The Firekka Triumph

Previous Entry: Upsilon Wing (Charon System - Border Zone)

We'd saved our feathered friends from the Kilrathi, but we'd paid a heavy price. We had all lost friends.

Bossman was dead, killed by the Imperial Guard while flying on Angel's wing. Spirit's fiance had been captured by the enemy. Hunter had lost a brother, a Marine who died on the assault on the war priestesses. Maniac was back in sick bay, and no one expected him to ever return to active duty again. Angel had left the Tiger's Claw to command the fighter wings on the TCS Austin.

I really didn't know where I stood. Colonel Halcyon had said he wanted me to command the wings on the carrier after he left to work at Tactical Command. He hadn't left yet, and I hadn't heard anything since the fighting had stopped.

One of the most difficult moments during the campaign on Firekka came up during a conversation with Iceman. I could never track down the source of the information, but he mentioned the possibility that we had traitors aboard the carrier, and he didn't mean the Kilrathi who had been granted asylum by the Confederation.

I couldn't even fathom the possibility. How could any Terrans align themselves with the alien race that had destroyed a quarter-million lives on Goddard Colony? History has shown only three reasons that people become traitors: sex, money, and idealism. I couldn't imagine the first or last as a reason, so money must have been the motive. It made me wonder about the future.

We reached the Vega System and settled in for what Halcyon called "routine patrol duty." It would prove to be anything but routine, and would create drastic changes in my career in the TCSN.

Next Entry: Vengeance of the Kilrathi