in stealth capsules gets to fly a mission later. So we'd better get down to it..."

Over on the international space station, a junior astronomer was scratching her head at what the phenomena on her scope could be. "Sir?" she called to her boss, one of the American personnel aboard the station. "Yes?" he replied. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to her display. The ex-Air Force Colonel took one look and his mind flashed back several months to when John Crichton had arrived. A similar event had occurred then as well...

"Put me through to Jack Crichton at IASA!" he ordered the nearest commtech. Fifteen minutes later, the call was finally put through. "Yes, Colonel?" came the faint but clear reply "What do you have?". "Sir, we have a probable wormhole on our scopes. It's on the edge of our range, but it looks to be fairly close to Phobos" the Colonel replied, mentioning the closest of Mars' moons to the wormhole. "Has anything come out yet?" Jack asked "Any spacecraft of any kind?" "Too soon to tell, sir" the Colonel said "We won't see anything until any approaching ship's right on top of us. The early-warning radar that we were promised hasn't been fitted yet – and still wouldn't see anything until it's about two hundred miles out in any case. The initiative will be with them – if anyone's there at all". "Notify me the moment you see anything, Colonel!" Jack replied anxiously, before cutting the call.

On the Cry Havoc, everyone was continuing with their languages studies. "Koronna, that's just fine" Keyah complimented her "You too, Shor and Ryalla. Captain Kran – it's 'ice-cream' - not 'I-squeem'. A notable difference in the confectionery department. Try again. Karroch, Urana, Leasa – you three do so as well. Moratha seems to be catching on, Captain, surely you can do as well as your wife?" A short "Grrr..." was Kran's reply before he returned to his studies.

A computer alarm woke Harrigan and Talannah from their rest. "Sir, I have a space station is geostationary orbit around our target planet" the computer stated, bringing a picture up on the viewscreen. "I never saw it myself before I left" Harrigan replied, looking at the screen "but that's it, all right. Tal, that's the international space station!"

Talannah took a good look at it, smiling at Harrigan's eagerness. "Considering that your planet hasn't sent a manned vessel beyond your own moon yet," she mused "it doesn't look too bad. A scientific station? I see several telescopes and communications antennae". "Mostly, yeah" Harrigan replied "Testing out things for new medicines, scientific advances, maybe manufacturing processes and other stuff later. Only since Crichton arrived would they have begun watching seriously for spacecraft. SETI – that's the 'search for extraterrestrial intelligence' program, Tal – was previously thought of a bunch of kooks. They've probably spent every minute since Crichton was here last yelling 'I told you so' at the tops of their voices. I'm still going to hit any of them if they find out where we are and start bugging us".

Harrigan contacted Keyah again. "We've got the space station at extreme sensor range" he explained "I'm going to send out a stealth capsule to see what they're saying. Who do you think will be best for the job?" Keyah pondered this for a few microts before replying. "Since I don't know much about our latest arrival, I'd say either Tovak – he's better with the systems on that craft, or Koronna. She's not quite so good on systems, but better on understanding the language". "Talannah, what do you think?" Harrigan asked. "Koronna" she decided resolutely "We can afford a little extra time for her to figure out the buttons. But we can't afford any mistakes in translation. Get here some field rations, and water, and send her along to the flight deck, now".

"You hear that, Keyah?" Harrigan asked. "Yes, Commander" came the reply "I'll get on it right away". While Harrrigan leant back with Talannah, just enjoying her close company, Keyah went into action. "Koronna?" she called out. "Yes?" the female Scarran replied, slightly surprised. "You've got a mission" Keyah explained "By order of War Commander Harrigan, you are to report to the flight deck, take out a stealth capsule, and reconnoitre the space station. Grab some field rations and water and get to it – you'll be out for a while". A few disappointed grumbles came from the others, who'd hoped for a mission first, but Keyah called them back to order with "Did I say that class was over? No, I didn't. So let's get back to lessons..."

Koronna ran full-pelt down to the nearest flight deck, blood singing. Oh yes! she sang to herself, smiling, as she bolted down the corridor, rations in hand. Back in the field at last! Though she almost slipped making a fast turn onto the flight deck itself, she righted herself soon and scanned the huge flight deck for stealth capsules. Hmm... she thought. If I follow Scarran standards, they should be... Yes! There they are! Koronna popped the canopy, stuffed her ration bag at the foot of her ejection seat, strapped in and locked the canopy down.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- First order of business – contact the Commander! "War Commander, I'm just about to preflight this capsule. Do I have clearance to take off? Any special orders, sir?" she called on the capsule's short-range comm.

Harrigan ran over to the comm desk and picked up the call. "Yes, Koronna. Take off when you're ready" Harrigan replied "As for orders – get as close as you can without being detected, then listen in on everything you can. Pipe it back to us here - I'll get Talannah to reroute it to the galley speakers so we can eat and listen to it at the same time". "Copy that" Koronna replied, running through the brief pre-start flight checklist. "Be careful out there" Harrigan warned her finally, before cutting the call.

Koronna smiled again in her capsule at that last remark. No Scarran would have said that! "Power on...engine online...all sensors in the green" she muttered to herself as she pressed various buttons, before easing the capsule off the deck and heading for the bay doors. These opened as she approached, and the capsule shot out into Earth space. Talannah punched a few buttons on the comm desk to reroute Koronna's transmissions to both hers and Harrigan's personal comms, then urged him back to the galley. "It's more comfortable, you can check on everyone's language skills as they progress..." Talannah told him "...and of course, there may be some Kruldan Scorcher left if Captain Kran hasn't eaten it all".

"Let's just take it slow, enjoy the scenery" said Harrigan. "This is a Scarran-made ship. 'Scenery' was not a factor in its design" Talannah replied archly. Harrigan looked over at his future wife, just enjoying the view, before replying softly with "Scenery looks just fine from here, love" and wrapping both arms around her, holding her tight. "From here too, John. From here too" Talannah replied, leaning gratefully against him for a few momens. "Let's go" she said finally, before the pair of them walked off back to the galley, arm in arm.

Koronna took the stealth capsule as fast as it could go. Her eyes constantly flicked between the nav sensors and the threat receiver – stealth capsules were low-observable but not perfect, she knew. When the shape of the space station's various sections became clear, she started flicking various toggles and pressing buttons with her left hand, to align the surveillance suite with the space station; while her right hand locked the autopilot into station-keeping mode. Last of all, she placed a laser- link call back to the Cry Havoc.

Talannah and Harrigan were sitting by the galley counter, sipping tea, while listening to Keyah try and teach the others English. Talannah pointed out how Shor and Ryalla were leaning up against each other while doing their lessons, whispering "I'm sure they learned that by watching us". Harrigan just used that as an excuse to kiss her again – long, slow, and gentle; taking their own sweet time about it, deepening the kiss as Talannah's arms wrapped around his waist seemingly of their own volition and held him as tightly as she could.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- A chime from Harrigan's comm caused them to break slightly apart. "Yes?" Harrigan replied, one arm still around his beloved. "Koronna here" she reported from her stealth capsule "I'm on a laser link, sir, so they can't tap in. I'm currently holding position at a little over three kilometras from the station. The area in front of me seems to be a dining room. Basic scuttlebut so far – nothing important. The section above houses the command area. Do you want me to try and hack in?" "Better not" Talannah ordered cautiously, over her own comm "You'd need to attach a probe to the station's surface – and interference with their secure network will be noticed eventually. Just regular A/V for now, plus whatever comm traffic you can intercept".

That gave Koronna an idea. Tapping away, she brought up a new sensor feed, sending it back to the Cry Havoc. "Composite A/V coming to you, sir" she explained "Just in case you want to know what's happening in their Command facility". Harrigan flicked his comm to a direct link with the ship's computer, telling it to send the feed straight to the galley wall screens for everyone to see.

The rest of the group turned towards the screens as soon as they came on. "That'll be enough, I think, Keyah" Harrigan told her "You've done very well. Get yourself some food or drink if you need it. Relax a little". "Some tea would be good, I think" came the reply "But I won't need to eat for several more days yet". "In sharp contrast to my John" Talannah said, grinning "who seems to eat all the time".

"Sir!" interrupted Koronna from her capsule "Comm intercept shows they're getting a bit uptight. Station commander's getting people directing every scope they have towards the wormhole. Not a real problem. But he's also got people checking near-space with 'binoculars' – are these like our ocular headsets? – probably for spacecraft. Orders?"

Harrigan took a quick poll of those present. "We're going to have to give it a bit more speed. We need to be able to bring the Cry Havoc's jamming systems to bear if necessary – the station may be able to burn through the ones on the stealth capsule. Just in case, though... Hellbolt, Tovak – start checking out some of the Strykers, find us one or two ready to go at a microt's notice. Everyone else – with me, to the bridge. Fun's over". Hellbolt and Tovak took a turn down a corridor and headed for the flight deck. The rest of the group ran for the bridge – with Harrigan yelling "Hup! Hup! Hup!" the whole time, interrupted by scathing Scarran remarks from Captain Kran. Keyah took to the ceiling, and scuttled along over their heads. Ten minutes, only slightly out of breath, they clambered out of the bridge lifts.

Keyah dropped off the ceiling and headed over to the comm desk. Trannak headed over to engineering. Since Hellbolt was busy elsewhere, Captain Kran took gunnery. Talannah sat next to Harrrigan at the nav station. Nrakal had at last emerged from examining and setting up the sick bay the way he liked it, and wandered amongst the others, asking how they were and if they needed any help.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Trannak, we ready to move?" Harrigan barked. "Yes, sir" he responded "All engines are well within safe tolerances. Environmentals likewise – and likely to remain so even if we have ten times our current crew or more. Power and sanitation in full working order – the Captain can count on full power for the guns".

"We won't need that" Harrigan told him. He tuned the control stick gently with his right hand, banking the ship towards the space station, and bringing the speed up to about hetch 6. A mild thrum went throughout the ship as the engines sped up, moving them rapidly towards the space station. "Talannah, love, get some feelers out" Harrigan asked her "I want to know if there's any ships docked at the space station. Gimme pics if there are. Koronna?" he called, flicking the comm on "Get the location of the Canaveral launch site, and perch yourself at low orbit over it. Scan the following frequency ranges – they're Captain Lazarus' squad battlenet, so they may be scrambled – and send anything you find back to Keyah on the comm desk". "Yes, sir" Koronna replied, and hacked into the station's main computer network to find what she needed. Though she managed to find what she was after, her other sensors detected an alarm going off. Cross- checking revealed they had detected her hacking their system.

"I've got what I needed, sir" Koronna reported, adding with minor alarm "But some eagle-eyed tech must have found me digging away and sounded an alarm. They're going for their comm systems. I can't jam all of them". "Don't worry about it" Harrigan soothed "In a few microts, the Cry Havoc will saturate their systems and shut the whole system down. Not a single call gets off that station without my approval".

Five momens later, Harrigan pointed over at their recon specialist at the EW desk. Powerful jamming systems came online for the first time, blanketing the whole space station in static and causing comm operators to throw their headphones away to save their ears. "There appears to be a small spacecraft docked at the lower hub" Talannah reported, and brought up a picture. "Zoom in a little, please" Harrigan asked, looking closely at the image. "Stop" he said, once Talannah had magnified the image a bit. "It's a Russian Soyuz. Probably from their Mir station. Any signs of electrical activity on board, or heat signatures?" Harrigan needed to know if the crew was on board and preparing to leave.

"Some electircal activity, probably life-support computers" Talannah told him. "No people on bo- wait! Three coming in!" "Confirmed" reported Koronna "Their navicomp says they're heading down to Canaveral. Sir – I'm getting something on those frequencies you gave me, but can't decrypt it here. Sending it back to you". Keyah nodded, turning dials and tapping away at her panels with increasing speed.

A broken, hissing transmission came over the speakers. "Decrypt!" Harrigan barked. The Earth scrambler was no match for the advanced computers on the Cry Havoc – within fifty microts, Keyah had a relatively clear tranmission coming in. This included a visual component – which surprised Harrigan. "They must have got some new toys since I left" he murmured "Couldn't do visuals then".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "...ssssshhh...To...merica.....rces...re under....tack. Reque....ssssh....extrac..." went the transmission. "Lock that frequency in and CLEAN IT UP!" Harrigan barked "That voice sounds familiar".

Keyah frowned, deep in concentration, trying everything she knew to try and clear up the signal. It worked partially – the transmission was clearer, but not perfect. "Best I can do sir" Keyah apologised "I'm no EW tech – and Tovak's on the flight deck". "You did well enough, Keyah" Harrigan said absently, his mind on the transmission.

"ssshhhh....." it went, before someone on the other end cleared it up some more. A broken but understandable transmission came through. "...Any American forces!" it yelled frantically, over the sound of gunfire "We are under heavy fire from dee-perk troops! (Author's note : Dee-perk = DPRK, or Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The communist North Korea). We need reinforcements, or extraction!" A new voice came on the line. "Negative on your request for extraction, Captain" it said "That's outside the mission profile for another eight hours". "WE'LL BE DEAD IN EIGHT HOURS, YOU POMPOUS KNUCKLEHEAD!" the first voice screamed "Get a Blackhawk up, and get us back on the carrier! Lazarus out".

"That's my old Captain!" yelled Harrigan, enraged at the lack of help for his ex-CO. He strode over to the command chair and hooked into the ship's PA. "Now hear this!" he boomed "Cry Havoc goes to General Alert Level 2 as of now! An ally is under attack. All personnel report to the flight deck armoury. Tovak, Hellbolt – get two Strykers ready for IMMEDIATE sortie!"

"Blow subtlety!" Harrigan fumed "Captain Lazarus is being hung out to dry down there by his superiors! Well, we'll help even if they won't! Lock down all stations and get to the flight deck armoury. Move it, people! The clock is ticking!" The bridge emptied fast. Everyone there, including Nrakal, bolted for the transit car. Three momens later, they leapt out onto the flight deck. "Koronna!" Harrigan called over the comm "Get back in here, and get armed. We're going to war!" "On the way!" she called, pulling a tight turn and heading back to the Cry Havoc at full power.

On the station, one of the sensor technicians caught the heat bloom from the stealth capsule's engines. "Sir!" he called "Heat trace! Powerful engines, most likely. Something's out there!" The watch officer asked "Can we get a call through to Canaveral?" "Through this heavy jamming?": the tech asked incredulously "Hell, no!"

"Cut the jamming" Harrigan ordered the computer over a voice link. "There's no need for it now. We have more important things to deal with". A metallic "Done" and the jamming went off. They strode over to one large room, opened the door and went in. Harrigan immediately loaded up on Viper ammo, and started throwing more to Talannah. "We have plasma rifles here, sir" Kran said, holding one up.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Everyone – one plasma rifle, one Viper, and as much ammo as you can carry!" Harrigan ordered. Hellbolt looked at the plasma rifle, his face crinkling up as he did so. "That's going to slow me down, sir" Hellbolt griped "Far too heavy, far too bulky". "You'll have to get used to it soon, but I'll let you off this time" Harrigan told him "But you're going to bin those pulse pistols and take Vipers instead. That's an order". Hellbolt picked up a Viper, testing the weight and feel, before nodding to himself and strapping two leg holsters on where his pulse pistols once were. Then he grabbed ten tarvek grenades and walked back out. Keyah swapped her slugpistol for a Viper as well, strapped on some light armour, and grabbed some lockpicks and electronics toolkit.

All the Scarrans grabbed a plasma cannon and as much ammo for that and their Vipers as they could stuff in their webgear. Koronna also took a whole bunch of specialised demo charges, detonators, and a cutting torch. Ryalla even persuaded Shor to get a plasma rifle for himself. "The new his and hers fashion this season" he remarked, tightening his armour straps. "Big guns, thick armour, and the stench of explosives. Oh well, here we go..." Ryalla gave him a short kiss after loading up herself, saying "Here's the chance to put all that training you said you had to the test for real, Shor. Don't let me down".

Tovak was last to get his gear. "We've got two Strykers ready to fly" he reported "These are mint. I powered them up, ran preflight checks – no problems. We'll have to get the DRDs to go over the others later". "One problem at a time" Harrigan replied. He mulled over an interesting possibility in his mind – then bolted for the Harbringer. Three momens later, he emerged carrying a very large scoped slug-rifle. "Heavy sniper rifle" he told the mystified Scarrans "Never know when that kind of thing may come in useful".

Harrigan mulled over how they would go down. Then he told Talannah, who nodded. "Right, boarding is as follows. Stryker 1 will be piloted by Shor, with Hellbolt as copilot. On board will be Ryalla, Tovak, the recon guy – whatever your name is, and Nrakal". Shor just stood there, bug-eyed with surprise. "Me?!" he said. "I've never seen the inside of a Stryker before!" "If you can fly an Intruder, you can fly a Stryker" Ryalla told him "It's not too hard to pick up". Then she gave him another kiss, winding her hands around his neck and pulling him in close for several microts before releasing him. "I think you can do it. Now all you have to do is prove it to everyone else".

"Stryker 2 will be piloted by myself, with Talannah as copilot. On board will be Keyah, Captain Kran, Trannak, and Koronna. Captain, where's Karroch disappeared off to?" Captain Kran got on the comm to his quarters, telling his son in no uncertain terms to get up to the flight deck or suffer the consequences. When the younger Scarran arrived, Harrigan said "Get a plasma rifle, Viper, ammo, and armour. Then get over to Stryker 1". "Don't you think we should give Karroch an easier test?" asked Nrakal. "No" replied Harrigan and Kran together. Then Harrigan continued alone "Throw them in the river and see if they can swim. What other way is there? Besides, I'm not hauling dead weight around here. Captain, your wife and daughters can get the sick bay ready for Nrakal when we get back".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Moratha nodded before her husband could tell her himself. She hugged him goodbye, whispering "Stay safe", before leading Urana and Leasa off to the sick bay. Karroch came out of the armoury all kitted up and walked over to his father. "You can do it" Kran told him "Other members of the Hand, as well as myself, have taught you everything you need to know. Now get over to your Stryker".

"Move out! We've got friends in trouble down there!" Harrigan urged his people. The various members of the team ran to their assigned craft, with Hellbolt being over heard to say "Don't worry about, Shor. I'll watch you – but all the work will be yours" as the two of them ran up to the bridge of their Stryker. Harrigan opened the door to the bridge of their Stryker and strapped in to the pilot's chair. Talannah strapped herself in the copilot's chair beside him and opening a call to Shor on the other ship.

"You've got a tailgunner's turret in there as well" she explained "Get Ryalla in there to cover your back. There may be fighters launched against us". A faint "Ryalla? Tail gun, dear!" was heard over the comm as Shor yelled over his shoulder to her. Once she reported in, Shor got back on the comm, saying "All set here, sir. Waiting for your lead".

Talannah opened the bay doors as Harrigan fed in power to the Stryker's four engines. "Whooo...." Harrigan remarked "These things accelerate quick...", before shooting out into space as soon as there was enough clearance. Shor followed shortly after, with Hellbolt coaching him on the peculiarities of spaceflight. "Follow me in!" Harrigan told Shor, as he swung towards Earth and went to half speed. Shor immdiately matched this, and moved up on Harrigan's right wingtip.

On the International Space Station, the IASA representative was on the comm to his superiors groundside now that the jamming had been lifted. A tech, scared out of his wits, ran in and stuttered and stubled through the revelation that a ship as big as a city had just been spotted on their telescopes and had launched two smaller craft towards Earth at extremely high speed. "Damn!" came the shout from Canaveral "Damn, damn, damn! The only thing up there is that Soyuz the Russians sent up, it won't get within spitting distance of the intruders! Track them, listen in on them if you can, and send the results down to me in real time. I'll have to get Jack Crichton in on this now – he's in charge of this now we have a hard contact. Whatever you do, don't act in any way that can be interpreted as hostile". "Roger that" he replied, cutting the call, and giving the necessary orders.

"Tal, see if you can reacquire the transmission" Harrigan asked quietly, concentrating on the flying "Grab the decryption algorithm from the Cry Havoc and get me clear voice and visual". A soft squeeze of his left hand, and Talannah was on the case. After barely a microt getting the download from the Cry Havoc, she dredged up some of her old Deadhead training again and soon had a clear transmission, which she piped over to Shor's craft as well.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "...merican forces?!" came the panicked and angry voice "If we don't get reinforced or extracted, there'll be nine US corpses within half an hour!"

Talannah saw the look on Harrigan's face and opened a channel. "Captain Lazarus?!" Harrigan barked "Captain Lazarus? Are you there?" "Who's this?" Captain Lazarus asked, mystified. "It's me sir! Harrigan!" Harrigan replied, happy to hear his old CO alive "I'm back! We're inbound to your position right now. Where are you?" "Just outside Yongbyon nuclear researh facility getting our asses kicked!" came the heated reply, followed by a fast "Troll! Keep your head down!" "As you can tell, we've got half the NK army coming to say hello. Just infantry so far, but they may whistle up a chopper or two" Lazarus said. "ETA?" Harrigan asked Talannah frantically. A few tap-taps on the navicomp gave them an answer. "Ten momens if we go flat out" she said in return. "Twelve minutes, Captain Lazarus, until we get to you. Can you hold out that long?" Harrigan asked. "Barely" Lazarus' strained reply came back "We're running low on ammo, and we'll be chopped liver if a gunship turns up".

"We're coming in hot" Harrigan told him, glad to have some good news "I've brought some friends with me – all ready to fight. Need some help?"

On the carrier USS Carl Vinson, the duty Lieutenant was ranting at the radio operator over why their scrambled comms were penetrated. "What's going on?" asked the Captain, as he walked on to the bridge. "Captain Lazarus' unit is getting chewed to hamburger" the Lieutenant told him "I was just about to ask you for clearance to launch a Blackhawk to go get them – despite our good Major here saying it's against orders...". The Lieutenant pointed at the offending officer to show who he was referring to, and went on "...when two unidentifed aircraft dropped out of nowhere, going at least Mach 2.5, and headed straight for Chongjin naval base. They sure as hell aren't Russian, or Chinese, and definitely not ours. The Japs are probably throwing fits over these things overflyng their airspace without permission. It'll be us who get blamed, though".

"You've got troops on board?" Captain Lazarus replied incredulously "Get them down here now! I hope you've got a medic or two – I've got wounded here..." "Yes, Captain – there's a surgeon in my wingman's craft" Harrigan told him "I'm bringing in eight troops – plus me, of course. All spec-ops people. Not quite what you're used to..." "They could be short, fat, one- legged dwarves and I wouldn't care as long they can shoot straight!" Captain Lazarus shouted back.

Harrigan waved out the window to Hellbolt, then gave him the signal for 'Follow my lead'. As soon as Hellbolt nodded, Harrigan slammed the throttles forward, streaking through the atmosphere and skimming Chongjin naval base within minutes. Shor followed a hundred metras or so behind, with Hellbolt encouraging him every step of the way – and standing ready to assume control if necessary. Shor's flying was a little unsteady, but good enough – although Karroch probably won't forget the flight in a hurry.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "I've picked the speed up – we should be at your location within five minutes" Harrigan told Captain Lazarus "I'll get your wounded back up to my ship, then we'll see what we can do about your mission".

"Heads up, people!" Captain Lazarus yelled to his remaining troops "We've got reinforcements, and a medevac, coming in FIVE MINUTES! Redistribute the ammo, and hang tight!" "So the carrier guys got off their sorry butts and launched a helo for us after all" drawled the sole woman in the squad, the radio operator, who the others all called GI Jane. "Not a chance" Lazarus told him, after pausing to fire at another North Korean infantryman "Our old L-T, Harrigan, has displayed his talent for turning up just when he's needed. He says he's got troops with him, and a surgeon. Says he's coming in from a ship – I thought the Carl Vinson was the only carrier around here... never mind, just be ready to move when he turns up".

"We can't contact them, sir" the Carl Vinson's radio operator told the Captain "They won't acknowledge our transmissions. But their leader identified himself as 'Harrigan' – who's he? One of ours?" "He's one of his own" the Major interrupted acidly "He assaulted my CO a little over a year ago and hasn't been seen since. Captain Shulton of the Air Force OSI was investigating his actions and got his legs blown off. The man's a dangerous renegade". Several thought floated throught the radio operator's mind as to which parts of the Major's body he'd like to put a bullet or two through, but gave a noncommittal "As you say, sir".

GI Jane was the first to hear the whine of the approaching Strykers. "INCOMING!!" she yelled, and not a moment too soon. Both sides stared awestruck as the two Strykers touched down and disgorged their troops – this lasted as long as as it took Harigan to raise his Steyr and drill a third eyeball through the nearest NK officer, which drove them off for the moment. "Suck on that and whistle Dixie - comrade!" muttered Harrigan, before running over to Captain Lazarus and enveloping him in a crushing bear hug. "Let me go, you lunatic!" Captain Lazarus yelled, once he was able to breathe again. Then he looked up at Harrigan – and up, and up...

"What on Earth has happened to you?" he asked, surprised. "There'll be enough time for catching up later" interrupted Keyah, walking up to the pair of them "We can give basic first aid here – but it's imperative we get these men back to the Cry Havoc's sick bay now". "Don't just stand there then, Keyah!" Harigan told her "Get the wounded stable enough to fly, then get Hellbolt to take them back up top. We won't get Ryalla off that Stryker unless Shor's there as well, so Hellbolt will have to do this on his own". A nod, and Keyah returned to where Nrakal, Tovak, Shor, Ryalla, and the recon specialist were all frantically applying bandages, plasters, and other first aid and ferrying the injured inside the Stryker.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Captain Lazarus got another shock when Captain Kran came up to give a status report. "Shor did fairly well for his first combat flight. Still needs a lot of training – but he's got the talent for it. Hellbolt's ready to go" Kran reported. "Send him off, then" Harrigan replied "Some of those wounded need immediate surgery". Kran waved a signal at the Stryker's bridge window – which resulted in Hellbolt making a sedate lift off, then turning around and heading offshore before heading for orbit and the Cry Havoc.

"Who is that?" asked Captain Lazarus, following this with a "What is that? Doesn't look American. Doesn't look human, come to that...". "Captain Lazarus, this is Captain Kran. Though he doesn't know much English, he can understand every word you say. He's my infantry training officer. As for his appearance – he doesn't look human, Captain, for one very good reason. He isn't. None of my guys are. We have one Kalish...", Keyah waved, "...one Sebacean...", another wave from Shor, "...one Nebari - he's the one flying the wounded out of here...and, of course..." Harrigan paused for dramatic recall (and to catch his breath) before continuing "...eight Scarrans. They're not easy to miss. Huge guys with huge guns and bluish-purple scaly skin. Apart from Keyah, we've got two women with us down here, and three more on our ship".

"We've got one with us" explained Captain Lazarus "but I didn't think you liked the idea of fighting alongside female soldiers". Harrigan grinned, saying "I was sceptical at first, that's true. But then I met Talannah and that soon changed. Changed a lot of things. Tal, my love" Harrigan called softly "Come and meet the Captain. The rest of you as well".

"This vision of Scarran beauty is Talannah, the love of my life" Harrigan said proudly, taking her hand and pulling her close "She trained as a covert-action commando. She can do all sorts of useful things. Can't you, dear?" Harrigan said, teasingly. Talannah gave him a short kiss, then said in passable English "While we are here, Harrigan and I will marry" before leaning into his comforting embrace.

Several thoughts were fighting for supremacy in Captain Lazarus' head right then, but he finally said "Pleasantries later. Mission first", then turning to his remaining troops and hissing "Get over here you lot!" Troll backed towards them, his G8 up and ready, scanning for enemies. GI Jane slung her M4 and jogged back to her Captain, and a mound of grass moved slightly and turned out to be a sniper in a ghillie suit. When he slunk up beside his squadmates, Harrigan told him "You gave my guys a bit of a surprise, there. None of them have seen ghillie suits before". He smiled slightly in return,saying "I'm Ghost" before pulling back the headpiece on his suit and slinging his rifle. Then he noticed that Harrigan carried the same weapon as him. "Sniper as well, are you?" he said, with professional interest.

"Secondary speciality only" Harrigan laughed "But the Scarrans are better with big guns than I am, so I've decided to branch out a bit".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Stow the gossip, Ghost!" Captain Lazarus ordered "We've still got a mission to complete! Harrigan, over here". Harrigan wandered over to where Lazarus was spreading out a field map. Talannah and Keyah followed him over, while the rest of the Irregulars clustered around the Stryker's landing gear.

"Just over there" Lazarus briefed, pointing to a point on the map about half a mile away "Is the perimeter of Yongbyon nuclear research facility. Intel said they just had a few infantry – no choppers or armour. Well, if we get out of this alive I'm going to have a few sharp words with those stuffed-shirts in their nice, warm offices – that intel was complete ratshit. There's a full garrison there now – best bet's a company of infantry and a BMP or two. We got in far enough last time to see the nose of a chopper before they drove us off, killing everyone except the two your man took to your doctor – and us here. There's a runway out there too – it'll probably take medium transports, so that's probably IL-76s here. That thing over there came down vertically – if need be, we can exfiltrate from there".

Harrigan shook his head. "Not unless the defences are down" he said firmly "The commies aren't getting their hands on my Stryker. We have to destroy any SAM sites here, or at least disable them, before the Stryker can come and get us out. Heavier AAA as well". "Hmph" Lazarus muttered "OK, we'll do it the hard way then..." and was just about to start again when Keyah slipped under Harrigan's left arm and pointed out two marks on the Captain's map. "What are these?" she asked in faultless English. "Guard towers" GI Jane replied for her Captain, tapping the relevant places on the map "There's those two by the main gate, but there are others at intervals along the fenceline as well".

Keyah looked at where the locations of the known guard towers were. If the two at the main gate were disabled, she mused to herself, or this one on the left corner, or that one on the opposite side, we could get inside without raisng the alarm... She turned to Harrigan with a wide grin on her face just as he was doing the same towards her. The two of them burst out laughing, before Keyah quietened down and pointed to two locations. "Here or here" she said, pointing out two of the corner guard towers with the blade of one of her daggers "Either of those go down, we can cut ourselves a hole and slip in". "But there's twelve feet of barbed-wire fence there, woman!" Captain Lazarus replied heatedly "If those guards see or hear you going over the top, you're dead".

"Well, Captain Lazarus, old mate..." Harrigan said, placing one huge hand on his shoulders as the group snuck up to the fence "We'll just have to pull something out of our bag of tricks for you, then. Keyah, ready to go airborne?" She nodded, securing her daggers and Viper. "What are you going to do, throw her over the fence?" Troll asked sarcastically. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do" Harrigan told him "Watch and learn". Then Harrigan began swinging his arms around in circles, loosening up. "Pre-launch checks done" said Harrigan "Load me up". Keyah stepped in closer, and Harrigan lifted her off the ground by her belt, testing her weight. "Hmmm...just right..." he pondered, before saying "3...2...1...Launch!" and hurling Keyah full-force over the fence with three feet to spare.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- While Troll, GI Jane, Ghost, and Captain Lazarus stood stunned at the staggering display of strength, Harrigan gave a few more orders to his people. "Sorry, Shor - but we need someone to stay with the Stryker. You're it. You've had the least combat experience, and you can fly quite well" Harrigan told him. When he saw Shor's expression, he added "Don't look so bad – I'll leave Ryalla here as well. Just make sure you can get airborne to help us out at a microt's notice". Ryalla wasn't too pleased at being left out either, but put her right arm around Shor and said "So, it's not all bad, is it?" Shor wrapped his own left arm around Ryalla's waist, leading her back to the Stryker, saying ardently "I'd NEVER say that about you, Ry my love...never at all...". A short laugh and a squeeze was Shor's reward before the couple disappeared inside the Stryker and locked the craft down.

Keyah somersaulted forward as she came down, for a perfect two-foot landing no more than ten feet from the base of the tower. She immediately drew both daggers and ran at full speed for the nearest tower leg. Up! – one small foot planted up at waist height; then she shifted her gravity centre, put her other foot down on the wood behind her, leaned 'forward' and semi- crawled, semi-run up the fairly rickety tower leg.

One North Korean sentry lit up a cigarette, sitting back against the wood wall of the tower. Though rations were thinner on the ground than he'd like, the tower had a heater, he didn't have to march up and down on patrol and they could have lively discussions in the tower with the other tower crew. Not a bad post at all!

His happiness lasted as long as it took for Keyah to vault the low wall and sink her right dagger up to the hilt into his heart and out through his chest. As he stood choking and gagging, Keyah twisted the dagger and slashed the blade out through the spine and the kidneys. The savaged mess of the NK private floppped on the floor, while Keyah's left dagger flicked out the other way – stabbing up through another private's chin and nailing his head to the roof pylon. The corporal in command tried reaching for the field telephone; but before he could lift the handset up, Keyah grabbed his head in both hands and twisted sideways. A solid SNAP! as the corporal's vertebrae gave way, then Keyah dropped the corpse to the floor and it was all over in the space of less than ten seconds. Keyah leaned over the side and waved down to Harrigan, before retrieving both her daggers and wiping them clean on the dead corporal's uniform. After rescabbarding them, she walked back down the leg of the tower to the fence at a much more sedate pace.

"Three sentries" Keyah reported to Harrigan "All dead without the alarm being raised. Once you lot cut your way in, we can do whatever your ex-CO came here for". Lazarus nodded sharply to GI Jane, who drew a small pair of wire-cutters from a tool pouch on her web gear. Snip! snip! snip! snip! went her wire-cutters as she cut a hole big enough for the to get through. She had to cut a bit more than she'd thought she'd have to so that the Scarrans could get through, but two minutes later it was done.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Harrigan was first to squirm through the hole. "Very good, Keyah" Harrigan whispered happily, giving her a slight squeeze on her shoulder. Next came Talannah - then Kran, the recon specialist, Tovak, Ghost, Troll, GI Jane, Captain Lazarus, Karroch, with Trannak bring up the rear. "All in" came Trannak's whisper "Waiting on you".

"Captain Lazarus?" prompted Harrigan. Lazarus waved them over to the nearest base building, a dreary dilapidated brick building. The composite team dodged the two nearby searchlights, hitting the ground and leaning up against the wall. "Trannak, Ghost?" Harrigan hissed "Keep your eyes open. We don't need any unexpected guests". Both nodded – Ghost checking his sniper rifle, and Trannak raised his plasma rifle. Both swept their gaze across the landscape, checking for North Korean patrols, or reinforcements. "We're supposed to check to see if the NK government were complying with the agreement signed several months ago to dismantle their nuclear program." Captain Lazarus told them all "The intel we were given showed the guard towers, but not the runway and barracks around the side, or the labs we saw the edge of before the whole situation went FUBAR. Ghost thinks he saw a partially-concealed entrance to an underground bunker complex as well – but we couldn't get close enough to be sure. First stop's the radar complex next to the runway. It's linked to several probable SA-6 missile sites, and we saw a couple of Shilkas as well. We take that down, the missiles go offline – if your pilot's even half-way good he'll be able to take out the mobile triple-A before the gunners see him".

"These Shil-kas" asked Kran, fumbling the name of the vehicle slightly "Are they armoured? And how thickly?" "Captain Kran, yes?" said Troll "Yeah, they're armoured – but only two or three inches, quite light. If Ghost got round the back, that rifle might even get through the engine cover". "Oh?" Harrigan replied "I've got one of those, too. But the plasma rifles my Scarrans have will blast that kind of target to splinters. We'll do those ourselves". "Perhaps my son will be able to claim his first mechanised kill" Kran said, a grin of pride in Karroch's accomplishments lighting up his face. "Your son?" asked a very surprised GI Jane. Karroch leaned forward and introduced himself. "That's me" Karroch said proudly "I am Captain Kran's oldest child. My two sisters are back in our ship with our doctor, fixing up your wounded comrades. This is my first real mission".

Keyah raised one hand, fast. "What's up?" asked Captain Lazarus. "Patrol" replied Keyah flatly "I can see four soldiers, with rifles. One has some kind of tube launcher over one shoulder". "Have they seen us?" asked Troll. Keyah spent a few seconds following the NK troops' patrol route before replying with "No. But they'll be coming within 45 metras or so, so stay alert". "How far's that?" asked Captain Lazarus, mystified. "A little more than that in metres, as John explained it to me" Talannah told him "I wouldn't risk pistols out that far; and of you humans, only the lady and Captain Lazarus have suppressed weapons. So we'd better move. Ghost, take point. Keyah, stay with him".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Type-56s and an RPG" groused Captain Lazarus "The rifles we can handle, but that RPG will be a royal pain in the ass". Talannah came up and tapped Lazarus on the shoulder, startling him. "So why not avoid the problem and move for our next objective, Captain" she asked him "We move closer to our goal, and the patrol is none the wiser than they were before".

Ghost and Keyah moved up in front, scouting out a trouble-free route. The two of them stayed low, slipping under several windows, on their way across the compound. "Captain" reported Ghost over his radio "One good thing. The searchlights are all probing outward. There looks to be the occasional patrol, but if we keep to the shadows, none of them should find us". "Copy that" replied Captain Lazarus "We're moving up behind you. Carry on".

No more than ten seconds later, Keyah called a halt. Sticking her head around the corner of what appeared to be the mess hall, she was just about to break comm silence when Harrigan crawled up to her. "Report" he ordered. "A low building, out in the open. It has a revolving dish, quite large, on top of it. There's a sandbag bunker out front with a heavy weapon in it, and two crew. We'll have about two momens to take out the gun crew and get inside between patrols". "How long since the last one?" Captain Lazarus asked. "Approximately one and a half of your minutes" Keyah replied "That's what Ghost says". "Jane!" Lazarus hissed "You and I take out the gun crew. Harrigan's guys get us in. Once they're inside, we follow. Capische?" A short nod followed as Jane lay down on the dirt and aimed her rifle at the machine-gunner; Captain Lazarus did the same with the loader.

As soon as the last roving patrol was out of earshot, Harrigan's left hand snapped down. Two 'pff-pff's of suppressed rifle fire later and the gun crew were off greet their ancestors. Harrigan was testing the door, and growled "Damn! Locked! It'll take too long to pick and Koronna's right down the back. Captain? We'll need you to blast us a way in". Captain Lazarus drew a small squeeze-tube from one of his pockets and squirted some of the contents around the edge of the door. After sticking a small electric detonator in the bottom, he grabbed the detonator, whispered "Stand clear!" and pressed the button.

The smoke had barely had time to clear when Talannah and Harrigan bounded in through the smoke. Precise bursts of Viper fire took out the two radar technicians first; by this time the officer in charge tried to reach for the alarm button just outside one window. Karroch spun round and triggered a burst of Viper fire from the underbarrel of his rifle, the flechettes walking from the officer's left hip to right shoulder and shredding every organ in his body. The corpse flopped to the floor with a wet thud.

"Very good, Karroch" praised Talannah "Perhaps you could be a little less wasteful with ammunition, but very good for a first time out. You've been taught accuracy, at least". "Tovak?" called Captain Kran. The Scarran electronics specialist stepped forward. "How do we take this thing out quick?" Kran asked. Tovak looked over the room for a minute or two, then pointed to the desk and the ceiling. "Not knowing the equipment or power arrangements, I'd say we need charges on the main dish and that console" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "So some lucky fenik's going up there on the roof to plant one of the charges" Tovak finished. "No, Keyah, not you" Harrigan told her as she was opening her mouth to volunteer "It's not too high up anyway – We just need to give someone a boost, and they're up. Plus I'll need your sharp eyes down here to watch out for enemy troops – so you, Jane, and Ghost get out there and keep your eyes peeled".

Keyah was alittle put out at not being able to demonstrate her superiority again, but knew that what Harrigan said made sense – she did have the best senses of them all, so that logically made her the best scout and sentry. She nodded to him, said "Yes, sir", grabbed the other two and slipped outside. Captain Lazarus was just preparing two half-kilo blocks of C-4 plastic explosive with detonators. "That should do it" he said finally, taping the last detonator in place "Who's going up top?"

Harrigan looked over those present in the room. All of the Scarrans could do the task easily, he knew – especially Koronna. But Ryalla has less experience with explosives than the others, and Shor none at all. "Shor, Ryalla – grab this little bundle of joy and get on the roof" Harrigan ordered them "There'll be a big radar dish. Stick this at the base of the dish itself, arm the detonator by pressing the red button, then jump off the roof and run back over to the mess hall we just came past. When Tovak's done the same in here, we'll join you". Harrigan handed Shor the charge, hissed "Move!" and sent them out of the door with a slight shove on the shoulder.

Shor locked his hands together, making a step for Ryalla to boost herself onto the roof. Ryalla placed one foot on the proffered step, then launched herself upwards, grabbing the guttering and heaving herself over it onto the roof itself. Shor almost let go, surprised at Ryalla's weight, but held firm. Ryalla reached down, grabbed his hands, and hauled him effortlessly all in one go. They saw the dish in the middle of the roof exactly as it had been described to them. Ryalla lay down on overwatch, looking out over the open area between the radar control room and the fenceline. Shor ran over and wedged the charge in between three girders and some wiring.

Just as Tovak had placed his charge, Shor spotted movement below and called Harrigan. "Guards!" he said "Some sort of wheeled scout vehicle, containing four troops and a heavy weapon. I think they've seen us. That guy on the gun is pointing this way and jabbering away about something, that's for sure". Then he turned to Ryalla and told her to get off the roof and back to the others. "Why do I have to go?" she replied crossly "You don't need to coddle me, I can take care of myself!"

This was the first time Shor had seen Ryalla angry at him, and in truth it rather scared him. Thinking fast, he explained hastily "But Harrigan and Lazarus will need best of us with him when the alarm goes up. Plus, I'm the least experinced – so I get the worst jobs. So get on down, dear. Please. For me?" The pleading tone in Shor's voice finally convinced her to move.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "We've got intruders" Ryalla called as she looked in through the front door. A loud burst of Korean shouting came their way, followed by the jeep increasing speed and heading their way. Several seconds later, Shor fired a couple of quick plasma blasts from his rifle. The first one went wide, blowing a one and a half foot crater in the dirt. The second one went straight through the driver's chest and hit the machine gun's ammo box. This blew the jeep and its occupants over several metres of gorund in tiny pieces, but shortly afterwards a low wailing sound came from the wall- mounted speakers dotted around the place.

"MOVE!" Lazarus yelled "ALL OF YOU! Straight on that way a hundred metres is the bunker entrance Ghost spotted through his scope. Let's go. NOW!" Everyone ran as fast as they could out of the doomed radar room and headed for the nearest cover, a bunch of boxes by the edge of the runway. "Shor!" Ryalla yelled "Get your butt down here! It's gonna blow!" Shor lowered himself feet first over the edge of the roof, then dropped the rest of the way. A burst of rifle fire almost took his head off, but being on an adrenaline high from blasting the jeep, he hurled himself to the ground just in time. Ryalla dragged him to his feet, and the pair of them ran to catch up with the rest of the team.

As soon as Shor and Ryalla slid down behind one of the larger boxes, Shor hissed "Hit it!". Captain Lazarus did as he was asked, which caused the charges to rip the whole room and radar dish to pieces. Chunks of brick, radar dish, and miscellaneous bits of wire and window glass scythed out over the immediate area – cutting down the patrol who had spotted them, plus two more men who came to answer their call for assistance, and started numerous small fires wherever hot debris landed. The wreck of the radar control room was a raging inferno – the airport firefighting machines, if they worked, would be needed to put out the blaze.

."Shor, hold still a microt" Ryalla told him, pulling out her medkit "You've been hit in the neck. Probably creased by that rifle fire earlier". "DON"T MOVE!" she barked as he tried to turn his head to look "The bullet just missed your jugular. Keep still and let me patch it!" "Yes, dear" Shor replied sheepishly, as Ryalla put an antiseptic pad over the wound before taping it down securely with several sticky plaster strips. "Done!" she finished, before leaning down and giving the area a light kiss. Shor turned to see a loving smile on Ryalla's face. "You placed yourself in harm's way for me" Ryalla said lovingly, her arms winding around his waist "Thank you, my..." and added a couple of words in Old Scarran which Shor's translator microbes couldn't handle. "What was that?" Shor asked. "It's not quite how John described me" Talannah replied, a smile forming slowly on her face "but it's quite close. It means something like 'sweet and wonderful lover'. But save your response for later, both of you. We've still got work to do".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Time's against us now" Captain Lazarus stated "We absolutely have to keep moving, so the NK's can't mass an overwhelming force against us. Ghost, you see it?"

Ghost was scanning the ground through his scope. As soon as he spotted a likely-looking hummock, he lowered his rifle and replied "Yes, Captain. Thirty metres further down the runway and slightly to the right. But there's no cover at all. We'll have to wait for a break, then run like hell the whole way without stopping". Harrigan tuned to Captain Kran. "Take Karroch, Tovak, Koronna and our recon guy and set up a defensive position just outside the bunker entrance" he ordered smartly "When you give the signal, the rest of us will come on in. Go!" Kran collared the nominated personnel, and ran off to the bunker at top speed. Two people in NBC suits with the helmets open, a man and a woman, stepped out to investigate what was disturbing their break and got a burst of flechettes each from Kran and Koronna for their trouble. Though the recon specialist could just see two guards on patrol inside, they hadn't caught on to the fact that hostile troops were just about to come calling – or perhaps they had, and wished they'd just go away.

Koronna turned to Harrigan and waved him on. About half way, Troll went down on one knee and swept a long burst of fire cross half a dozen NK troops who had just rounded a corner and headed straight towards them. Four were killed immediately, including their NCO – but two tried to retreat. Trannak drew his Viper and put a single round straight through each head before either of them made five paces. "Thanks..." Troll said, slightly shaken. "Not a problem" Trannak reassured him, lifting him back onto his feet "I'm much better with pistols than this ungainly lump of a gun in any case. Now let's make sure the others don't leave us behind, shall we?" Troll nodded emphatically, and the two of them ran to catch up with Harrigan and the rest of them.

While most of the group scanned the runway area for any troops or vehicles coming their way, Jane dropped to the wide concrete entrance ramp and looked over the guards. "One officer with a pistol, one probable corporal with an RPK" she reported. "That RPK'll make mincemeat of us" Captain Lazarus replied "Ideas?" A soft "Me! Me!" from Keyah drew his attention. "OK, you can have this one" Captain Lazarus told her wearily "Just do it quietly and hide the bodies where they can't be found, OK?" Keyah smiled at the Captain, before scampering up the wall and onto the ceiling.

"Bit of an eager beaver, isn't she?" Captain Lazarus asked Harrigan "Who was she before she joined up with your lot?" "I don't know" Harrigan replied "and to be frank, I don't really care. We need her skills, and she's been loyal. That's enough for me".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Keyah shut out the faint sounds of conversation from above and applied herself to the task at hand. Which one first? she pondered. The officer or the machine-gunner? There were solid tactical reasons for taking out either one first. I'll shoot the machine-gunner from behind, she decided finally – then the officer, when he turns to see where his fellow has gone. She moved quietly a bit further along the ceiling, while the two unsuspecting soldiers below turned round to make another leg of their patrol.

A second or two after they had passed Keyah's position, she aimed her Viper carefully and blew the machine-gunner's brains all over the concrete. Then she dropped to the floor and waited for the officer to notice his late comrade's absence. This took about ten seconds. The officer drew his pistol, scanning the tunnel, and calling his colleague's name. When Keyah had a clear sigh picture, he joined his corporal in death. Keyah found a cleaning cupboard just a few steps further down and hauled the bodies into it – then spent two more minutes scrubbing the blood and brains off the ramp.

"Come on in!" she called to Harrigan from down the ramp. Harrigan waved Troll out front, then followed with the Scarrans and Shor, Captain Lazarus and the rest of his people coming up the rear. "Captain?" Harrigan called "What are we looking for?" "Any evidence of a nuclear weapons program, or actual weapons. That's all our orders said to do. Then we pull out and call in the cavalry" Captain Lazarus told him "If those rat bastards back at the Pentagon had given us decent intel, we'd have been able to take the place out ourselves". Soon they caught up with Keyah, who said "There's a cargo area just ahead. A bunch of big transport crates. My skin started tingling a bit when I went near some of them, which ususally means..."

"Radiation" Talannah finished "Low-level, in any case. Keyah, you stay here. Kalish can't stand much radiation, so watch our backs. Tovak, get your scanner out and go with the Commander to check those crates out". "Aye, Sub-Commander" Tovak replied, and was just about ready to move off when Captain Lazarus joined them. "I'd better come as well. The high mucky-mucks won't take info from you, so I'll need to see what's there myself. Your lady here can watch over the rest of them until we get back".

The three of them walked warily down the wide ramp towards the cargo area, Tovak checking his scannner the whole way. "Anything?" Harrigan asked. "Low-level alpha radiation. Can't localise it from here, the shielding's still intact – so we'll have to move in". When Harrigan rounded the first pallet, he almost ran straight into a NBC-suited scientist doing the same thing as them – so he promptly grabbed the head thus presented to him in one hand and slammed it against the wall until its owner stopped struggling. "Let's open this one and see what we've got"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Harrigan ripped the sidepanel off one crate, throwing it against the wall. When Captain Lazarus peered inside, he saw several small conical objects. "Maybe eight NK-55s" he said "Thankfully still in a good state of repair. I'll have to call my superiors, we'll need a NEST team to get these little guys...". "Frell the damn NEST team!" Harrigan replied "Number one, it'll take too long to get them here from the US, by which time we'll be dead. Number two, they'll probably be bargained away in some stupid-ass realpolitik wheeler-dealing – which means either the North Koreans or the Chinese will get them. Neither one's trustworthy, and the US doesn't need any more". "So what do we do with them?" Capatain Lazarus asked "Destroy them in place?"

Tovak was getting used to some of his Commander's mannerism's by now, and recognised the signs of a 'theft and pillage' mood coming on. He just stood there grinning. Capatain Lazarus stared at the Scarran, then turned back to Harrigan, who said "I'll take them. All of them. Could very well come in useful. Oh yes indeed. Let's check the other crates as well". The next one revealed three largish objects shaped like drop tanks. The slow 'beep-beep' off Tovak's scanner revealed the lie and told Captain Lazarus what they really were. "Chinese Yi-241's. Old model nukes designed to look like drop tanks. 600 kiloton yield". "Shall we take these as well, sir?" asked Tovak. "Absolutely, Tovak. Every last warhead we find" Harrigan replied, rubbing his hands together with glee. Four more crates revealed NK-55s, and the last two crates were especially large. "Crack 'em, Tovak" urged Harrigan "Let's see what the latest addition to our armoury is". Tovak pulled the last two crates open and looked at what was inside. "Much bigger, sir" he reported several secinds later "Captain Lazarus, what are these?"

A minute of rummaging later, he said "I don't know the model number – but these are megaton-plus warheads off Scaleboard IRBMs" Lazarus reported bleakly "There's probably a launcher or two around somewhere. We'd better get these out of here fast. But first let's see if we can find evidence that the NK's are making their own". "Tovak, you stay here" Harrigan ordered "But first go and get Koronna down here, we may need her soon".

Five minutes later, Tovak returned with Koronna in tow. "The others haven't seen anyone close by" Tovak told Harrigan "But we're definitely getting increased patrols – so whatver we're doing, we'd better do it quick". Koronna joined Harrigan and Lazarus, and the three of them went deeper into the bowels of the installation.

Captain Lazarus stuck his head inside one door. A bunch of technicians were working on various machines – so intent on their work they didn't notice Lazarus looking in. "Warhead fabrication, I think" Lazarus stated. Koronna looked in the next one. "Looks like a centrifuge for enriching nuclear fuel" she added "So there'll probably be a reactor in here somewhere". "A breeder, one that makes more fuel than it uses" added Captain Lazarus "Either Russian or one some greedy Frog sold them illegally".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "Airlock!" Captain Lazarus exclaimed, calling a halt. "That means a clean room, or someone's just paranoid. Either way we need to get in. But the damn door's codelocked". Harrigan just waved the other two up to the door and slung his rifle. A short crackle spread over both hands before a blast of electricity leapt into the lock's electronics, completely destroying it and opening the airlock for them. They squeezed in and cycled the airlock, Koronna and Lazarus pressed up against each other as Harrigan took up the rest of the room. "A bit closer than I like to get on a first date..." Lazarus muttered, to which Koronna gave a short laugh. Then the cleansing spray covered them all for three seconds, followed by the inner door cycling open.

"GRAK TA'HAA!" Harrigan yelled "Kill them all! No prisoners!" He and Koronna mercilessly swept short burst of flechettes across every scientist present. But one managed to thump a large red button on a desk before he was silenced, activating another alarm. "Grrrr...." Harrigan growled "We've got perhaps ten, maybe fifteen minutes before they find us here. Captain, how do we make a really big bang here?" "You REALLY want to blow this reactor sky-high?" Lazarus questioned his ex-Lieutenant. Harrigan nodded. Lazarus shook his head at the gall of his old friend, but said "Shaped charges along the top of the reactor vessel. Forcing down and in. That way theis thing's blown to pieces, along with most of the base, and fallout's scattered over the whole countryside". He reached for his demo kit, and shouted "DAMN! That stuff went down with my other demo guy. We're screwed!"

"I don't think so" Koronna explained, stepping forward and pointing to her own pack "I am Commander Harrigan's demolition expert. I brought a complete assortment of demolition equipment with me. Shall we see if there's anything we can use?" "A match made in heaven!" Captain Lazarus said thankfully, then pointed to the bag. "Open up! Let's take a look!"

While Koronna and Captain Lazarus discussed equipment and methods, Harrigan looked outside. Then he called Talannah on the comm for a status report. "Nothing yet, love" she replied "But the foot patrols have dogs with them now. No telling how they'll react to the smell of a Scarran. But whether they go into a beserk rage or slink away with fear, their handlers will know someone's down here. You'd better get moving". "Koronna!" Harrigan yelled "Rig that lump and let's get out of here! The NK welcome wagon is coming!" Next comm call went to Tovak by the warhead cache. "There should be a forklift close by" Harrigan told him "Find it, and start getting those warheads out onto the edge of the runway where we can load them on the Stryker". "On it" Tovak replied "The forklift's been left on, so I don't know how much fuel's left – so I'll get on the job right away".

Finally, he got back to Talannah. "Send our best lone agent back to get the Stryker" Harrigan commanded "We've got some stuff we need to ship out, and can't do it on foot". "Let me do it, sir" Trannak cut in "I work better alone anyway, and I'm a good pilot. I've got this rifle, so none of the local forces should present any kind of problem".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- A loud CRACK! , followed soon afterwards by another, echoed over the comm. "What's happening?" Harrigan asked. "Ghost here" that individual reported "Just had to put down a dog and its handler. The enemy are showing clear and annoying interest in this area, sir". A short "I'm moving" from Trannak, accompanied by the tump-thump of armoured Scarran footsteps, marked him bolting for the hole in the fence that the group entered through.

Koronna and Captain Lazarus had just climbed on top of the reactor vessel and were busy planting Koronna's demo charges. "Eight ought to do it" Lazarus decided. Koronna pulled the required number of fat, eight-inch wide charges from her pack , slipping steel tamping cylinders over them. Then she twisted a dial and pressed it in, before passing them along to the Captain. "Set to timed proximity" Koronna told him "Once we're outside the safe zone, we've got ten Earth minutes before this base becomes a radioactive waste-hole. Since it's keyed to my armour, I have to be the last one out – so get moving, Captain" "You sure?" Lazarus asked Koronna "Can't I do it?" "You humans, so ready to throw yourselves in harm's way" Koronna laughed "No, you can't – you don't have the right homer in your armour and I didn't bring a spare".

Trannak ran across the open dirt separating the mess hall from the fence. Several times he had to dodge wandering searchlight beams from the nearby towers. "Stuff it" he decided "That one's a bit too eager". Then he fired three quick blasts from his plasma gun, each targeting a tower leg. Three variations of "Aieeeee!" from the tower guards echoed from their recently destroyed post as the legs let go under them. As soon as the tower hit the ground, Trannak drew his sword and gutted all three just to make sure they were dead, before ducking out through the hole in the fence.

Ten minutes hard running later he reached the Stryker. He was pleased to note that there were no local troops in the area, so he opened the aft entry hatch and ran in, locking it behind him. Once on the small bridge, he strapped into the pilot's chair and brought the engines online. Assured that everything was as functional as it could be, Trannak then armed the front guns and lifted off. The Stryker's sensors immediately registered three armoured vehicles making their way slowly towards the runway. "I'm airborne and on the way in" Trannak reported to Harrigan "But there are three armoured vehicles coming towards you. I can deal with two, but the other one's coming from too far away – you'll have to deal with it youselves".

Trannak guided the Stryker over the base. As soon as he saw the two armoured vehicles, two Shilkas, he opened fire. Fire from the heavy pulse cannons pulverised the lightly armoured Shilkas in milliseconds, leaving nothing but a few shards of metal and the smell of burnt cordite from the ammo that was still cooking off.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- "...six...seven..." Koronna muttered as they placed the charges "eight...That's it! Move it, Captain!" The pair of them jumped down off the top of the reactor, where Koronna levelled her rifle and blew the airlock's door off. "No time for subtlety!" she said, and waved the Captain on. He ran into Harrigan on the way out and explained the situation. "Not to worry" Harrigan replied "Scarrans can move quickly when they need to. As long as Trannak gets the Stryker here soon..."

A cry of "BMP!" from Troll marked the arrival of the last of the three known armoured vehicles. "Coming!" yelled Harrigan, picking up speed. He arrived outside just as the IFV was bringing round its turret. The BMP's gunner and Harrigan fired at the same time. Harrigan's plasma blast destroyed the missile launcher on the turret, but the round from the 73mm main gun hit Harrigan sqaure on the chest, blowing him four metres back across the runway, cracking his carapace and fracturing his reinforced ribcage. "AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Harrigan screamed as the shell exploded. Talannah immediately ran over to check on her beloved, while the others returned the BMP's fire. A volley of plasma blasts soon blew the vehicle apart and incinerated its crew.

"John?!" Talannah almost screamed with worry "John?! My love? Are you alive, my dear?! Say something! Please!!" A low groan caused her to throw her arms around his neck and hug him tightly, crying into his shoulder. "Oh, my love!" Talannah wailed softly "I thought I'd lost you when that vehicle fired on you! Can you walk?" Harrigan kissed her softly on the lips, just holding her close for a few seconds, before replying, grimacing with the pain "Don't worry too much! I'm bleeding, broken, and hurting like hell. But I'm still alive and mobile. As soon as we're loaded, I'll fly us out of here – once we're back on the Cry Havoc, we'll figure out what we'll do to those idiots who gave Lazarus such bad intel. It won't be nice, either..." Talannah patched the worst of the bleeding with her medkit, throwing the spent box back in her pack. "It's empty" she said "I'll have to get another one when we get back".

Troll just could not believe his eyes when Harrigan walked, somewhat unsteadily, towards them. "You just took a direct hit from a light field gun" he said, absolutely gobsmacked "How are you still ALIVE, let alone still up and walking about?" Harrigan waved his finger under Troll's nose, saying "Secret!". Then he calmed down a little, saying "You'll find out later, if you need to know. The fewer people who know the details, the better. Ah, Trannak's here!"

Trannak eased the Stryker down until the landing gear thunked down solidly on the runway. A hiss from the aft end marked the entry ramp lowering and making contact with the ground. "Keyah, stay clear!" Harrigan called "Tovak, start lugging those pallets over here. The rest of you Scarrans will have to hump the damn warheads into the cargo area manually, the door's too narrow to get the pallets in". Tovak immediately brought a pallet containg the biggest and heaviest warheads first. It took four Scarrans, including Captain Kran, and ten minutes, to manhandle each of those Scaleboard warheads on board. But forty minutes later, they were all on board. Then came the six Yi-241 bombs, but only three fit in before an overload warning sounded. So they removed the last one and thought about what to do next.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------

Eventually Talannah got on the comm back to Hellbolt on the Cry Havoc. "Yes, Talannah?" Hellbolt said "I'm in the sick bay with those two humans you sent me up with. What's up?" "Get back on the Stryker and get down here" Talannah ordered him "We've got cargo to haul up, and there's too much for our Stryker alone". "On the way!" Hellbolt said, leaping off the dek he was sitting on and running a few hundred metres to the flight deck "Dr Nrakal, Moratha, and Kran's daughters have eveything in hand here". Once he was inside, he strapped himself into the pilot's chair, ran a brief preflight check, and boosted out of the bay at maximum speed.

"How's everyone else?" Harrigan asked "Sing out if you're hit". "Most of us got a few rifle rounds in the chest plates" Kran told him, examining Harrigan's heavily bandaged chest carefully "But the armour stopped everything bar a few bruises. How about you, sir? You took a hit from a heavy gun". "I'm still alive, Kran" Harrigan shot back "Alive and ANGRY. We're going to be getting inventively nasty with a few people before our time here's finished if I have any say in the matter. I don't suppose anyone brought any rations with them? I seem to have forgotten". Each of the others threw over a pack each, which Harrigan threw down with great gusto. Finishing off with a loud SKKKRRRREEEEEEEEEE!!! , he set himself down against the Stryker's aft hatchway until Hellbolt arrived.

Fifteen minutes later, Hellbolt touched down as close as he could get to the first Stryker. "Load me up!" he yelled out of the bridge window "Aft hatch's open!" Tovak immediately hauled the pallets over, and loading began anew. It turned out that one more Scaleboard warhead had to go in, but they managed, barely, to fit everything in. "I'll take Talannah, Keyah, Karroch and Captain Lazarus with me" Harrigan decided "The rest of you, plus Koronna, will have to go with Hellbolt. My Stryker's overloaded as it is. Someone go and tell Koronna to get out here, we're leaving".

Keyah ran off down the ramp and yelled at the top of her voice for Koronna to get out NOW. Two minutes later, Koronna came running out of the bunker, yelled "Fourteen momens!" before heading straight up the aft ramp of Hellbolt's Stryker. Keyah vaulted up to the side bridge door and pressed the button to extend a ladder so the rst of them could climb up. While Harrigan heaved his enormous bulk up the ladder, Keyah found herself a perch on the ceiling. Harrigan strapped himself in with a bit more care because of his injuries, then Talannah, Karroch, and Captain Lazarus followed. Talannah sat in her copilot's chair and did her side of the preflight checks, turning to Harrigan and saying "We'll have to take it slow. We've got a bunch of nuclear warheads of uncertain stability back there, and we're overloaded as well. Plus I don't want you aggravating you injuries".

"I'm hurt, my love" Harrigan laughed, lifting off the NK runway "Not dead! Oh, this remids me of just before the Ithlin war...". He then proceeded to tell them all about the recon mission, where he'd rolled the crawler they were in. "...so Tal chided me for being overly-careful with her. Now she's doing the same with me. But I love you all the more for it, Tal" Harrigan said, reaching over to squeeze her hand lightly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Hellbolt followed close behind as Harrigan made for the safety of geostationary orbit and the Cry Havoc. Ten minutes later, a thunderous BOOM! and an enormous shokwave rolled over the Stryker. Harrigan fought the Stryker back to level flight after the shockwave had passed, and then took fifteen more sedate minutes to fly back onto the Cry Havoc's flight deck.

Hellbolt must have called ahead, because Nrakal was there waiting for them. Talannah got Tovak, the DRDs, and the flight deck cargo haulers unloading the warheads and placing them by yield in a secure area. Withtin five minutes, the rest of Harrigan's unit and Captain Lazarus' able-bodided troops were walking slowly toward the sick bay. "This is one amazing ship you've got here, Harrigan" remarked Captain Lazarus "I didn't think you meant a spaceship when you said 'ship' - I thought you'd come in with another carrier. Once we've all been checked over, I'll have to contact the Carl Vinson – someone there'll be waiting to hear from me. I've taken the tags from those who won't be returning – we had to destroy the bodies to mainatin deniability – so the families will receive full survivor's benefits even if I have to thump it out of somebody".

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