Beate Bertheussen stood in front of McQueen, nervous as a school-kid. She looked him into the eyes, just to be met by two cold fireballs, if there where such things.

"Bertheussen, this isn't high-school. If you miss anything you will be putting your squadron's life on the line. I demand that you listen to the mission-briefings or find yourself a desk-job!"

Beate looked at him. "Yes sir, it will not happen again"

"How do I know that? How can I trust you? But you will get another chance, but if you blow it I will have your head" McQueen muttered.

Bertheussen nodded. McQueen pointed at the hatch. "Get the hell out of here, you got a mission to fly!"

She walked out, letting her laughter out. She stepped towards an empty passage.

God, what the hell was she doing in a war anyway? She wasn't fit to be a soldier. She wanted to be a goddamned cook! It was safe unless she chopped off a finger trying to prepare fish.

She laughed. She just wanna try the fucking training, not literary become a Marine. Why had the war broken out while SHE still where in training?

She quickly wiped her tears of laugher away and headed towards the wardroom. If she were lucky, no one would be there.

Hammerhead bay.

Lt. Anne Schjerven was busy checking over her Hammerhead when Captain Marco Polo entered. She glanced at him and then at West.

"Eh…Captains…Can you guys help me here? I need another set of hands," she asked politely.

Captain West overlooked her and Marco followed his example. The Lieutenant threw an angry look at them both before trying on her own. She was just about to check the fuel when she spotted the loose wire. She carefully touched it and tried to put it back on place. Then an explosion happened….

West was the first to run towards Schjerven's Hammerhead. "Get a doctor!" he yelled as he carefully picked Anne up.

Med bay, USS Saratoga

The doctors where busy trying to get the young woman to breath by herself. Schjerven lay on the sickbed, her gray eyes closed as the medics worked to get her back to the living. Captain West watched them as they worked with the young girls body. He closed his eyes, remembering his own pain from when he was injured. The rest of the 58th came running.

Captain Marco Polo had explained to the doctors what had happened. A loose wire in the Hammerhead control-panel had set off a little explosion. It was a miracle that no one else had got hurt.

McQueen walked over to a nurse, asking her about what was going on.

"Colonel…the Lieutenant got a blow on the head. We don't know how, but she can't breathe on her own. So we are working to get her back. Can you give me any information why she isn't responding?" the nurse informed him.

McQueen looked towards Anne's slim form on the table.

"She has been in Cryonic sleep. That can explain it, but she…I don't know anything about her. She has hardly been here a day."

The Nurse nodded. "Okay…" she looked towards West and spotted a cut on his neck. "Captain West, can you follow me. That cut on your neck can get a infection if you don't wash it."

Nathan looked towards the table.

"Can I stay? It isn't doing me anything."

The nurse, a Major Dana Hiller, walked close to West. She touched the wound. He grasped at the sting, the striking pain. He got a little dizzy, but fought it back. Hiller looked at him.

"Captain West, as a Major I can order you to go with me" she looked at McQueen. "Colonel, it can only get worse if we don't fix it"

"West, go with the Major," Ty said and looked at Nathan.

"But sir…"

"Move it!"

Nathan walked with the nurse towards another room. Bertheussen shook her head. But Polo knew what it was, he as West, felt guilty for what happened. Schjerven had asked them for help but they had ignored her. If they had seen the wire they had known that they shouldn't try to put it back. Marines weren't engineers or mechanics. They both had their reasons for not accepting her as a soldier: Polo was mad for having someone, a girl with better experience and stuff… But West was mad at her because she had taken Wang's place, or maybe 'cause she hadn't? Polo couldn't be sure about West…he had never understood small town-people.

"Get 5 milligrams of Dolphamine NOW!" a doctor yelled. "I'll be damned if we're letting this one go!"

"Her heartbeats are more regular, and her breathing in getting better. She's breathing on her own" one Nurse said. "She's going to be just fine."

Polo smiled. Now he had no reason to feel guilty.

Med bay, Phousse's room

Vanessa Damphousse smiled as Shane entered. "Hi" she said, laying her book down.

"Hi, Phousse. How are you doing?" Vansen smiled.

"I'm better, the doc says that I will be out of here in a week…" she looked at her best friend's face. "What's wrong?"

Shane laughed. "They…" she grew serious. "They have given us Paul's replacements. Two Marines, a girl and a guy"

Phousse tried to sound cheerful. "Cool. How are they?"

"Well, I know one of them. His name is Captain Marco Polo…"

"Captain Marco Polo?" Phousse laughed

"Yeah, I know...stupid name anyway. He is from San Diego, and he played on the same football-team as I did. I don't know…he is a little…Y'know…sarcastic, but funny. The 58th need someone like him" she smiled.

"Bertheussen is great. She is funny and kind and really good with Cooper. I think he likes her. She is from Norway, but has lived in Long Island for most of her life."

"Sounds like a nice girl…" she paused. "How is Nathan?"

"He's doing fine, considering that Kylen broke up with him. He is quite, but Nathan has never been that open to us" Shane changed the subject. "And we got Kelly's replacement"

"What? It has been a year? Who?" Phousse sat up.

"This is a freaking one. Her name is Lt. Anne Schjerven. She is from the year 2007," Vansen played with her dogtags.

"Ah, one of those…so, how's she like?" she looked curious at Vansen.

"She's okay. She has a face that is totally cool, like she don't care. She wears her hair Hockey and is from Norway," Vansen laughed.

"She is in the Norwegian Army but has been assigned to the 58th. She lies in sick bay, her Hammerhead exploded."

"Oh my God," Vanessa covered her mouth.

"Amen to that," Shane said, trying to hide her smile. "I don't know, she knows a lot. I guess she is a good officer, but she's not…"

"She's not a Marine" Phousse finished, understanding.

"Yeah, that freaks me out on so many different levels" Vansen walked to the door.

"Not so much as the name Marco Polo," Phousse busted out in laughter.

Med bay, USS Saratoga

Lt. Anne Schjerven regained conciousness at 19:36. The 58th was the first thing she saw. She smiled.

"I guess that wire doesn't go there," she said, licking her lips without much effort.

"Schjerven, I'm sorry that I didn't help you when you asked for it," Captain West said.

Anne smiled. "Yeah, so am I."

Polo just looked mean at her. Anne smiled sweet towards him. She could feel how he despised her.

"Thanks for helping, but we didn't know about your Hammerhead. Don't hate us," Polo barked.

"Hate you?!" she yelled and sat up, ignoring the pain and the fact that she felt naked in her hospital growl.

"What have ever I done to you? Except maybe being assigned to the 58th? Can't you understand that I can't help this? Yes, I'm sorry that Lt. Wang died! Yes, I'm sorry that you lost your squadron, Polo. But I haven't done a fucking thing, so if you really got such a problem with me then fuck you!" she stood up, taking off her IV.

"How the hell dare you?! To hell with your attitude towards women and while you are at it to hell with you, too!"

She took a good grip in Marco's neck and threw him out. The 58th watched her. Anne had tears running down her face, her eyes looked angry and her teeth where clenched due to the pain from her cuts.

"What the hell are you standing there for? Does this look like the open house to you?" she snapped.

West looked down. She sighed.

"Sorry for my temper, but I have had a really bad day and it isn't getting better."

Nathan nodded. Shane was standing there, surprised of Schjerven's temper. Bertheussen was stunned. Hawkes stood there with a smirk. Anne looked at him and started to laugh. The 58th looked at her. Then she turned pale and hit the floor.

Next day, Med bay

Anne was crying. She had never felt this alone in her whole life. She missed Norway, she missed her mom and dad, her friends, her drill-sergeant even her stupid teacher with a head on the size of a balloon. She started to laugh. Here she was, years from her own time feeling sorry for herself. It wasn't like she had got a F in gym anyway, she was just homesick. She turned around, trying to sleep. She heard someone enter. She quickly took her K-bar from under her pillow and waited for the intruder. The person sat down next to the bed and watched her. As she saw the shadow move she quickly placed her knife under the intruder's throat.

"Identify yourself" she said coldly.

"Captain Nathan West" the voice replied shakily. Schjerven turned on the light and saw into West's gray eyes.

"Don't scare the shit out of me like that, West!" she told him smiling.

Nathan smiled back. "Sorry…I was just checking that everything was okay," He saw her red eyes. "What's up? Tell me."

She looked at him. "I don't even know you…and I'm sorry that I was so mean to you."

He took her hand. "It's okay. You had a point, I deserved that. But some people tell me that I am a good listener, wanna need an ear?"

"Sure you wanna sit here?" she asked him.

Nathan nodded smiling. "I don't have anything better to do. So tell me…where are you from?"

"Lödingen. A little town in North-Norway. Nordland as it's called. It's a nice town, not to many people, everyone know each other…except from now…" she stopped.

"I am from Farmingville, New England" he told her. "I grew up in a town just like yours."

"Y'know what I miss the most about my time? My boyfriend Markus and my parents," she looked down.

Nathan was suddenly so keen about the floor. "I know how it is, knowing that you're never gonna see a person again… I know everything about it."

"So…who was she or he?" Anne whispered.

Nathan looked into her gray eyes. She looked worried. He begun telling the story about him and Kylen…

When McQueen entered, Schjerven was sleeping soundly. West had his head on the side of the bed and was also sleeping. Ty moved slowly in towards the bed. They looked so young. He looked at his two Wild Cards, one old and one new and Ty knew that this was going to work out, somehow it always did.

1 week later, the briefing-room

A normal mission. Nothing fancy for the new ones. Just an in-and-out assignment. Damphousse looked towards the chair where Paul had used to sit, now it was occupied by Bertheussen. The woman was again trying to dig a hole in the desk, but at least she was paying attention.

West's eyes where locked on Anne, as they had been for a while now. He really liked her, not just as a friend but a little like…he turned off the feeling. He knew at this point, after loosing Kylen he would in a couple of months feel the same way for a coffee-machine.

Captain Marco Polo had been very popular with the girls on the 'Toga. Schjerven had a word for it, a nickname for him. Jeger'n, she called him. It was Norwegian for Hunter. They were all proud of the names they had got. Marco was Hunter, no doubt about that one. Beate was Angel, and Anne had her old callsign - Shadow.

Queen6 walked towards Bertheussen and then towards Hawkes. Cooper had come really close to Beate these days. They played poker, watched movies and bowled.

"This is a normal mission. You will be landed on the planet 574-NRK in the Hercules-system. Your mission will be to observe ALL enemy activity. This is the 58th first mission as a new team, so it will not be that hard," McQueen looked at the new members of the 58th, his new kids.

"You will look for a Napalm-bunker approximate 24 clicks from Bulls-eye."

The 58th looked at each other. "Sir, with all due of respect, What is napalm?" asked Captain Marco Polo from the first row.

Lt. Anne Schjerven stood up. "Napalm was used in the Vietnam-war for fire-bombs. You can still find it in old-fashion Flame-throwers. I can guess that we are looking for a Napalm-industry, mostly made by AIs. The Chigs will be able to use a flame-thrower without a problem due to the fact that they have hands just like us… sir" she looked at McQueen.

Colonel Tyrus Cassius McQueen smiled. "Yes, that correct. The AIs have just begun with these old things, but still it's a threat for the Space Force, how primitive it might be. Most people and Tanks are afraid for fire." he paused.

"Bertheussen, you have had some experience with burn-wounds. I want you to take the med-Kit with you on this mission" McQueen told them. "We will have 3 teams, Alpha 3 is Vansen, Damphousse and Polo. Bravo 8 is Hawkes and Bertheussen and Charlie 5 is West and Schjerven. Watches at 08:00…ready, ready…heck!"

ISSAPC, 50 000 MSKs from NRK

"Did you know that NRK was a TV-channel in Norway? It did only send crap tough. If you wanna have a really good show you should watch TV2, they had it all…X-Files, Friends, The Others, Millenium, Pacific Blue, NYPD Blue and M*A*S*H…I would have done anything for watching M*A*S*H right now" Schjerven paused.

"I used to watch NYPD Blue when I was a kid" Bertheussen smiled. "But I was more a XF girl. I loved all those things that Mulder and Scully always did."

"The Cigarette Smoking Man was the best" Marco marked. "I really loved one of those episodes…what was it called again? That with JFK and Martin Luther King?"

"You mean 'Musing of a CSM'?" Phousse asked.

"Yeah, that's it! That was a good one…'Never again' wasn't that bad either. The handsome and slightly insane Ed with Dana…" Marco laughed and whistled.

"'The Field where I died'!" yelled Vansen. "That was a goodie. But now let's focus. We are in the planets atmosphere in 2 mikes"

"So, Vansen…What are you doing after this mission?" Polo asked. "We can play poker if you want"

Shane laughed. "Yeah, but bring money 'cause I'm gonna clean the table."

Cooper looked down on the planet's atmosphere. "Let's hope we're not gonna get spammed" he said.

"If we are gonna get anything, it's barbecued!" Marco laughed devilishly.

The Planet NRK

Lt. Vanessa Damphousse contacted the Saratoga. "Queen6, this is WildCards. Our coordinate is 2-7-3-9-1-6-5-9. Our ETA is at 1-4-7-4-7-2-9, that's 10 miles from here."

"Roger that, WildCards. See you later."

Cooper took off his goggles and smiled. Bertheussen took hers off to and laughed. "This is what I call home," she smiled.

"Yeah, is it just me or is my hair standing up?" Polo took off his helmet and let's his fingers touch it. The rest of the 58th saw the sparks from the electricity. "Wow, it's enough to power the MacArthur for a year"

"I'm not taking my helmet off," Vansen said and loaded her rifle. The rest did the same. "Okay, Charlie 5. Take the East side, report of anything happens"

West and Schjerven nodded and started to walk. The rest looked after them. "Okay, Bravo 8 take the west," Shane continued.

Bertheussen put her goggles on again and moved out with Hawkes. Polo looked at Vansen.

"Then we're taking the northside, we can attack the bunker from three directions" he said matter of factly.

"Okay, let's go." Alpha 3 moved slowly off.

Bravo 8

Beate started to dig the little foxhole that would shelter Hawkes and herself. She looked towards the InVitro. She liked Coop, he was nice. Hawkes looked towards the big bunker. "I can see 10 Silicates. What the…" he focused his night-goggles. "I see one Bill C-model and one Malcolm X."

"What?" Beate asked and sat down beside him.

"Special war-models. They were designed for war. They know everything in war-technology and so on. Aerotech designed them in 2056, to fight against AI's. They cost 10 millions each and there are only 5 of them in the world" he paused. "They are programmed as navy-SEAL, Marine-hunters, Dan Daly and so on. No one has ever defeated one of them."

"Oh my God…we have a problem," Bertheussen said. "Can they receive our position?"

"If we turn on the radio, yes. But we won't. Shane has giving us what we need, we are just waiting for the signal from West." Cooper told her.

Alpha 3

Marco sat down behind a wall, waiting for Phousse to come. Vanessa jumped down beside him and Shane.

"They have 9-12 Silicates out there. We wait for Charlie 5 to respond and them we take them."

"I just got a big urge to go down and get me a Slurpie," Polo muttered.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Vansen said sour.

"Napalm…I thought that we were trough with such barbarian things," Damphousse stood up, walking to get her blood-circulation in order.

"When I got to Base Tiller in Maine, I was told that I could drop napalm on little kids," Polo sighed. "I started to laugh and was almost kicked out by my drill-sergeant…what was his name…Weisser I think, or Weiss."

"Nice name, German or something?" Shane asked.

"No, American. From LA I think," he told them.

Charlie 5

"Herregud, dette kan ikke gå bra (Oh my God, this can't go well.)" Schjerven whispered as she saw the AI's.

Nathan looked at her. "What?"

"Nothing" she said innocent. She didn't want to freak him out as well. "Let get in position"

West walked down. "Let's get to the radio," he said.

"Wait, just in case. Let me contact Alpha 3. I don't trust AI's and Aerotech haven't got anything to say back in Norway" she took the radio and turned it on. "Alfa 3, dette er 5 o'clock Charlie. Vi er i posisjon og venter bare på dere. (Alpha 3, this is 5 O'clock Charlie. we are in position and are waiting for you)"

Bertheussen heard the message and went to the radio. "Charlie, vi hører dere. Vi er klar. Send opp signalet til Bravo 8 og la oss få dette showet på veien. (Charlie, we read you. We are ready. Send up the signal to Bravo 8 and let's get this show on the road)"