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.”Wilcox laughed.“I feel better already, General.Good luck, Sir.”“Thanks Doug, Colonel Peters and Major Corey will be in communication with you the whole way.Your Command Wing Fighters will be under your direct control as well as the Yorktown.Use them as your shock troops.I’m sorry we ran out of time to get your cloaking shield in, but General Richardson guarantees me your shielding will handle anything they have for weapons.Your Fighters will take them out long before they get to you anyway.I’m glad we have you out here with us, Doug.”“See you later, General, Wilcox out.”Mercer walked over, and handed Jake a mug, as he sat down next to him with his own.“Nice to have a guy like Colonel Wilcox on this side of the Gate.Don’t think I don’t know why you have him there either.”“I trust Anton, and his actions helped us recruit our Alien landing force.I would be just as confident having the Gallant at the Gate,” Jake said, sipping his tea.“You can try spinning that stuff on Jas or Sara, but don’t waste your time with it on me, partner,” Mercer retorted.“Colonel Stavros was under direct orders to obliterate any ship coming through the Gate.If they had been able to fire off a few bursts, they could have blown the Gallant’s fire control systems, leaving them helpless.We were testing the systems on the other side.He was to take no chances.You should have busted him down to Lieutenant for a bone head play like that.”“Anton’s a good commander, Charlie,” Jake said quietly.“I talked to him in private.No one feels worse about it than he does.After reading our reports, he knew exactly what could have happened.Luckily, I found out a couple of things, without paying too high a price.One, Stavros acts a little too much on instinct in situations where he should follow orders without question.Two, Sara knew he screwed up the moment he did it.She would have hit the Aliens with everything she had when they came through.It worked out in the end, and did you see Doug’s face when he heard what I had planned?”Mercer nodded, laughing and pointing his finger at Jake.“He was about to tell you what an idiot he thought you were.”“He sure was,” Jake smiled.“He may be right too.”“Hey, this is not the same as sitting on this side of the Gate with untested equipment, and taking chances with thousands of lives.I’m with you on this.Nick has us outfitted so we can do pretty much anything we want to do.Like you said, anything goes wrong, and we’ll pulverize the whole bunch.We’ll just go on like we planned at first, and Drop Ship down for our hostages.”“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that, Charlie.”“Uh oh.”“I think you and I will take some of the boys down, and protect our people, while Binky takes care of business with the ruling enclave,” Jake outlined.“No use in putting all our bets on one horse.”Mercer nodded.“And no use in worrying Binky’s little head about it either, right?”“Exactly,” Jake acknowledged.“Jas and Sara can look out for Alien defenses, both in orbit and on the ground, with the other Drop Ships and Command Wings.You, Tim, and I can fly on over to the prisoners’ compound.We’ll hedge our bets with Alpha Drop Ship and a company of Marines.You haven’t jumped on me about my Earth colloquialisms, Charlie.What’s wrong, you give up?”“I’m ignoring you,” Mercer replied, with a dismissing wave of his hand.“Sara said that would be more practical with a wussy boy like you.”“She did not.”“Maybe not in those exact words, but close enough,” Mercerinsisted.“I’ll have you both busted for insubordination.”“We’ll just tell your wife on you,” Mercer replied.“She’ll set you straight.We’ll rat you out so fast it’ll make your head spin.”“That’s cold, Charlie,” Jake said, shaking his head sadly.“I thought you and I were like brothers.”“I’m more like your brother-in-law,” Charlie instructed.Jake walked up the boarding hatch of the Drop Ship loaded with five hundred Aliens, armed with pulse weapons, without an escort.Binky, in full battle gear, met him just inside the hatch.The Alien rebel force sat strapped into their Drop Ship seats, quietly checking over their gear.Jake took the Alien Commander’s proffered hand in his own.“You did not have to come here, General,” Binky said, “but I am honored you did.”“I just wanted to make sure your communications setup here in the loading bay was sufficient, and see if you had any questions before we go through the Gate,” Jake replied.“I have tested them out with Colonel Peters, on the Bridge of the Intrepid,” Binky confirmed.“All is in readiness.Once you have disabled the ships on the other side of the Gate, I will broadcast to them your message to surrender or be destroyed.They will be told to stand down, as any movement will lead to instant death.Your weapons officer, Lieutenant Dougherty, has the precise layout of both classes of our warships.He knows exactly how to disable both weapons and propulsion systems.”“Good,” Jake nodded.“Are you sure the plan you have for blocking any signals back to the home world will work?”“I do not believe I have overlooked anything,” Binky replied, “but I cannot say for certain they have not changed the frequency of their communications.If you destroy their communications, I will be unable to enlist their help to stay quiet during our planned mission.They would warn the home world, just by their silence, and other ships would be sent to the Gate.”“You realize why you have been loaded in here, and why the hatch will be closed and locked by the Drop Ship pilot?”“Yes, General,” Binky answered.“We will be killed if my plans fall through.”“No, Bink,” Jake shook his head.“You all will be killed if you try to interfere.We may not be able to talk the reception committee, on the other side of the Gate, into going along with us quietly, and they may have something rigged we don’t know about.If so, no chances will be taken by my Commanders.If your comrades get excited, your Drop Ship pilot is under my direct orders to fly you on out of here, and open the hatch in space.The inside of the loading bay here has been shielded.You cannot get into the turret section or the cockpit area.My people know their jobs, and will carry out your plan to the letter, or they will execute you all.The choice will be yours.”“You are a brave man to come in here,” the Alien observed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]