Chapter Two

Cody pulled up a hand held display screen, and flipped through about a dozen displays and camera screens, monitoring the access points in the swamp. He then looked over the radar display screen. Everyone in the rebellion was rather fearless, but all it would take would be a Scorpion Gunship to doge a few shoulder fired anti-air missiles and launch a few high explosives into the right places in the swamp to cause utter destruction and tragedy. The air was always where the rebels were lacking, two Scorpions and a Sampson, that was it. It paled in comparison to the just what the RDA had patrolling for rebels.

He set the display aside and drew a glass of water from a nearby cooler type container. He sighed heavily, behind that sigh was a question he struggled with daily, it was a question of 'what if?' "What if," he muttered where no one could hear him "what if the RDA just gets tired and drops an antimatter bomb on us? They'll just blow the whole place to nothing." He splashed a little of the water on his face and pushed that thought deep into the back of his head.

"I am going to go see the school children today." The leader announced to his second and third commanders. "Keep a tight ship while I am gone." Without another word, he set out across the swamp, it was nearly two kilometers to where the school was, and that was no easy trek across a mucky swamp.

School started at 9:00 am sharp, several huts of sticks and mud just north of the dead center of the swamp, the children and civilians were buried deepest of all, they were the future for this world, the only hope that Terra would ever have for a recovery. He moved towards the school, listening to the faint sounds of the various lectures occurring simultanoulsy. As he approached, some one noticed him and the school children rushed around him, wanting just to see their lauded leader up close.

Cody smiled and simply said, "Thank you, but remember, I am nothing without you, we are all connected, all our connections spread out like a spiderweb, each supporting the next."

Two bleeps came from the small communicator device at Cody's waist. He checked it and saw that it was a call from Raul, and he had dialed it with an urgent marking. Cody knew he would only use that for something detestable. It was all he could do not to swear in front of the children. He smiled again, and waved by and ran off, where the kids could not hear him receiving what was sure to be news of the worst variety.

"Raul? What?"

"Armadillo's in the chicken house!"

"I will see you in five!" He hung up and grabbed his M-14 now carrying it by the pistol grip, finger on the trigger, extremely nervous now. He knew today was going too well, it was too beautiful, now it was about to be permanent scar in the history of the Terran Alliance. He stopped running only once, not to rest but to see a monarch butterfly perch itself on a leaf, fly down, and then get stuck in a small puddle of mud. Suddenly, Cody had a deep ache in his stomach; he felt he was going to die today. He said a quick prayer to God, asking not for his life but for the salvation on the planet as soon as possible.