"We're fine," Saka said. "Did you get all that paperwork done?"
"All done and submitted, at last. I appreciate all the help everyone gave me on it," Doggie said.
"The damned report was almost as much trouble as the ops themselves," the general said.
"What about notifying Delta Research?" Arie asked. "Do our wives know we're alive yet?"
"The Kratar op was so highly classified that until now we could not notify them," Doggie said. "But now it's been done. It was a one-liner - All Delta pers survived. Contact via Legion Hqs Veda 6. That's all they would let me send. But I think that's all they want to know. I couldn't say anything about the op. But we should be hearing from them soon. And they'll probably let us send censored replies."
"If the Director General of ConFree is going to announce the Kratar raid publicly, all this secrecy seems a bit excessive," I said.
Δ
When the Professor called the meeting, he did not give the process as much thought as he should have. He was busy, but he knew it was very important so he called all concerned to report to him immediately. They all arrived at about the same time in the outer alcove of his office: Ice, Lan Hwa, Honeyhair, Blondie, and General Huynh's wife, Golden Lotus. When they saw each other standing there, they knew immediately what the subject was. Ice turned cold and still. Lan Hwa began trembling and the tears rushed into her eyes. Honeyhair and Blondie gasped and both turned pale, then clutched each other in a fearful embrace. Golden Lotus's lovely face appeared to be carved from stone, but she approached and embraced Lan Hwa as if to protect her from whatever was to come.
"Come in, come in," the Prof said. "We have news from Delta at last. Let me read it to you." He didn't even glance at them. His attention was directed totally to the printout clutched in his hand. "It says 'All Delta pers survived. Contact via Legion Hqs Veda 6.' Isn’t that wonderful?" He looked up into their stricken faces, which immediately turned to joy as they gasped and fought back the tears and then let them go, tears of joy, Honeyhair and Blondie locked together in delight, Golden Lotus and Lan Hwa clutching each other like lovers, and Ice looking up to heaven with a sad smile and brushing her tears away.
"Oh goodness. I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the Prof said. "I should have prepared you for the good news. Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so thoughtless. But it's all good news! Everyone is all right! I don't know what they are doing on Veda, but there it is. They survived! All of them! It's the best possible news. There's no need to cry, please, I'm so sorry." A roomful of crying girls, he thought. What a disaster. You dummy!
Δ
"Snow Leopard. Wonderful to see you. Come in. Come in." The Director General of ConFree seemed a bit subdued as she guided Snow Leopard into a little alcove by the huge picture window with the spectacular view of Quaba City. They sat in airchairs around a small table that had a caddy with a choice of several different brands of dox.
"Have one, please," Tara said. The sky was cloudy but a faint morning glow settled over them. Snow Leopard was clad in his formal blacks. He appeared ageless, deathly pale flesh with straight white-blond hair, strange pink eyes and faint blue veins throbbing at his temples. Tara was also in black, hauntingly beautiful, mysterious Assidic eyes, pale brown flesh and long silky auburn hair. They opened their dox cups and the dox steamed and bubbled faintly, releasing faint musky scents of faraway worlds and a slow, easy lifestyle.
"Wonderful news, no?" Snow Leopard began. "Victory on Veda, victory on Dajusdevon and even reports that the D's are pulling out of Traunair."
"Yes. I've been crying for months. And I'm not through." She appeared – grim.
"You think too much."
"True. A great victory, true. I was just discussing it with Dragon. A splendid victory, one that should ensure greater security for ConFree, and a more peaceful life for our nationals. And for the galaxy. But look at the cost! I almost burst into tears at the latest Council meeting, announcing it to the peoples of ConFree. But that won’t do, will it? I'm the steel bitch, with a heart of stone. Everyone knows that, don't they? Well I'll tell you, Snow Leopard, I cry tears of acid. You tell them that, if anyone asks. Our casualties were unacceptable. Unacceptable! I'm going to be depending on you and your wizards, all of them, to come up with new weapons systems, from all those damned dead saucers, from all those enemy guns and armor. But most of all, I want those Bright weapons! Those lightning bolt battlefield superiority weapons. Those delta fighters. Both Demon and Bright autocombat starcraft systems. I want their A-suit armor, their A-suit shielding and I want to know why the B's don't have cloaking for their armor. I want to know everything about them. We might have to fight those folks one day and if it happened now, they'd kick our asses silly just like they kicked the D's asses. I want Fleetcom and the Legion both to rule the vac – invincible, indestructible, and terrifying. I want our enemies to tremble at the very mention of our name. I want you to get to work on that!"
"Yes ma'am," Snow Leopard said. "Any thoughts on the Kratar raid?"
"I'm going to tell the peoples of ConFree about it later today. It was brilliant. It was perfect. And the team that carried it out – holy warriors, on a suicide mission for their people. I can hardly believe they survived. And they return with the Brights, and the raid may have been the only reason the Brights intervened, and the Brights may have been the only reason we prevailed. We'll probably never know that. And the instant our guys drop onto Veda, they charge into that air raid shelter and rescue those doomed captives and kill forty D's. Deadman! Where do we find people like that?"
"They were just ordinary troopers. Keep that in mind."
"Yes. Yes. Just ordinary troopers. But if you walk through the Legion gate, you're not really ordinary, are you?"
"Well, you may have a point there."
"But the reason I called you here was about these people – Delta Research, as they're calling themselves."
"Right."
"I understand you have another prophet now from that group – another chronological viewing prospect, who carries the Dimension X factor in her brain after undergoing battlefield surgery by the Brights. The one, that Cyrillian they're calling the Black Angel."
"Exactly right. We've got four of them now."
"It's time to pull them all from Pandaravos. There's no reason to keep them there now. They belong here on Quaba."
"Agree."
"Make whatever arrangements you want. Just get them back here. I want them to concentrate entirely on looking into the future, and reporting actionable intelligence. No more insane combat missions for these folks. They're too valuable for that. They've had only two actionable visions so far, but look at what they gave us – a big victory on Galinta, and another brilliant victory on Veda, destroying the first D air attack. I want to see more of those little glimpses into the future. Each one saves lives. Lots of lives. I want more!"
"You'll get it."
"Who are these people anyway?"
"I told you. Ordinary troopers."
"Well. Our ordinary Legion troopers are damned extraordinary, I'll say that."
"Yes. It's that good Legion training."
'There's one more thing I have for you."
"Sure."
"The Brights. This is really frustrating. They save our butts. Twice. And the last time was a very major operation, even for them, I believe. Why? I've read the after action reports from the Delta team, and their speculation. But it isn't satisfying. Why? They drop in, kick Demon ass, and pull out. Not a word to us. They hardly spoke to Delta, and appeared to have no interest in communicating with us, the folks that they rescued from the D's. They just acted."
"Actions speak louder than words."
"True. But these are very valuable – invaluable – allies to have. And they would make very, very dangerous adversaries. They could probably enslave the galaxy, if they wanted to. While you're working on duplicating the Bright weapons, I want you to also devise a plan to contact the Brights, and communicate with them, and express our thanks
for their actions, and enlist them as allies or at least friendlies, if possible."
"You know, if you're top dog, you don't have to communicate with the locals. We didn't communicate with the locals when we intervened on Galinta. We just acted, and didn’t give a damn for what the local totalitarian thugs wanted. Maybe that partially explains it."
"Yes. Maybe. And in addition to that, they don’t talk, they just think. I guess that would make communication with the local retards somewhat difficult."
"Yeah. Also they probably looked around here and saw no signs of intelligent life. I agree with them on that. I've said that many times."
"All right, Snow Leopard. But now we've got these Delta Research folks, with Dimension X in their brains. And they have communicated with the Brights. So that's another mission for them. Work their tails off, Snow Leopard. I want Delta Research to become the most advanced psychic institute in the galaxy. And I want it kept at the cosmic secret level. Not a word about what they are doing. Just get it done."
"Yes sir! Will Thinker stay in charge of it?"
"Yes, but not day to day operations. I want him to oversee it, but I'm impressed by this Professor fellow – what’s his name, Surinto. He's done a spectacular job. Promote him to Commander and have him continue to run Delta Research, but report to Thinker."
"Will do. Yes, I agree. He's an amazing guy."
"Just an ordinary Legion trooper, right?"
"Just an ordinary trooper, right."
"Well thank Deadman for ordinary troopers. Keep me in the loop on your progress."
"Will do. Bless you, Tara."
She silently traced a Legion cross in the air before his face, and they ended the meeting.
THE END
Glossary
Principal Worlds
Name
Sector
Aligned
Alana
Crista
ConFree
Alphard/Oasis
Inners
UMC
Alshana
Gassies
Gassies C
Andrion 2
Outvac
ConFree
Andrion 3
Outvac
ConFree
Angaroth
Gulf
Pegal Stelcom
Aran
Crista
ConFree
Ardoth
Inners
Ind
Asumara
Gulf
Asumara HC
Augusta
Outvac
ConFree
Auraga
Crista
ConFree
Berichros
Inners
Dark Cloud A
Calgoran 2
Inners
PPDD
Camelora 7
Outvac
ConFree
Capella
Crista
ConFree
Coldmark
Gassies
PherdanFed
Cyrilia
Inners
Ind
Dajusdevon 5
Inners
AC
Dardos
Inners
Ind
Dindabai
Outvac
ConFree
Drusweaven
Gassies
Ind
Eiros 4
Inners
HyadFed
Elidos
Inners
HyadFed
Eugarat
Crista
ConFree
Galgos
Gassies
Gassies C
Guarados
Crista
ConFree
Hell
Crista
ConFree
Kalalan
Nulls
N/A
Kratar
MidHaven
Demons
Katag 2
Gassies
HyadFed
Korkush
Crista
ConFree
Kotazh
Gulf
Pegal Stelcom
Luyten
Inners
UMC
Magna 4
Crista
ConFree
Marala 5
Outvac
ConFree
Mica 3
Crista
ConFree
Monaro
Gassies
Gassies C
Mongera
Gassies
Ind
Nimbos
Gulf
Gulf Union
Orm
Inners
UMC
Pandaravos 8
Inners
AC
Picos
Inners
Dark Cloud A
Pherdos
Gassies
PherdanFed
Pleiades
Inners
Pleiades A
Quaba 7
Crista
ConFree
Quatar 8
Gassies
Ind
Santos
Gulf
Ind
Sarana
Crista
ConFree
Sirrah
Inners
Ind
Sol
Inners
UMC
Spartos
Inners
PPDD
Tanami 7
Gulf
Ind
Traunair
Deep
Omni Swarm
Uldo 4
Gassies
Ind
Veda 6
Outvac
ConFree
Veltros/Womb
Crista
ConFree
Veronica 2
Crista
ConFree
Vezhedak
MidHaven
Brights
Yida
Gulf
Gulf Union
Zequord 3
Inners
BPSA
KEY
AC - Assid Confederation
Asumara HC - Asumara Holy Commune
BPSA - Biogen People's Solidarity Accord
ConFree - Confederation of Free Worlds
Dark Cloud A - Dark Cloud Alliance
Gassies C - Gassies Coalition
Ind – Independent
Pherdan Fed - Pherdan Federation
PPDD - People's Progressive Democratic Distributive
Pegal Stelcom - People's Egalitarian Stellar Commune
Pleiades A - Pleiades Association
Santos Free - Santos Free State
UMC - United Mocain Coalition
Also by Marshall S. Thomas
Soldier of the Legion
March of the Legion
Slave of the Legion
Secret of the Legion
Cross of the Legion
Curse of the Legion
www.soldierofthelegion.com