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SAFES Liaison's Log, Science Vessel Searcher, Aug. 14th, 2555:

There is something not right about Major Jenkins. I don't know what it is and there's no point in theorizing but no human has that stoic of a reaction to having a wolven snarling in their face and I have met humans who'd take on a full adult dragon with their bare hands. Somehow, Akeya saw it and sent a message although I fear that her message didn't penetrate as deeply as she'd have wanted. It is not only his arrogance and his deception but the strange satisfaction he gets out of provoking an infuriated blush response out of others that makes me wonder what his problem is. Admittedly, it was immensely satisfying to see Commodore Andropoli smash him against a bulkhead like that; a SpecOps is one thing because their job description includes kicking tail but a mundane old sea captain is another thing entirely.

I am beginning to more fully appreciate why the Admiral tapped a surface coast-patrol captain and a captain whose job is babysitting science vessels in absurdly safe space as command assets for our mission. Andropoli is a professional sea dog and has the moxey to growl down an enemy if need be which is why I suspect that he's the second-in-command of the task force. Captain Rousseau doesn't generally show it but it appears that her obsessive love of naval history and various anachronisms (such as using the phrase "beat to quarters" instead of "general quarters", a term that originated from the period of fighting sail) has given her a very keen tactical insight and significant appreciation for the way in which various components can be used in support of the overall mission.

At any rate, preparations for the proposed mission are going well. We've been lingering over the general area of the target laboratory under the excuse of wishing to make a more thorough survey of the magnetic deposits nearby; as the Viis had no idea what I was talking about, they seem to have accepted my excuse at face value. By the time Major Obsidian's team hits the ground, that facility will be silent as a grave... no way to get the word out. I handed off some communication equipment to help the team step around our interference but I can only hope it works as intendedâ€"stepping around interference, even when you know its exact nature, is very difficult. At least we enjoy the advantage of local space superiority in case things get sticky.

Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES

Sera found Akeya on the gun range as seemed to be her favorite place on the Marauder. She was breaking down her rifle when Sera entered and stopped upon seeing the wolven, standing up and putting the module down.

"Good evening, General." She greeted pleasantly. "What's the word from the top?"

"I don't think I'll bother to ask why you'd keep track of where I am and why." Sera replied wryly. "The word is that Doctor Campbell is leery of the ultimate intentions of our hosts and would that we should visit one of their laboratories and ask in a not-so-nice way."

"No kiddin'." Akeya looked intensely interested. "What's Doc Campbell worried ‘bout, specifically? A raid's a pretty big sudden escalation from just putterin' ‘round lookin' at things."

"The Admiral figures that our primary mission is to gather an accurate picture of the Viis." Sera told her. "Raiding this lab, in addition to investigating the possibility that they're pushing development of a bioweapon to use against us, could give us several pieces of the puzzle."

"Interesting." Akeya turned and started to pack up the modules. "Well, General, you know my opinion of you and the Admiral. Where shall I follow you, my captain?"

"I'm following you, actually." Sera told her. "You're going to be team lead."

Akeya glanced over her shoulder, looking surprised. "General, there's a reason I'm a major and you outrank me." She said, continuing to pack without looking, relying on well-trained muscle memory. "I couldn't give you orders... it's both not in my nature and very strongly against my trained inclinations."

"You are team lead and sharpshooter. I am the team technician. The composition of the rest of the team is in your hands." Sera told her firmly. "You and I both take orders from the Admiral, Major, and these are her orders."

"Then I will obey the Admiral's orders." Akeya nodded. "But you're not just the tech. The Admiral is sending her closest friend with this team, the only one she trusts to adjust the mission according to unexpected circumstances. I'm not yet a veteran, General, but I know how things work and the unquestioned trust between you and Admiral Williams is no secret."

Sera smiled at the SpecOps asset as the girl snapped the case shut and hefted the rifle. "I'll bet you have some names in mind for the mission despite having just heard about it."

"I do." Akeya confirmed.

"Would you be willing to tell me about them?" Sera pressed gently, following as Akeya walked out of the firing range without taking her eyes off Sera's.

"I'd prefer to show them to you." Akeya smiled, a little bit of the young girl creeping into the happy expression. "But first, I've got to rouse ‘em. You and me, we burn midnight oil. It's just approaching routine wakeup call for the grunts, the lazy sobs. You like ‘Reveille'?"

"You can play the bugle?" Sera blinked.

"Of course not!" Akeya snorted. "I cheat... got me one of them ghetto blasters from an old tinkering shop and it does a nice job for me."

"Ghetto... blaster...?"

"Boom box." Akeya supplied. "Oh for... a portable stereo, General! Don't tell me you've never heard of them."

"Not really, no." Sera admitted as they walked. "I prefer something a bit more modern like, say, a compressed disc player with background-cancelling headphones."

"Kids these days..." Akeya sighed dramatically. "All obsessed with these new-fangled shiny techno-toys. No respect for their elders or the good solid things that came before. What are you young'uns coming to these days? Why, back in '42, all we had were bayonets for our drumsticks and the dried guts of Krauts if we wanted strings. You have it easy, girly."

Sera stared at her. "You do that far too well."

"I practice when bored." Akeya winked. "I don't practice so much when there be cute solider-boys around."

"I really hope you don't lead them on too much, Akeya." Sera said with a note of mild disapproval. "I can't imagine it being too good for the integrity of command if some of those cute soldier boys can personally attest to the fact that you're a good lay."

Akeya chuckled but with a somewhat distant look. "Being SpecOps isn't like being a conventional soldier, General." She replied a bit quietly. "The name means so much, the legend so established that developing the traits that make the soldiers obey you out of camaraderie and respect is only a matter of personal honor, not a requirement. Soldiers respect you but reverence me... and maybe one day I'll retire and be obeyed because I'm me instead of because I'm Gunslinger."

"Side benefits aren't worth it, huh?"

"Well, I didn't say that..." Akeya smiled a little shyly. "SAFAG has more than just a few good men in all senses of the word. Sometimes the best part comes afterwards... makes you sort of wish you were deep into your career instead of still making a place for yourself, yanno?"

"I know it well." Sera smiled back, thinking of the couple of times she'd met Shadow's grandfather, a lump rising in her throat at the memory of it. "I met Admiral Aaron Williams a couple times, after he'd retired. He had a certain aura around him that I've only seen a couple other times... Shadow, Admiral Steuban, Representative James Ferris..."

"The one from Poplar Village, right?" Akeya looked at her, noticing the slight strain.

"Yes." Sera just nodded.

"I can imagine." Akeya nodded. "Leading the entire USC to pass the Edict by such a crushing margin isn't the feat of an ordinary man."

"Ferris is good people." Sera chuckled. "Heh... look at the two of us, getting all soulful and solemn before a mission."

"Well, at least we stopped needin' the chocolate fudge and group hugs before the boys saw." Akeya commented cheerfully, the short conversations having lasted long enough to bring them to the door of the soldiers' sleeping quarters. "Speakin' of the devils, ya might wanna cover dem ears."

"Thanks for warning me." Sera folded her ears against her head and covered them with her paws. "Captain Rousseau didn't bother before she set off a general quarters alarm, just before we went through."

"Captain Rousseau outranks me." Akeya pointed out as she triggered the door and stepped inside, reaching up towards a genuine plastic boombox with an audiocassette player and a fold-down telescoping metal antenna with a white rubber tip. She pushed the play button and an unbearable racket blasted from the boom box, making Sera's head hurt even with her ears covered. Even with how obnoxiously loud it was, she recognized the distinct and expert playing of Reveille blasting out of the speakers of the archaic music machine. The effect was immediate and somewhat predictable: all the rows of sleeping soldiers instantly came alive, jolting upwards and slipping out of their beds with a care born of intense practice, leaving only one part of the sheets to tuck in which each soldier knelt and did quickly, giving their pillow a quick fluff-and-smooth and lining up in military rows just as the bugle song ended and Akeya shut the boombox off. Sera took her paws off her ears and took a moment to smile with pride at the extremely precise rows of soldiers, coming in all shapes and sizes and colors, the young backbone of SAF drawn from all over the three core planets of the Governance.

"Atten-shun!" At the far end of the barracks, the basso voice of what looked from where Sera stood to be a corporal, rang out. "Officer on deck!" Immediately, every soldier shifted from parade rest to the ramrod-straight posture of soldiers at attention, eyes fixed forward, heads held high and rigid.

Akeya smiled at the show of respect. "Company, at ease!" She barked. "Welcome to the next day of the rest of your lives, ladies!"

Smiles broke out as the soldiers went into parade rest again. "It's a good day to die, Major." The corporal who'd called attention said to her.

"Ah, that's the attitude I like to see, Corporal." Akeya beamed to him. "Got a special treat for you scrubs. I've brought you a general to play with. Be nice to her; she breaks easy."

There was a ripple of laughter before a deep rich baritone rang out from a towering soldier who stood near the corporal. "Oh, she don't break easy at all, Major." He corrected her with a wide grin that shone out from a handsomely black face. "Don't you know? That there's the lil doggie that stared down a whole bunch o' those gattling gun tanks back at the Village. Girl, you must be outside your mind."

"Hey now... no one asked you." Akeya grinned back at him. "Just for that, you're all gonna let me inspect you."

"Major, you can inspect us as close as you want." One of the soldiers grinned, earning catcalls and wolf whistles of approval from almost everyone in his immediate vicinity.

"If that cute piece of tail beside you is any sign, soldier, you've already got as much girl as you need." Akeya retorted merrily, the beautifully emerald-scaled draccian beside him twinkling as the soldier's cheeks turned pink although he looked distinctly pleased with himself and the "oohs" and backslaps from the other males nearby.

"So, Major, how much more banter do I get to enjoy before I meet the stars of your show?" Sera inquired sotto voce. "This is fun but we do have a rather annoying detail called a deadline."

"Point taken, General." Akeya acknowledged in the same volume before cranking her voice up to address the barracks. "Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls of various ages, I wish to announce at the behest of the General, that you will commence fraternization immediately. All those who want to help others out of their uniforms are invited to use public accommodations so I can sell the movies."

A ripple of laugher went through the lines of soldiers and they immediately broke formation to start chatting, pull out a book, or whatever their inclination was. Akeya looked up at Sera with the hint of a girlish grin, a look Sera met with mature amusement at the last part of her announcement. Akeya promptly started into the milling crowds, making a clear beeline for the towering black-skinned human who'd answered her back earlier. As they approached, Sera was able to more easily appreciate the hugeness of the man. He couldn't be an inch under 6'8" and was built like a fortification, the hard developed muscle of a man who loved exhausting intensely physical work flexing as he turned to look at them. Sera couldn't help but notice that his very dark skin set off the hazel of his eyes and the carefully-trimmed stubble of his true-black facial hair handsomely and that when he grinned as he did when he saw them threading though the crowd, his teeth were sparkling white and perfectly even. Somehow, given his powerful frame and hardened body, the golden bars and diamonds of a first sergeant fit perfectly on his uniform.

"General, ma'am." He greeted her in a booming baritone with a smart salute which she returned. "First Sergeant Richard Morris, 10th Sword Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Corp. A pleasure and honor to meet you, ma'am."

"Likewise, Sergeant." Sera told him warmly, doing her best to avoid being as visibly taken-aback as she felt. The 12th Corp was the most celebrated unit in all of SAF, deeply respected for their bravery and skill to the man. Sera suddenly had the feeling that one of Shadow's markers had allowed her to tap the 12th for her ground contingent. It would certainly fit with how her friend had assembled notable talent from other parts of the military for the expedition. "It is always my honor to exchange salutes with a member of the Steel Corp."

"If you hadn't run off to the shipyards, we would have totally kidnapped your tail, General." He replied, smiling. "So how'd you get yourself mixed up with swamp riffraff like this little girl?"

Sera laughed. "Well, she sorta latched on to me, Sergeant." She admitted. "Could bear to get rid of her... she's so cute with that gun of hers."

"That, General, is why I get laid and you don't." Akeya informed her archly.

"And how would you know that, Major?" Sera inquired amusedly.

"Easy... you and your girlfriend haven't hung out the entire trip." Akeya retorted slyly.

Sera felt herself blush intensely and was glad that she had fur although she couldn't stop her ears from laying down slightly in an embarrassed fashion. "When am I ever going to shake that off?" She sighed.

"When soldier-boys stop wishing it was true..." Richard began.

"...and thinking that if it isn't, it should be." Akeya finished. "Face it General: sorta unusual to know someone as well as you do the Admiral and not be hitched."

"Oy." Sera shook her head. "So what's your pleasure, Sergeant?"

"Bombs." He grinned widely. "Oh, and building things. Double-bass, mechanical and civil. Grunt school taught me how to smash it after I've built it."

"You're the combat engineer, huh?" Sera looked him up and down. "What do you do, tear it apart with your bare hands?"

"Oh no, General, I'm a noble savage." He assured her with faux seriousness. "I use high explosives." He accompanied the declaration with a wide white grin.

"He earned the nickname ‘Boom' very honestly." Akeya chuckled at the man's enthusiasm, giving Boom a friendly nod and starting back into the milling crowd of soldiers as the engineer turned to strike up a conversation with two other men who'd been waiting for him to finish with Sera and Akeya. "In case you don't know the lingo, double-bass means he's got two Bachelor of Applied Sciences degrees."

"Impressive." Sera's eyebrows rose a bit.

"He's got the touch for the job, no doubt about it." Akeya said, dodging nimbly around a pair of draccians who were doing a little more than chatting. "Highly competent with a rifle as well as a bonusâ€"it's why I want him on the team. He's large, able to carry a heavy weapon if he needs to and in the close confines of a laboratory, simple largeness and the high strength of trained muscle on an unusually large frame might make all the difference."

"Unless I miss my guess, some level of cross-training is why you like the other three members, right?" Sera guessed.

"With a small team, multiple overlapping capabilities means that you're never without the tool you need when you need it." Akeya confirmed. "Let's see... now where'd those two go..."

"What two?"

"A couple of criminally good-looking draccians. Twin sisters, hard to miss, never too far away from one another." Akeya replied. "Irish in every possible way."

"Including a wee bit o' the luck o' the Irish, my dear girl." Came a very feminine voice in a rather musical Irish brogue.

"Aye, to have snuck up on a SpecOps and her pet general." Added a virtually-identical voice, both coming from the exact opposite direction from the one Sera was looking.

"Pet general?" Sera turned and gave the two grinning draccians, emerald-scaled with vividly orange-red manes, an annoyed look.

"Sakes, dear. That there is an evil eye." The one on the left observed, both simultaneously switching to a warm smile.

"Ye should banish it from your lovely face." The one on the right extended a hand. "Corporal Aurora Foxx, 8th Sword Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Corp."

"Corporal Treeni Foxx, 8th Sword Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Corp." The other offered, taking Sera's hand after her sister had completed her moment of hand-crushing.

"Special reconnaissance detachment, Fourth Combat Team." They both added harmoniously, Treeni's voice slightly deeper in pitch than her sister's which had a pleasantly melodic effect when they both spoke.

"What's so special about it?"

"So help us both, General, we are innocent of the knowledge." Aurora told her.

"Although shamelessly less innocent in everything else." Akeya retorted with a chuckle.

"Your envy of our sexual appeal is an ugly, ugly thing, Major." Treeni responded with an exaggerated long face.

"Yeah, well, you sit up late at night wishing a teenager didn't make you look bad on the gun range." Akeya countered, earning a baleful look from the twins.

"Oh, she has a sharp tongue, she does." Aurora commented. "So what is a charming little thing like you doing down here, Major?"

"Gathering up a couple grunts to go down and politely ask the Viis to stop making a bioweapon to kill us." Akeya grinned. "Oh, and ask them to let us copy their lab computer. You know, just a neighborly errand."

"Like borrowing a cuppa sugar." Treeni observed cheerfully. "I don't suppose ye could a coupla lovelies for your little trip?"

"That was part of the point of coming here, ladies." Sera told them. "How am I supposed to tell the two of you apart, by the way? You're sort of..."

"Identical?" Aurora giggled. "Oh, our mum, bless her evil soul, used to make us wear different clothing."

"Until we hit upon the idea of... modifying it."

"Aye... tanned our scaly hides proper."

"But now we're all grunt-ish and military-ish and we must wear the same clothing."

"And tragically, it does not count if we wear different underthings."

"That's nice, Corporals Foxx, but it doesn't answer the question." Sera commented mildly. "As much as it would delight the rest of the pack if I took to stripping you half-naked in the middle of a mission, that's not a very efficient solution."

The pair of them chortled at this, their brilliant green eyes dancing merrily as they laughed.

"Aye, it wouldn't do to start gettin' busy in the midst o' combat." Treeni finally agreed. "Whoot about non-standard hair styling?"

"I let me hair down, she keeps it up." Aurora added. "Easy way to tell us apart."

"I take it you two are tagging along then."

"Aye, of course General!" They replied as one, beaming. "Foursomes are so dull after two months straight."

Sera just stared at them until they giggled and melted back into the throng around them. She looked over at Akeya. "You want to take two girls whose heads are still stuck in high school?" She inquired with a certain incredulity.

"Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them." Akeya admonished, although she was smiling. "The entire high-school airhead thing is like my aw-shucks Southern girl thing... they turn it off when it's time to start kicking tail. Aurora is cross-trained to sharpshooting, Treeni to demolitions. The only other way you can tell them apart on the battlefield is that one prefers two sidearms and the other a Scout recon rifle."

"You say it like you've worked with them before." Sera noted.

"Because I have, briefly." Akeya replied. "I was impressed. Their intelligence was timely and extremely accurate. They showed initiative in shadowing their target at great personal risk for the duration and were able to provide intelligence of the same impressive accuracy throughout the operation."

"Yes... quite the charming pair, I find." A strongly British-accented voice commented from the direction of a nearby wall where Sera had wandered with Akeya as the SpecOps had recounted the qualifications of the Foxx sisters. "A mite exuberant, however, for my tastes."

"I'll take a wild guess... you're team member number four." Sera commented dryly to the wolven shape relaxing against the wall, taking advantage of the slight shadow of the bunk beside him to not be immediately noticeable.

"Guilty as charged, my lady General." He rocked back onto his feet, casually tossing a book he'd apparently been reading before they walked up onto the bed. He was about Sera's height, extremely well-groomed (which, considering the military dress code, was saying something), had a mildly vulpine slimness to his muzzle and his handsome silver-furred face was set in an almost fatherly smile, exuding as much warmth as if Sera was a beloved sister instead of someone he'd just met.

"Oh boy, here it comes..." Akeya muttered.

"Hush, Major, and don't let your envy show." He admonished her with a friendly twinkle in his eye, extending a hand to Sera to which she responded with her own. She was surprised when, instead of shaking it, he bowed and placed a light kiss on the back of her hand. "Captain Miles Prower, 1st Bandage Brigade, 4th Division, 12th Corp." He announced, giving her hand a vigorous shake. "Yes, that's really my name, yes there IS actually a Bandage Brigade, and no I'm not making fun of you."

Sera blushed at the gallant kiss to the back of her hand. "I would hardly think you were, Captain." She assured him. "Why wouldn't someone think that Miles Prower is your real name?"

He beamed. "General, were it not strictly improper, I might kiss you. You haven't the slightest idea how long I've wished I could hear someone say those words to me."

"She's serious, you know." Akeya told him. "She actually has no idea why everyone thinks you're kidding when you tell them your name."

"Major, there is a good reason that I use my nickname in public settings no matter how fond I am of my real one." He gave Sera a mournful look. "Everyone is always staring at my arse thinking I'll magically sprout a second tail."

"Ever think that some of them might be staring for another reason?" Sera inquired amusedly.

"Of course, General." He winked. "But the ones staring for alternative reasons make their motives delightfully clear in not too long of time."

"Why does the fact that a handsome male who goes around with one of those stiff-upper-lip British accents kissing the backs of females' hands gets action not surprise me?" Sera asked wryly.

"Because you, my dear General, are a cynic." He replied with a teasing tone. "In my defense, I'm never the one that breaks it off or goes in without the goal of staying for good."

"Bad luck?"

"To a degree that you would find hard to believe." He confirmed. "Fortunately, it has yet to be through harm to the particular beauty that has caught my eye."

"So if you like romance and a relationship leading to marriage, why are you still in SAF?" Sera asked him curiously. "It's not unheard of but most soldiers just want to blow off steam with a cute piece of tail. It's not like you generally have the time for much else with all the drills and wargames."

"Faith." He replied simply with a smile. "And this is the good place for me. Not the easy place or the place I want to be most but the good place. Have you ever read any of the old Congressional Medal of Honor citations for medical personnel, General?"

"Can't say that I have." Sera admitted. "I'm up on the history but I'm not a real military historian, at least not to that level of detail."

Miles closed his eyes. "Francis J. Pierce, Pharmacist's Mate First Class, United States Navy." He recited as if reading from a book, his eyes shifting back and forth discernibly under his eyelids. "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while attached to the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, during the Iwo Jima campaign, 15 and 16 March 1945. Almost continuously under fire while carrying out the most dangerous volunteer assignments..."

Sera watched with open-mouthed astonishment as he reeled off an entire formal citation, complete with spoken paragraph breaks detailing the heroism of a US Navy medic during the battle on Iwo Jima in World War Two.

"Completely fearless, completely devoted to the care of his patients, Pierce inspired the entire battalion. His valor in the face of extreme peril sustains and enhances the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service." The captain concluded, opening his eyes and smiling at her. "It's men like that that caused me to realize that this is the good place for me, General."

"How the hell did you do that?" Sera asked bluntly.

"Perfect photographic memory." Akeya interrupted. "You haven't seen him show off. Every time he does it, I want to backhand him or something."

"As Miss Foxx observed, Major, your envy of my memory is an ugly thing." He smiled. "I find the photographic memory to be a significant asset in trauma surgery. You cannot imagine how useful it is to have a medical diagram of a draccian heart in your head when the poor thing has gotten a piece of shrapnel driven through it."

"Civilian trauma surgeon?" Sera guessed; it was common enough to meet professionals who'd joined SAF after establishing themselves.

"Of great renown." He confirmed. "On Mars, unfortunately, which is not as good as Earth for becoming well-known. Of course, even on Earth you hear rarely of trauma surgeons because our patients come into our care by the outrageous flows of fortune rather than by seeking. During the time in which you need a trauma surgeon, seconds are precious beyond comprehension."

"His memory is annoying but seeing him close his eyes for a second and instantly knowing which artery in a mess of severed ones is the most important is something to behold." Akeya smiled. "Of course, the fact that you cause trauma as well as you fix it is impressive too."

"I serve better where I am, Major, and the whole of you know it." He replied with an almost affectionate chiding tone. "The persistence of your brotherhood, however, is an honor."

"Well, you don't look like you'd be an optimal SpecOps medic." Sera commented after a thoughtful pause. "You're too gallant."

"And that, General, is why I do not say yes." He turned and picked his book up. "I'll be certain to pack the best trauma tools I can. A SpecOps is not tapped unless the target is very dangerous and I quiver to contemplate what hazards the polluted morass below holds."

"I guess we'll see you in the armory?"

"You may bet on it, General." The wolven smiled warmly and shook her and Akeya's hands before disappearing into the crowd of soldiers.

"What's the story on him?" Sera asked her draccian companion after a moment.

"Noted trauma surgeon. Disgusting amount of talent. Learns raw information as fast as he can read it." Akeya replied, looking in the direction he had disappeared in. "He likes the nickname ‘Silver', by the way... even he, with his incredible patience, got tired of the jokes. Sort of tragic that he's still serving, though... being a husband and father would be the best fit for his 18th century English gentleman personality."

"And in the meantime, SAF loves him to pieces." Sera smiled. "Does he happen to be one of those good men you referred to?"

Akeya smiled a little shyly. "I had hoped he would be but he keeps to that notion of his about not starting a relationship that he doesn't plan to take to the highest level." She admitted. "Well, we've done our meet-and-greet... time to get over to the armory."

"Don't we need to...?"

"They know." Akeya assured her. "Now, for this mission, I'm thinking that a machine-pistol would do better than a simple sidearm..."

"It's been two months but I'm already starting to feel like I just did this yesterday." Sera sighed as she sat back in the seat of the transport. "Different company, though."

"Well, if you don't have anything else to do with yourself, time sorta blurs, General." Akeya grinned at her, back in her mildly creepy SpecOps uniform. The major difference from last time, Sera had noted immediately, was that Akeya hadn't just placed the filter portion of the high-grade gas mask over her muzzle but had gone the whole hog, the entire mask with its rubber-impregnated mesh-reinforced canvas hiding her young and inherently happy face behind a black soulless covering. It had been a mild relief when, after relishing the creeped-out expressions, Akeya had laughed and began chatting in what she called her "aw-shucks Southern girl" manner which had done a great deal to mitigate the strangeness of being unable to see any portion of the young draccian SpecOps.

The fact of the matter, though, was that standard operating procedure for going somewhere where they might encounter chemical or biological weapons mandated wearing full NBC gear although, happily, the proposition was not nearly as burdensome as it had once been. Heavy sweltering plastic suits that restricted movement and made a soldier miserable had been replaced with form-fitting clothing that wicked away sweat and heat without compromising the suit's integrity. Armored tubes that could provably deflect an indirect hit from a light anti-material round ran to and from the filter mask into a thin recycling unit integrated into an armored vest that only breathed for a soldier when turned on and could run for up to 24 hours on its ultra high-efficiency batteries. The suits, combined with the standard infiltration gear like variable vision goggles, monoculars, and speech-activated interpersonal communication gear made them all look mildly unnerving. This was especially true of the giant Sergeant Morris whose titanic physique gave him the appearance of a juggernaut in low-light camouflage.

Sera was still getting used to him; she had met many people notably taller than her but never someone who projected massiveness the way ‘Boom' did. He'd caught her staring while he was outfitting himself in the armory and had laughed heartily.

"Never met a giant, eh General?" He'd boomed good-naturedly.

"I've met tall people, Sergeant, but you seem bigger than you are." She'd replied with an apologetic smile. "Sorry for staring."

"Think nothin' of it." He'd buckled the holster on his hip and had flexed his considerable biceps, grinning. "Welcome to the gun show. Admission is free for the first two minutes."

"Speaking of guns, Sergeant, is that a real honest-to-God Desert Eagle you're packing?" She asked, making sure to look duly impressed by the results of a clearly intense exercise regime on the very large man.

He chuckled and pulled the .50 caliber handgun out of its holster. Sera could immediately see that it wasn't a revived model but a genuine classic, the star-and-swords emblem of the Western Alliance of World War III stamped proudly next to the receiver. "Family tradition, General." He told her proudly. "Seven hundred years of being big men doing big things in a big way with a big gun. Ain't no substitute for it when every shot has to mean something."

"1800's huh?"

"The Massachusetts."

"Like, the Robert Shaw Massachusetts?"

"The very same." The man was practically glowing with pride. "Buffalo Soldiers, Tuskegee fighters, both big wars, all the small ones, distinguished in the big number three and ain't afraid of no man alive all that time."

"I guess I should have guessed that you had ground-pounder in your veins." Sera had smiled at him. "You sort of project it."

"It ain't only the gun that makes folks rethink starting something." He told her, slipping a pair of levered bolt cutters into his equipment pack. "If ya want a musk ox, you never go for the one that's big and strong, especially if he knows he's too big and strong for you."

"I'm surprised that that general who're rebuilding the Marines didn't steal you." She commented. "You certainly give off that aura."

"Bad timing." He responded. "He starts the first batch when I'm in the middle of the combat engineer program so I can't jump at the chance, he starts the second when I'm on duty somewhere, and this is gonna last until well after the third. After that... great-great-great-granddaddy is gonna be SO proud that someone followed him into the service."

Sitting in the transport, Sera smiled to herself, thinking that there was definitely something to be said for having a long family history of military service. Boom's giant sense of pride in himself and his family was a great asset to have at her side in a fight and she had a suspicion that the legacy was part of why he was in the 12th Corp.

"Team Lead, we're three minutes out from the drop site." The pilot said over the PA system, startling Sera out of her thoughts. "Searcher has been painting the area constantly but they report that they're still calibrating their jamming gear to compensate for all transmission bands. Dr. Campbell wishes to convey her apologies but I'm going to have to dust off the moment your feet touch the ground so I don't get spotted and possibly reported."

"Then make sure you get out." Akeya told him. "You get spotted and we're all in hot water. Burn fast and remind Commodore Andropoli to have his boys on alert."

"Roger that, Team Lead. ETA is now two minutes fifteen. Better get unbuckled."

As one, they all unbuckled and began doing final equipment check. Sera quickly unbuckled the hard black case that was attached to her hip and carefully verified that the dedicated brute-force hacking computer and interface instruments were neatly clipped into place before putting it back and checking for the other odds and ends: a personal trauma kit with broad-spectrum chemical antidotes, a standard set of grenades, multiple replacement clips for her Lehr-38 sub-machinegun and pre-loaded chamber clips for her revolver, a combat light, and a two-sided combat-utility knife.

Finished, she paid little mind to Akeya (part of her wasn't sure she wanted to know what sort of gear the quirky SpecOps with the engineering genius was packing) and took note of the twins. Aurora was sighting down her two so-new-they-shined Wolf special-forces pistols (which the draccian had outfitted with every single bell and whistle the meticulously-engineered weapons could handle) and her sister working the slide on a slightly older Scout recon rifle and applying extra fine-tolerance oil to it, presumably to make it work smoother although Sera thought that seemed well-oiled enough to have just come out of the foundary. Both sisters looked to be going very light although, admittedly, it wasn't always easy to spot the standard equipment because each soldier slightly changed the locations of the pieces to be more comfortable and intuitive for them. For Silver, though, it was very easy to see what he was packing, especially since he was the team medic and this meant that along with standard pieces like weapons and personal equipment, he carried a sizable Spectra-lined pack with a staggering amount of medical implements; no matter how many times she'd seen the inside of a standard combat medic kit, she still couldn't imagine how it was possible to carry around enough medicines and tools to stabilize and implement the first stage of trauma treatment on multiple soldiers in a war zone. By the size of it, though, Silver had elected to go for the larger combat surgeon backpack that quite literally allowed him to implement emergency surgery in a foxhole if necessary. Apparently, Akeya didn't think that preparing for surgery just short of a heart transplant was excessive and since she'd been more than happy to accept Akeya as team lead, Sera elected to defer to her judgment. Sera also noticed that in addition to his medical equipment, Silver carried a Thompson sub-machinegun that had been visibly enhanced with a muzzle brake and heavy recoil pad to make it more stable than normalâ€"and the extra-thick drum magazines that each gave him access to 150 rounds of ammunition without reloading.

"Are you sure you brought enough ammo, Captain?" Sera inquired of him. "I think you forgot a bullet somewhere in the armory."

"Never hurts to be prepared, General." He replied, his eyes smiling even though with the NBC suit, she couldn't see his muzzle. "If I'm going to be carrying heavy equipment anyway, I may as well be assured of plentiful ammunition in a fight."

"Fifteen seconds, team lead." The pilot called back, interrupting any reply Sera might have made. "I'm opening the deployment ramp." With a mechanical whirr, the ramp unlocked and began dropping down, letting the fetid air of Viisymel waft into the hold although Sera noted that it smelled markedly cleaner than the air in the capital city.

"Damn, that reeks." Boom growled as he got to his feet. "No wonder these Viis are such assholes... this planet's smell is enough to put anyone in a bad mood."

"You're fortunate that you're not a wolven, Richard." Silver commented sardonically, sounding like he was trying to breathe through his mouth. "We get it twice as bad."

"Oh, quit whinin', you two, and turn on your filters if you're gonna be babies about it." Akeya told them amusedly, getting to her feet with her large rifle in one hand and the other clutching the handle positioned above her seat.

Sera noted that they both looked at each other but neither one elected to turn the filters on; shaking her head in amusement, she stood up as well and took hold of her own handle as the transport began to slow down. There was a faint jolt as the air brakes kicked in and a muffled thump as the ramp impacted with the soil.

"Target." The pilot announced. "Everyone who's goin' ashore better get ashore cuz I dust off in ten."

Letting her handle go, Sera followed the rest of the team out of the hold and into a vast rolling grassland. Now closer to it, she could smell the subtle sweet scent of the plant that all but erased the unpleasant reek of the Viisymel air. The grass was a dark green-blue, reminding her strongly of the bluegrass that was popular for lawns in the central United States, and came up to her shoulder.

"We could hardly be askin' for better'n this." Aurora said cheerfully, her Irish accent sounding gently in Sera's ear over the intra-squad communication gear. Modeled after the extremely quiet throat microphone system that was favored by special forces and SWAT teams, it alleviated the need for as much of the complex hand-signaling system that teams normally had to rely on to keep quiet, a fact for which Sera never stopped being grateful.

"Faith but we'll be done with it before long, dear." Treeni pointed out. "No doubt they've been cottin' it back ‘round the bunker itself."

"Well, I doubt." Akeya retorted pointedly. "Boom, stand up and tell us what you see. Specifically, if the tall grass goes right up to the bunker so we have concealment all the way."

Boom unfolded his large frame, towering above the grass as he reached into a tactical vest pocket and pulled out a monoscope. "I see... the bunker complex, ma'am." He replied after a moment. "It's straight ahead of us. Plenty of lights and guards. Got a couple guard towers with antennas up and searchlights sweeping the area. Grass goes right up to the bunker door but we ain't gettin' in unless all the eyes are lookin' somewhere else and the light go dead. I think there's a heavy pocket gate that would normally cover the gap in the protective walls but it's open." He paused as he swung the scope to a side and stopped, staring with clear surprise. "Generator seems to be outside the wall... in darkness... no guards..." He paused again and pocketed the monoscope before ducking back down. "Major, I do believe our scaly friends are stupid as all hell."

"Sergeant, I am quite comfortable with my enemies being stupid." Akeya seemed to grin. "In fact, it makes me love them to pieces... shortly before I tear them to pieces. Does the generator look like something you can take down quietly and keep dead for the duration?"

"I can't see why not." He replied after a thoughtful moment. "It looks like a standard unstable reaction with cooling towers setup. Can't give you 100% on the type of reaction or how it'll deal with me taking down the controls, though."

"What aboot takin' down the transmission medium?" Aurora suggested.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you, Treeni." Akeya replied chipperly. "Sergeant, kindly make good on Ms. Foxx's suggestion."

"Sakes, Major... you know which one of us I am." Aurora groused. "Don't be pretendin' otherwise."

"Auri, dear, she's just tryin' to get under your scales." Treeni patted her on the back consolingly. "So... splittin' up, Major?"

"You two are with me." Akeya confirmed. "General, take Boom and Silver to take out the generator. We'll provide something for them to look at so they don't look at you."

"What if I want them to?" Sera inquired with false innocence.

"Then I'll make sure to record the striptease for your funeral." Akeya deadpanned. "Now git."

"Gitting as ordered, Major." Sera responded lightly. "Sergeant, if you please."

"Ma'am." He acknowledged, unholstering one of his giant handguns and starting stoop-shouldered through the grass followed by Silver. Sera glanced back to see which direction Akeya and the twins were going and paused for a moment, surprised that they seemed to have vanished into thin air. Blinking, she went after her two companions, making a quick jerking motion with her head to drop the light-enhancement goggles down over her eyes from where they'd been propped above her head. Unlike conventional nightvision goggles with their aggravating tendency to blind the wearer if subjected to a sudden increase in light, the light-enhancement rig took advantage of a two-layered system where the first layer augmented available light and the second one responded instantly to sudden increases, turning partially opaque to block out the painfully enhanced light then turning transparent again when the light had faded. With the protection against flare, it made work in low-light conditions very easy; despite the very faint starlight, the darkened area near the generator was almost as bright as noon on a sunny day through her goggles. Thus, as they got nearer, she could see that the generator was a fairly simple building, a little over eight feet tall and composed mostly of a dome with exhaust pipes protruding high into the sky. Approaching the dome, even Sera, who was no engineer, could tell that the structure was a miracle. Cracked, covered in moss, obviously badly maintained, it was a wonder that it was still standing.

Boom reached up and slid the goggles down over his eyes with one hand as he reached the generator and began to circle it, looking simultaneously curious and worried. "General, I'm pretty glad these suits have a dense lining." He commented to her after a moment of inspection. "I'll need to unpack a Geiger counter to be sure but this thing is just barely containing the reaction and isn't really trying to contain radioactivity. I can see a cracked housing and distortion in the air from heat emission."

"A mite warm for you then, Richard?" Silver inquired.

"It's too warm if I wanna make little Booms when I retire, Miles." Boom responded mildly. "I know I'm supposed to just kill the power feed but it's tempting to try blowing on it and seeing if it falls over..."

"That bad, Sergeant?"

"Yes." He replied bluntly. "You know, General, it occurs to me that we have an opportunity to cover our tracks sitting right here in front of us."

"Rig the reactor and have it wipe out the complex?" Sera thought about this a moment. It was very tempting to implement such a measure since they could get the information they needed and then deny it to the Viis while covering their activities as the inevitable failure of the generator's containment system. "Since Major Obsydien is team lead, it's only proper to consult her but start setting it up; I'll get a line to her and make sure we have permission."

"Yes, General." Boom gave her a curt nod and began unpacking his tools, working with the quick efficiency that came from regular drill.

While the combat engineer worked, Sera turned, keeping her hand on her sub-machinegun as she tapped the place where the microphone was placed against her throat to switch to a direct line to the team lead, listening for the simple three-note tone that told her she was on the right frequency. "Major Obsydien?"

"What is it, General?" Akeya responded immediately with a hint of irritation.

"Sergeant Morris suggests that we sabotage the facility generator so that it will lose containment and demolish the facility behind us, destroying any biowarfare data within and making it appear as if the badly-constructed device suffered a critical malfunction." Sera replied, ignoring the hint of annoyance. "I have given him preliminary approval but as you are team lead..."

Akeya chuckled softly. "I never thought I'd be in position to say this to a superior officer but... you have my approval to proceed." The hint of irritation was absent this time. "Is there anything else?"

"After taking down the power feed, what's our next move?"

"I and the Foxx sisters are in position to create a distraction." Akeya replied. "We will be initiating a multiple-point brushfire in four minutes, repeat, four point zero-zero minutes. Look for airborne cinders rising on the opposite side of the facility from you and then move to rendezvous at the entrance. Are you suppression equipped?"

"I'm integrated with an optional screw-on." Sera replied. "One moment." She switched to the general channel. "Boom, Silver, are either of you suppression-equipped?"

"Ain't part of the job description, B-G." Boom shrugged apologetically.

"I've got a modified Stinger sidearm." Silver offered. "But I very much doubt that it has the velocity to penetrate the armor we were briefed about."

"Thanks." Sera nodded to them then switched back to Akeya. "Looks like I'm the only suppression that'll be useful. Why?"

"Even the thickest flunkies know to leave a couple meatheads behind when they go to look at an obvious distraction." Akeya explained. "The best solution is to make the meatheads run off to look at another obvious distraction while we slip inside."

"And the firepower?"

"In case we need to start shooting before we've shut the door behind us." Akeya answered calmly. "Time is now three point five zero minutes. Tell Sergeant Morris to ensure that his sabotage is well-hidden lest some hapless technician screw it up. We'll meet up at the front gate as soon as the fire gets going in earnest. Major Obsydien out."

"Boss says you've got three and a half minutes to get the power down and your sabotage done, Boom." Sera told him. "Apparently, she's starting a brush fire to make everyone look the other way."

"Charming." Silver chuckles. "She's a dramatic little scaly, isn't she?"

"A little scaly that can kick your tail." Sera pointed out.

"Did I mention her temper?" Silver grinned as Boom just shook his head and started molding his charges so they'd fit in a dark crevice and remain unseen.

"You'd be surprised." Sera watched Boom work, reaching into his pack every few moments and pulling out a component of his bomb, navigating by touch through the various pouches and spaces inside. He pressed a detonation charge into the soft waxy explosive and then started pulling out several different receivers and detonators followed by tools that looked like they were meant for fine wiring work.

"Sergeant... you'd better speed it up a little." Sera told him as he pulled wires and started stripping them and twisting them together tidily. "The horizon is glowing a bit unnaturally over yonder and the Major's time limit..."

"I have a minute and four." He interrupted calmly. "If you want a good bomb, don't bother me."

"Sergeant, you are aware that during combat conditions..."

"This isn't combat so I can make a good bomb instead of an adequate-to-the-moment bomb." Boom interrupted again with a touch of irritation. "Shush."

Sera turned her wrist to look at the chronometer; when they were at 30 seconds, Boom stuck something that looked like a combination of three different kinds of detonators into the detonation block and placed his creation deep into a crevice of the generator, pulling out his levered cutters as he did so.

"Lights go dead." He commented in a grave voice, fitting the cutters over what was quite clearly the transmission conduits and closing them in a swift, efficient movement. Sera couldn't see anything happen but the embers drifting into the air from the burning grassland seemed to get brighter all of the sudden "Let's go."

"Finally." Silver snorted as they got to their feet and went rapidly towards the rendezvous. "You're getting slow, old bean."

"Or you're simply moving too fast, bloke." Boom replied with the slightest hint of a chuckle.

"Let me guess... old army buddies..." Sera grinned behind her mask as they circled the compound walls, the searchlights on the towers now darkened.

"He's the old one." Silver pointed out. "What is it, Richard... twenty years now?"

"Twenty-two." Boom corrected proudly. "Old warhorse, right here."

"I thought the two degrees were a bit out of whack for a young guy." Sera pressed against the wall as she peered around the bulge the integrated guard towers made in it. This put her face around an inch away from Akeya's. The fact that she was startled by this didn't make it all the way outside of her brain, especially since she was getting a rather intimate look into the draccian's vividly blue eyes which, her unconscious mind dutifully noted, were unnaturally lovely. A whole few seconds before Akeya grinned, showing no other reaction to the fact that she was nose-to-nose with Sera.

"Hello!" She greeted cheerfully. "How'd the sabotage go, General?"

The notion that it would be sensible to pull her head back before answering finally snuck its way into Sera's conscious mind and she duly straightened up before answering Akeya. "It went great, Major. Boom took his sweet time but he tells me that's how I get a really good bomb."

"It is, General." Akeya told her, seeming casual enough that Sera felt safe in assuming that there wasn't anyone nearby to bother them. "A fast bomb will blow something up but excessively and is obvious. A good bomb, on the other hand, blows up precisely how and when you want it to and does only as much damage as you need. I take it, Sergeant, that a good bomb was required?"

"When I'm not sure, yeah." He nodded.

"Not meanin' to be rude, Major, but shouldn't we be movin' our lovely hind-parts into the bunkoor instead o' sittin' ‘roud here for soldiers to find?" Aurora inquired.

"Right you are." Akeya agreed. "There's a keypad and card slot locking the door, General. Would you be kind enough to be persuasive to it?"

Sera grinned at that as she followed Akeya to the visibly heavy armored doors, pulling out her brute-force computer and connection accessories. "I think he and I can work something out." She replied.