The Price of Peace   von chelle76
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                            Kapitel 28: Covert Ops
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I DO NOT own Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs or Sei Jushi Bismarck, they are
owned by their respective animation companies.

The Price of Peace
Chapter 27: Covert Ops

"I just can't seem to get this!" Alex groans in frustration as he stops to catch
his breath.

"Keep trying, Alex. This could mean saving your wife and child," Saber replies
as he comes at him with a stick again.

Alex blocks, but is still grazed by the attack, "I'm too slow," he gripes.

"You won't get any sympathy from him, Alex. He was just as hard on me," Amanda
says as she comes out to the practice area carrying a couple bottles of water.
"It's why he's a good teacher."

They take a break and walk over to Amanda, both take the bottles and down them
quickly. Amanda looks to Alex and smiles. "He never claimed it would easy to
learn, but I know you can do it. I can see one thing you're doing is like I was,
you're too stiff. Hold the stick loosely, then your hands don't hurt as much
when you hit something," she says.

"You talk like it's easy to fight like this," Alex retorts.

Amanda laughs, "Not hardly. Would you rather fight me?" she asks, her expression
serious. Alex looks at her in shock and Saber goes to protest but she holds a
hand up to stop him. "I wouldn't go as hard as you do, Saber. Perhaps going
slower through the motions would help him get used to the movements better. I'm
not an invalid, and I'd be careful. I will not risk harming the children,"
Amanda states.

Saber ceases his objection but looks her over carefully. "I am not opposed to
you showing him how to do this, I just worry that he could accidentally hurt
you," he replies quietly. "Although I know better than to try and stop you if
you have made up your mind."

"Could you find me some gear? I swear to you, I will be careful. You can stay
here and watch. If it seems that I'm putting myself into danger, or you think
I've over done it, tell me and I'll stop. Fair enough?" she asks.

Saber nods hesitantly, "Fair enough. I'll go see what I can find for you to
wear. Don't let yourself get dehydrated, all right?"

Amanda nods and Saber heads off to find her some protective gear. Alex stands
there is shock. "You two can't be serious!" he finally says after Saber has
left.

Amanda looks to him and shrugs, "Afraid of being beaten by a girl?" she taunts.

Alex laughs and shakes his head, "That's not my objection. I don't want to hurt
you or your children. I don't have good control yet," he replies. "If I was beat
by you in your present state, I know I'd get teased mercilessly."

"So don't let me beat you," she says simply as Saber returns with some gear and
several bottles of water in a bag.

"Elaine is not pleased about this. Thomas practically had to restrain her to
keep her from coming out here," Saber says with a hint of amusement, plopping
the bag onto a bench.

Amanda grins, "Well, I won't do anything to hurt myself or the children, I know
how to block." She looks to Alex, "Do you?"

"I am learning," Alex replies. "It's not quite the same as hand to hand."

"No, it isn't," Amanda says as she takes one of the two sticks and hands Alex
the other one. He reluctantly takes it and she immediately swings at him,
hitting him in the ribs.

"Ow!" Alex protests.

"I told you to learn to block."

"I wasn't ready."

"Do you think an enemy is going to wait for you to be ready?" Amanda asks as she
starts another attack.

Alex manages to block it, only getting his fingers hit. He goes to parry the
attack and is blocked and she taps his head.

"Don't let your guard down."

"You're worse than Saber," Alex says and Saber starts laughing. Alex proceeds to
try and attack Amanda, she fends off his onslaught, but has to put forth a bit
more effort.

This goes on several minutes before Amanda hits him with a solid shot and they
break for water. "You're doing a little better, Alex," Amanda says as she sits
down on the bench. Saber hands her a water and she starts sipping it.

"Are you okay?" Alex asks.

Amanda nods. "Yeah, but I think I'm done. I don't want to over do it," she
replies.

Alex nods. "I think I have a better idea of what to do now, at least. I was
trying to mimic your movements somewhat," he says.

"Good. That is what I was hoping. I made myself slow down some, so that you
could see what I was doing. But I wasn't going to cut you much slack. Saber was
merciless with me when he was teaching me, and he couldn't see at that point. Of
course what I've learned from him has become very useful in saving both of our
lives," Amanda says as she drinks some more of the water.

"Do you think you're ready to fight me again, Alex?" Saber asks.

Alex chuckles, "You ask as if I get a choice in the matter."

"I suppose you could say no, but then you might run into trouble when you go to
fight the Tirpitz. The Bismarck has a second challenge phase that uses a sword
as its' primary weapon. You don't have to be completely proficient, but having
some idea of how to properly wield one would help," Saber replies.

"Well, I'm as ready as I'm going to be, sir," Alex says as he sets his empty
water bottle down and picks up his stick.

Saber nods and they move back to the open practice area and he quickly begins
his attack. Alex manages to block and parry a few of the attacks, faring much
better than his first attempt. "It seems you did learn a bit from Amanda. Good
to see that," Saber says as he lands a blow. Alex cringes, but tries harder to
block and nearly lands a hit. They continue for nearly half an hour before Saber
calls break.

Alex returns to the bench and gratefully takes the water offered to him by
Amanda and plops down on the ground drenched in sweat. "How often did you do
this?" he asks her nearly out of breath.

"I don't think you want the answer to that, Alex," Amanda replies fighting to
hide her amusement.

"Yes, I do actually," he replies.

"Well, some days we started at dawn, and would go until dusk, only taking water
and meal breaks," Amanda replies.

Alex's eyes widen in shock. "You would go at this that long?"

Amanda nods, "And sometimes we'd get up the next day and start again."

Alex groans, "I don't know how you can do that."

Amanda chuckles, "I'm not as old as you are," she says with a smirk.

Alex throws his empty bottle at her and laughs. "Not funny."

Amanda catches the bottle and tosses it back at him, "Well, in a way, it's the
truth isn't it? Five years can mean a big difference in agility."

"She's right, Alex. I don't think she meant in to be mean, she was teasing you,
but what she says has some truth to it," Saber says. Alex goes to comment, but
Saber continues, "We also don't have the luxury of time here. I worked with her
for a week just on how to hold the stick. It was nearly a month before I let her
hold a practice sword. So to be fair, you are being given a bit more of a crash
course than she was."

"Well, that makes me feel a little better," Alex says with a smile. "At least
I'm able to block some of the attacks now."

Saber nods, "You have improved, I just hope it's enough. Shall we try again?"

"Sure," Alex replies getting up and they head back to the practice area.

"Okay, I think I've finally got a fix on the Tirpitz, father," April says
causing the commander to look up from his computer.

He gets up and comes and looks over her shoulder. "An abandoned asteroid?" he
asks curiously.

"It could be an Outrider base," April replies while hitting a series of keys.
"I'm trying to use one of the nearby satellites to run a scan of the asteroid.
Then we should be able to see what all is actually on that chunk of rock."

"Could you pull up a live video feed?" he asks.

She shakes her head in reply, "No. At least not with the satellites that are
there now. We could send Fireball or Colt out to one of the satellites and have
them install a camera, but that would probably be noticed by someone nearby."

"Well, just knowing what all is on that asteroid could help us decide what we
need to do."

"Give me another minute or two and I should be able to get us an infrared image
scan," April says as she hits a series of buttons and an image comes up on her
screen. At first it's rather fuzzy, but then the pixels smooth out. "It's a base
of some sort. It's not huge, but it's substantial enough to be a problem." She
looks over a few more images and gasps. "I think I know where the nukes are,"
April says quietly.

The commander turns and looks at the screen and pales, "They're putting them on
the Tirpitz."

"So does she think she's going to just waltz back to Calvary Command and then
obliterate it?" April asks aloud.

"Something like that does seem plausible."

"We need to get back to Saber's and discuss what we've found out," April says
quietly.

"Yes, I am interested on his take of this. Can you save the images to a
DataDrive?" the commander asks.

"Got it now," she replies as she disconnects the drive and holds it up before
placing it in her pocket. " Let's get the boys and head out."

"Ms. Elaine, this dinner is wonderful," Alex says between bites.

"I'm glad you like it, sir. I know they've pushed you rather hard today," Elaine
replies.

"I only pushed him a little," Amanda protests. "Enough to give him a chance to
defend himself against Saber," she adds with a smile.

"Yeah, I still feel some of those pushes," Alex says rubbing the back of his
head.

Saber chuckles, "At least she didn't draw blood, Alex."

There is a knock at the kitchen door and Saber immediately heads for the back
stairwell, his hand on his sword. Elaine goes and cautiously opens the door.
"Oh, good evening, commander," she says as she steps aside to allow the four
visitors in.

"We didn't want to be seen just yet, so we came the back way," the commander
says in reply to the curious glances cast to him from Alex and Amanda. "We need
to talk. We have some new information."

"Let's go to our room then," Saber suggests coming from the back stairwell. "The
soldiers in the sitting room won't see us then." Amanda and Alex get up and
start for the stairs. "I'm assuming we are still dead at this point, since you
took care to come in the back way?" Saber asks quietly as they enter his and
Amanda's bedroom, closing the door after everyone has entered.

The commander nods, "Technically, yes. There are a few people who know
otherwise, but they have been instructed to act accordingly."

April comes over and hands the DataDrive to Saber, "All of you need to see
this."

Saber takes it and nods. He boots up his computer and inserts the drive. After
entering his password, the images of the base appear on the screen. He sees the
base, then realizes that the Tirpitz is there. "Are those the stolen weapons
that are being loaded on to the Tirpitz?" The commander nods grimly and Saber
sighs. "This is worse than we thought then," he states quietly.

"So the Outriders plan to basically use the ship as a huge nuclear bomb?" Amanda
asks.

"So it seems," the commander replies quietly.

"But if they load all of those onto the Tirpitz, they don't even have to get
onto the ground to do a lot of damage. They could just get into the atmosphere
and set it off and millions would die," Amanda says in shock.

"Yes, and with no one knowing that the rest of the crew save Ms. Kawamura and
Alex are dead, she could conceivably get close enough to do just that," Saber
says. "And we can't get close enough to that base to blow it up where it is
now."

"At least not without alerting the Outriders to the face we're onto where
they're hiding," Colt states.

Everyone is silent for several minutes each wrapped up in their own thoughts.
"Hey, we still have that fighter, don't we?" Alex asks looking to the
commander.

"Yes, and the uniform," the commander replies. "Why?"

"Well, one of you could dress up like an Outrider and have me as your prisoner
and we take the fighter back to the base." Fireball goes to interrupt, but Alex
holds up a hand and continues, "You could say that you broke off to follow
another fighter that split from the group and shot it down. You went searching
for the pilot and captured me. That it took a few days to find me and get me
back there. It's believable. There was total chaos when they went after Gabby.
They think all of you are have been blown up, so they wouldn't be looking for
you. Then if someone did notice me splitting off, it's explained and they should
be less suspicious. They know the other two are dead."

"Okay, but what would you do once you were on the base?" The commander asks.

"We plant some sort of explosives on the ship to rig it to blow once we've
escaped. Or possibly some on the nukes themselves. They're old, so I doubt they
are extremely stable. It shouldn't take much to set them off. We could
conceivably take out the base and be rid of the nukes all at once."

"And what if you're caught before you can escape?" Amanda asks.

"Then we have a predetermined time frame allowed before someone sets them off
remotely and I guess we die too," Alex replies with little emotion. "It would be
worth two lives to save countless others, would it not?"

The others all look at each other with uncertainty. "He's right," Saber finally
says with a sigh. "Logistically speaking, the plan is a good one. I don't like
some of the possible outcomes, but it makes sense. I don't see any other real
way to get anyone that close to the base."

"We need to find someone that Ms. Kawamura is unfamiliar with to take you, Mr.
Mackenzie," the commander states.

"What?" several people say at once.

"Simple. If we send you back as a prisoner out of the blue, they might get
suspicious. Ms. Kawamura may focus on our current people and possibly recognize
one of you and blow the entire plan open before you have a chance to set the
explosives." April and Saber go to interject and he gives them both a look to
silence them. "I say we pull someone from the back up crew of the Tirpitz. They
have received most of the same training as Alex, so they would be better than a
typical cadet. Also, they typically did not associate with the crew that was
chosen, so she should have very little chance of recognizing one of them as
easily as they could one of you. The down side is that we have to choose soon
and base it off of what you already know of the candidates from their files. We
would have to update them on some of the information, not necessarily all of it.
They would know that Mr. Mackenzie is alive, but I don't see where they would
have to know about any of you, especially if I only have them sent to the
outpost."

Saber nods, "You make a valid point, sir. Of course you would have to
acknowledge the danger that the soldier would be placing himself in. If they are
not willing to make such a sacrifice, we would then need someone else in a
hurry."

"Each of you knew the dangers of joining up with Calvary Command when you joined
our ranks. Some of you have faced that danger on several occasions. It is a risk
that comes with being a soldier. I am not at this point willing to continue
risking the same group of people every time we have something come up. The
soldier chosen will be briefed when they arrive. Perhaps we should pick two, on
the chance that our first choice tries to back out of their duty. I know that it
is a lot to ask, but each person here has already done more than their share of
sacrifice. This will be their chance to prove themselves, just as each of you
has," the commander replies. "Now, I am going to go and contact General
Whitehawk. He needs to know what is going on. Perhaps he can return under the
ruse of funeral preparations. I'll be in my room." He stands up and quietly
leaves. The others looking amongst themselves, no one sure what to say.

"I'd go," Fireball says breaking the silence. "I understand the risks." April
goes to protest and he shakes his head, "I can think quickly and adapt better
than someone that hasn't done this before. I don't think we should send someone
out with Alex that is inexperienced."

"But Fireball, we just got married. We're finally building a life together,"
April protests, her voice breaking slightly.

He looks at her, his eyes meeting hers and sighs placing a hand on her shoulder,
"That's why I am determined to come back. I have someone worth doing this for. I
am also the most physically able of the rest of us and can pilot most anything,
so I could steal a ship to get us out of there if I needed to. I plan on both of
us making it back alive. To me, failing is not an option."

"I'm not sure that you could convince my father to let you go, Fireball," April
says quietly. "Not that I'm exactly thrilled about this, but I can tell I'm not
going to be able to talk you out of this."

"So you understand?" he asks hesitantly.

She nods, blinking back the tears she feels forming. "Yeah. But I still don't
like it."

"What is it you understand?" Commander Eagle says as he enters the room with
General Whitehawk behind him.

She looks to Fireball and to the others before returning her gaze to her father,
"Why Fireball wants to be the one to go with Alex," she replies.

The commander looks to Fireball, "I thought that I made my feelings rather clear
on the matter."

"You did, sir," Fireball replies. "However, I feel that I would be the best
person to go with him. This being his first real mission, he should have an
experienced person to rely on, not another person with even less experience than
he has. I have gone undercover among the Outriders before. I feel that I can
blend in, and as I just told the others, I am also capable of flying just about
anything, so I'd have the best shot of getting us out of there if things go
bad."

Commander Eagle goes to protest when the general speaks up, "His points are
valid, Charles. I know you have more personal reasons for him to not go, but if
he is willing, and knows the risks, I feel that he is correct in stepping up to
go on the mission."

Commander Eagle looks to each of the people in the room, trying to read their
expressions he finally sighs in resignation, "I can see that the rest of you
agree with his statement, so I suppose I won't try and argue the point."

"Fireball makes a valid argument, sir," Saber says. "Even though it pains me to
say it, I feel he is correct. I don't like knowing the risks that either of them
are taking, but I see the bigger picture and know that they are acting for the
greater good."

General Whitehawk nods, "I agree with you. I think we need to do this as quickly
as possible. The longer we wait, the more likely to raise suspicion."

"Um, where do we get the explosives, sir?" Alex asks.

"We have everything we need at the outpost, Mr. Mackenzie," the commander
replies. "When are we to leave?"

Fireball takes April's hand and squeezes it for a moment then nods, "I say we
leave now. We could be on our way in about an hour then." He turns to Alex who
nods.

"I'm ready," Alex says with more certainty than he feels.

Fireball nods and hugs April tightly, "I'll be back, I promise," he whispers
into her ear. She nods and he reluctantly releases him and he turns to the
commander. "Ready, sir."

They take the back stairs out to the kitchen and quietly leave for the outpost.

"Okay, Alex. I may have to be a bit rough on you when we arrive at the base, so
I apologize now," Fireball says as they cruise towards the Outrider base.

"No problem. I've already taken a good beating today from Saber and Amanda," he
replies quietly, eliciting a chuckle from Fireball.

"Glad to know you can take some force. Now, my story is going to be that my
communicator is busted, that's why I haven't reported since I left. I purposely
left my com-link at the outpost, so that it doesn't suddenly go off. You've got
your explosives, right?" Alex nods. "Good. So do I. Do you have any other
questions before we get too close to talk?"

"Not that I can think of. I just hope this goes better than the last plan."

"So do I. And I will do everything I can to make sure that both of us make it
back alive."

They fly the rest of the way in silence. Upon landing, they are met by armed
Outriders. Fireball leads Alex out at gunpoint and the apparent leader of the
other soldiers approaches him. "What are you doing? This is a secured area!"

"I caught one that tried to get away and warn the humans of the plan, sir,"
Fireball replies, poking Alex a bit with the gun.

"So our scanners were correct about a second ship. Why did it take you so long
to return?" the leader asks suspiciously.

"I had to find him after I shot him down, sir. I would have called it in, but
the communicator is busted. He got a few shots on me before I got him," Fireball
replies.

The leader looks Fireball over carefully and after several minutes he nods,
"Take him to the brig with the other human. We can decide what to do with both
of them later. We can use the help loading the cargo into their ship."

"Yes sir," Fireball replies. He then shoves Alex forward, "Get moving human or
you won't live to see your companion."

Alex stumbles forward and the pair head towards the complex. They are just
inside when they are stopped by another Outrider. "Another human?" Fireball
nods. "I just knocked the other one out. She talked too much. I'll go and toss
this one in another cell. You head back and help with the cargo."

"I was ordered to deliver him myself, sir," Fireball says.

"I outrank that no good hustler out there. You do as I tell you!"

"Of course, sir," Fireball replies and goes to forcefully pass Alex to him.

Alex stumbles forward and trips the Outrider, sprawling to the ground and he
grabs the gun. Fireball fires it and stuns the guard. They quickly take him
towards the cells and Alex swaps clothes with him and tosses him in the darkest
cell. He glances over and sees Erika badly beaten and opens the door to her
cell. "If you can move on your own, we've unlocked your cell, the rest is up to
you. Come with us if you want," he says quietly and the two grab their
explosives and head towards the docking area. They separate and start stacking
crates and such near some of the weapons that are being prepped for loading and
they casually start placing explosives among the cargo, trying their best to be
inconspicuous.

After nearly hour, Alex is helping to load some of the crates onto the Tirpitz.
He starts casually looking around and places a couple of small explosives in the
circuitry of the ship. He is leaving the ship when he is approached by one of
the guards.

"What were you doing wandering around the ship?"

"Just looking at how human ships differ from ours, sir," Alex replies as
casually as he can.

The guard eyes him suspiciously and starts for his gun. Alex makes to run when
the guard is suddenly hit from behind and falls to the floor of the ramp.

"Run!" Erika says holding a pipe and nods towards the landing docks.

"Let's go!" Fireball says as he runs up from the opposite direction, guards
firing at him from behind.

They break for the landing docks and see a couple ships. One is being worked on,
so they rush to the other one. Suddenly they realize they are being shot at and
they split up trying to draw fire away from one place. "I'll head for the
controls. Try and close the ramp quickly!" Fireball calls as he continues
towards the control bridge.

Just as the ramp is closing Alex is nearly shot. Erika catches up and shoves him
further into the ship and hits the button to close the ramp. He stumbles back
and the ramp closes. Looking down, he sees Erika bleeding from her neck and
stomach.

Fireball takes off and Alex slowly works his way to the bridge, covered in
blood.

Fireball looks over, "You were hit?"

"No," Alex replies quietly.

"Then what happened?"

"Erika saved me. She's on the floor near the ramp," he replies quietly. Fireball
casts a glance in the direction of the ramp. "I think she's gone. She managed to
close the ramp before she collapsed, I can't do anything else for her. I was
unable to find a med kit or anything." Alex finishes.

"Outriders don't need med kits. They just die if they are shot," Fireball says.
He glances at the screen and swears under his breath. "We've got company
coming."

Alex looks at the screen and groans. "Great. We have no clue what kind of
firepower this thing has either," he says. "Well, I think I found a few
weapons." He starts firing at the ships in pursuit, managing to hit a few of
them. "Well now we just have a couple dozen ships coming after us, instead of
nearly three dozen," he says sarcastically.

"They have to have better weapons than this damned cannon on here," Fireball
says as he continues towards the outpost. He hits his com-link, "Hey, this is
Fireball someone come in!"

"This is Saber, what's wrong?"

"We've gotten off the base, barely. We're in a transport ship of some kind, not
a lot of firepower and we're being pursued. I'm not sure how long we can hold
them off."

Silence on the other end for a minute, "We see you now on the screen, Fireball.
I can tell your ship from your com-link signals. That is helpful. We've sent up
some fighters, you should see them momentarily. Hopefully, that should give you
enough time to get back here."

After a few minutes, Fireball replies back, "We see them. They're starting to
make a dent. We're continuing to the outpost."

"Roger that, Fireball. See you soon."

The pair continue towards the outpost when several larger blips appear on their
screen. "What the?" Fireball asks. "Alex, can you get a fix on what just
appeared?"

"Trying to, sir," he replies as he hits several buttons. "Oh 're in a heap of
trouble."

"What?" Fireball asks.

"Three renegade units and the Tirpitz are coming. I'm not sure if we can make it
back or not."

"Damn," Fireball mutters. He hits the com-link, "Hey, we've got a problem,
rather four of them."

"I just pulled up the screen, Fireball. We're getting ready to send in the
Bismarck. Keep your heading, but don't venture into orbit."

"Got it, we'll go past there if we have to."

Saber closes the connection and looks to the others. "What now?" he asks. "You
can't launch with two people."

Amanda stands up and studies the screens. "You can see well enough right now,
can't you?" she asks turning to face Saber.

He nods hesitantly, "Fairly well, yes."

"You can pilot the ship?" He nods. "You just need someone to run nav, right? I
can do that." He immediately goes to protest and she places a finger on his
lips. "It's risk this or we risk all of our lives, Saber. Do I want to risk our
children or our lives? No. However, if by risking us few, we can potentially
save millions, at this moment, it is worth the risk. I feel that we can do it
and carefully. Perhaps we can draw the renegades close enough to the Tirpitz
that we can blow all of them up at once. But we would have to be out there to
try to do that, on the chance that the Bismarck would have to engage at least
one of the Renegade units."

"Amanda, I cannot in good conscience allow you to go out. I don't want to risk
you our unborn children," Saber says firmly.

"Who else can go that knows how to work your systems on such short notice?"
Amanda counters, her eyes meeting his.

Saber goes to say something several times, but stops himself each time. He looks
to April who shrugs, unable to come up with a valid argument.

"My father could go, but he's not trained on the systems, Saber. We could call
for one of the other four cadets, but that would take time that we don't have,"
April states apologetically. "I really can't come up with an argument against
what she's saying, as much as I really want to right now."

Commander Eagle looks between them, "Mr. Wilcox?"

Colt looks to all of them and shakes his head, "I'm with April on this. I don't
like it, but she's speaking a truth none of us want to hear."

"Perhaps you three should be the ones to go out, leaving her here. In theory,
you can work it with three, even in challenge phase one, correct?" the commander
asks April.

April nods hesitantly, "Theoretically, yes. However, the renegades have been
stronger, and we've needed challenge phase two to manage to overtake them. If
they have figured out the Tirpitz, and there is a chance that they have, then we
would surely need four people. We can't go on the assumption that we will be
able to get to Fireball and Alex before we are engaged. Personally, I'd rather
not see Saber or Amanda go out, but I feel that at this point in time, we don't
have another viable option," she finishes with an apologetic glance to Saber,
who is struggling to keep his composure.

"We're wasting time here. Let's just load up and go. Let them both go. They both
know the risks. They can sort out their difference in opinion later, if we
survive this. The longer we wait, the less likely it is," Colt says frustrated.

Saber sighs. "Fine. Let's go get suited up," he says without emotion. Amanda
flinches, but goes and changes into her suit which barely, fits without another
word.

"I'd hate to be Amanda right now. I think he's actually mad at her," Colt says
after they leave for their temporary quarters.

"It's not that he's mad Colt, he's worried. He's mad at the situation," April
replies as they head for their quarters to suit up.

Amanda finishes suiting up and Saber comes up behind her and places a hand
firmly on her shoulder. She flinches slightly but turns to face him. She starts
to speak and he shakes his head, "Don't, Love," he says barely a whisper. "If I
could have come up with a viable alternative, believe me, I would. I don't want
to be going back out, and I sure as Hell don't want you out there, but I know
that we are in this together. As soon as this is done, we will not do it again.
Alex will be available, as will Fireball." Amanda nods and he hugs her tightly
against him. "I'm not angry with you, I'm angry that we're in this situation,"
he adds quietly.

She looks up and nods, forcing back tears. "We'd better go," she says quietly.

He nods and places a hand on her belly and smiles, "Just barely able to wear
this aren't you?" he asks with a hint of amusement.

She nods and smiles weakly, "Another week and I wouldn't be able to. Then I
would have had to stay put."

He chuckles and releases her reluctantly, "Let's get going." They head back to
the commander's office just as Colt and April return.

Colt looks up and nods, seeing that they both look better than when they left
and grins.

"What?" Amanda asks.

"You just barely got into that suit," Colt says getting a glare from Amanda.

"Remember cowboy, I am armed," Amanda says with a smirk. "And hormonal," she
adds as an afterthought.

Colt chuckles, "Yes, ma'am. I'll remember that."

"Let's go," Saber says as he starts for the landing area.

The others follow him and load up into the Bismarck. Each person takes their
place. Saber looks around, acclimating himself with the different controls
before glancing to Amanda who nods. "I'm ready when you are, Saber," she says to
his unasked question.

He nods. "Let's do this and get it over with," he says as they head for the
ship.

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