Tobias poked his head into the lab. It was like the first time he had seen the inside of a lab Kaitlyn had worked in. Equipment of various sorts and purposes were scattered to the four winds. Machines ran endless calculations and technicians watched them, ready to correct any flaw that came up. He slowly walked his way through the chaos and up to where Myst and Kaitlyn were working. "I dunno," Myst said. "The rail gun is a power weapons system. But the controls on the hand one are difficult to use, even for me. It's amazing Tobias can use it."
"I know that," Kaitlyn responded. "We need to restructure the control mechanism if we're going to make these on a larger scale."
Tobias peered over their shoulders. "Whatcha workin' on?"
Myst looked over his shoulder. He flashed a feline grin. "Just a little upgrade to your rail gun." He moved aside so he could see the blue prints. "These are my initial designs for the vehicle issue rail gun." He looked at it. "Only problem is, we can't figure out a couple of things."
"Like?"
"Well, for one thing - I guess you heard - the controls."
"Yes," Kaitlyn said. She brought forth the rail gun Tobias had used in the Lone Wolf War. "You're the only one who knows how to work the control mechanism on this thing, almost as if it was built for your use only." She looked at the control panel. "We have no idea which control does what."
"Well, did it ever occur to you to ask me?"
Myst smirked. "That was the last resort. We know how busy you are."
"Well, this is a little more important, don't you think?"
He laughed. "Yeah...you're right. Think you can help us?'
"Of course."

The mess hall was another memory for him. He remembered the first time he'd seen the inside of one. As a matter of fact, he was being treated in the same way. He had an entire table to himself. He sat quietly as he munched away at his meal. He heard a little muffled cursing. He looked up and smirked. Once again, Crash was having problems finding a place to sit. Finally, he came upon the table. "Hey Tobias. This seat taken?" he asked.
"Of course not," he responded. "Have a seat." Crash quickly complied. "How are things going?"
"Slowly. Isthus left nothing to get in our way. Hack figured out that the ships he used to get to Earth were retrofitted with illegal engines. But other than that, nothing."
"Nothing? Not even the occasional poker game?"
"Nah...we fell out of that loop when we were captured by Isthus." He sighed. "As much as I don't want to admit it, it was a good time. I mean, we had something to do, and I got to see Kaitlyn, Swift, and Samantha naked to boot!"
Swift, who had walked up just in time to hear that comment, slapped him upside the head. "Pig." She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I didn't think you cared that much." She sat down. "How have things been?"
"Well, it's been three weeks," Tobias said. "Nothing's happened." He chuckled. "I've been thinking of opening up a karaoke bar."
Swift smirked. "Karaoke...sound torture."
"You mean you guys know what it is?"
"Unfortunately," Crash said. "It's real torture."
"Ah well. So much for that idea."
"How about a strip club?"
"Ha!" Swift said. "There is no way in hell you'd get me into a slinky outfit like that just for the purpose of taking it off!"
He grinned. "You know, I can get your clothes off another way!" She giggled.
"Well, we gotta think of something. Otherwise, we're going to have problems of the stir crazy kind."
"Understood. Have you asked Samantha yet?"
"I haven't. Don't forget. We're supposed to be on our honeymoon."
"Indeed." Crash smirked. "So...have ya boinked her since we left?"
"Nope." He smirked. "At least I have the option, buddy."
Crash muttered his response.
"C'mon Crash!" Swift said. "Don't be so down!" She kissed his cheek. "You might just get lucky, ya know?"
Tobias smiled. "Such a wonderful thought, isn't it?"
Swift looked at him carefully. "Don't try to picture me naked," she said knowingly. "You're married, don't forget." He laughed and shook his head. "Oh, and by the way, I finished my check on Bomber."
"And?"
"Latent psychic abilities. I'm not sure exactly what we're working with, though." She looked at Crash and smiled. She then turned to Tobias again and looked into his eyes....

They found themselves in the deep recesses of his mind. It had calmed down a lot since she was last in there. In fact, it was as cozy as it was when they were in Isthus' clutches. Swift laughed as she pounced Tobias, knocking him onto a soft, fluffy mattress. He chuckled. "I think you have something else in mind other than molesting my mind," he said.
"Well, maybe. If I tell you, can I continue my molestation?"
"Sure."
She straddled him. "Well, I wasn't being entirely true about Bomber."
"How so?"
She grew serious right away. "I remember Vu and Shivana saying something about you being a potential time bomb with the energy that you used to open the portal to our planet from Earth." She sighed. "It's something similar with Bomber."
"So they got his nickname right on the dot?"
"Exactly. I'm going to start training him to harness and regularly use the energy. Otherwise...." She mimicked an explosion with her hands.
"I see. Well, I trust in your abilities.
She smiled. "Thanks." She leaned in and kissed him deeply. The kiss lasted only a few moments. But when she broke it and sat up, he quickly realized she was completely in the nude...

Tobias blinked. He looked at Swift and smirked. The whole incident seemed to last longer than the few seconds it did. "So we're going to have to arrange something for everyone to do," he said, trying not to get Crash suspicious. "Maybe use some of the empty decks and establish some better recreational facilities than the ones we have."
"Yes," a soft voice said. "That'd be nice." A young kitsune stepped up to the table, her multiple tails dragging behind her. "Is it okay if I sit here?"
"Go ahead, Stephanie," Tobias said. She jerked back at his words, probably amazed that he remember her name, and sat down. "So you like the idea of deck sized rec centers?"
"It'd provide more of a challenge than some of the other 'activities' in the built-in centers." She smiled. "It'd be great if I could play a decent game of Go."
He nodded. "If you can get me all the schematics I need, I'll set it up."
She smiled. "Of course, Tobias. What do you need?"
"A layout of our empty decks and the designs for any and all rec and sport areas you can scrape up. Fair enough?"
"Yes."
"Good. Have them on my desk when you can."
"I will..." She hesitated. "Sir."
He smiled. "Very well." He put his fork down. "So how are things with you?"

*******

"Movement?!" Terry growled. "What do you mean we've got movement?!" He pounded away at the control panel, trying to figure out what the hell was going on up on the surface.
"Sara's right," Shivana said. "There is a large group of unidentified forces moving on Washington DC." She read a report on one of the screens nearby. "From what the read-out says, they're a small, fifty man group that just appeared out of nowhere. That's all that preliminary scans are telling us."
"Defense 'bot unit one is on standby and ready for launch," Vu said. "Sara, what are we dealing with here?"
"Heavily armored units," Sara reported. "Their armor rating is near perfection in comparison to Earth weaponry. If they're shot with missiles, they might be taken out. Armaments include some standard issue laser weapons that would tear through Earthen armors." She beeped. "Odd. I'm detecting a human essence to the entire lot."
"What?!" Terry shouted. "Mallory, isolate and scan one of the unidentified units."
"On it," she responded, turning to a keyboard. She tapped away wildly and watched a screen. A single trooper was isolated and scanned. "Standard issue Raider laser rifle and body armor. So it's definitely the bad guys. Continuing scan." She watched the screen as it peeled away the layer of armor. "Fuck." She turned away and started working on another keyboard. "Sara, how long would it take to retrofit the defense 'bots for high caliber stun weaponry?"
"Five minutes."
"Do it."
"What's up, Mallory?" Vu asked.
"The human essence is there because beneath those armored shells are human beings."
"Fuck," Terry growled.

*******

The army was in panic. Thousands of troops had been mobilized around Washington DC in response to the sudden appearance of unidentified assault battalion approaching the city. Huge armored tanks lumbered their way into a protective barrier directly in the path of the approaching hostiles and aimed in their direction. Well trained infantry took positions around the tanks and in the windows of the surrounding buildings, more than ready for a firefight.

The line approached the defenders carefully, stopping within range of the infantry. "This is the United States Armed Forces," someone's voice blared over a loudspeaker. "Approaching hostiles, this is your only warning. Surrender or we will fire."
The hostiles remained still.
"Approaching hostiles, I repeat, surrender or-"
A bright flash appeared from the front line. The loudspeaker exploded. The order was given. Everything capable of shooting, man or tank, opened fire. A fine cloud of dust rose over the hostiles. It continued relentlessly for a good thirty seconds before the cease fire order was given. When the dust cleared, all that remained were a bunch of hunched over bodies. The soldiers gave a shout of victory.
There was a flash. A beam hit the turret of a tank. The tank exploded, sending the turret skyward. The soldiers turned in horror to see the "dead bodies" rise up again and start firing. They quickly started to return fire, but it became painfully clear that they were helpless to stop it.

The defensive barrier was broken.

The invading forces were unhindered as they started their raid of the city. They looted what they could and started taking prisoners. Anybody who put up a fight was killed on the spot. It seemed that there was nothing to stop them. They had won.

There was a blast. One of the troops lurched forward, staggering from a blow to the shoulder. He turned to look at what had shot him. He saw a six foot, lightly armored robot standing there, an odd looking rifle it it's hands. "Hmph," he snorted to his comrades. "Looks like we've got a toy that wants to fight." He raised his own rifle and fired. The beam bounced, quite literally, off it's chest plate. It seemed unfazed and returned fire, striking the trooper square in the chest. He lurched forward once more and collapsed.
"The hell is that?!" someone shouted.
"Fuck it," said another. "Blow it up! There's only one!"
They were quickly silenced. More robots appeared, all exactly like the first. They raised their guns and started to fire. Enemy soldiers started to fall.
"Ah hell!" One of the soldiers started to fall back. "Lord Isthus, we've got problems."
"What do you mean 'problems'?" an angry Isthus responded.
He hesitated. "Let me put it to you this way. We got through the human defensive forces easily. We were busy taking prisoners and loot for your cause, when these robots suddenly appeared and started shooting. We're taking heavy losses here." There was a bit of silence. "Lord Isthus?"
Suddenly, some of the fallen bodies started disappearing. "Your men are being taken down by stun blasts. Their suits will now automatically returned them to the ship when they fall. Take out what you can."
"Aye sir!" He waived to his fellow soldiers and pointed excitedly at the robots. There was more gunfire between the two groups. A couple of robots exploded, sending parts flying. But the onslaught was too much for the raiding forces. Their last man fell in a flurry of stun blasts, causing his armor to safely teleport him back to an orbiting ship.

*******

"That wasn't too bad," Vu said. "We only lost four or five robots on that."
"That's four or five too many," Terry said. He chuckled. "I bet this is giving Isthus the shivers now. Probably also means that we're going to be doing this a lot more." He leaned back in his seat. "Sara, I want all defensive units on standby. Start construction on two more hangers, three new robot storage facilities, and another robotics lab. We need to be ready for anything."
"Aye Terry," Sara said. "Construction started."
He sighed. "I'm afraid that it's also time to start training Kari in base operations. We need all the help we can get."
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Terry."
"Why not?"
"Tobias' orders. He programmed me to not allow you to train her until it became obvious that she is needed."
"But she is needed!"
"Not under the parameters that Tobias has dictated."
"Fuck the god damn parameters! Get her into training now!"
"I cannot. Sorry, Terry."
"Calm down Terry," Mallory cooed. "It'll be okay. We can handle this ourselves."
"Tobias is counting on us! We can't blow it. We should get all the manpower we can get!" He slammed his fist on the keyboard. "I will not allow this to go on. We have to-"
"We've got more activity," Sara reported. "American west coast....Canadian east coast....England....Africa...."
"There are too many hot zones to handle!" Vu cried out.
Terry growled. "Is that obvious enough for you, Sara?"
"Understood. Kari will begin training as soon as this problem calms down."
"Good. Now, what can we handle?"

*******

"Tobias, are you busy?" Hack asked nervously as he poked his head into Tobias' ready room.
"Of course not," Tobias said, putting down a report. "Come in." Hack stepped in slowly, letting the door slide shut. He approached the table nervously. "Why the jitters all of a sudden, old friend?"
"Um...the interstellar probes have just come into commission. The first report is coming in as we speak."
He quirked a brow. "Probes?"
"Yeah, linking us to data being collected from the probe closest to Earth."
"I didn't order any probe launches."
"Um...I'm aware of that. These probes were launched before we left by Larcris and the others back home. They wanted to make sure we knew what we were getting into instead of flying in blindly."
"Well, that's how I'm used to working." Hack chuckled. "But it would be nice to know what's going on. How can I access this data?"
"It'll be coming on-line shortly." He went over and tapped at a control panel. A picture of the Earth and some data appeared minutes later. "Here we are."
Tobias read over the data. "An unidentified station has been spotted in the area," he said sternly. "It's too big to be of human make."
"It takes a few minutes to get the data for the last few weeks on hand. But once we get that, the data should be minute by minute."
"Good." The screen flashed again, presenting new data. "Unidentified ships entering and re-entering Earth's atmosphere. This looks to be two weeks old." The screen flashed again. "One week ago..." He read it over. "Oh, mother fucker!"
"What?"
"These ships WERE identified as a class of transport." There was a brief moment of silence. The screen flashed once more, bringing all the data up to the moment. They watched the global map as red dots appeared almost at will. "Assault sites!"
"There are an extreme number of hot zones," Hack said. "But where did they get the soldiers? I can't exactly see how-"
"I can." He stood slowly. "Hack, how much longer do we have until we reach Earth?"
"Seven months."
"Damn." He turned from his work and started out the door. "I want you to analyze all that data we just received. Figure out what the hell's going on."
"Aye," Hack said. He sat down at the table and started to work.

He walked through the hallways, completely lost in thought. He didn't realize that he was until he just about ran into Mink. He bounced off the bear and shook his head. "Sorry Mink. Didn't see ya there." He brushed himself off.
"S'okay, little buddy," Mink said, stiffling a laugh. "Happens to the best of us."
"Yeah..."
"What's up?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing." He leaned against one of the hallway walls.
"Nothing? I doubt that." Mink leaned on the wall opposite him. "What's the problem?"
He sighed. "The Pack launched some interstellar probe thingies before we left. Those puppies came on-line. We just received what we're missing out on." He shut his eyes. "Earth's slowly turning into one gigantic hot zone."
"Ah. I see." He thought for a moment. "The D and I have been through worse. I know they'll survive."
Tobias chuckled. "How can you be so sure?"
He smiled. "It's a long story."
"We've got seven months. Take your time."
He smiled. "Well, way back when, at the very start of the Viper's Sting, D and I were confronted with a major problem. We were a nomadic rebel band, and we needed as much information as we could collect. But with us always on the move, and the land around us one gigantic battlefield, we couldn't find the time to find a base. All seemed lost and it appeared we were destined to go the way of many of the other groups."
"What happened?"
"We were caught in a vicious battle one day. The Raider's pushed us into a mesa, where we held them off for three days. Everyone, even the Raider troops, fought valiantly. But eventually, we came out on top. We figured the mesa would be the perfect base of operations. We set up there."
"Wait a moment," Tobias interrupted. "If they fought you at Bleu Mesa, how did you guys remain a secret?"
"We stayed defending that scrappy little base for six months. We took heavy losses. And then Terry appeared. With his aide, we made it look like we had just packed up and abandoned the mesa. The Raiders fell for it and left us to our mesa."
He nodded. "So what's the moral of the story?"
"Terry's down there isn't he? He'll figure something out." He went over and patted him on the back. "Trust me."
"Yeah. You're right." He turned and continued his journey down the hall. "Oh, and Mink."
"Yeah?"
"It's time to start drilling the soldiers on combat strategies. We'll need them in tip top condition."
He chuckled. "Aye."