Karl's grandfather tapped Dargo on the shoulder, placed one finger over his mouth briefly, before asking where the armed police were deployed.

"They got a few over there..." Dargo whispered back, pointing to a portable office "Yep, inside... couple of patrol cars blocking the main road entry, too. I'd say there's a similar setup on the side nearest the town, but I can't tell from here".

"So this is where you are..." a young man hissed, taking a short while to catch his breath "That bag of yours is heavy... just gimme that coat and your AK, I dunno how you can handle that huge gun and still move, especially when you don't have so much as a drop of the blood of the strong ones in you...".

Dargo grinned, slapped his friend on the shoulder, then shrugged his coat off before passing his rifle over as well.

"It's just what I do, Zed..." he told the half-Scarran man "Feels like I'm only carrying half-weight with an AK".

"Quiet..." Karl's grandfather hissed "Dargo, get your ammo pack on now - you're coming in with me at the head of the assault! Zedek, help him".

"Yeah, real good" Dargo murmured - before nodding, grinning, and saying "Feeling properly loaded at last" and dropping the belt in his Kord's receiver before pulling the bolt back and chambering a round.

Karl's grandfather checked the rest of the soldiers, grinned when he saw another Kord with one of the others, before calling "I'll take Dargo to the townside entry...Jefa, take your Kord around with the other half of our force and support their assault. We didn't have time to grab RPGs, even if Olak and the other leadership had authorised them - but that's fine, our Kords should be enough".

"Surprised we haven't seen anyone coming up to see where we are" one of the policemen said to a fellow officer "Surely those... well, I dunno...whoever they are... they know we're here by now, yeah?"

"They know this area, they live here..." their officer replied "I'd say they do know. We had to Google our way here - can't use the locals to reinforce us, we got told too many of them actually like these weird guys we got told about. Can you believe it... our briefing says they believe they have non-human ancestors, they call it having 'blood of the strong ones'. I suppose the only reason they're not all locked up in rubber rooms is there's not enough room in the whole country's psychiatric institutions to house them".

The senior of the pair turned to head back to the site office and get coffee - so he didn't see the flare go up from Karl's grandfather. He did see the answering flare fire from Jefa's side, which made his blood chill. He stood stock-still, turning from side to side as he frantically tried to spot approaching soldiers - when he heard a boot kicking a small stone, he drew breath to shout, calling "INCOMI-" before a loud hammering from Jefa's Kord signalled the opening shots of the battle and almost a dozen 12.7mm bullets ripped across him from hip to shoulder.

None of the police present had counted on facing firepower that heavy - but they did their best to shoot back. Dargo targeted the fuel tank of the police car he could see the most easily, and it only took a short burst before the car exploded.

"CLOSE IN!" bellowed Karl's grandfather in Old Scarran "SWORDS, AXES, HAMMERS! CUT THEM DOWN!"

"Here we gooo!" Dargo replied with a grin of his own - after which he paused briefly to let Olak know the attack had begun before firing a short burst towards several police behind a construction vehicle.

"Oh crap..." a local police officer sighed, at their station's firing range "ERU didn't listen... why'd they have to go and kick this hornet's nest! Yeah, that bunch might be a bit strange but they're harmless - not to mention that there's been a big drop in violent crime around here since we got them helping enforce law around here!"

"There's several in the Storting..." another officer replied, far enough from the first speaker to hide the signs of Scarran ancestry around his collar as well as the very slight ridging on his brow "including the Ministry of Defence... whose opinion of the people of the strong ones is less than helpful...".

"Not so much the ministry" another officer, with a notable Scarran accent and more notable Scarran build, reminded them "but it's well known, even though we've got no proof, that the defence minister maintains close contact with that American senator... I forget his name...".

"I don't know either..." the first officer replied "but he's no friend to them, and he's done precious little for our country as well!"

"Emergency Response Unit personnel reporting coming under fire from automatic rifles and heavy machine guns!" the first officer with Scarran ancestry called, one ear to his radio "No sign of any deaths among their attackers yet, but about a dozen officers are down - and there's several reports of the people of the strong ones closing to melee range and going at the ERU with swords and axes!"

"Target in sight!" Dargo shouted, nodding towards the site office.

Karl's grandfather immediately got on military comms he wasn't supposed to have and called Olak.

"I hear you..." Olak said once he heard the report "Nullify those you must, but take prisoners of those who can't retreat fast enough - I don't know who's giving the orders right now, whether it's Justice or if it's gone to Defence".

"Remember what the American Jack Crichton told us" Karl's grandfather replied "Senator Beasely maintains contacts at some level with that minister - intelligence agency cooperation for counter-terrorism if nothing else. If this is under the minister of defence's control, they'll almost certainly seek at least informal advice from the Senator, no matter what the Prime Minister says".

"I'll call your grandson" Olak decided "The sooner he and our reinforcements arrive, the better".

"Still several hours out!" Karl replied angrily when Olak got through "We're a lot closer than when we last talked, but Pakistan airspace isn't Norway!"

"We can hold First Landing for a while longer, Karl" Olak replied "Our assault goes well - the last report told me the young man Dargo, along with your grandfather, are assaulting the site office where the senior police officers are".

"Good" Karl replied "He is doing well, Olak - both for his own self and for us! Have we made contact with any people of the strong ones in the Army yet?"

"I'll try again once I talk to you, mister" Olak replied, then cut the call.

"Major training exercise at the moment..." a soldier replied in Old Scarran "Gonna be a few before we can get all our people together and leave without senior officers noticing. Even then it's doubtful we'll be able to bring heavy weapons".

"That..." Olak replied, only slightly smug "will be less of a problem - we have soldiers of the strong ones coming in by air. The only problem is their warship is still over Pakistan right now".

"We'll be there to fight alongside people of the strong ones, you can count on that!" the soldier replied far more happily "We're supposed to be down for R&R - but I'll get everyone cleaning their gear, getting more ammo, eating, and getting ready for deployment! We'll get to you one way or another!"

The bellowing roar of Dargo's Kord opening up on full-automatic gave just enough warning for two of the officers in the site office to dive for the floor and cover their ears. Karl's grandfather and two others charged inside as soon as their ears stopped ringing, roughly seizing the remaining officers before dragging them outside and cuffing them at hands and ankles.

"Casualties?" Karl's grandfather asked.

"Three deaths" Jefa replied "Maybe half a dozen injured. You?"

"Maybe a dozen injured, Jef" Dargo replied "No deaths I'm aware of. Get the dead back to HQ?"

"Yes" Karl's grandfather decided when both young adults turned to look at him "Find a utility truck, put the bodies on the tray, get them somewhere safe. Preferably quickly. We should have friends coming, but we have to hold First Landing for maybe three hours with what we have".

After a short while, Harrigan ended up seated beside Israel - he nodded and grinned when he recognise their Prime Minister. Though that man didn't recognise Harrigan, he did nod and smile before suggesting Irregulars visit Israel before they left Earth again.

After the usual opening protocol, the Secretary-General revealed the presence of Harrigan and the Kingdom delegation before inviting them to speak. Trannak gave a detailed explanation of the Kingdom's form of government, along with their current situation in regard to being in exile from the military junta's Hierarchy government.

"We are prepared to receive questions from the floor" Trannak announced "We may not answer all of them... we may not answer in as much detail as some might like... but that is simply due to our own security and classification requirements. Not because we don't like humans".

That qualification got a few smiles from representatives of more than a few countries - after which the questions began.

"Successful capture" Lazarus called as both teams boarded their Reapers "Half his plokking office was on fire and we couldn't stop two guys running out the door with what I'm assuming were hard drives- err, data storage units... but Beasely Junior's ours".

"Maximum security cells" Talannah replied "You will be met on the hammond side flight deck... your prisoner will be secured as tightly as possible until we make contact with the leader of my John's home sector".

"How did those miniplas perform?" Tovak asked when he came on the line "To be honest I didn't know if they were ready for even limited deployment... but we won't find out of they're good or if they're total plok unless we test them".

"They worked nice enough" Judduk explained "but they run too hot for my liking right now. I'd recommend a minimum safety lockout between shots of four microts for the current version, heat dissipation is even worse than our usual portable units".

"Agreed" Shellek added "Power consumption's about what I expected, but heat dissipation is unacceptable for front-line combat units - these weapons need more work".

"OK, so they work..." Tovak thought aloud "but not well. Better than I thought, to be honest".

"Put the screens up and go to max atmo speed" General Tareg ordered the Firewalker's pilot "Reports from the ground suggest that while our allies can hold the site for now, that won't last long if Army units come in with armoured combat vehicles - they don't have larger rockets or our plas-cannons".

"We can't stay cloaked if we do that, General" the copilot reminded Tareg "We'll be detectable".

"An acceptable risk for now" Tareg replied "Do it".

"We've repelled several attacks by police Emergency Response Unit personnel" Karl's grandfather told Olak "over the past hour or two. Dargo and Jefa are doing well, though if you could send more barrels for their Kords along with the food, ammunition, and medical supplies...".

"No more deaths?" Olak asked.

"No..." Karl's grandfather replied "but we've got injured, and we can't get them to a hospital or to one of the military doctors sympathetic to people of the strong ones just yet".

"I'll ask if the strong ones have medical personnel coming with their soldiers" Olak replied "Their officer said he'd ordered their warship to accelerate to flank speed, so with any luck you won't need to make your medical supplies stretch too far".

"We have medical personnel" Tareg replied, once the call got to him "This ship has its duty medical staff, in addition to which we have ... special support... personnel who also have medical skills".

"Good" Karl's grandfather replied "We need them all".

"Minister..." the Emergency Response Unit commander said for the third time "we cannot succeed against the enemy with what we have - they're easily as well-equipped as we are and, considering the remarks I can hear from my own officers from here, more motivated than my personnel as well. I need soldiers to succeed - and, to be honest, armoured vehicles. About the only thing these people don't have right now is anti-armour rockets".

"Tanks?!" the minister of defence asked in astonishment "Really?"

"Leopard 2's and CV-90s" came the immediate reply "Every time we send officers on foot or in light-armoured vans they get beaten back, usually very quickly. The enemy has at least two heavy machine guns with skilled operators".

"The armoured vans you have for police actions won't do?" the Minister asked again.

"Not a hope" the police commander said wearily "We sent in all of them at one time or another - maybe half of them can be repaired, some will have to be junked. Two were wrecked by enemy fire and repurposed by them as improvised fortifications".

"Are you all ready?" a sergeant with barely-visible signs of Scarran ancestry barked at a number of soldiers much like him "Clean weapons? Full canteens? I'll forgive the state of your uniforms right now, as long as everyone's got all their gear".

"What's the rush, sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

"A report from leadership" the sergeant replied, before taking a breath and adding "Emergency Response Unit police have been sent against First Landing. Olak's called for reinforcements. He says soldiers of the strong ones are coming, but he doesn't know when their warship will arrive. Alert status has been upgraded to General Alert level 3".

"Armoury's still locked down after the exercise, sir" one private reminded him "If we know exactly what to get and where it is, we can crash the back wall with a deuce-and-a-half - but we'll have minutes at best to get what we want".

One corporal whispered in the sergeant's ear for a few minutes - when the sergeant nodded and pointed emphatically to the door, they ran off.

"Motor pool" the sergeant replied "Find a truck that's fuelled and working, pack all your shit on board - once the corporal gets back, we grab the last of our gear and haul ass for First Landing".

The corporal's return was not uncontested - but fortunately she was just fast enough to heave the crate of LAW rockets on the truck and climb aboard before MPs caught up.

"We'd better get to First Landing fast" the corporal told everyone "Time's really against us. The colonel was in there talking with the Chief Quartermaster - looks like someone's just got orders we won't like".

After Olak swore for almost a minute in Old Scarran, he found military comms he wasn't supposed to have.

"Good, you didn't lose that" the sergeant told Olak, relieved "If you're using that, police must have shut down landlines and cellphone towers".

"Sitrep, mister?" Olak replied, getting things back on track.

"Good news, I got fifteen with me" the sergeant replied "All our boys an' girls with blood of the strong ones who aren't deployed overseas on peacekeeping missions".

"The bad news?" Olak asked, sure he wasn't going to like this.

"Don't know exactly" the corporal explained, cutting in "But it looks like the police called for support, or the defence minister ordered it in - with what's at our base, that's not going to be good".

"Comms traffic in area of interest" the Firewalker's copilot called.

"Military comm" Karl replied, in the CIC "I'll take it".

"Yes?" Olak asked when he heard the Firewalker linking in.

"Mr Olak!" Karl called "It's just me! We're inbound as fast as we can go inside atmosphere, I'm sure any radar than can see us is going beserk right about now... ".

"We've got soldiers coming in" Olak interrupted "but those soldiers are fairly sure a minister authorised tanks to be sent. Our anti-armour capability right now, mister, is you".

"ETA?" Karl shouted across the CIC - when the result came back, Olak rumbled and replied "That might just be enough".

"I hear you..." Harrigan said quietly into his comm, watching Trannak field questions from various countries' representatives at the UN "Gen'ral T's doing good here. Do what you gotta do, General... big man L can send you air support if you need it - try and find out who authorised tanks, I want to know if it connects back to our current problems here in the States. Issues in Norway are one thing, issues in the States are one thing, both issues turning up at the same time is a bit more than coincidental I feel".

"I'm going to drop Karl solo, I think" Tareg told Harrigan "He can go in first, sort out immediate issues groundside and making sure we can safely land the rest of our soldiers. Once we're landed I'll sort out making sure local forces never mess with the Kingdom again".

"Copy that, big man" Harrigan replied "Gotta go, looks like the General's about to take a curve-ball...".

"Looks like there's a chopper up there, Mr Olak..." Dargo called in "but every time I send a few rounds its way it dances around 'em or backs off - whoever's flying that thing's good".

Several people in the bar of the Kingdom Hotel wondered what was happening when Olak smiled, then rumbled briefly - before two machetes and a rifle flew towards him seemingly of their own accord, dropping into place in scabbards and around his shoulder neatly and precisely.

"Obold, you got the bar!" Olak shouted "I got work to do..." before he grinned nastily and got in his car.

"Massive pressure sink just appeared out of nowhere!" Firewalker's CIC told the pilot and copilot "Clouds went from almost nonexistent to tempest-grade black in momens... looks like lightning...".

"Karl...?" General Tareg asked, smiling a little "Is there something you're not telling me about?"

Karl just grinned for a few microts before telling him "Mr Olak has come to fight with us, General... I don't know what the Scarran people call the abilities he has - but a cycle or two ago he used to make money on the side making it rain in third-world desert countries or making sure international sports matches got rained out on demand" and explaining a little more clearly.

Tareg grinned and laughed before telling him "Your Mr Olak is a storm lord, Mr Karl... a mentalist skilled in weather manipulation! A strong one if he can keep a tempest like that under control, too!"

"I see it too..." Kasan Rybak told Kurth, grinning as much as General Tareg "I would not have picked a human to have what it takes to be like me..." before he scanned the First Landing site and added"but it looks like the mentalist down there is a powerful, but self-taught, storm lord... and a hybrid of human and Scarran bloodlines. He's holding it together for now, but he's reaching his limits and holding it together by brute willpower - I should go and help him before it gets out of control".

"Go" urged Kurth "We will stay here... but should we be needed, call us in".

"Shit, shit, shit!" the police helicopter pilot called over his own comm, wrestling with the controls and trying not to crash into a building "Storm came up out of nowhere, I can't hold it here!"

Communications quality was horrible by then, but the officers on the ground saw the trouble their helicopter was in and one waved it off - when the helicopter left in a far from straight course, a loud "O-LAK! O-LAK! O-LAK!" came from the Kingdom forces at First Landing, in English.

"Yeah!" Dargo called happily, watching Olak float about fifteen feet above the ground - sparks were coming off his hair and clothes, and even Dargo could tell Olak was using all the willpower he had to both control the storms and keep the major part of the wind away from his own forces.

Good Olak decided My people appreciate my skills, they like that I am willing to support them and show what the blood of the strong ones can do through me. I have not tried to call up weather this strong before, it is very hard to control - but for my people's sake, control it I must.

"Slowing to 0.2 atmo..." the Firewalker's pilot called, adding "Launch, launch!" as soon as his instruments showed he'd slowed down enough for Karl to take off.

Karl gave it all the speed he could manage, flying out of the aft flight deck entry at considerable speed for almost a mile before managing to slow enough to make a wide turn and find the First Landing site. That wasn't hard, since it was the centre of a small but vicious rain and lightning storm by that point - Karl tried scanning for heat patterns, and as soon as he found something outside the site, he activated his own comm, found Olak's frequency, and called "I see you, Mr Olak - well done! I see light armoured vehicles, two CV90 IFVs, approaching First Landing - I will destroy them, Mr Olak! I need you to make sure no-one tries to fire on me as I approach!"

"Good..." Olak replied, clearly under great stress "Can't talk much... so hard... very hard... good to know you came... " before he growled and the call cut out.

Karl's grandfather also heard the call, calling "Grandson - you are here! Thanks to Olak, it's absolutely ballistic rainfall right now-"

"I have two CV-90s to get rid of, grandfather" Karl interrupted "Fighting first, talk second".

"I see them, grandson" Karl's grandfather said "Try and approach from the coastal side, weather's even worse that side - you are airborne, yes?"

"You'll soon see..." Karl laughed, before switching to Kingdom frequencies and calling "Final approach, preparing for attack run... seeing two battle transports of type CV-90... closing in...".

Karl slowed down barely enough not to get caught in the backwash from his flaming breath - he turned his head slightly, then breathed fire as he swept over both CV-90s, covering them both in napalm. One crashed into a power pole and another came to a hard stop before safety panels blew out and spat the turret ten yards off to one side.

A loud roar of approval came from the First Landing site, but all the CV-90 crews could do was try to bail out of their burning vehicles before something else exploded and took them with it.

"Fire, fire, fire!" one driver screamed over his portable radio as he fought to escape through his entry hatch "Something flew over the top of us an' dumped a load of napalm on us! We're lucky we didn't all get fried or blown up - as it is, Bravo's in pieces all over the road!"

"Get the fuck out!" came the immediate and static-laden reply.

"Oh shit, it's coming back!" a voice screamed as Karl bled off speed and turned around to do target assessment "Run for it!"

"No one's going anywhere!" Karl bellowed "As of now... any of you who are alive can consider yourselves prisoners of the Scarran Kingdom!" before breathing a short blast of fire across the road to cut off their escape - at about the same time an Army truck approached at a highly unsafe speed before coming to a halt and making sure it wasn't on fire as well.

"Welcome to First Landing, Bjorn!" Karl called happily when he saw the man he knew stick his head out of the back "Get these prisoners on board that truck, there's work to do!"

Several very wet soldiers climbed out and hauled the injured vehicle crewmen onto the truck at gunpoint, after which the other CV-90 exploded as well.

~Mr Olak~ Kasan Rybak called as he rephased into normal space at First Landing ~I am what you know as a man of the strong ones, a Scarran - and I have the same skills you have! You are doing well... but I can clearly tell you are pushing yourself too far. For your own safety and that of the others here, let me help you~

~((surprise, relief))~ Olak replied, once he focussed enough for basic communications telepathy ~thanks = ((Reinforcements - mental image denoting ground forces)), thanks = ((Reinforcements - mental image of himself)) - thanks/all feelings of willpower strained close to breaking point~

Kasan Rybak came into full view of all at First Landing, naming himself and calling "I am a man of the strong ones, the Scarran people! I am here to help you and to guide your specialist Olak with his skills!" before going back to communicating with Olak mentally and gently and slowly taking control of the weather mentalism from him.

~I can handle this ~ Kasan Rybak told Olak ~You have clearly overextended yourself, Mr Olak - eat, drink, rebuild your energy. If you are to fight with your mentalism, you need more liquids and vitamins and minerals - you need food and drink! insistence~

Olak lowered himself to the ground as carefully as he could - where Dargo immediately slung his Kord and dragged him to safety behind a construction vehicle.

"Sit back, big man" Dargo encouraged him "Eat something... I know it's rations, but it's better than nothing...".

Dargo caught a soft ~thanksrelief at the presence of food~ before Olak made his way through the three MREs he had plus two more from other soldiers.

"Karl?" Dargo asked in surprise, when he saw Karl's gigantic changed body.

"Yes, Dargo - it is me" Karl replied, grinning "though you haven't seen me for some years now, mister. Looks like you got some live-fire practice in before I got here".

"Just a bit" Dargo replied "Jefa's been doing good, too. As for all this shit going down... we'll be good for now, unless we get anything bigger than those things you just incinerated coming after us - speaking of which, how did you do that?"

Karl laughed before giving a sanitised version of that - Dargo grumbled about the details being classified, but seemed interested about more Scarrans coming, especially about getting to see low-caste Scarrans.

"Mom told me a bit about those, years ago" Dargo explained "Remember, I told you a while back?"

"Several came to retrieve me as I was being taken back for court-martial" Karl replied "Scarran medical technology saw to the full healing of my injuries, after which classified military technology saw to my... upgrades".

"Better..." Olak whispered, getting slowly back to his feet to a roar of appreciation from the other soldiers "I was told... reinforcements would be coming, Karl. Where are they? Is it just you?"

"The Firewalker is close by" Karl replied "I was allowed to drop first to clear up any immediate problems and arrange a dropzone for reinforcements"

"What about the other man?" Olak asked "The one helping with my special abilities?"

"I don't know about him" Karl admitted "General Tareg might know, and if he doesn't our War Commander will. General Tareg has a few tricks of his own, you'll like him".

"Both CV-90s were destroyed, minister" the senior police officer reported over the phone "The... whoever they are... clearly received some kind of air support, which gave time for a military truck carrying allies of theirs to make an uncontested entry. I don't yet know if it contained armed civilians or defectors from our own army".

"Keep trying" came the minister's response "I'll try and make contact with the man who... brought this to my attention. I'll get back to you when I find out anything new".

It's quite clear now he was very selective with the information he gave me the minister of defence decided, none too pleased Whether he knew more than me or not, I'm not going to risk my position for an American, no matter how important this one thinks he is.

"For the hundredth time… NO" Harrigan told the entire UN assembly "I've watched Babylon 5 on TV, I know how that goes… pass over medical data on a species, and ten minutes later it gets turned into biological weapons!"

It took almost twenty minutes for even the US Ambassador to call their support staff and figure out what Harrigan meant.

"I don't mind sharing a little info on some things" Harrigan added while politician's brains were slowly getting up to speed "Some things. Try shit like that again and I won't be so easy to please".

"You have not given the United States any data like that?" the Chinese ambassador asked.

"They're not too happy about being left out in the cold with the rest of you, either" Harrigan replied, shaking his head and trying not to laugh his head off "Oh, I'll figure out something nice to give them… but I'll rack my brains for something useful everyone can use…"

"Firewalker approaching target zone…" Karl heard as the injured were being attended to "General Tareg's selecting troops to drop".

"I need you to look at an area of ground close by…" Tareg told Karl "large enough to hold twenty troops plus support personnel in loose formation. Once that's done, I can deploy reinforcements to your First Landing site by mentalism".

"Just a microt…" Karl replied, striding across the ground "Here, right in front of the construction foreman's site office. Might be tight, the ground's none too flat now either – but it's the best we have".

Tareg used his hypersense to get a relative position for a drop site as soon as Karl held his deadlock in for more than three microts.

"STAND UP!" he shouted, on the drop deck with a number of arctic-world Bloodstars "GET READY! STAND BY FOR UNCONVENTIONAL DEPLOYMENT!"

"Clear the area!" Karl shouted, waving his arms back and forth "No one goes near the foreman's office or the area immediately in front of it! Soldiers of the strong ones are preparing to deploy to that location by special means!"

That got everyone turning toward the vacant ground, wondering what real Scarrans would be like – even Olak did so, once he made sure Kasan Rybak didn't need help.

~Mr Olak~ Tareg called by mentalism when Karl looked at him ~I am General Tareg, and I bring reinforcements to assist in the defence of the First Landing site. I am a mentalist, though not one like you… you will see one thing I can do when our troops deploy to the vacant ground in front of you~

~anticipationrelief~ Olak replied ~Deployment/mentalism queryinterest~ before he grinned and added ~mental image of people appearing out of thin air~

~Correct! approvalpraise~ Tareg replied ~Watch and see!~

Kasan Rybak turned as he felt the effect of a translocation event, and grinned when Tareg and the other Bloodstars appeared right in front of them along with a number of support personnel and some equipment. Everyone close by cheered and shouted their approval until Tareg called for quiet and the presence of military leaders.

"That would be me…" Olak called "and Karl's grandfather over there".

"Good, good" Tareg said "I'm General Tareg of the Kingdom's Bloodstar Corps, and I lead this detachment from the Scarran Kingdom. The Scarran species, my species, is the one you know as the people of the strong ones. We have troopers of both castes of Scarran here… in case it's not obvious, I'm a low-caste Scarran. Normally our people don't like weather as cold as Karl tells me is common in this sector… the pale colouring of our troopers here shows them to be naturally adapted to this level of cold and worse. There are twenty troopers here with me, plus support staff with anti-air weapons – the support staff need people to help them deploy their systems, I need three to go with each team".

Once people were moving, Olak welcomed the Scarran soldiers and General Tareg more formally.

"To be honest…" Tareg said "I did not think we would find mentalists here. Even with people of straight bloodlines, the occurrence of mentalism of any kind and strength is not high at all".

"It is good to see another" Olak agreed, nodding "The other one… the one floating and keeping what I started under control… he is with you?"

"Not entirely… Tareg replied with a slight grin "An ally, of a sort – he knows some of our friends. I haven't seen him before myself… but our War Commander knows him and the others with him".

Kasan Rybak lowered himself to the ground, flexing his legs slightly as his feet touched the hard-pack dirt before walking slowly over to General Tareg.

~Yes, of course I can hear you~ Tareg told Kasan Rybak ~The War Commander described you but admitted he has only seen you once. He has seen a small number of others he says you travel with regularly named Kurth, Nashikk, Sholah, and Thoa… those names are familiar enough for me to realise you are the First Five, the founding members of Black Omega~

~We are confirmation~ Kasan Rybak replied ~I am not as …popular… as the others, but as humans say I was in the right place at the right time. While I am a storm lord, as I'm sure you can tell… I am not just a mentalist…~

~Hah ((laughter))~ Tareg replied, smiling a little at the familiar Scarran posturing ~Neither am I, since we're onto that topic! I doubt there are any like us here…. But I'm sure they would like to see us stonechange anyway. Perhaps you might even find women of the local Scarran bloodlines willing to thank you for your arrival…~

Kasan Rybak laughed at that, after which everyone not involved in helping support staff or watching for police reinforcements gathered with Olak and Karl's grandfather, watching Kasan Rybak and General Tareg.

"The General here is a low-caste Scarran…" Kasan Rybak explained "like a number of those helping you now. Both he and I have skills similar to those your leader Olak used to provide weather control… what you may not know is that there are a number of rarer subtypes of Scarran, and that the General and I are of one of these subtypes. Our subtype is called stonewalker – stonewalkers have a little mentalism, what some people call special or unconventional skills, but the source of our subtype's name is something else entirely, which the General and I will demonstrate for you now…" – after which he stonechanged.

Kasan Rybak's stoneform was an unusual one and he knew it, so he strode back and forth once the loud cheers had subsisded so people could see.

"I am what the Scarran people call a storm lord" he explained "Your friend Olak here is a storm lord as well. When a storm lord can do what I did just now, they are a stormwalker – a stonewalker with weather manipulation mentalism. There are many kinds of mentalism – some which your friend Olak can do, some more of which I can do, and more which neither of us can do".

"Even Mom or Dad never saw a Scarran do that" Dargo called, looking up at Kasan Rybak "an' they seen more than a few of your lot in their travels".

Kasan Rybak bent down to look at Dargo more clearly – Dargo twitched a bit when Kasan Rybak scanned him with active hypersense, after which he asked "You heard of me? I must be famous…"

"You are Dargo Sun-Crichton" Kasan Rybak replied "I and the rest of the Five know your parents. Both of them are on a large warship which is currently in orbit around this world. The General here is one of the senior officers on that ship".

When Dargo looked at him, Tareg nodded – once he saw everyone else was watching him as well, he rumbled a bit in resigned acceptance of the situation before stonechanging as well. He did smile when he felt the excited and approving edge of people's surface thoughts and feelings.

"More of a squatty than big blue over here" Dargo decided "Can you do that thunder an' lightning stuff too?"

"I am a more classical kind of stonewalker…" Tareg told Dargo, before lifting him off the ground several fenches until his feet were at most people's head level "I lift things and move things and can, as one of our crew would say, 'talk in people's heads'. I am good at those things, I don't need to do other things like Kasan Rybak does".

"Olak does the talking thing too" Dargo replied before looking around – when someone shook their head, he turned back and added "First time I seen him do this stuff this much, though".

"Giant walking statues…" a soldier called to one of the Emergency Response Unit officers over their radio "Really? You've all lost it so bad that you started making stuff up? Well, even mythical walking statues are going to have a hard time standing up to tanks – we could only get two heading your way before politics got in the way, but two should be enough to handle anything your local fruitcakes have to throw around. Keep 'em distracted for maybe half an hour and we may even be able to get two more to you".

Dargo did have to remind Tareg several times to put him down, and a few more to stop turning him around in several directions when people asked more about his mentalism – but eventually he settled down again after his feet were back on the ground and he'd drank more water.

"Over here!" he called when he saw someone come from the back of a truck with an ammunition box "Pack's almost run dry! Got any twelve in there?"

"Oh, there you are" a slightly worse for wear Zedek replied "Yeah, just sit still, I'll load your pack if you stop wriggling around and sit down!"

Tareg smiled a little and just lifted Zedek by mentalism – the young man was extremely surprised, but once he'd stopped asking questions he added "Just don't drop me, it's hard enough loading D's pack when he's wearing it as it is".

He did vomit once his feet touched the ground again, but not very much.

The large trucks hauling the tanks made surprisingly good time in reaching First Landing, but while the soldiers with them did look for hostile aircraft they couldn't see through Firewalker's cloaking shield.

"Let's see what our new recruit can do…" the Captain said with a laugh "Advise Trooper Torvald and General Tareg that enemy armour approaches. Those vehicles will have to do, it seems, for an introductory heavy weapons test…"

"I hear you" Tareg replied when comms got through "We can't see them yet, and I don't know what locally produced armoured combat vehicles look like so it'll take too long to find them by hypersense. I'll get everyone deployed and ready – one of the locals should know when armour arrives even if none of us do".

"Dargo is here?!" Aeryn said, very surprised, when Harrigan told her.

"Yeah, looks like it" he replied "Not entirely sure why, but if I had to guess I'd say it's due to the father of our latest prisoner poking his nose where it's not welcome. Jack would have known he'd need to be moved somewhere safe – I'd not have guessed he knew Karl, though. I'll talk to him about that later, they got fighting to do right now".

"Normally I would go with Crichton's usual 'run and hide' response" Aeryn replied, clearly far from happy 'but for once in our lives we have numbers on our side. I will not let our son go to battle without guidance, Crichton – I will not".

"Hearin' ya, babe" Crichton replied "Didn't think you'd be on board with kill and maim right now, even if junior D's down there – last time we got stuck into a major war alongside big H you started wobbling on the rails a bit".

"I did not 'wobble on the rails'!" Aeryn shouted back "Any soldier might become subject to post-battle stress – human or not! I may not want to go to a major battle, but here and now my own preferences do not matter and neither do yours – our son needs us!"

"Aeryn…" Dargo added "Shouting at Crichton isn't going to help matters. If we are going to go and help your son, we need to find transport now – or get Amara to deploy us the quick way".

"Moya hears and understands" Pilot replied once Dargo updated him on current events "She also says to tell you that even if she sent a transport pod to you, you would not arrive at your son's location in time to assist him. If the War Commander has ways to deploy you with greater speed, you will need to use them".

"I am here, Crichton" Amara said once the call was transferred to her "I can deploy you by mentalism to your son's location. Should I deploy you and your mate only, or will all of Moya's crew be going with you?"

"Looks like Chi wants to go" Crichton replied "Big D, as usual…even Sputnik's not objecting to lending a hand. Better leave Jool here, someone's gotta keep Ryg out of trouble".

Dargo was pleased to see his namesake on the ground with him, the ladies too – he grinned when Sikozu gave her usual very slight bow, adding "Yeah I made sure the gun's lubed, yeah I got more ammo, no the barrel's not overheated an' cracked – just got a new one".

"Good" Sikozu replied with a nod "You should always remember to consider the essential tasks of maintaining your personal equipment, Dargo Sun-Crichton – for your comrades' sakes if not your own. Others depend on you and trust you with their lives".

"I see you haven't changed a bit, auntie Chi!" Dargo laughed when Chiana almost leaped at him to hug him "Better not do that too much though, Jefa won't be too happy about it".

"Who?" Aeryn asked suspiciously.

"You have a mate?" Sikozu asked "Where is she? What is she like? Is she a human or another species? Is she here?"

"You found yourself a girl, son?" Crichton asked.

Dargo grinned even more widely, before bellowing in slightly coarse Old Scarran for Jefa to come. Aeryn was very surprised to hear her son speak any dialect of Scarran and said so, but Dargo wasn't in any condition to answer due to Jefa wrapping her arms around him and kissing him passionately for several minutes.

Crichton just grinned and clapped, Chiana as well – Sikozu looked more closely at Jefa, while Aeryn almost screamed at her son for being intimate with someone even slightly Scarran.

"Calm down, mom!" Dargo urged, his left hand resting on the barrel of Jefa's Kord to stop her trying to shoot Aeryn "For plok's sake, the way you reacted I'd have thought half a dozen carriers just arrived!"

"Cool it, love…" Crichton added, trying to soothe his wife "I'd not have picked it either – but he's old enough to make his own decisions. Especially about this. We'll talk to him once the bullets stop flyin-"

Crichton's attempt at mediating a family dispute was promptly interrupted by someone on sentry duty calling "Incoming! We got a tank!"

"Everyone, into position!" Olak shouted "Looks like someone called for military support – but we have people of the strong ones, we have Scarrans, with us! We have species allied with the strong ones present!"

"Jefa…" Karl told the young lady with the second Kord "Go with grandfather and General Tareg to the second gate! Dargo will stay here and support the defence of this gate! Anything that can't be handled by the two of you will be dealt with by me and by the General!"

Aeryn's anger at her son being in a relationship with even a half-Scarran slowly started to cool down when she saw Jefa obeying orders and paying serious attention to her responsibilities.

"Can we fortify the site more than we have already done?" Aeryn asked Olak, putting aside the fact he was half-Scarran "Will more armoured vehicles be sent? Have infantry been deployed as well?"

Olak paused to scan the area with his own hypersense, which Aeryn appreciated but didn't like, before saying "I'd say they'll send the armour in first and let the infantry follow, using the tank as cover. I still haven't seen any more than one tank, which worries me… on Earth they usually move in units of four…".

"Keep the others out of sight" an officer told a number of other tank crews "We'll see how this lot react to seeing one tank… but just in case we get an opportunity to move, I want everyone ready to move at a moment's notice! The infantry will be walking up behind us until we get close and they can make their move without getting lit up by those heavy machine guns".

"Weird lookin' guy up front" the first tank's commander called back "Seriously… he looks like he's made of rock or somethin'. Fuckin' huge, whatever he is. Standing just off to the side of the road – but he can see us, just not done anything ye- what the hell?"

Tareg laughed, lifting the tank by mentalism until it was almost ten metres in the air – where he squeezed it a little before ripping it into almost a dozen pieces, which he let fall to the ground, accompanied by loud cheers from the rest of the local personnel.

"What the hell's going on?!" the platoon commander shouted, visibly scared "Anyone still alive with unit one?"

"Not looking back to find out!" a soldier replied "Whoever that freak is, he just did some bad juju on the tank and ripped it up like tinfoil along with everyone in it! Hope you got another plan, we're not getting in that way as long as he can see us coming!"

"OK, that's the way they want it that's the way they get it" the platoon commander decided "We go in, we go in fast – and we flatten anyone or anything in our way. If you see any more big rock people like unit one did, then you light 'em up with any guns that hurt them till they drop – I'll decide what excuse to put in the report later".

"Looks like we're taking a break for now" Harrigan whispered to General Tareg, via the Havoc's shorter range comm "Looks like you're having all the fun right now, too".

Tareg sent Harrigan pictures through Amara – Harrigan smiled and said "Leopard 2 tank, weighs maybe 6.5 kilounits or so – it's not new, but they're still good. Or at least it was till you grabbed that one".

"Nowhere near as heavy as a Scorpion" Tareg replied "But then humans don't have the technology to manafacture armoured vehicles powered by nuclear reactors yet from what you told us before".

"Dunno if anyone's even tried, to be honest" Harrigan replied "Only nuke vehicles here right now are submarines – about as big as a destroyer most of the time, though they need more crew than we'd use. Only a few countries can even make those".

"Got a sentry" the gunner in the lead tank called "Sittin' on top of an overturned excavator – think he's got a Kord with him, so no one stick their heads out up top. No need to find out he's good enough to blow your heads off with that huge Russian monstrosity".

"Load HE" his commander replied "Fire when ready".

Dargo Junior didn't wait to get blown up – he hurled himself off the top of the overturned vehicle he was on just before the shell blew a crater in the ground and a hole in the fencing some distance behind him.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he shouted "Plok, that hurt – I didn't land on top of my gun, did I?"

"It appears functional" one of two Kalish present guessed "A medical professional is with us – stay where you are, they will assist you".

"Gimme some painkillers, I got work to do" Dargo Junior insisted.

The Kalish doctor nonetheless scanned him, thought for a few microts, before ordering him out of his pack and body armour so he could provide temporary care – after which, against orders, Dargo pulled his armour and pack back on and hobbled off to find a better position.

"Karl!" Olak shouted "Over to you! Show our enemy that the technology and blood of the strong ones is too much for them to handle!"

"Something just took off" a police helicopter pilot called "Can't tell what from here – I get any closer an' that guy on the machine gun tries to get us again".

"I see three!" Karl called on Kingdom comm "Going to show them the main guns, how about that…".

"Tell us about it later, big man!" Troll cut in excitedly "I ain't seen you try those on anything real yet!"

The second the tank's gunners saw Karl coming, they fired – one round missed, but the other two explosive rounds hit and knocked him to the ground, winded and suffering minor damage but very much alive.

"Reload! Reload!" the platoon commander called "Blow that guy to tiny bits before we find out if he's armed with anything better than that napalm stuff he fried the CV-90s with!"

"Nice try!" Karl bellowed, grinning "Not good enough! Not EVEN CLOSE!" before climbing and coming around to attack position.

"Trooper Torvald to Firewalker…" Karl called over comm "Starting attack run with plas-cannon… if you can get this on video, Doc Nrakal will probably want it for the archive. Don't know if you're getting a feed from my target-tracker uplink or if this stuff stops my PDA from passing it on – add it if it comes through".

A lot of machine gun fire came Karl Torvald's way, and a good deal of it hit him since he was making sure he could hit with his cannons rather than avoid enemy fire – but none of it got through his carapace or head-shield.

"In range…" he called "and firing…" before unleashing a dozen blasts from all four guns.

"SCATTER!" the platoon commander screamed, shortly before one shot took the back off the turret he was sitting in and another blew the tank's engine and most of its rear end to pieces.

Five shots hit another tank from front to back right down the centreline, and it was a miracle the ammunition store under the turret wasn't hit. What was left of that tank came to a rapid and untidy stop after which all of the crew bailed out before their luck got any worse.

The last tank only took one hit, but that shot hit just below the turret and hit the ammunition store, blowing the entire tank to pieces.

"Jack-in-the-box" called Karl on Olak's comm "Not going to collect prisoners unless anyone really wants me to".

"I cannot believe what I am hearing…" the defence minister hissed into his phone "That bunch of deluded fools managed to destroy four of our tanks and kill enough of our soldiers and police that the rest won't go without more support than we can commit without a declaration of war?"

"ERU took heavy losses" someone on the other end of the line confirmed "The Army lost four tanks, two CV-90s, and a number of infantry from stray blasts from that thing that opened up on us. Right now we're just trying to find out who's still alive. We're pretty sure they took at least a few prisoners early on".

"Get your men back" came the reply "and return to barracks. I'll take care of the rest of this – and since I can hear what I can only assume are police outside my office, you'd better get started".

"We thank you for agreeing to release details of something useful to the entire world" Germany's ambassador told Harrigan "even if it's not what some of my colleagues would have preferred. Many here are concerned about environmental degradation, especially that caused by people...".

"Personally I think the whole caused-by-people part is horseshit" Harrigan replied bluntly, making more than a few diplomats cringe "At least as it concerns climate change. Doesn't mean there's no room to clean up your act, though – that's why you get the good stuff for recyclable biofuel. It should work with engines you already have… but I'll consider sweetening the pot with technical goodness for high-performance multifuel turbines – those things can swallow pretty much anything and still run".

"The chair recognises the kingdom of Saudi Arabia" the secretary-general called, nodding to another diplomat as they raised a hand.

"My own nation..." he announced "as well as several others in this assembly… are concerned that this new technology may harm our national economies beyond acceptable levels".

"You're all oil producers, I know that" Harrigan replied, nodding "Look at it this way… rather than getting upset about this stuff tipping over your applecart, look at it this way – you already have a lot of skilled workers who can make the fuel. Your countries and companies can get on board with all this way ahead of anyone else and make a big fat pile of cash in the process – making fuel, making engines, whatever looks good to your movers an' shakers back home. Your economy's gonna change a bit, sure… but you'll still be the big men in your respective neighbourhoods, that ain't gonna change".

Quiet murmurs went back and forth between a number of countries' representatives involved in oil production, especially those in the Middle East.

The US representative whispered into her phone for quite a few minutes, something Harrigan saw but kept to himself, before raising her hand for recognition.

"It won't meet with universal acceptance in the United States any more than it does here, Mr Harrigan" she said "The President is prepared to accept this if your people advise our companies currently invested in oil production how to get started with the new technology".

"He wants the big oil guys to donate at the next election, I get that" Harrigan replied, a few subdued smiles coming from some of the other diplomats "OK… it looks like this is what we got. Everyone gets the basic instruction manual on the fuel and the best engines – but the US gets a little one-on-one help to get domestic production up and running a little ahead of schedule".

Harrigan and Trannak both looked around as this news sunk in with the various ambassadors.

"Generally good" Trannak whispered in Old Scarran when Harrigan asked his opinion "If you wish to stick to the original plan to release this information to all, I suggest doing so on computer networks throughout this world concerned with business and trade and not relying solely on governments".

"Gonna talk to a couple of people about that when we break here" Harrigan confirmed "Some of the more sceptical can then check what we put on the internet with what they got given, which should stop them going mental too much".

TR Holt nodded and murmured as he watched the recording of General Lazarus' troopers into CIA headquarters at Langley again at his own office in Fort Meade.

They moved fast but with care he decided Audio suggests that personnel of more than one species were present – though most were of the species identified as 'Scarran'

TR Holt was surprised when he saw miniplas weapons in action breaching the thicker doors.

Heat bloom he decided when he saw how that registered on suit cameras I know little enough about energy weapons, but making such things small enough to be carried by soldiers won't be without cost at some point – these aliens may be able to manafacture portable energy weapons but even they can't do so faultlessly.

He did smile very briefly when he saw Beasely Junior frantically trying to destroy sensitive information before he was captured.

He's not completely stupid, then TR Holt decided I doubt Harrigan and his aliens have much concern for US intelligence gathering, whether domestically or overseas, but Beasely Junior clearly didn't want to take chances and leave any means for Harrigan's people to find out anything they shouldn't. He'll likely lose his clearance and his current position because of all this, there's no way I can see to get around that – but we might just be able to find a reason to hide him somewhere until the current administration is out of office and there's no one left who remembers this mess.

Beasely Senior soon found out his son had been captured from his office and promptly contacted as many people that he knew who might know anything about it.

"Langley AFB was down" came one officer's explanation "No comms, no radar, no nothing for several hours. By the time we got everything back whoever bagged your son was long gone".

"I'm going to see if anything came out of the White House signals office" Beasely eventually decided "No one at Langley or Fort Meade has a clue".

It might be connected to me trying to capture one of the aliens for study he thought after a minute or two but considering how much influence Harrigan has built up over such a short period I won't be able to move against him without more evidence than I have right now.

The Norwegian defence minister was not, as it happened, greeted by police – but by three men in suits.

Ministerial staff? he thought, surprised Could be so much worse, but I suppose the Prime Minister wants to find out the depth of my involvement in this mess for damage control. If I can avoid revealing my connection with that American senator, Beasely, then I will – the longer it takes for the Prime Minister to find out about that, the longer the senator has to secure his own position in Washington as well.

"Minister" one announced "Come with us, please. The Prime Minister needs to speak with you on a matter of some urgency".

"Sitrep?" Olak asked.

"There's still some soldiers out there" one of the Bloodstars replied "but so far no one looks like they've prepared to move. I'd say whoever's now in command is waiting for orders".

"Sooner or later they'll at least ask for us to return the prisoners we took during the battle" Karl's grandfather added "It's not like we need them for anything, not really – I'd suggest we resist long enough for them to think they had to really work to get them back, then we can escort maybe… one truck?… in here to pick them up"

"These are known criminals?" Sturk asked the DEA agents as a number of people were being handcuffed "They are wanted for questioning over serious crimes?"

"We can't put names to faces for all of them" the reluctant reply came "But SAC is pretty sure one of those you turned into mister crispy critter, plus that one over there with the tattoo on his left arm, are from some cartel or other – I don't know which one, I'm just here to make up numbers. My usual area is domestic stuff, there's more than enough for me to do there".

"Do you want to deal with these under sector law?" Sturk asked, Troll standing close behind while Tabitha and a Kalish stood at the door of a Stryker "I have White House authority to use Kingdom law if that makes things easier..."

"Nah" the lead agent decided "We should be good – to get the ones we got names for, anyway. It'll take a little while, but we should be able to roll up their local contacts without too much trouble".

"An update from General Tareg, Dad!" Tabitha shouted "He says their situation has been resolved positively if not completely".

"Unless you need us, then..." Troll said "and unless Sturk's got other stuff for us to do… looks like we got somewhere to be".

"We got this" the agent replied, grinning "Thanks for the support, all of ya".

"Tab, get us airborne" Troll told his daughter as soon as he and Sturk were aboard and the hatch was sealed "Let's get airborne and go see Norway a bit, yeah? How's that sound?"

"We will do that" the Kalish, now sitting in the copilot's seat, replied "We will do it now" - after which Tabitha fed in power slowly and the Stryker took off slowly before increasing speed and heading approximately north-east to Norway.

"I am not pleased that you went behind my back..." Prime Minister Solberg told her defence minister "not to mention that you didn't even seek parliamentary approval for that adventure… which ended up costing us a very high price indeed in both materiel and people. Our ambassador at the UN says despite this, the visitors' leader – their War Commander - is still prepared to include Norway among the nations being given access to the new things he has decided to make available to human people".

"Why did you intervene in this situation?" the minister for Justice snapped "From what local police tell me, we have a measure of goodwill with these people – or at least we did! What we have now I don't know!"

"Assuming these people really are nonhuman, or even halfbreeds as you claim they are" the defence minister replied sceptically "then why should we surrender any authority to them for anything? They are- well, when it comes down to it their interests are not entirely our nation's interests, they are not like us".

"Ah, so that's the problem" Prime Minister Solberg replied "Your xenophobia overrides our nation's need to make a good impression with these people. I would not have thought non-human people would choose our country to establish themselves in… but they have, or it appears so".

One of the other ministers whispered to her briefly, after which she said "Your status will be determined in the next Cabinet meeting – until then, try not to drag our nation's name through the mud any more than you already have".

"This new technology is interesting, Mr Harrigan" Israel's Prime Minister said, once the UN assembly had recessed for dinner "If suitable fuel crops can be grown in Israel, and this material suggests that they can, we should do well with it".

"Your lot got a pretty big green movement, yeah" Harrigan replied "Dunno if this will help get 'em behind you for the next election, but it might".

"It means we won't be so dependent on foreign oil" the Prime Minister replied, nodding "A more energy-independent Israel is a safer Israel. We have some nuclear power, yes… but if we use these kinds of engines to power our non-nuclear facilities then we should not have such a ...backlash… of public opinion as we would if we built more reactors".

"Fewer problems if Hezbollah starts firing rockets at stuff again, too" Harrigan replied once he was sure the Iranian ambassador was safely outside hearing range.

"Have you given any thought to visiting my country, Mr Harrigan?" the Prime Minister asked "I have been told one of our people was with you, some time ago… perhaps you, or a small number of your appointed representatives, might like to see the country that sent them to you?"

"We'll sort something out about that, sure" Harrigan grinned "I'm pretty sure I know who told you about that, too… I'll have a quick word with them if they're not busy, I think… maybe take a quick tour along your northern border… who knows, we'll figure that out later. Might even be able to see to it that you get a tour of the ship, how about that?"

"Incoming vehicle!" one of the Bloodstars shouted "Neatly presented… quite large… looks like someone important is coming".

Karl and Olak headed towards the Bloodstar in question, who pointed at the car.

"A government car" Olak replied "I would not have thought the presence of people of the strong ones would have merited that level of interest. Ask your General if he can spare four of his soldiers for escort duty".

Karl and three other Scarrans walked with Olak out to the remains of the fencing surrounding the First Landing site and waited – the car came to a halt about twenty metres short of their position, after which doors opened and one woman along with a man and two other people Karl couldn't identify got out and came forward.

"Welcome, Prime Minister Solberg" Olak announced "to First Landing. Might the people of the strong ones, the Scarran people, help you with something?"

The Prime Minister nodded to the man beside her, who replied "We should like to determine the status of the prisoners your forces took during the fighting. Have you executed them?"

"They're still alive" Olak replied "If you want to see them, we can take you to them. You might meet a few ...interesting people… on the way".

Karl signalled for two of the Bloodstars to return to their duty positions once the Prime Minister sent the rest of the group back to the fence, only one man who Karl knew was a bodyguard remaining.

"Prime Minister..." one of the prisoners called, recognising her when she came closer .

"Should I call for military doctors?" she asked when she saw they were all injured.

"These weird people patched us up enough that we won't die" another prisoner said "Dunno why we're worth more to them alive than dead, but I don't feel like changing their minds for them...".

She nodded before looking around and seeing others wearing Norwegian army uniforms in a better state of health.

"Yes, we're Army" their sergeant explained, after which he took his cap off so the Prime Minister could see how his head showed the signs of Scarran ancestry "People of the strong ones, people with Scarran ancestry, love our adopted nation – but First Landing is an important cultural site of our people. One we will defend with force, should it prove necessary".

"I hope there's no more need for that" Prime Minister Solberg said.

"So do we, Prime Minister" the sergeant replied "Quite a few of our soldiers are with peacekeeping forces of our nation overseas… they know we are needed there, they will not hesitate to fulfil their orders. All we want is a place to call our own here, recognition as a people… we will gladly continue to serve our adopted nation both domestically and overseas".

"That is good to hear" she told the sergeant "Thanks to what went on here we have lost four tanks and two armoured fighting vehicles – I saw the wreckage not far outside what's left of the fencing. I'm not familiar with a weapon that causes damage in that way".

She turned around when Karl rumbled more than a little smugly.

"That, Prime Minister..." he explained "was me. I can't tell you how, that's classified under Kingdom law… but my job in the Army was to destroy armour, and I used my skills to defend the First Landing site once I arrived".

Prime Minister Solberg looked up at Karl's huge changed body in surprise for a minute or two before he was relieved by two local soldiers, after which she continued to walk with Olak and ask him questions.

"Looks like we're done here, Tal" Harrigan explained "Oh, the UN still has a bunch of stuff to do, but none of it involves the Kingdom – so I'm staying just long enough to talk to one more person of interest before we bug out".

"Nothing to report here" Talannah replied "We're continuing to maintain geostationary orbit over your home sector's primary space launch site. I have had the small warships conduct survey runs at high altitude over locations listed by you in our archives as locations of interest – the only ship that hasn't been deployed on those runs is First Light. Liz thinks the sight of that ship will cause mass hysteria due to its unusual shape and colouring".

"Dunno that I'd say mass hysteria..." Harrigan replied "But yeah, people would freak out even more over that than if they saw a pterodon-class, that's pretty certain".

"The situation in the Norwegian sector has been resolved?" Talannah asked next "General Tareg says the leader of that sector is present at their location – which suggests fighting is over, at least for now".

"Looks good, then" Harrigan replied "Just got word Tabitha's flying her Dad and Sturk there – might get her to hang around, could have a contract to send Karl's way if we're done there. Gotta go, big man in Russia just got away from his last meet-and-greet".

"You told me before they have skilled special forces" Talannah said "Remember to ask, if you can, if we might recruit a small number of them if they can be spared".

"Amara sensed the presence of your political enemy at a location she tells me is called 'White House' " Altur announced, cutting in "Orders?"

"I did, uncle Commander" Amara confirmed when Harrigan asked about that "The description matches the one in the archives. Has he found out that his son has been apprehended by us? Should I deploy you to that location, uncle Commander?"

"Me, Harek, Sturk" Harrigan decided immediately "Prob'ly Anton if he agrees not to kill anyone unless I tell him to".

Altur turned away from the screen before closing his eyes just a little for a half-momen or so – after which Westmore's voice came on comm.

"Sure you don't need me for that, sir?" Westmore replied "Not like I got a lot to do with training right now, my family's all squared away with quarters – they're out making friends right now, I think".

"Get whatever gear you're authorised to have, mister" Harrigan ordered "The basics, anyway. Once you're ready, a few of us are going express delivery to the White House".

"Greetings, cold people!" Troll called as soon as he stepped out of the Stryker "Big ol' Troll man here! How's everyone going?"

"The fighting has stopped, mister..." Tareg told him, coming up on his hammond side "at least as far as we're aware. Right now we're just taking care of the injured – the Firewalker was going to land a Reaper with medical staff, but now your Stryker's there they don't have room".

"Tab, you take your friend and go get them" Troll told his daughter – once Tabitha nodded and sealed the Stryker's hatch, he shouted for everyone to stand clear.

"Good..." Tareg said once the Stryker took off, nodding "The local Kingdom personnel fought well and secured the site long enough for Trooper Torvald and the Firewalker to arrive. Since senior political authority for this sector is here, I'd say we won't have any more we need to deal with".

The conversation was held up for a while when four extra soldiers arrived to help the prisoners aboard their own truck – once it left, Tareg nodded with approval.

"That's done… " he told Troll "They'll have a lot of stories to tell during their debrief no one except those of Scarran descent will believe...".

"Yeah, lots!" Troll laughed, before looking at where Crichton and the other Moyans were talking to Dargo Junior and Jefa "Everyone getting acquainted again there, I see…. plok, it's cold here…".

"Hah!" Tareg snorted "Not the most agreable climate, that's true… but it's still a little warmer than Sholphaur's polar mountain zones. At sea level, anyway".

"I'll hang around with Tab here for a bit, then" Troll decided "but I'm on the first trip topside I can get on – or at least somewhere warmer down here".

Once Amara found Beasely Senior's position again, she translocated Harrigan, Harek, Sturk, and Westmore to positions around him but out of sight – they only needed to wait a few seconds for Westmore to get his bearings after minor translocation motion sickness and they were on their way.

"Greetings, Earthling!" Harrigan announced as soon as Beasely saw him "Take me to your leader!"

"Don't even think about it, Senator..." Westmore told him, once Beasely Senior turned to run "Apart from anything else, there's no room for you to run back here that's not blocked by Mr Sturk, same for the War Commander in front of you – so be a good Senator before one of them decides to hurt you".

President Diesel had already been alerted by the Secret Service, so he was sitting at his desk with a cup of coffee when Harrigan arrived.

"Nice to be back at your place for a bit, Mr President" Harrigan said "We got something of yours here if you want it back… personally I think it's got some explaining to do, but that's just me", after which he walked into the Oval Office, Beasely Senior and the others following behind.

"My National Security Advisor sent word that you might have found out something about who was responsible" President Diesel replied, after which he nodded towards Beasely and added "Was it Senator Beasely?"

"He wasn't the one who did the deed, Mr President" Westmore explained "but he did give the order, which to me says he's the chief thorn in our collective rec- oops, sorry Mr President, the source of all our ills".

"You are Mr Westmore" President Diesel stated "I have been told about you. You and a few like you have been… useful, you have helped clear up messy situations when required. The work no longer suits you?"

"Made a few new friends, Mr President" Westmore replied "My old friends weren't quite so friendly any more. Chow's different now, but it's not so bad".

"Well then..." President Diesel said "It's interesting to see Mr Westmore here… I am glad to see the kidnapping of your soldier has been solved… but who actually committed the alleged crime? Everyone I can see looks like your soldiers, Mr Harrigan – even Mr Westmore". The President's face twitched a little when he saw Senator Beasely's face darken a little in anger before he got it back under control again.

"Right in front of me, yep" Harrigan said once Amara came on the comm "Just drop him here on the floor right out of his cell".

The Senator was the most surprised of everyone in the room when his son appeared out of nowhere on the floor, still cuffed hand and foot.

"What have you got to say for yourself?!" Beasely Senior snapped when he saw his son "It shouldn't ha-" before his brain caught up to his mouth and stopped him saying anything else.

President Diesel questioned both Beaselys for almost an hour before he decided "I'll talk to TR Holt about this… but right now you've clearly proven yourself to be a problem beyond control, Senator! You've just lost your security clearance, which means your position on the Armed Services Committee as well – and there will be a Congressional inquiry into your conduct before I decide what to do with you!"

Once he learned why the others were there, he added "I'd like you all to appear before the enquiry – I can't really order you, especially since there's nothing I can do that'll actually keep you here – since you were all involved in your own ways".

"We got a bit of stuff still left that we gotta do, Mr President" Harrigan replied "We'll be around for a while yet. Might have a short-term contract – not in the US before you ask. Not gonna tell you where, customer confidentiality an' all that" before taking the Scarran-issue cuffs off Beasely Junior so the Secret Service could substitute American ones.

"Nicely done, Tabitha" Skroloth called once the remaining members of the UN delegation were retrieved "Bit tricky doing an urban pickup in a Stryker – you did make a few interesting holes in the road surface, but there's no getting around that...".

"Nah, you go back topside, Tab" Troll decided once Tabitha commed in "Either Amara can grab us the quick way or you can come get us later. It's plokking cold here even for me – you're a bit more like your mother, you weren't adjusting so well".

"My copilot does well, Dad" Tabitha said "I know I am barely qualified in Strykers… but should I write a commendation for his record? He is a Kalish, he would appreciate that show of confidence in his skills".

"Up to you, Tab" Troll replied, grinning a bit "I know a few Kalish, but not well enough to make culture judgments like that – if you want to make a new friend, go right ahead".

"What's down here?" Prime Minister Solberg asked with surprise after she got out of her car, and Olak and Karl's grandfather climbed out of their own beside it.

"Come with us" Karl's grandfather urged "Usually we don't encourage people to come here… you can see the signs and the barriers… but I think we might safely show you. Olak, perhaps you could go ahead and check to make sure the site guards are ready and the area is safe".

The group proceeded down a tunnel that headed sharply underground for almost half an hour. There wasn't a lot of room – Olak was relieved that hadn't brought Karl with them – but eventually they emerged from the cramped tunnel into a large cavern.

"This, Prime Minister..." Olak explained, waving a hand around the room "is the real First Landing site. Well, First Crashing, really".

"That is… a spacecraft?" Prime Minister Solberg asked in surprise, looking at the wreck in front of her.

"It was" Olak replied "Badly damaged. Only a few of our ancestors survived".

"How long ago?" she asked next "Assuming anyone currently alive actually knows".

"In detail… we don't" Olak replied "Roughly… Viking-era. Perhaps two hundred years before what the English call the Great Heathen Army invaded what we now call England. Probably a little earlier".

Prime Minister Solberg stared in surprise at both her surroundings and the two men.

"Long before we even became a modern nation..." she said in awe "I don't know if you have any records of that time...".

"Copies are in at least one museum" Olak explained "but there's enough in them that they can't reconcile with known events that they're probably locked in a basement, out of sight for the public".

"Someone here can take me to see them some other time" Prime Minister Solberg decided.

"I can do that..." Olak suggested, rumbling a bit for a reason only he and Karl's grandfather knew.

Two people in protective clothing came out of the wreck at some speed before talking in Old Scarran to Olak at length and with speed.

"Clear everyone out, then..." Olak eventually decided "This was always going to happen sooner or later… at least now we can ask the War Commander to help us".

"A potential safety issue, Prime Minister" Karl's grandfather explained, as he escorted the Prime Minister and her bodyguard back to the surface "Under control. For your safety as well as our own we should leave the site now, though".

"Mr… Troll" TR Holt said over the phone from Fort Meade "Yes, we have finally managed to track down the chaplain known to your human personnel – although it took a while. Nome AFB".

"Alaska?!" Troll replied in surprise "I thought Norway was cold… Alaska will freeze the eema off a brindz hound...".

"I didn't say you'd like it..." TR Holt replied, smiling just a little bit "Just that this is where he is. Close to mandatory retirement as well".

"Might be useful, actually" Harrigan replied when Talannah passed the news on "Picked up a short-term contract off the Russkies, we gotta find some guys they got prowling an' growling just over the Chinese border. I got co-ordinates for their operating base and I got co-ordinates for their initial deployment zone. Out there we're still gonna have to use arctic-weather troopers, that part of the world is even worse than Norway – but the Russian big man wants it kept hush-hush, so I'll send General Trannak's skulkers".