"Max, what does the governor say?" Elle walked barefooted across to her desk and sat in her oversized leather desk chair. Other than her desk, the room held only the Martian oak four-poster bed and a formal sitting area with a modern Ares-style honey leather couch, love seat, and straight chair combination complete with area rug and coffee and end tables. The formal furniture was rarely used, as Elle was always too busy running a brand-new country, world, star system, and multigeneration-long plan to overthrow the Sol System government. Entertaining guests was something that she had little time or use for, unless it suited some part of her ingenious, intricate, and, as history has shown, murderous and b.l.o.o.d.y plans. Along those lines she had high hopes that soon, very soon, she would be hosting a foreign dignitary from Ross 128.

"He has agreed to your proposal and has promised action today. He is waffling on us a bit, though. I think he is waiting for his one last shot at Moore." Sterling paused for a second and, Elle thought, was discussing something with his AIC. "I'm having the recording of our conversation uplinked to Copernicus now."

"Waffling! Waffling! You tell that weasel slimy s.h.i.t that if he even thinks about waffling on me, I will personally gut him from a.s.shole to cerebrum while keeping him alive to watch as I eat his f.u.c.king insides! You got that?" Elle's hands trembled and her eyes widened with anger. Ross 128 was critical to her plans. She rose from her desk chair, turned, and grabbed the wooden guest's straight chair from beside her desk and beat it into the floor several times while screaming violently. "I will smash that sonofab.i.t.c.h! Do you f.u.c.king understand me?"

"Ma'am. Uh, I will-"

"Do you f.u.c.king understand me?" she tossed a piece of the chair's leg at the viewscreen, cracking it on one corner.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll take care of it."

"Good, Max." Her mood and personality seemed to change almost instantly to her more calm and calculated persona. "When do you snap back?"

"We are loading personnel now. It was a good R & R for my crew, but we're ready to come home. As soon as we get loaded up and our package arrives, we'll be under way."

"Good. That package is precious cargo, is of the utmost importance to our cause, and will be treated as such. You understand me? You see it to it that no harm comes to it. Personally, Max."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I mean it. Any harm comes to that package and I'll personally kill the person or persons that allowed it-after I torture, dismember, and kill their family and force them to watch. You get me?" Her fists clenched tight as she glared at her top admiral.

"Yes, ma'am. Understood."

"Good. Let me know the instant it arrives and then get it and my ship back here to New Tharsis. I feel...vulnerable...without it." Elle smiled at Sterling in a very unaffectionate way. The thinness of her lips and the deep, thoughtful stare in her eyes were more than enough to give away that she felt a piece of her plan falling into place. "Admiral, see you soon."

"Good day, ma'am."

Elle shut the holo off and exhaled softly. She pulled the red, white, and blue ski mask off her face and undid her ponytail. The long, dark locks of hair fell loose about her shoulders as she shook her head about from side to side to relieve her stressed shoulders and neck.

"Ah, that's better," she sighed and looked at the broken guest's chair scattered about. "Better get somebody up here to clean up this mess." Her desk chair creaked obtrusively as she leaned back in it. She gave herself a moment to prop her feet up on the light brown Queen Annestyle oak desk and rest her eyes. She had been plotting and scheming for so long so long behind that mask. And she had been isolated in her penthouse sanctum for behind that mask. And she had been isolated in her penthouse sanctum for so long so long. Oh, sure, she went out often to run operations or oversee projects or to show her people she was still there in person, which usually meant an execution, but since her longtime friend, co-conspirator, and father of her last child had died, she was lonely. She missed Scotty. She had loved him since the day he, Supreme Court Chief Justice Scotty P. Mueller, swore Sienna Madira into the office of president of the United States of America so many years ago. Scotty had always added a bit of humanity and morality to the plan. And then he had to go and help a d.a.m.ned CIA agent escape. Of course, she had been the one that had killed him. There was no other choice: she had to. So she was solely to blame for her loneliness.

Oh, Sienna Madira had had family, two daughters and a son, a mult.i.tude of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. Sienna Madira had long since been dead and she would never know that part of her life again. Although a small few of them, a very select few, were in on the Separatist plan and helped her subtly from within the Sol System.

But Elle Ahmi had only had the one daughter, Sehera Ahmi Moore. Sehera grew up in hiding with her mother and father during the early years of the Separatist terrorist movement. She was in her early teens during the so-called "thought police" era. Elle never thought history was fair to her for calling it that. She had only used a modern technology to find people within her fold who were disloyal to her. Of course, she had them thrown out into the Martian desert without an environment suit, but she had to protect the integrity of her terrorist-cell structure.

Elle had watched Sehera turn into a tough but beautiful woman before her eyes and hoped that she would be right there by her side all the way to the new, better, and truly free humanity. But that was all destroyed by one soldier. One really good soldier who had managed to survive the surprise offensive of the last Martian Desert Campaign and then withstand the Separatist torture camp, and had somehow managed to get under her daughter's skin. And that is when Sehera did the unthinkable and betrayed the Separatist movement, her father, and Elle herself for that one G.o.dd.a.m.ned Marine. Sehera had helped him escape.

But that hadn't been good enough for that son of a b.i.t.c.h! Any sane man would have cut his losses and run, bounced, crawled, or whatever he could do across the Martian desert to the nearest American outpost. Any sane idiot would have bounced away from the very torture camp in which he had just spent years watching his fellow Americans tortured, wilting and dying around him, but not him. h.e.l.l, no, not Major Alexander Moore. Against all odds, that SOB spent five weeks inside his armored e-suit planning, plotting, and scheming just so he could come back to the torture camp and kill every last one of Elle's soldiers. He had been too late to save any other of his fellow prisoners, because Elle had killed them in a fit of rage following Moore's escape. When he returned there was n.o.body left for him to rescue, so he killed everybody. Everybody. He killed everybody in the encampment but Elle and Sehera. Elle would never forget that day as long as she drew breath. Had she shot her daughter for the treason of helping Moore escape-the way she had executed Sehera's father, Scotty-she wouldn't have had Moore to deal with all these years. It ended up in a big Mexican-style standoff. Moore had discovered Elle's secret ident.i.ty, so there was no longer any alternative but to take him out of the picture. Elle was certain that he had to die, and then at the last moment Sehera stepped between her mother and the bloodied, enraged Marine. Sehera tried debating with them and pleading with them to cease, but Elle and Moore were each ready to die as long as they managed to kill the other one in the process. Elle had, for a brief instant, considered killing her daughter, or at least wounding her, but she couldn't do it. That was when the unthinkable happened. Then Sehera, Elle Ahmi's only child, chose Moore over her.

Elle had been so brokenhearted that she let them go without a fight. And Moore seemed, at that moment, content to leave with Sehera and his life. After all, he had killed over ninety of her men and women in his surprise rampage. Elle always wondered if Moore had thought that by taking her daughter from her, he was torturing her or paying her back. It didn't matter. Sehera was still alive and, as far as she could tell, was happy with Moore.

Ever since that day, Elle had been accounting and allowing for the two of them in her plans, for decades. Oftentimes, that d.a.m.ned Moore would do some random act of heroism that couldn't be accounted for that would ruin years of scheming, arranging of events, and planning, not to mention major resources. But she still couldn't bring herself to take them out of the picture. She just couldn't bring herself to ruin Sehera's happiness. Sehera was indeed the final love of her life. In fact, she even prodded and directed their paths every now and then without them knowing it. Elle had learned long ago how to manipulate a popular vote and was instrumental in Moore winning his first race as a Mississippi senator. Moore had no idea-or at least Elle had no reason to think he did. Neither did Sehera, for that matter.

And she didn't really regret not having killed them. They somehow seemed to keep her connected to her own humanity. Scotty had often told her that she had become so logical and calculating that he wasn't certain she had any emotion left in her soul. Maybe the Moore family was the only spark she had left of that. One day, she also hoped to see her granddaughter. So far, Moore and Sehera hadn't allowed that. But Elle had a plan for that, too. If all went according to plan, she'd meet her granddaughter in a matter of hours.

And there was always the plan the plan. The Separatist plan that she had been developing, tweaking, forcing, and maintaining for decades, and no matter how many simulations she and her AIC Copernicus ran, it always ended the same way. That Mexican standoff between her and the Moores had to be played out to the finish.

Maybe you should get some sleep, ma'am, Copernicus said into her mind, snapping her out of her racing memories and thoughts. Copernicus said into her mind, snapping her out of her racing memories and thoughts.

Perhaps I will, Elle thought as she sighed again, sliding her feet to the floor softly so as not to disturb the quiet of the room and the tranquil view of the rings of the rising gas giant. Call her emotionless or even evil, but Elle still enjoyed the absolute beauty and wonder of the universe. Then she, Elle Ahmi, the most notorious and murderous terrorist known to the Sol System, the leader of the Separatist movement, the once great United States Army General Sienna Madira, the one hundred eleventh president of the United States of America Sienna Madira, felt the weight of her years on her shoulders pressing her like Atlas must have felt. But Atlas had only held up the Earth. Elle was trying to hold up the Tau Ceti star system, trying to coerce the Ross 128 system into jumping on, and planning to overthrow the Sol System. At that point, the other human colonies should follow suit. No, Elle wished she only had Atlas's problems. Elle thought as she sighed again, sliding her feet to the floor softly so as not to disturb the quiet of the room and the tranquil view of the rings of the rising gas giant. Call her emotionless or even evil, but Elle still enjoyed the absolute beauty and wonder of the universe. Then she, Elle Ahmi, the most notorious and murderous terrorist known to the Sol System, the leader of the Separatist movement, the once great United States Army General Sienna Madira, the one hundred eleventh president of the United States of America Sienna Madira, felt the weight of her years on her shoulders pressing her like Atlas must have felt. But Atlas had only held up the Earth. Elle was trying to hold up the Tau Ceti star system, trying to coerce the Ross 128 system into jumping on, and planning to overthrow the Sol System. At that point, the other human colonies should follow suit. No, Elle wished she only had Atlas's problems.

Turn out the lights and bring the transparency of the windows down to about fifty percent, she ordered Copernicus. Her loyal AIC complied instantly, forcing Elle to blink a few times and stand still as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She dropped her clothes on the floor at the foot of her bed and dragged herself under the sheets. She allowed herself a few moments to view the panorama from her office, her home, of the domain of the Separatists. she ordered Copernicus. Her loyal AIC complied instantly, forcing Elle to blink a few times and stand still as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She dropped her clothes on the floor at the foot of her bed and dragged herself under the sheets. She allowed herself a few moments to view the panorama from her office, her home, of the domain of the Separatists. Not a very full home, Not a very full home, she thought. she thought. But great plans require great sacrifice. But great plans require great sacrifice.

What's that, ma'am?

Just mumbling, Copernicus. Good night.

Good night, ma'am.

Her mind still raced a bit, so she focused on the view through the windows. The arched windows of the penthouse stretched four meters tall and three meters wide, with only a few centimeters of semitransparent metal structure between them. The giant windows sat side by side, completely around the office. The lack of opaque materials in the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view would frighten sufferers of agoraphobia beyond their wits. Those afraid of heights wouldn't do much better, either. The penthouse sat atop the capitol building, looking to the north across Madira Valley at the s.p.a.ceport several tens of kilometers away. The dome at the vertex of the Separatist leader's home allowed for not only the three hundred and sixty degrees of view through the transparent armored walls but upward in a full hemisphere at the sky as well. Sitting in the quarters gave the impression of sitting on top of a very tall building on top of a high mountain peak with no walls or ceiling. The walls could be blacked out if needed or even have false images displayed on them to represent wood, concrete, or any other building or decorating material. But Elle liked the open view. She liked seeing the stars and the lights of the Tau Ceti capital city below and around her.

Her four-poster bed sat near the east side of the penthouse, so she could watch the Jovian rise several times a day and Tau Ceti rise in the mornings. She also could look out in any direction and see across several states of the Separatist nation. It wasn't the cold, dry desert of Mars, where she had grown up. In fact, it was a far superior planet, with oceans and an atmosphere and climates ranging from subtropical to cold mountainous regions. Ares was beautiful, and the Separatists would make the Tau Ceti system their home away from home. New Tharsis was the capital city, and she lived at the capitol building above the Senate floor.

Elle laughed at that thought. The Senate was nothing more than a gathering of powerful women and men who were her governors and generals overseeing certain regions of the system or large-scale projects. She didn't trust a one of them, and if something ever happened to her total dominating control over them, she feared that they would begin fighting amongst themselves, turning Ares into a world of separate regions controlled by powerful warlords. Elle didn't want the United Separatist Republic to turn into something akin to twenty-first century Africa. She rolled over onto her left side and looked out across the valley at the occasional s.p.a.ceport traffic flying out of the city as her mind slowly drifted off to sleep and her eyelids grew too heavy to keep open. Elle needed her rest because she had a big day ahead of her, whether she knew it or not.

Chapter 4.

July 1, 2394 AD Sol System, Mars Friday, 7:40 AM, Earth Eastern Standard Time Ramy's Robots 3rd Armored E-suit Marines Forward Recon Unit had bounced alongside the Army tankheads for more than three hours since the war games had started. They had done some fighting along the way against the red-team AEMs, Army Armored Infantry (AAI), and Army tankheads that had dropped on them from the Lincoln Lincoln and the and the Tyler Tyler, and they had come out on top with only minor losses. The sky was jam-packed with Marine and Navy mecha zigging and zagging through the thin atmosphere, leaving ion trails. Simulated tracer rounds and explosions continuously filled the sky. Modern-day war games looked a lot like the real thing, minus the blood and the terror. For tried and true soldiers who had tested their mettle in real combat, war games generated little more than the urgency to learn new skills or to sharpen old ones. They were so far from the real thing simply because the possibility of death was absent. But war gaming did make the soldiers more proficient in the case of real war, and each and every time they were given the opportunity to war game they brought their A-game. What a soldier might learn in a war game might just pay off in some real situation and save a life or two.

First Sergeant Tamara McCandless and Staff Sergeant Tommy Suez had seen the real thing, and both of them fully expected that the real thing was coming again sooner than most people wanted to admit. The two marines felt compelled to take the games seriously because neither of them wanted to end up a casualty of the real thing when it came. Besides that, there was team pride at stake. The flagship crew couldn't let themselves be defeated by other ships in the fleet.

Suez and McCandless led two small squads of AEMs ahead of the blue team by a couple of kilometers to feel out the enemy attack plan. They had bounced point across the red, dusty, cold desert of Mars mostly through overwhelming odds all day. But that was just the way that Colonel Roberts always liked it and was probably the reason that he had volunteered the Robots to be the tip of the spear. The colonel was at the rear of the forward recon unit. Warlord One of the tankheads guided the attack from a better sensor vantage point mostly because he had lost a game of rock-paper-scissors with the first sergeant as to who got to lead the attack.

It wasn't uncommon for Colonel Roberts to be out in front of his Robots charging into h.e.l.l, but this time strategy-and the rules of rock-paper-scissors-dictated that he bounce in with the second wave. As soon as the forward teams figured out where the enemy were, Roberts would lead the tankheads in to overwhelm the red-team forces holding down the objective. Sensors showed a static force already occupying the hill, but they had yet to offer any resistance at close range. The original plan was to break through the perimeter front lines, which they did about an hour earlier, and then take and hold the objective.

Tommy understood the attack plan well. They really didn't even need to go over it in detail during the mission prebrief since it was a simple take and hold. The simulation scenario was that there was an important square half-kilometer on a very small and rocky hill in the h.e.l.las Basin just north of the Southern Polar Cap, for no particular reason designated to be the end goal of the war game. If Tommy Suez had anything to say about it, the blue team, which included only the crew and soldiers from the Sienna Madira Sienna Madira, was going to win. Tommy and two other Robots took the right side of the hill while Top had taken a squad up the other side. Tommy bounced ten to thirty meters and took cover. Corporal Danny Bates would leapfrog him and take cover. Then Private First Cla.s.s Rondi Howser would leapfrog them both, and the process would start all over. Unless they encountered resistance, the plan was to continue the cover advance until they landed on the central coordinates of the objective zone.

As far as the staff sergeant could see, there was nothing but rocks, some red dirt, and occasionally some Martian hybrid gra.s.ses adding a faint splash of green to the landscape. No trees grew that far south, which meant that, unfortunately, the only cover was the rocks or going underground. What concerned him most was the fact that his QM sensors in his e-suit visor were showing enemy troops all around them, but he couldn't find them visually. There was no motion, no enemy fire, no traffic on the wireless, nothing. Tommy got a bad vibe from that, and he didn't like getting bad vibes.

"Top, where the h.e.l.l are they? You see 'em?" he asked McCandless through the QM communications tac-net. He hoped the senior enlisted soldier would have a better viewing angle from her location farther up the hill and to the left. Tommy did a belly slide up to a boulder throwing a red dust rooster tail up behind him. He quickly rose up to a knee with his hypervelocity automatic railgun (HVAR) scanning the horizon. The dust settled slowly in the Martian gravity and threw sparkles of sunlight around them in a brilliant display of flashes. The green targeting X in his visor scanned from rock to rock across the desert, looking for a target, a hostile target, h.e.l.l, anything to shoot at.

"Got anything, Sarge?" Private First Cla.s.s Rondi Howser slid in behind him, quickly rising to her knees with her weapon at the ready. "I can't see s.h.i.t with all this dust and smoke scattered about from the fireworks and the smokers."

"I don't see a d.a.m.ned thing," Corporal Bates added as he slid in beside them. He lost his balance and fell visor first into the ground. Dust flew up around them as they came to a halt. PFC Howser tried not to laugh.

"I don't see them either, Private. Keep the QM, IR, and lidar sensors pinging away. They're out there. We just have to find them and kill them. Nothing to it." Tommy continued to scan visually and compare what he was seeing to the sensor overlays, but he still had no better information than any of the other marines on that hill.

"Where the s.h.i.t are they, Tommy?" Danny asked. The two of them had served together since the Oort and had become friends over the years. PFC Howser was new to the team, and they had yet to determine how good she was. But so far, Danny had been having a hard time keeping up with her. Tommy thought that was funny and dangerous and had warned Bates a few times that any chauvinistic att.i.tudes could get him killed if they were in the real s.h.i.t. Danny wouldn't admit to the bravado, but the fact that Tommy had to warn him of it was hopefully enough to shake him out of it.

"Keep it frosty, Suez," First Sergeant Tamara McCandless warned him. "I don't have them on eyeball, but my sensors are dinging like crazy, too. They're here. Be ready for an ambush."

"Bates, get your a.s.s up and keep your head on. Top can't see them, either, but they're here and about to invite us to a party we didn't care to join." Tommy looked back at the young private. "Stay alert, Howser."

"I'm frosty, Sarge," she said. And as far as Tommy could tell the young marine was as frosty as a beer mug. She had the makings of a really good AEM. But only the test of real combat could determine that.

Tommy looked across the landscape and then again at the sensor overlay. The sensors showed return signals from potential targets just ahead of them and scattered about almost randomly. There was no method to the distribution that he could see. There was no front, no perimeter, no flanking positions, nothing that made any military sense. The signal locations looked to him almost like the blue-team troops were just peppered into place on top of the little hill with no defense plan. It didn't make any sense, because Tommy had war-gamed with other crews before and had actually fought with them at the Battle of the Oort, and he knew that American troops are so well-trained that this wasn't the type of stand they would make.

Any ideas? he thought to his AIC. he thought to his AIC.

I'm just as confused as you. I will say that an a.n.a.lysis of the signals since we started detecting them shows them as not having moved a centimeter in the last thirty minutes.

Weird, Tommy thought. Tommy thought.

"Suez, we can't just wait this out. I just got word from the colonel that the Blair Blair has just popped into orbit from hypers.p.a.ce. We're gonna get in the s.h.i.t really d.a.m.ned quick," First Sergeant McCandless said over the net. "I think it is time to take the f.u.c.king hill, marines." has just popped into orbit from hypers.p.a.ce. We're gonna get in the s.h.i.t really d.a.m.ned quick," First Sergeant McCandless said over the net. "I think it is time to take the f.u.c.king hill, marines."

"You got it, Top," Tommy replied. Tommy motioned to his squad to fan out and move forward. Then he stood and slapped his jumpboots against the ground for a bigger bounce. The boots of the armored suit pounded against the ground, storing energy in the repulsor fields in the soles, and then released the energy, slinging him sixty meters forward and twenty meters high. From that vantage point he could see the enemy AEMs spread about the hill. All of them were lying down. Some of them were in p.r.o.ne position, others on their backs, and some of them were on their sides rolled up. Tommy rolled over into a forward flip, landing on his feet and coming down to his right knee. Bates and Howser landed nearby, and he could see Top and her squad hitting ground to the left, synchronized with them. Tommy rushed one of the suits, firing a few simulated rounds into it. As he approached it, he kicked it over onto its back and realized that there was n.o.body in the armored e-suit.

"What the f.u.c.k?" he grumbled. "Top, the suits are empty!"

"Same here, Suez," Top replied.

"Tommy, all of them are empty," Bates informed him as he bounced from suit to suit rapidly with his rifle swinging madly about looking for live targets.

"What does it mean, Staff Sergeant?" PFC Howser bounced beside him and sounded a bit nervous.

"No clue, Private. Somebody is trying to be clever here. But clever how, I'm not sure." Tommy would have scratched his chin to ponder had he not been in an e-suit and had years of training in them not removed such habits from his repertoire. "Better stay alert."

"Top, what's your status?" Colonel Roberts asked over the tac-net.

"We have the objective, Colonel." Tamara answered him with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "We've met no resistance so far, sir."

Tommy bounced his team twice to meet the first sergeant in the middle of the objective coordinates. They had the hill, but for some strange reason it was littered with empty AEM suits from one of the blue-team ships. If there was some tactic or strategy being played, Tommy didn't get it. Then it hit him almost at once as there was a strange hissing sound rattling his suit and then a brilliant flash of light all around them. A brief instant later they were surrounded by a hundred or more blue-team marines with their weapons drawn.

We're surrounded, Tommy! his AIC shouted into his mind. his AIC shouted into his mind.

Holy s.h.i.t! They've got us and will take the hill. We have to do something now!

What?

"Staff Sergeant Tommy Suez authorizing suit autodestruct now, now, now!" Tommy shouted over the net not for his squad or Top's squad to hear because they would be dead. He announced the order over the tac-net so Colonel Roberts would know what happened and how to react. Tommy just hoped that his sacrifice would do enough damage to the enemy force that had just appeared from nowhere to give Colonel Roberts and Colonel Warboys enough advantage to hold the hill.

"Suez, what the f.u.c.k are you doing?" McCandless turned to him with a horrified look on her face and shouted at him. But it was too late; Tommy had already given the order to his suit to detonate.

"Sorry, Top. I didn't see anybody else thinking of anything brilliant, so I took action." Tommy more than half expected the first sergeant to tear into him. He braced himself for the onslaught and verbal defilement, but it didn't come.

"Well, f.u.c.king s.h.i.t!" is all Tamara managed to get out, and then she kicked at a boulder with her jumpboots. Tommy watched her as she realized that all the blue-team forces around them were cursing and kicking at boulders as well and realizing that their weapons had been locked out. Then the top sergeant seemed to settle down. Tommy almost thought he heard her laugh.

"Top," Tommy dared to add, thinking the entire time that he should just leave well e-G.o.dd.a.m.ned-nuff alone. But his brain was slower than his mouth, so his mouth just kept on talking though his brain knew better. "That'll teach 'em to attack Ramy's Robots outnumbering us more than ten to one. Oh, the carnage."

"Oh, the humanity," Corporal Bates added. He had never been smart enough to keep his his mouth shut as long as Tommy had known the marine. mouth shut as long as Tommy had known the marine.

"You two, don't try my f.u.c.king patience." Tamara shot them a stern look they could barely make out through her visor.

"Got it, Top."

The simulation referee AICs officially announced to all attack teams in the simulation that all troops within a two hundred meter radius of red team's Staff Sergeant Tommy Suez were all dead. Tommy could just imagine how the captain of the Blair Blair must be reacting to the sim refs' announcement. The troops who had teleported down from the must be reacting to the sim refs' announcement. The troops who had teleported down from the Blair Blair never had a chance to fire a single shot before their weapons were locked out and they were reported as killed in action. never had a chance to fire a single shot before their weapons were locked out and they were reported as killed in action.

As far as Tommy could see it, he had done his job. He had kept the blue team from taking the hill under overwhelming circ.u.mstances, for now. It would be up to Roberts and Warboys from here on to hold it. Tommy found a big rock and sat down on it.

"What do we do now, Sarge?" PFC Howser asked him.

"Nothing, Private. We're dead."

Chapter 5.

July 1, 2394 AD Mars...o...b..t, Sol System Friday, 7:59 AM, Earth Eastern Standard Time "Aw s.h.i.t!" Lieutenant Commander Buckley said as Engineer's Mate Petty Officer First Cla.s.s (EM1) Andy Sanchez screamed from behind a control panel. "What now?"

"Caught a little extra current flow in my elbow, Joe. I'm all right," The EM1 replied while rubbing at a new burn mark on the left elbow of his orange coveralls.

"You've been trained on that s.h.i.t, Engineer's Mate Petty Officer First Cla.s.s. Don't make us have to write some incident up." Joe laughed at his senior enlisted man on the team. h.e.l.l, Andy looked young, but he had at least fifteen years in carriers. He had transferred over from the Lincoln Lincoln just after the Battle of the Oort. Joe liked him, mostly because he was a very proficient engineer's mate. He planned to do everything he could not to fry this petty officer with hard X-rays like he had done his last one. He turned to his main propulsion a.s.sistant for an update on the jaunt projector. just after the Battle of the Oort. Joe liked him, mostly because he was a very proficient engineer's mate. He planned to do everything he could not to fry this petty officer with hard X-rays like he had done his last one. He turned to his main propulsion a.s.sistant for an update on the jaunt projector.

"All looks good, Joe."

"Engineering! Bridge!"

"Go Bridge," Joe replied. He could tell by the voice it was the Air Boss.

"CHENG, I don't know what you people are doing down there, but I've got two squadrons of Ares mecha stuck on the lower cat bay! When do we expect to have that back up?"

"We're on it, Bridge!" Joe turned to his DCAS operator. "G.o.ddammit, I thought I was gonna get verbal updates on the main systems until the Damage Control a.s.sessment System was back online!"

"Joe?" Damage Control a.s.sistant Lieutenant Concepcion gulped. "I'm checking that, sir. I sent two firemen to watch that but haven't heard a thing."

"Mira, get them on the speaker. And check out what other systems are down!" Joe turned to check on the engineer's mate as he was crawling from behind the DCAS control panel on his hands and knees.

"I've got the diagnostic for Aux and Main Prop hardwired directly to the readouts now, Joe. We should be able to keep continuous watch on them until the DCAS is fully up again." EM1 Sanchez took Joe's hand as he offered it and hauled himself up.

"Good work, Andy. Do me a favor and follow the power flow to the cats and see where they are shut off."

"I'm on it, Joe." The young engineer's mate took off through the hatch, down the hall, and out of sight.

He'll find it. He's a good sailor, Joe thought. Joe thought.