"Canaveral, this is Baron, requesting priority landing" Lazarus called "Air Force special ops aboard".

"Canaveral copies, Baron" came the reply "I can see you, if you're in that gigantic thing out there on my radar... might want to put down out by the launch tower, not sure if we got space for anything that big anywhere else".

Lazarus lowered the landing pads and set the Stryker 3 down as close to the officer's club as he could get away with. The arrival of such an enormous craft drew a crowd, though the emergence of soldiers kept them a reasonable distance away - and about fifteen minutes later, a Reaper came in and made a much faster landing, letting Jack Crichton as well as John Crichton and Moya's crew leave before heading back to the Havoc.

"Thanks for sending someone to get us, big man" Crichton told Harrigan once they'd caught up "Your ship's nice... but it's nice to be planetside for a while too, especially here".

Harrigan stuck two fingers in his mouth before letting out a piercing whistle as soon as he stepped inside the officer's club.

"Everything's as you ordered" a steward told Harrigan "We got word from the White House that you'd be coming... ".

"Got some extra booze for you too, before I forget..." Harrigan replied, before calling two Irregulars forward "Dunno how popular it'll be, but I brought Scarran grolsahk, Kalish grangacha, and Charrid fellip", after which he explained to the mystified steward what the drinks were.

Crichton's crew proved to be more of an attraction than the Irregulars, something for which Harrigan was relieved and which made Crichton laugh. Since Rygel had been allowed to come this time, he made the most of every opportunity to eat and talk - he didn't even mind much when the youngest members of Ghost's family tickled him.

All the soldiers present were enthusiastic about drinking non-human alcohol and said so.

"We brought some of the best with us" Harrigan told them "but this isn't a drinking competition - show some respect for Ghost's family while enjoying yourselves and we'll not have problems".

Ghost's father nearly fell off his chair when he slugged back a full shot glass of grolsahk.

"That stuff's real strong..." he spluttered.

"Hah, yes!" Harrigan laughed "We're a bit more used to it than you are... but even then, grolsahk's not for people who can't handle strong drink without falling over!"

Liz and Hellbolt walked over, with Hellbolt holding up a box as he arrived.

"A few bottles from the First Light's store" he explained "It's not going to be to everyone's taste, but if anyone wants to try some...".

Harrigan announced that as well, adding "If you want any... talk to the man with the grey skin here and he'll sort you out".

Dern smiled as he watched people start to relax.

"No alcohol for me, War Commander" he replied when Harrigan asked "I am assigned to guard duty. I expect the few members of Rulok's teams present will drink, but I will not since I'm not like them".

"What do you think?" Harrigan asked, drink in one hand and waving briefly at the small crowd.

"Among those identified as former members of your unit..." Dern replied "the reception is favourable. With Ghost's family members as well. There are some soldiers not far outside this facility... I don't know if you want to open this event up to the garrison here...".

"Ask Ghost's Dad" Harrigan decided "Ghost was his son, he gets to decide who comes and who doesn't. If he doesn't mind people who don't know his son coming in, then that's fine with me".

After doing just that, Dern strode over to the door of the officer's club where he growled until those standing outside turned to face him. Once he explained the situation inside, along with giving a stiff warning to keep themselves under control and not to overindulge, one said "I don't want to make trouble, whoever you are... but it's the end of my duty shift and I need some good chow and a drink or two" before getting close enough to see Dern's facial scaling.

"Yes..." Dern sighed "I am not human. I expect my presence and that of the others is classified, before you ask... only General Crichton is cleared to reveal our presence here to others. No one else".

"As long as I get chow and I get beer I'll be happy" came the reply "Are you going to let us in?"

"For your information..." Dern replied, pointing to his rank badge on his arm "My rank lists me as a senior NCO. Our ranking system does not entirely match your own... but I was told I rank E-6 under your human system. I know your rank, sir... should you wish to enter, and understand the rules, you are cleared to do so".

Dern watched as the officer asked the steward about the Irregulars - though he just shrugged when the steward said he didn't know anything either and ordered his meal. The steward did mention the Irregulars had laid on alcohol, and that they might be prepared to let him have some.

"Yeah, you can drink with us if being around non-humans don't upset you" Liz told him "Are you a beer-drinker or a spirits man?"

"Beer for now" the officer replied "I'm hungry and I'm thirsty and I'm just off duty and I'm tired".

The strongest Charrid fellip was provided and gratefully received - once the other humans saw he wasn't affected in any way other than what they expected from alcohol, more people started queing up for their own. Grolsahk had the predictable effect on all those who drank, but many people came back for more anyway - Nopthak kept a wary watch on how much people were drinking, only having to warn four people not to push their luck too far.

"Thank you for funding the wake as well" Ghost's mother told Harrigan "I think my husband has already drank too much of that grolsahk, he can barely stay on his chair... but today, of all days, I will forgive him a little overindulgence".

"No problem at all, ma'am" Harrigan replied "Grolsahk takes people that way, even Scarrans - but wherever you go, people of all kinds like strong booze and that stuff's some of the strongest anywhere. Just tell the bar steward not to give him any more".

Trannak sat beside Caseya and ate slowly, surveying the humans as they talked and ate and started to relax.

"We have not been around large numbers of humans before, my Trannak" Caseya said softly "The family members even have young adults and children with them, did you know that? I have not seen young humans before".

"The humans of Ghost's family treat us well" Juroch agreed, Reanaree sitting beside him and nodding her own agreement "From what I can tell, many of them like the alcohol provided just as much. The base personnel present are still wary about our motivations and the reason for our presence, but so far are putting this aside as long as we permit them to share the alcohol with us".

"Sir?" a young man asked, getting Trannak turning to face them "Are you Captain Trannak?"

"General Trannak..." Juroch corrected, indicating Trannak's shoulderboard.

"Sorry for the mistake, sir" he replied "I doubt you remember me, sir - the last time I saw you was when you were here before. I was only seven at the time".

"Ah yes..." Trannak replied more warmly after a few momens thought "You were here with your parents, I believe. Now you serve here? You are in the same Air Force our leader served in before he became our leader?"

"Yessir!" he replied "Not been out of officer training long, but I like it. My colonel doesn't like the idea I want to transfer to special ops, and went off like a whole bunch of fireworks when I found out about one-SO... so who knows how much further I'll get up the promotion ladder".

Trannak waved Harrigan over and explained the young man's situation to him.

"Without knowing how much training you got so far, mister..." he said "we'll have our work cut out deciding what you're good for...but if you want, and you'd better not tell anyone else as well, we'll slip you aboard on our way back. General T there's vouching for you, which'll be enough to get you in the training program... so keep up and make sure you're worth the effort and we'll get along just fine".

"Yes sir!" came the enthusiastic, but thankfully fairly quiet, reply "Aden Powell at your service, sir!"

"Sit down and get yourself something to eat and drink" Harrigan replied, only grinning a little bit "I want you close by and ready to tell us about any unplanned visitors, since I'm a bit out of touch around here and the Crichtons are busy getting re-acquainted again".

Aden had to endure the questions from Caseya about humans, but didn't seem to mind too much. Harrigan talked almost constantly to Jack Crichton, who ended up dividing his attention between his phone and Harrigan for almost an hour until Harrigan stopped typing names and contact details into his PDA.

"Looks like there's a few former members Stateside, Tal" Harrigan told his wife, back on the Havoc "Most of them will be heading over to Nellis in a few weeks, looks like there's a RED FLAG exercise on - no, they're not in one-SO now, that got disbanded, but if we get time between resupply flights and sorting out new big man Karl, we can drop in and say hi. Might even get invited to play with some new people, if we're lucky".

Talannah laughed a little before telling him "Our pilots will appreciate the chance to test their skills against human pilots, I know that... if there are infantry skills tested at these exercise events, we should see about joining in there as well".

Harrigan told her about Aden as well, which got a frown until he'd explained a bit more.

"Very well..." she decided "He's shown some competence by completing your American officer training... we'll see how well he performs on our scales of proficiency. He is going to have to work very hard if he expects to stay an officer...".

"Yeah..." Harrigan replied "We can get him started on basics once he gets quarters assigned. Gen'ral L's very best, since Aden's already hit the grolsahk a bit too much...".

"Perfect..." Talannah laughed.


Once Ghost's father and his family had been returned to their home, the few Irregulars at Canaveral started getting to their feet and getting back aboard the Stryker - Aden was slipped aboard between a number of them. He was already feeling slightly the worse for wear due to excessive consumption of grolsahk, though he still had enough sense to drink an entire canteen of water when Liz offered it to him.

"He's gonna feel like shit tomorrow" Liz told Harrigan "He had grolsahk, and some of Hellbolt's booze as well - I'm surprised he can sit up straight and count his legs right now, to be honest".

"He's getting your Dad's one-step program, starting tomorrow morning at zero-dark-hundred" Harrigan told her, making her cringe "You know my rules, Liz - people can drink what they like off-duty, but they'd better be ready to fight when I call. No better way to test endurance under pressure than a long run with a full pack over several decks after a big night on the booze".

"Just about killed me doing that after I drank some of Hellbolt's stuff, once we got First Light" Liz replied "But if you made me do it, we'll make him do it too".

"Yep" Harrigan agreed "Welcome to Harrigan's Happy Fun-Time Club".


"You'll be in recruit's quarters to start with, mister" a Charrid told Aden, in strongly-accented English, that night "Drill instructor's got a line right into your room's comms and your front door, and instructors here don't take any plok from anyone - especially new humans fresh off the Stryker".

Another Charrid measured his body, before calling to stores for uniforms.

"Good, standard size uniforms" the first Charrid told Aden, once the uniforms arrived "A little small for a Charrid, but on the larger end for most Kalish" before setting his lockplate with his handprint and showing him how to use the basic equipment in the training quarters.

"Get yourself cleaned up" he was told after that was done, since both Charrids could smell the alcohol on him "You'll get started with basic fitness drills tomorrow morning, some time early - no, I won't tell you when, even if I knew", after which he grinned and added "Welcome to the 1st Irregulars, sir" before striding off down the corridor to the transit stop.


"There are more humans?!" a number of Kalish asked with interest "Can we meet them? Did they come from the War Commander's home sector or another one? What skills do they have? What do they look like?"

"A small number only at this point" Keyah confirmed for them "One is still in the sick bay. The others are in recruit quarters and being prepared for introductory testing".

One of the military Kalish nodded and snorted briefly.

"We will see how useful they really are now, Master Kamara..." he said a little sceptically, hands on hips "Do you think any of them will even pass basic proficiency without remedial training? Would any of this intake come close the commando training you and I completed - even less so with the grades we achieved?"

"We will look and we will hear and then we will know" Keyah replied, nodding "Our Commander did tell me all but one of the introductory group are from his old unit - so they have human special operations training. However, he also told me that since that unit was connected with him, his political enemies disbanded the unit after he came to be with us. We will see how many of them kept up their old training, or at least remember it enough to start again".

"What about this other one?" the man asked "It would make training this group a whole lot less inconvenient if he did not require a remedial instructor detatched to see to his needs alone".

"I hear he is a recent graduate of their officer training" Keyah replied "This means that, since he is an Air Force officer, he has piloting skills and navigating skills with smaller aircraft. I expect he can pass basic proficiency... though his ratings may be marginal under our system if not his own".

"Who has command of training this group?" he asked next, and chuckled a little when Keyah replied "Charrids of tactical command were assigned to basic proficiency testing for this group. Several of the group were suffering from alcohol intoxication. Training for them will begin at a random time early tomorrow morning".

That made the Kalish man laugh a little more before he said "Good, good... basic proficiency must be assessed under hard regime..."


Aden woke up fast to the sound of a siren going off with considerable volume.

"Oh, crap..." he muttered, once he looked around and remembered where he was.

"Wake up, recruit!" a Charrid voice bellowed "Get up, get dressed, get MOVING!"

Aden stumbled a bit, still suffering the effects of a very strong hangover, before making quick use of the refresher and putting his one uniform on.

It's got rank on the shoulder he realised not just basic unranked, or a cadet rank on the arm. Guessing this means I'm gonna be assessed on my ability to lead as well as with all the usual fitness crap...

"Well, well, well, well..." a conventionally green coloured Charrid said "You lot are showing promise already in one basic way at least... I've not had to come in there an' drag any of you out here by your ears".

The Charrid made sure everyone's uniform was on correctly and basic kit was on as well. Aden did get lectured, if not screamed at, when he briefly muttered in complaint about doing running in combat boots before one of the others told him "Looks like we do this one-SO style... that means no civvy running shorts, tank top, and go-faster trainers. It means we train as we expect to fight".

"I know you came in as an officer, mister..." the Charrid told Aden, with some respect for rank but no less tolerance for mistakes "but what you just heard from the other human is right... no messing around with non-issue gear here" before he turned to address everyone.

"Over here..." he called, pointing to a pile of equipment beside him "Yes, recruits... training packs. That's filled with enough plok to simulate a full combat load. Make sure you fill your water canteens...come on, get to it... then grab a pack".

The instructors pushed the small group of humans hard and fast and didn't even slow down except for stairs between decks.

"Recruit Powell!" one of the Charrids shouted "I heard you came here as an officer! I don't know what officers are like down there... but up here they lead by example - which means you need to do better, mister! Get up here with me, recruit Powell! How long have you been out of training, recruit?!"

" 'Bout a year, sir" Aden replied.

"Even if all you do is fly..." the Charrid said, looking him up and down "you have to be able to pass basic! What if it all goes to plok, you get shot down, and you end up on some hole sectors away on the wrong side of safety?! All you got then is your own body to depend on! How are you going to inspire your troops, give them hope of returning to friendly territory, if you're can't make it even a kilometra with basic pack weight?!"

"Yeah, I hear that" Aden replied, heaving his pack on and tightening the straps "Sure, I don't much like running - but better that then getting all my fingernails pulled out an' my nuts hooked up to mains power, I 'spose".

"Correct!" the Charrid told him, even though he didn't understand Aden's slang "So come on, show us you have what it takes to lead... out front, let's all see you show us what's what..."


"How are this first bunch doing?" Harrigan asked one of Lazarus' Charrids "No one died yet?"

"Hah!" the man laughed "No, sir! To be quite honest, they're better than I thought they would be - no way I'm going to let any of them know that, of course. From what you told me before, they're special-ops qualified but a little out of practice".

"Except for Aden Powell, yes" Harrigan replied "He's not so out of practice... but he's not special-ops qualified either. He's gonna find the earlier part of training real hard 'till his stamina improves. The former one-SO guys should be much less of a concern... they may be out of practice, but even by now they'll know what's expected of them".

The Charrid officer made a brief comm call, then grinned before telling Harrigan "Looks like the training instructor's leading this Aden Powell along by his ego, War Commander... I'm told Aden's fitness is below special-ops competency ratings but his previous rank as an officer coupled with his ego refuses to let him stop".

"Good" Harrigan decided "That means there's something we can work with in there somewhere. Just need to hammer him into the ground until his skills match his self-image".


The recruits had, not entirely to their surprise, been made to descend to the tech levels and run along the narrow walkways beside the service transit tracks until their instructor pointed to what seemed like illegible scrawl to most of them and said "That's techsign, you lot! Techsign's what our engineering staff and general crew use to navigate around the tech levels! This one tells me we're under the main transport platform across from the PTR!"

"Does that mean we're where we're supposed to be?" Aden asked "Not got lost, have we?"

"We are not lost" the instructor replied, looking Aden right in the eye before turning to the others "I know techsign, I know where we are... even if none of you do right now. Look around once we're inside if you want - as long as you keep pace. Since I know comparatively little about humans, I want you watching our training officer here - if it looks like he can't handle the training, I'll walk you through calling a sick bay for a medevac for him since not one of you humans has a combat medic's rating".

They ran over the connecting bridge to the PTR platform and the large doors. Once inside every one of them looked around and chattered to each other about it - Aden saw their Charrid instructor's patience was wearing thin after a while, so he called "Come on, we'd better get going wherever we're going in here... drill instructor looks like he wants to thrash us all right now".

Their instructor grinned very briefly (since that was exactly what he had been thinking) before he told them "This is what we call a Planetary Terrain Reconstruction chamber, or PTR... they're usually used for troop training, and that's what this one's actually going to be used for for a change. Aden Powell, right up front with me... the rest of you follow in formation, and be quick about it".

The chance to be on terrain that wasn't hard metal decking was a relief to all of them and they said so as they ran.

"That's one reason we have chambers like these on large warships, you lot" the Charrid told them "Far from all of your missions will be in ships and space stations... those of you who pass grade 2 training get to put in for missions further afield on actual planets. We can't simulate all possible terrain types in here... so we stick with a few common ones. No time for exploring now, we're going to somewhere those of you who brought narls with you might want to bring those narls for fun once we know you won't drop dead in training - so let's get going".

"Why do I get the impression..." one of the other humans said once he could see the river and the bridge "...we're not here to have a nice picnic...".

"Yeah, I'd say we got swimming training" another replied "Come on, lay out your packs... down to skivvies unless instructor says otherwise...".

"Lose the boots" the Charrid instructor decided "Right now I don't want to see naked humans, I had a good First Meal before starting with you lot - which means you can take your boots and packs off but that's all. You might have to go through water on a mission at some point, let's see how you move in it with uniforms on".

"I been with the SEALs for a while, it's not so bad" one assured his fellow humans "They made us do this a lot. This water's nice an' flat, prob'ly not even seawater either - we're getting it easy, trust me on this".

The Charrid actually wondered if he was letting the humans have things too easy when he heard that, but decided he could always remedy the situation later.

I like this part of training anyway he reminded himself, grinning a bit before swimming at a good if not great speed with his boots still on and his pack floating a short way behind on a tether. The ex-SEAL promptly did the same, though he was the only one who did.

"Cruising down the riiii-ver on a Sunday af-ter-noon..." one human sang as he swam, until four of the others turned and shouted "SHUT UP, CARL!" before continuing their swimming, though they all laughed a bit.

By that point in the day, a few of the younger children of all three major species had arrived at the river with their teaching supervisors.

"These are new human recruits" they were told "They are being tested and trained. Watch them as much as you like, but do not interrupt their training unless their training instructor gives you permission".

"Swim among them if you like..." that Charrid eventually decided "Just don't get in their way".

Children being who they are, irrespective of species, they tried swimming alongside the humans and trying to play with them - the humans found this part of training quite hard, especially Aden, but seemed to find the presence of children actually calmed them down and made them feel happier.

That one who says he was a seal... the instructor decided whatever a seal is... even lets the smaller children ride on his back while he swims! He may well be an incorrigible show-off in the water, but he's also showing me his tolerances are higher than his current training requires - which does look promising...

Of course, he promptly called out for each recruit to let a child sit on their backs while they swam - with those who looked a little complacent being made to carry two.

The former SEAL was carrying two on his back, with one more smaller child standing on his shoulders, by the time their instructor called them out of the river.

"I got kids of my own, mister" he told the training instructor, grinning a bit as he saw the three who had been with him run back to their teacher "Brought mine with me, in fact - though they're with my wife in family quarters right now".

"The two with mottled greenish-white skin are children of my people" the Charrid instructor told him proudly "Their skin is at it is because they are adapted to the coldest worlds. The smaller orange-white one was a Kalish. If it felt odd when they stood on your shoulders, that was beause their special capability lets them move on any surface - and that child chose to use it to let them stand on you".

The humans got trained hard with swimming, even after the children had moved on - after which they moved on to a training room. All the former one-SO members did well enough with the training here, though Aden Powell did better with the climbing wall and aerobic exercise and less well with the strength and endurance testing.

"Back to recruit quarters with you" the Charrid instructor decided "Then you can get hot rations - you'll be on hot rations in quarters and cold rations in the field until you pass recruit training. Those of you with families can contact them once you've eaten - I'll stay around long enough to show you how to use the wall comm for that. Then you'd all better get some sleep".


While the newest recruits were training hard, Harrigan and the other officers were doing their best to arrange bringing up food supply flights from various places around the Earth - it took some time for other governments to become aware that the Irregulars were prepared to buy from outside the US, but Jack Crichton was run off his feet keeping up with governments lobbying on behalf of companies from their countries to be awarded supply contracts.

"Looks like Australia's supplying most of the meat" Harrigan told the command staff "though I made sure the US gets to send some of ours, too... Costa Rica gets to supply coffee, along with some from or through Israel as well... fruit and vegetables from more places than I can count... several countries sending both Western-style sliced bread and Middle Eastern-style flat bread... all kinds of other stuff. A bit of alcohol...from Europe, Russia, the US, even some from south-east Asia... but General Lazarus is gonna make sure that goes straight to secure storage the microt it gets here. A lot of fancy confectionery an' nibbles from the US. SecState looks to be making sure we get discounted rates, at least in the US and some of their more amenable allies - so we'll get what we need without breaking the bank".

"You don't want to deal exclusively with your home sector?" Trannak asked Harrigan, surprised.

"They got some stuff we'll like" Harrigan decided after a few momens' thought "but spendin' money's one sure-fire way to make friends here, so we'll share the wealth a bit".

Trannak nodded, saying "Earth seems to be a commerce planet, then... if more tightly-regulated than most. No one seems to be enforcing cross-sector trading laws or taxes on us, from what I can tell... I expect they are trying to create a favourable impression of their home sectors with us, and feel it's worth the loss of some temporary gain with trading tariffs to do this".


Senator Beasely had found out about this as well.

"Well..." he told one of his political allies "We may not have exclusive contracts with these aliens... but at least that Harrigan, who seems to hold the purse-strings there, has told them that America makes things they will want and need".

"I've seen some of his shopping lists" came the reply "I don't know how many ...crew... he has up there, but he's ordering enough from the US alone to supply a small island dictatorship for several months. Spreading that kind of money around is going to make him friends all sorts of places, whether we like it or not".

"Do you think..." Beasely asked, testing his ally a little more than he might usually do "if we show consideration to these aliens in trade... they might reveal a few secrets of theirs?"

"Can't say for sure" came the reply, making Beasely curse briefly under his breath "I'd say they'll want a lot in return for anything that'll give us a serious edge here, so it may not be worth our while to push our luck that far just yet. We won't know until we ask, though".

After the meeting was over, Beasely made a few notes and made a call.

"Been askin' around, yeah" came the reply "Been hearing about huge-ass space ships landing all kinds of places - they're buyin' stuff here? Just the US, or hasn't POTUS managed to get exclusive trading rights?"

"Some here, some in other countries" Beasely replied a little reluctantly "Most of the money's gone to our allies, it's true... we can probably make use of that at some point... but I hear there have been at least some landings in Russia and the Middle East as well".

The man grumbled a bit before saying "Still moving assets around... not the right time to move just yet, but we can get you what you need before too long. Count on it".

"I am counting on it" Beasely reminded him, before putting the phone down.


Nrakal, Moratha, Amara, and a number of other doctors were clustered around the larger tank with Karl Torvald in it.

"It appears, Chief Surgeon..." one Scarran said, checking monitor readouts from the tank and from archives extremely closely "... that this experimental test package is being assimilated by the chosen subject as it should be".

"It does, it does..." a Kalish doctor agreed, nodding "The secondary additions, the stage two and three alterations, have only started to be applied... but prospects are good".

"From this point... " Amara told them, after receiving Nrakal's permission "is when we will need to keep the closest watch on subject Karl Torvald. While we have the records of subjects Sturk and Rekketh to use for reference material... subject Karl Torvald has been given further alterations, more experimental than even subjects Sturk and Rekketh received, so we must maintain the closest watch on his medical monitors as well as keeping medical personnel by his tank or close to it at all times".

Nrakal called Torvald's family and friends back in Norway and told them a heavily-edited version of this.

"Good" his grandfather replied "Grandson is doing well. We're still fighting a legal war to keep the construction work from starting at First Landing - so far we are winning that war, if not by as much as we'd like, so once grandson is ready we'll have more might on our side if we're forced to use military means to defend the site".

"Our War Commander will see to your needs" Nrakal assured Karl Torvald's grandfather "Whether your grandson is ready to fight or not, I expect forces will be available to send to help you".


"Hey, Ned..." Troll called, some weeken later.

"Hey, Troll..." Ned replied "Didn't know you were still around, man... did you hear about that big-ass space ship that's supposed to be here? Real actual people who ain't human, right here right now!"

"Pretty awesome, I know" Troll replied, nodding agreement and trying his best not to burst out laughing "Where'd I manage to find you this time?"

"Out in the ass-end of the desert" Ned replied "I'm still in the Air Force, we're out here supporting all the stuff going on against Islamic State - so we're seeing a lot of Iraq for now".

"Never got to go there" Troll replied "Saw most of my action in south-east Asia with big man L".

"Same shit, less trees" Ned replied "How long are you gonna be around? Your bunch anything like as good as one-SO used to be?"

"Dunno how long we'll be in the neighbourhood" Troll replied, grinning just a tiny bit "But the boys an' girls I'm with are every bit as good as one-SO used to be".

"Nice!" Ned agreed - he held his hands over his ears for a few seconds, telling Troll "Choppers movin' around again... a few F-15s taking off... all the usual stuff, noisy as hell..." before he added " 'Spect we can slip you in here for a bit if your CO's heading this way, catch up a bit... assuming you can get here, of course".

"We can get there" Troll replied, before he grinned more widely and added "I'll just have to ask the big man if we can grab a big-ass space ship. No prob getting anywhere if you got a big-ass space ship on hand".

"You... where...what... what the hell ?!" Ned asked, stuttering as he fought to keep his surprise under control.

"Don't you remember how we parted company last time?" Troll reminded his friend, laughing "You think that plane was something out of Roswell or some other classified test place?"

"I did, as it happens" Ned replied, then shuddered a bit and added "Oh shit... some of that other stuff from back then... ".

"Yeah, like when we made some of that... stuff... go away for you" Troll replied "You're starting to catch on".

"They won't eat me or probe me, will they?" Ned asked eventually.

"No!" Troll replied, once he'd stopped laughing "Don't believe everything you hear an' read about non-humans, Ned! I'll see what I can do about bringing one or two people I know you'll want to meet with me... I'll call you when we're ready to go, you'll have to keep the line open when we do though, so I can find you...".


"Well... who where you talking to...?" Harrigan asked Troll when he stepped out of his quarters.

"Found out where the Air Force stashed Ned, big man" Troll replied "Had a little chat to him... he said he might be able to get a few people in for a meet-and-greet if there's not too many, so unless you want to send anyone specific I thought I'd take little U and the boys, since the girls are needed working here".

"You sure the boys will be OK down there?" Harrigan asked with concern "Ned's likely on an active-duty airbase, mister...".

"To be honest they'll be safer there than Stateside" Troll replied bluntly "Not sure I want my boys an' my girls around UFO whackos or some government head-case who'll want to cut them up to find out what makes them tick... my boys know soldiers, they'll fit right in".

"I'll send Red Hand to take you there" Harrigan decided, waving off arguments "They'll stay high an' stay cloaked... but I'm not letting your boys go dirtside without support. Once you get to whatever asscrack of the world Ned's in, a Stryker or Reaper or whatever can drop you off... who knows, maybe the US Air Force will be desperate enough to need our heavy support, give the Red Hand's usual crew a chance to get some combat time in".

Troll knew he wasn't going to be able to persuade Harrigan to let him and his family head off-ship without being part of a larger deployment, so he grumbled a bit for show before saying "Yeah, Red Hand probably looks enough like those prototype Raptors I saw back before we left on a radar scope, doubt anyone will guess how big it really is".

"I can't say I'm surprised, Troll..." Urana told her husband when Troll told her what Harrigan decided "and, to be honest, it'll be good to have air support or a fast extraction close at hand in any case".

"I would like to come..." Tabitha said "but I am needed for advanced study and for crew placement training, mother".

"I know, Tabitha" Urana replied, nodding "Your sisters are as well - Sherenka's grumbling about it already, but Martha seems to be pleased to get more active time in a galley".

"I would come if asked, mother" Martha replied in her usual quiet tone, nodding "But, as you say, I will be of more use to our friends here in a galley".

"I have seen your proficiency reports" Urana told her middle daughter "If you continue to do this well, you may be given your own galley to lead when you are of adult age and have served under an experienced chef".

Martha rumbled softly and proudly when she heard that.

"Will our brothers be going, mother?" Martha asked "They will get a chance to meet more humans?"

"They will" Urana confirmed "Human soldiers, mostly - but your father has a doctor friend there as well, he will be our first point of contact".

Both Garakk and Alphak were pleased that they would get to go to Earth themselves, with Garakk being particularly loud and enthusiastic about it.

"We might even get to go on war missions with these human soldiers!" Garakk said excitedly "They will appeciate our heavy weapons, that we can keep the fastest pace while still being able to fire on any targets we're given in the air or on the ground!"

Urana stopped her elder son before he could draw breath and start shouting happily again, telling both her sons "We will be going primarily to make contact with your father's old friend... apart from that, both of you, you will be there to learn. Learn how humans conduct war missions with the lower level of technology they have. Learn their tactics and strategies. You will need to remember as much as possible, my sons... you might be needed to pass on what you saw and heard to others, so they can learn as well".

"We get to see more humans!" Garakk called happily, ignoring the rest for now "We get to see human soldiers, eat human food, maybe even help humans on real war missions! When are we going, mother? When do we start? What do we need to bri-"

"Enough, boys" Urana ordered wearily "We'll not be dropped right in, one of the new small warships named Red Hand will be taking us where we need to go and will be staying airborne to train and to support us".


"Opinion polls are divided" the White House press secretary announced "People like it when these ...visitors... buy things in staggering quantities, but in some bigger cities the opinions of them are not so high".

"Check the results against the list of locations where large quantities of anything was bought" Jack Crichton suggested "It might be something as simple as jealousy due to large supply contracts not being given to their home town or city".

A few minutes later, and the press secretary nodded.

"That accounts for about three-quarters of it" she decided "at least so far. A few locations simply don't want anything to do with them, with some of those considering trading parties to be raiding parties".

"Note those locations" President Diesel ordered, turning to face his Secretary of State "Pass them directly to their War Commander or to Jack here. So far, there's been security on the trade landings but it's been fairly low-key... I doubt they'll want to break off trade over this, but they may want to beef up the security presence".

"Mr President..." a Secret Service agent called, entering the Oval Office "We just received a call from the UN in Vienna... looks like news of the visitors has leaked. The secretary-general's just offered an invitation to the visitors to go there, maybe even address either the full assembly or just the Security Council".


While Jack Crichton was trying to contact Harrigan and make the necessary arrangements, Talannah was giving orders concerning the remaining trading flights.

"We have been advised" she told the senior officers and the governor "that not all subsectors here welcome our arrival - though only two have had their leaders publicly refuse entry to us. This will not be a problem... my John has given us lists of what we need, and we can get those things without making flights to those areas. If our presence is not welcome in some areas then our currency is not welcome there either".

"If things get really tight" Lazarus suggested "I'll get Liz doing some of the supply runs in First Light. That'll mean we have to get trucks taking our stuff out to the nearest decent landing site... but unless people start protesting an' blocking the roads we'll be fine".

"I doubt we'll need that, General..." Talannah replied "But we will keep a full crew on standby alert, just in case of emergencies".

"My son's been pestering me to let him in on one of the supply flights" Lazarus admitted, a little sheepishly "Feltano too, as it happens. Garakk must have been boasting of his chance to go dirtside in the Red Hand, even if he doesn't like having to go while supervised".

"Right now I'd say there's no reason not to let them go" Harrigan replied "Feltano's been out once already since we got here, Anton's not yet stretched his legs here... if there's spaces for either of them on an already-scheduled trading run then they can go".


"Red Hand is out..." Red Hand's captain announced "and heading into atmo".

"Looks like we're good, yep" Troll added, from the CIC, once the Havoc had responded "I'll call Ned from here, sort out a link from the Havoc, then track down exactly where he is".

"Just entered atmosphere, mister" Troll told Ned before he could draw breath "If you just stay on the line, we can track you down".

"CO here ain't gonna like that much" Ned replied "but he's OK, he's been told you're coming. Just not that you're coming in a space ship".

"That won't be landing, Ned" Troll replied, after he'd stopped laughing "Not now, anyway. Big man H wants it staying high an' doing surveillance and support while we're down here - that news doesn't get out to anyone, Ned".

"Even the CO?" Ned asked in surprise.

"Especially the CO" Troll replied "Big man wants this as low-key as we can make it. He'll know we're there, but that's as far as it goes... for one, we don't know where that asshole Beasely has eyes and ears these days".

"He's not got any better since you left" Ned replied, after looking around in case anyone was listening "Beasely Senior's still in the Senate and on the armed services committee... Junior's either in the Pentagon or at Langley by now. Both of them look to be trying to get more power for themselves and neither care too much who they have to step on to get it".

"We'll talk more once I hit dirt" Troll assured him "Trying to get a trace on your call right now...".

It took a few minutes, but the Kalish on the comm desk sent the real-time data to Troll on the Red Hand, and once Troll had seen it he sent it up to the ship's small bridge and the captain.


"We stay high" the Red Hand's captain told his copilot on the small bridge "and provide support. Only the changed human and his family will make landfall... until they gain assurance of safe conduct for non-human personnel, anyway".

"We'll tap into their comms" the copilot replied, nodding "their sensors... everything they have. As we do this, we'll provide outer security for the base... and since we can speak their language, we can direct their troops for maximum effectiveness".

"We will" the captain assured him "Most of that'll get done in the CIC... so if we don't want to stay here we can get a meal or do some brief training".

"How're we going up there?" Troll called over comms "Close enough for my family to get a lift dirtside yet?"

"Any time you're ready" the captain replied "We're cloaked right now... so just make sure whoever's flying your Reaper knows that and takes off the same way".

"Time to go, boys!" Troll called, which got both Garakk and Alphak running over from where they were watching other crew do their duties in the CIC "We get your mother and we head to the flight deck!"

"I hear you, Alphak" Urana told her younger son when he commed to tell her that "I'm just coming out of the galley now... you should direct your father and brother here, then we can go to the flight deck together".

It took a few momen more than Troll expected, since the two boys were chasing each other all over the corridors as much as they were going where they were told, but Urana saw her husband and sons come towards her before long - she laughed when she saw her sons play-fighting as they ran, though she called out to them and Troll after a short while anyway.

"Time to go and see more humans, mother!" Garakk called happily to Urana "I hope we get to do war missions with some of them!"

"You want to eat all their best food and we all know it" Urana replied, grinning a bit - Garakk laughed and nodded, while Alphak said "We will see and we will hear and then we will know... we will help the humans here and we will learn about them. I would like to eat their food as well, mother...".

"I expect we will eat here" Urana told her sons as they made their way towards the flight deck "But this place we go is a military base, both of you... not a North End eating house. Remember that".

Several Scarrans were doing crew duties on the small flight deck when Troll and his sons arrived - despite not being a ranked officer, one of them asked if he had any orders for them.

"Nah, stick with what you're doing" Troll replied easily "Just need someone to take me, my wife, an' my boys down to the base you all probably saw on a screen somewhere... got an old friend down there, we'll see what's what here, then decide if we stay for a little fun here or head back to the Havoc".

A young arctic-world high-caste female Scarran walked over when the duty officer pointed at her, coming to attention though not saluting.

"I will fly you to the surface" she told Troll "We have two Reapers and two Strykers here. Do you have a preference? I am qualified to fly either one".

"Unless we put some of that nice Kalish stuff on these..." Troll replied "then our Strykers aren't cloaked - so we need a Reaper".

She led them over to one, which Troll noted was their standard variant and not like his own, where she said "I don't know if your sons have started basic defence training yet... but if one of them knows how to open the hatch here, they should do so".

"Garakk, you're up" Troll called, waving his elder son forward "Get us inside nice an' neat an' without breaking anything".

Garakk's typing was slow on the keypad, since the buttons were sized for Charrid-sized hands, but it didn't take long to get everyone inside - he looked at their pilot a little smugly before calling "Flash-start!" loudly in the direction of a nearby wall speaker, clapping when the Reaper started powering up without further help.

"Good" she replied, making a note on her PDA "I am rated as pilot in command... but should either you or your wife wish to take the copilot's seat beside me then you may do so".

"I'd better do that..." Troll replied after Urana nodded "Our contact on the ground will expect to hear my voice on comm once we take off and Red Hand links us in".

"Red Hand, this is Taika" she called over comm once everyone was strapped in "Requesting launch clearance".

"Covert launch clearance authorised" the captain replied "Activate your cloaking shield, Taika... the containment fields are active, so once you are cloaked you are clear to proceed and the flight deck doors will be opened".

Troll nodded and turned the cloaking shield on - after which all the crew still on deck retreated to safe positions and two deck lights in front of her Reaper blinked three times, after which the deck doors started rising.

"Deck doors come up a bit faster on these, nice" Troll whispered as the Reaper shot out into atmosphere, after which he ordered "Stay slowish, subsonic preferably... and pop the short range comm mast out, since we don't have special support here".

"Done" Taika replied, after which she linked them into Red Hand.

"Back again, Ned" Troll called, relieved when Ned proved to still be on the line "Got a taxi down to your place... it'll just be a quick touch-and-go, so no one gets to look at our good stuff right now, but I got a few goodies for you in a pack".

"What is the climate here?" Taika asked "I can tolerate any climate, all Scarrans can... but I am an arctic-world Scarran as you can tell, colder climates are preferable".

"Desert, sorry" Troll replied "If we get to drop a few more here, you might want PA or a sneaksuit".

"I will do well without climate control" Taika insisted proudly "I just do not necessarily like it".

"Ned, heads-up..." Troll called a momen or two later "We're barely a minute or two out now, it'd be nice if you can get out in the open and wave us to a good LZ. Don't worry, we'll be able to find you".

I'll keep this away from the main runway Ned decided No one's coming to the base hospital right now, so unless whatever thing Troll's flying's really damn huge he can set down on the helipads.

Troll started tapping out commands on the controls on his side of the console, so he could soon see Ned on the ground waving his arms.

"Time to go!" Troll called, unstrapping from the copilot's seat and heading aft "Treblin hatch, everyone! Taika's going to come to a hover for a half-momen or so... which is our cue to jump out. Once we're out, she goes back to the Red Hand again".

Garakk leaped out head-first as soon as the drop lights came on, his hands making hard contact first - he rolled forward onto his feet, after which Alphak landed slightly in front and to hammond, while his mother and father landed behind him.

"All OK..." Troll told Taika "You're cleared to RTB".

Ned came forward, the first thing he saw being Alphak's chest and chin right in front of him.

"This is the human you know, father?" Alphak called quietly "He can be permitted to come closer?"

Troll turned toward his son, then nodded and said "Yeah, that's Ned - let him pass, son".

Ned was more than a little uneasy around Garakk and Alphak, but grinned when he saw Troll's face.

"Not seen you for ages, Troll!" Ned called happily "Can barely recognise you... but you still sound like you, mostly so at any rate" before he saw how big Troll actually was, along with seeing both of Troll's sons along with Urana.

"Been making friends?" Ned asked, nodding at them.

Troll smiled at Urana, drawing her close and hugging her tightly before telling Ned "This is Urana... my wife, Ned. Those two loud boys close to you are my sons Garakk and Alphak".

"Well, well..." Ned replied a little uneasily, not quite sure how he should react "You got a family, you got sons... didn't think that'd happen, to be honest. Especially... well... out there".

That got Garakk turning to face Ned, his arms coming up to shooting positions, until Ned added "Not passing judgment, anyone... just saying it wasn't my first guess that Troll here would have started taking life that seriously even with a human woman".

"Can happen..." Troll told him more quietly, deliberately not mentioning his daughters as well "Doesn't happen that often. You're the only one here who knows that for certain, mister... which is the way I want it to stay".

"Anyone who'd believe me don't need to know..." Ned replied, both of them knowing that meant the Beasely family "and anyone who doesn't believe me would try an' get me section-8'd" before changing the conversation and asking "Anyone want something to eat? Not my meal sitting now, but I'm sure I can get you lot in if you're hungry".

"Food!" Garakk called happily "Lead us to the food, mister Ned!"

As soon as Garakk could smell the mess hall, he called out happily and pointed to the counter.

"You got a good nose, mister" Ned told him, nodding "That's where we're going - I just had mine before you got here, but I'll grab a drink while I'm here. Don't know what you expect field camp food to be like - be realistic and don't expect a five-star hotel and you should be fine".

"My sons will eat what they are given" Urana told Ned "and they will like it... and they will be thankful. Assuming their mouths aren't too full to speak, of course".

"We eat all food" Alphak confirmed.

The sight of obvious non-humans caused a lot of chatter in the queue and at the tables. Alphak reported all he could hear back to his parents - Ned identifed some of those speaking, clearly surprised Alphak could separate voices from the general chatter at all.

"I practiced" Alphak told Ned "I hear... I practice... then I do more and more. My brother does that too. Mother and father do it".

"Delta send some new guys here?" the mess cook asked Ned when he got to the head of the queue.

"Nah, these guys are with Air Force" Ned replied "Special-ops. Dunno if they're from where I used to be or not, I didn't ask".

"Well, if their special-ops stomachs don't mind eating regular food, then they can eat here too" the mess cook decided - which got Garakk telling a barely-sanitised account of survival training on Riaanond until Urana got him to stop talking again.

"People who eat anything that won't run off the plate, even better" the cook replied, forcing himself not to vomit after hearing Garakk's story "Some of the newbies here, fresh outta boot, start whining an' bitching if their MRE don't have a pop-tart... you should tell some of them that story, mister, an' see if they can keep their dinner down then".

Ned urged them to grab their food and not hold up the queue, so once they'd done so Ned found a table with enough spare seats - held up only for a few minutes so Alphak could remove the chair he'd crushed trying to sit down. That in itself got one or two questions asked - when they turned out to be challenges as to their real strength, Garakk promptly volunteered to show them how strong he was after their meal was over.

"Normally I'd not encourage showing off, mister" Troll told his son "but right now you're making friends an' helping people relax. As long as everyone's having fun and not getting nasty over you not being completely human, it's all good".

"I know it, Dad" Garakk replied, nodding "Uncle smiley Scarran told me about it. He said if I make people laugh and make them happy, fewer of them will be concerned that I'm not like them - if I help them and make them happy, I will make even more friends and some of those might even help me when I need them to".

"Yep, you listen to your uncle smiley Scarran" Troll told his son, clearly relieved Garakk was keeping a cool head in new territory "It's a good way to find out stuff. You listen to your uncle Trannak, uncle whisper Scarran, an' your friend Feltano too - don't let Alphak learn all that for you".


Garakk was indeed telling everyone who would listen about his survival training on Riaanond... when a small number of officers strode over to a table at the other end of the mess hall and started talking among themselves.

"What's going on?" a sergeant thought aloud, nodding at the officers "Don't usually see officers like that. Even if we're getting a mission we get called aside so everyone else can't hear".

"Yeah..." another of the same rank agreed.

"Chairman of the Joint Chiefs passed through a while back" the one lieutenant in hearing range said "Maybe they figured out why he's not called in" - before grumbling and running over to someone he knew as they came in.

"Chairman's missed his last check-in!" the lieutenant hissed once he got back "He was supposed to be going to check out the training cadres advising the Iraqis, but it looks like we lost contact. Don't know if they sent someone out to have a look around yet".

"They did" Alphak whispered "I hear them. A ...heli-chop-ter... was sent to check... and found nothing from the air. Troops aboard landed, and found signs of a firefight. An officer with stars on his shoulders says he will call his own superiors for further orders".

All of them were surprised that Alphak could hear anything over the noise of the mess hall, but none of them were pleased the Chairman had gone missing - when Garakk suggested sneaking into the comm centre, one sergeant turned and whispered to a private close by, who promptly nodded and ran off.

Less than five minutes later he came back.

"Not good" he told them "G-3 was there and came within seconds of getting me court-martialled for even knowing about it - only thing that stopped him was something coming through on his computer".

Garakk just grinned, before activating the comm on his PDA and calling the Red Hand.

"Acknowledged" the comm officer in the Red Hand's CIC replied "The secondmost senior military official in our leader's home sector went missing? What is his name? Maybe the War Commander will know more".

"Where have you bee- ah yes, of course" one of the sergeants said, turning surprise to comprehension as quick as he could once he realised who he was talking to "General Franklin's got the top job - got it once our new POTUS got sworn in. No one had heard of him before then, not sure why".


Once this news had got as far as Lazarus, orders were given to find General Franklin's precise location.

"Find him!" Lazarus barked "I don't care how! Someone get Harrigan up to the bridge!"

"I am scanning the broadcast streams for the sectors close to his last reported location" Feltano replied, nodding towards Captain Lazarus in the command chair - it took almost an arn before Feltano found anything, during which Harrigan arrived "I cannot understand the languages spoken in almost all of them... ah, here is one which I can understand. It has video should you wish to see it".

"On screen" Harrigan told him.

"What?!" Harrigan called in surprise "Bad guys bagged him?! We find General Franklin's still around right after he gets snatched? What's going on?"

Garakk explained what Alphak had overheard and what the other soldiers had told him - after which Harrigan said "Good job, boys - don't go anywhere, might yet need to move you. Tell your Dad and Mom too".

After a few minutes, Altur walked onto the bridge and nodded toward Harrigan.

"Orders, sir?" he asked.

"One-SO's old commander, General Franklin..." Harrigan explained "got snatched by local bad guys when he was on some inspection tour or other. It'll take too long to find him the usual ways...".

"...so you need me to use my divinatory mentalism to find him more quickly" Altur finished "I can certainly do that, sir... and have done many times before... but doing so on an unfamiliar planet means I will need to get a more precise result ... and that means I will need Amara's assistance, since neither General Tareg nor Dolgan have the necessary range or skills".

"Don't worry..." Garakk told the gathering starting to form around his family's seats in the mess hall "Big man H said we're starting to track him down right now".


The Irregulars' command staff were all on the bridge, deciding how to go about retrieving General Franklin.

"I can't get a clear image from your mind, War Commander" Altur admitted "I know you have learned these techniques from the odd Delvian I hear about... but something about your mind makes it too hard to read clearly. For me, at any rate".

"If the General's wife consents to taking part..." Jane suggested "then she'd likely be able to form a clearer picture than you, sir".

"Koronna..." Lazarus said to his wife "You saw the General and his wife the last time you were here... I'll need you to go down and talk to her, alongside Altur. She doesn't know him... but she knows you, she's seen you before. Before your change, anyway".

"I will go" Koronna confirmed, nodding and hugging her husband "Charlotte Maloka is settled, for now... so if Commander Altur would come with me, we will find a pilot and fly to her location" before something else occurred to her and she added "Do they still live in their last known home location?"

Harrigan, once he'd sworn Jack Crichton to secrecy, asked him to find out.

"Down in Florida, yes" he told them, only a few minutes later "The General prefers to work via teleconference unless he's going flying, it seems. Neither the current CO of Canaveral AFB nor the rest of the Air Force mind him staying there".


General Franklin's wife had just got back from the base PX when a big shadow covered the street briefly and all kinds of chatter came from the people she could see from her front porch.

"They're all acting like they've never seen a Stryker before..." she muttered to her neighbour, then smiled and added "At least I have seen one once...".

"You know where that enormous aircraft is from?" her neighbour asked in surprise "You know what it is?"

"Where it's from?" she replied "No, not exactly in any case. I've seen one before though, my husband knows the people who have them".

After a few more minutes, two people walked along her street and up to her front gate.

The more heavily-built one she decided is the woman Koronna, whom I have seen before when Harrigan was here. I don't know the other one, the one with the odd haircut... but if Koronna is here, he must be a soldier under Harrigan's command.

Altur head her surface thoughts and passed them onto Koronna.

"Yes, I have met her before" she replied "That's why I'm here now. You will be finding the General with your skills... but I must convince this woman that she is our best option for finding him".

"Hello again... Koronna?" she called, opening the door, as they approached "You look a little different to when I last saw you, but it's you I can tell. Would you like to come in? Would you and your companion like a drink?"

"Thank you" Koronna replied, nodding - once Altur did the same, she turned slightly sideways and entered the house after the General's wife, while Altur came last and shut the door behind them.

"You look well" the General's wife told Koronna "As much as I can tell with a non-human, anyway".

"General Lazarus is now my mate for life" Koronna told her proudly, rumbling for several seconds afterward "We do well. He leads all air operations and I am the most senior enlisted trooper in the unit".

Once she congratulated Koronna, the General's wife asked "It is good to see you... but why have you come?"

"You are correct" Koronna replied "This is not a personal matter, it is a ...work matter".

"We hav found out..." Koronna told her after a minute or so "that your husband was doing his work in the Middle-Eastern sectors of this world. Two of our personnel in that area found out... that he has failed to check in with your sector's base in that area. Your own government will undoubtedly have means to find him... but we have others, and we can do so quicker than they can. With your help".

"My husband is missing?" the General's wife asked, upset and surprised "Is he well? Is he alive?"

"To the best of our knowledge" Altur said, taking over "he is. Until new intelligence is obtained, your own government will have trouble finding him. We have ways of finding people that they do not and I am skilled in them - but I need you to help me".

"How?" she replied, completely mystified.

Altur gave her a short explanation of mentalism as he knew it.

"It frightens me, to be honest" she told Altur "That a person could see inside someone's head, read their thoughts and memories and feelings... perhaps even modify them against their will".

"I will not do that" Altur assured her "To get your husband's precise location, Mrs Franklin... I need you to focus your thoughts on your husband - all your memories and feelings and knowledge of him. This will create a mental image of him in your mind which I can read. I will then communicate with our strongest mentalist, who is on our ship... and together we will triangulate your husband's position like you humans do with the origin of a comm transmission".

"Might you... be able to let me speak with him?" Mrs Franklin asked hopefully.

"I don't know" Altur admitted "That depends on where he is and his state of health. I will certainly see if we can put you in contact with him once he has reached safety".


"Copy that!" Garakk replied happily, though Lazarus bellowed angrily before telling Garakk "Local TV just aired a video, mister - a terror group called Islamic State has got him, they say they'll kill him unless they get some of their people back!"

Garakk growled angrily as well, telling the soldiers around him and projecting the video from his PDA into the air for them to see.

"What do you think, son?" Troll asked "You just about begged for war operations, mister - now you're in one! What do we do?! Come on, the clock's ticking!"

Urana laid a hand on her husband's shoulder to calm him, but Troll stayed looking at his son while he thought about it.

"We need transport, Dad..." Garakk decided "We need medical staff ready to take care of the General when we bring him back".

"I got that, Garakk" Ned insisted "I'm a doctor, I can do that. I 'spect one of these boys can find a chopper and flight crew... dunno what we got that can handle people like you, though".

"CH-53 or CH-47" Troll replied immediately "We got them here?"

"New model of CH-53" the lieutenant replied "I can get mine ready once we know where we're going. I'll get my copilot to get her started, I'll stand outside it so you know where to go".

As soon as Troll turned to Urana and the other soldiers to decide what else they'd need, Garakk signalled quickly to his brother, after which both of them activated their cloaking shields and followed the lieutenant outside.

"What the hell?!" he called "How'd you two get out that quick?"

"Special stuff" Alphak told him, smiling a little "Father didn't see us, new flying man. Now we find people, we go flying and rescue the General".

"Oh shiiit..." the lieutenant replied "Follow me, let's hope we don't get caught - or we'll be in Leavenworth for ever".

"Come on...up, up, up!" he added once he found his flight crew "Work to do! Classified retrieval mission! We're getting support from outside... we just gotta get airborne without the CO finding out, since he's not been cleared and you know he's not happy when stuff goes on he's not cleared for!"

"We gonna need a medic?" one soldier asked "You said retrieval... we bringin' back our guys who got hurt?"

"Get one in ten and they can come!" his CO snapped "Move it!"

Once one of the gunners had managed to find a fuel tanker, things went more swiftly. One of the others ran back with four soldiers behind him, telling Garakk "160th SOAR, mister - combat-qualified medics. Now we got medics here and some to come with us".


"Not good" the base CO told his staff, in the mess hall "We just saw the video, you know what we're up against... G-2's calling around trying to get a fix on where the Chairman's gone" before one of the staff officers heard the yelling and saw people gathering in a circle around Troll's family.

"What the hell is going on?!" he barked at the soldiers, ignoring Troll and Urana as they talked with Ned.

"Chairman of the Joint Chiefs got bagged!" came the reply "Just saw the video off Al-Jazeera, sir! Big young man sittin' here just a minute or two ago showed us!"

"The video leaked" he told his CO when he got back "One of those odd group that came in earlier must have satellite comms - one of the grunts says they were shown the video! It hasn't even got on CNN yet!"

"Shit..." the base CO muttered "Don't you worry about it... I'll go tell G-2 the troops know anyway, we just need to keep a lid on it till I get orders from Stateside".


The helicopter's fuel tanks were filled and the gunners were loading ammunition for the door guns when an officer ran over.

"What do you lot think you're doing?!" she snapped "There's no orders on the books for you! What's going on?"

"We're going for the Chairman" the lieutenant replied "and we don't have time to chat, sir".

"No one even knows where he is!" she replied, mystified "Not sure even the CO knows!"

"We have friends finding out by special means" Alphak explained "They are doing this now. We will soon have the location we need".

"What special means?" the female captain asked, confused.

"Classified special means" Alphak replied, looking her in the eye.


"Sit, Mrs Franklin" Koronna urged Mrs Franklin quietly "My comrade here will guide you. You are safe".

Altur rested one hand on her head, more to help him focus than because he actually needed direct contact, before opening his mind to Mrs Franklin's surface thoughts.

~Calm ((assurance of safety))~ he told her ~Koronna is here. I am here. I am talking to you in your mind right now, Mrs Franklin - that is why you think you can hear my voice but my lips are not moving. Focus on your husband - the clearer your thoughts are, the sooner I can find him~

~((mild uncertainty, anxiety, mental images showing concern for General Franklin))~ Altur saw in her mind, though he also felt her thoughts as she did her best to focus on her memories of her husband and things they did together over the years of their marriage.

Good Altur decided Clear enough already than I can get a rough location! before calling Amara on the comm and telling her what he needed.

Soon Mrs Franklin felt Amara linking in - she was afraid for a short while, but smiled when Amara sent thoughts of happiness and friendship along with certainty of finding her husband.

It took some time before Amara called ~Approximate location, Altur... image of coordinates and a Scarran target symbol over a location If you could direct your attention to that location, please~

~Confirmed~ Altur replied, narrowing his thoughts so only Amara could read them ~I'd say he's injured - someone's probably interrogating him for information they think he knows. The sooner he is retrieved, the lower the chance of him breaking~

~I will communicate this new information to the Red HandAmara replied ~Should you not be required elsewhere by the War Commander, you should stay where you are and reassure Mrs Franklin~


By that point the G-2 had found out about the unauthorised flight preparations and had ran out to see for himself.

"What the hell you shower think you're going I really don't know..." he growled "But that captain that just ran through my office door thinks you saw what I only just found out about when... well, people associated with these two hare-brained lunatics, I'd say... when they showed that clip off Al-Jazeera to everyone in the mess hall before I'd cleared it!"

Just as the G-2 was about to start asking more questions, Garakk's comm bleeped again.

"Red Hand here" a voice called, in Scarran "Special support has located the General! You should lower your deadlock fields so special support can guide you in!"

"Just about to get airborne, captain!" Garakk replied "An officer here arrived just in time for me to get him to do something for me as well, captain!" before discomming.

"What do you think I am going to do for you?" the G-2 asked "You're clearly not US military, you don't have the authority to get me to do anything" before another flight crew hurried over and their leader asked "What's going on? CO just put us on standby to get the Chairman back - well, once DIA gets their head outta their ass an' finds him...".

"Not needed" Alphak told the other crew, ignoring the G-2 "We know where he is. Special support has located him and will guide us in when we are airborne".

"What am I gonna do, then?" the other pilot asked - Alphak just smiled and told him "Alert the garrison. Sound General Quarters. All hands to combat stations until our leadership says otherwise" before alerting the captain of the Red Hand as well.


The mess hall was just clearing out when a combat alert siren sounded.

"General Quarters, general quarters!" the helicopter pilot called "All hands to combat stations! This is NOT a drill!"

"Don't you worry, General..." Troll assured the base CO "Saving people's what we do. My boys are just making sure everything's ready so we're ready to ro-WHAT THE FEKK?!" before they all saw a CH-53, clearly well-loaded, fly past the mess hall at fairly low altitude.

Troll immediately commed the Havoc.

"Oh fekkit..." Harrigan groaned "No, Troll, I won't court-martial you over this - it's quite clear your two sons did an end-run around all of us on this one! At least we got Red Hand close by! For now, I want you kicking the base garrison into line... you know what we need, I want soldiers on hand in case the boys need support on the way back, fighters standing by if they need air support...".

"Count on it, big man!" Troll replied immediately "I'll scream at them when they get back an' put 'em on a month's punishment training just for freaking me out like this!"

Harrigan smiled at Troll's love for his sons and how he worried about them.

"One thing at a time, mister" Harrigan reminded him "I'll get the Red Hand to follow their mission, however unplanned it was - and make sure Amara's linked in to both of them so they know where they're going".


"This is an update on the current alert stuation from the ol' Troll man" Troll called over the base's somewhat threadbare PA system "You've probably heard by now that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs went off on a walk an' lost his way... well, good news is we found him! Some of the very best are now goin' out to get him an' bring him back! More news as we have it!"


"OK, successful unchallenged takeoff..." the CH-53's pilot called "We'll stay at maybe a thousand feet up until one of you big boys gets me range to target... if we're close I can stay low, but I'll save fuel going up higher if we got a way to go first".

Alphak smiled and focussed his thoughts - once he felt Amara picking up the link, he asked ~Range and bearing to target? queryimage of sensors scanning in search mode~

~Approximately one hundred miles on the human scale ((image of search sensors finding a target))~ Amara replied ~This is within range of your transport vehicle? Should I ask a Reaper to collect you?~

When Alphak passed that news onto the pilot, he nodded and said "We can do it, sure. We'll go up high to minimise fuel usage - and only come down if we come under attack or we get where we're going".

~I hear you~ Amara replied when Alphak focussed his thoughts on the link again ~Should your pilot and copilot wish it, I can link them in and show them the required course in their heads as well~

"You can do that?!" the copilot asked in surprise when they were told.

"Go ahead" the pilot replied "Just make sure I can still concentrate on flying. No problem for him over there, there's nothing between his ears to get in the way!" before laughing.

"Yeah, very funny..." the copilot replied, though even Garakk could tell he wasn't really mad about it - though he did twitch a little when Amara linked them in.

~Greetings and salutations welcome~ Amara announced to them ~I will provide navigation support to you and other support if needed. Does this mindtalking upset you or make you feel unsteady in your minds or bodies?~

~Good images of mild unease coupled with relief at mindtalking not distracting him from flying~ the pilot replied ~Course? ((muddled image of a compass needle spinning around in circles))~

~((Laughter))~ Amara replied, interested and curious at how easily the pilot adapted to mindtalking - after which she showed him and the copilot a terrain map with a course plotted on it in the top-left of his field of vision.

Amara caught feelings of mild disorientation from the copilot before he took a long drink of water from a canteen and replied ~Good to go minor disorientation~

~You will be well~ Amara told him ~You only need to concentrate on navigation. Call out course corrections for your pilot when needed, do not worry about flying - yes, your pilot can see the same things you can, but only because he will feel more settled and at ease in doing so. It is your job to see to it that you get to where you are needed~

~((Image of copilot's seat winding back a bit, image of copilot leaning back in it, watching the map))~ he told Amara, who clapped and told him ~Just so ((praise))~ before concentrating on providing navigation support.


"Our forces have taken off, Mrs Franklin..." Altur said "and are, even now, heading towards where your husband is held captive at best possible speed".

"Thank you" she replied, still visibly upset "I would not expect non-American soldiers to help like this, my husband is not in your military... but I'm glad you are helping".

"We will ask special support to link through our personnel and connect you to the General" Koronna added "when they are a little closer. Humans may not know about mentalism... but the more wary may think a small communication device is present, which may encourage violence. The longer we stay covert, the better off we are".


"Keep in formation with their helicopter" General Tareg told the Red Hand's captain "Stay high and slightly aft and remain cloaked. Watch for signs of hostility - you may contact them or provide support if you need to, but only do that if no other option is available".

"Comm intercept from the ground suggests the base has been put on combat alert" the captain replied "Activity on their flight line suggests combat aircraft are being fuelled and armed and crew are beside their aircraft. We can safely leave defence in the hands of the human personnel deployed there".

"Good" Harrigan added from the command chair "Troll's getting that sorted out nice an' quick, despite the fact he's going a bit nuts 'cause his sons are off without him - which reminds me, we keep that quiet, no one says anything about Garakk and Alphak going out unless it's approved by me or Tal. If it gets out that we sent two thirteen-cycle-old teenagers out to fight our battles we'll never hear the end of it. The fact that they went out on their own without orders will be conveniently overlooked - humans the world over will be yelling and shouting and calling for our heads over this".


"Our bulk lander has not crushed even one vehicle" Anton told its pilot happily "I am surprised, to be honest, that this trading house has parking facilities this large... but father also told me that this ...Wal-mart, I think... was most easily able to co-ordinate the bulk purchases we needed to make out of all the trading houses in this sub-sector".

"So I was told as well, Anton" came the reply "Strict rules were given to them, we require the very best that can be had - so they may have to bring things in on special delivery. But it seems tha-oh look, vehicles are arriving and heading our way".

"You won't be in full view of the loading ramp, Anton" the pilot reminded him "But we'll still have soldiers watching you".

"I take the same risks as everyone else" Anton insisted "I am no more important than any of you - that my father is a General and a human does not matter. I will do my job, and if necessary I will fight".

The lander's pilot nodded and smiled, turning to direct the rest of the security detail while Anton found a watch position of his own.


Senator Beasely's phone went off in the middle of a meeting - so he muttered a bit before heading outside the room, after which he answered.

"It had better be good..." the Senator snapped.

"Real good..." came the reply "Early opportunity to get you want just happened - but looks like we're gonna have to move fast to do it. You want it now, we can get it for you... but it's now or never".

"Site twenty" Beasely replied, once his contractor told him where he was "You know where that is", after which he hung up.

"We got approval to proceed" the contractor told his comrades "There's tighter security now - but most of them are watching the loading operation. When I see a time to move, we have to go hard and we have to go fast. We fuck this up the first time and we're all dead".

"Got it, man" one said "It's all good. Can't get any worse than night recon in Baghdad, anyway".


"Landing successful" Feltano whispered into his comm quietly "All is proceeding as directed, uncle Commander. Staff at this trading house already have loading vehicles bringing out what we need, in fact" before linking video back to the Cry Havoc for a half-momen or so, after which he shifted up the all to the roof when no one was looking.

"Good, Feltano" Juroch told him, cutting in from his own quarters "This will be good training for you, young man. Assume for this deployment that you are a special operative, Feltano, assigned to oversee this resupply landing and support it with your skills - and without the knowledge of its commander".

"I will do this, uncle Master" Feltano replied softly, then rumbled for a few microts before adding "I will do this, I will do it well, and I will learn to be like you and like father and like uncle smiley Scarran".


Garakk and Alphak's helicopter flight was, for the most part, fairly uneventful - except for having to stay at higher altitude to avoid the occcasional smaller dust storm. Alphak and Garakk handled that more easily than the other humans did, though it suprised the crew that they coped with the thin air as easily as they did.

~Twenty human miles~ Amara called, getting a grin from Garakk ~I do not know what it means... but I see a village at the target location... and I see flags regularly, black and white, with writing in a language I do not understand~

~Ask auntie Jane or uncle Commander~ Garakk suggested ~I can't speak or read any human language except the one uncle Commander speaks~.

As soon as Jane saw the video projected by Amara she said "Arabic language..." before calling Jack Crichton to ask about it.

Since he was still in the White House, the phone went on speaker once it went through.

"That's an Islamic State flag" the Secretary of Defence replied "In theory any Muslim might post such a flag, the words translate to a profession of faith in their religion - but out where you are it means Islamic State terrorists. Do you have an exact location?"

It took a while for Harrigan to get that, but once the White House received it the Secretary of Defence said "Village was taken over by Islamic State some time back... everyone there was given the choice to either convert to their version of Islam, leave, or be executed. We'd prefer it if you kept damage to a minimum... ".

"We will rescue the General, sir" Alphak replied calmly but with certainty "By any means necessary. Neatly and quietly if possible, but if we need to kill every living thing there in order to succeed then we will do just that".

President Diesel turned to face the phone as Alphak said that, but since he'd hung up he announced "Not the way I'd have liked to proceed... but once the dust has settled we can decide how best to mitigate the negative effects of whatever these non-humans do. The most important thing is that they promised to bring General Franklin back - one way or another, we can use that, even though you, Mr Crichton, can't tell me yet what they would consider acceptable low-key mission parameters yet".


One of Senator Beasely's private contractors headed toward the shopping centre in civilian clothes and on foot.

"Yeah..." he whispered into his collar mic "One guy on this side, looks real strange even for them aliens - some of the others turn that way to cover him but he's not under permanent watch as far as I can tell. Maybe they're short on numbers an' he got the job of doing that side solo".

"What kinda window we got?" his commander asked.

"Once you come in, you got maybe sixty seconds if we're lucky" came the reply, which no one liked "This ain't going to be an easy snatch, I can see it - we'll take a few lumps, but unless it gets really FUBARed then we'll get away with it".

Anton turned his head side to side, slowly, but while he felt sure something wasn't entirely as it should be he couldn't say for certain - so he settled for undoing his jacket so he could reach his pistol more easily. The second the contractor saw Anton turn his head to check on the progress of the loading operation, he called "Now - and be quick about it!"

Anton heard the sound of a van coming to a fast stop - and threw one of his few grenades back at it.

"Shit!" the leader hissed "Grab him! If we can't keep this clean we'd better make it quick - before cops get called! MOVE!"

OK... Anton decided They want it messy, they'll GET it messy! If I kill them all it will teach any others a lesson about Kingdom troops they won't soon forget - and if they take me I get to infiltrate their holding facility, interrogate its commander, and then blow it up! before grinning and adding Of course I'll try and kill them all before it gets to that...

Despite the loss of the van, two contractors stumbled out of the burning wreck before it exploded - joined by ten more from other vehicles. The first time any of them actually saw Anton was when he popped up from behind a car and put a short burst right through their commander's head and neck before moving again.

I'm taking a few hits Anton decided as he fought But these humans are only carrying light weapons, small automatic slugrifles father calls sub-machine guns, with noise suppressors. Small rounds like those cannot penetrate my stage 2 skin, even though they do hurt a bit.

"What's it take to make him drop?!" one of the remaining contractors called in surprise "I'd swear he's taken a bunch of rounds to the chest an' legs - but he's still moving!"

"You're supposed to capture, not kill!" came the voice of their unit leader over the comm "What are you, a complete idiot?! Limbs, non-vital areas are fine... but we don't get paid unless we deliver one of these guys alive! Flashbangs, tasers, batons if you have to - that's why you got 'em! Just do your job and don't call me till you caught one!"


Another team chose the same time to move - but Feltano saw them coming. Instead of opening up with explosives, Feltano killed four with his rifle from roof level before any of them even saw him - but then he saw one poke his head up from behind a parked car and point at him.

That one has seen me Feltano knew If I remain here others will soon find me. I will descend to ground level and nullify all remaining hostile personnel.

The expediton commander just gave a double-click on his comm when Feltano passed the news onto him before continuing with his own job, a course of action Feltano thoroughly approved of.

They will see to the successful completion of this resupply landing Feltano decided and I will see to the successful nullification of all hostile forces arrayed against us.

"SHIT!" one contractor called "He took out four of ours before we even saw him!"

"Find him an' bag him" the nearest one replied, before Feltano shot him in the eye and blew his brains all over the one who'd just shouted at him.

"Keep moving!" the survivor called to his fellow contractors "Only way we stay alive is keep moving! Hit him from all angles and we might just get out of this alive!"

Feltano's changed hearing picked this up.

A good plan he decided but one that will not work with me. I can move faster and silently, while they clearly cannot. They have not had the benefit of training with teachers like papa or uncle whisper Scarran or uncle smiley Scarran before leaping right over one car to better cover, then making sure his video link was active and transmitting.


The microt news of the attacks on both Feltano's and Anton's landing sites came through, Harrigan sounded general quarters throughout the Cry Havoc - Red Hand acknowledged the alert, asking if they should retrieve Troll's family and return, but Harrigan told them "No, you're needed more where you are! Since we're on combat alert now, if you feel you gotta act to keep Troll's family safe then you can do that however you like without losing time by calling back for orders!"

"We remain here" Red Hand's captain told his crew over the PA "Attacks are coming against our personnel at other sites, but the War Commander says here is where we should be. This human officer is an ally or a friend of our Commander, so we will retrieve him and only then consider our other options".


Another grenade landed a little off-target - though it did still kill one and wound one more.

They're closing in Anton decided I can't stay here, I have to be more mobile - before four contractors did indeed find him and attempt to shoot him. Anton shot two of those with his pistol before ducking back behind cover to reload - but had to kill the others with his electrical projection once he'd done that, since he didn't even have enough time to raise his pistol again.

We've walked right into the middle of hell one contractor thought as he saw his comrades get electrocuted I never even saw anything this weird back in Desert Storm, or that time I got to go to Iran, and not even that one time we extracted that guy in Israel - but we get sent to redneckville, USA and there's some kinda Terminator that even Arnie himself would have trouble scripting into one of his movies! I'll have to be real careful to get this sorted out without getting dead - I don't want to lose any more of our guys, but if it's them or me I'd rather it ends up being them.

Anton flicked his pistol's trigger to semi-auto to conserve his dwindling ammunition barely a second before every remaining contractor came for him. Anton killed every contractor he could see extremely thoroughly - and while he did have to resort using his fists and feet he didn't go down until the one contractor who'd kept his head down hit him on the back of his head with a sledgehammer from the home improvement section of the store.


Feltano's attackers were having no luck at all. Every minute or so one would scream as they were killed - or simply disappeared altogether.

Once that landing expedition was finished, the soldiers on security duty came to his aid... to find Feltano standing over the last one with his two Kalish knives drawn and dripping blood.

"Twelve attackers" Feltano annnounced softly "None remain alive. I should contact uncle Commander".

"Do that" the Kalish nearest replied, taking the chance to look at someone she had heard of only by shipboard gossip before that day "I believe local residents have called law enforcement, so we should leave as soon as possible".

"The microt our lander's pilot says we are ready" Feltano confirmed, nodding "Then we will board the lander, raise the drop ramps, and return to the Cry Havoc in good order".

It wasn't long before Feltano heard a Scarran call to board the lander, so he nodded once more at the Kalish woman looking at him and said "There - we are to board our lander".

Feltano saw a woman in a suit walk out of the building, but noted she didn't approach - when he had wiped his blades clean and returned them to their scabbards again, he smiled and nodded to her.

"I am sorry for bringing violence to your work" he said in soft English with only a slight Scarran acccent "But those people attacked us and tried to kill or capture us. I could not let them do this".

"Local police are on their way" she replied "But I understand you had to do what you needed to. In this state, we have the right to stand our ground and protect ourselves - so even if someone brings charges against you they won't stick".

Feltano nodded and smiled before briefly showing the ident he'd been issued with before landing - the woman's eyes went wide for a second or two before she nodded and said "I know, I know... if anyone asks, you were nowhere near my Wal-Mart".


"OK, status update..." Jane called "Looks like we had two attacks against our ground teams. Feltano wiped out every last one that came against him, he had a constant A/V link going the whole time - with Anton he did good, but we got his trouble alarm for a bit. If that happened here then I'd say he got snatched".

"I'm gonna find who did that..." Lazarus growled, before bellowing "and FEED THEM THEIR OWN INTESTINES!"

"We'll find out" Harrigan promised, resting a hand briefly on Lazarus' shoulder "We will. We'll find out... we'll get your son back... and we'll hand out retribution of one kind or another. But one thing at a time".

Lazarus grumbled and growled, clearly very angry - but he nodded agreement.

"Yeah, Harrigan..." he murmured "We'll calmly solve our current problems... calmly find out who did this to us... and calmly put their head on a spike outside the White House".

"We'll get Anton back" Jane assured him "...and we'll do bad things to whoever grabbed him. First we gotta get all our stuff stowed away, as well as get a report from Feltano - looks like he got jumped as well".

"I'll go talk to him with his Dad" Lazarus decided "Feltano's got a good eye for detail... maybe we'll learn something useful".


"Get me out of here!" the one contractor who'd survived the encounter with Anton called over his comm as he climbed none too easily back into the one remaining car that could move.

"Did you get what you went for?" someone else asked.

"Yes, I got what I came for!" he shouted back "No one told us we were after some freaking super-Terminator straight from science fiction hell!"

"Calm down and shut up" came the order "Casualties?"

"Everyone except me is dead" the contractor replied "I need extraction! This site needs cleaning up, too - if police find the bodies we'll get questions asked we can't answer!"

"We got people on-site already covered as police forensics" came the reply "Just get yourself the fuck out of there - someone will guide you to the target site once you're clear".

The man swallowed two strong painkillers, then got his car moving.

Gotta drop this car off some place he knew It's been seen. Think we got a contact about twenty minutes out who keeps stuff for us...assuming I am where I think I am...