Dianne Hayden folded her arms across her chest, thoughts of her father unwantedly crept into her mind. She wondered what the great General would think of her current situation and the mess she had made of her life. Dianne shook her head a bitter smile crossing her face. He undoubtedly would find some way to make all of this her fault. Even though she had no control over the situation. Had in retrospect had no control over her professional life since she had become Secretary General over a year ago.

"Lights off." Dianne softly ordered and the computer did her bidding plunging the lavish office into darkness. As her vision improvement device or VID for short adjusted to the new atmosphere, Dianne's thought's once again returned to that day over a year ago that the Wildcards had saved her life from an AI bomb.

With a sigh Dianne turned away from the window and gathered her coat and purse. Young Nathan West had no idea how right he had been.

Operation: Homeward Bound
Chig Territory
First week of June, 2064
The female AI shoved the butt of her gun so hard into Vanessa's back that the marine lost her footing on the hilly terrain and fell forward. Vanessa winced as the gravel and dirt bit into her palms as she tried to catch herself.

Paul was instantly at her side, placing his right arm around her shoulder to help her up.

"Are you alright?" His soft voice tight with concern.

Vanessa winced slightly as weight was once again applied to her right ankle. It was twisted badly but not broken. She forced a smile hoping Paul didn't see her pain. He had enough of his own to worry about, "I'm okay, Paul."

Paul heard the shakiness of her voice, and knew she was far from okay, but he nodded anyway.

As he took his arm away from her shoulders he whispered,"Just remember I'm hear to lean on if you need me."

Vanessa acknowledged him with a warm smile.

The female AI advanced on Vanessa, "Well ain't that sweet. You two have lovey-dovey feelings for each other."

Vanessa blanched as Paul moved to step between the two women. "We're just friends." Paul replied firmly.

The AI smiled walking toward Paul.She none to gently ran a finger along his cheek, "If you say so, Possum."

"Is there a problem here, Leia?" Howard Sewell-Z asked as he and Shane approached the trio.

Leia shook her head as she waved her weapon, motioning for Paul and Vanessa to form a single line in front of her. "No problem, Howie. No problem's at all. Just gettin' to know my new friends a little better."

Sewell-Z nodded shoving Shane toward the others, "Let's get moving we're loosing daylight."

USS Saratoga
Stationed near Chig territory
June, 2065
After spending a frustrating half hour in the medical bay Cooper Hawkes was nearly late to the Ops meeting. Not exactly the best way to make a first impression, Cooper thought wryly as he slid into a seat near the door.

Commodore Glenn Ross was pacing the front of the conference room. A detailed map of the sector of space they were in was projected on the huge screen behind.

With a grim expression Ross faced the group of young pilots. "The stakes in this war just got raised, ladies and gentlemen. We just got word that less than an hour ago we lost the USS Valley Forge. No survivors."

A stunned murmur passed through the group of Marines. Along with the 55th, the 22nd and the 115th were also assembled.

A young female voice broke the silence, "Sir, isn't that the same area where the 33rd was killed?"

Ross glanced at the red circle highlighted on the screen before turning back to the young blonde woman, "Yes, Lieutenant I'm afraid it is."

"Does this mean the Chigs have some kind of new weapon?" A red haired young man asked a few seats away from Cooper, "Another Chiggy Von Richtovan?"

Ross stifled a sigh, "The truth is, we don't know what destroyed the Valley Forge or the 33rd. That's what we need to find out. You'll go in shifts, first up is the 55th you have twenty mikes to be suited and on the flight deck. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir!"

Ross allowed a faint smile to cross his face as he looked over his crew, "Good. Dismissed."

USS Franklin Roosevelt
Stationed in Chig Territory
June, 2065
"I know its eatable."

Kylen glanced up from her plate of noodles as Nathan's soft voice broke into her thoughts.

"I'm sorry Nathan," She replied with a smile, "What did you say?"

Nathan grinned waving his fork toward her plate, "I said I know the Casserole surprise is eatable, but you've barely touched it."

Kylen sighed setting her fork down, "Its fine."

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked softly as he reached across the table to capture her hand in his.

Kylen shook her head, "This is silly, its nothing."

"Its not nothing if you're upset." Nathan replied, "Are you still having nightmares?"

"No, not since we got here."

"Then what is it, Kylen. Talk to me." Nathan said watching her expression closely.

"Nathan, do you still love me?"

Nathan stared at her in shock. Her voice had been barely above a whisper, if he hadn't been sitting so close he wouldn't have heard her. "Of course I still love you."

Kylen didn't seem to hear his answer. She pulled her hand away from his pushing back from the table.

"I mean I'd completely understand if you didn't. So much has changed."

"Not for me it hasn't." Nathan replied his concern growing by the minute.

"I know you're too good a man to show it, Nathan, but I know every time you look at me you are reminded of what you've lost." Kylen continued her words pouring out in an emotional rush, "I know how much the Wildcards meant to you."

Nathan stood picking up his chair and quickly brought it next to hers. He sat down grasping her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Kylen, listen to me."

"You've lost so much, Nathan." Kylen said softly, "First your brother, then the Wildcards."

Nathan gently placed his right hand under her chin so she had no choice but to look, "None of those were your fault, Kylen. Yes, my brother and the Wildcards are dead, but I hold the Chigs fully responsible for that, not you."

"Nathan, I......"

"Kylen, I love you and I thank God every day that I have you back in my life, safe and happy. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too."

Kylen wrapped her arms around his neck kissing him passionately, "I love you, Nathan."

"All members of the 44th, 67th and 89th squadron report immediately to the Ops room for debriefing."

Nathan glared at the ceiling speakers as he reluctantly pulled away, "I'm sorry I have to go. We didn't have a briefing scheduled till tomorrow morning so something big must've happened."

Kylen smiled gently touching his right cheek, "Its alright, Nathan, go." Nathan stood, "You sure you'll be okay?"

Kylen stood gently pushing him away, "I'm a big girl, Nathan. I'll be fine. Go, we'll talk when you get back."

Nathan smiled kissing her quickly, "Okay. I love you."

Kylen nodded, "Be careful."

"Always." Nathan replied before turning and melting into the crowd in the hallway.

Operation:Homeward Bound
Chig Territory
First week of June, 2064
"Here we are, Ladies and Gentlemen." Howard Sewell-Z said with a wide smile as he wrapped an arm around Shane Vansen's shoulders, "Welcome to Sewell airlines."

For a moment Paul forgot the deadly danger of the situation as the smart retort slipped out before he could stop it. "You call that a ship? It looks more like a piece of Modern art."

The ship wasn't much bigger than a hammerhead. It was painted dark green with odd pieces of metal sticking out in places that didn't seem to have a purpose.

Shane winced, then realized Sewell's arm was still draped across her shoulders and shook him off, stepping away.

Sewell caught Shane by the left elbow, dragging her back, "Not so fast my dear Captain."

Leia walked over to Paul, taking the butt of her gun she hit the young man in the back of his head. Wang fell to his knees, the world spinning around him.

"I think Possum has a smart mouth, boss. Think I should close it permanently?" Leia asked.

Sewell-Z shoved Shane and Vanessa toward the ship, "No, you can have fun with him later, Leia. Right now we have a rendezvous to meet."

Shane sighed inwardly as she looked at the two AI's. Calculating the odds of taking the ship from them. If all of them were feeling one hundred percent she'd take the risk, but with Paul hurt it was better to wait. Once in space they might have a better opportunity.

USS Franklin Roosevelt
Stationed near Chig territory
June, 2065
After Nathan left Kylen reported to the Medical bay for her first shift. According to the orders Ross had given her she was supposed to report to a head nurse by the name of Colleen Ford.

As soon as Kylen stepped foot into the medical bay it seemed like she was snatched into a flurry of activity. A tall, skinny red haired woman in her late thirties approached.

"You must be Kylen." The woman said handing her a white lab coat, "You're on time, I like that. You're late around here and a patient dies. By the way I'm Colleen Ford, I'll be your supervisor while you're stationed on the Roosevelt."

"Yes, Ma'am." Kylen began as they started walking.

"I understand you haven't had a lot of 'field training' medical wise. You'll be learning under me your tonight. We just got a transfer of wounded so keep close."

Kylen Calina struggled to put on the lab coat and keep pace with the head nurse at the same time. As she passed row after row of wounded men and woman she wondered what she had gotten herself into.

USS Franklin Roosevelt
Stationed near Chig Territory
June, 2065
Tyrus Cassisus McQueen stared out the Roosevelt's observation bay fighting off boredom. He had forgotten what little there was to do on a carrier ship if you didn't have assigned duties to attend to. He was about to see if he could find a book in the ship's computer library when he noticed a reflection in the glass.

"Well," Ty began as he slowly turned around, "If it isn't the ghost of Haleg."

Lieutenant Colonel John Oakes felt his eyes narrow. The observation deck was deserted except for the two marines.

"I don't expect you to understand, Colonel." John said softly as he crossed over to the small computer console.

McQueen remained where he was, arms crossed over his chest, "Then why don't you answer a few questions to help me understand. Starting with how did you survive the incident over Haleg?"

The computer screen in front of Oakes flickered to life. John's fingers absently scrolled through an index of old military movies, stalling for time. He knew he had no legal requirement to answer McQueen's question, but John knew the InVitro could make his life miserable if he didn't answer.

"I understand you're a movie buff, McQueen."

Ty blinked at the change of subject, "I like old movies." He acknowledged wondering where Oakes was going with this.

The screen in front of Oakes changed. Four late twentieth century military aircraft were shown flying in formation over an ocean toward an air craft carrier.

"Ever seen the circa 1980's move 'Top Gun'?" Oakes asked his dark eyes remaining fixed on the images before him, "The title character is a young hot shot pilot who must deal with and overcome his mistakes. Exercise his 'ghosts' in order to move on with his life."

"All members of the 44th, 67th and 89th squadrons report immediately to the Ops room for debriefing."

Both men looked up at the ceiling speakers before meeting each other's gaze. Without another word John Oakes quickly left the observation deck. McQueen let him go turning over Oakes somewhat cryptic statement in his mind. Some one high up was pulling Oakes's strings like a marinate that was for sure. The one million dollar question was who and that was something McQueen was determined to find out. He didn't know why, but he just had this gut feeling that this all tied in with the peace talk fiasco a year ago. And with the demise of the Wildcards.

Eight hours into her first shift Kylen was really beginning to miss her lab in Arizona. Her feet ached and the acid smell of disinfect was beginning to make her eyes water and nose burn. Only thirty minutes ago had Nurse Ford felt Kylen was strong enough to leave her alone with a patient. As Kylen looked over the young pilot's medical chart she knew it was a miracle the young man was still breathing.

He was Caucasian, about Nathan's age, maybe a year younger. His blond hair was cut in a neat military style. Even though Kylen hadn't personally seen him awake the chart told her that the young pilot's eyes were green. Lieutenant Peter Johnson had severe burns over eighty percent of his body. His ribs were fractured in several places, had a broken collar bone and a sprained left wrist.

Colleen Ford appeared at her right elbow suddenly startling Kylen enough to juggle the chart she was holding. Ford thrust a pair of scissors into Kylen's left hand, "We need to prep Lieutenant Johnson for surgery. I need you to cut his uniform off."

"Yes Ma'am."

Colleen nodded moving to a patient two beds away, "I'll be close by if you have any trouble."

Kylen walked around to the foot of the bed putting the chart back where in its place. As she began her task of cutting away the uniform she noticed a patch on the shirt. Kylen froze as she read the orange numbers.

Lieutenant Peter Johnson was a member of the 33rd squadron.

Operation:Homeward Bound
June, 2064
To Vanessa it seemed the ship Paul had called modern art had been flying for days. In reality she knew it had only been a few hours, but in the cramped cargo bay time seemed endless. She glanced at Shane who had just finally fallen asleep a few minutes earlier, slumped against the far left wall, knees drawn up to her chest.

Vanessa looked at the human form next to her and frowned. Paul Wang's weak condition had her worried and she knew the knock on the head he'd received from the AI had not helped matters. Paul had been barely conscious when the AI"s had ushered the three marines into the ship and he had collapsed shortly after liftoff.

Hearing a rare conversation between the two AI's drift back from the cockpit, Vanessa realized they must be nearing their destination. With her right foot Phoose gently nudged Shane awake.

"Shane," She whispered,"We're stopping."

"Huh?" Vansen muttered sleep still claiming her senses, "Where are we?"

"I think we're about to find out." Phoose replied softly.

"Phoose," Paul whispered struggling into a sitting position, "Am I seeing things or is that the Bacchus?"

USS Franklin Roosevelt
Chig Territory
June, 2065
When Nathan arrived in the Ops room he found it was standing room only. The sea of pilots caused a small wave of fear to race up his spine. In his year spent on the Roosevelt Nathan had never seen this many squadrons assembled at one time. It could only mean something very bad had happened and that they were about to make a major strike against the Chigs. Nathan leaned against the right wall, near the door, positioning himself so he could see the center of the room. He noticed Oakes enter through the opposite door and cross over to the Commodore.

The Roosevelt's Commodore, Lucas Grey didn't even have to speak to get the crowd's attention. As soon as he stepped forward the hub of conversation instantly came to a stop, all eyes focused on their commanding officer. The Commodore was average height and build with close cut red hair that was beginning to show a few strands of silver. He was clean shaven and sharp blue eyes looked out from behind a pair of gold wire rimmed glasses.

"Earth has suffered a lot of losses in this War," Grey began his voice tinged with a soft Irish accent, "I'm afraid we have a tough one to add to the list. We just received word that less than an hour ago we lost the USS Valley Forge. I know a few of you had family members or close friends on board and I'm sorry to say there were no survivors."

Nathan could feel the shock waves that ricochetted through the crowd. Even though they tried to be tough, nothing phases us Marines Nathan noticed that more than a few bowed their heads.

"What's our plan of attack, Sir?" Nathan asked after allowing a few moments of respectful silence.

The Commodore met Nathan's gaze and seemed to hesitate a moment before saying, "The Saratoga will be rendezvousing with us in under three hours. As soon as he heard of the news Commodore Ross had most of the Saratoga's squadron's out on runs in the area of space where the Valley Forge was destroyed. They unfortunately didn't find any Chig squadrons in the area, but they did find something very interesting. Computers were able to pick up a large energy trail indicating that our enemy has come up with a new and terrifying weapon."

Grey held up his hand seeing the reaction of his crew, "Now before you all start asking permission to go racing after this thing listen to what I have to say. We have no idea what we're going after. The findings from the Saratoga are preliminary at best. When the Saratoga arrives we'll pool our information, then and only then will we set up a plan of attack. I do promise you this, we will find whatever was responsible for the demise of the Valley Forge and make them pay dearly."

"All squadron leaders see Colonel Oakes for assignments, everyone else is dismissed."