Chapter CXIII: Decision Making

February 13, 2544 (UNSC Calendar)/

UNSC Inconvenience Joint Operations Base, Wolff, Zeta Lupus System

"Genocide is an attempt to exterminate a people, not to alter their behavior."- Jack Schwartz

"Frank! I'm glad you got them all back alive!" Nezarian noted. "Or was it Durant's talent this time?"

"You flatter me, sir," the sergeant deadpanned.

"And not one of them is maimed," he added, stroking his jawline gently. "Gotta say, next time you go out with any of my boys you can bring them back after midnight."

"Horrible, horrible metaphor," Pavel chimed in.

I ignored my friend and the horrible metaphor. "Oh, you know me Yevgeny, I-"

"Yeah, yeah, you aim to please."

I shrugged and stretched, the fatigue of the battle was only just beginning to take its toll on my body. I could feel every little bump and bruise starting to form and the two plasma wounds that I had sustained were beginning to test my pain tolerance. The one on my arm was particularly bad, the repeater hit just above my elbow, all the movement scuffed and chaffed the raw skin, not to mention all the dirt and dust that got in it. The one on my chest, that one was big and ugly, but nothing serious, at least that's what the medics told me.

"You fine now?" Yevgeny asked me, his tone suddenly changing to a more serious one.

"Yeah," I replied in the same tone.

"Good, on me, we're having a meeting."

I jumped up from the field hospital bed, eliciting a scoff of annoyance from the medic checking on me. While B and Echo companies had their own combat surgeons and medical teams they were a little bit busier with other cases. Half the able-bodied medics were attending to my squad and the one that Yevgeny had sent to assist us. One of the Falcon pilots was also getting some minor attention for glass cuts.

"What about?" I asked.

"Our findings," he replied vaguely.

I motioned for my team to stay as soon as I saw them standing up. A couple of them scoffed and Grass even had the gall to pout. I glared at my squad, finally having them sit back down and receive the medical attention that they deserved. I gave a curt nod to Staff Sergeant Durant and Specialist Winchester as I passed by them before grabbing a small oxygen pack and strapping it over my nose and mouth.

I left the medical tent (non-urgent cases) trailing Nezarian. The sky was still as stunning as ever and the ground still looked like it had seen a nuclear apocalypse recently. If we lost the sky would be blotted out by all the dust and the ground…well, the ground probably wouldn't change that much in appearance. Going from jagged black rocks to jagged black rocks with craters every now and then wasn't much of a change.

We had set up a different operating base from the one that the local forces had. It was pretty much standard operating procedure for us. We'd set up a FOB that housed Army and slap an identical one right next to it that housed Marines. Each company would do their own thing and effectuate their own operations, if cooperation was needed, we would cooperate. Well, at least that was the plan every time we went planetside, things usually went apeshit before anybody could even begin to think about setting up bases.

This situation was an exception to that rule. We were winning the ground battle and one of the covvie ships was down while the other one was too afraid to come within range, simply hovering just outside of mass driver range. It was good to have them on the defensive for once. It sucked that we had to be fighting along innie wannabees. It pissed me more that they were actually doing a good job at killing aliens.

"Your squad wasn't the only one to notice that something was off. While doing runs to damage enemy supply lines we found curious documents."

"Really? You just came across them?"

"That's the weird part, it seems like the entire colony was being brainwashed with propaganda."

"Literally?"

"No, you idiot." Nezarian scoffed before pushing me lightly. "But from what we're getting a lot of the civvies in here had sympathy for the rebels."

We walked through the FOB that we had deployed. It was a smaller model than most carriers sported, but you can only shove so much inside a frigate's cargo bay. This one was actually pretty big for one that was only in use by two companies. We didn't have any defense turrets or glassing bunkers, but it would serve for the time being. The inside of the base was pretty much a very large room with a few doors on the sides. One door was a hospital, the other one a communications hub, another one a war room, and I think you get the layout.

"Over here," Yevgeny motioned.

We walked inside the war room. It looked a lot like the drop bay back on board the Inconvenience, only with better lighting and a lot bigger. There was a large holotable right in the middle. It was currently displaying a topographical map of the base and the area immediately surrounding it. Several text displays floated around, showing whoever read them the amount of able-bodied troops, crates of ammunition, weaponry, etcetera.

Already inside the room were the rest of the officers. We had Major Hernandez and Chloe on one side of the table. Hernandez had both his hands on the edge gripping tightly, while Chloe stood behind and to the side, her arms crossed and her expression unreadable. On the opposite side was Lieutenant Darbinian, he glanced in our direction before looking back down at the display on the holotable. Captain Salas was pacing around behind one hand stroking his chin in a thoughtful expression. There were two staff sergeants, one from Echo and one from B, I recognized them as platoon sergeants, but I didn't know either of them personally. There was another person in the room, standing at the head of the table, this one I was actually surprised to see.

"Lieutenant Wilkins?" I asked in mild shock. "Uh how did you get here?"

"Long Range Stealth Orbital Insertion Pod," he shrugged simply.

"Huh," I said simply. The man never ceased to surprise me, he was helpful, tough, and the voice of reason all at the same time. Not to mention that he had combat training that only some in the military got. You know, the special forces kind.

"Now that we're all here we can begin," Wilkins stated, slapping both of his hands on the holotable and taking a step back before crossing his arms. "Major, if you will."

Hernandez nodded at Wilkins before taking position at the head of the holotable. "So far the…alien situation is under control." He took a breath. "However, there are other things that have been…ahem…are worrisome. All of us have found at least some evidence that points out that the leadership in here sympathized with the URF."

"I don't mean to rush you Major…" Wilkins urged.

"Of course. Well, the point being, we found military-grade weaponry in a couple of the police stations. The guns were hidden and not in the armory, where they should've been."

"That's not enough evidence," Salas pointed out.

"They were outdated weapons, namely HMG-38s."

I cursed under my breath. The HMG-38 was the kind of weapon that you could burry for years and pull it out just to have it working like new. Once the old AKs from the 20th were finally declared antiques we got the HMG series. They were pretty reliable weapons, even if they sprayed like hell. The 38 had been the last model before the family of weapons had finally seen its end. The UNSC had declared them obsolete and millions of the rifles had just been left there with no one to take care of them. Much like their Soviet predecessors, opportunists took advantage of it and sold them in bulk for comically low prices. Who bought most of them, you ask? The United Rebel Front.

"How many did you find?" Wilkins asked.

"Over a hundred, they were packed in several crates."

"What did you do with them?" I queried.

"We destroyed the guns," Hernandez shrugged off. "We didn't inform the local forces."

"Captain Salas?"

"Ah, yes, my turn. Our findings were much more…conclusive."

"How so?" Nezarian prompted.

"We actually came across some documents."

"You came across some documents?" I tried to keep the disbelief from my voice, but failed completely.

"Yes."

"You expect me to believe that you just happened to stumble upon incriminating documents proving that a large portion of the colony was prepared to defect to the URF? Sir."

"Yes."

I shrugged. "Stranger things have happened."

"The documents found by Echo Company seem real enough, simple correspondence between one of Wolff's political leaders and a known rebel figurehead. The HMG-38s only add to the evidence, but I would have to say that the coup de grace would be the existence of two unregistered Onager mass drivers," Wilkins stated. "While illegal weaponry and a few rebel sympathizers can be explained, building two weapons of mass destruction without asking permission is simply rude."

"So what do we do?" Delacroix asked, shooting a glance in my direction as she did so.

"I say we confront them with our findings," Darbinian opinionated.

"No, too risky," Salas opposed. "They could simply turn on us, and they have numerical superiority by far."

"We attack first," Delacroix suggested. "Quick decapitation strikes, we can even make it look like a covvie attack."

"That would be an option if it weren't nearly impossible to pull off," Wilkins said.

"Reaper could go in," she added hopefully.

"No," I interceded. "It would probably take us half an hour to break into their operations base, you only need one transmission to let everyone know that it's the Helljumpers from reach attacking. Rebels or not, the rest of the locals wouldn't take kindly to us taking out their leadership."

"Can't we block their communications?" Hernandez suggested, it seemed like he was also toying with the idea of a decapitation strike.

"I doubt it," Salas informed him. "While I have no doubt that we have better tech experts than they do, especially in a situation like this, we don't have the hardware capacity to have an entire military base go black from outside."

"And getting close enough to shut communications down would probably get us spotted," Darbinian sighed before taking a step back and crossing his arms.

"Sergeant, what do you propose?" Wilkins asked me.

Me? "Me?" I chuckled nervously. "I'm just a grunt Lieutenant, I follow orders. I don't think I have the rank to pull my weight on decisions like this. I'll follow through with whatever you decide, sir."

Wilkins' expression remained unchanged, for a moment I was afraid that I had disappointed the man or that I had made some sort of mistake, but relief came quickly when Wilkins nodded at me in acceptance.

"Lieutenant?" he asked, addressing Nezarian.

Yevgeny uncrossed his arms and took a step forward. "They way I see it, they are rebels, no way getting around that. According to them they are an independent government body. The UEG is at war with the URF, we have no reason whatsoever to provide any aid against the Covenant."

"That-" Darbinian started. "That actually makes sense…"

"Leaving humans at the mercy of the covvies?" Chloe asked, unsure of whether she liked the idea or not.

"You suggested an assassination moments ago," Captain Salas reminded her. "I see no difference between us killing them and simply leaving them to die."

"I meant killing their leadership, not leaving thousands of civilians to die. There's a difference, sir."

"Well," I spoke out. "It's not like the situation is desperate. The covvies seem to be under control and they can probably handle them without our help. As soon as the ground forces are destroyed the frigate will likely pull off."

"That would still leave them here, the covvies know they are here," Chloe pointed out.

"Maybe their innie friends can help them out next time," Lieutenant Darbinain scoffed. "Cause I sure as hell won't."

I nodded in agreement before suddenly stopping myself. I couldn't agree with Krikor Darbinian, I mean, what the hell. If I had a nemesis that man would be it; a condescending asshole that thought that he was better than everyone.

"Kind of like you, eh?" Schitzo suggested.

Fuck. Off.

"Too close to home for comfort? Don't answer that, I already know that I'm right."

Wilkins raised his voice. "Very well, does anyone oppose this?" Nobody made a move to suggest anything else. "I'll raise the Inconvenience. Prepare your troops for evacuation of the planet." It was unusual to see a lieutenant in charge of a captain and a major from different branches, but in situations like this being ONI pretty much trumps everything.

I saluted and waited for the officers to leave the war room before stepping outside with Yevgeny.

"Helluva meeting, huh?" he asked.

"Tell me about it. I felt underdressed, all of you guys were wearing your 'formal' combat fatigues."

"Well, to be fair, you could've put on a shirt," he replied with a raised eyebrow.

It was true, but the bandages had my whole upper chest covered. They also went over my shoulders and around my right arm, covering it from shoulder to elbow. The burn wounds had been worse than I originally thought, but the medic checking me said that the meds in the bandages would take care of the burns soon enough with no pain.

"Where the hell would I have gotten a shirt from?" I asked. "The Inconvenience boosted away as soon as I did, and my rucksack is still on Reaper Hill."

"'Hey, can I borrow that shirt? Thanks.'" he offered. "Sounds simple enough to me."

"What if they said no?" I asked with a tone that you would expect to come from a cute cartoon animal.

"You'd probably beat their face in and take all of their shirts."

"You're right. I just wanted Delacroix to see my awesome abs."

Wait, so that's why she was glancing at me so much…

"What about…the medic, whatsername? Hanna?"

"That's her," I agreed.

"That- Oh c'mon Frank, what did you do?"

"Well, an opportunity presented itself…" I evaded the question with a vague answer.

"Who'd you fuck?"

"Ahh…"

"The pilot?" he asked. The look in my eyes was enough of an answer. "Shit Frank, well, I've gotta admit, you could do worse. In fact, you could hardly do better, but knowing you…"

"Yeah, yeah," I interrupted. "I know." Lately I had been feeling a little uncomfortable with my reputation as a magnet for attractive girls and women. Maybe I was finally growing up, maybe it just had to do with the fact that I wanted something a little bit more permanent than the random hookup. Either way, I was growing up emotionally. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I still managed to dig myself into a pretty deep hole this time. Emily didn't want anything long-term at all and I didn't want anything long-term with her. I just let my dick get the best out me. Again.

"Well, at least you're getting some action," he mused. "It's hard enough to have a social life as a Ranger, let alone have sex."

"You don't need a social life to get laid," I pointed out.

"But it helps," Yevgeny interjected. "Social skills have lots of use."

"The only social skills that I have are the ones required to strike up conversation with a civvie girl and have her jump in bed with me." I looked around and took a deep breath from my breather mask. "I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing."

Yevgeny laughed uproariously. "Sometimes you kill me, man." He shook his head while chuckling. "You do, you really do."

Great, he's mocking me.

"We can have this conversation later," I shrugged. "Let's follow our order of business."

"Aye," he agreed before giving me a pat on the back and taking off.

I looked straight up. The sky was truly mesmerizing. We were far enough away from the local star that its light didn't block out all of the other stars. It was roughly midday here, that meant that the top and center of the sky was a darkish blue while it got darker and darker as your eyes reached the planet's horizon. Right now we couldn't see Zeta Lupus VI, but another of its moons was plainly visible. About as large as Csodaszarvas (try saying that five times fast), the largest moon of Reach. Hell, I could even see some space dust. The way the light hit the dust it lit up the sky.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind moving here just for the view," I said to myself.

My squad was right where I left them. Most of them had their smaller cuts filled with higher grade biofoam and their bruises had been rubbed with some sort of paste that made the pain disappear immediately and sped up the healing process tenfold. And yet we still couldn't figure out how to work an anti-gravity engine on anything smaller than a UNSC frigate.

"What's the news Frank?" Pavel asked, jumping up from his bed.

"We're leaving," I said bluntly. "Pack your things, whatever you have left. We're evacuating as soon as the Inconvenience, can get in orbit above our position."

"What?" Caboose exclaimed. "We're leaving them behind?"

"They can handle themselves, the battle is pretty much won already."

"And when the covvies come back?"

"That's not our problem," I shrugged him off. "They're URF."

"They're humans. It is our problem."

"They're URF," Angel said, spitting out the acronym with venom in his voice. "We have no business helping them."

"They are human beings," he stressed.

"So were the guys on board the Callisto," Angel snapped back. "And the Bellicose. Both crews were spaced."

"Casbah," Snark spoke out. "Thirty-eight civilians dead, three marines killed. They bombed a fucking restaurant full of families."

"Haven," Grass murmured. "Two million innocent lives gone in a flash. Eight million more wounded. I had friends there."

"The Paradise bombings," Pavel added, sending my mind flashing back to that little bit of dirty business back on Dawsons. "And that nasty business in Cordoba. All because of one woman."

"The Ushaia factories on Mars," Bee grunted. "All those workers were human beings too."

"You don't have to like it," I told Caboose, frowning. "I don't give a shit whether you like this or not! Next time I give an order I expect it to be followed without questions! Understood?" Silence. "I asked if you understood," I repeated, taking two steps towards the man and getting close to his face. "You hear me?"

"Understood Gunnery Sergeant!" he said. "Follow orders without question, got it."

"Good, now do your fucking packing and don't let me hear you sympathizing with insurrectionists ever again."

He went around me and left, fuming. Everyone seemed at least a little shocked by my sudden outburst. While I had been in my right to scream his face off, it wasn't my usual MO, the squad was just a little surprised by it, that's all.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" I asked my team.

They mumbled apologies and scurried off. Pavel took his time, grabbing his large machine gun and sighing from exhaustion. He calmly walked out the door with his large weapon over his shoulder and his helmet in his other hand, a small breather mask covering his lower face. As he walked out the door the light hit his frame, leaving a dark silhouette with barely any details to make out and bright light on the rest of the door. It was an award-winning image. It was part of my life.

"Wow."

"Didn't see you there," I replied.

"Just arrived," Hanna replied while walking towards me and then leaning back on one of the various empty beds, her arms crossed over her chest. "Haven't been very busy for a change."

"I'm glad," I said simply.

I stood in silence, looking at Corpsman Hanna Lockley, examining her. Her hair was messy, probably from wearing her helmet for so long. Her blonde locks were already past regulation length, falling to her shoulders and slightly more. She looked tired, not exceedingly so, but I could compare her look to the one that my uncle would come home with after a particularly tough day of whipping recruits into shape or the one I'd have after a long day in school. No makeup, no hairdo, no beauty products. She looked as beautiful as I had ever seen her.

"You heard?" she asked after a while. I nodded. "What do you think?"

"They made their choice," I replied after some consideration. "And now they're facing the consequences."

Hanna nodded slowly, carefully. "Yes."

"But…"

"But nothing. It just frustrates me, like really frustrates me that even under threat of extinction we still can't work together. Some surrendered when the Covenant came, some escaped, some hid." She huffed as if amused. "And worst of all are the ones that still fight us. The funny thing is that we actually bother to fight them."

"We have to," I told her. "Or they'd think they're tough, cross a line, do something really stupid."

"Like what?"

"Dunno," I shrugged. "Something that would end bad for both sides."

"Maybe you're right," Lockley shrugged me off. "Maybe you're not."

"We'll probably never know," I said in a deep voice.

Hanna laughed softly. It wasn't even that funny, but it was a pleasant change of direction in regards to the conversation. Having a serious chat about the war was always depressing. We didn't need to make it worse by throwing other humans into the mix. Hanna stopped chuckling and pushed her hair over her ear. I couldn't help but notice every little move that she made.

Maybe sleeping with Emily was a bad idea…

Maybe…

"The ship is going to be here in a half an hour," I informed my team. "It's gonna do a quick pass overhead. Most of the troops will pack themselves into Pelicans and then stay in orbit until the Inconvenience flies through them."

"What about us?" Bumblebee asked.

"We'll go in with the Pods," I explained. "The Falcon's are being packed together so that they can go inside the Pods and be taken up along with the FOB. Armadillos' are going on the Pelicans, same as the tanks, Hogs, and Mongooses. Mongeese. Whatever."

"So where should we report to?" Grass asked.

"We stay here," I said with a shrug. "The Pod will pick up the main section of the firebase first before taking the smaller sections up as well."

"So we're pretty much the last ones out?" Angel asked.

"Don't sound so surprised," Pavel taunted jokingly. "It's not like we've ever gotten preferential treatment when evacuating a planet."

"We sure do when we go in," Snark pointed out.

"This is a moon," Grass corrected Pavel. "Not a planet."

Everyone groaned in annoyance at that.

"Now we wait," I spoke out again, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Get some rest, it has been a long couple of days."

"Aye, aye," Bumblebee saluted. The rest of them just nodded tiredly and made their way to empty hospital beds. Even Caboose hopped on top of a bed before trying to catch some Zs. I made sure that all of them had complied with my order before nodding to myself and walking outside of the mobile hospital.

The FOB was a flurry of activity, everyone was running from one side to the other, trying to make sure that they weren't forgetting a picture of their sweethearts or their new grenade launcher. For the most part it was enlisted men running about telling other squads what their own squad was planning on doing and asking the pilots if the Pelicans were ready. Everyone was pretty nervous, it was a tricky maneuver the one that we were trying to pull off.

Imagine throwing up a rock as a bird flies. The bird has to open its mouth at the exact time and at a very precise speed so that it catches the rock. Now replace that rock with several dozen pebbles. Now make those pebbles aircraft and the bird a UNSC frigate. That's a pretty tough thing to do, right? Fortunately, we have a smart AI on our side that can calculate absolutely everything needed to pull that off without a hitch. And the helmsman on the Incovnenience is probably smarter than a bird. And the pelicans can move, unlike the pebbles.

Maybe it's not so tough after all now that I think about it.

"Two minutes!" the loudspeakers on the base boomed. Everyone stopped to look at the air with dumb expressions on their faces before shuffling along faster. I spotted a familiar face and moved quickly before I lost her.

"Marina, hold up," I called out.

She turned and looked at me, her expression changing from one of curiousness to one of disgust. It was enough to make me stop dead in my tracks. "What?"

"Just wanted to ask how you were, but apparently my concern is not appreciated."

She scoffed. "Do you have to be an asshole all the time?"

"Hey, you get what you give."

Marine stopped walking and put one hand on her hip. "If you want to say something just say it."

"I thought my sarcasm was clear enough." I paused on purpose, just for effect. "Yes, I'm saying you're a bitch."

Marina rolled her eyes and resumed her brisk pace towards her Pelican, prompting me to synch in step with her. "That was never much of a problem for the two years where I was screwing your brains out."

"I think it was the other way around," I shot back. "Besides, me being an asshole seemed to be a source of amusement to you. Or perhaps you just didn't mind."

"Maybe it's because you weren't an asshole back then!" Marina shot back angrily as she hopped on top of her Pelican's cargo bay.

"I don't recall you being that bitchy either."

Marina looked at me before walking into the cockpit. "Vice, turn everything on, everybody, get ready for takeoff."

I suddenly felt very aware that there were several Army troopers staring at me in confusion.

"Um, Sarge, now's not the best time to have this argument."

"Who the hell asked you?" I snapped at him. I suppressed a smirk as he winced slightly. "But you're right." I turned to the cockpit and took half a step inside. "Sheppard."

"Hey Frank," he said noncommittally.

"I'm not finished," I told Marina.

"I think you made it very clear that it was."

"Don't be like that," I said, my tone changing to a kinder one.

She sighed. "Get off my ship Frank."

I shook my head and complied, hopping off the Pelican even as it started taking off. All over the camp aircraft were taking to the air. Every last one of them was packed with soldiers and had some vehicle or other attached to the magnetic clamps on the tail. The Warthogs and Armadillos went one by one. The Scorpions that we had, had been packed into our lone Albatross craft while all the M274 ULATV were packed inside one ship.

Note that I actually wrote the Mongoose's full name because I have a very hard time knowing how exactly I'm supposed to say its plural.

I jogged the rest of the way back to the mobile hospital. The doors hissed as they pressurized and sealed themselves. It was barely a few minutes before the entire building shook. Since we didn't take off I assumed that it was because the lone Pod transport had taken the FOB itself up and away. We were now the only UNSC personnel left on the planet. A minute later we shook once more, this time a lot more violently. I held on to the wall to keep my feet, everyone else was startled awake by the shaking itself.

As soon as we lost gravity I realized how stupid it had been of me to not hold on to something or tie myself down. I was floating around for a few seconds, I took advantage of that and propelled myself towards one of the beds. I held on to it and hugged tightly. As soon as we were caught by the Inconvenience's gravity generators I felt my weight returning and allowed myself to let go.

"To your quarters," I ordered as I stood up. "You can take your armor to the drop bay later."

I took off instead towards the ONI office onboard. Half the complement and the crew were trying to make a sense of the retreat and re-boarding, so everyone was trying to elbow their ways to either their battle stations or their beds or their hang-out spots. Most of the infantry guys already knew me or knew about me, so they didn't really give me a wide berth, instead opting to let me pass as they would any normal person.

"Move," I growled.

"Wait for your turn," a marine snapped.

"Listen buddy, I have a rifle and you have a big head, now fucking move." I didn't wait, instead opting to shove the stubborn marine out of the way. His face slammed against a wall and he shouted out in pain while his friends started complaining. I ignored them and elbowed a swabbie before turning a corner and walking inside the ONI office.

"Ma'am," I said as I stopped and stood at attention. Trust me, that's a lot easier said than done.

"I don't remember calling you up here," Commander Albaf said without turning. "What do you want Sergeant?"

"I just need to know what's up next." I slid my left foot to the side so that I was standing at ease. "So that I can tell my team and prepare accordingly, ma'am."

"My, my, that almost sounded professional."

"Thank you," I replied in a straight tone.

"Well, unfortunately, I've got bad news," Albaf admitted. "The Covenant frigates in the system have been incapacitated, and I believe that you took care of the battlecruiser."

"Incapacitated? How."

"Through a very complicated process of luring them behind planets and laying minefields. Captain Brooks is one of the best, probably one of the top ten strategists in the fleet, right up there with Cole and Stanforth."

"And the bad news ma'am?"

"I'll get to it," the commander snapped drily. "It seems that they managed to get a transmission out of the system."

Shit.

"How long before we can expect enemy reinforcements."

"Several contacts have already been detected on the other side of the system. They're already gunning for Miridem."

Miridem it is then.

That about cuts it for Chapter 113, hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Sniper Fodder for proof-reading it by the way.

Ok, so now for the usual rant/clearing-up that I know most of you don't read. I felt like perhaps the decision committee was perhaps a little bit too brutal when dealing with the Insurrectionists, but you have to remember that those guys are the Commies of the twenty-sixth century (no offense to anyone who believes in and/or supports communism, it's just a comparison that most people will understand). They're hated by everyone that's not with them and are dehumanized by them as well. The fact that the innies have some serious track record under their belts probably justifies the almost inhumane decision.

Now for the fun section of the post-chapter thingy. I'll let you know that I worked very hard to hold back a "That's no moon!" joke after Grass points out to Pavel that Wolff is a moon. While we're on that topic, how about that? The city of Wilk, in the planet Wolff, in the Zeta Lupus system. Hardly original, huh?

Csodaszarvas, seriously, try saying that five times fast. And that's the actual name of one of Reach's moons.

I once tried dating two girls at once. Worst mistake of my life. Should've stuck with the one that seemed to good to be true. Will Frank be as mature as I am now? I doubt it, where's the fun in that?

As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay Strong.

-casquis

PS: I did a quick cover for the story with photoshop, hardly a masterpiece, but if anyone would be interested in making one for me I'd love the help, you can leave me a PM if you're interested. And review, please. =)

Csodaszarvas.