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The next few days were quite stressful for David, he was questioned several times seeing as how it seemed he was the prime suspect for the intelligence leak however they had nothing on him since he wasn't the one responsible, soon enough the questions stopped coming and he was dismissed from the hospital though Kayla and Merin were still recovering from their injuries. Even though he was officially dropped as a suspect he could feel from the glances that there were plenty of people who were still suspicious of him. Another group of soldiers called him over and David was escorted to an armored vehicle and moved to an unknown location under heavy guard by what he assumed was the equivalent of home guard security back on Earth. He wasn't sure if they were there to ensure his safety or keep an eye on him, probably both.

Eventually the car stopped and the door was opened for him, followed by being escorted by military around him.

*I'm beginning to feel like I'm being walked to a firing squad...*

They entered a door that was pretty well concealed from the outside and once they entered he saw it was the hidden entrance to an underground military base, the corridor's ceilings covered with tubes and wires while a lot of military personnel walked around. Soon enough they stopped at a door and opened it for him, _"Get changed."_was all he got from the soldier escorting him before they pushed him inside and closed the door. Inside he saw the room was much like an interrogation room only now there was a pile of clothes on the table. A closer look told him it was his captain's attire with stripes and everything, undamaged like it came fresh from the sewing machine. At least it gave him some comfort to be wearing it again. A few minutes later David exited the room and walk forward again, his walk now a little more confident as if his uniform had increased his confidence, which it did.

Several minutes later they stopped at a door at the end of a long corridor, they opened it for him and David entered, the soldiers stayed outside. David walked inside and saw a lot of heads turning to face him, David was greeted with the sight of many furs sitting around a large black table and all of them in uniform. From their looks and uniforms he assumed they were high ranking officers, though not all of them were in uniforms. Some were in suits and had a very skeptical look on their faces, politicians, even worse. On the head of the table was none other then Alpha Magnus, shooting David a gentle smile. The friendliest gesture he had received so far today. "Ah Captain David, right on time for the meeting. Please take your seat, we are about to commence."

With a nod and a thank you David took the last empty seat on the far end of the table on the right from Magnus, David kind of wished he had known he was going to attend some sort of meeting and what it would be about but seeing as how the Alpha was here it had to be important. Someone scraped their throat and drew all attention to him, a large brown grizzly bear in a rather impressive suit took the word.

"Gentlemen, as you know we haven't made a lot of progress with the raids on the Reptor home planet. Our bombers are having a hard time getting past their defenses and the few that get to drop their bombs rarely make it back and inflict minimal damage."

A large hologram appeared in the center and showed the planet of the Reptors while a squad of bombers engaged it. David decided to be silent and observe for now.

"As you can see the Reptors have the same numbers as our but their aggressive tactics seem to always tilt the scales in their favor. Our fighters get overwhelmed and are having a hard time keeping them off the bombers."

David saw the battle taking place, making mental notes and having a look of extreme focus on his face.

"Not to mention that our enemy has reinforced the primary targets to the point our bombs have little effect."_the hologram disappeared and the bear turned to everyone. _"If we don't find a way to fight off their fighters and inflict more damage to our bombing targets then their next invasion fleet will depart before we can even plan a ground assault."

"It's simple, we send more fighters to escort the bombers. The more men we can send in with them the more we can cover them." A not so young looking gray wolf said though he was immediately answered by a saber tooth in the suit. "That's pointless, their fighters go straight for the bombers. They ignore the fighters until they take out at least 75% of the bombers. More fighters won't do anyone any good, we need bombers that can fight back and still bomb them." This time it was one of the suits speaking up now, "Impossible, the weight of the bombs makes the bombers unable to make the same maneuvers as a fighter. There is no way to combine a fighter and a bomber and make it so it excel in both." David nodded along now, humans had tried to do the same for decades and it was simply impossible. You could make a hybrid but it never had the capabilities to go toe to toe with a fighter and the ship would only be able to carry a small amount of bombs. It went back and forth between the men on the table, whom David still had no idea who they exactly were but he had a few educated guesses seeing how this was a war meeting.

Suddenly Alpha Magnus spoke up, everyone else immediately stopped talking. "All of these are good suggestions gentlemen but I'd like to hear Captain David's opinion on the matter. After all this is why we invited him here." David could swear he felt the air current pass him when all the heads turned to face him, he hated being put in the spotlight and he was now standing on a Broadway stage. *Calm down David, you've done these before. Just tell them what on your mind and be professional.* David swallowed heavily and began.

"If the enemy fighters go straight for the bombers and ignore the fighters escorting them then why not create a trap using the bombers? If they are so bent on destroying the bombers then you can lead them into a trap and inflict heavy damage to their numbers or even wipe them out with minimal damage."

David looked around the table, he saw a lot of people whispering and discussing amongst themselves. The gray wolf addressed David, "And what kind of trap did you have in mind?" "Well... I had something like this in my mind..."

David explained his plan, the longer he talked the more heads would subtly nod along. Even Alpha Magnus seeming to like the sound of the plan."Captain David, you do realize if this trap fails our forces will be left very vulnerable and will face certain defeat." David turned to the saber tooth, "I do but you risk that fate every battle and if the trap succeeds I estimate 90% of the bombers will drop their payload and return safely."

This really made the whispers grow loud, that is until Alpha Magnus, who had been silent up until now, spoke up, "A fine plan indeed, the best one I've heard so far and unless anybody has a better idea or has any objections I say this is will be our strategy during the next battle." David scanned the room and saw nobody come with any complaints or other ideas, though the plan needed some perfecting David knew this had a good chance of working. He just hoped the pilots on the field would stick to it.

Alpha Magnus smiled and nodded, "Good, it's settled then. Now Captain David, what do you suggest we could do to increase the effectiveness of our bombing runs?" Again those heads turned to him for an answer, he asked to pull up the hologram again and zoom in on the buildings and the bombers attacking them.

"As you can see, the bombers fly on a great height and drop their payloads from the sky away from the anti air defenses though this also means less accuracy due to winds height." David explained using the hologram to explain his next point, "But if you perform a dive bombing, the added velocity and forces when the bomb is released will make the impact that much more powerful and with a more pointed tip the bomb might even penetrate the defenses and cause even more damage."

A lot of faces frowned a little but not in disapproval but in confusion, finally one of the generals asked the question he shared with everyone else. "_And what exactly is this 'dive bombing' you speak of?"_David had to restrain himself from face palming, did he really have to explain that concept? "Dive bombing involves said bombers to not fly over the target and drop the bombs but to dive nose down towards their target at great velocity. Then they release the bombs during the dive at a safe height before pulling up again. Because the bombers release the bombs in this maneuver the bombs carry over the increased speed and thus increased energy." He saw how this concept of bombing created quite the discussions, he caught a few words from the many conversations taking place at once. Some seemed to call it insane and dangerous while most seemed to be amazed by how simple yet brilliant it was.

"But opening the bombing hatches in that angle will mean they wont drop properly or even not at all." the wolf commented, David had learned from the conversations he is a general named Harna. "Indeed General Harna, that's why the bombers will carry the bombs underneath their metal frame. The bombs can be strapped to holders and the holders can be lowered from the hold so enemy fighters can't shoot them and explode the ship." David made use of the hologram to explain his point, catching up on how to operate it pretty easily thanks to the fact they used a similar technology to Earth's bombers.

The more David explained how this type of bombing worked the more nods and intrigued grunts he heard going around the table though one voice remained almost painfully absent. Magnus was sitting in his chair silently yet observing and listening carefully, David could only guess what was going on in his mind as he took all of the information in. It seemed the main objections to his idea was that the bombers would be exposed to anti-aircraft defenses while they were running low on them. They weren't very keen on losing groups of bombers in a suicide attack. "As long as the bombers pull up in time and use evasive maneuvers then they should sustain minimal damage to none. Though this depends on the pilots and I cannot guarantee their performances." General Harna shot David a not so friendly glare,"Are you suggesting our bomber pilots are not skilled enough?"_David swallowed deeply, he didn't mean to say that but in hindsight it could be interpreted that way. "I do not, I am simply not familiar with your pilots and their skills." Before Harna could reply Magnus motioned with a hand to drop the topic, which of course he did so his Alpha could take the floor. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, looking directly into David's eyes. To him it felt like Magnus was trying to bore through his own eyes."Can you guarantee me that this bombing technique with sharp nosed shells will yield better results without risking the pilots and the bombers?"_

David realized that his answer know would make or break his plan, he knew of course the plan was solid, if the pilots could deliver. He returned the stare and tried to convey as much confidence as possible. "If a bomber or pilot is lost, it will not be from the bombs or the dive bombing itself for in combat I cannot promise they all return safely. The combination of shells and diving will create more damage. That is also why I suggest you target high priority objectives. They will try to enforce their defenses when they see the results. We have the element of surprise, I say we make the best of it." Magnus held his stare before leaning back and smiling for a brief second, "Very well, send word to the factories of the redesigning of the shells and bomb bays. Prepare the bombers for this new technique, inform everybody that needs to know about this. Especially the pilots and their commanding officers." A few heads nodded at the table, now it was clear to David that his suggestions were being taken to heart. It also meant that if this plan of his went wrong, his chances of getting to Earth would drop to zero. General Harna addressed his Alpha, "With all due respect my Alpha, the pilots will not like this change of tactics let alone their officers. We can't ask them to head into battle with a new bombing technique they never even heard of before."_Magnus nodded, he had already thought of this and had an answer, one that would certainly spark the kindling flame of discussion. _"The pilots will be trained as best as possible and you forget General Harna that we have an officer that not only knows these tactics but also the plan, the execution of it and how our pilots can improve their techniques." David could swear he felt a draft from the eyebrows being lifted in confusion, nobody in the army ever mentioned this type of bombing so all of them were wondering who he meant. Then Magnus gave a single motioning nod to David and every head was turned to him, eyes widening in understanding. Voices growing again in a chaotic manner while in the midst of this chaos David was flabbergasted, unsure how to react at all to this news.

"You're going to be the commanding officer of the bombing squadron?!?!"_Both Merin and Kayla almost yelled out at him, David had returned to them in the hospital to share the information he was allowed to share with them. Both still in the hospital beds though Kayla was sitting upright as opposed to Merin. "And fly with them into battle to coordinate them and ensure everything goes as planned." Kayla angrily huffed, it was new to see her in this state. _"Those bloody... I bet they're going to get you shot and killed. Why else would they force you to go out there in the front lines!"

"Well it makes sense really, they still don't fully trust me and what better way to make sure I will try my utter best to see this to completion then to put me on the front line too? Plus it will give a good idea of their skills too, while risky it also has a lot of advantages."

"And making it easier to make it look like you were shot down by the Reptors too."

David sighed, "I know Kayla but what options do I have? If I would have said no then it would look like I wasn't confident about the plan or worse. I have to gain their trust first, show them that I'm not their enemy. If that means having to get in on the action well then so be it."

"Kayla, I understand your objections but David is right. If you wouldn't let a medical procedure happen to you then why would other patients with no medical experience do it?"

Kayla opened her mouth but slowly shut it again, grumbling softly instead."Doesn't mean I have to like it..."

"Don't worry Kayla, I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Not after coming this far. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a briefing with my pilots shortly. Get well, both of you. I'll tell you about what happened when I get back."

David walked to the door, saying his goodbyes to them as he was escorted to the military vehicle. He was a captain once again only now within a different army and with soldiers not even his race. As he climbed in the backseat of the armored vehicle he knew the following days would be very interesting indeed.