"So that's the situation, Dylan," said Beka. "What started out as a labor movement has turned into a small scale war."

"That's interesting, Beka," replied Dylan in an offhand tone, his attention focused on the flexie in front of him. "But I don't see how it concerns either of us. Unless you're concerned that it might affect your supply runs to the company."

"Weren't you listening Dylan? Those are your crewmen down there, and there's a madman who wants to kill them and a few thousand other people as well. We've got to stop him."

"My ex-crew members," snapped Dylan as he slammed the flexie down on the table he was sitting at. "If they were my crew members they would be aboard Andromeda right now helping me repair her."

Andromeda's holographic self made her appearance. "We've discussed this before, Captain. The others had established lives here before you arrived. Your instance that they all abandon their lives to assist you in repairing me is ludicrous."

"They swore oaths to protect the Commonwealth, Andromeda. Not go native."

"Rhade swore an oath Captain," corrected Andromeda "Trance and Harper did not, and Doyle was, to use the term loosely, born here on Seefra. She has never been part of our crew"

"Furthermore Captain," said Andromeda's core self as she appeared in the main viewscreen, "at the moment I would have to say that Rhade and the others have been living up to the spirit of that oath far better than you have. I had my Maria's modify a one of our Oracle drones for atmospheric operations. I've been monitoring the situation ever since the fighting started. Let me show you just what they're fighting."

Andromeda's image was replaced by what appeared to be a dark cloud. "The drone is currently directly above the center of south-side said Andromeda. "What you are looking at is smoke from fires. The buildings themselves aren't burning as they are made of rammed earth, but their contents can burn."

The image changed as the drone passed through the smoke. As Andromeda had stated Dylan could see that south-side was a mass of flames. People were running through the narrow streets and alleyways and out of the city and into the surrounding countryside. As Dylan watched some sort of flying vehicle passed through the oracles field of view as it passed over the crowd of people they began to fall to the ground. Dylan thought he saw a series of small explosions on the ground as the object passed.

"Company gyrocopters," explained Andromeda's holographic self. "They are strafing the refugees. We also have this recording from an individual who identified himself as Virgil Vox. "

The image of the burning city was replaced by an image of the hills near Seefra City, A frantic man's voice came over Andromeda's loudspeakers "This is Virgil Vox calling from Seefra City. If there is anyone out there listening we need immediate help. The Seefra Fuel and Iron company police have gone insane. They're killing everyone. They're using poison gas and strafing refugees with aircraft. The entire city is burning. Hundreds maybe thousands of people have been killed. If there is anyone out there listening contact the prefecture government have them send troops. We need... The broadcast was abruptly cut off and a red dot appeared on one of the hills."

"The drone's sensors detected a large explosion at the indicated position at the time the broadcast was cut off," said Andromeda's core self as her image replaced the topographic image. "It would be reasonable to assume that Vox's transmitter was detected and destroyed."

"Now let me show you what Rhade has been up against," said Andromeda. "Poison gas was used here as well." The image in the viewscreen shifted to show the recent battlefield. Beka let out a whistle of appreciation when she saw the wreckage .

"It seems this Burma fellow bit off a bit more than he could chew," said Dylan." It looks like Rhade has the situation well in hand. Andromeda I want you to break into Seefran communication channels and broadcast the drone's images as well as Vox's transmission. I'm sure that once they are made public whatever passes for a government on Seefra will step in and restore order down there. All Rhade has to do is sit tight and wait."

"The situation is more complicated than that, Captain," said Andromeda. "From what Elaine told me when she was aboard me, Seefra Fuel and Iron and its sister companies have considerable influence in Seefran politics. At best they will be able to delay any government intervention, probably for months, and quite possibly prevent any intervention at all. The influx of refugees will severely strain the umwa's resources. Which is probably why Burma is burning the town. Nor is the umwa military position as secure as you seem to think. Burma for all intents and purposes has unlimited resources, Rhade does not. Additionally their rear areas are in no way secure. If Burma has access to air assets he will be able to drop a force behind Rhade's lines. Time is on Burma's side not Rhade's"

"Then you had best get busy transmitting those images", said Dylan turning his attention back towards the flexie."

A look of anger passed of over both Andromedas' faces only to be replaced by another look. One that wold have been appropriate for a soldier preparing to throw a grenade when he was not sure if he was out of blast range.

"Captain," said Andromeda's core self " I recall you saying that you were an only child. Did your mother have any relatives living on Tarn Vedra?"

The sudden change of subject took Dylan by surprise. He looked up from his flexie and gazed intently at the viewscreen. "No, she was the only one of her family living on Tarn Vedra. Why?"

"I also think it's reasonable to assume that you were sexually active during your various stays on Tarn Vedra," continued Andromeda

"That's hardly any of your business, Andromeda. And it has nothing to do with this conversation."

"It has a great deal to do with this conversation, Captain," responded Andromeda's holographic self. "My sister self and I did a routine genetic examination as part of the prenatal examination we gave Jeri when we became cognizant of the fact that she was pregnant. We came across something quite interesting."

"We found a rather unusual variation on one of the genes on one of her X chromosomes. It's unique to heavy worlders and their descendants, and rare. among them. In fact I've only seen it in the genome of one other heavy worlder that has served aboard me. That person was you Captain."

"What are you getting at Andromeda?"

"What I'm getting at, Captain, is that Elaine and Jeri are almost certainly your several greats great granddaughters."

Dylan dropped both the flexie and his jaw. "Impossible. Are you certain?" he asked when he was able to speak

"It's quite possible, Captain. The probability that they are your direct descendants is 99.999837. percent. On one of your visits to Tarn Vedra you fathered a daughter."

"I'm a father?" asked Dylan still trying to come to grips with the idea

"You were a father," corrected Andromeda's core self. "But if all your female descendants were as fertile as Jeri is, by now you're probably the ancestor of half of Seefra."

Dylan got up from his chair and poured himself a drink. He downed it in one gulp then poured himself another.

"I guess safe sex wasn't one of the subjects they taught at the academy," said Beka enjoying Dylan's consternation. "Andromeda, can you compute how much back child support Dylan probably owes?"

"Counting penalties and interest probably more than the entire Seefran planetary economy." Her voice became serious again. "But that's not the issue. The issue, Captain, is that your your many greats grand daughter and her unborn children are planet-side fighting for their lives. What are you going to do to help them?"

Dylan put down the now half empty glass. His face screwed up in frustration. "What would you have me do Andromeda? Drop a battalion of Lancers on Seeftra city? In case you haven't noticed we don't have one aboard. Do you want me to establish a Pax Dylan? Threaten to render the entire planet uninhabitable if the leaders don't change their ways? There's nothing I ."

"What about the Tweedles?" asked Beka. "Can we use them?"

"They were heavily damaged when the Magog boarded me," said Andromeda from her position in the viewscreen, "but they should be repairable."

"We had best get busy then, said Dylan. He started to pour himself another drink then stopped. "Andromeda, Can you contact Rhade and tell him help is on the way?

"Unfortunately no."

"Why not," asked Beka

Andromeda's holographic self practically blushed. "The umwa are using simple amplitude modulation radios. That portion of my communication suite was destroyed during our battle with the Spirit of the Abyss and hasn't been repaired yet. I didn't think it would be useful to divert resources into repairing a system that obsolete. I cannibalized a number of the suites components to repair the quadrature amplitude modulation system that I use to communicate with Harper at the Oasis."

"That's the same system our Lancer planet-to-ship radios use," said Dylan. "Why don't we use some of our drop pods and send them some."

This time Andromeda did blush, a fact that Beka would have commented on in other circumstances. "I did,"said Andromeda. "Or at least I tried."

"What do you mean you tried?"

Andromeda's core self took up the conversation. "First Sergeant Bennington and a squad of her company mad their stand in the Lancer landing force locker. When the Magog broke through their lines she detonated four kilos of cataclismite. It was better than being captured by the Magog and she took quite a few of them with her when she detonated the explosives. The explosion destroyed or damaged the majority of the equipment in the locker. Only two radios survived."

"When it became apparent that conflict was going to break out between the umwa and the company, my sister self and I sent Rhade what military and medical supplies we could salvage and that that the umwa would be able to utilize using what drop pods were still serviceable. There were five pods. Three landed on target, one exploded when it hit Seefra's outer atmosphere, and the other landed somewhere in Seefra's south polar region. The radios were on the two pods that were lost."

"It's never easy," sighed Dylan as he sat back down. "We'll discuss why you didn't consult me before making the drop at a later time. Have you attempted to contact Harper?"

"Of course," answered Andromeda's core self. "But without success. We can only assume that either he didn't take his radio with him when the left the Oasis or it is inoperable."

Dylan got up from his chair "Let's take a look at the Tweedles. We need to get busy. There are some labor contracts that need to be renegotiated."

Rhade leaned his back against a convenient boulder and tried to find a comfortable position. In what Harper had called proof that the Divine has a s warped sense of humor Rhade had escaped the gas attack and the subsequent artillery barrage without a scratch then when he was safely behind friendly lines he had stumbled over an uneven patch of ground and broken his ankle. The injury wasn't serious enough to keep him from inspecting the front lines, but it was painful enough that he did it from a sitting down position when he had the opportunity. At eh moment he was inspecting the defenses around the entrance to the Divide. From where he was sitting he had a good view of what was now the no man's land between Burma's forces and the umwa defenses.

"What do you think about the Doc's worries about sickness, sir," asked Morgan. Like Rhade he was among the walking wounded. When Jeri has learned that Rhade was going to make a tour of the front lines she had insisted that Morgan go with him. Her reasoning was that Rhade would be too hard headed to take care of himself but if Morgan was with him he might take it easy for Morgan's sake.

"I'm more concerned about food than sickness," said Rhade. "Trance and Ione know what they're doing. They'll make sure we stay healthy. But food is going to be a problem. Burma knew what he was doing when he herded half the town this way. We could be getting real hungry if this standoff last s too long."

"But doesn't Avineri have people planting crops. We wont starve once they comne in."

The operative phrase there is when they come in. They won't grow over night. We'll be hunting edible plants and tightening our belts before this is over Most likely...

What ever else he was planning to say was drowned out by a high pitched whine that was rising in both pitch and volume. Cries of 'Incoming' began to spring up from the defenders. A moment later there was the sound of heavy objects striking the ground. From his vantage point Rhade could see what appeared to be two enormous drop pods half buried in the earth. As he watched the pods split opened and two vaguely man shaped objects stepped out of the pods.

"What are those?" whispered Morgan as if he was afraid he might be overheard.

"Planetfall defense bots," answered Rhade.

"Whose are they are they and whose side are they on."

"I suspect I know whose they are but I have no idea whose side they're on, admitted Rhade."

"Then what do we do ?"

"We sit tight. If they point their weapons this way . We surrender immediately. Either one of those things could wipe our our entire force as if we were yevi's in the slaughter house. If they point their weapons at Burma's force we sit back and enjoy the show."

There was a heart stopping moment as the mechanical behemoths strode towards the umwa forces they then turned around and began to march towards Burma's lines.