Rogue Report

Moving Day

2009-11-02T14:33:00.005-06:00

Also known as: Jesus we've got a lot of Crap

The sun rose early on Friday...or so they tell me. Here in Kansas City, KS, we had overcast skies, constant winds with gusts up to 40 mph and temps in the low 50s (F). I arose early, well, for me at 6 am. Showered, dressed and roused the wife from bed. Once I got her into the shower, I stripped the bed, tossing the sheets and all the towels, including hers into the washer so that the final load of laundry would be done before we left the apartment. My dad was supposed to be at my place at 7:30 to pick me up and go get the moving truck at 8. About 7:10, he called me, asked if I could go pick him up instead. So I did, we went, got the truck and headed back to the apartment.

Wife had already left for work. Dad and I got the truck backed into the cul-de-sac we lived in, as close to our apartment as possible. First thing we moved, the couch...only because it was right in front of the sliding glass door and thus would be in the way of moving everything else. Hoist it up, carry it out the door...and my foot slips on the wet grass. Twisted ankle, nice. Get that back in place, and continue moving stuff.

The morning flies by, Mom arrives and helps pack those last min things that you need until the very end. By noon, the three of us have our apartment in the truck. Cleaning will wait till Sat. We drive up the block to our new apartment and three of my friends show up to help unload. We're done in little more than an hour.

Fun fact: A sleeper sofa will not make the turn from the front door, down the small hallway into our new living room. Only option...hoist it over the railing onto our patio and in through the sliding glass door.

One of the guys has to leave for work, so we bid him adieu and the rest of us head to my mother-in-laws. She's about 85% packed...despite me ragging on her for, oh, the last freaking two months about needing to be ready. Oh well, it is what it is. We pack up the stuff she's taking, toss the rest. Get over to the new apartment and unload. Oh, I should mention that while we're loading her apartment, the temp dropped about 10 degrees and the wind began to hit constant 30 mph. I will also mention that QuickTrip hot chocolate in the back of a moving truck is a treat.

So, around 3:30ish, we had back to the new apartment, unload her crap...of which she has a lot of. Order pizza...there are advantages for working for a pizza place...like, 50% discounts.

Everyone chows down, and the family/friends head home. Wife, mother-in-law and I begin the fun of now unpacking.

Saturday, dawns early...sunny this time but still cool. Wife and I return the truck and she begins cleaning our old place. Mom-in-law has friends come over and help her clean so we don't even worry about it.

By 5, I've moved everything, even the little stuff, both apartments have been cleaned and keys have been turned in. We're moved.

Rush Races

2009-09-25T17:06:00.002-05:00

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

All I can say is....awesome, and freakin hilarious

Blame Game

2008-09-22T15:19:00.004-05:00

I interrupt this blog for a real life rant. I posted this originally as a response on a message board that I occasionally post on and frankly, I'm dang proud of it so I decided to re-work it a bit and turn it into a column-like...thingie. And that is a technical term I believe.

So, the market's in crisis and there's blame a plenty to go around. But let's face facts here. The majority of it goes straight into the laps of liberal Democrats.

It began in 1977, when Democrat Jimmy Carter was President when the Community Reinvestment Act(CRA) was passed. Simple, noble-minded bill. The law mandated that each banking institution be evaluated to determine if it has met the credit needs of it's entire community", in other words, it outlawed "redlining" which is basically a form of profiling, only loaning to areas where there was no risk of the loan not being paid back.

Then in 1995, Democrat President Bill Clinton, with the idea of extending the American Dream of home-owner ship to all income ranges, including the ones who couldn't afford it, revised the bill to now require that banks make loans to people with little, no or bad credit. Not only require it, but also increase the number of CRA loans to low-income aka, the people who probably wouldn't be able to pay it back. It allowed companies to now securitize these CRA loans aka "sub-prime mortgages"

The first company to do so was Bear Stearns.

And they were so happy about it back then, quoting the article: "CRA loans are loans targeted to low and moderate income borrowers and neighborhoods under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.

'The securitization of these affordable mortgages allows us to redeploy capital back into our communities and to expand our ability to provide credit to low and moderate income individuals,' said Jane Henderson, managing director of First Union's Community Reinvestment and Fair Lending Programs. 'First Union is committed to promoting home ownership in traditionally underserved markets through a comprehensive line of competitive and flexible affordable mortgage products. This transaction enables us to continue to aggressively serve those markets.'"

From the beginning this was opposed by many and in 2003, Republican President George W. Bush proposed a complete overhaul, called by the New York Times as "...the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.", of the CRA requiring the two largest sub-prime mortage holders, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (boy all these names sure sound familiar) submit to greater oversight and begin to take action on securing this debt.

Quoting from the article: "The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates."

Guess what happened? The legislation was blocked by a party line vote, opposed by Democrats. Why? Quoting the NYT again: "Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

"These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said."

In fact, a few weeks later, Barney Frank, Democrat, told the AP: "I don't think we face a crisis. I don't think we have an impending disaster." In a way he was right, the disaster wasn't impending...it took about 5 years.

Two years later, in 2005, Republicans tried again, one of those I might add was Arizona Senator John McCain. And again it was blocked by Democrats, quoting Minority (now Majority) Leader Harry Reid: "The legislation from the Senate Banking Committee passed today on a party-line vote by the Republican majority, includes measures that could cripple the ability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to carry out their mission of expanding home ownership...While I favor approving oversight by our federal housing regulators, to ensure safety and soundness, we cannot pass legislation that could limit Americans from owning homes and potentially harm our economy in the process"

It was opposed by Democrat Senator Chris Dodd, ranking member of the Banking Committee and I might add, highest receiver of donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. #2? Senator Barack Obama, Democrat, Illinois who didn't lift a FINGER to head off the crisis that now confronts us today.

Bush and the Republicans tried to fix this looming Democrat-created problem two times in the last 5 years and were blocked at each and every turn by Democrats in Congress.

You wanna lay blame? Lay it where it belongs.

Arneb --- Part III

2008-09-16T15:59:00.003-05:00

continued from here. A thousand apologies for taking so many months to finish this.

Second Regiment was scattered across their staging room, cleaning their weapons and chatting about the upcoming mission. Rogue made a minute adjustment to the scope on his sniper rifle, inserted a sighting laser into the barrel and checked it through the scope. Satisfied, he removed the laser, took a rag out and began wiping the rifle down. To no one in particular he called out, “I’m telling you, it is going to get nasty.” The room instantly went silent. Redding, in the middle of breaking an assault rifle down, paused and looked around the room.

A soldier that Redding hadn’t met yet said, “Why do you say that sir?”

“Simple, Corporal, Intelligence has planned this mission. Intelligence—egghead, deskbound analysts, who hear a tidbit here, a scrap here and then claim to have a complete picture of what the Dominion is doing everywhere. Now I realize it’s all we’ve got, but, seriously people, has Intelligence ever been completely correct?” He went back to wiping down the rifle.

A grim silence hung over the room. Before anyone could say anything else, the intercom paged, “All regiment commanders report to the Briefing Room; all regiment commanders report to the Briefing Room.” Rogue frowned, handed the rifle over to Dara, then left the room.

Redding said, “Wonder what that’s about.”

Dara responded, “I’m sure we’ll be the last to know, Private. We always are.”

Rogue strolled through the corridors of the Liberty, nodding at passing crewers. When he arrived at the Briefing Room, he walked in and immediately noticed that Athos and the other division commanders were already present. As he sat down he saw two other individuals, Liberty’s master, Captain Lolz and Major Es’s’em, the Liberty’s shadowy Intelligence liaison, in deep discussion at the front of the room.

“Perfect,” Rogue snorted to himself, “Just perfect.”

The conversation broke up and Captain Lolz motioned for silence. Without preamble, he said, “While the offensive is still underway, the Arneb operation is postponed until further notice. The Liberty has been ordered to assault a Dominion planetary supply depot recently located by Intelligence. Major?” He deferred to Es’s’em.

“Thank you, Captain. This depot was discovered due to a recent communication intercept. With this new information, we reevaluated previous comms and verified the depot's location. We believe that it is responsible for around thirty percent of the Dominion’s forces in the surrounding sectors. Now while that may not seem like much, it may be enough to blunt the damage caused by our other operations in the upcoming offensive. Hence it has been deemed a high priority target. This facility appears to be of standard layout, but intercepts indicate that it is operating with a near skeleton crew. The defenses are therefore well within what our forces can handle. Captain.”

Lolz resumed the podium. “The Liberty has been ordered to engage immediately. We will be in orbit in two hours. Orbital and air support will smash any kind of orbital or air defense the depot has, landings will commence immediately after that. As soon as the facility is secured, freighters will jump in to remove any salvageable supplies while we provide escort. Once that is complete, we will raze the facility from orbit, denying it to the Dominion and all forces will withdraw to Coalition space. At that point, I believe we will once again begin preparations for the assault on Arneb.”

From beside Lolz, Es’s’em spoke up, “If the opportunity presents itself, your secondary objective will be to secure the facilities main operations center for Intelligence analysis. We expect no surprises for your troops.”

"Meaning that defenses will be two or three times what he tells us to expect," Rogue muttered sarcastically. The commander sitting next to him snorted.

"Is there a problem, Major Garcia?" Major Es's'em asked, looking directly at Rogue.

Rogue looked up, "No, sir. Simply wondering how you can be sure of that." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Athos give a subtle head shake.

Es’s’em’s eyes narrowed, “Our analysis is based of the best intelligence available Major. I personally reviewed this material.”

Rogue ignored Athos and met Es’s’em’s glare unflinchingly, “I realize that, Major, but you’ve been wrong before. In fact,” he paused, glancing around the room and noting that everyone was paying close attention to the exchange, “I can’t think of an operation where your vaunted Intelligence Analysis has been remotely correct. I don’t like the idea of putting either my men or myself into a situation where we’ve been told it’ll be easy and we run into a wall.” Around the room, several heads nodded in agreement. The tension between the two men became palpable.

Before the situation could escalate further, Captain Lolz interrupted, “We all wish we could have perfect intelligence, Major. But we have to operate with what we have; incorrect or incomplete as it maybe.”

Rogue sat back in his seat, “Yes sir.”

“If there are no further concerns,” Lolz looked around the room, “Dismissed!” He left the room. Rogue stood up and waited; it didn’t take long.

“That was dumb, Major.”

“Sorry, sir,” Rogue turned to face Athos. “It isn’t his skin on the line.”

“I realize you two have a history, Rogue, but you’re my Executive Officer. It’s unbecoming for you to get into a shouting match during a mission briefing. Keep in mind he’s only doing his job.”

“I would prefer he do his job with the goal of keeping our people alive rather than the objective of his next promotion Colonel.”

Athos smiled, “As do I, Rogue, but, like the Captain said, we fight with what we have, not what we want.”

“If anything goes wrong, I’m nailing his hide to the bulkhead, sir.”

“Only if you beat me to him, Major. Come on; let’s go give the good news to the division.” Rogue nodded and the two left the room.

Two hours later, the Liberty jumped into the system. Inside the launch bay, troopers ran to their landing craft. Rogue stood at the base of the ramp, shouting orders at his men. As the last trooper boarded, Rogue keyed his helmet’s comlink. “2nd Regiment, all accounted for, sir, ready to launch.” He saw Athos, two transports over, look over at him and nod in acknowledgment. Rogue then boarded and raised the ramp. He addressed the troopers as they secured themselves for combat landing. “We are going in with the first wave. Expect heavier defenses than Intelligence calls for. I don’t want anyone under my command underestimating the Dominion. Remember your training, watch out for each other, and no stunts!” Dara smiled at him. Rogue smiled back before moving into his alcove nearest the ramp and securing himself.

Jay’em checked his restraints, then checked the trooper’s on either side of him, as they all did. Redding, on Jay’em’s left, was breathing deeply. “Relax, Junior, one way or the other, it’ll all be over soon.”

“That’s funny, Lieutenant.”

Jay’em chuckled, “I thought so.”

The voice of the pilot came over everyone’s comm, “Launch in one minute.” The troops silently waited until the deck lurched beneath them. The engines roared, and then they were in space. Silence, the roar of the engines was now a muted hum transmitted through the hull. After a few minutes, a slight hissing noise started, indicating that the ship was encountering atmosphere. Rogue called out, “When we hit ground, clear the ramp, find cover, and await orders.” A massive detonation came from outside the hull. Fear crept across a couple of faces as the turbulence buffeted the craft. Rogue continued unfazed, “Respond to any resistance with maximum force.”

Despite the dampening fields, the troops were still tossed against their restraints by the evasive course the pilot was taking. Several more explosions rocked the ship, but none as close as that first one had been. “Touchdown in thirty seconds, landing zone is hot.”

Redding began counting down in his head. At ten seconds, he saw Rogue move to the limits of his restraints and reach over to the ramp release. Then the pilot announced, “Touchdown…NOW!” The floor bounced under them, and Rogue keyed the ramp.

Everyone slapped their quick releases and ran for the door. “Go! Go! Go!” Rogue shouted. Redding ran toward the hatch, hesitated at the top of the ramp as he saw what lay before them. Ahead, he could see a cluster of large buildings, surrounded by open paved fields and even larger warehouses. Several Coalition drop ships had touched down closer to the facility and were disgorging men. Small figures could be seen running toward them, Dominion troopers, already firing on the attackers. Someone shoved him from behind, and he started running again. He focused on the back of the troopers ahead of him. His boots felt dirt beneath them and he saw a rocky outcropping to his left. Seeing others already diving to the ground, he dove toward it, scooting up with his back against it.

He watched as the last member of the regiment cleared the hatch, Rogue yelled something back into the ship before jumping down to the ground and seeking his own cover. The landing craft fired a burst from its jets, lifted off the ground, spun on its axis, and burned for altitude.

Redding took several deep breaths. Training for this was one thing; actual combat was a completely different animal. He looked over at Rogue, who was talking to Dara and the other squad leaders. He pointed in several different directions, received nods from each of them, then motioned for everyone to get on their feet. “Listen up! As long as the rest of the division has the defenders tied up, we’re going to secure the command center. Squad Leaders, move your men out.”

Acknowledgements were given, and 2nd Regiment moved out. Skirting the main battle by a healthy margin, they made it to the outer warehouses unopposed. Rogue motioned everyone down as he surveyed the area. “Dara, take Second squad over to the right of that warehouse,” he indicated a building ahead of them, one deeper into the facility. “I’ll take First to the left. Bahms, you and Fourth support Captain Mcejo; Faro, you and Third are with me.” Heads nodded. Dara, Jay’em, and the eighteen others of Second and Third squad split off. Rogue held everyone still until Dara and Bahms reached the other side of the building before motioning everyone forward. They moved closer to their target.

The soldier on point suddenly flattened himself against the wall. The rest followed suit. A platoon of Dominion troopers ran past the front of the warehouse, only a few hundred yards away from them. Rogue quietly unhooked a grenade from his harness. Fortunately, rushing to the aid of the initial defenders, none of the Dominion saw the enemy troopers in the shadows between buildings. Giving the Dominion forces another minute to be out of sight, Rogue returned the grenade to his harness and ordered everyone to advance. They finally reached the end of the warehouse area. He scanned the area, noted Dara’s team moving into position to his right a few warehouses over. Ahead of them lay a few smaller administrative buildings and the control center. From seemingly far away, the roar of battle continued. Rogue keyed his comlink, “I don’t like this, Captain.”

Dara responded, “I agree, sir, far too easy. This area should be crawling with troopers.”

“Yep, or it could be worse.”

“Worse?”

“Yes, Captain, worse.” His glanced at Redding with a sardonic grin, “Intelligence could be right. Ok, our objective is to secure that building, move in.” He raised his rifle; sprinted forward. He made it to the next building, dropped to one knee and scanned the area with his rifle. Seeing nothing, he waved the rest of the team forward. To their right, Dara’s group was doing the same thing. He glanced over First squad; pointed, “Redding, take point.”

Redding nodded, sprinted forward. Stopping every so often, he checked for Dominion as he’d been taught. Behind him, he could hear the rest of the group following him. Minutes later, all of 2nd Regiment was pressed against the outside wall of the control center on either side of an access door. Rogue waved Jay’em to his side, “What’s beyond that door, Lieutenant?”

Jay’em glanced at it, then at either side of the building to get his bearings. “Security foyer, sir, standard complement is between three and five guards, beyond that, corridors and storage rooms. Another security foyer, more guards, and then the control room itself. Unless it’s completely unguarded or we take every single guard instantly, they’re gonna have some kind of warning.”

“Right, blow the door on my mark. Point men, soon as that door’s gone, toss grenades and go in shooting. We’ll sort it out later.” Acknowledgements came and Jay’em moved to the door, inspected it for a second before reaching back and selecting some charges from his pack. After placing the charges around the edges of the door, Jay’em moved to the side and gestured everyone back several steps.

Rogue signaled Redding and the other point man. Both nodded, unhooked grenades and raised their rifles. After they were ready, he tapped Jay’em’s helmet. Jay’em raised three fingers, began counting down. The charges exploded inward, hurling the door inside. Redding tossed his grenade, heard the explosion from it and stepped into the doorway firing his rifle. Advancing further, he saw a Dominion trooper who had been thrown against a console by the blast reach for his sidearm. His training took over and Redding shot him. Fire erupted in front of him from a trooper he couldn’t see. He hit the deck while returning fire. Behind him, he heard the other soldier grunt as he too dove to the deck and the sound of his rifle joined Redding’s.

A grenade thrown from behind them arced over their heads, landing near the spot where the Dominion soldier was hiding. Both men ducked their heads as it exploded. The enemy fire ceased. Cautiously, Redding rose to his knees, then to his feet. He moved deeper into the foyer, noting the corpses of two other guards, killed during the initial assault. Kicking aside the mangled door from where it had landed, he saw the body of the defender who’d been firing at him. “Major, I’ve got four dead bad guys. Area is secure.”

“Acknowledged, everyone move in.”

The rest of 2nd Regiment entered the room and began to spread out throughout the room. Rogue tapped two troopers on the shoulder and pointed at the door to the corridor. They nodded, ran to the door, opened it, and began to advance.

Redding held his position. A hand landed on his right shoulder. Redding’s head snapped toward it. What he could see of Dara’s face was lit up by her grin, “Well done, Private. Keep it up.” He smiled back. She squeezed his shoulder again before walking off.

Jay’em had been standing behind Dara, heard the exchange, and snorted, “Don’t expect a medal for managing not to get yourself killed, Junior.”

Rogue had reached the corridor. “Third and Fourth Squads, secure anything off this corridor, First and Second, our objective is the final security foyer before the control center. We cannot get tied down in that foyer. Hit it fast and move on. No grenades and watch your fire from here on out. Anyone tossing a boomer in the control room will answer to me.”

At a run, Rogue led the group to the final door. He and Dara lined up along the walls, Jay’em and one other kneeled in the middle of the corridor with their rifles in firing position. Rogue met Dara’s eyes, nodded, and hit the door release. The hatch slid open, and the four saturated the room. After sustaining fire for only a couple of seconds, they ran in.

Two guards who had been kneeling behind the hatch lay dead on the floor; another lay bleeding from multiple wounds. Rogue aimed his rifle but held his fire. The trooper struggled to raise his weapon then went limp, dead.

“Secure. Forward!” As a group, they ran to the hatch and opened it. “Nobody move!” he shouted. The technicians scrambling around the room completely ignored him. One dove for his sidearm. “Take ‘em out!” he yelled to his men.

Gunfire again sounded. When all the techs were down, Rogue detailed his men to various defensive positions around the room. “Dara, contact Command and advise them we have secured primary objective. Redding, get over here and start hacking. Let’s see if there’s anything here to make this little jaunt worth our time.”

“Aye aye, Major.” Redding slid his rifle and pack to the ground beside him and sat down at the main terminal. He cracked his knuckles and examined the screens in front of him. Seemingly satisfied, he reached into his pack, retrieved some equipment and started plugging them into the terminal. “Someone please keep an eye out for me?”

“I got your back, Private,” Dara said as she quickly reloaded her rifle and assumed a guard stance over him.

“Thanks, Captain.”

Rogue’s commline beeped, “Garcia here.”

“Bahms here, Major. Corridor secure. We’re heading for your position.”

“Negative on that, Captain, enlarge your perimeter. We need this entire facility secure. I’m sending Lieutenant Noe and First Squad to assist you.” He motioned to Jay’em, who nodded and headed for the door, First squad right behind him.

“Copy that, Major. Bahms out.”

“How’s it going, Private?”

“Trying not to trigger any auto-wipes, sir,” Redding responded without looking up from the terminal.

“How much longer do you need?

Redding paused and met Rogue’s gaze, “How much data do you want saved?”

Rogue blinked, Dara snickered. Redding took a deep breath, “Sir, with all due respect, this can’t be rushed. If you want a quick and dirty hack, you risk losing stuff but I can be in within five minutes. If you don’t want to risk that data, it’ll take time. I don’t know how much.”

Rogue’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Redding. “Understood, Private. Do what you have to do, but be ready to grab what you can at a moment’s notice.”

“Aye, sir.” Redding went back to his work. Rogue met Dara’s eyes; saw them twinkling and the smirk just barely hidden from her face. With a glance at Redding to making sure that he wasn’t looking, Rogue gave her a rueful grin and walked out the door of the control room.

Jay’em glanced around the corner and immediately pulled his head back as a blaster bolt slammed into the wall right next to it. The trooper beside him glanced around Jay’em toward the corner, then up at him. Jay’em shrugged and said, “Touchy.”

“Grenades?”

“Yeah, explosions are good. Let’s try a flash bang with a frag chaser.”

“Yes, sir.” He yanked a grenade off his harness, waited until Jay’em had a flash grenade in his hand. Jay’em silently counted down with his hands, tossed his grenade around the corner. Both men braced for the blast, which came mere moments later. Before the Dominion could even begin to recover, the trooper tossed his grenade. Rather than ducking, both readied their rifles and raced around the corner firing moments after the explosion. The little return fire they faced was sporadic at best, and they reached cover further along the corridor with no further trouble. Corridor by corridor, room by room, 2nd Regiment secured the entire facility. By the time they learned that the rest of the Liberty’s forces had crushed the defenders, they had the few remaining Dominion forces inside the command center cornered.

Once again, Jay’em found himself pinned down by Dominion fire. “Why am I always the one who’s getting his head shot at?” he complained to another trooper.

“I’m here too, Lieutenant.”

Jay’em chuckled. “You’re line slime, Corporal.”

“How about, ‘We signed up for this,’ sir?”

“Don’t remind me.” He put his hand up to his helmet as a voice came over his comm.

“Lieutenant Noe, this is Rogue. I’m coming up on your position with Second squad. Captain Bahms and his people are approaching from the far side. We’ve got all entrances to this facility secured. Looks like we’ve got the Dominion cornered.”

“Yes sir,” he signed off. He smiled at the corporal, “Help’s on the way.” He glanced around the corner then opened fire again toward the Dominion positions.

Later that afternoon Rogue, with Dara and Redding at his side, walked up the ramp of the landing craft. “I hate to say it, Captain, but Intelligence was right on the money with this one.”

“Yes sir,” she said grimly.

“More right than you know, sir,” Redding said. “From the stuff I saw during the data dump, the Dominion is operating this entire sector with barely skeleton defenses. That includes the Arneb system, sir.”

“I still don’t like this,” Rogue replied.

“Where’s Lieutenant Noe?” Redding asked.

Dara snickered, “On his way to the Liberty’s infirmary. Dominion trooper winged him.” Rogue shook his head with a rueful smile on his face.

“I told him to hold back until we could get him some more cover fire, but he ran right on in. He’s lucky the trooper was too stunned by Jay’em charging him to shoot straight.”

“I’ll be sure to remind him of that, sir,” Dara said with a twinkle in her eye.

“I know you will, Captain.” He turned to face Redding, “Private, your performance today was outstanding. I’m going to be recommending a commendation for you to Colonel Athos. Keep it up, Private, and we won’t try and boot you out of the regiment.”

Redding saluted, “Yes, sir.”

Dara motioned him inside the craft. As the two moved off toward their seats, Rogue turned and scanned the horizon. Transports were loading the Dominion’s supplies for the fleet’s use. The ship’s hatch closed and they lifted off toward their rendezvous with the Liberty. Next target, the Arneb system.

Where were you?

2008-09-11T14:34:00.002-05:00

I realize I haven't posted anything new in a long time...sorry. Combination of writer's block, life and other complications certainly intrude on one's writing. I have nearly completed the next installment of Arneb and hope to have it up soon. However, I have decided to interrupt that with my recollections of that terrible morning 7 years ago.

I worked nights at the time, and I lived at home. I had gone to bed around 7:30 am central and was just dozing off when my father threw my door open and told me an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Being half asleep I was like, "Whaaa?" He repeated himself and I realized he was serious. I got up, went downstairs to the living room and was watching the coverage on TV. My Dad and I had been discussing how a plane could have hit the towers when the second plane struck.

We were both shocked into silence and just watched until the reports of the Pentagon being hit started filtering in and then the first tower collapsed. We watched as it fell. Frankly I was only kinda shocked. I had studied Architectural and Structural Engineering in college and given where the planes had hit, I had expected somekind of collapse above the impact zone, but I didn't expect the entire building to go down. After it collapsed, I knew it was just a matter of time until the second tower collapsed. I wasn't watching when that happened because I was on the phone with my boss. I worked at a hotel right outside a military base and we were full of officers and senior non-coms staying at the base for training. The majority of them were checking out early to get back to their duty stations asap and I needed to know if she wanted wanted me back in to help the morning desk clerks.

After she said that she thought they could handle it, I learned the second tower had gone down. My father and I both headed to our cars and rushed to the nearest gas station cause we didn't know how bad it was going to get.

While I was filling my tank, the guy on the same pump but on the other side of the island looked at me and asked, "Do you think we're at war?" I replied, "We're at war with someone, the question is who."

Arneb --- Part II

2008-05-14T15:17:00.003-05:00

Continued from here

Dara retreated to her quarters. Too much social interaction, particularly large quantities confined to a small room, tended to give her a headache. She was curled up on a corner of her bunk, indulging in a rare treat in this day and age, a real paper-and-ink book. She ran her hands through the pages; over the binding. She loved the feel of an actual book and had been saving it for a special occasion; such as tonight.

Even as involved with the story as she was, Dara always kept part of her attention on her surroundings. That awareness heard the footsteps in the corridor, recognized that it was the fifth time in ten minutes that someone had walked past her door, and flagged it as unusual, given the time of night and the fact that her room was situated in a low-traffic portion of the ship. Slowly, Dara turned her concentration from the book and, with a wistful sigh, she got up and switched on her console, calling up the feed from the sensor outside her door.

Redding, the new Private, was pacing.

Unbidden, memories sprang to her mind from her first days in the squad. Everyone had been friendly enough, but never before had she felt so utterly alone. It had taken her nearly a month to get accustomed to the new people, a new ship, new jargon, and new routines that inevitably accompanied a transfer; and that had been with over a year’s experience in the military, experience that Redding, a fresh recruit, would not have.

The decision was not hard to make. Dara stood, tucked her precious book into its case and placed that in a duffel bag under bed, then pulled on her boots and a jacket. She waited until she heard the faint echo of footsteps approaching before opening the door, and feigned mild surprise when she saw Redding.

“Captain!” Redding snapped to rigid attention the minute his mind registered her rank. He was so stiff that Dara supposed if she pushed his shoulder slightly, he might just topple over. She resisted the temptation to try.

“Redding. At ease. And, please, when we’re not on duty, feel free to call me Dara.” She smiled warmly, and he relaxed. “A bit late for you to be up, isn’t it?”

He shifted his weight, as if uneasy under her scrutiny. “I didn’t think I could sleep yet, so I decided to take a look around. Is there a problem?” A trace of nervousness crept into his tone.

“Of course not, I was going to get something to drink from the mess. Care to keep me company?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She held up a hand. “Try that again, but say something more like, ‘That’d be great, Dara.’”

Redding grinned, and the slight change in his stance told her that he felt more comfortable. “That’d be great, Dara.”

She nodded, still smiling, and led the way to the mess hall. On the way, she kept up a steady stream of conversation, pointing out shortcuts and supplying bits of trivia about their squadmates.

The mess had a small corner devoted to keeping the very late and very early shifts awake in the form of a continuous supply of hot drinks. Dara poured two mugs of steaming liquid, handed one to Redding, and they both sat at a table.

“Considering that it is very late and neither of us have duty to stay awake for, I poured us some decaf tea. Ok with you?”

Redding nodded and lifted the cup to drink.

“So how was your first day?”

He hesitated before replying. “It was a bit… overwhelming.”

That prompted a sympathetic chuckle from Dara, “Completely understandable. Your first time on a ship?”

“No, but it is my first time stationed off-world, and my first time on a ship of this size. I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be so big.”

Dara chose not to tell him that the Liberty was only a mid-sized cruiser. “A new environment can be daunting. What do you think of your new squadmates?”

Redding shrugged. “I haven’t really had the chance to talk to anyone yet besides you, Lieutenant Noe and Major Rogue. But I do have a question, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

“What’s Colonel Athos like?”

Dara sat back in her chair, knowing that her response could set the tone for Redding’s expectations of the colonel. She didn’t want to give him the wrong impression, but she also didn’t want to make him think that life onboard an active ship would be completely lacking in military discipline.

“Commander Athos is unique. He encourages open communication among his squads, but will not tolerate grumbling or mutinous talk. He is a brilliant leader and is not afraid to lead in front. His strategies have saved all of our lives more times than we can count, and he has put his own life on the line more than once to save individual members of his command. He broke cover to pick off two snipers aiming for Major Rogue once, and, during a particularly nasty battle, he pulled me off the front line after I took a direct hit.” She paused, swirled her tea, then continued, “His ideas of leadership are more… flexible than other officers, but he still runs a tight ship. Athos encourages his squad leaders to take initiative and be creative. It’s his openness to suggestions and fierce commitment to his soldiers that inspires the loyalty he enjoys.”

Redding nodded, absorbing her words. “What of Major Rogue?”

“He won’t be a Major for long,” Dara said.

Redding looked startled. “What do you mean?”

She laughed. “I don’t mean he’s going to be demoted or court-martialed. I mean that he’s got a natural tendency towards command. He’s up for another promotion this next year, but you didn’t hear that from me. He’ll make Colonel someday, and he won’t stop there.”

“What about Jay’em?”

“Jay’em is the youngest demolitions expert we’ve ever heard of, and he knows it. He’s cocky, perpetually bored, and incredibly excellent at his job. If you catch him in the right mood, he’s also a lot of fun to be around.”

“And you?”

Dara wrapped her fingers around her cup. “Where Rogue goes, I’ll be at his back.”

Redding learned more about Rogue’s leadership qualities from that simple statement than anything Dara had said or could have said. It was also a glimpse into Dara’s own personality. He took another sip and glanced at the time. “It’s late, and I should probably try to get some sleep.”

Dara nodded agreement and stood. She shook Redding’s hand. “Goodnight, then.”

Redding watched her go, then drained his cup and stood. He set his empty cup on the table and glanced down, noting that her cup was still full. He looked back up and caught a glimpse of her as she walked out the door, realizing that she had not wanted a hot drink at all. Redding recognized that the first genuine gesture of friendship had just been made, and he suddenly felt much better about his assignment on the Liberty. He smiled and headed back to his quarters.

The next morning, Rogue sat at a table by himself in the same hall. A steaming cup of tea rested by his elbow and his attention was focused on the datapad in his hand. A rating brought a tray over and deposited it before him. He thanked the man, surveyed his breakfast order; pancakes with two slices of fried ham on the side.

Dara’s voice came from over his shoulder, “Always looks and smells so good doesn’t it sir?”

He chucked and picked up his fork. “You’d think that after all these years they’d have that lousy synthetic taste out of meats.”

Dara headed over to the counter, placed some fruit and bread on a tray, also got a mug of tea and returned to the table. Before she could say more, Jay’em stumbled in, his face dark. Both immediately turned their attention to their breakfasts, studiously ignoring him. He scanned the room through narrowed eyes; then made a beeline to the counter; filled a mug with coffee.

He came back to the table, started drinking. Dara glanced at him, “Is it safe to talk to you yet?”

“No. Need more caffeine.” She nodded and went back to her breakfast.

Redding entered. Rogue waved him over, directed him to the food counter. Then he sat down with his own coffee, “Good morning everyone.” Dara smiled at him and Rogue nodded. Jay’em said nothing. “You alright Lieutenant?” Redding asked. Jay’em's glare was so harsh Redding recoiled.

Dara leaned over and whispered, “Jay’em’s not a morning person Redding.”

Rogue chuckled. “That’s why I always try and send the unit into action as early as possible.”

“Buzz off. Sir,” Jay’em growled before finishing the cup and heading for a refill.

Redding turned to Rogue. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you last night sir, but what kind of strength does the Liberty’s Army detachment have?”

Without looking up from his datapad, Rogue responded, “The Liberty is home to one company of the Coalition Armed Forces. Ten divisions per company, five regiments per division, forty men per regiment, plus support staff.”

“Are we at full strength?”

“The Musketeers are. I honestly have no idea about the rest of the company. But,” he paused, leaned in and motioned the rest to as well, “after we talked last night I started doing a little digging around. Stuff is classified all over. So I tried the more round about approach. Nothing that someone of my security clearance couldn’t access normally mind you; and I did get a few clues.”

Dara asked, “Like what?”

“Well, I checked with Yofin, had her check the latest inventory of supplies for the Liberty as a whole and that was classified. Not that unexpected, so I asked her what she thought she could get and she sent me our inventory. Now as XO, that’s something I have access to anyway, I just normally leave it to her to let me know if we’re running short on anything so I can start ripping strips of skin off people. In the last month the Musketeers have received several large shipments and are currently supplied at three hundred percent recommended levels for a forward combat division. Yofin’s already checked with Quartermaster-Supply to make sure there hasn’t been a mix up, which there hasn’t. It stands to reason if we’re that overstocked by design, then so are the other regiments.” The others nodded. “In my mind, that leaves only one conclusion. Fleet Command expects this ship to be either out of range of regular resupply for some time, or involved in extremely heavy fighting.”

Jay’em whistled, “This is gonna be a big op.”

Rogue nodded, “Dara, do you remember Operation Tiger Claw? About three years back?”

She thought for second. “I remember hearing about it, I think. I was cooling my heels with an embassy guard at the time. Wasn’t that some big push where we took three whole sectors from the Dominion?”

“Five actually, though we ended up losing two of them to their counter offensive. I was a squad leader at the time with another division. Saw a lot of action; heavy, nasty stuff. Anyway, I checked the division’s records. Fortunately for us, the Musketeers were also part of Op TC. Just before it began, the records show they were stocked at four hundred percent recommended levels.”

Redding blinked. Dara and Jay’em both sat back with dazed looks on their faces. Rogue looked at each in turn. “We, folks, are about to be dumped into the biggest Coalition offensive since Tiger Claw.” He went back to his breakfast; the rest of the meal past in silence.

Several hours later, Dara, Jay’em and Redding entered the division’s briefing room. Rogue was at the front of the room in discussion with Athos and the seats were filling as other members of the division came in. Dara indicated three seats near the front and they walked over and sat down. At precisely ten hundred hours, Athos motioned for silence.

The room quieted and the lights darkened before a holo of the galaxy appeared in the air over Athos’ head. Coalition territory was shaded in blue; red for the Dominion. Contested areas were a light grey. The blue shade covered just over half the galaxy with the grey beginning just beyond the galactic core.

“For the past year, the war has been in a stalemate. Neither side has been able to make much headway into the other’s territory. Coalition High Command has decided that must change.” Athos paused for a moment. “As some of you may have already guessed,” he cast a quick glare at Rogue who gave a tight smile in return, “the Liberty will be taking part in our offensive. Right now the majority of the fighting has been along the central lines here,” he pressed a toggle on his podium and the grey area nearest the core began flashing. “High Command has decided to attempt a flanking assault here.” Another section began flashing, “The plan is to take as many sectors as we can successfully hold, advancing the lines while at the same time throwing the Dominion’s central lines off balance and open the door for our forces to advance there as well.”

A low buzz of chatter filled the room while everyone digested that. Athos let it continue for a few minutes before motioning for silence again. He pressed another toggle and the holo zoomed into, expanding the flashing section of grey. More detail appeared. Stars, rough estimates of the border lines and icons representing Coalition forces and suspected Dominion locations.

“The Liberty will be taking part in a sweep of this sector here. We drew the plum assignment. Our Company, as well as nine others, has been ordered to assault this planet,” he indicated it with a laser pointer; then zoomed the holo in. The planet looked quite similar to Earth. White cloud swaths, blue oceans, green and brown land masses though none appeared to be extremely large. “Arneb IV, before the war started, this planet was well within the Dominion borders. Its climate and vast island chains made it a choice vacation spot of the Dominion elite. It remains so, though many of its former clientele aren’t very keen on being this close to the front lines. Intelligence says it’ll be a cakewalk. Sparsely populated, largest settlement is less than two hundred thousand, and minimally garrisoned.”

A wave of muttered conversations swept the room. He allowed it to continue for a few minutes. “It gets better folks; we’re not even in the first wave. The Musketeers will be going in with orders to support the main line and clean out some of the more outlying outposts. Any questions?”

Rogue spoke up, “What kind of Fleet support can we count on?”

Athos replied, “During the landings and initial assault, we’ll have full support, both orbital and air. Intelligence suspects the Dominion will respond somewhat forcefully as Arneb is the playground of the rich and powerful. If/When that appears our orbital support will be reduced in response. We expect air support for the entire operation.” Another hand went up. “Yes Captain Mcejo?”

“What do you think about the battle plan sir?”

Though he smiled tightly, his voice was grim, “If Intelligence is correct; then we can do this in our sleep. But if they’re wrong on any part however, then we are in for a world of hurt. And when was the last time Intel Section was completely correct?”

The room quieted instantly. Athos glanced around again, “Ok. As you might have guessed, the Liberty is on complete comm blackout as of 2 hours ago. Landings commence in twenty-four hours. Once we have the planet secured, occupation and pacification forces will be moved in and we rejoin the main offensive. I want all equipment checks completed in four hours.” He reached over and toggled the hologram off. “I’ve always been upfront with you all and I am not about to begin sugarcoating it now. This could get nasty, if you have any letters or things you want to care of prior to zero hour, I suggest you do so. Make sure you get plenty of rest. We’ll need everyone at top efficiency for this. If at any time between now and when we leave that rock, if you have any ideas or suggestions, make them known to your superiors. Major Rogue dismiss the assembly.”

“Yes sir!” Rogue stood and bellowed, “Musketeers, dismissed!” The room emptied. They were all soldiers; they had a job to do.

Arneb --- Part 1

2008-04-10T15:30:00.003-05:00

This is part one of the back story from Comrades in arms. It also takes place in a different universe from both Dara's and Redding's stories.

Despite the intervening months, Dara was still not completely recovered from her ordeal. Thus, she shuffled through the dim corridor, the lights turned down for the night watch. As she neared the lounge, Major Mcejo rested for a moment, leaning against the bulkhead. Finally she got up the strength and walked through the hatch. Lit only by the light of distant stars, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to bring peace to her roiling emotions.

A soft voice pierced the silence, “There’s caf on the counter Major, scotch too if you’re looking for something stronger.” She opened her eyes, turned toward to the voice. Sitting in the corner, hidden by the shadows sat Commander Rogue.

“Should'a figured you’d be here,” she said, sitting in the chair he kicked out for her.

Rogue looked as haggard as she did and was already nursing a steaming cup. “You’d think after all these years…”

“Some memories don’t fade sir,” she said softly.

Rogue sighed. “You couldn't sleep, either?”

“Not a chance. Not to say I didn’t try, though. I wore myself out in the gym, hoping to sleep from exhaustion if nothing else.”

He smiled ruefully. “I tried the same thing. Even tried beating up the fresh meat in the simulators, no luck.”

Dara idly traced a pattern on the tabletop with her finger. “It didn’t seem like such a hard assignment when we got it, did it?”

His laugh was a little bitter. “No. They told us straight up we could do it in our sleep.”

A different voice came from behind them, “Arneb?”

Dara turned and saw Jay’em, hair tousled and expression weary. Redding stood right behind him, not looking much better. They both sat.

Dara murmured, “I don’t have to tell you two it’s the anniversary.”

“Would we be here if it weren’t?” Redding said.

Rogue waved over a droid server who placed three more cups of caf on the table. Rogue raised his mug as the others claimed theirs.

“To the memories of those who fell, and the futures of those who survived. All for one.”

“And one for all,” Dara, Redding, and Jay’em replied in unison. They drank the toast; then sat silently drawing comfort from each other. Rogue glanced at Redding, remembering the first time he’d met the man….

“Reporting for duty sir!”

Major Rogue looked up from his desk at the young saluting soldier. “Ah, the new blood. At ease Private. Have a seat. You have your orders?”

“Aye sir,” he replied as he handed Rogue a datacard and sat down. Rogue inserted it into a slot on his desk and skimmed the page that appeared on his display.

“Have you met Colonel Athos yet Private,” he paused, glanced at name tag on the other’s uniform, “Redding?”

“No sir, I just arrived on board.”

“Well, welcome to the Liberty. First time off world?”

“No sir, well, first time permanently assigned off world sir.”

“Then you already have your space legs, good. Do you know anyone in the division?”

“No sir.”

“Good bunch. We have the lowest casualty level of any unit in the battle group. We depend on each other, and we never leave a man behind. I encourage you to speak to both the Colonel, and to everyone in your regiment. Get to know them, you’ll find that we’re all very close to each other. Athos encourages it, though he says it’s strictly because it raises our combat efficiency.”

“I’ll definitely do that Major.”

“Excellent. See the division quartermaster, Lieutenant Yofin; she’ll get you a billet. You might want to get cleaned up and then head over to the lounge on Deck Six; we have it reserved beginning at eighteen hundred hours. Give you a good chance to meet everyone. Then we have a mission briefing scheduled tomorrow at ten hundred hours.”

“Yes sir.” Redding stood and saluted.

Rogue returned the salute; then offered his hand. Redding hesitated; then took it. Rogue gave him a firm shake and said, “Welcome to the Musketeers, Private. Don’t forget eighteen hundred, duty uniform. You’re dismissed.”

“Thank you sir.” Redding left. Rogue gazed at the door for a few minutes; then struck a key on his desk. A few minutes later the hatch opened and two people entered.

“What’s up sir?” asked the shorter of the two.

“Have a seat guys,” he indicated the chairs. Both did; the taller slouching slightly, the other, a woman, sat straight but relaxed. “The new guy just reported in. I told him to show for tonight. Go easy on him Jay’em. I think we’ll like this one.”

The shorter, Captain Daramis, chuckled. “Lieutenant Noe’s never gone easy on anyone Rogue, you know that.” Jay’em grinned menacingly.

Rogue sighed. “I don’t want to make it an order Jay’em. I didn’t say leave him alone, I just said go easy. Tonight is not for hazing, it’s for an achievement. Call him ‘Junior’ if you must, I would prefer you didn’t. Razz him a bit and let it go, ok?”

Jay’em chuckled, “I think I can live with that Major. It pleases me.”

“Thank you, dismissed.” The two left and Rogue turned his attention back to his work.

Redding straightened his uniform shirt, ran his hand over his hair, took a deep breath and stepped into the lounge. The room was awash in conversation and laughter. He looked around, hoping to see someone familiar. Failing that, he headed for the counter. An impressive selection of drinks and hors d’oeuvres was laid out with a bartender quietly mixing drinks for the crowd.

Redding popped a couple of sweet meats into his mouth and ordered a drink. While waiting for it to be mixed, he again glanced around the crowd. Shy by nature, being in a room of strangers wasn’t the most comfortable situation for Redding. His drink arrived and he took a large gulp. He immediately gasped as real alcohol burned down his throat. He set the drink down as he coughed a couple of times before regaining his breath.

“Are you ok Private?” a female voice asked from behind him. Redding turned toward the questioner; an attractive woman with Captain’s bars accompanied by a taller Lieutenant. She was looking at him with a concerned expression while the other had a smirk on his face.

“You’ve had a drink before, right Private?” he asked.

Redding indicated his drink. “That’s real alcohol Captain.”

“Correct,” she responded.

“I thought that was against regs.”

The Lieutenant chuckled, “Indeed it is Private. However, Colonel Athos has an understanding with the Liberty’s Captain. We can use the real stuff for our functions as long as there is nothing that would require official recognition; altercations, intoxications, etc.”

“What happens if we go on alert?”

The Captain answered. “Then we do our duty.” The serious expression on her face allowed no disagreement.

“Yes Captain,” Redding replied.

Her expression softened. “I’m Captain Daramis Mcejo, my friends call me Dara. This is Lieutenant JG Jay’em Noe and you can call him whatever you want.”

Noe gave Redding a menacing glare. “Yeah, just try that Junior.”

Dara jabbed Jay’em with her elbow, “You couldn’t resist could you?”

Jay’em’s glare broke into a grin, “Of course not, Rogue said I could razz the newb and I’m going to.”

A new voice broke in, “I said to razz him a bit and then let it go Lieutenant.” Rogue walked up with a drink in his hand. “Glad to see you Private. These two haven’t been too hard on you have they?”

“No sir,” Redding answered.

“Excellent.” Rogue set his glass on the bar, ordered a new drink then motioned for the three others to follow him to a table off to the side. After they all sat, Rogue spoke up. “Well, Redding, I’d like to again welcome you to the 325th Infantry Division, informally known as the Musketeers. I command 2nd Regiment; we’re a Combat Support Ops unit. Captain Mcejo here is my squad leader and Jay’em is our demolitions expert. You’ll be joining us as a rifleman initially and we’ll see about moving you into whatever specialty you have an aptitude for.”

Redding replied, “I’m a decent hacker sir.”

Dara’s eyebrow twitched, “Modesty from a comp geek? He’s either really awful or he’s exceptional.”

Jay’em snorted, “Lot of good hacking will do when you’re up against a charging line of Dominion shock troops.”

Rogue waved Jay’em silent, “Good hacking could keep you from facing that line in the first place Lieutenant. That’s good to know Private. You have any questions for us about the unit?”

Before Redding could reply, the sound of a glass being tapped silenced all conversation in the room. Rogue, Dara and Jay’em jumped to their feet and along with the rest of the room faced the sound. Redding quickly followed suit. Standing against a backdrop of stars from the viewport was a medium height, solidly built man with graying temples. His Colonel insignia gleamed under the lights as he raised his glass to ensure he had everyone’s attention.

“Musketeers! We gather tonight to honor our fallen brethren as well as those among us who have demonstrated their dedication and commitment to both the Coalition, and their comrades in arms!”

As one the gathered soldiers shouted, “Huzzah!”

Athos continued, “For special recognition tonight, will Captain Mcejo and Lieutenant Noe please step forward?”

Redding gaped as both winked at him then marched through the crowd and stood before their fellows.

“Two months ago, during our engagement on Ceti Prime the Musketeers as well as two other divisions were under heavy fire by a superior number of Dominion forces. Acting on their own initiative, these two broke off from their regiment, attacked a Dominion heavy gun emplacement and captured it. Before the Dominion could respond Lieutenant Noe, with supporting fire from Captain Mcejo as well as 2nd Regiment’s hasty reinforcement of their position, proceeded to take out two other emplacements and a company of shock troops. This allowed our division to go on the offensive, flank the Dominion’s central line and turn what could have been a rout of our forces into a stunning Coalition victory!”

The crowd shouted again and Athos let it continue for a few seconds before motioning for silence. “For these actions, I am proud to present both with the Coalition Star of Valor.” The room erupted into cheering. He pinned the medals on both and saluted them. “Congratulations you two. The entire division is proud of you.”

“Thank you sir!” both responded.

Rogue’s voice called out, “And if they ever try something like that again I’ll hammer those medals straight into their skulls!” Laughter rang out.

Athos again motioned for silence, “We have one more matter to care for, then I want everyone to head to their quarters. Major Rogue, will please attend to it?”

“Yes sir!” Rogue responded. He motioned to Redding, “Wait here.” Redding nodded. Rogue walked to the front of the room and faced the crowd. “My friends, it has been a great honor to serve with you. We’ve lived, fought and died together and when one of us is honored, we are all honored. Now I take great pleasure in recognizing a fine soldier. Lieutenant Noe, the Coalition Armed Forces has recognized your talents and outstanding conduct. They have seen fit to order the following.” He took a datapad out of his pocket. “Effective immediately, by the authority of Vice Admiral Sean, Commander of the Coalition 7th Fleet, Lieutenant Junior Grade Jay’em Noe is hear by promoted to 1st Lieutenant, with all the rights and privileges in accord with his new rank. Congratulations Jay’em.” Rogue saluted him and the newly minted Lieutenant returned it. The room broke into applause.

Rogue turned to look at Athos, “Colonel, I do have one other item I would like to address.”

“By all means Major,” Athos responded.

“Thank you, sir.” He faced the crowd again. “The ranks of the Musketeers have grown. 2nd Regiment is proud to present our newest addition, Private Redding. Private, if you will please step forward?”

Redding gulped then rushed to the front.

Athos offered his hand and said, “Welcome Private. You’re in the best regiment in the fleet.”

“Thank you sir!” Redding stood at attention so hard it seemed his back would snap.

“Of course,” Rogue said, “We will have to teach you how to drink Private.”

Redding flushed red and the room again exploded in laughter. Athos shouted, “Musketeers, salute!”

In unison, every individual in the room shouted, “One for all, and all for one!”

Athos then dismissed the gathering, “Everyone back to your quarters. We have a briefing tomorrow at ten hundred hours.” The crowd broke up. People came up and congratulated both Dara and Jay’em as well as welcomed Redding. As the room emptied, the three gathered around Rogue.

Jay’em asked, “So what hell hole are we being dropped into now Major?”

Rogue shrugged, “No idea Jay’em.”

Dara snorted, “You’re the XO sir, of course you know, you just can’t tell us.”

“I honestly don’t know this time Captain. No one below the division commanders have been let in on it. Even my contacts in other units haven’t heard anything. Whatever’s up, it’s big.”

“Should be interesting,” Redding said.

All three laughed, “Life in the Musketeers is always interesting Private,” Jay’em said. Thee door closed behind them as they headed out.

Once more unto the breach,

2008-02-05T15:35:00.000-06:00

Continued from here

“Commander, I don’t remember slogging our way through the woods in the dark being in the mission briefing.”

I grimaced. With the Coalition having completely withdrawn from the planet, the Dominion had abandoned their normal patrols and instead had their people moving randomly across our former territory. I hadn’t anticipated that and so our team had been forced to move only at night and through the densest woods toward what the fleet had determined to be the most probable location of Dara’s prison. Fortunately, our escape transport had set down in what the Dominion considered secured territory and was not in any danger of being discovered.

From behind me, a loud thump followed by muffled curses. “You all right Redding?” I asked.

“Tree root caught my foot sir. I’m good.”

I could hear Jay’em chuckling quietly. “I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you Captain. Your nose is still swollen from that limb you clothes lined yourself on.”

He blew a raspberry. “Wasn’t my fault sir, if I hadn’t been helping the Lieutenant over there I would’ve been watching were I was going.” Up ahead, the trooper on point motioned. Instantly, everyone was kneeling with our weapons pointed outward. After a few minutes, he signaled all clear and we continued on our way. Dara’s prison was only another few hours away. By sunrise, we were less than a kilometer from the base perimeter.

I motioned the men into a circle. “Hit now or wait till dark? Dark would be shield us better, but their patrols would be inside as well. Daytime has less defenders and obviously more visibility. I’m open to suggestions.”

Jay’em asked, “Any idea how far out their patrols go? We’d need to consider their response time as well.”

“Fleet intel showed them going as far as two hundred fifty kilometers. That was usually at one quarter and again at three quarters of their patrol. Their closest was only seventy-five kilometers out. Now that they’ve been forced to expand their coverage due to our retreat, analysts estimated they may be as far as four hundred and as close as two hundred kilometers now. Any immediate return would have them using their air transports, which gives us the chance to take them in the air, or force them to land outside our range and come at us from the ground. Either way, we’re looking at about an estimated thirty to forty-five minutes response time.”

“Take ‘em during the day sir! We can’t let Dara stay in there any longer than she has to.” Redding said firmly.

Nods of affirmation came from everyone. I nodded, “Ok then. We wait until twelve hundred hours. Patrols should be at their furthest point.” The team settled in to rest for the next few hours.

When it was time, I gave everyone their orders. “Start with the guard towers, target by numbers left to right. I’ll take the main comm array. Maintain fire until destroyed. Four, Six, once your targets are destroyed, switch to the gate, get us an access point, all other positions cover fire. One and Nine keep an eye out for approaching air support. Everyone fire on my command.” Everyone acknowledged, and started to spread out. I glanced over, “Jay’em, Redding?” Both men looked at me. “Don’t hit any trees.” Both gave me sour looks before heading off to their positions.

I scooted forward; ahead in the clearing was the nearest wall of the base, armed towers regularly spaced across its top. “Squad, ready missile launchers.” As acknowledgements came over the line, I reached down to my belt and activated a different comm. I tapped in one click and waited. One minute later, an answering click sounded followed ten seconds later by another. I smiled, we were ready.

I took a deep breath, this was it. “Fire!” Nine missiles streaked out of the woods simultaneously, guard towers exploded, bodies flew and eight towers were neutralized. The array of antennas and jamming machinery disintegrated. Four more missiles launched and decimated the remaining towers on the facing wall. Jay’em and Redding fired into the gate itself. As the blasts from their shots cleared, I could see that, rather than being heavily damaged, it had barely buckled. Not good. I lifted my own launcher and called over the line, “Three, Seven, hit the gate!” I let my remaining missile fly as well. It remained stubbornly intact. Even as I tried to adjust our battle plan the first defenders appeared on the wall and began firing into our surrounding woods.

“Return fire! Four, if you see a window, get in there and blow that door!” Jay’em responded with a grunt. Even as I said it though, I knew we were in trouble. Minutes passed while we traded fire with the steadily growing number of defenders.

I ducked down into the cover of a rock while battle raged around me. Jay’em landed beside me, “This isn’t working Commander.” A particularly large blast nearby forced us both to shield our faces while dirt and other debris rained down on us.

Redding joined us. “We’re dead unless we retreat sir.”

“Yeah, not what I’d planned. Time for a miracle.” I reached down grabbed the second comm unit. “Hawk to Groundpounder.” Both men looked at me in shock as a calm voice came over the line.

“Groundpounder reads you Hawk, ready for retrieval?

“Negative Bear, requesting air support.”

“Roger that Rogue, Seraphs on the way. Please advise situation.”

“Danger close fire mission, nine man team west of target Alpha. You’re cleared hot.”

“Acknowledged. You want the target razed?”

“Negative Groundpounder, friendlies in area. Targets will be marked.”

“Roger, ETA forty-five seconds.”

I scrambled back to my feet. “We got air support on the way!”

Jay’em yelled after me, “Where they coming from?”

“I told Admiral Sean I needed a surprise. He let me have Commander Bear and Seraph squadron.”

“Nice!”

“Three through Seven, laze targets! Light-riders coming in! Target the gate! Everyone else give us cover fire!”

Bear’s voice sounded over the main line, “Seraphs inbound, attack direction south, target acquired.” From our right a dozen Longbow fighters appeared, flying barely over the treetops. “Seraph One, Fox Two.”

“Seraph Two, Fox Two.” The lead two fighters launched their far more powerful missiles at the gate while the others strafed the towers on the remaining walls. A tremendous explosion blew the gate apart and silenced the defending fire from the wall.

“Squad, move in!” I yelled. The nine of us raced into the breach. A Dominion trooper stumbled out of the dust cloud and was immediately gunned down. “Seraphs, this is Hawk, target penetrated. Request suppression fire.”

“Acknowledged Hawk.”

Redding checked his scanner, “Dara’s beacon is coming from over there sir.” He indicated a building to our left.

“Four, Six, with me. Cover fire!” Redding, Jay’em and I ran to the building while the rest of the team formed into an outward facing semi-circle trading fire with the few defenders still on their feet.

Jay’em dropped to his knees as he arrived at door and began digging in his bag. He attached a small charge onto the door and moved to the side, “Clear!” A puff of smoke and he kicked in the door. “Fire in the hole!” A flash grenade was tossed in. The two Dominion troopers who had been kneeling at the end of the hallway were blown on their backs.

Redding charged in and shot both before they could recover, “Clear sir.” He started checking cells on both sides of the corridor. “Our people sir, alive but they’re not in good shape.”

As Jay’em took a position by the door, I started checking cells as well. “Get them out Redding, everyone’s going home. Hawk to Seraphs, we’ve picked up passengers, get our ride in here.” About halfway down the hall I opened the door and looked in. She lay on the ground, unmoving. I dove in, checked her vitals then closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “Jay’em, Redding, I’ve got her! She’s alive!”

Jay’em called back, “Our ride’s here Commander, time to go!” Under cover of the Seraphs, our squad mates had fallen back to the detention building and were helping carry the prisoners to the waiting transport.

I pulled Dara’s arm over my shoulders and hauled her to her feet.

Redding yelled back, “You’re the last one Commander, move it!”

Dara stirred as we limped back toward the door. She opened her eyes, focused on me. I smiled at her, “Sorry to be rough Major. But the MPs will be here any minute.”

A weak grin came to her face, “Took you long enough.”

“Blame Jay’em, he ran into a tree.”

“He’s here too?”

“And Redding and Bear, we weren’t going to leave you here.”

“Bear?”

“Oh come on Major, you remember that hotshot pilot who flew cover for us at Arneb?”

We stumbled into the transport. I let Dara down gently onto a padded bench then took my seat as the transport blasted off. I could see the Seraphs assume an escort formation around us. I swung my gaze over my fellow passengers, the survivors of the captured squad and all nine of my rescue team. No losses. I smiled and leaned back. Not a bad day. Redding and Jay’em were talking to Dara and I could see the smile on her face. We were together again. We’d be back, I knew. The Dominion hadn’t seen the last of us.

WHY!?!?

2008-01-29T12:17:00.000-06:00

Ok, my whole day has just been ruined! :(

First off, the near 60* we had yesterday has given way to 14* with near white-out snow fall, but I like winter over summer so that's ok. I'm driving back to work after a very delicious lunch out our local New York-style pizza place, happily listening to our local talk station that carries Rush's show and what comes over my speakers? A Ron Paul commercial!

I get enough of this guy in the blogosphere and I don't want him polluting my lunch hour!

Rant concluded...carry on

No Matter the Cost

2008-01-04T15:03:00.000-06:00

Continued from here

I stormed into the governor’s office. “It was my understanding Governor that I and I alone, have command of all military personnel during this evacuation.”

Without looking up from his terminal, Governor Utain Twitz replied, “That is correct Commander. My authority is solely over this city and its citizens.”

I slammed my hands down on his desk, “Then why was my order for a rescue mission countermanded?”

He finally looked up at me, “Because Commander, an attempt to retrieve dead bodies is not in the best interest of the citizens of this city. Citizens whom I will remind you are also your primary responsibility. Or did I misunderstand your orders from Fleet?”

I tried to keep the fury out of my voice. I was only partially successful. “Your people are safe Governor. The Fleet will be here in less than one hour, Militia forces have organized the civilians into evacuation groups and the Dominion has been beaten back from the city. My troops are maintaining vigil on the walls and we’ve even retaken the trenches around the city. Now is the perfect time to send out a rescue mission.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way Commander. But as long as there is still a single civilian within New Downtime, we cannot risk weakening our defenses. Once the evacuation is complete, assuming you get clearance from Fleet, then you can go on your retrieval mission.”

There was no point in arguing further. The man’s stubbornness was legendary. He was right to a point. My official responsibility was to the people of New Downtime, but during a declaration of emergency, military command overruled any civilian leadership. He had no standing to countermand my orders. However, the city’s Militia was under his command. I didn’t doubt for second if I attempted to lead any kind of recovery mission out of the city, he would order my arrest. That would result in either a shootout between Coalition military and civilian Militia personnel or my spending a few hours in a cell until the entire issue could be cleared up by Fleet. Neither would be of any help to Dara. That didn’t mean I was happy with it. It definitely didn’t mean I was going to let him have the last word.

“Be aware Governor, I am going to begin organizing a rescue mission. I am also going to contact Fleet for confirmation of my authority to do so. Do not attempt to interfere. I will not hesitate to place you under arrest using my authority as senior Coalition officer during a declaration of emergency.” An empty threat really, and we both knew it. Neither of us really wanted to create the massive division and strife such a conflict would cause, especially since this crisis would only last another hour at most, I hoped.

I spun on my heel and left the office. Noe and Redding were waiting for me in the foyer. Both fell in behind me as I strode quickly out of the building and toward the command post and Yofin.

"What's the word Commander?" Redding asked.

"Jay'em, begin organizing a rescue mission, volunteer only. We launch the moment the last evac shuttle lifts off."

"Aye sir!"

“Redding, I need you to begin getting us supplies. Expect a team of about 5 to 7 men, plan for everything.”

“Yes sir.” As he replied, we entered the command post. Yofin saluted before returning her attention to the display, the other two officers went on to their assigned tasks.

I returned her salute, “Do we have any idea where they have her yet?”

“Nothing solid yet sir, but we do have a few possibilities.”

“Rescue beacon?”

“As long as they continue jamming, rescue beacons are useless, the Fleet might be able to punch through though.”

“Maybe, get me the Hedonism, I want to speak to Admiral Sean.”

“Aye sir.” As she moved to the comm station, she shook her head, tsking quietly, “Who names a warship Hedonism anyway?”

I chuckled. “She’s Admiral Sean’s flagship, it was his choice.”

“I have the Hedonism, Admiral Sean will be on in a few minutes.”

“Thanks, I’ll take it in my office.” She nodded and I walked through the door to the closet I’d claimed as my own. I sat at my desk, and waited for Admiral Sean to appear. God I was tired. I hadn’t slept in days. Of course, that was nothing to what Dara was certainly going through. My mind began to drift, images of what the Dominion did to prisoners began to drift through my mind…They weren’t asking questions. Searing pain shot through her skull. Why aren’t they asking any questions? Barely conscious, Major Daramis Mcejo’s mind was working at an agonizingly slow rate. Nearly every time she formed a complete thought, one of the two troopers conducting the “interrogation” would hit her, screaming at her as she sagged against the restraints. Always screaming, or yelling, or shouting, but no questions.

She wished they would ask something, anything, so that she could focus on denying them information. But they did not ask, and all she could do was anticipate every fresh stab of pain, or track the sensation of warm blood trickling down from her split lip, or from the gash on her forehead. She closed her eyes, but not seeing was almost worse.

When they finally stopped an eternity later and removed the restraints, Dara fell to the ground in a heap, without the will or the energy to move. They grabbed her arms and hauled her back to her cell, where she lay curled up on the floor, blinking at the intense darkness, trying to regulate her breathing.

A single tear coursed down her cheek and splashed onto the floor. She felt as if she were falling away from the memories and the pain, into a bottomless black. Moments before it engulfed her, her lips began to move and she whispered, “Rogue won’t leave me to die,” and then, “Why didn’t they ask any questions?”

“I said; did you have a question Commander?”

I blinked, shook my head. On the screen, Admiral Sean was staring at me with a smile on his lips. “Am I boring you Commander?”

“Sorry sir, been a while since I slept.”

“Understandable. You’ll be relieved to know that we have achieved orbit and the first wave of evacuation shuttles are enroute.”

“That’s excellent sir. I do have a request though. During the final assault on New Downtime, the Dominion captured a squad of troops alive. I’m not leaving those men behind sir.”

“Since you haven’t done it already I’m assuming the Governor refused to let you go after them?”

“We did have a…discussion regarding it. He’s convinced they’re dead.”

“I’m afraid I have to share that sentiment Rogue. The Dominion isn’t known for taking or keeping prisoners alive.”

“They’re alive sir. I know they are.”

“And how do you know that Commander?”

“I can’t explain it sir, I just do.”

“I need more than that Rogue. I won’t send good men to retrieve corpses based of your gut feeling.”

“I’m not asking for a full fledged assault sir. I already have a group of volunteers. All I need is permission, arms and equipment, a Ranger transport with pilot and maybe an additional surprise or two.”

“No Fleet support?”

“No sir, just what I asked for.”

“What’s so important about those men to you?”

“They were under my command sir.”

“We command men knowing it might lead to their deaths all the time Commander. It’s a part of war. There’s a specific reason or a specific person you’re worried about.”

I took a deep breath. I’d hoped to avoid this. “The senior officer captured was Major Daramis Mcejo sir. We’ve served together for years.”

His eyes narrowed, “Your concern is strictly professional, right Commander?”

That was why I’d wanted to avoid it. Too many senior officers, despite years of service and combat experience, couldn’t understand the bond created by surviving hell.

“Strictly professional sir; the two of us, as well as two of the volunteers, survived Arneb IV. I refuse to abandon her to the Dominion’s tender mercies.”

He was silent. He hadn’t been there for the battle, but he had been there for the aftermath. “You realize that I can’t give you any additional support beyond what you’ve asked for.”

“Yes sir.”

“Ok, you’re approved. Don’t make me regret this Commander.”

“I won’t sir.”

“Now you mentioned a surprise or two.”

“Yes sir. I need one other little item.” The rest of the conversation went smoothly.

Several hours, and one much needed nap later, I stood outside New Downtime watching the last evac shuttle lift off. As it rose toward the waiting fleet, I glanced around at the eight men with me. Our transport had already put down in the woods under cover of darkness and would await our pick up request. We were ready. Jay’em looked down from watching the shuttle and then asked, “Orders Commander?”

I raised my rifle. “Gentlemen, I thank you, and our comrades thank you. Now let’s go get them.”

Redding grinned, “All for one sir!”

I grinned as well, “No matter the cost.” We headed off into the darkness.

Complacency

2007-11-09T11:58:00.000-06:00

Have you ever realized how much of our day depends on things we have customized to our particular whims? Or how much inconvenience it causes when those customizations are removed? It turns your smooth daily routine into a drive over a road that's full of foot-deep potholes!

In the way of explanation, I offer a review of my morning...so far:

For the past month or so, the IT department of my company has been telling me that my cubicle's desktop has some thing fatally wrong with its hard drive and that it would die spectacularly eventually. They also kept telling me that they would have to replace it with a new comp and that I should let them know a good time to do it. Well, I told them to do it while I was in Vegas, didn't happen. How about while I'm on one of my daily lunch breaks, it was only supposed to take an hour and I always leave for lunch at least an hour before IT takes its collective lunch break. (Side rant: That's always a fun hour when something goes wrong with the server/system/network and the entire IT team is off getting a burger somewhere) Nope...so, yesterday, I was out sick with a migraine. Which btw, SUCK!!!!

Perfect time I will agree...IT backs up (mostly) my desktop files, favorites, documents etc and swaps out PCs. I come in this morning still feeling slightly below the weather to discover I have a new PC. GREAT! Till I sit down. First off, the CPU is and always has been mounted below my desk. However, the old one was vertically mounted at the edge of the desk by the cubicle wall. This new one is horizontally mounted about 3 inches from the wall. Not too much but it now intrudes into the air space normally occupied by my thigh. This will take some getting used to.

Next, the keyboard is smaller, more streamlined. This doesn't make much of a difference to me honestly, but I was used to just laying my pen on the ledge above the function keys. That ledge doesn't exist anymore, a fact I did not recognize until while on the phone with a fellow vendor I laid my pen down and it rolled under the keyboard. D'OP!

Then we get to how many programs we take for granted. Like, JAVA. One of the multiple inventory lists I routinely check uses a JAVA pop up box. I go to check it and I get that great little invention the invalid plug in X. *groan* download JAVA, restart browser. Back to work.

Now, while in this pop up, Tab doesn't work, but I had mapped a key to act as a tab. Therefore, I am used to breezing through the various fields I either ignore or use the default settings. Apparently, key maps don't transfer. *groan again* Remap keys.

Ya know, my Outlook inbox has been strangely empty this morning. *shrugs* It's Friday, I was out yesterday and I had set up an auto-reply from my home PC that informed anyone who tried to contact me that I was out and to contact one of the other agents so I know I didn't have any inventory offers out there waiting for my attention. Still, it's strange that I haven't gotten any of the general info stuff. Co-worker asks if I got their email, I say, "What email?"

"The one I sent you (Duh, here's your sign Rogue.)"

I check, box is still empty...I hit send/receive. BOOM! Fifty or so emails come pouring in. Apparently, I was missed. Oh yeah, I had set Outlook to run an auto send/receive every minute (in my job, minutes can me the diff between getting a unit and not). That didn't transfer either. *groan* Reset.

But the most annoying...my play lists. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Yeah, my music transferred, (thank god!) as did the lists, but apparently something didn't because when I tried to activate one, I get the "file not found" error. So I have to go back in and remap the path, well, try to remap it. Turned out to be easier to just erase the broken ones and reload the lists.

Yeah, I admit it. I'm lazy and whining. Not a single one of these inconveniences took longer than a minute or two to fix, except the CPU mounting...still working on a solution to that one. But that's what they are, inconveniences. Little things that don't matter a hill of snot yet seem determined to drive you crazy!

We get lazy, we get complacent...we are creatures of habit and routine after all. When that routine gets disrupted, the effects are rarely pleasant.

At least my Internet browser favorites list transferred, though apparently, IE didn't like the way I had them organized and alphabetized them. *final groan*

This concludes today's rant, we now return you to your regularly scheduled slacking off.

Tase him again Bro!

2007-10-25T12:28:00.000-05:00

Remember Andrew Meyer? Yep...the idiot who (deservedly IMHO) was tased after disrupting a Q&A with John F. Kerry*

Well, it's been a while and the state of Florida has been running an investigation into whether the cops' actions were justified.

Guess what they found:

University of Florida cops were exonerated in the stunning of a student.

What's the poetic justice? The student may face charges.

The officers have been reinstated to full duty.

Just as I said before...he wanted to create a spectacle and martyr himself. Well, a martyr is only a martyr until he is revealed to be a fool.

Fool, thy name is Andrew Meyer!

TASE HIM AGAIN BRO!

* Who served in Vietnam

All for one

2007-10-15T10:47:00.000-05:00

Continued from here

Troopers ran past me hurrying to their posts. I saw a few straggling civilians being herded by Militia into the shelters before they too rushed to their stations.

“Commander!”

I stopped and turned toward the sound. A young man carrying a sniper rifle caught up and saluted. “Corporal?”

“Sir, all snipers are in position.”

“Excellent, fire on my command.”

“Yes sir!” He turned and vanished into the front door of the last tall building before the city walls. I stared for a second after him before breaking into a run again. The gates began to close and I slipped through along with several other latecomers. With a resounding boom, the gates closed and sealed. Through the hazy distortion of the energy shield I could see the tree line off in the distance, soon the quiet plains in between would be covered in smoke, debris and blood.

I ran down the main road until I arrived at the final ring of trenches. There, I lowered myself down and set off again, I tapped a nearby Lieutenant’s shoulder and asked for Major Daramis’s location. He pointed and I thanked him. As I approached, I could overhear her giving final orders to the troops nearby and in the other rings.

“Major, could you use another soldier?” She turned around and looked at me with a grin like I hadn’t seen in years.

“Always Commander, even if you’re Navy now.”

I saluted, “Once infantry, always infantry Major. Where do you need me?”

She didn’t hesitate, “I’m going to command from the center. Captain Noe is taking the left flank and I’ve got Sergeant Redding on the right but he’s still pretty green. He only made squad leader a month ago. Our defense would be a more unified if you would take command over Redding’s men.”

“I’ll break it to him easy.” She nodded and moved to the side, clearing the way for a squad of troopers double timing it through the trench.

I started toward my new assignment, paused beside her. “After this is all over, I want you to seriously consider transferring to the Navy, we could really use you.”

“We’ll see sir.”

A voice sounded in my ear, “Commander? OP Three, I have movement five kilometers due west.”

I keyed my comm, “Acknowledged. Yofin, what have we got?”

She responded instantly, “Their whole force is moving sir, this looks like it. They’ll be in maximum firing range in two minutes.”

“Right, Rogue out.” I met Dara’s eye, “Party’s on.” She nodded grimly, checked her rifle and saluted.

“Good luck Commander.”

I returned her salute, “And to you.” I made it through the trenches faster than I’d thought I would and found Sergeant Redding’s squad with ease. He acknowledged the abrupt change in command without expression. I glanced over his deployment and nodded my approval. He may have been lacking in combat experience, but he knew his stuff.

I keyed my comm again. “Where are they OP Three?”

“Four kilometers and closing fast, I see infantry mixed with artillery, no air units yet.”

“Acknowledged, attention all sniper units, hold fire until my order. Artillery, begin bombardment at three kilometers”

I stepped up to the trench wall, squeezing in between two other troopers. “Rogue to Daramis.”

“Go ahead Commander.”

“Major, after the artillery and snipers open up, you may fire at your discretion.”

“Thank you sir.”

“OP Three, three kilometers and closing.”

“Artillery, open fire!”

With the thunderous roar of nearly sixty artillery pieces, the Battle of New Downtime began. I watched the approaching forces to see the results. I wasn’t disappointed. Shells burst all through the formation, flinging troopers into the air and causing the ranks to disintegrate into chaos.

The trooper beside me snickered, “They weren’t expecting that.” The approaching troopers increased their speed. They seem intent to overwhelm us with sheer numbers.

“Snipers, fire at will.” Acknowledgements sounded in my ear, followed immediately by Dara’s.

“All forward units hold fire until my order. Remember you’re the only thing standing between the Dominion and all those civilians. Aim high.” The enemy artillery began to return fire. Above our heads shells exploded against the shield. They were close enough now to be seen as individuals, any time now Dara would order... “Ready weapons!” Simultaneously every trooper on the line flipped off the safeties and sighted along their rifles.

“FIRE!”

With another roar, five hundred rifles opened up. The approaching line collapsed under the withering hail. Return fire began to fill the air around us. An energy bolt struck the ground not more than 6 inches from my nose. Blinking dirt from my eyes, I cursed and reached up, slapped my visor down. Maybe Navy had made me a bit rusty. The harsh tones of blaster cannons filled the air as the jury rigged emplacements began sweeping the lead ranks.

More troopers fell. A shriek to my right, cut off almost before it began. A soft grunt beside me. I glanced over, the trooper to my right slid to the trench floor, his head missing. I forced my attention back to my line of fire. No time to call a medic, one wasn’t necessary. A beep from my rifle as it clicked empty. Eject the cartridge, slap a new one into place, resume fire.

Endless seconds passed. More bursts from above. Another man near me dropped. An energy bolt passed me so close I could feel the heat. Another reload, maintain fire. Yofin’s voice sounded in my ear. “Their first wave is falling back Commander, second wave forming out of rifle range.”

Dara had apparently also noticed the retreat. “Cease fire! Squad leaders, call out losses.”

“Acknowledged,” I grunted back. I released the trigger, turned and slid down the trench wall. Around me, troopers did the same. Medics raced past tending to the wounded and carrying fatalities out.

I looked around and motioned over to Redding. He gave me a quick tally and I called it in to Dara, “Major? Right flank has thirteen down, seven killed.”

Dara grimly absorbed the casualty reports then ordered replacements from the forces on the eastern side of the city. Throughout the entire time, the artillery fire on both sides continued non-stop.

“OP Three, they’re moving again sir!”

“Ready weapons!”

I stood up, looked outward. I slapped a new cartridge into my rifle; made sure my visor was locked and sighted. Again the forward lines came into focus. This time, missiles from above and behind me began screaming outward toward the vehicles mixed in.

“FIRE!”

Once again the fusillade of weapons fire cut through the lines like a scythe. This time however, their onward movement continued. I could begin to distinguish facial features when Dara’s calm voice sounded. “Flanks begin pulling back to second line. Center, we hold to cover their retreat.”

I spun around and shouted at the troopers nearby. “You heard the Major, fall back! Move! Move! Move!” As the last man in the area passed me heading for a cross trench, I fell in behind them double timing it through the trenches.

“Center units, fall back! Flanks, give us some cover!”

I shouted, “Rifles up! Fire!”

Dara passed me and shouted over the tumult of battle, “That’s it, we’re clear!”

I slapped a switch. Anyone who entered the first line of trenches or any of the crossovers to it would be in for a nasty surprise now.

“Commander, we won’t be able to hold them much longer. I recommend falling back into the city.”

I grimaced. “I was afraid of that. Yofin, where’s the fleet?”

“They have engaged the Dominion’s forces outside the sixth planet sir. Estimating another two hours before they can begin evacuation.”

“Blast! Ok, Dara, pull back to within the walls. Yofin, I need all Militia units on the walls. Also, inform the shield techs they’ll need to pull the shield back in to the wall’s perimeter.”

“Aye sir.”

Dara waited until I had completed my order before issuing her own. “You need to order the retreat sir.”

I smirked, “I prefer to call it ‘redeployment’, Major.” She grinned back at me.

“All forces, this is Commander Rogue, fall back to the city. Colonel Michaels, initiate Foul Nest. Missile teams, give us as much cover as you can.”

I nodded once toward Dara, “Fall back Major.”

“Aye sir. FALL BACK!”

I turned back to cover the retreat but Dara yanked me back down. “Sir, as senior officer you have to evacuate to the city.”
I stood silently, grappling with my need to stay with the men and the fact that she was right. “All right Major, but you and your people better be right behind me.”

“Naturally Commander.” She smacked my shoulder, then stood up and began firing back toward the enemy lines, barely a stone’s throw away. I joined the flow of men back to the city.

Passing the third and final line of trenches, I glanced back. Dara and her troops were still holding firm. Dominion forces reached the first trench and dropped in. She tossed a grenade, watched the result, then began retreating.

I passed through the hatch into the city. Militia forces were already taking up positions behind and along the top of the wall giving our retreat cover. I found a ramp and headed up to the top of the wall.

Looking out over the parapet, I saw the first and second lines of trenches had been completely overrun. The artillery pieces placed around the city had also been taken but my order to Michaels had had the crews render them useless. To my left, I saw Dara and her final few troops in a running light fight with the Dominion forces. A grenade from the Dominion flew over her head and detonated. The trench wall ahead of her and her squad collapsed. They were cut off from the city.

I shouted to the men nearby. “Cover fire, 7 o’clock!” We opened up on the Dominion but to no avail, as I watched Dara and her squad were overrun. I shouted again and then raced back down the ramp. I saw a familiar figure, “Redding! With me.” He didn’t hesitate, motioned toward his men and they immediately followed me back toward the now closed hatch. Captain Noe saw me and ran to intercepted.

“Commander no! You can’t go out there sir. She’s already dead!”

“You don’t believe that anymore than I do Captain! Now are you with me or not?”

“I can’t allow you to endanger the city sir; and that’s exactly what you’ll do if you open that hatch!” From the hatch a loud crash. In a way, I was calmed by it. He was right but I couldn’t -- wouldn’t -- accept what it entailed.”

“Blast it Jay’em! We’re not leaving her out there!”

“If she’s alive sir, we’ll bring her home. All for one.” I looked at him, and my mind’s eye flashed back to Arneb IV, when the four survivors of our squad, Captain Daramis, Lieutenant Noe, Private Redding and myself, gathered around a dirty table in a run down bar to toast fallen comrades, and vowed to watch over each other. All for one, one for all.

What happens in Vegas...Monday

2007-10-09T12:52:00.000-05:00

After the night before, I can completely understand why the first thing on the conference agenda didn't begin until 10 am, and that was only for the Board and Committee members. The first thing that average delegates were able to attend would be seminars beginning at 11:15 am. My supervisor glanced at them the night before and neither caught his fancy, either for himself or for me. So instead of attending, we slept in, went to breakfast at the Rio's Carnival World Buffet. To say it was delicious would not do it justice. Soooooooooooo good.

Then we decided to see some sights and headed out to Hoover Dam. Having just saw Transformers, it felt like I'd just been there, but while the Dam was just as large as I imagined, the bridges that connected the towers were a lot smaller than they looked. Based on the size of the bridges, Starscream isn't really that big of a Transformer. Go figure.

Anyway, after we spent about 30 minutes at the Dam, we headed back to Vegas and attended the afternoon seminars. The one we attended was called, "Rental Taxation Issues". Let me tell you something. That thing wasn't nearly as exciting as it sounds. Though it started good, the suit that was opening the session began by saying that taxes had to be paid yada yada bad things happen when you don't pay your taxes and he had a friend who was going to tell us what happened when you don't pay your taxes. Elvis came on stage and sang "Jailhouse Rock". He was good! I still don't like Elvis though.

After that seminar (it honestly wasn't that bad), we met up with our company's group and one of our Regional managers was disappointed we'd already gone to the Dam because he hadn't seen it before, but since it was only a 25 min drive, and the dinner wasn't for another two hours my supervisor decided to go again. So we all piled into the van and headed out again. Back to the Dam, oohed and aaahed then headed back to Vegas, up to our respective rooms to change for Monday's evening activities.

Dinner was at the Flamingo along with an awards ceremony. It was a decent buffet though the chicken was dry. After dinner we were all given our tickets for the next show. After Sunday's "entertainment" I was a bit hesitant. But our company was sponsoring the event I attended. I got the added perk that our company got front row seats (I was literally resting my elbow on the stage.)

Monday night we saw The Second City. It's an improv comedy show. Saturday Night Live meets Who's line is it anyway? They were good, I had many hearty laughs though some of their stuff was a tad edgy. Though compared to Cool, they were positively prudish.

After the show, our group headed out to another night on the town. A couple of bars including one that was very good, across the street from the Mirage, outdoors, shaped like a carousel, with a live band. The music was great, the drinks I wouldn't know because I abstained. Simply because I was so tired that any additional alcohol (I'd had a drink at the show) and I'd fall asleep. Eventually I was nodding off enough that the big boss of the group handed me a twenty and told me to catch a cab. Fare was $7 back to the resort, I tipped the guy $3, went to the room and fell asleep. Tomorrow was my flight home.

If you don't like it here then leave!!

2007-10-08T12:36:00.000-05:00

Sorry to interrupt my summary of my trip to Vegas but I saw something over the weekend that so angered me I had to post a rant. I live in a decent apartment complex and my neighbors are a varied mix of folks. Some have political bumper stickers, some don't. I have my Darth Vader antenna topper (Thanks again Mum!) which I am immensely proud of. Anyway, I pulled into my building's parking lot and I saw a car parked with the this on a bumper sticker:

Kansas - As bigoted as you think

Don't get me wrong, the only connection I have to Kansas is, I currently live here and my wife is from here though she, like myself, was born in Missouri, unlike me, she lived the majority of her life here. I on the other hand don't really have a "home state". I call Missouri my home since, in bits and pieces I have spent more time in Missouri than anywhere else. But I'm definitely Midwestern and while Kansas isn't home, it's close enough.

This state is NOT bigoted! I won't deny there aren't racists here, there are racists everywhere, for a short time there was one in my family (thank god my aunt divorced that loser).

I better than anyone should know this. Looking at me, you see a white guy, looking at my name, you see a Hispanic. Now I've seen employers (and colleges) who were obviously expecting to see a "minority" walk through their door for an interview and I've seen people who weren't expecting a white guy to have Mexican blood. But these are so few and far between as to be negligible.

In a way, that sticker is right, this state is only as bigoted as you think. Facts are it isn't but that won't convince the those who want to believe it is.

Oh, and the most ironic thing (least to me) is that right above that sticker (they've got it in their rear windshield) is a sticker for Kansas State University.

So I'll say it again...you think this state is so bad, then get out of it! It may not be home, but it's good enough for me.

What happens in Vegas...Sunday

2007-10-05T09:52:00.000-05:00

Sunday began well. I awoke feeling semi-rested and went about my morning routines. Breakfast was served at the conference, it was good (you really can't screw up fruit and pastries) and the first speaker got up. "Welcome to..." blah blah blah. Next came introductions of new companies in the organization. Brief descriptions of inventory and what areas they're seeking for their clients. Next came those companies who had purchased booth space so they got a few extra minutes to extol not only their inventory, but also the benefits of their companies and services that they provide in addition to travel services (travel insurance, accounting, property management software, etc)

Next came the keynote address. Dan Thurman (I highly recommend you watch the video) is a motivational speaker who mixed acrobatics (handstands, backflips, etc) with juggling and unicycle riding into his presentation. At one point he was riding his unicycle while juggling a coffee mug, a bowling pin, and a machete. Definitely one of the best presentations I've ever seen.

Lunch! Again, you can't go wrong with salad and cold cut sandwich buffets. Then came more introductions, these just of normal members. Again, what inventory we get, what areas we're looking for, etc. Then we "networked" and I was able to get in contact with several people that have inventory I'll be needing and with several that needed stuff that I have, mainly Tennessee.

That was it for the actual "conference" day, now came the entertainment.

Later that evening, we all met at 6 pm for cocktails at the Paris Casino at the Risque' lounge. Had a couple of drinks, some hors d’œuvres and some fun times with friends.

Moved on to dinner at the Le Provencal Restaurant within the casino. Bread was great, I always judge a restaurant by it's bread. In this case, first impressions were sorta wrong. The salad was absolutely horrible. I don't know what I ate, I know it wasn't the parsley sprig and that it was supposed to be part of the salad cause I noticed that several of the sprigs were mixed in with the rest of the greens, but it was the most bitter, horrible thing I've ever eaten. Salad was pushed to the side. Main course, some salmon (meh), chicken with capers (good) and some angel hair pasta (would have been perfect except it was drenched in tomato sauce and I don't like tomato sauce).

Then we moved to our scheduled show for the evening. We went to see Anthony Cools. To say that his performance was good would be true, he was good. To say that his show was shocking...would be understating the facts. JM would have died. Sean would have been in heaven.

The show was warmed up by a couple of girls from the neighboring show, "Oh la la", from the title, I'm sure you can gather what kind of show it is. The girls (Fifi and I can't remember the other) and were dressed in skimpy maid uniforms and by the end of their performance they were in thongs and bras only.

Then came Cool, he joked with the crowd, called for volunteers and then hypnotized them, weeded out those who didn't go under and then started the actual "show" by having all those still on stage (3 guys, 3 girls) believe they were in an orchestra playing the William Tell Overture. Some of them really got into it.

Next act, one poor fellow was picked by Cools to think that every time he heard Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire, he thought his....rear sphincter...was experiencing a burning pain that could only be extinguished by dragging his butt across the stage for the duration of the song being played.

Then one of the girls was told that ever time her name was called a voice yelled out some sort of intensely personal information about her that could be heard in the back of the room. Boy you never seen someone blush so hard...and damn if she didn't try and figure out where that voice was coming from.

Then another girl was convinced that she had completely forgotten her name unless she sang "Happy Birthday" first.

Then the...uh, colorful, things started. No nudity, even partial or "wardrobe malfunctions" were allowed, if any of the girls were in mini or short skirts, their laps were covered with a blanket.

The subjects were told they were all porn stars trying out for a film and they had to demonstrate their talents with a chair. I must say, one of the girls had to have a professional background in her past...not to mention, I can also say with complete confidence that she was not wearing a bra and that the room she saw herself in was extremely cold. If you need that further explained...don't ask.

Her husband was also a subject (didn't learn they were married until later) and boy they must have interesting weekends.

There were a couple of other similarly themed performances that I won't mention...unless asked ;)

He finished by telling the subjects that when he shook their hand, they would experience the most intense orgasm they'd ever had for as long as their hands were touching. Surprisingly the girls were mostly silent (though one did kinda moan)...the guys on the other hand....well, one was quiet, the other moaned then kinda straighted and exclaimed, "I'm done!" Professional lady's husband was yelling at the top of his lungs, he also happened to be Ring of fire guy and of course the song was played...so he's griping Cool's hand, yelling at the top of his lungs while scooting his butt across the stage. He wasn't the funniest though. The girl who'd forgotten her name...WOULD...NOT...LET...GO! No matter how hard Cool tried to disentangle himself, she would not let go, she even grabbed his arm with her other hand.

Finally, all were released and allowed to remember everything. Again, blushes all around, coupled with a few laughs. Audience loved it, though several (including myself) bore stunned expressions of disbelief.

Following the show, those in my company stayed in the Paris and found a little bar/live show alcove and sat around chatting, dancing (I didn't), some drinks till around 1:30 am and we headed back to our condo, exhausted.

What happens in Vegas...Saturday

2007-10-03T16:58:00.001-05:00

Up bright and early for my flight. Get to the airport and check in, get my boarding pass, go through "Security" and get to my gate. Wonder of wonders, our flight actually arrives on time, loads and takes off on schedule! Trips off to a great start. Enter Murphy. Storms over the Rockies, gotta detour around them. So I get a great view of Santa Fe, New Mex and then Hoover Dam as we fly into Sin City. Flight does land on time however, take that Murphy! We land, deplane, get our bags, and miracle of miracles, even my supervisor's (who literally was the last man on the plane just before the door was sealed) bag made it to LV unharmed. Murphy's pissed by now. He plots revenge, he runs down his list of options, target selected, locked...fire at will.

We spend the next hour in line at the rental car agency finally make it to the desk and get our car (and a discount) and head to the garage. Speak to the valets and they say they'll have our car up momentarily. 30 minutes later, we're still waiting. Valet supervisor goes and gets the car himself, pulls it up and hands us the keys, after writing on our paperwork we get an additional 15% discount. So, 90 minutes after landing, flight alone was only 3 hours mind you, we're off! Damn you Murphy.

My first ground level sight of the Strip was magnificent. Truly impressed, yeah, I've seen it hundreds of time on TV and all, but still, nothing compares to actually driving down Las Vegas Blvd and seeing the Mandalay Bay, Luxor, New York, Excalibur, Bellagio, Caesar's Palace etc. The conference I was there to attend was being held at the Flamingo and the majority of the delegates were staying there. My supervisor and I elected to stay at a condo resort our company offers called the Wyndham Grand Desert in a 2 bedroom unit. Room was awesome, as was the resort itself, though I admit all I did at it was sleep.

After we arrived, we registered at the conference, received our packets and then met up with the rest of our company's delegation. We have several offices scattered across the country and each had sent at least one person. Our group then headed to lunch at the Flamingo's Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville restaurant. Food was excellent (I had a rum and coke [yeah, it was 3 pm Vegas time, but it was 5 pm my time and I felt like a drink] mushroom burger and fries), and there were guys in costumes on stilts walking around joking with the patrons and tying balloons into hats for the ladies. We had a great time.

We left the restaurant and just meandered through the casino and the hotel's lobby/shops. I saw my first Elvis impersonator, he was okay...and I saw 8 separate brides in the lobby within one hour.

After that, my supervisor and I went to check into our resort, got to our room and changed into formal wear for the conference's reception/dinner. Finally got to meet many of the people I've been working with via email/phone for the past year. It was great. Dinner...was not. We had a meal catered by the Flamingo, I ordered the steak. It was a piece of shoe leather. Now, I admit I'm biased against well done meat, I like my steak rare, however, one of the people seated at my table prefers his steak well done, and even he said it was awful. *shrugs* What'dya do?

After dinner everyone was pretty exhausted since we'd all flown in on Saturday, so we headed home looking forward to tomorrow!

Viva Las Vegas!

2007-09-26T12:47:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so I'm off to Sin City this weekend. I'll be boarding my cattle car, aka Southwest Airlines, Saturday morning and returning home late Tuesday night. Filling my days will be long lectures regarding the vacation resort industry as well as finally putting faces with voices and email addresses I've been working with for nearly a year now.

I'll be staying in a condo at a resort that we use for our customers so I'll finally be able to give a personal opinion on a resort in our inventory. I'll also be taking tours of a couple of other resorts. Should be somewhat interesting. I hope.

Needless to say, I'll post anything interesting that happens...at least anything that I'm allowed to share...ya know, that whole, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas thing... :p

So...yeah, wish me luck.

And, btw, I can't stand Elvis.

Not again...

2007-09-19T12:08:00.000-05:00

I can kinda understand the fascination with OJ Simpson's arrest in Las Vegas. There is a feeling of justice denied whenever OJ's name is mentioned. So I can definitely understand the desire to see a guilty man finally imprisoned, even if it's not for the grisly murder of two people.

But for the love of everything sacred and holy, not another OJ trial!!!!!

If you think the news networks, both broadcast and cable went overboard with Britney/Paris/Natalie, you ain't seen nothing yet!

On the plus side...there aren't any prime time TV shows that I'm currently hooked on that could be interrupted by an hours long white Bronco chase, unlike last time.

"Come see the violence inherit in the system!"

2007-09-18T13:44:00.000-05:00

By now you've seen or heard about the University of Florida student who was tasered after asking questions of former Democratic Presidential Candidate John F. Kerry*. If not, here's some video of the incident.

Now, what's not caught on video is what happened prior to his questioning Kerry*. On Fox News Radio morning show Brian and the Judge, several eye witnesses called in to describe the event and their accounts jive with emails recieved by bloggess Michelle Malkin sent in by additional eye witnesses. They describe an event far different from the impression given by the videos.

Mr. Meyer, convinced that his specialness meant he got to ask questions despite the Q&A time period having ended due to Kerry* having ran overtime on his speech, (He droned for two hours, you wanna talk about torture!) rushed the microphone. Officers attempted to subdue him (you don't rush politicians of any stripe in this day and age) but Kerry* called on them to desist. Additional accounts state he (Meyers) was taunting the police at this time. He began his questions.

"Why didn't you contest the '04 election?" Simple answer: Kerry* lost fair and square (as did Gore in '00 but why left facts interrupt a good rant?)

"Why hasn't Bush been impeached?" Simple answer: No crimes or misdemenors committed.

Then some ridiculous question about the Skull and Bones society at Yale that both Bush and Kerry* were members of. Simple answer: College boys and secret societes go hand in hand, usually involving hazing/booze and women. They do not involve secret plots to rule the world.

By this time, event organizers had decided enough lunacy was enough, next I'm sure would have been a question about how fire doesn't melt steel (tell that to blacksmiths throughout the ages) and motioned for the mike to be cut (You can see this in the video, watch the man in the black-ish suit on the right side). Meyer wouldn't shut up despite this and campus police moved in. At this point, many people instinctively begin to get a real Rodney King-vibe, but anyone who looks at it objectively and with the knowledge that liberals protestors such as Mr. Meyers appears to be like to make marytrs of themselves aka "civil disobediance" (and since they sympathize with Palestinian and Al Qaeda terrorists that's no surprise really) can recognize that the guy was smiling when the cops moved in and he began to tussle with them.

Repeated breaking away, shrieking (and not for the benefit of the cameras he was definitely not aware of I'm sure) about "What did I do?!" Hey moron! Simple answer: You didn't leave a mike when your time was up and you caused a disturbance in what was supposed to be a serious lecture/Q&A.

His taunts continued until the cops after warning him to submit or be tased, were left with no choice and the rest is history. He enters the public arena as a victim of policy brutality. Personally, I think he got off too easy, then again, I don't suffer fools well.

Meyer was determined to create a disturbance and he succeeded. It will be interesting to see how the MSLM (mainstream liberal media) spin this incident since it took place at a Kerry* speaking event. Had this been President Bush, K. Ubermoron would have broken into regular programming proclaiming that the facist police state has been born and Bush has proclaimed himself Emperor.

In the grand scheme of things though, all this breaks down to is this, a young college skull full of mush awash with BDS confronts a politician he believed would bring about American retreat from Iraq about his failures to force change on an administration the student despises. He sees a chance at fame and flings himself happily on the "sword", or in this case, taser.

He's no different from the peasant in Holy Grail determined to bring about he is sure already exists. You can almost hear him yell, “Come see the violence inherit in the system. HELP! HELP! I’m being repressed! Did you see him repressing me? You saw him, didn't you?”

9/19 Update: He was acting for the benefit of the cameras

Officer Nicole Mallo writes that Meyer would only resist officers when cameras were present.

"As (Meyer) was escorted down stairs (at the University Auditorium) with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way down stairs he started screaming and yelling again," Mallo wrote.

Mallo was one of two officers who actually rode in the vehicle as Meyer was escorted to the Alachua County jail, and she said said he told them during the ride: "I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job," according to Mallo's account.

* Who served in Vietnam

Pilgrim in a unholy land

2007-09-17T13:26:00.000-05:00

So, Saturday morning, wife and I are out and she has to stop to use the bathroom. What's the nearest place that's open? Starbucks. Will someone please explain to me why that company still exists?

First let me say (for those of you who don't know me) I hate coffee and I don't like liberals, hippies or their hangouts. So it was with great trepidation that I entered the Starbucks.

First off, I don't want a "tall" or a "venti"...I want small, medium or large. And no, I don't want a "latte" or a "expresso" but I will compromise, so I ordered a Chai tea, btw, Panera's is better tasting. And why should I spend 3 bucks on something I can get for a dollar (and which tastes better) at Quicktrip!?

Not to mention I live in Kansas City, I don't give a flying imam about what the New York Treason has on its front page...but I can't escape it since Little Seattle Coffehouse has it RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REGISTER!

We paid almost 10 bucks for a chai, a hot chocolate (it was about 60* F, rainy and cloudy Sat morning) a croissant and a glazed pecan cake of somekind. The croissant was decent though again, QuickTrip's are better.

Making a long (and painful) story short...Starbucks, overpriced crap. I'll take QT's cappuccino anyday!

Comrades in Arms

2007-09-04T14:06:00.000-05:00

The door to the command post silently opened and the officer walked in and saluted. I returned the salute the immediately returned my attention to the master display. The officer came to stand beside me.

“Reminds me of Arneb 4.”

I scoffed, “We had more troops are Arneb, Major.”

“We were still outnumbered. At least here we’re fighting on our own ground.”

“True.”

Then, in a more sober tone, “How bad is it sir?”

I shook my head, “Not nearly as bad as it seems. When the colonists first set up here, they wanted to ensure that their capital city would be heavily defended against anything. We have a full defense field, fabricators and fully independent power generation contained within the city.”

“Support?”

“Minimal. We have one regiment of regular Army, one artillery battery, a small naval contingent and no air or orbital support. Chain of command consists of you in charge of the infantry, Colonel Michaels commanding the artillery and myself commanding the naval group. I have overall command despite being outranked by Michaels since he’s Army and I’m Navy. Navy’s senior service and I’m the senior naval officer.”

“What about our opposition?”

“Oh, they have at least one division of infantry with one regiment of artillery supporting. They have air support, but the shield will be able to handle that. The good news for us is their orbital forces have withdrawn to intercept the Coalition response fleet.”

“What’s our battle plan?”

“The shield perimeter extends to about ten meters beyond the outer defense ring, but it stops three meters above the ground. I’ve had three sets of concentric trenches dug. They’re all connected to each other, though those cross trenches can be secured at will and all are rigged with mines and other assorted surprises we can arm if we’re forced to fall back. Spaced between those rings I’ve had larger bunkers dug out and I’ve placed the artillery pieces in there. I’ve yanked the cannons out of the artillery unit’s spotter craft and had them rigged as fixed emplacements. The spotters are spread throughout the higher buildings in the city. I’ve got snipers and shoulder mounted munitions similarly placed. Army will hold the trenches as long as possible, fall back as needed and finally withdraw to within the city walls. There, they will be augmented by militia and security forces. Protection of the shield generator and power supply is paramount.”

“Are we going to have to fallback through the city gates?”

“As we speak, the city’s engineers are finishing access hatches in the wall’s foundations. If you and your people have to fall back to within the walls, we’ll make sure you get there under cover.”

“We appreciate it. How long till we engage?”

“Unknown. Could be hours, could be minutes.”

“Well, I should get to the line.”

“We only need to hold until the response fleet breaks through the blockade. Once they achieve orbit, we can evacuate within an hour.” I turned and faced her directly, “Be careful Dara, we made it through Arneb, I don’t want to lose the best soldier I ever worked with.”

She gave me a smile, “I don’t intend to buy it today Commander. I still have to give you grief for transferring to Navy.” She saluted and left the room.

I glanced back at the display before keying the intercom. “This is Commander Rogue, all forces report to combat stations. Enemy forces approaching.” I walked over to my desk and picked up my rifle. I might be the commanding officer, but with thousands of lives depending on me and the rest of my fellow soldiers, I’d be damned if I was going to observe this fight from the safety of the command center. I left the room and waved my aide over. “Lieutenant Yofin, please keep me upraised of enemy movement. I’ll be on the line.” I walked out before she could protest. My comrades were waiting.

Alderaan

2007-08-23T13:29:00.000-05:00

Remember this line?

"No! Alderaan is peaceful! We have no weapons! You can't...."

"You can't..."? What's going to stop him?

You have no weapons, no means of stopping him.

Quoting the Star Wars Databank entry,

"Alderaan, a revered Core world, had long been a center point in galactic politics, exploration, and culture....The planet had no weapons or military force, but it wasn't always so. During the Clone Wars, violence and warfare almost destroyed Alderaan. As a result, Viceroy and First Chairman Bail Organa outlawed all weapons, and declared a state of peace. This period of regrowth was spectacular, and Alderaan was renowned for its beauty, hailed as the "Bright Center of the Universe."

War is a terrible thing. Destruction and death are inevitable parts of war. Idealism is a great thing. In the case of Alderaan, this idealism led to a huge cultural growth, and a beautiful planet, loved by all.

Well, not by all. Alderaan covertly opposed Palpatine's Galactic Empire. And rightly so. Oppression and other tyrannical acts abounded. Basically, it was evil.

Alderaanians, as a whole, ignored the obvious threat this evil presented. They used financial and political opposition. Sanctions, political bureaucratic bluster and red tape. Their idealism lead them to believe that their disarmament and peaceful culture would insulate them from the Imperials. A few thought otherwise. For example, Tycho Celchu left Alderaan and joined the Rebel Alliance. Princess Leia Organa, daughter of the man who ordered the disarmament, took up arms against the Empire. Who was right?

Grand Moff Tarkin, Representative of the Empire, Governor of the Outer Rim and a firm believer in the "rightness" and "order" the Empire represented, showed no compunction against destroying Alderaan. Without batting an eye, he ordered the "Bright Center of the Universe" and all the innocents on it, blown apart as an example to those who resist the ideals of the Empire.

The peaceful, non-aggressive, "diplomatic" policy of Alderaan was worth bantha poodoo in the eyes of a believer of an evil cause. Could the destruction of their beautiful planet and incredible culture have been prevented? We'll never know. They refused to aggressively fight evil, and they paid for it.

For Evil shows no hesitation with the killing of innocents, the destruction of beauty or ignoring idealism.

Those Alderaanians who took up arms against the Empire, survived. And they didn't fight for just Alderaan. They didn't say, "It's not my planet. Why fight for your freedom? Your freedom isn't worth my efforts." They fought the evil of the Empire where ever they needed to. Sometimes, like at Endor, they based their fight on faulty intelligence. But they fought!

And they won their freedom. They won peace from the oppression of the Galactic Empire. For everyone in the Galaxy. It took sacrifice. Their freedom and peace was paid for with sweat, tears, and blood. Yes, blood. Destruction. Violence. War.

As horrible as the Galactic Civil War was, it was worth it. For the evil entity that was the Galactic Empire was defeated. The oppression and tyranny of Palpatine was washed away, with fire yes, but it was gone.

Could those who fought this war, and won it, now lay down their weapons, peace assured? No. For evil can never be completely ignored or defeated. It can rise from anywhere, at any time. Vigilance must always be maintained.

A wise man said (paraphrasing since I can't remember the exact wording),

"Peace is not achieved by non-violence. It is achieved through strength, through victory."

He also said,

"Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the ability to stand off and defeat any threat."

I've read fellow bloggers thoughts on the value of war. Many say that war solves nothing. I beg to differ. War is horrible. We all agree on that. But sometimes, unfortunately, it's necessary. Burying your head in the sand and ignoring the actual fact that there are evil people out there who wouldn't even blink before destroying everything you hold dear is the worst kind of naiveté.

Laying down your weapons and saying, "I will not fight you..." doesn't always lead to your enemy saying, "Awww...ok, let's be friends!" More often then not they say, "If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny!" just before hurling their lightsaber, in whatever form it takes, at your throat. And not everyone is able to duck in time.

Evil can only be defeated by combating it, not by ignoring it. Sometimes, that requires violence, yes, and even war.

Me

2007-08-23T12:35:00.000-05:00

Who am I? That's a great question. I, am me. I have strong views on some things, and at the same time I'm one of the most easy going guy I know. If a resturant gets my order wrong, unless it's egregiously wrong, I'll eat it anyway. Someone says a point of view that I disagree with, they're gonna find out...and they're not going to forget it either.

But we can start with the biographical. I'm in my late 20's. I'm from the Midwest, USA though I've lived throughout the country in my life. My father's job moved us around A LOT. I rarely spent more than one year at a time at any one location. For the first seven years of my life, we lived in multiple towns throughout Missouri, and then we spent about a year in Illinois, a year in Ohio, two years in Arizona, five years in Kansas, seven years in Missouri again, two in New York City, a year back in Missouri and have been back in Kansas City for little less than a year now.

I'm married, going on two years. No kids yet, and barring an accident, there won't be any for a while. We do have names picked out already though...Kalin Matthew for a boy and Bethany Lynn for a girl.

We have two cats, mine is a Siamese/Himalyian mix named Cyrus. My wife has a cat of unknown breed and his name is Timon.

I'm a huge sci-fi fan, with Star Wars as my all time favorite series though my favorite character might surprise a few folks, except those who know me. My favorite character is Wedge Antilles. I might explain why at some point, but if you really want to know...just ask.

Music wise, I have extremely mixed tastes. My favorite music group is Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty in particular. My favorite composer is John Williams. And my tastes are all inbetween those. I can relax just as well as to Mozart, Aerosmith, Alien Ant Farm, Big & Rich, Neil Diamond, Matchbox 20 and Gwen Stefani.

That's all for now. I'm sure more will be revealed in time.