Hello Everybody! I'm trying to keep myself to a schedule of one update approximately every ten days if possible, because this avoids chapters that are unnecessarily long, hopefully keeps interest in the story more alive than it would otherwise be, and forces me to write rather than procrastinate. Plus it gives the opportunity for more reviews... er... not like I count and hoard those... (my precious!)

And I'm anticipating complaint about a certain character from the prologue not being mentioned again. Fear not, he shall be back in the next chapter, and things will not be so confusing anymore!

So, please review! Cheers!

KOTS

The sun broke over the horizon, illuminating the rows of fighters and stealths arrayed on the deck of the O.S.S. Indomitable, the brand-new largest ship in Orange Star's navy. She was matched only in size by her sister ship Sakura, the new flagship carrier of the Imperial navy that was sailing in parallel a thousand meters to starboard with the members of Yellow Comet and Green Earth's delegates for this mission on board. The enormous missile launchers and radar dishes on the two ships lazily rotated, searching without any real urgency for an aerial foe to annihilate. The only such foes swooping through the salty air, however, were the seagulls that circled the Indomitable, hoping to find the morsels of food so common on civilian ships.

Sasha reached into the pocket of her body-length manteau – she refused to call it a trench coat - for a piece of candy, which she then tossed to the nearest gull. As the gull hastily swallowed the sweet treat, Sasha looked out over the rippling waters of the Crimson Sea and found herself shivering. It wasn't just the cool breeze coming in from the cool sands of the pre-dawn desert, but also something more intangible, that made Sasha clutch the thin uniform even tighter around her slender form. Sasha pondered quietly as the seagulls cried and flapped about, and finally was able to put her finger on it. It was the same concern she felt for Colin whenever she was forced to watch him go into battle. But why am I feeling it now? Colin's safe at Blue Moon HQ...

From behind her came the heavy rhythm of thumps that footsteps make when their owner clearly doesn't care who notices his presence. Sasha turned and saw Max, the aforementioned behemoth, accompanying Jake across the deck to enjoy the same view that Sasha had arisen early to see. They were clearly just finished with a workout, as their clothes were soaked with sweat and Jake was moaning miserably about the soreness in his arms. As the two approached, they scattered the birds who stood in their path. Now Max was laughing loud enough to scare birds away from the carrier entirely.

"Next week we'll increase the reps and add a little more weight. The soreness should be gone in a couple weeks."

"Weeks!"

"Just kidding, Jake!"

Max's limitless mirth was rubbing off on Sasha, quickly dispelling her foreboding feelings. Their minds on anything but battle, the trio laughed and joked with each other, still joking half an hour later as they walked down to mess for breakfast. Listening to the laughter of her comrades, the atmosphere of friendship so filled the room that the explanation for her previous feelings occurred to Sasha. They're like family to me now... I couldn't bear to see them be hurt in battle. They'll never take Colin's place, but they're family nonetheless. Sasha rolled that thought around in her mind, savoring it even more than the exquisite omelette that the head chef had prepared, knowing it was her favorite. She smiled grimly as the conversation turned to the latest intel received on the base waiting just a few miles past their current position. You had better be careful, Kindle. There's nothing more dangerous than a family that fights together.

"This is Vermilion Leader, activating shroud and radar transponders now, over."

"Roger, Vermilion Leader. We are receiving loud and clear. Come home safely, over."

"Will do. Vermilion Leader over and out."

Each member of Vermilion Squadron, Orange Star's new elite stealth squadron, performed a barrel roll while activating their cloaking devices, becoming all but invisible as the armor's active camouflage caused it to approach transparency. Vermilion Leader, a hardened veteran of all three wars who had earned his stripes dogfighting Eagle's legendary Ragnarok Squadron, eyed the custom-made radar screen to the right of the flight stick. It plotted the positions each of his wingmates were transmitting to ensure that none of them collided in a spectacular fireball. He gave a little more to the throttle and was pleased to note that all of the squadron had noticed almost immediately and accelerated to match his pace. They were already crossing the line dividing the shallow blue waters from the harsh red sands of the desert, and the position that Intel had extrapolated from stray radio signals was only another fifteen seconds inland at the considerable speed the stealth fighters were capable of. Ten seconds... Five... Vermilion Leader pressed the only button on his flight stick, and felt the soft whirring vibrate through the craft as the panel on the underside of his plane retracted and introduced some turbulence to the otherwise totally sleek and smooth surface. ClickClickClickClickClickClick! He made a slow turn to the right as the spy camera deactivated, and after having swung through a full three-quarters arc, coming to bear down on the region from a right angle to his previous path. He reactivated the camera while diving even closer to the minor fortress that had been hiding behind a hill as they approached, but was clearly visible from this angle. ClickClickClickClickClickClick! It finally registered in Leader's brain what he was actually seeing, and he frowned as he pulled up from his low flight path.

"Leader to Two."

"Two here."

"You seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Are you seeing the biggest mess of charred scrap metal since we took out Sturm's laser?"

"Roger that. Vermilion Leader to Control – We have the pics, and good luck figuring what they mean. Deactivating shrouds and returning home."

THREAT LEVEL 2: ENEMY AIR UNITS DETECTED.

LOCATION: BASE ALPHA-NULL.

ANALYSIS: STEALTH FIGHTERS. NO MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE.

ACTIVATE DEFENSE MEASURES? Y/N.

Kindle looked up from her breakfast of duck l'orange and a chocolate croissant when the information terminal began to beep insistently. She glanced at the screen, took a moment to push a stray hair back into its position within her notorious coiffure, and called back over the high shoulder of the throne-like chair.

"Oh, Jug-ger!"

The spherical henchman walked into the room from the adjoining command center with infuriatingly slow and jerky movements, as if he were really a robot, and one with slightly rusty joints. Kindle began to compose a haiku about the likely envoys of the detected stealth fighters. She had decided that "Rachel, the meddler" made a fitting first line when Jugger finally came to a stop before her, and droned in his colorless voice.

"Jugger is present."

"Jugger, darling, your defense system in Alpha Null has just been triggered by the Allied Nations expeditionary force in the Crimson Sea sector." Kindle paused and ran her fingers through her hair, unconsciously bracing it for what was going to happen next. "A GREAT DEAL OF GOOD IT DOES US NOW, AFTER THERE IS NO ALPHA NULL BASE IN EXISTENCE ANYMORE," Kindle screeched.

Jugger proved his considerable intelligence by remaining silent.

"What sort of defense system did you set up? One that only works after what was to be protected has been destroyed!" Kindle flung her butter knife at the hapless officer, who didn't flinch, though whether it was due to courage or poor reaction time, she wasn't sure. The knife ricocheted off Jugger's shell harmlessly, and he remained still, no worse for wear.

"Did you misplace an equal sign in your silly, worthless code? Misspell a word? Configure the automated defenses to fire on our own troops instead of the enemy's!"

Jugger's coder honor besmirched, he was forced to speak.

"Jugger's code contains no errors."

"Oh? And then how were we taken by surprise and absolutely destroyed by Black Cadre forces who sustained no casualties even though initial reports suggest they were outnumbered five to one?"

"Jugger does not attribute values to variables outside of his access. Attempts to analyze causes of opponent success yield no output at this time."

Kindle, still seething, took her fork and threw it as well, this time aiming for the less armored region of Jugger's right foot. Momentarily contented by the sight of him trying to hop on one foot in pain and failing to maintain his balance, she left to the north, striding by portraits of famous military leaders in Black Hole's history arrayed along the walls of her combination dining hall/war room. Jugger, on the other hand, exited through the south doorway, sending the nameless grunts working at the comm. arrays running to evade his bulk at it picked up speed until finally impacting a wall with a tremendous smash. Kindle resisted the urge to smile in satisfaction at Jugger's humiliation, as she considered how much more difficult their existing plan had become. The forces assigned to Von Bolt's extraction were already in place in Orange Star territory, but if something went wrong with the operation, there'd be no forces in reserve to fall back on. Getting Von Bolt was now an all-or-nothing gamble for the Bolt Guard, Kindle reasoned. The failure of the Grand Bolt was just a fluke, Kindle thought to herself, but with Lord Von Bolt and the new surprises we've been planning, taking over Wars World will be pitifully easy. Even if the rabble of the Black Cadre butts its way in to our affairs now, with Von Bolt at the helm, no one can oppose us!

Reassured, Kindle's laughter echoed through the vaulted hall.