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SAFES Liaison's Log, Science Vessel Searcher , September 19th, 2555:

Well, it appears the cat is out of the bag at last. Almost four years of enjoying the anonymity of being just one more patriotic young wolven who served her country in return for financial assistance in college and I go and screw it up like this. I richly deserved the Admiral's tongue-lashing for taking such a risk, especially when Gunslinger was only moments away and General Wilson was in position to eliminate the attack as it emerged from the passage. Still, it's somehow a comfort and a guilty pleasure to discover that after four years at pasture, I can still be a soldier when I need to be.

Moving on, however, Miyakaal's description of the aaroun people is astonishing to me. We on Earth are so used to the concept that advanced industrialization means guns and airplanes that the possibility of a civilization developing heavy industry run on hydrocarbons while retaining the weaponry of the Neolithic period would have confused us just as badly as it did the viis. I wish I could obtain the original records, however, because it'd be a real delight if the viis made off with all the aaroun records and I could discover a rough history of their development. Especially, I'm curious as to how you build heavy industry on a monsoon-ridden planet since it would certainly cause rapid deterioration of typical industrial materials like steel, textiles, and wood. All of that aside, however, it's very interesting that the viis were not frustrated by their failure per say but rather by the fact that they didn't have an operational doctrine to deal with the failure since they had apparently never had to work out how to deal with being unable to rapidly conquer and subjugate a world. That they would need one is very interesting in that it seems to indicate that their forces did not have either the logistical support or the resource base to engage in a long war.

Of course, until I examine the files I was given, I can't begin to guess the current state of their military and what technologies they can deploy but the encounter with the cruisers and gun platform in orbit was a gift of sorts: I now know that they can build large-scale ships, have sufficient technology to deploy a satellite-projected shield network, have developed very high-speed mass-acceleration technologies, and have jamming equipment roughly on par with our own as it required the intervention of a Lighthouse Space/Air Warning And Control System ship to "burn through" and allow us to communicate with the task force. Interestingly, the Lighthouse was also needed to pass along the burst-transmit beacon signal for the Charles so it could establish an exclusion zone for the jump coordinates. This indicates that the Imperial Fleet includes specialized electronic warfare vessels that can project so much interference that even a short high-powered pulse signal is distorted by the intensity of it. We may have a more serious fight on our hands than we initially thought.

_ Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES _

"In the initial survey records, the world from which the aaroun were plucked is called Sargas Three." Miyakaal related, beckoning them to follow as they exited the portrait corridor into a room that reminded Sera of a classic library, full of padded chairs and tables. "It is the furthest star from the one around which Viisymel orbits that the Empire has spread to. It is a yellow-orange spectrum star with eight worlds, two of which are too close to harbor life and five of which either too far or gaseous. The third, however, was extremely green and tropical with endless monsoon forests teeming with life. A world of immense riches, the greatest of which in the reckoning of the viis was a sapient species of high average intelligence and superior physical prowess. The aaroun were unusual and many reconnaissance soldiers were punished for their erroneous reports saying that the aaroun were primitive, lacking advanced scientific understanding or fourth-stage industrial development. The aaroun of that time were at the cusp of fifth-stage industry but no casual observer would have known it."

"What constitutes 'fourth-stage' industry?" Sera asked.

"Widespread implementation of simpliblackstone fuels, a moderate degree of computerized heavy manufacturing, common use of advanced materials such as heat-pressurized blackstone and high-refinement alloys, and some form of hard-wire long-range communication and control." Miyakaal replied, ticking off each feature on her fingers. "The stage is characterized by the mechanization of ordinary muscle work, the automation of repetitive unskilled manufacturing steps, a transition between energy maximization and toxic byproduct minimization, and concentration of developmental focus into increasing output vis-à-vis input."

"To translate, boss." Boom spoke up after a moment of pregnant silence. "Earth in the 21st to 22nd century. I think 'blackstone' is what they call carbon so 'heat-pressurized blackstone' is industrial diamonds and probably, 'simpliblackstone' is the same as 'hydrocarbon'." He looked down at Miyakaal. "Blackstone is an element with twelve negatively-charged subatomic particles orbiting a core of twelve neutral and twelve positively-charged subatomic particles, right?"

"Correct." Miyakaal looked extremely impressed. "You are not a common... engineer, are you?"

"Can't cha tell? I'm the big man." Boom grinned widely.

"You are unquestionably very large." Miyakaal agreed. "I do not know what the term 'man' indicates but I assume that you are an optimum specimen of a 'man'."

Boom responded with a deep baritone guffaw. "You're right, Major... this gal is my kinda librarian."

"It can have many meanings, depending on context." Sera supplied. "I'll explain later. For now, please continue."

"Of course, adjutant." Miyakaal gestured for them to sit down as she deftly climbed into a chair obviously built to put her on the same sitting level as much taller creatures and settled into the padded surface with a brief sigh of relaxed pleasure. "To continue, the viis reconnaissance is typically extremely skilled and thorough but they had never encountered the intersection of first-stage weapons with fourth-stage industrial technology and the accompanying scientific and engineering knowledge. They thus mistook first-stage weapons for an indication of first-stage industrial development. Subsequent capture of computerized records indicated that primitive stone structures had been laced with the latest generation of optic communication cables, bows relied on high-grade industrial alloys and multiple-pulley systems that so magnified forces that the arrows could achieve supersonic velocities, and bladed weapons were composites of the strongest industrial ceramics and tri-metal alloys of very high strength."

"So the Viis confronted native forces bearing weapons with the general design of primitive societies using the materials and engineering knowledge of a society that could manufacture repeating firearms and armored vehicles." Sera's eyes widened. "I admit... even our military might easily be surprised by this. It'd seem, though, that bows and arrows and axes wouldn't be much help against mechanized forces with guns and air support."

Miyakaal smiled. "Mechanized forces are practically useless in extremely thick forests constantly drenched in monsoon rains. They never fought the aaroun on favorable terms because they could only fight fast-moving well-trained infantry familiar with the terrain using slow-moving well-trained infantry that had never done battle in anything even resembling those conditions."

"So they went from failure to failure trying to conquer what, to them, was a primitive race that would make a great slave species." Sera summarized. "I imagine they found that frustrating."

"In a sense." Miyakaal allowed. "They were more aggravated by the fact that they had never planned for a situation in which their massive empire could be losing a war against an unsophisticated inferior species than they were about losing that war. They had become so accustomed to victory over multiple generations that they literally did not know how to handle a war that was accomplishing nothing but killing their armies and draining their treasury."

"I'm surprised the brutes didn't just wipe their planet clean of life as an example to others and move on." Silver snorted.

Miyakaal gave him a sad smile. "Why do you think they did not?" She asked rhetorically.

"I... recall that Ampris told me that." Sera grimaced. "To destroy a world that can support life out of rage..."

"You receive a small glimpse into why the Grand Admiral regards it as the downfall of the Viis Empire." Miyakaal bowed her head. "Such punishment had never been contemplated against even the most hated enemy for the Empire before its decay was heartless and hard but not evil in the way it has become. The slavery that you see and the medical experiments you destroyed were contemplated after that terrible act but not before it."

"Why?" Akeya asked in that cold icy voice Sera had heard her use with Jenkins. "What possessed them to do it?"

"When the Grand Admiral spoke his impressive truth to us, he said that in a moment when the Empire was on a pivot, able to rise to greatness or fall towards decay, a Kaa of a diseased mind was installed in the throne over his wiser and greater sister by certain corrupt court members who sought a puppet but who could not control the madness of their minion." Miyakaal chuckled. "He elaborated much more deeply on the incident but, well, his thinking was creative and... course enough that I think it impolite to speak of in respected company. But his conclusion is that the Kaa, in a raving fury over being made to look weak by primitives, demanded of his researchers a way to destroy the upstarts; only with the greatest effort was the Grand Admiral of the time able to cajole his Kaa into a plan where most aaroun would be saved and made slaves through deception."

"That Grand Admiral was killed, wasn't he?" Sera guessed. "You said it was the only viis victory in the war."

"There was a shining moment, as our Grand Admiral tells it, in which one commander may have saved the Viis Empire from its mad Kaa and that is when the Grand Admiral of that time devised a cunning strategy to force the aaroun to battle on his terms and drove them to their hidden places, exacting a terrible price. But when victory was assured, a great aaroun warrior saw that the Grand Admiral was himself equal to an army and laid down her life to strike the great blow." Miyakaal sighed. "In cruel irony, her people would have been saved had that blow never been struck for there was no need to destroy a people who could be enslaved and become yet another endless source of strong and cunning backs. The Kaa did not want to honor his promises to his Grand Admiral but came to fear the consequences of doing otherwise. And so the aaroun were infected with a mysterious and terrible plague that their medical science could not fight and in their hour of greatest peril, a false olive branch was extended to have all the infected housed on colonial hospital ships to quarantine them and treat them with the cure that the viis just happened to have. The plague vanished from their bodies the moment they were brought aboard and swiftly, almost all of the aaroun were gathered and borne away... and then Sargas Three was murdered and the aaroun passed into orphan slavery on a strange world."

"The illness just... went away when they got on board the viis ships?" Silver's brow furrowed. "That's not possible. You can't just turn a disease organism..." He filled in the blank at almost the exact moment Sera did. "God almighty... they developed a nanomachine that acted like a disease organism, didn't they? Then they just turned it off when the aaroun were safely locked up."

"The Grand Admiral reasoned that way, healer." Miyakaal nodded. "He further reasons that from that wicked machine came others and from those others came the Dancing Death. And so one mad Kaa, in a way that even he could not have comprehended, destroyed the Viis Empire and by placing a maddened ruler upon the throne instead of a wise one, those greedy couriers sealed doom upon themselves and those that descended from them."

"Kingmaking never turns out well." Akeya sighed. "So how was it that the viis were unable to..." The question died on her lips and she turned towards the arch that they'd walked through just as Shadow and Dr. Campbell came through with the two soldiers trailing them.

"Sorry to interrupt storytime, Sera, but we've got a big problem." Shadow said without preamble. "Sergeant, break out a crank set and tune it to the secondary emergency frequency."

"What is the trouble, Myna?" Miyakaal inquired. "Have the guards awakened and tried to cause you grief?"

"Worse." Shadow grimaced as Boom extended the boxy machine's antenna and cranked it a few times to prime the batteries. Shadow reached for the microphone and keyed it. "This is Admiral Williams on the surface. I got your burst comm, ATLAS. Talk to me."

"Searcher started screaming bloody murder, boss." A strangely young-sounding female voice replied. "Bout a minute ago, give or take some nanoseconds, those funny round things lit up like the Chinese new year plus Mardi Gras and started spitting out ships. Looks like your handsome buddy with the entire species' only brain decided to arrange a little surprise."

"He doesn't seem to do anything by half measures." Shadow grimaced. "Any sign of angels in the backfield?"

"Not so much, no." The speaker, who was apparently the Executor's BSY Core ATLAS, replied. "But SAFN-C just strapped on their big stick and are coming to have a word with the Imperial Fleet so no worries."

"ATLAS, I'm sort of stuck on a hostile planet in the center of that hostile planet's government." Shadow retorted, albeit with a wry expression. "I'm worried."

"Don't get your panties all knotted, chief." ATLAS told her soothingly. "Andropoli is sending a whole mess of Delta-India and a nice big angry escort to bring you back. Transports on emergency one. Speaking of such, would you that I should hurt 'em a little on your behalf?"

"As long as you're not shooting at the planet, ATLAS, hurt whoever you like." Shadow told her. "Not that I don't have faith in you but there was once a man named Murphy..."

"Say no more." ATLAS interrupted cheerfully. "Remember, transports on emergency one. Keep safe, boss... I don't think any of your replacements would tolerate me."

"No kidding." Shadow deadpanned. "Over and out."

"That's ATLAS, huh?" Sera commented a moment later. "Not exactly the most... respectful girl, is she?"

"She's only in the chain of command in that I'm her boss." Shadow shrugged. "Miyakaal, is there any other way out of the archives other than the way we came?"

"There is the door leading to our living spaces, Myna." Miyakaal replied. "And from there, there are others that lead outside of the walls and then out of the palace. But they lead to no place that a transport might land. The only such place lays in the front gardens."

"Which would involve fighting through the middle of the palace." Akeya interjected. "So we either fight our way through the myal's living quarters..."

"Not an option." Shadow shook her head. "There would be collateral damage to their homes. Through the palace, however..."

"...collateral damage through the Kaa's home." Akeya filled in with a wide and very not-nice grin. "Good point, Admiral."

"We can ensure that the guards in the archives do not trouble you nor alert others to your escape." Miyakaal said. "But we have no power to interfere outside of them. But before you depart, two small tokens of regard." She reached into the furry robe she wore, apparently into an inside pocket of some sort, and produced a small flat case. "These are a series of high-density information storage chips. They contain all that the archives do about the military of the viis, its history, ranks, and the diagrams of its machines."

"Thank you." Shadow accepted the box and passed it to Dr. Campbell. "And the second thing?"

"Advice." The myal gave Shadow a solemn look. "Even in its death throes, the empire that the viis have built is a deadly beast. If great fleets have come, the rebellions in the Outer Colonies have been put aside against their common enemy and if they act as they always have, they intend to run you to ground and take all that you have for their own. It would seem that you must call upon all the worlds of your own empire if you wish the battle to be here instead of your home sky."

"We have reinforcements coming, don't worry." Shadow assured her. "For now, the challenge is to escape the palace."

"We wish you the best fortune, Myna." Miyakaal bowed to her. "I must attend to my brothers and sisters for now, especially to ensure that they do not get between you and your enemies. You are good and worthy guests but also, it would seem, great warriors."

"You ain't ever seen the big man in action." Boom grinned.

"We are grateful to you, Miyakaal." Shadow added, smiling at their guide. "You've given us what we needed and have been hospitable. Take care."

"Indeed I shall." The myal bowed again and disappeared through one of the arches leading from the sitting room. Shadow looked after her a moment before turning and starting back towards the round display room, unholstering her sidearm as she went followed by Akeya pulling modules from a suit pocket and starting to add them to her rifle. By the time they'd gotten back to the central room, all except Dr. Campbell were armed.

"So what's our plan for getting out, Admiral?" Silver inquired. "Sure, we're going through the palace proper but we're not exactly an invading army... we're just well-armed."

"If one of you military folks would give the poor physicist a gun, we would be." Dr. Campbell corrected mildly. "Major, I don't suppose you have a spare?"

"Of course I carry a sidearm." Akeya retorted in annoyance.

"I meant a spare sidearm, Major." Campbellclarified. "Twenty-five caliber 21 rounds, long cartridge, illuminated sights, inside right ankle holster?"

Akeya stared at her a second, obviously surprised, then grinned. "That's a neat trick, Doc." She replied, bending down and retrieving the weapon. "How'd you see it?"

"I used to know a SpecOps sharpshooter." Campbellexplained with an edge of wistfulness as she worked the slide on the weapon, checking the clip. "Twenty-five long is the largest caliber that's normally high-capacity and can be comfortably carried where you can reach it in prone position."

"I'll have to get their name from you sometime." Akeya looked over at Shadow. "So whatcha think about a plan, Admiral?"

"We shoot our way through to the door we came in by, get outside, and find a defensible position." Shadow replied. "Then we wait for the transports to get here. There really isn't much more we can do, even with a tripod gun on hand."

"I'm worried about other exits." Sera interjected as they reached the door. "Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man and I find it hard to believe that a military power of any sort could make an empire without grenades or other toys to dig people out of their foxholes."

"Nothing to be done, General." Shadow grimaced. "If we move around too much, we risk being out of position when the transports come by and having to run through a field of fire to get to them. The Delta-India variants might have lots of guns and armor but nothing that relies on engines to run away can survive being pinned."

"Shouldn't we save this for after we get out alive?" Silver asked mildly.

"Good call, Captain." Sera agreed. "No point in guessing. Now get up there and be ready to start spraying."

"Yes, General." He saluted sharply and braced his Thompson against his shoulder, preparing to lay down suppressing fire as Akeya and Boom got to either side and began to push the doors open. Situated with Silver partially blocking her line of fire, Sera watched with bated breath as more and more of the hall leading to the archives was revealed. Any moment, she expected the slugs of the unusual viis weapons to start flying passed her but a minute later, as Akeya and Boom let go of the doors and brought their weapons up, there was nothing.

"This is... strange." Shadow commented a moment later. "You'd think they'd be taking advantage of the minimal cover...."

"Don't jinx it." Sera advised. "Major, Doctor, you two fall back. Advance elements, take point."

"Yes, ma'am." The rifle-armed soldiers slipped passed her to take up forward positions. "Advance element is bingo targets. Follow us General, Admiral."

They began moving down the hall, Dr. Campbell and Akeya taking up the rear and both Boom and Silver trailing the point men, Silver aiming through the gap and Boom, with his significant height, aiming over the shoulder of the man in front of him.

"Perhaps the Grand Admiral wasn't planning to capture us in the palace." Sera suggested as they neared the next set of doors, the ones leading up into the grand hall just inside the front doors.

"Or perhaps he planned that the guards the Kaa would naturally send with us would be the anvil and guards in the chamber be the hammer." Dr. Campbell offered. "It's possible that he's wholly unaware of the fact that the Myal drug the herbal tea they offer to the guards because he's never brought guards with him when he visits."

"I guess we'll find out. I wish we had one of the Foxx twins right now... it'd sure be useful to have their scouting tools." Sera sighed. "OK, advance guard... breech the doors and let's see what's on the other side."

"Yes ma'am." One of the nameless soldiers, keeping his sighting down his rifle, leaned forward and shoved one of the double doors open... only to be met with more silence.

"Sera, I'm starting to not like this." Shadow's frown was practically audible. "No guards, not even a shot yet, and we're set to wander straight into a large open space with a bajillion firing positions that'll probably only become clear when we're in the middle."

"Ah, but on the ninth day, God created white phosphorous." Boom said with a grin. "And wouldn't you know, I just happen to have lots of these cute little grenades on my person."

Shadow stared at him for a moment then chuckled. "Never mind then. Just make sure to disperse them really well... our extremely valuable theoretical physicist might not want to try breathing the stuff."

"Admiral, Admiral, Admiral... I'm hurt." Boom responded with a wounded expression. "The big man is a professional, both at throwing explosives and smoking."

"You know that'll kill you, old boy." Silver pointed out.

"Only if someone stole my Cubans. Them's some fine smokes." He reached into his pack and began distributing the cylindrical devices to the point team and Silver. "OK, this is what we do... cook 'em, open the doors, and chuck 'em. See if you can line some sorta path between us and the front door."

"Gee, Sergeant, are you going to tell us how to fire a gun next?" One of the soldiers quipped. "Sorta done this before, Sarge."

"You be quiet when the big man talks, maggot. Ain't you learned nothin' from the miserable bastard that trained ya?"

"Sorry to break it to ya, Sarge, but you're not old, white, and pissed off."

"Just you throw your smoke bomb when you're told." Boom grinned. "Pins out! One-one thousand, two-one thousand, door!"

The two soldiers at the absolute front pushed the doors open with one hand as they threw their grenades with the other, the projectiles sailing in a long graceful arc, bursting just as they hit the ground and the chamber filled with billowing smoke... then the sounds of gunfire.

"Good job, Sergeant." Shadow reached up to pat him on the back. "Now how do we see them for the purposes of shooting?"

"I gave you cover, Admiral." Boom retorted, grinning as he unholstered his hand cannon. "You figure out how to kill them dead."

"I'm not a soldier but I imagine that we should attempt to shoot them until they stop being alive." Dr. Campbell remarked dryly.

"Just stay back, Doctor." Akeya told her with a hint of a grin. "You may have a gun and basic but we need you safe far more than you firing."

Campbellsnorted. "Major, I'm not nearly as harmless as I look. You just take care of the opfor and let me take care of being safe."

Akeya turned and looked at her with a curious expression. "Yeah... I'll do that, Doc." She replied with a hint of uncertainty in her tone. "Hey advance elements... have you spotted where the fire is coming from?"

"Three romeo at three-thirty high... two more at twelve low, six spread from eight-thirty to ten, all low." Came the response. "Right advance, frag on the nine, thirty minutes."

"Waste of ordinance." The other responded. "Frags won't cut through our stuff, can't assume it'd cut through rigid armor."

"Advance element, the smoke is pillaring. Use the visual cover now, engage with rifles, debate what their armor can do later." Sera growled. "Get a move on, soldier. We can't put the heavy throw weight into the fight until you're out of the way."

"Yes ma'am." With that, the soldiers of the advance element raised their rifles and rolled into the room and wheeled left, the higher-pitched crack of rifle fire immediately mixing with the unusual sounds of the viis weapons.

"Boom, Silver, wheel right to take care of the trio up high." Sera instructed. "Gunslinger, you knock off the two straight ahead. If they don't kill 'em all, advance elements should at least make them duck."

"Yes, ma'am." Silver disappeared off to the right with Boom following him, the large sidearm raised. Akeya didn't even respond; bringing her rifle to her eye, she walked straight through the door in a state of apparent perfect calm, firing her first shot the second she cleared the doorway.

"So what about us, General?" Shadow asked with a hint of amusement.

"We stay here in case the archive guards wake up." Sera patted her sub-machinegun. "Not much chance of them opening those thick doors faster than I can draw a bead."

"Twelve o'clockare both down." Akeya said placidly over the link. "Shifting fire to the left. Footsteps, approximately eight approaching from my three."

"Medic has no eyes on three romeo at three-thirty." Silver reported. "No exits, they must be circling around to your twelve, Gunslinger."

"Advance one, romeo down."

"Advance two, two romeos are bingo."

"Medic, no eyes on three romeos from top and no fire." Akeya said. "Are you sure they didn't slip by you?"

"We're ascending by narrow stairs, preliminary no." Silver responded. "I see no other descents."

"Are you thermal-equipped?"

"Negative on the thermal." Silver responded.

"No thermal." Boom added. "No eyes on fire from three-thirty is confirmed. Does anyone see them?"

"Advance two, no longer eyes on the surviving three from nine." One of the advance soldiers reported.

"Advance, are you sure about your number estimates?" Sera broke in.

"Advance observed eleven distinct sources of flash through smoke." The other replied. "Wait, advance is in the clear... still no romeo towards front doors."

"I'm not seeing the approach from right." Silver added. "Something's not right here."

"Admiral, the walls along this hall are panels." Dr. Campbell observed quietly and with an almost chilling calm. "And this is practically a fortress of the supreme leader of the Viis Empire. Get down."

"Get...?" Sera had barely started to ask when Campbellreached in front of her... just as the muzzle of a gun started to emerge from what Sera swore was a solid wall a second ago. With a precise motion, the wolven twisted and yanked on the muzzle almost as her hand closed around it, pulling a surprised viis guard out of his hiding place just in time for his head to intersect with bullet path of her borrowed sidearm. The report was incredibly loud given the small caliber of the weapon and the guard fell on his face, dead before he hit the ground.

Sera was dimly aware of Shadow screaming for everyone to fall back towards the hall as she watched the scientist swing around the corner, firing as she went, disappearing into the passageway with a strangely practiced precision. Some corner of her mind was screaming at her about the bizarre nature of what she'd seen a moment ago but she blocked it out as she raised her gun and followed Melinda Campbell around the corner, counting the shots she heard for some reason. Fifteen... sixteen... the scientist was nowhere in sight although she practically stumbled over four more bodies as she went with another pair just ahead in the well-lit hidden passage. Eighteen... nineteen... Sera rounded another bend, stepping over the four more armored bodies when she heard a twentieth shot. Knowing that Melinda had only one more bullet left, she rounded another bend. She had just enough time to realize that she was at the bottom of some sort of staircase and raise her gun, keeping one eye looking down the sights, when a dark shape came hurtling down the stairs: one of the guards, visibly struggling as he somersaulted in freefall, when the final shot rang out and Sera was suddenly blinded as mingled blood and brains sprayed across her helmet mask, the spent bullet whipping passed her just a second before the body crashed against her and she suddenly found herself on her back looking up at a smooth ceiling.

There was a silence that seemed to stretch out into minutes before she heard the rapid sound of the rest of the team approaching interspaced with the unhurried sounds of someone descending the staircase. Overcoming her surprise at being knocked flat, she propped herself up on her elbows to find Dr. Campbell standing there with her arms folded placidly, the sidearm she'd borrowed from Akeya in one paw and the opposite placing pressure on a wound in her bicep that was slowly trickling blood.

"Sorry that I forgot to yell 'duck', General, but I didn't expect you to be following so close behind me." She said calmly. "I'd offer you a paw up but I've got a gun in one hand and am holding a ricochet wound in the other."

"What... the hell...?" Sera managed as Akeya came around the same bend followed closely by Shadow and the rest.

"Doctor, are you fucking INSANE?" Shadow demanded, her voice almost painfully loud in the confined space. "Guards are coming out of the wall and you charge them?"

"My one injury is minor and the flanking force is dead." Campbellreplied, just as calm as she had been before. "I seem to have acquitted myself well."

"I don't care if you struck them down with your hitherto invisible divine wrath!" Shadow snarled. "We have precisely one person in the entire fucking expedition who is indispensable and she just charged a squad of armored guards with a fucking peashooter in a confined space! Explain to me, please, why I should not be pissed off."

Melinda considered this and nodded, looking sheepishly contrite. "You're right, Admiral. I reacted foolishly."

"You're damn right you reacted foolishly." Shadow frowned. "Come on before reinforcements arrive. You alright, Sera?"

"Peachy." Sera got to her feet. "Does someone have a cloth so I can wiped my mask off?"

"Here." Campbellshrugged out of her long lab coat, revealing the unusual sight of a t-shirt under the professional adornment, and offered it to Sera. "It'll need to be incinerated anyway with a bloody hole in it and I'm hardly attached to something you can buy for two bits and a song."

"Uh, thanks." Sera used the white linen to wipe away the blood and gore. "Doc, what the hell was that?"

"That was me seriously out of practice." Melinda responded with a mirthless chuckle. "Captain, I believe that there is a bullet fragment lodged in my upper arm that needs to be treated. These stairs lead up to that balcony upon which were perched the three shooters that mysteriously vanished. There are still two unaccounted for, assuming that the advance team plus Major Obsydien were able to get an accurate count from muzzle flashes and footsteps but no visual confirmation."

"Alrighty then." Shadow flattened herself against the side of the passage to let Silver pass. "Move out. Assemble on that balcony and we'll get all situated before our dash out."

Wadding the bloody lab coat into a ball and tucking it under her arm, Sera followed Silver and Dr. Campbell up the stairs and out of a very precisely rectangular opening to find herself on a large balcony with a tall railing that would be at the waist height of a viis. Silver immediately unfolded his kit and expertly applied antibiotics and wrapped a bandage around Campbell's arm, an arm that Sera noticed for the first time was very defined with the lean muscle of someone who was unusually fit for a physicist. She realized that it was the first time she'd ever seen the pure white wolven without a lab coat on and she'd never fully realized how emaciated Melinda Campbell actually was--and how cut with regularly-exercised athletic muscle.

"Well, that was an interesting diversion." Shadow commented as she emerged, two soldiers immediately taking position with their rifles braced on the railing although the main chamber seemed strangely silent. "There are far more important things occupying us at the moment but I believe my friend's question deserves an answer, Doctor. What the hell was that?"

"That was a part of my past that I have never quite been able to bury." Melinda sighed. "Part that I dearly wanted to but I suppose in retrospect, I'm glad that I didn't."

"That will suffice for the moment, Doctor." Shadow turned to look fully at her. "But so we're clear, Miss Campbell, you will not under any circumstances deliberately expose yourself to harm so long as I am the commander of this task force and of all the military assets therein. Are we clear?"

"We are clear, Admiral." Melinda smiled lightly and offered her emptied pistol to Akeya. "I am assuming you will want this back, Major, since I am not going to be in any more fights."

Akeya grinned toothily. "No, I think you'll need this, Doctor." She reached into a pocket of her suit and brought out a clip for the pistol. "At least until we get home."

"You are a shooter and a lady, Major." Campbellgrinned back as she accepted the clip, smoothly exchanging it for the empty in her gun. "And thank you, Captain Prower... wrapped tightly but not so much as to be painful or limit movement."

"Just doing my job." Silver replied. "Hey Admiral, how is our ride going to know where to land?"

"ATLAS." Shadow replied simply. "Speaking of our ride, since the good doctor has been bandaged, we should get a move on before they regroup."

Although it was a very short trip from the balcony to the front of the palace, Sera was mildly surprised that no more guards had shown up. Either they'd just killed the entire force (which seemed absurdly unlikely) or the others were more concerned with safeguarding the Kaa from potential assassins than trying to capture or kill those 'assassins' as they tried to leave. Sera was stopped short by the scene outside as they exited: the gates had been collapsed outward and there were a trio of the heavily-armored combat transports already touched down with a quartet of soldiers spread out near each one, watching with deceptively casual glances for any guards. The nearest one, a corporal from the look of his markings, came to attention as they exited the palace.

"Admiral, ma'am. General, ma'am." He greeted them. "Commodore Andropoli's compliments but we'd be extremely grateful if you'd haul tail so we can get into the air."

"Right." Shadow agreed. "Sera, you and Doctor Campbell come with me. Captain Prower too since we're carrying the only injured, however lightly. Sergeant, you take the advance guard and go in the other transport along with the major. Third transport, you just fly about and shoot at pests if the escort lets you have any."

As Akeya, Boom, and the two other soldiers disappeared into one of the transports, Sera followed Shadow into the other with the four BAR-armed soldiers bringing up the rear. The soldiers had barely cleared the door when the ramp retracted and the heavy bulkhead slid down to seal the compartment.

"Strap in." The pilot said over the PA. "We're blasting off post haste and I don't want anyone getting bruised, especially the nice lady with the hurt arm."

"Appreciated." Melinda said as she sat, chuckling with Silver seating himself right beside her. Sera took the seat next to Shadow and sat back, relieved to at least be getting away from the palace.

"Rough ride down?" Shadow asked of the corporal.

"Naw, pretty smooth." He replied. "The escort came down extra pissed so nothing got even close. Pilot was getting pretty antsy, though, because we hear tell that the lizards are moving cruisers into blocking position and there ain't any new friends to make them go away."

"Great." Shadow growled. "I would have thought that the SAFC would have put a rush job on our reinforcements."

"Yo, Admiral." The pilot called back just then. "I'm getting a whole mess of bounceback from orbit. Either those cruisers have some wicked jamming gear or computer-hooker got her vengeance on."

"...computer-hooker...?" Sera looked at Shadow. "Please tell me he doesn't mean the Executor's BSY Core."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Shadow grimaced. "Pilot, can you distinguish anything about individual bounceback sources?"

"Yeah." He replied. "It looks like several capital ships are moving into position to set up a serious crossfire trap."

"Then exit on a different hemisphere."

"I would, Admiral, but the thick planetary atmosphere is forcing us to burn substantial amounts of fuel." He told her. "We can't switch over to the electrics until we get clear of the exosphere."

"How much distance can you put between us and them before you have to switch over to electrically-fired engines?" Shadow inquired, clearly thinking.

There was a pause and the pilot chuckled. "Admiral, you do realize that bringing us out of the exosphere as far away from them as possible was one of the things we considered, right?"

"Humor me. It's not as if you're going to lose anything by discussing possibilities." Shadow pointed out.

Another pause. "Our belief is that while CIWS fire typically relies on a solid hit to damage a target, longer-ranged guns utilize bursting mechanisms so they don't have to be as accurate to do damage." He told her.

"But the cruisers moving into position to set up a crossfire trap suffer the problem of fire interference with longer-ranged weapons, wouldn't they?" Shadow pointed out.

"Admiral, if you want us to gamble on staying away from them instead of gambling that their CIWS systems are inferior to ours, just give the order." The pilot was beginning to sound irritated. "This isn't a really good time for an academic forum."

"Sorry. Keep your distance..."

"...but don't look like you're trying to keep your distance. I don't know, fly casual." Sera interrupted quickly, giving Shadow a cheeky grin.

The pilot laughed. "Yeah, sure General. OK, I'll get on the horn. Hang on back there."

"Planning on it." Sera sat back in the seat, glancing up at the genuine windows where she could see the clouds of the atmosphere thinning, giving way to the void of space as the transports made for orbit. As the obscuring pollution dissipated, the viis cruisers came into view. They were a very different design than even the most unusual SAFN ship, looking all the world like two pyramids laid on their sides with one stretching out to four times the length of the other, coming to a blunt point. Along the entire lengths, small-bore weapons dotted the surface with no discernable rhyme or reason while menacing tri-pronged batteries were spaced regularly, each side having no less than eight of what were apparently larger anti-ship weapons, gauss or rail guns from the look of them.

"Not to sound overly optimistic, Admiral, but I'm not seeing any medium triple-A on the blockading vessels." The pilot reported. "Plenty heavy, though. Lead transport is nearly bingo fuel but ample to get to electric switchover. Mark is thirty seconds."

"Very good, pilot." Shadow responded. "Sort of a strange design but makes plenty of sense... heavy anti-ship weaponry for other capitals, enough small-bores for..."

Just as she was about to guess what the small-bores were for, the cruiser nearest them opened fire, clouds of tiny glowing spheres erupting towards them. The transport lurched as the pilot dumped power into the lateral thrusters and they accelerated sideways, shoving Sera back against her seat but pushing them into the thinnest part of the salvo. Still, dozens of the bullets impacted the shield, shattering as the wall of force abruptly decelerated them, a low-pitched whine erupting from below their feet as the generators peaked and then reset in preparation for the next impact.

"...that wasn't as bad as I thought..." The pilot sounded confused. "Speed intercept says they were traveling at standard gauss velocity but... hit like... like... space dust. What the hell?"

"Bet they're saying the same thing, pilot." Shadow commented. "What's the word on the other two transports?"

"Full green. Decoy reports being plastered but only 45% compensation strain. Hang on, another salvo's incoming."

Once again, a mass of tiny spheres rocketed towards them, the generators peaking then returning to their almost purring background rumble. Just then, there was a crackling whine and the transport lurched ahead, clearly accelerating as the pilot turned on the electrically-initiated thrusters.

"Better go before they start trying to concentrate that mess on one of us instead of hitting us all with a cloud." The pilot said. "Only the cruisers are doing anything, though. There was a whole helluva lot of snubs when we were heading in..."

"Shadow, do you get the same funny feeling I do?"

"That something's not right here? Uh, yeah, just a bit. Sort of like when all the soldiers disappeared to behind us in the palace." Shadow frowned. "Salvos that just irritate our shields? No snubs?"

"Like we're not supposed to be stopped by the cruisers?" Dr. Campbell suggested wryly. "Pilot? Is there anything on your instruments that's unusual?"

"Such as...?"

"Such as... uh... a gigantic gun platform with energy-scattering coatings and visual camouflage?"

"A WHAT?" At that exact moment, something hit the transport and Sera found herself dumped out of her seat as they were thrown to a side as if a giant had backhanded them.

"A gigantic gun platform with energy-scattering coatings, visual camouflage, and what appears to be relatively accurate heavy triple-A." Melinda replied from her seat, having been strapped in by Silver (who, based on his position on the floor, had neglected to do the same).

"Hell with what it is." Shadow (who had strapped in of her own initiative. "How bad did it hit us?"

"Blew a regulator, Admiral." The pilot reported. "It wasn't aiming at us, though. Damn decoy pilot's trying to be a hero."

As their pilot was saying it, Sera watched out the viewpoint as one of the transports actually turned towards the gun platform and she could just barely make out armored panels sliding aside and the pilot extending one of the major differences between it and a typical Tortoise-class transport: a pair of quad-mounted Hypersonic Flak Burst guns designed to shred interceptors at extreme ranges... or, more appropriately to the moment, bombard larger objects with high explosives, taking advantage of the fact that the HFB shells had both an impact and timed fuse. While the shells were barely more than four inches in diameter, they packed a terrific punch. Turning his engines to full burn, the pilot began strafing the platform, explosive bursts erupting over its surface as the HFB guns, controlled by two gunners through a remote wire system, started blasting at the guns and a trail of tracers erupted from the transport's belly from the high-velocity 30mm gattling cannon, a tank-killing weapon that caused one of the visibly large guns on the platform's surface to be blasted free and go floating off. Curiously, the platform seemed to be relying entirely on its armor because there was no evidence that the pilot was hitting shields, assuming that the viis deployed such things. As the transport swept over the surface, his shields were flaring constantly, anti-ship weapons too small for Sera to see retaliating against the attack to no discernable effect. Yet another of the larger guns blew free and the pilot zipped out of range of the others, giving his shields time to refresh before starting to rotate in for another run.

"Let him. Get us out of here before that gun platform actually tries to shoot us." Shadow ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" He answered fervently. "Just need to... oh, shit."

"What now?" Sera climbed back into her seat.

"Yanno how SAFN's been jerkin' around with a planetary shield for Earth using satellites to project it?"

"...you're not serious."

"Uh, yeah, just a bit. Look at it yourself." Taking her seat, Sera looked up through the windows and a distinct and visible wall of projected force met her gaze, crackling with electricity... right between them and open space.

"And now we see why the decoy pilot didn't need to shoot through shields." She commented. "I'm not sure what the purpose of this is, though... with the projecting satellites being thrashed by HFB guns, it can't possibly last long."

"Long enough for ships that might normally have no chance of intercepting us to circle Viisymel and take up positions." Shadow pointed out wryly. "Not to mention the cruisers... which, it seems, are content to watch for the moment."

"Hey Admiral... have you noticed a certain lacking in this situation?" Silver inquired. "There seems to be very few ships near us. In fact... I don't see our escort anywhere."

"Pilot...?"

"Hell if I know, Admiral. I've got no joy on communications... haven't ever since we got close to those cruisers." He replied. "I'm starting to get the feeling that we're just supposed to stick around and twiddle our thumbs or something. We've got a shield pinning us here, those cruisers doing jack, our escorts gone, a pretty damn ineffective gun platform being killed by some idiot transport pilot, bingo fuel to head into the atmosphere again, shit for communications..."

"Angel Actual, this is Lighthouse, Angel Actual this is Lighthouse, over." Sera jumped slightly at the sudden cutting in of another voice over the PA system. "Lighthouse repeating, Angel Actual, this is Lighthouse, Angel Actual, this is..."

"Lighthouse, this is Angel Actual." They heard the pilot respond. "What the hell is going on out there?"

"Angel Actual, I am acting as counter-ECM relay to facilitate communications with effective fleet flagship. Pipe communications to Admiral Williams at this time for burst-transmit sitrep." 'Lighthouse' replied in a businesslike fashion.

"Piping. Admiral, there is a squawkbox mounted against the bay wall closest to the cabin. Better get your paws on it before the telegraph operator gets antsy."

"Angel Actual, Lighthouse is not a telegraph operator. Don't make me zorch you." 'Lighthouse' replied with an annoyed tone.

"Sheesh, no sense of humor." The pilot sighed as Shadow walked over to the enclosure and keyed the transceiver.

"Lighthouse, this is Admiral Williams. Start your signal conveyance array, if you please."

"Of course, Admiral." 'Lighthouse' sounded markedly more pleased all of the sudden. "Uplink to Commodore Andropoli is live in three... two... one..."

"Ah, Admiral." Andropoli's accent boomed. "It is a relief to have gotten a line back to you. What is your situation?"

"Safe for the moment although waiting for the other shoe to drop." Shadow replied, running through a quick synopsis of what was going on. "What's the status of the fleet?"

"Light skirmish at this time." Andropoli responded. "First ships out of the gate were heavy and they came right at us before their escort followed. I theorize that they were trying to hit the fleet before we could shield Searcher or get our own defenses in order. Marauder broke her iron boot off in their asses before they turned and ran."

Shadow gaped at the speaker. "...a frigate sent two heavy warships home crying? Commodore, this is not the time for jokes."

"They were breaching ships with extremely poor fire control." Andropoli's voice conveyed his shrug surprisingly well. "Searcher threw mud in their eyes and Marauder began to carve them like chickens. They have been a little more... careful since that time."

"Have we gotten any reinforcements yet?"

"Station Charles is doing their best." Andropoli responded. "The ECM coming from the viis ships is complicating their task as they need a clear beacon from our ships to avoid accelerating the reinforcements right into us. I am considering telling them to take the risk and make a blind jump."

"Can 'Lighthouse' be used as a relay for the beacon?" Shadow held her chin in a thoughtful way.

"Da, but it must get enough distance from us to send a clear..." Andropoli stopped. "...ah, I believe I see your suggestion, Admiral. I gather that battleships will be of greater use to you in the immediate future with the bulk of the Imperial Fleet still intimidated by our demonstration."

"Set it up." Shadow instructed. "We don't seem to be in any danger at the moment, especially with that decoy transport pilot pulling the gun platform's teeth with impunity, but those cruisers make me nervous and I don't think even the Delta-India variant has the ordinance to pierce the platform's armor."

"Is there any way to confirm that the shield is being generated by the platform itself?"

"If Lighthouse would pull in closer, maybe he can give us a better idea." Shadow turned her head to watch the transport pilot circling around for yet another run on the platform which was only weakly fighting back by now, many of its guns blasted free by HFB and 30mm fire. "Commodore, have Lighthouse take position to relay your beacon and then order him in closer to take a look at the shield. You never know... maybe we'll enjoy a miracle and discover that this viis are as stupid as the tech fanboys for that old scifi series where all the shields operate on a frequency."

Andropoli laughed. "Miracles do happen, Admiral." He agreed merrily. "Line Delta should be jumping in within five minutes. Commodore Andropoli, Lady Lexington III, out."