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STATUS QUO

Written by Andrew John Bellingall

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Chapter 1: Maldina

There was a light mist on the moors, but visibility was still quite good. The gray cloud cover and dark green grass made the scene look almost black and white; more black than white. The group looked like a party of poorly dressed ramblers, with bits of plastic plating stuck to them, like wax dripped from an enormous black candle. Only a couple of the party appeared to have a complete set of the plating, others had to content themselves with a breast plate here, or a thigh plate there. A dozen or so had big backpacks which were connected by a belt of ammunition to their stubby thick guns. Others had guns with just a few dozen rounds in the belt, trailing from the breach of the gun. About half the number had no more than handguns, and generally looked the more nervous of the group.

There was a definite correlation between the amount of plating an individual had and the weapon he was carrying. Those with the belt fed guns and the backpacks had the most plating, and were mostly men. Most of the women were among the more nervous pistol and no plating types, although it must be said that all of them looked rather nervous and unfortunate. Dirty, disheveled, with old clothes and tired expressions.

"Coming into range on my mark." Whispered the voice on the radio headsets of those in wait.
"Eastern group still out of range, approximately 40 meters to confirmed target." An urgent female voice responded.
"Hold." The first voice replied, with a hint of exasperation.

The group of forty carried on edging forward, unknowingly, yet nervously. They knew that danger was all around them, but not that it had them in its sights.

"Coming into range on my mark." The first voice again. "Fire on my mark. Five, four, three, two, one, fire!"

From five groups of five, bullets rained down on the group of forty. A continuing stream of fire from twenty five machine guns spread out in a crescent around them, less than four hundred meters away. The bullets smashing into the plating, or ripping through clothing and cutting through the flesh of the less fortunate, less well protected. The fire was ceaseless, bodies spinning round and falling as the bullets continued like heavy rain on a window pane. Even some of those with body armor fell bleeding as the bullets found the weak points between the plates. All of the forty were lying low now, some crawling to try to find cover.

"Cease-fire!" With those words the rain stopped and the valley grew silent. There had been no return of fire during the few seconds of the attack. Now they waited and were greeted with silence. Among the ambushed, there was much twisting and moaning but little purposeful action. The tension drenched the air, the ambushed waited to see their fate, the ambushers in such total command.
"Squad B cover the withdrawal, squads A, C, D and E pull out.

"The weapons Captain, lets get the damned weapons." That female voice again.

"Negative." With that Captain Blake stood up and turned his back on those he had just ambushed. Along the crescent of his formation a further 19 stood and began to walk away. One of that number, Lieutenant Maldina sprinted towards the Captain. She pulled off her helmet and headset.

"There are at least two dozen weapons down there, you are neglecting your duty by not taking them while we have the chance." She implored.

"Lieutenant, the only way you will take those weapons is if you take them off corpses, I will not kill 40 people and turn this area into a whole f---ing blood bath just to pick up a handful of guns."

"For Christ's sake, this is tantamount to..."

"Silence lieutenant," Blake said as he covered her mouth with his fingers, "this is not the time nor the place. We'll discuss this in the de-brief and not before."

At this Lieutenant Maldina turned away with disgust and contempt in her eyes.

Those that had been ambushed lay in near silence and stillness. Only the severely injured moved slightly, as they convulsed and squirmed in pain. Three lay dead, and a further six would die of their wounds before they could reach safety. For the less injured was the sense of helplessness as they waited the customary half hour before they could move without triggering the rain of steel that had so decimated their number. The pain of waiting while their friends lay dying for the want of medical assistance was soul destroying, but there was no alternative. Now was the time for damage limitation, for survival. They knew they had been caught fairly and squarely where they should not have been. Their raiding party was two kilometers into Federal territory, and only a kilometer from the nearest farms. They knew enough to be grateful that those who would survive, would survive, and that the dead would be far fewer in number than their plight deserved. Mercy from an enemy you hated was still mercy.

Burrows had led the raid and was lucky to have survived it, so far. As the commander he had full body armor and a machine gun that was belt fed from his back pack. As such he had been targeted in the attack, and although he had sustained three hits in the chest, and two in the legs, his body armor had done its job and his wounds were superficial. There was quite a lot of blood, but no serious damage. He would be left with the scars of heroism, rather than martyrdom. But the pain afflicting him most severely at present were from the muffled groans and cries for help from the dying. He was staring at his watch, still three minutes until it would be safe to move.

Squads A, C, D and E took up covering positions while squad B withdrew slowly. They all watched from their new positions as those they had ambushed in the valley started to get up and attend to the severely wounded. Within an hour they had withdrawn from sight carrying the dead and dying. The People's Liberation Army of the North West Sector 126 had suffered a serious set back today. But as they got back to their main camp several hours later they received a heroes welcome. Every day there were more people at the camp, which led to an increasing demand and indeed desperation for food and supplies. Whilst most of what they needed they produced themselves within the commune and the communal farms, the PLA did not have access to advanced medical supplies or other advanced technology. A recent outbreak of cholera had led to the latest raid on the Federation as the PLA desperately needed medication for the sick and dying. They had failed this time, and nine had died, but at least they had tried. And that at least was worth a heroes welcome. Burrows knew he had to learn from today's lesson, but what, he simply did not know.

"What the hell happened?" Davies was distraught at the sight of so many dead and injured, she knew the raid had been a complete disaster.

"We were ambushed. They must have had satellite cover. It was a perfect intercept, perfect. They were well in place, just waiting for us." He looked around at the comrades he would now have to bury. "But it could have been much, much worse. They did this," he said pointing to the dead, "but could have killed us all."

"No more daylight raids, we just can't risk it." Davies said, but she knew for many this would be too late.

Davies was distraught not just at the carnage, but also at its implications. If the Federal troops did have satellite coverage then there could be no more raids in the whole section. And not just during the day. Infra red tracking by satellite would make even night raids extremely dangerous. This could make the whole area untenable. They simply did not have enough extra food or clothes to trade with the other communes for medicine, and PLA Central would only help with odd pieces of military equipment and ammunition. This morning's little disaster could lead to the disbanding of the whole commune. The way that the Federal troops had caught the raiders in a perfect ambush showed that they had a satellite covering the area. The way that they had let the raiders go with no more than a comparative bloody nose (just nine dead) showed that they were confident of their position, and of continued satellite cover. Untenable.

Lieutenant Maldina stormed into the briefing room where Captain Blake was already on the ComLink trying to raise the Divisional HQ.

"Blake, we had the perfect opportunity to wipe out the PLA from the whole sector. We could have killed 40 of their best fighters, reclaimed at least twenty of our weapons and scared the f---ing s--- out of the whole lot of them. The way you keep playing cat and mouse all the time just gets our people killed, and keeps this sector vulnerable." Maldina was still furious.

"Lieutenant, calm down, speak without such emotion and wait for the de-brief." With that Blake flicked a switch on the ComLink and spoke to Division.

"Colonel Rogers, this is Captain Blake of NW 126 reporting on an action at 08:35, today's date."

"Congratulations Captain, we saw the whole thing. Fantastic work. It's good to see that when we give you satellite coverage you do not waste it." The Colonel seemed relaxed, and happy with the morning's events.

"Colonel Rogers, this is Lieutenant Maldina, I regret to report that we left over thirty survivors and did not recover any weapons."
"Lieutenant Maldina, it is always best to leave enough survivors to drag the corpses off, otherwise you have to bury the bastards, and not just kill them." The Colonel laughed at his words, but no one else did. He went on, "killing them is just like digging in the sand, there are always others to take their place."

"And the weapons?" Maldina added defiantly.

"I am content with the way your superior handled this matter. Do not forget Maldina that you were put there to learn from Captain Blake, not to second guess him, or try to undermine him with his superiors."

This rebuke from Rogers was designed to shut her up.

"If you gave me command I could clear this whole section within a week. The whole section." Maldina was utterly confident in what she said.

"And how many troopers would you loose Lieutenant? How many raiders would you kill? How many PLA would you attract to this quiet little section?" These were rhetorical questions that Rogers hoped would end this discussion.

"Sir don't you see that in the long run we would be saving lives by ending this now, while we have the chance. Put a stop to it now once and for all instead of dying the death of a thousand cuts." Maldina was desperate to make them see.

"Lieutenant, you are fighting a holding action, you hold the perimeter, no more no less, and that's an end to it. You are discharged from the de-brief." Rogers was beginning to lose his temper.

"But sir, if we keep on fighting like this..."

"Lieutenant you may leave the de-brief." Blake spoke with firmness which totally masked the fact that he had long since lost his temper with her. Maldina turned to look at him as he spoke, then back at the image of Colonel Rogers on the screen, then she turned and rushed out of the room. Blake shut the door behind her.

"Blake, I really think you should reconsider a posting for her. She is simply too volatile for your section." Rogers was re-broaching an old subject.

"Don't worry this is a quiet theater where I can keep an eye on her." Blake responded.

"She was sent there to learn from you, yet she has learned nothing. I think we would all be better off if she was sent to the front line." Colonel Rogers was testing Blake's reaction. He knew she would be an even greater danger to her troops in the real warzone.
"How would you break the news of her death to General Maldina sir?" Blake asked.

"A kissogram, how do you think? She is very attractive Blake, there isn't more to this is there?" Again, this was an old subject.
Blake smiled but said nothing.

"Captain Blake are you involved with the Lieutenant?"

"In what sense Sir?" Blake asked.

"In the sense of playing hide the sausage with her, how do you think."

"Negative Sir, not with the lieutenant."

"Good Blake, I suggest you keep it that way. I think that Corporal Wilde is much better for you, less complicated. Mind you, Maldina is quite something." Rogers sighed and then continued: "Seriously Blake, you are too good an officer to put your dick before you duty. Her father could get us all into a lot of trouble"

"Thank you sir." Blake said with a certain sarcasm.

"That was not a compliment, it was a warning. Anyway, good work this morning and for God's sake Blake keep a firm grip. We'll talk about a posting for Maldina later, much later." Rogers had obviously been called away to more pressing business. With that the ComLink went dead.

Rogers had hit a raw nerve with Blake. His feelings for Maldina were exhaustingly complex and quite deep. He knew she was a constant danger to the delicate balance in his sector, and that she constantly undermined his authority. God knows what she told her father, General Maldina, about him. But however difficult life was like with her, it was far better than life without her. That she had nothing but contempt for him and his perceived weakness, made it slightly more bearable. Like this he was not tempted, for she would not have him.

Maldina was furious as she left the de-brief. She was upset that it had gone so badly. Why couldn't they see what had to be done? Why wouldn't they let her do it? She understood that Blake was too scared to gamble on wiping the PLA out in their sector and that he did not have the stomach to deal with the killings it would entail, but why wouldn't he delegate it to her. She could do it with six squads, that would leave four on defense. Not even risky. In one day it could all be over. Next time they have satellite cover, simply surround and destroy the enemy. The satellite cover lasted from 12 to 36 hours. Just 12 hours would be enough to locate and set up the attack. Then simply annihilate the PLA commune with full force. No more than a further 12 hours. That simple.

After that she would like promotion and a posting to a more challenging position. This was more like a police action than a war. She wanted to use what she had been taught at the academy. To fight with all the means at her disposal, instead of always fighting with one hand tied behind her back. No rockets, no mines, no f---ing fun at all. Every time she had the enemy in her sights she had to wing them instead of kill them. What f---ing bulls---. She complained to her father, but he refused to get involved, preferring to keep her wrapped up in the cotton wool of this phony little war. It was all just too frustrating.

She was now off duty and decided to get a drink, even though it was barely after noon. She headed towards her room to get changed. As she entered the officers' quarters Lieutenant Talbot was leaving it. They blocked each other in the doorway. She pushed Talbot back into the room and shut the door.

"Did you see that bulls--- this morning?"

"Maldina, I was asleep, but I've seen the replay a couple of times. I bet that stung the bastards. They won't be raiding around here for a few weeks." Talbot had been immensely impressed with the whole operation.

"Talbot you fool we could have wiped the f---ers out!"

"Maldina you won't be happy 'til everybody's dead. That's the thing about you, a death-wish, not just for yourself, but for others as well." Talbot could barely disguise his contempt for her.

"Spineless wanker." Maldina was not amused. With that she pushed past him and entered her tiny room.

She started to remove the black fiber armor plates and the webbing that covered her body like an exo-skeleton, undoing the clips on her shoulders which displayed her rank, freed the plates covering her chest and back. She hung the torso plates up against the wall and removed her left shoulder and arm plates, and then from the right. Sitting on her tiny bunk now, she removed her thigh plates, knee plates and shin plates, first from her left leg, then from the right. Lastly, she removed the ring of loose plates that hung from her waist covering her groin . It came off like a short pleated skirt. She stood up again, now wearing just the black tunic, stockings and underwear. It was a standing joke that female uniforms were designed by men; they were functional, yet left a bare strip of flesh at the top of the thighs, only covered in part by the armor plates. The men wore black trousers, the women thick, black stockings. This touch was erotic rather than PLAgmatic, and was pretty much the only thing that distinguished male and female Federal troops at distance. Its harder to kill someone who turns you on.

Blake approached Maldina's room slowly, and knocked purposefully on the door.

"Lieutenant Maldina, open up."

Maldina was pleased Blake had caught her barely dressed, and immediately opened the door. "As ordered sir."

Blake was not so pleased to catch her in such an alluring state and took a step towards her to help prevent his eyes from wandering.
"Lieutenant, yet again I have to remind you not to question my orders in front of the troops, and not to question my actions in front of my superiors. Your post here is to help me ensure the security of this sector, not to try to use your position to start your own private war. This is not the front-line Maldina, this is a half forgotten flank, of very little import to either party. We are here to defend the farmers and maintain the perimeter. Do you understand this?" Blake spoke calmly and slowly, staring at Maldina straight in the eyes.
"I just think we should be doing much more, that I am capable of much more." Maldina countered.

"I don't doubt that you are capable of much more Lieutenant, but you must have patience. Contrary to what you believe there is method in my actions." Blake thought that he was beginning to get through to her."

"Your just prolonging this phony stand off." Maldina's words showed that he was not.

"Status quo in this sector is in all our best interests, we hold the perimeter with a minimum of troops and casualties, it helps to keep us strong where we need strength more: on the real front line."

"That's bulls--- Sir, if you let me wipe them out now, you could police the whole sector with two squads after their gone. It would release the other squads for the front line." Maldina thought that what could make Blake see that what she was saying was obvious, but she only succeeded in annoying him.

" 'That's bulls--- Sir' very nice Maldina, your father would be proud of that one."

"Sir, in consideration of our continued differences I believe I must insist that my request for my transfer be expedited." Maldina was not bluffing, she badly wanted to get out of there.

"Lieutenant Maldina, why on earth are you so impatient to die? Is life really that bad that you must rush to waste it so cheaply? Blake genuinely did not understand his young charge.

"I do not want to die, but nor am I afraid of death. I just want to do the job I was trained for." Maldina remained calm as she spoke, staring directly ahead rather than at Blake.

"Lieutenant, you should be afraid of death. In fact, you should not be in a position of command unless you are afraid of death, both for yourself and for your troops." Blake continued to move his stance slightly trying to become the focus of Maldina's gaze. "They need serious officers at the front not hot blooded fools willing to waste the blood of young men and women like so much cheap wine Maldina. Unfortunately for me, they thought that I could turn you into such an officer. I am beginning to feel that they were wrong. But understand this, if you do leave this post before the satisfactory termination of your posting - you will leave as a sergeant." Blake was losing his temper, and stopped speaking abruptly.

Maldina stood motionless, staring into space, this was the first time she had been threatened with losing her rank, but for what? She had not done anything. Her contempt for Blake increased as the blood boiled within her veins. She stood there, every muscle in her body tense a she resisted striking him.

"Will that be all sir?" She choked on the words.

"Think about it Maldina." Blake was at a loss what to do or say without making it worse. "Listen why don't I buy you something to eat or we get a drink together while Talbot is on duty, so we can have a more informal chat. We really need to sort this thing out, one way or the other. You just need to take it easy, to understand what we are doing here." Blake suggested.

"Is that an order sir." Maldina would rather use a red hot poker as a suppository than go for a drink with Blake.

"No Lieutenant, at ease." With that Blake stepped back and turned and walked away. Maldina was defeating him in every sense. He could not make a good officer out of her, and f---ing her seemed completely out of the question.

Sergeant Hurst had been on the morning ambush and he too had been dissatisfied with the outcome. He sat in the Crofter's bar drinking straight scotch, bitching with a couple of the troops in his squad. He smiled when he saw Maldina enter the bar, and then approached the group.

"Vodka, rocks." Maldina had stood directly behind Hurst, forcing him to turn round to face her.

"Did you enjoy the little fire fight this morning?" Hurst asked, knowing how her response would go.

"We accomplished what the Captain wanted." Maldina's response was far more guarded than he had expected.

"I thought it was a complete waste of time. We got a dozen when we could have bagged the lot." Hurst knew he was on safe ground talking this way in front of Maldina. She finished her drink, which was immediately refreshed, and turned her head to look at Hurst.
"Blake is a complete dickless wonder. He sets it up, but can't get it up."

Hurst laughed at her remark, and was more than happy to play along.

"If I'd been in command I wouldn't of stopped shooting 'till the last f---er stopped twitching. We wouldn't even have lost one." Hurst professed.

Maldina knew Hurst's statement was not only simplistic, but wholly unrealistic, but it was along the right lines. She started her second drink and added to Hurst's sentiment.

"We should have had squads on either side and had intermittent firing." Maldina was referring to a technique which limited the enemies ability to pin point where the fire was coming from by constantly rotating which squad fired, rather than having all the squads fire at once, as Blake had done that morning.

"Whatever, so long as we didn't have to stop shooting the buggers." Hurst had not really followed what she had said.

Maldina smiled at Hurst's comment. She liked his approach, but just wished he was a little more intelligent. Hurst was 35 years old and still a sergeant. In the continued state of war where most died before they reached thirty, Hurst's rank was far from impressive. He was definitely a young head on wise shoulders.

"Blake should be sent to the interior, you know, policing operations. God knows he's more suited to that kind of thing." Maldina was quite sincere in her view. He should be sent to the interior, the exterior, or sent straight to hell for all she cared, but he shouldn't be there ruining her posting.

"Blakey's OK Mal, you've just got to get the action in while he's off duty. We're just bumming out now 'cos we pulled the same watch as him."

"That's OK for you Hurst, but I'm always on the same watch as him. He never let's me out of his sight." Maldina was scarcely exaggerating.

"Well we all know he's got a soft spot for you Mal, or should we say a hard one." Again Hurst was laughing at his owns jokes. This time the two troopers behind him laughed as well.

Maldina was not amused. What Hurst said was obviously true, there were few heterosexual men that weren't attracted to her. And in Blake's case, although he wanted her, she knew this wasn't the reason he kept an eye on her. It was obvious that he regarded her as dangerous.

"Blake wouldn't know what to do if I jumped him in the showers with a 'F--- me, F--- me' T-shirt on." Maldina spoke with a stern look on her face.

Hurst had never heard of a 'F--- me, F--- me' T-shirt, but it was appealing imagery.

"Mal, next time your wearing that T-shirt, call me."

"You'll be lucky." She said, still with a stern expression.

"I'd be grateful." Hurst thought that he was flirting with these words, but he was really just damaging his chances. Fortunately fate smiled on him.

Blake walked into the bar and surveyed the scene, half the customers were his troopers, the wrong half. The leery half, the drunk and getting drunker half. He was not surprised to see Maldina there, but was disappointed that she was sat with Hurst. At the bar he ordered a beer. Houghton and Smith Claire came over and joined him. They were both from his squad.

"Good morning sir." Smith Claire said to her Captain.

"It's afternoon Smith Claire." Blake knew what she was getting at.

"I mean it was a good morning. Gave them reason to keep in their bloody box." She added.

"They'll think twice next time they want to raid on our patch." Hanson added his thoughts, for the little they were worth.

"Well with a bit of luck it should keep them quiet for a while." Blake was beginning to regret that he had come to the bar, particularly as Hurst and Maldina were beginning to giggle at each other's words in their increasingly intimate conversation. Blake tried to stop himself looking over, but he could not. Nor could he make out what they were saying, but he doubted it was complimentary about him.

Hurst had seen his Commanding Officer enter the bar, and had noted its effect on Maldina. This was an opportunity he would not let slip.

"If you were CO I would follow you anywhere Mal." He said, trying to crawl into her affections.

"Particularly to the bedroom eh Hurst?" Maldina whispered this to him.

"Anywhere you want it Lieutenant, any time, any place, any how." Hurst said, moving closer to her with each syllable.

Maldina glanced over at Blake, and caught him looking at them. She instantly moved yet closer to Hurst. "Really Sergeant you don't sound very particular." Their heads were almost touching now, their knees locked like the steel teeth in interlocking gears.

Blake was becoming restless, but then Regan came into the bar, saw Blake and approached him. Regan was an old fried of Blake's from the bad times. He was in his late twenties and still a private, not just because he shirked responsibility at every turn, but also because he had been demoted twice for insubordination. Blake had pulled a few strings to get Regan on his command, and he was now part of Sergeant Hurst's B squad.

"What's wrong with you, you old f---er, you've got a face like a chicken laying a pineapple." Regan was not a particularly obsequious member of the section.

"Regan, everybody that sees you has a look of despair and despondency, almost by definition. You drain the joy out of people like a vampire draining the blood out of young buxom virgin." Blake was feeling better already.

"Speaking of buxom virgins, have you seen Mad Mal and Sergeant Worst, they'll be copulating on the bar in a minute." Regan had noticed Maldina and Hurst's antics.

"And I never thought Hurst was that brave." Blake responded.

"Brave? I'd call it a suicide mission. Ten minutes of heaven, then straight to hell with a bullet in the back of the head." Like most men, Regan found Maldina attractive, but purely in a physical sense.

"The way things are going, you'll be able to ask your sergeant about that tomorrow, won't you?" Blake hoped his words would not prove true.

"From talking to him I don't think I'd notice if someone put a bullet in the back of his head, though the exit wound might cheer up his dreary face." Only Regan could get away with talking about his superiors like this. "Listen, I'm going to get something to eat, you want something?"

"No it's OK, I think I'll head back to base." Blake had taken in the sights and decided enough was enough. On the other side of the bar Wilde, a private with whom Blake had been having an on-off affair, was sat with her friends. He was not in the mood for such complications and said good-bye to Regan before heading back to the base. Once there he looked in on the Ops room where all was quiet, then went to bed. He took two sleeping pills and was asleep by 1600 hours.

Blake woke up five hours later. The noise that had awoken him was the steady 'thump, thump, thump' and the low moans of sex in the next room. It was exactly what he had hoped to avoid hearing. He put on a head set and listened to some music. This drowned out the noise, but not the imagery. Blake decided to get showered, dressed and out of there. As he opened the officer's mess shower, still wearing the headphones, he realized that the noise had not been coming from Lieutenant Maldina's room, but from the officers' shower. Maldina was stood pressed up against the wall with Hurst behind. He had one hand on the shower-head and another on Maldina's hip as he continued to thrust her against the wall which was creating the slow thumping noise. They both looked at him before Blake could shut the shower door and exit the unhappy scene.

Once outside Blake now took off the headset, albeit a little late. He banged on the shower door loudly and shouted: "If you're going to copulate, kindly do it in your private areas not the communal ones - and certainly not in my bloody shower. Now get the f--- out of there!"

"Just a minute," came Maldina's breathless reply, for they had not finished.

"Now or I'll put the both of you on a f---ing charge." Blake was annoyed, embarrassed and deeply disappointed. He had a numb pain in his stomach.

As he opened the door to his room to get away from all this, the shower door opened behind him and Maldina walked out of the shower naked, with Hurst following wearing a towel round his waste, they were uncoupled by this time.
"Sorry sir." Hurst remarked lamely as he followed Maldina into her room. They both looked completely wasted.

Blake now had to re-enter the scene of the crime. He showered quickly and got dressed. He could hear Maldina and Hurst talking next-door and then the sounds of sex returned. The numb pain bit at him once more. It felt even worse now. He went quickly to the Ops room.

"Well Lieutenant, anything interesting?" Blake was trying to find a divergence to help him clear the recent events from his mind.
"Very little sir. We have squad J on the far north perimeter here, and squad G at the Baker farm. No enemy activity reported." Talbot was a little surprised that Captain Blake wanted to sit in on Ops, particularly as the quietest of evenings was expected.
"Exciting." Blake joked.

"Well I missed all the excitement. Seems like I get all the boring jobs these days." There was some truth in what Talbot said, and although he knew the reasons behind it, he did not appreciate them. It seemed like he was being punished for being a good, reliable officer, which he was.

"I regret the situation Lieutenant, but there is little I can do about it. Everyone has a duty to be where they are needed most." Blake said unconvincingly.

"And that includes having sex in the officer's showers?" The Ops room enjoyed surveillance over most of the sector and all of the base, apart from private areas such as the bedrooms and toilets. Talbot was trying to show Blake that he understood what was going on, and was ready to listen if need be.

"You saw all that did you?" Blake asked. Talbot had been primed to watch Hurst and Maldina by the troops that had followed the new couple back from the bar less than thirty minutes ago.

"Saw it, I was selling tickets. I had ten people in here five minutes ago." Talbot was only half joking. In fact there had been seven people watching the screen. The events had been fairly obvious since Hurst and Maldina left the bar. Maldina was virgin to the base, that is to say she had not had sex there yet since her posting, as far as anybody was aware. There had been considerable speculation as to her sexual inclination. That this matter had been resolved so publicly and enthusiastically had been a bonus. "It makes you wonder why they did it in full view of a camera." Talbot added.

"None of the showers are private Lieutenant, Maldina obviously has a penchant for water sports, so it was unavoidable." They both laughed a little at Blake's words and the pain did ease, a little at least.

In a way Blake was somewhat relieved, the day's escapades had dampened his desire for Maldina, and lessened his feelings towards her quite tangibly. An affair with her now would be even more unpalatable.

At 0600 hours it was shift changeover, Blake called everyone available together in the briefing room, 40 troopers in all, with one squad on base defense, and another on the perimeter. The additional ten troops were patched into Blake through the ComLink.
"As you know yesterday we conducted a controlled engagement with a PLA raiding party near the perimeter. Satellite recon shows that the operation was a complete success." Blake continued over the muffled grumblings from some, and cheers from others. "Nine PLA were killed and it appears that the whole commune is moving further north, closer to their supply lines and further away from us." This news was greeted by a more sporadic cheers and hand-clapping. "We will, however, remain on high alert while the progress of the commune is tracked and their perceived intentions are confirmed. Well done all involved" Blake glanced at Maldina and then continued. "On a housekeeping matter may I just remind all of you of General Order 12.15.32. All sexual activity on the base is confined to the private areas, not communal ones. That is to say if you are going to do it, do it, but not in my damned showers. If you feel the need to have sex in full view of an audience, then I would advise you to wait until you are relieved of your posting and you can apply yourselves to an apparently more suitable career in one of the city peepshows or whorehouses." Blake stopped, partly because he was getting carried away, and partly because the troopers had dissolved into laughter and he could hardly hear himself. Whilst Hurst wore a self satisfied grin, Maldina could not believe what she was hearing. She stared straight ahead, but her face was crimson, burning with embarrassment. Blake continued... "Hurst I do not know what you believe you have to grin about, from what I saw of the video you have very little to be pleased about at all. And as for you Casper, the order refers to all sexual activity, not just between couples. Your penis must be the dirtiest place on earth given the amount of time you spend washing it." The briefing rooms had dissolved into hoots of laughter.

Maldina had felt humiliated before the briefing, by the looks she was getting, but could not believe Blake's words. She felt naked and dirty in front of everybody, and had to just stand there and take it. Her hangover was killing her and now this. She had never known Blake to deliberately hurt her, or anyone, like that. He must have known how much that hurt. With this train of thought she turned the embarrassment and regret she felt about the incident into further fuel for her hatred of Blake. She had regretted what she had done when she woke this morning - and with Hurst of all people. She remembered the pained look on Blake's face, how spiteful, cruel and cheap she had been, but now she just wanted to hurt him more, much more. She spent a lot of time thinking about Blake. Ironically, when she first met him she had had a major crush on him. She had found him very attractive, but again and again he had disappointed her with his actions and his omissions. She found out that the hawk she had heard so much about, had become a dove. No more than a peacemaker and pacifier. He had got old. Old and tired. Blake was 37 and dead. She was twenty three and alive. It was clear who should be running the show.

At the end of the brief Maldina followed Blake into the Ops room.

"Hanson, Taylor, leave us." She instructed the corporal and private. They looked at Blake and then left the room when Blake nodded his agreement to her order.

"Was that little show entirely necessary, just because your jealous you did not get laid last night?" Maldina said fuming.

"And I suppose the little show of you getting laid was necessary." Blake did not want an argument over this, but he had to respond.
"I was drunk, I was hot, we did it in the shower. So what, blow me!" Maldina was not making matters any better.

Blake smiled at her. "Blow me? Is that how it started with Hurst, I must have missed that part of the video, I'll look for it later. You do know they're selling copies not just here, but in Division as well. I don't know what will happen first Lieutenant, you'll get an offer to become a porn queen, or your father will come up here and rip your head off. Quite what you......"

"Oh for f---s sake Blake. Don't talk s---..." Maldina interjected, unwisely.

"Enough!" Blake said holding up his hand, "Don't forget who you are talking to Lieutenant. I have nothing against you having sex with anybody you want, in fact if you became pregnant it would be a weight off my mind, because I could ship your insubordinate, dangerous arse out of here. Just try not to get pregnant in public." Blake growled at Maldine, barely containing his anger.

"...If you think you can get rid of me by getting me pregnant then..."

"Lieutenant, however much I would love to get you off my base, I would never stoop to impregnating you myself. That's what we have Non-Commissioned Officers for." Blake joked.

"F--- you." Maldina was not exactly calming down. "You could not get any girl pregnant you used up, burnt out..."

"Lieutenant, enough." Blake again with the raised hand. "You simply can not speak to a superior officer like that."

"Superior in what sense?" Maldina sneered at Blake.

"Lieutenant, enough." This time Blake shouted. "You do not answer me back. Yes sir, or no sir, will be sufficient from you until further notice. Understood?"

Maldina hesitated and then: "Yes sir."

"Take your squad out immediately and patrol the south west perimeter for a twenty four hour shift. Take full rations and make minimal contact with civilians."

"But, sir that borders our own....."

"Yes sir, or no sir, Lieutenant." Blake barked at her.

"Yes, sir." Maldina was furious. Patrolling the south west perimeter was a complete waste of time because it bordered the other Federal sectors. It was obvious punishment duty. Minimal civilian contact. And for twenty four hours, she had hardly slept in the last twenty four hours.

"No non-urgent ComLink chitchat, but don't worry lieutenant, you'll be monitored all the way." Blake was letting her know he would keep an eye on her for any slacking.

There was nothing Maldina could do but accept it. She could not disobey a direct order. She turned and began to walk out of the room.

"And Lieutenant, I should remind you of General Order 12.15.08 and 12.15.18: no sex on duty, and no sex with anyone in your squad. Any further violations of 12.15 will be officially punished." Blake was not just rubbing salt into the wounds, he was carving new ones. Maldina just glared at him, and then stalked out. She hated Blake more at this moment than she hated anybody else on the planet, and this girl was full of hate.

After Maldina had left with her squad, Blake called Hurst to the Ops room. By this time Hanson and Taylor had returned to their duties monitoring the array of screens and overseeing communications.

Hurst arrived, smiling his smile, grinning his grin. Blake had wanted to ensure there would be no problems with Hurst, one loose canon on deck was more than enough.

"I'll tell you what I told Maldina: no further breaches of 12:15 or you'll be on a charge. Understood?" Blake asked.

"Yes sir." Hurst was surprised at the somber mood, he had been expecting more of the party atmosphere of the morning's briefing.
"I know she is your superior officer Hurst, but at your age you that should know better. The officers' shower for Christ's sake?"
"We thought you were asleep, and Lieutenant Talbot was on duty sir."

"On duty watching the monitors you prick!" Blake momentarily lost his temper again.

"But the chances of anybody looking at the officers' shower while we were in...." Hurst was still trying to make excuses, but only for getting caught.

"Hurst, they followed you back from the Crofters and went straight to Ops to watch the show for Christ's sake." Blake paused and then went on more calmly. "Anyway, no excuses, but no repetitions. OK Sergeant?"

"So I am forbidden further contact with the Lieutenant?" Hurst was asking genuinely, he had not understood properly and thought that Blake was warning him off.

Blake breathed deeply before answering. "No Hurst, you may see anyone you want, outside of your squad, but you, nor anyone else, may copulate with them in communal areas. That is all." Blake dismissed Hurst before the Sergeant could ask him what copulate meant.

Burrows had moved the commune three kilometers north as a sign of submission. Nine dead was unpalatable, but the further nineteen injured was in some ways worse and they had to be cared for while they recovered. The out-break of cholera seemed to be under control. They had managed to obtain medicine after all by relying on charity rather than raiding or trading. Burrows was content to lick his wounds for a while. He knew how to pick his fights, when to lie low and when to strike. The last raid had been a disaster mainly because it had been born out of desperation. The worst mistake had been the size of the party. Small raiding parties had at time been turned back without even an exchange of fire, or at worst some wounded but no dead. This time he had forced their hand by taking such a big party that the only safe way for the Feds to turn them away was by using deadly force. Burrows understood all that, but it still pained him.

"Well I like this place. It's bigger than the old farm we were in." Davies was simply trying to animate her comrade.

"Better wallpaper too." Burrows said sarcastically, well aware of Davies' intention. "Davies, if you really want to cheer me up you could give me head."

"I don't want to cheer you up that much." Davies did not appreciate Burrows' turn of phrase at times. In this instance she guessed it was intentional.

"Don't let it get to you, you're doin' OK." Her reassuring comments were far from reassuring. Burrows wanted to be doing great, not just OK. He had yet to have a real victory in his new sector. A couple of good raids, but no meaty victories. "The problem is Blake, if we could take him out then we could work at the sector. Get more than a few supplies every now and then."

Burrows knew she was right. At first he had seen his opponent as a challenge to be overcome, now he saw him as an obstacle that had to be torn down. Perhaps Davies was right, they should take him out.

Where an army of forty people could not go, a small group, maybe two or three could go with immunity. Most of Burrows' number were unknown to the Federation, that left him with quite a few options.

"What if we did send someone to take him out. Who do we send?" Burrows asked.

"Well no one would do it as a suicide mission, so you would have to come up with a game plan first." Davies knew that killing Blake was an easy enough idea, but its execution would be quite a different matter. As an old colleague of Blake's she knew that he would rarely be alone outside of the base. Getting into the base would be almost impossible.

"As I see it we have two choices. One, we locate and wipe out him and his whole squad. Two, we get someone intimately close to him, get him alone, and kill him." Burrows knew the first option would be extremely difficult and dangerous, and would require a large raiding party. The second, to get someone intimate with Blake, would only be possible with the right person.

"We simply don't have anyone who could get that close to him." Davies had quickly run through all the women in the commune, none seemed up to the task in hand.

"There are only three women who would be able to move around in the Federal sector without too many problems. I wouldn't want to sleep with any one of them, I don't see why Blake would either." Burrows had obviously come to the same conclusion.
"What if we bring someone in from another sector?" Davies already had someone in mind. "Like Chantel for instance."
"No, Chantel would want to take over the whole operation." Burrows thought the price of her involvement would be too high.
"But for how long, surely you could take a back seat for a while." Davies was subtly attacking him for being egotistical, a ploy she knew would not fail.

"Well how would we know she would even do it, or that she has not been ID'd by the Feds?" Burrows asked.
"I'll contact her and find out." With that Davies began to undo Burrows pants and perform the act he had requested when she first came into the room.

Chapter 2: Chantel

A few days later Blake was on a medium patrol with his squad. He wanted to check in on a couple of farms, and check to see if he could pick up any information about what the PLA could be up to. There was no particular reason to think that they would make any moves in the near future, but he liked to keep ahead.

His first call was the Brompton Farm, it was away from the perimeter, but was such a big operation that the near constant turnover of staff led to it being a good source of information. The farm was run by the thirtysomething couple of Edwards/Brompton. Blake had known Brompton for two years and Edwards since he arrived there a year ago. He often relied on the information they provided. Edwards was out in the fields, but he found Brompton in one of the sheds at the back tending to a young calf.

"Brommie, its good to see you." He leant over to kiss her.

"Blake, how are you doing. I heard about the ambush - caught them in the showers did you." Despite her comment Brompton was smiling at him sympathetically. "Really Blake," she went on, "the girl's a psychopath, she's after your blood and you still dote on her." Brompton had heard all the gossip from the base, and had jumped to her own conclusions.

"She's cooled down since I sent her on a twenty four hour treck, and that certainly wasn't doting." Blake said.

"I can read you like a book Blake," she had put the calf down now and stood up next to Blake, her face close to his. "You could really do better than her you know, and often did if I remember rightly." Brompton was referring to an affair they had had two years ago when he was first posted to NW126. It was partly the reason he had gone there today, he wanted a little reassurance.
Blake smiled at her and touched her shoulder. "Edwards is a lucky man, I hope he knows it."

"He knows Blake, he knows." Brompton smiled and waited, it was long since over between them but there was still a bond. Blake seemed like a wounded animal to her, much more then of course when he was posted there after ten years at the front, but now too, at times. However together he appeared to others she had seen a vulnerability in him, and deep routed pain at what he had done in his life, and what he had become.

"You know one of these days you will have to couple up, babies and everything." Brompton was bringing up an old subject, but in the past it had been about them, now it was just about him. "Wilde's a nice girl you know, far too good for you of course."

"You think I should snap her up before I get too old and unappealing you mean?" Blake asked jokingly.

"Before you get too dead Blake. Your luck can't last forever you know. Settle down Blake, leave killing and dying to the young." Brompton's face had turned rather serious.

"You'd prefer someone else as the commander round here would you?" Blake knew the answer to his question.
"It's good to have you looking after us, you know that Blake. But it ain't good for you."

"When I'm forty I'll get booted upstairs anyhow, and no need for babies." Blake said, trying yet another vain smile.

"Invest in the future Blake, before its' too late." Brompton's intentions had been good, but the conversation had become morbid.

Blake decided to change the subject. "Listen Brommie, I don't suppose you've heard anything from out there in the last couple of days have you?" This was a subject he was much more comfortable with.

"Well they've moved away a little you know, but I don't think Burrows has given up at all. From what I can work out they seem to think you have constant satellite cover."

"Who says I don't?" Some things were secret beyond friendship.

"Yeah right, and you've got a thousand troopers at the base hidden in the cellars."

"Two thousand Brommie, two thousand. It's just that I only ever have use of the female ones, and that doesn't involve them leaving the base." They both laughed a little at his comment.

At that point Blake's ComLink burst into life, and he put his helmet back on.

"A1 receiving." - Blake

"This is E1 at base, we have three unauthorized entries to the sector." Hanson, back in the Ops room.
"Project it." At Blake's command an image of the sector was projected onto his visor which showed the position of the three breaches of the perimeter. "Mark the breaches X, Y and Z." Blake was annoyed that Hanson had not already done this.
"Yes Sir, sorry." Hanson said apologetically.

"OK, we'll take Y, Squad B take X and Squad D take Z, effective immediately. Approach with caution, but a wide spread, they could be anywhere by the time you get there."

"Confirmed." - Corporal. Hanson at Ops.

"Confirmed." - Sergeant Hurst, Squad B.

"Confirmed." - Corporal Bates, Squad D.

This was all standard procedure. People sometimes wandered over the perimeter without authorization. Anyone with a defective radio would not be able to obtain authorization to cross, and there were plenty of others who would refuse to get authorization simply because they were unsympathetic to the Feds. That there were three breaches at the same time, all some distance apart, this was much more unusual, but nothing beyond coincidence.

Blake was disappointed that duty called him away so soon. It was rare for him to spend time with Brompton like this.
"Always the same story Blake, running out on me again." Brompton said as she kissed him good-bye on the cheek.
"It's a hard habit to break." With that Blake left the shed and called the rest of his squad.

"Squad A moving out, fifty meters spacing." Blake's order was not met with approval as it meant that the troopers would be too far away from each other to talk. They could not use the ComLink to chat, it was for strictly official use only. Blake's squad moved quickly across the fields towards the perimeter, each one left to their own thoughts.

Within half an hour Blake was arriving at the perimeter with his squad, they had not encountered the unauthorized entrant.

"E1 to A1." Hanson at Ops.

"A1, E1, what is it?." Blake.

"We had an incomplete transmission from Baker farm. Will relay it to you now." All that could be heard from the transmission was low breathing and a female voice mumbling something incoherent.

"A1 to E1, could not make that out. You'd better send C squad to check it out.?" Blake was concerned by the transmission.

"OK, C squad moving out in five." Maldina said enthusiastically.

Straight check and return." Blake was not happy that he would now have four squads out of the base. This left only one squad on duty in defense. He thought of raising another squad to duty status then thought better of it. Instead he decided to hurry things along a little.

"Squad A, let's move it." With this he starting running, but not too fast.

Maldina and her squad were at Baker's Farm within thirty minutes, they had ran at full speed. As they approached the farm they saw nothing unusual, which was unusual in itself.

"C3 and C4 sweep round and then cover the exits from distance." With this she took her two remaining troopers right up to the main farm building. "C5 stay here." Only herself and C2 entered the old farm. As Cooper, C2, covered, Maldina tried the front door. It was open. She pushed it ajar and called out. "Baker, is your radio out again?"

There was no reply. Maldina kicked the door full open now and leapt through. All was quiet.

"C1 I have two bodies out here". Both shot close range."

"Who said that?" Maldina asked.

"Sorry, its Fogg, I mean C4 sir." Fogg was pretty shaken at what he had seen. The two dead men had been shot at close range in the back of the head.

"OK C4 continue, ComLink in the squad only." Maldina's instruction meant that messages were only transmitted to others in her squad. This was a normal procedure, but very unusual given her present circumstances.

Maldina continued to edge through the farm, room by room. She found nothing downstairs and started up the stairs. After six steps on the landing she could see legs hanging over the edge of a bed in one of the bedrooms. As Cooper covered her she slowly entered the room. Face down on the bed was the naked body of the Baker girl. She was fourteen years old, and like the others, had been shot in the back of the head. There was also blood from her groin area.

"C1 to A1, I have three corpses, including a suspected rape at the Baker farm." Maldina thought it was time to call this one in.
"A1 to C1, take up a defensive position in the farm and wait for me there." Blake did not know what to make of this. "Squad A, follow me we have a change of plan, double speed." Blake starting running at full tilt towards the Baker farm.

"Squad B return to base. Squad D to Baker farm." Blake shouted the commands as he ran.

Of course Maldina had not taken up a defensive position at the farm. She had continued to search the place, and found the body of the girls' mother. She was not naked, but had been shot in the back of the head, just like the others. One of the two bodies Fogg had found outside the farm, Maldina had identified as the girl's father. The whole Baker family had been executed, and the daughter raped.

By the time Blake arrived, some twenty minutes later, Squad D was also there, with both squads now formed in a defensive position.
"Blake, up here." Maldina called out from the top of the stairs.

The scene that greeted Blake was not all together unfamiliar. If a family on a border farm could not be turned to the PLA, this was often their fate. What concerned Blake was that there had only been three unauthorized entries within twenty four hours, all three were singles, and only one was close enough to have got to the Baker Farm. It appeared to him that one lone PLA raider had done all this.

"A1 to Ops. E1, off duty time is canceled. All troopers to remain in their squads from muster to bunking down."
Blake had not asked Maldina for her opinion so she gave it anyway.

"We've either got a sleeper group in the sector, or this was done by a lone psycho raider. All valuable rations have gone. And if it's a loner, at least we know it's a man."

Blake nodded at Maldina and continued talking on the ComLink. Notify everyone that there will be a muster at the school at 1400 hours Friday. No exceptions. Also inform Division HQ that we'll need the satellite on Friday. I will explain to Colonel Rogers when I get back to base."

Only now did Blake give Maldina his full attention.

"I expect you to file a full report back at the base. As for now, did you see anyone?" Blake asked.

"No, if I'd seen the person who did this I'd......" Maldina was indignant at the question.

"You've found no possible evidence to suggest whether this was done by a group or a loner, tracks, quantity of supplies taken? Blake doubted she would be able to give a considered response to this question.

"All valuable rations were taken, but there is no one left alive to estimate the quantity. No tracks have been found." Maldina was almost sounding like a Federal Officer.

Once back at the base, Blake called Maldina to join him and Talbot in the Ops room. He was disturbed by the day's events and desperately wanted to regain the initiative.

"1400 hours Friday we have a general muster at the school. I will be there with four squads. Talbot you and your squad will be here at Ops while Maldina will be responsible for picking up any body in the sector who did not muster. Given what happened at the Baker Farm I expect all our people to muster. It should therefore be fairly simple for Talbot to direct you to anybody the satellite picks up, who we can presume to be hostile."

"How many squads will I have?" Maldina asked.

"Five, but you'll have to split up if you have multiple targets." Blake instructed.

"Permission to speak freely sir?" Talbot was requesting permission to criticize Blake's plan.

"OK." Blake was always open to constructive criticism.

"If its a sleeper group they will go to the muster with everybody else and you'll never spot them. If its a lone raider they could be out of the sector by Friday."

"Quite right Lieutenant, but polygraphs will be carried out on everybody over 12 years old." Blake explained.
"But that will take too long." Talbot added.

"Just two questions, were you involved in the Baker killings, do you support the PLA?" It won't take more than five or six hours to do everybody, and will be worth it if we have a any sleepers here." Blake knew polygraphs were generally disliked, but the incident at the Baker Farm would give him a very sympathetic crowd. As for a lone raider returning across the perimeter I'm going to put four squads out there twenty four hours per day. Any unauthorized crossings will be intercepted."

Both Talbot and Maldina looked impressed.

"In fact Lieutenant Talbot, you are on first watch. There are three squads out there already, so take yours out as well and we'll relieve you in 12 hours."

"Yes, sir." With that Talbot left.

"Lieutenant Maldina, I want you to conduct background checks on all authorized entries to our sector in the last 4 days." Blake knew Maldina did not like this kind of office work, but given the plush job he had given her on Friday, she could not argue.
"Yes, sir." Maldina was obviously very grateful.

"If you need me I'll be in my quarters getting some sleep. You will be replaced in Ops by Corporal Black in fours hours, then you replace Talbot on the perimeter in 12." With that Blake left.

At 0400 the perimeter alarm was raised. Two contacts left the Federal Sector without authorization. Sergeant Woods' squad was nearest to them and was directed towards them by Corporal Black at Ops. Within five minutes of quick cross country running across the moors and into PLA territory, Sergeant Woods had them in her night sights. She could see the two targets struggling along in the dark, barely at jogging speed, but couldn't see any weapons nor body armor. She fired a warning shot above their heads and shouted to them to stop, and they responded by returning fire with pistols. They were firing vainly into the dark, whereas Woods had them clear as day in the IR nightsight goggles attached to her helmet.

"Open fire." She screamed to her squad, and five machine guns stared spitting out fragments of death at the two targets. With these words she had signaled the death of the two raiders. They were stung by bullets immediately from the five guns trained on them. By the time Woods ordered her troops to cease-fire, both men were dead. They had been ripped apart by hundreds of bullets each.
"H1 to J1 at Ops, we have two dead raiders. Both male, both armed and both over-burdened with supplies."

The interception was kept quiet by Blake, who did not want the investigation into the Baker Farm incident to come to such a premature conclusion. Friday's muster was carried out, and the polygraphs revealed 16 supporters of the PLA, although they seemed more sympathetic to the PLA cause, rather than active fighters. All were sent to Divisional HQ for interrogation. Unsurprisingly, the Baker massacre question brought no new revelations. Satellite cover revealed that 68 people had not gone to the muster, news of Sergeant Woods' good work having leaked to some people. Maldina had marshaled her forces well and covered a lot of territory, but she had only been able to tackle 23 of the 68 targets, ordering each to be taken to the muster at the school. There was simply not enough satellite time to locate the remaining 45.

Blake kept the tight perimeter security going with three squads posted there ready to intercept any unauthorized crossing. This meant that at any one time, nearly a third of his total manpower was on the perimeter, leaving just a couple of squads on duty for the rest of the sector. One squad would always be at the base, with its commander at Ops, which left only one squad to keep order in the town center. So far this had not presented any problems, but it remained essential that those on the perimeter intercepted any and all raiders. This added pressure, along with the tedium of perimeter patrol made the job doubly disliked, and so increased the need for diversion when they were off duty. Diversion normally meant the Crofters' Bar.

Sergeant Richards had challenged Blake's squad to a pool competition, losers pay for the drinks. Blake's squad was winning two games to one so far, but the fourth game was not going well.

"Smith Claire, if you don't pull your finger out, I'll send you on a 48 hour perimeter patrol on your own. Now come on." Blake was dishing out his own brand of motivation.

"Captain, I told you I was no good at pool." Smith Claire was playing Wilde, from Richards' squad. While neither women were pool sharks, Wilde was at least potting the odd ball. Wilde had originally been assigned to Blake's squad, but he had her transferred to Richards' squad so they could conduct their notoriously secret affair. Blake bent the rules rather than break them.

"You should never have got rid of Wilde sir, one of the best pool players on the base." Berry was stretching the truth just to bring up the 'Wilde' issue.

"Leaving Squad A was the best thing that happened to me in a long time, Berry, now I hardly ever see your ugly face around the base." Wilde said with a smile.

"Just in your dreams then Wilde." Berry replied.

"Just when I close my eyes and the demons come Berry." Wilde said as she potted another ball.

"Berry why don't you do us all the favor of keeping quiet and getting more drinks in." Blake did not appreciate the snide remarks his relationship with Wilde always created when they were together in public, but there was little he could do about it. Their relationship had cooled off these days, and he suspected that she had seen other men in protest of his increasing coolness to her, but they had still been together a few times recently.

Wilde smiled at Blake's comments: she loved the man, but at times hated the commander. It was something special sleeping with the Captain, at times great and at times horrendous. She had never talked of coupling with Blake, not that he had asked her. They slept together, but raising children together was not an immediate possibility. The complication of their official/personal relationship created too many problems. Sometimes they would spend the whole night together and hardly exchange a word as Blake brooded in his silent tortured world. It was a cold relationship at times, one that she feared was only alight in her heart. She had tried to get through to Blake, but he always turned officious on her; his problems were those of a war weary Captain, not a virgin soldier.

There was something rather erotic in the way Wilde played. She bent over the table, leaving her butt up in the air. The skirt of black protective plates lifted at the back, to reveal the very utmost top of her legs and the expanse of pale flesh which led to her stocking tops. She knew what she was doing when she played pool, not so much on the table, but in the minds of the men that were watching. Wilde was about 5'6" with a good, full figure. Her duties as a Fed Trooper kept her fit, but she put in extra time at the gym to keep everything where it should be. She had curly bleached blond shoulder length hair that was kept hidden in her helmet most of the time. The full red lips, blue eyes and small pointy noise combined to create a rather beautiful face, she was proud of the way she looked, and rightly so.

Her next shot left her right in front of Blake, perfect. She pushed her chest flat on the table, arching her spine up to her butt. The wry smiles from the men around the table.

"You should be banned from playing pool Wilde." Berry said to nervous laughter from around the table.

"Berry, did you get those drinks in?" Blake asked hoarsely.

"They're coming sir." said Berry.

"They're not the only ones." Casper, of Richards squad, stage whispered. Wilde smiled as she missed her shot with perfection.
At the other side of the bar Blake noticed a tall brunette who had just approached Maldina. The two were now talking. The woman was as tall as Maldina and just as beautiful, but in an even more refined and feminine way. Just then, Maldina pointed to Blake and they both looked over. Blake met the gaze of this woman. It was a real 'eyes met across a crowded room' moment. The woman appeared to thank Maldina and then started walking towards Blake. With each step she took Blake's heart pounded stronger. The continuing eye contact had been noticed by those around the table. All were now watching as she approached.

"Captain Blake?" She asked smiling broadly at him.

"At your service." Blake replied stiffly.

"My name is Chantel, I am a niece of the Bakers, my parents inherited their farm." She said calmly, her eyes shining at him.
"Oh I'm very sorry." Blake stuttered.

"Don't be on my account, I never met them." Chantel said disarmingly.

"My father sent me to work the farm, so I wanted to speak to you about where I could get some help, and about security." Chantel must have known, she could of got help just about anywhere. "As you can imagine, after what happened I am a little concerned."
"Well of course, come over here where we can talk." With that Blake left his comrades round the pool table and sat with Chantel on the far side of the bar, near Maldina. The look Wilde gave Maldina could have curdled milk. Chantel and Blake were the absolute center of attention in the bar, with everybody stealing glances at them and whispering. The hope that Blake would return was quite visible on Wilde's face. She watched them as they began to talk.

"What happened to the Bakers was horrific, and completely unheard of in my sector. Since then we have completely sealed the perimeter. All unauthorized crossings are challenged. All of them!" Blake was trying to reassure her, as he would anyone in her position, but he was particularly keen for her to continue in residence at the Baker Farm.

"What about the people already here in your sector, maybe someone here did it, and they could do it again." Chantel's voice was soft and low, her head leaned close to Blake's as she spoke. Blake in turn moving his head closer to hers, to catch what she said above the din of the bar.

"As I am sure you will know the verdict of the inquest was that one of two raiders attacked the Bakers, they were both caught going back across the perimeter."

"And where are they now?" Chantel asked.

"In hell Chantel, they're dead." As Blake spoke he could see Maldina on the table behind Chantel with Cooper and Fogg from her squad. Maldina kept glancing over at Blake's table. She now met his gaze for an instant. Maybe there was something there besides contempt. Blake was having a good evening.

"How many people do you command here Blake?" Chantel moved yet closer to Blake, her voice lower the nearer she got to him, her lips then brushing his ear as she spoke. Their shoulders were now touching.

"49 Chantel. And how many men do you command?" Blake asked, trying to make a joke.

They continued talking and drinking, each moment becoming more intimate. Chantel's hand was now on Blake's knee, his on her shoulder, as they huddled in the half light of the bar

"Sir can I speak to you one minute." Maldina interrupted.

"What is it Maldina." Blake was upset that they had been interrupted, but not that it was by Maldina.

"A word in private sir." Maldina said, as though she were back on duty.

"You can speak freely here." Blake said, he could not imagine what Maldina suddenly had to say that could be confidential.

"Sir, you should get her background checked before you take her back to the base, we don't know anything about her." Maldina at her mischievous best.

"Thank you Lieutenant, I will take your counsel under advisement." Blake tried not to look too embarrassed, but he was loving it.

"What's that? You can't take me back to the base and ravish me, how will I survive." Chantel spoke with great sarcasm and gave Maldina a look that made her ridiculous. Maldina was now the one to feel uncomfortable.

"I am responsible for your safety sir, and it is against the regulations." Maldina added weakly.

"I thought you were aware Lieutenant, that I, unlike yourself, am fully conversant with General Order, Section 12:15." Blake could not resist an oblique reference to the shower incident with Hurst.

"Your command decision, Captain." With that Maldina left them, she had done her best to embarrass Blake, to start to repay him in kind. She returned to her table to raucous laughter, which she seemed to share.

"Jealous type your lieutenant, she obviously has a thing for you." Chantel said as she tried to rekindle the intimacy.
"A thing called hatred you mean." Blake said as he smiled at her.

"Oh Captain you simply do not understand women do you?" Chantel had slowly brought her face close Blake's in no time at all.
"Obviously not. So anyway, you intend to work this farm do you? You don't look like a farmer." Blake realized that in her way, Maldina was right, he knew absolutely nothing of Chantel.

"My step-father was left it by his brother, Baker. He suggested I tried my hand at running the farm. If it doesn't work out then we'll sell up."

"Had any experience with farms?" Blake asked.

"No, but I've already advertised for a farm manager. Do you know anybody?" Through all her words remained Chantel's smile. Blake was finding it truly intoxicating. This was different! Something about her; the eyes, the smile. It really was different.
"Let me have a think about it, and I'll get back to you." Blake couldn't think of anyone suitable.

Blake and Chantel continued their cozy little chat for more than an hour, though they stopped short of devouring each other in the bar, it was obvious what was on their minds.

"Listen Blake I'd better get back to my new home, before I forget where it is." Chantel half whispered in his ear.
"Let me escort you back." Offered Blake.

"Of course, kind sir. As if I would leave without you." Chantel said as she stood up, holding out a hand to Blake. He stood up and then led her out of the bar, still holding her hand. Blake avoided all eye contact as his left, especially with Wilde.

As Blake walked Chantel back to the Baker Farm they talked about her life. Her quiet upbringing in the safe, South Eastern District. To her this must seem real bandit country thought Blake, no wonder she was worried about security. Blake learnt that she was 22 years old, had two younger half sisters, but no brothers, half or otherwise. She had kept her birth father's name, against the wishes of her step father. One of the reasons she had come to take care of the farm was to appease him, to show that she was his daughter as well.

They had been walking with just their arms linked, but as they reached the gate of Baker's Farm, Chantel turned and threw her arms around Blake's neck. Her mouth millimeters from his as she whispered: "Stay with me tonight Blake." They kissed a lingering kiss as Blake put his arms around her and caressed her back and hips . As their tongues jousted for position, Blake cupped her butt in his hands. He held her buttocks and pulled her tight against him.

"Awh." Chantel shrieked in pain as one of Blake's armor plates dug into her soft flesh.. "Let's go inside." She said as she led him to the door. "Can you stay?" Chantel asked as she opened the door.

"I can stay for a while Chantel, but I'm on duty in less than six hours."

"Six hours should be plenty." She said as she led him inside.

They continued kissing once in the kitchen of the farmhouse. Blake pulled the coat off Chantel's shoulders, and she moved her arms down to let it fall to the floor.

"Are you going to take this off?" Chantel asked him referring to the body armor, "or should I get the tin opener."

"You won't need a tin opener." Blake put his hands behind Chantel and picked her up, putting her down in a sitting position on the corner of the kitchen table. They had resumed kissing as he opened her blouse, she in turned fiddled with the armor plates at his crotch with little effect. Her blouse and bra now removed, Blake began to kiss and lick her breasts, first one and then the other. As he did this he tore the material of her flimsy knickers at the strap on the left side of her hips, ripping them apart with the fore finger and thumb of both hands and pulled them free, dropping them to the floor.

"Thanks........, I didn't want to wear......... them again." Chantel's breathing was heavy and labored. Only now did Blake lift her skirt completely to her waist revealing her nakedness. He moved his forefinger from her mouth, where she had been bathing it with her kisses and moved it down her body until it was between her legs. He gently pressed it against the swollen, wet, flesh, which sent her twitching slightly on the table. He licked the fingers of his hand and then continued to gently probe and caress her. As his right hand was moving rhythmically between her legs, his left hand was working her right breast, as he kissed her left nipple.
Chantel was becoming overcome with desire, she pulled his face from her breast, kissed him and whispered "f--- me now, I want you inside me now." With this Blake removed the armor plate around his crotch and lower his shorts. He gently pushed himself against her, pushing up on her own damp swollen flesh. She began to slowly accept him into her, millimeter by millimeter. Blake was still stood almost stationary, his body swayed slightly as she pushed and writhed against him, her hands greedily pulling his buttocks onto her. Blake held her keeping her almost still, one hand on her hip, the other around the nape of her neck. She continued to push and move against him as he now moved with and against her gently. Sweat began to collect on Blake's back, his body still almost completely clothed. He began to sway more pronouncedly into her now as she sighed and moaned.

She broke off from the kiss and lay back on the table, her hands thrown back behind her head and then searching through her hair. Blake's hand went from her neck to her breasts, massaging them firmly in time with the writhing of their bodies. Her eyes closed as she continued to moan incoherently. One hand pulling her hair, the other reaching for Blake's face. Chantel's legs were wrapped around Blake's back, holding him in place like the pincers of a crab. Her hand reached his face, forcing his lips open as he kissed her fingers. He continued to move with and against her with slowly increasing intensity.

Abruptly Blake freed her legs from behind his back, and raised them high above the table, resting her ankles against his shoulders. She pressed her left foot against his mouth and he began to suck her toes now, her hand lowered to her crotch. His tongue flicked and moved between her toes as he sucked one then the other, as though playing panpipes. His body slapped against hers, now so fully inside that she could yield no more. Blake kept her back pushed flat against the table, only her legs raised high above her. His hands leaning down on her hips, gently moving her towards and away from him. Her body moving so slightly against him, slipping lightly on the glistening surface of the table. He moved a hand on top of her lower abdomen, the thumb tugging at her swollen flesh, as she squirmed and wriggled.

"Harder Blake, harder." She implored, her voice much louder than before.

Blake began to pound into her, his body shuddering against hers as they collided. He continued like this for a little while.

Now he pulled her legs apart again, and they fell down his body, joining once more behind his back. His hands met at the top of her legs, his thumbs touching at the joining of their two bodies, as he held the crease where her legs met her body, stretching her skin at the inside of her thigh. He slid slowly in and almost out of her, in and almost out. Her hands were with his, now holding him against her, pulling him ever nearer to her. He continued his rocking motion against her, each stroke with slightly more force, each time deeper into her until his body was shuddering against her once again. His actions were gentle, yet forceful as he moved against her naked body, sprawled over the table in the half light.

After some minutes Blake withdrew from her, the tip resting against the open doors of her sexuality, briefly, then he pushed her legs up and then down and around in a clockwise direction, turning her body round. She now had her feet on the floor and was turned away from him. Her chest against the table, her face away from his. He spread her cheeks and entered her immediately, but slowly again. He pushed hard against her, filling her completely with his warmth. Chantel's body moved with and against him as his left hand, now at her hip, pushed and rolled her. Blake rushed to think of death, of football, of death in football, anything to extend the pleasure, to give Chantel more time to catch him up. His right hand was at now at the top of her leg, his thumb brushing against their joined flesh as he moved in and out of her. The thumb slid as it rested on the brief expanse of flesh between her two openings, teasing and cajoling her to new heights as she was catching up to him.

"Yes Blake yes, oh God yes." Chantel moaning as she put fingers from her left hand into her mouth where she sucked them. Her right arm stretched back towards Blake, rasping and clutching at his hip, and then her own buttock, pulling and pushing it against him as he moved in and almost out of her. She slapped herself hard against her hip, reaching as much of her ass as she could. Blake joined her in this exploit, but with far greater effect. His left hand pushing down on the small of her back, as his right hand swiped almost sideways against her ass. Her cheeks stinging as he repeated and repeated the act. She continued as well, catching him at times, as much as she caught herself.

"Yes , yes Blake ... I'm coming I'm f---ing coming." Chantel spoke in a whispered scream, greatly suppressed. He pounded her as he heard her last words, inside her as deep as could ever be. The waves of electricity rippling and crashing through their joined flesh. Blake came with the rhythmic spasms of her body, the convulsions squeezing and releasing him repeatedly. Chantel dug her fingernails hard into his exposed flesh, scraping the skin from his buttocks. His torso now falling onto her sweat covered body on the table.

"That was so good, but... but let's go to bed now Blake." Chantel was hurrying to compose and re-focus herself.

"I really can't Chantel, I need to get some sleep before I go on duty." Blake's head rested against hers on the table.
"You can sleep here, can't you." Chantel implored.

Blake smiled at her and stood straight again. "I truly doubt that." Only now did his deflating penis leave her body.

"Ooh that was good, it really was."

"You're telling me. You're quite a girl Chantel. I mean it, you're really something special."

"Then stay Blake, for a while at least."

"I'm sorry I can't. I really have to go." With this Blake pulled his shorts back on and replaced the fiber armor plates. "I'll come round tomorrow, about 1800?" Blake said as he kissed her before moving to the door.

"Wait Blake, stay please. I need to talk to you. Don't leave ,e alone here." Chantel said as she stood up, she moved to stop Blake at the door.

"Tomorrow Chantel." Blake said as he closed the door behind him and started to walk back to the base.

"You bastard," Chantel said to herself. Her face then filled with rage. "You stupid bitch." Chantel slammed her fist down hard on the kitchen table. "You stupid f---ing whore," Chantel screamed with absolute rage in her eyes. She was truly disgusted at herself. Things had gone perfectly up to a point, and then she'd let everything go to hell. Now it would have to wait until tomorrow. She had exposed herself to ever increasing danger. She went upstairs, showered and went to bed. She too, would have to get her rest.

Blake awoke at 0540, his alarm reminding him he had to be on duty in twenty minutes. He had slept well, the sleep of a fairly content man. As he returned from the shower Wilde was waiting for him outside his quarters.

"Blake can I speak to you." That she had not called him Captain showed this was unsurprisingly a personal matter.

"Just wait one minute while I put some clothes on." With this Blake pushed past her and opened the door.

"OK." Wilde whispered lamely, why she had to wait, she did not know for she had seen him naked dozens of times, the last time not more than two weeks ago.

After five minutes Blake, now fully dressed opened the door to let Wilde in, as he did so he exchanged glances with Maldina who was just returning to her quarters after exchanging a few words with Wilde.

"Blake I need to speak to you about last night." Wilde spoke very softly. "I felt sick last night when you left with that girl, I could not sleep for thinking about what you were doing with her, that you used to do with me." Blake let her go on. "It really made me think about how I feel about you, seeing you with her like that."

"Like what Wilde? We were just talking in the bar." Blake's words were far from convincing, or comforting.

"I think you had sex with that girl last night, tell me you didn't and I'll believe you." Wilde implored him.

"Does it matter if I did, we're no exactly an exclusive couple are we?" Blake was referring to her extra curricula activities.

"Blake, I only wanted you. It was you that turned me away almost all the time. We were together only when you wanted, never when I needed you." Wilde had tears in her eyes as she spoke.

The siren indicating the changing of duty sounded briefly.

"We'll have to speak later Wilde, I'm sorry."

"Promise me you won't see her again." Wilde implored.

"How can I promise that Wilde." Blake was taken aback by what she said.

"At least until we have a chance to speak properly." She said touching his arm with her hand.

"OK, come to my quarter's when you finish your shift." With that Blake walked past her.

Blake was very surprised at Wild's reaction. He had thought badly of Wilde for sleeping with Hanson and then Curtis, her old flame from training camp. Their off on relationship suited Blake and his moods, but Wilde had reacted to this by trying to make him jealous. Because of this he had relegated the relationship, and her, to a casual status. He was now trying to rationalize it in his head. Did their affair mean more than he had thought? Was there a future with Wilde, or perhaps Chantel? More likely neither of them. Anyway this was not the time to think of the future.

He walked into Ops, where Talbot and Maldina were both sat waiting for him.

"Lieutenant Talbot, anything interesting to report?" Blake asked.

"No sir. Squads D, and J are waiting to be relieved on the perimeter, but there has been nothing unusual to report."

"OK Lieutenant, you can go off duty." Blake then turned to Maldina, "Squads B and G to the perimeter, and you can take C to stalk around town if you want."

"Pleasant watch officers," Talbot said as he left the room.

"Blake, do you mind if I stay in Ops and do a background check on Chantel first?" Maldina's request was more than reasonable. " She did tell me last night that she would be taking over Baker's Farm."

"Lieutenant, there is no need for any special treatment. Log her arrival in the events book. When it is posted to Division they will do a standard check." Blake was feeling more than a little defensive, and was beginning to regret the way this was shaping up.

"Frankly Captain, if you are to indulge in sexual relations with this girl, as your second in command it is my duty to ensure we have her background checked as soon as possible." Maldina was correct.

"Leave it to the Log, Lieutenant." Blake knew that technically this was a breach of the regulations, but he did not want Division to be informed of another liaison he was having with a farmer, there had been a lot of questions asked when he was seeing Brompton, and she had been subject to a most unpleasant interview. "Rest assured that Chantel will not be stopping over at the base Lieutenant, or using the facilities, showers et cetera," he added with a smile.

"I think it only right that you know Wilde is very upset about this." Maldina was enjoying her intrusion into Blake's private life. "If you had been able to look at anyone, but Chantel last night, you would have seen her crying in the bar. There is a lot of sympathy for her sir."

Blake did not know what to make of Maldina's last comment. If she had said it just to hurt him, it had worked, but there did seem to be a little genuine concern there as well. Blake pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Maldina, my private life is beyond the scope of your duties. This discussion is over and the subject shall not be brought up again."
"Understood, sir." With that Maldina fell silent.

As Maldina left Ops to take her squad into the town she was replaced by Hanson as Ops officer. He too had decided to speak up on Wilde's behalf.

"Sir, permission to speak directly to you Sir, unofficially?" Hanson said nervously.

"Go ahead Corporal." Blake replied wearily.

"Its about Wilde sir."

"I thought it might be, Hanson."

"She asked me to tell you that nothing happened between us. There was a rumor that we were together, and we were together one evening in the Crofters, but nothing happened, not really, if you know what I mean, sir." Blake knew what he meant. He was now firmly being painted as the villain. Blake held up his hand to silence Hanson.

"Enough Corporal, I will hear no more about this." Many Fed officers made it a personal policy not to get involved with someone under their command, although the regulations only discouraged affairs within the same squad. Blake was beginning to see why this policy had some appeal. This day was getting worse by the minute. Blake went into the briefing room in order to be alone. He needed to think. It was a complicated matter of the heart really, he had misjudged and had been mistreating Wilde, as he was beginning to see, yet there was Chantel who he could not let be a one night stand. It was also a command decision. Obviously his relationship with Wilde had in fact been accepted by his troops. She was popular with them. Maybe what he had seen as a casual attitude to their relationship by Wilde had really been a low key approach, a considered attempt to give him room and time.
What did he feel for Wilde? He was very attracted to her, but although they had slept together repeatedly, they had never really talked honestly and openly to each other. Blake was beginning to see that this might be more his fault than hers. Was he punishing her for his own shortcomings? Would a relationship with Chantel lead to the same pitfalls. Much of Blake's past, much of himself, he could just not show to another human being. The things he had done, that he had had to do. It was impossible. Would it be better with Chantel? A difficult question as he hardly knew her. It would certainly be a lot less complicated alone. All this was getting him nowhere. He would take his squad to the perimeter, but away from G squad, and Wilde, and away from the Baker Farm, and Chantel. He had more than his fare share of thinking to do, and for once it wasn't related to duty, well not as far as he knew.

When he returned that afternoon he called Wilde, now off duty, into the briefing room. He sat waiting for her, going over what he must say until there was a knock on the door.

"Enter." He said.

"You wanted to see me sir." It was Wilde.

"Come over here please Wilde." Blake was apprehensive, but Wilde was more so. She had a terrible feeling she knew what he was going to say and she tried to head him off.

"Blake I'm sorry about this morning, it was just that I was upset and was not thinking straight. I understand that you can see whomever you want, and that I have no right to interfere. It's just that I was very upset and didn't get any sleep and the thought of you being with someone else. I mean I have no right to complain, it was just the way I felt, I'm sorry." Wilde too had been rehearsing what she was going to say, although this had changed greatly during the course of the day.
Blake was thrown slightly, he had not expected her to apologize, strangely it made him feel even worse. Wilde stood before him, remorseful, yet it was he that had wronged her. He looked at her beautiful, contrite features and felt more for her than he had ever done. Blake stood and approached her slowly.

"Wilde, let's put this behind us. I am very sorry about what happened, I did not believe either one of us had the right to expect anything from the other, I can see now that that was rather a harsh view." It always felt strange talking to Wilde in the cold, sober light of day, rather than the heat and passion of the night.

"Will you see that bitch again?" Wilde asked, a smile now lighting her features.

"Which bitch." Blake stalled for time.

"The Baker's Farm bitch?" Wilde said as she edged slightly nearer to him.

"No." Blake said as they began to kiss. Their first daylight, sober kiss. Wilde held him to her tightly, then Blake broke from the kiss. "Now get out of here Wilde, I have some work to do."

"The Crofters later?" She asked.

"OK." He said.

It was 1830 before Blake put a call in to the Baker Farm. He had been avoiding it for hours, trying to think of the right thing to say. He feared that whatever he said would sound phony, poor excuses for the way he had used her. Most of all he feared that his resolve would weaken. His heart was already divided, and so could easily be conquered. He had toyed with the idea of talking to Chantel in person, but had decided that a visit to the Baker Farm would not be prudent.

Chantel's face filled the Com screen in front of him as she attended Blake's call. She dazzled the room with her beauty, her features appearing even more alluring when twice their real size, her eyes even more enormous than in real life.

"Oh, Blake I'm so glad you called, I thought you were going to stand me up. I was hating myself for last night. I've never done anything like that before, you know, let a man do that within hours of meeting him, what must you think of me....." Chantel spoke without pausing for breath.

"Chantel , listen." Blake tried in vain to interrupt the flow of information from Chantel.

"....after you left last night, I didn't know what to think, whether to think good or bad of you either, but I couldn't help but think of you, constantly."

"Chantel listen, last night was a mistake." Blake's words stopped Chantel in her tracks.

"What?' What do you mean?" Chantel looked stunned.

"We really have to take things much slower than we did." Blake had already began to backtrack.
"I agree." Chantel responded nervously.

"Chantel, I'm involved with someone here at the base." Blake's words hung in the air between them.
"With that Lieutenant, Maldina?" Chantel asked.

"No, someone else, but it means I can't see you again, not now anyhow." Blake suddenly thought of how Wilde would react if she knew what he was saying.

"But I need to see you, please come here, I, we...., we need to talk properly, not on the Com, its not the same." Chantel's huge eyes began to fill with huge tears.

"Chantel I can't, really." Blake closed his eyes, and moved restlessly in his chair.

"Blake please come here now, so we can say good-bye at least, I beg you."

"I'll come and see you in a few days, I promise. Good-bye" Blake's finger had rested on the ComLink button throughout, but only now did he press it, and so terminate the transmission.

After the Com link died Chantel's fury bubbled to the surface immediately.

"Jesus f---ing Christ!" She could not believe it. It was not just professional frustration, nor fear, which was mounting with each minute that passed, she was also insulted that Blake had resisted her. The way she had let him f--- her, it had all been weakness and failure - totally uncharacteristic. She had let him get to her, he had touched something within her. Another place another time, who knows what could have happened, but here and now there was a job to be done, and he was it. To wait any longer would have been suicide, and she was not the suicidal type. She went to the third bedroom of the farm house, and removed a long thin case containing a high powered rifle, complete with night sights. Reluctantly Chantel would have to fall back to the riskier plan B.

Blake walked into the Crofters to find Maldina, Wilde, Berry and Couples all sat at the same table, on the left hand side of the bar. Their mood looked rather somber until they saw him, and then smiles broke out, even on Maldina's intransigent face. Blake walked past them to the bar, where he bought a drink, before joining them at the table.

"Well isn't this cozy," Blake said as he sat down, squeezing in between Maldina and Wilde.

"It was before you sat down." Joked Berry.

"Very funny son, keep it up and you'll be in the NE50's by Christmas." Blake was referring to the North East conflict zones of 53, 54, 55, 56 and 57. It was a real warzone there with 20% casualties per month. The PLA were well equipped and had allocated substantial human and supply resources. Only the importance of a number of key industrial areas and two large cities had kept the Federal forces defending the area at all costs. So far that year there had been six thousand Fed troops killed, and over twenty thousand PLA fighters killed. The injured were easily ten times these numbers. Many Fed troops having been injured an average of more than once every couple of months.

"Send the Lieutenant Sir, she'd love it there." Berry added cheekily.

"Blake wouldn't send me anywhere that interesting, he enjoys punishing me too much." Maldina said smiling at Blake, goading him to send her.

"You'll get your chance one of these days Lieutenant." Blake then put a hand on Wild's thigh, "let me give you an important piece of advice Private Wilde, never follow the Lieutenant on a posting." Blake returned Maldina's smile as he spoke. "This mad young thing will get you killed as soon as look at you.

"He's got a point Maldina, you're dangerous enough here." Couples' comment was met with more nervous laughter from the group.

"The problem with you lot is that you think you're the police, where as I'm a soldier." Maldina stated more solemnly now.

"You can say many things about Blake, Maldina, but not that he's a policeman." As Wilde spoke she moved her finger between some of the eight silver marks on his chest plate, each one the reminder of a bullet from Blake's previous campaigns. When a soldier was hit by gunfire, and survived, the mark left by the bullet on his body armor was ceremoniously capped. Silver for officers, bronze for the ranks. Blake had a total of thirteen silver hits. Maldina, of course, had none - yet.

"But Blake retired, Wilde, can't you see. Why do you think he's here?" Maldina asked.

"Now girls, let's not get catty. I don't see this as a policing operation and neither should any of you. I don't think you realize how quickly this sector could blow up into a warzone." Blake was back on his old subject with Maldina.

"Ah Blake do we have to keep talking shop all the time. It's bad enough that we're in full uniform. We might as well be on duty." Berry had grown tired of the conversation.

"You could hardly be mistaken for being on duty, your half cut for a start." Blake had noticed that Berry had apparently been drinking for some time.

"If it wasn't for the booze I don't think I could cope with this place." Berry responded.

"Maybe that's my problem, I'm sober too much of the time." Added Maldina.

"No Maldina, I don't think that, is your problem." Wilde was getting defensive, criticism of life in the sector was criticism of Blake.

"Come on Wilde, I thought we agreed to be friends." Maldina flashed back at her.

"Drunks, psychopaths and hopeless romantics I can see, but friends........." Joked Blake.

"Drunks, psychopaths and lovers." Wilde corrected him, to Blake's embarrassment.

It was at times like this that Maldina envied Wilde. Away from duty she liked Blake, if he hadn't been such a burnt out wimp, too scared of his own shadow to be of any use to anyone, she could have quite fancied him. There was a definite sexual tension between them, the mutual physical attraction of two people who couldn't stand each other. It was a fantasy, but one she never wanted to realize. Yet there was another side to it. Maldina had talked to Wilde last night. She had encouraged her to talk to Blake, to fight for him. In a way she was pleased to see Blake and Wilde together. If they coupled, upon Wilde becoming pregnant, then they would both leave the sector for good. Then she would be in with a shot at promotion in the field, or they'd be another Commanding Officer with more balls than Blake. Either way would suit her, she would at last get some real action.

They stayed there chatting for a few hours until it got quite late.

"Aah I love this song, its so se-xy." Wilde said in an exaggerated voice as a new song came on the jukebox.

"Sexy for you, its a bloke singing. Doesn't exactly light my fire." said Blake

"No, but I know what does." With that Wilde whispered to Blake at some length, her lips touching his earlobes.

"Oh go on then Wilde, you've talked me into it." With this Blake stood up, and then helped Wilde to her feet. "See you girls later."
"Tchau all." Added Wilde.

Blake and Wilde stepped out of the Crofters into the cold night air. They closed the door behind them and kissed in the doorway. Yet one more reconciliation kiss. She put her arm around his waist, and he put his around her shoulder and they started to walk back to the base.

"Blake, do you really think this place could turn into a warzone?" As Wilde spoke there was a loud crack. Blake stumbled backwards, and they both fell over. Another crack followed as a second high velocity bullet crashed into Blake's torso.
This one hit the side of his body as opposed to the first that had hit him in the chest. Wilde now reacted, she pulled the machine pistol from her back pack, and aimed towards where she thought the shots had been coming from. She stepped over Blake's body, so that she was between him and whoever was firing. Now putting on the night vision sight across her right eye she scoured the scene ahead. There were a row of houses no more than a hundred meters in front of the Crofters, the shots had come from there, but she didn't know where. She could see two windows open in two separate houses. Now she saw the flash of light as a third shot was heard and immediately opened fire with a burst of machine gun fire that lasted over thirty seconds. The rounds running from her back pack to the breach of the machine gun with fluidity, as the belt spun over her shoulder. The third shot had again hit Blake in the side.

Wilde only stopped firing as other Fed troopers came running out of the Crofters to see what was going on. They took up covering positions while Couples, a trained medic attended Blake. She checked his pulse at the temple, which was still quite strong and reached for the gum gun. This was a device that pumped warm specially prepared gum onto bullet wounds to stop the bleeding and reduce hemorrhaging. She quickly applied it to all three wounds. Blake was barely conscious, so she gave him codeine to subdue the pain racking his body. Wilde now looked at Blake as Couples attended him. His body armor was pierced where the high velocity rounds had hit him, she could see the dark liquid oozing out of the three puncture holes. This stopped as Couples applied the gum.
"Blake you're going to be OK, don't worry I'll stay with you." Wilde whispered to him as she stroked his cheek.

"Wilde, tell Maldina... you must tell Maldina." With that Blake fell unconscious.

"Is he going to be all right?" Wilde asked.

"We need to get him back to the MedLab double quick and get a surgeon up there." Couples replied.

"Oh my God Blake, don't leave me." Only now did Wilde begin to weep.

"He'll be OK Wilde, he has to be." Couples called the 4x4 and took Blake back to the MedLab at the base, only a few hundred meters away.

Maldina had led the attack against the house from which the shots had been fired. She had encouraged the troops to pump as much ammunition as they could through the windows. They had obliged by sPLAying thousands of rounds into the house. Maldina now took a squad into the target house, searching from room to room. What she found inside was the Maurice family. They had been tied up and placed against the wall directly behind the window that had been used for the attack. All three, including the twelve year old child, were now dead. Each had been hit by hundreds of bullets from the Fed troops. From the freshness of the blood, still flowing from the warm bodies, it was apparent that they had been alive only a few minutes ago. The sniper had fled from the back door and no weapons or PLA raiders were to be found.

Talbot organized a coordinated sweep to track down the gunman, with squads coming in from the perimeter, and out from both the base and the Crofters. They found nothing. And when the perimeter alarm was set off by an unauthorized exit from the sector, there was no one within striking distance. Maldina took squads C, I and J deep into PLA territory that night, but found nothing and came back empty handed.

Chapter 3: The Many Shades Of Death

There were inconsistencies in the nothingness. That's what struck him first. In parts the infinite blackness was blacker than in other parts. What the f--- was that!?! A giant fuzzy balloon of nothing passed right before his eyes. It was black, but he could still make it out, it being less black than the black background. There were a thousand of these fuzzy black balloons and yet there were none. It was difficult to work out where the black background ended and the black foreground began, such was the blackness.

The major question concerned his eyes. Were they open or closed? He decided to open them to see what would happen. Nothing. OK, they must already be open. He would close them to see the results. Nothing. His eyelids must be either opened or closed, but paralyzed. Obviously. Along with his eyelids, he could not feel his legs or arms, nor even the beating of his heart. Dead. He must surely be dead. If he couldn't feel the air filling his lungs or the blood coursing through his heart then he was obviously dead. This had been dawning on him, but he didn't like to face it. But then again he was thinking. He was thinking that he was thinking and so must therefore be alive.

A dream perhaps? If this was a dream it was one that he had conscious control over. This was obvious from the way he was able to think. Blake tried to imagine someone's face; Chantel's face. There was something there, it was kind of working. But he couldn't make the shape out really. In a way he could see her, but it wasn't like TV - nor was it as clear as a dream. The last thing he remembered was the Crofters. He had been in there with Maldina and Wilde. Maybe he was just in a drunken stupor, God knows it wouldn't be the first time. He was probably lying in a pool of his own vomit somewhere, and should be quite thankful that he couldn't see, smell or feel anything. It was the first time in his life that this thought had cheered him up.

Blake quickly realized that he should have been awake by now. He could not move closer to consciousness, nor further away from it. In any dream he had ever had, if he had realized it was a dream he had woke up. But not now. Then this is death. Not so bad really. Seems to be pure thought, Blake thought. Is that what the human spirit is? Pure thought? It seemed logical in a way, but then a horrible thought occurred to him. Would it be like this for eternity? Just thinking and nothing else? It was like waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep. Just lying there awake, thinking. Would it be like this for eternity? Maybe this was hell then. No flames or horny headed demons just endless night. Christ, what s---!

Blake tried to get a grip of himself, calm himself down a little. He would think of something positive. His best experience. For a minute he had trouble recollecting good experiences, never mind, his best. He decided to plump for sexual experiences, nothing too deep at first. What was the best sex he had ever had? Well the most recent was Chantel. Not bad at all, but far too brief to be in contention for a serious prize. Then, going back, next there was Wilde. Consistently good, he thought. In fact there were some occasions when she woke him up in a particularly interesting way, that were real contenders. She had not done this many times, but when she had done it, it had been fantastic. Which was better, her straddling him, or blowing him. That's a tough one. Blake was feeling better already.

Going back a little further and Blake was with Brompton. Different again, but better? A little less willing to please, perhaps, but Brompton too had her charm. She was certainly more demanding, and quite imaginative with food. Then there was her big double bed in the farmhouse. Blake had spent some unforgettable nights there, none of which really came to mind. He remembered her face, her body, some of the acts, but not really specific times. Aaah yes, there was that Sunday morning in front of the open fire. They had talked and f---ed for hours on end. Nothing exceptional when taken in isolation, but pretty good stuff all in all. It gave him a warm feeling against the blackness, the emptiness, the cold.

Thinking back further was a mistake. As soon as he thought of Thompson, he thought of her bloodied face, her lifeless body. Again he tried to go past this to the good times they shared. He thought of her naked in his bunk, but then came gunfire outside, and again her body was ripped open flesh, her face a bloody unrecognizable mess. He picked up the machine gun at his side and starting shooting. He strode though the darkness naked, the machine gum spitting out and endless stream of death. One by one he saw the faces of everyone he had ever killed. The women, the men, the teenagers, the kids.... He kept shooting them, but they kept coming. Clawing at him with their bloody fingers. It was a mass of bodies now, all bleeding with lumps and chunks missing. He switched on the rocket attachment under the barrel of the gun, and let fire with that. Now they came at him with eyes dangling from the sockets, stumps of arms and legs sPLAying blood at him, fingers missing from severed hands, all still twitching and moving.

Blake spun his mind to get to somewhere else, anywhere else. Now he was a child with his mother, he had never known his father, killed when he was just a few months old. His mother was as he had last seen her, crippled and bleeding, dying before his eyes. He tried and tried to remember her before this, but the blood always returned. He thought of his Auntie, she was still alive, never even been shot. Blake had next of kin, he wasn't a faceless, nameless number like so many these days. He could see Maldina on the ComLink, telling her the news... "Blake, only dead now, he lasted well, he had a good innings, all things considered." Considering all the lives he took, perhaps his Auntie was right. He thought of Maldina, happy at his death, now the commander, a field promotion to Captain, hastily arranged by her father. He never did get her in bed, he always thought he would one day. He thought she would mellow with time, she hadn't, well not in the time they'd shared anyway. Not even to shed a tear for him. Wilde would cry, he could rely on that. And Brompton, maybe, a quick tear when no one was looking. Chantel? No that one had been cut too short, and by him. At least he had done the right thing, albeit after doing the wrong one earlier.

Sure he had killed, and he had loved, but had he really lived. Was that life, a full life. Surely it couldn't just be that? He had done so little, still only learning, still trying to get things right. No children, he had never coupled, not even talked about it seriously, and it had not happened by accident. He had wasted it all really, sad to say, but true. Great chances, and even greater mistakes. For all the lives he had taken, he had never created one. He could have coupled with Brompton or Wilde, got out while he was still ahead. One more great mistake to cap them all.

He would never make a mistake again, not if he really was dead. Had he really ate, drank and f---ed for the last time? Was it really all over? It seemed impossible, but increasingly inevitable. Blake would now have to settle himself down for eternity, and that's a long time without even a good book for company.

Talbot called Maldina into the briefing room as soon as she arrived back from her nocturnal patrol in the PLA sector. He had been monitoring things from the Ops room, when he should have been running them. Maldina having countered most of the orders he had given.
"Maldina, I understand that you are upset at what happened to Blake, and that we all want to get the raiders, but you have no right to interfere with my orders when I am the Duty Officer." Talbot was furious at how Maldina had taken over on his watch.
"Lieutenant, I have three months seniority on you, and am therefore the senior officer in this section. That gives me the right to command." Maldina stated, technically correct.
"Maldina, Blake is still alive and so he is still the commanding officer. We are still equals while there is breath in his body."
"Incorrect Talbot, he is unconscious, he is therefore not fit for duty. I am the senior acting officer on this base."
"I'm going to call Divisional HQ, Col. Rogers can decide this."
"Lieutenant Talbot, I order you not to contact Col. Rogers. We informed them of the attack on Blake, that's enough." Maldina was sure she would win this test of will. Talbot stood in silence. He was being ordered by Maldina not to ask HQ if Maldina had the right to give him orders. "If you want to consult the regulations Talbot be my guest, but do not consult HQ. Is that clear Lieutenant?" Maldina needed his assurance.
"For the time being Lieutenant." With these words Talbot turned and left the briefing room, thus leaving Maldina in command.

Blake had been taken to the MedLab and given rudimentary treatment by Couples and Patel, both trained Medics. The Divisional Surgeon had been called for straight away, and a local doctor had also had a look at him. After twelve hours Blake was still unconscious, but his condition was stable and he was in no real danger. The body armor had taken most of the force of the high velocity bullets, but they had still ripped into his flesh and broken two of his ribs. There was also much internal bleeding, caused by the force of the impact, as well as the action of the bullets, which had done little more than penetrate the skin. The Divisional Surgeon had given Blake a thorough examination and given him the OK, before heading back out of the sector.

Wilde had stayed with Blake throughout the night and was about to regret it.

"Private, you went on duty over an hour ago." Maldina said upon entering the MedLab and finding Wilde still there.

"I didn't want to leave him alone." Wilde said defensively, surprised by Maldina's remark.

"He's not alone Wilde, Patel is here. Now go join your squad."

"But I would really rather stay, I think it's important that someone talks to him, I'm sure he can hear us." Wilde added.

"Private Wilde go and join your squad!" Maldina barked the order at her.

"OK, I'm going." Wilde was upset at being sent out, she desperately wanted to be there when Blake woke up. She walked slowly

 out of the room. After a sleepless night she now had to face a full day's duty.

"Patel, I don't won't Blake in any pain, he's already been through so much. Give him the maximum analgesics and sedatives that you can." Maldina instructed.

"But the Doctor said...." Patel did not think that was such a good idea as it would keep him unconscious.
"I said, give him analgesics and sedatives, so give them to him, and now!" Maldina watched as Patel prepared a dose of painkillers and tranquilizers that would have kept a rhino out cold for a week.

After she had finished her business in the MedLab, Maldina took five squads out on a deep patrol into PLA territory. Her desperation to wipe out the PLA commune had been heightened by the attack on Blake. Whatever their differences he was a decorated Fed hero and she had found their assassination attempt a despicable and cowardly act. This act, however, had given her the perfect opportunity to strike at the PLA. She knew their commune had moved north, but the last position shown by the latest satellite pictures had proved to be out of date. The PLA could have moved almost anywhere now and Maldina had decided on a short list of the four biggest farms in the area. The patrol would take them to each one of the targets in turn during the course of the day.

Such a large patrol meant that only five squads were left back in NW126, and only one of these was on duty. Squad E, led by Corporal Hanson, was back at the base, with their medic, Private Patel, looking after Blake in the MedLab and Hanson at Ops. The other members of the squad, Taylor, Southgate and Law were all on guard duty at the base. There was simply no one left to cover the town, the perimeter, or to respond to emergencies. Maldina was betting everything on a quiet day for NW126; that all the action would be in PLA territory as she would find and destroy the PLA commune. It was a foolish bet, but she felt she had to take her chance as quickly as she could. She had not slept in over 24 hours and was running on adrenaline and ambition, a dangerous cocktail.

"E1 to C1, I have an unauthorized crossing at point 24-93, two intruders, please advise." Hanson was Ops Officer, but did not know what to do about the crossing as he had no one to send out there to check it out.
"C1 to E1, I'll send a squad from here. Liaise with G1 to intercept intruders." By sending Richards and his squad, Maldina would now be down to twenty troops herself, but she had little alternative. It was probably just a couple with a faulty radio, but with no one on patrol in NW126 she had to send someone to check it out.

Squad G, Sergeant Richards and Privates Williams, Howe, Wilde and Casper, broke away from the main group and started to head back to Sector NW126. They had already been on the move for more than three hours and could barely manage a slow jog. Point 24-93 was over six kilometers away, and once there they would have to track the probable course of the intruders, but at least they would be away from Maldina.

Chantel had positioned her Raiding Party of twenty troops in a long outstretched line on the PLA side of the perimeter at point 24-93. They were quite well armed with 12 machine guns among them, though Chantel had preferred to keep the high powered rifle she'd used on Blake. They now had to wait to see if the Feds would respond. Burrows and another raider had crossed the perimeter moments before and were now on the look out for Fed Troops coming from the base, or from along the perimeter. They were the cheese in the mouse trap. As soon as they spotted a Fed squad they were to head back across the perimeter to the PLA side, the Fed squad would follow and become a ripe target for Chantel's waiting Raiding Party. Burrows had been commander of the commune just over a week ago, and now he was just the bate in Chantel's trap. It was a high price to pay, but it would be worth it in the long run. Anyway, he had only called on the services of Chantel because he knew she would tire of this uninteresting little war and would soon leave for bigger and better things.

G squad did not approach the perimeter with particular caution, believing that the two intruders would have long since gone. But Sergeant Richards did stop when point 24-93 came into sight so that he could give it a customary once over with 4x vision. He spotted two static figures that appeared to be looking in a westerly direction, towards the Fed base. From the positions they were lying in he could not see any weapons, but from their actions it appeared more than likely they were PLA.

"G1 to C1, I have two targets still at 24-93." Richards was playing it by the book.

"PLA?" Asked Maldina over the ComLink.

"Unconfirmed." Replied Richards.

"Armed?" She asked again.

"Unconfirmed." Repeated Richards.

"Send Williams and Wilde skipping over to check it out, the rest of you provide cover." Maldina was being sexist as only women could, ordering the two women in the party to approach the two targets while the men held back watching the proceedings through their gun sights.

Richards brought the whole squad closer to Burrows, crawling on their stomachs, until they were in range. Richards, Howe and Casper aimed at the two targets, two red dots from laser sights on Burrows' back, one red dot on the other. Wilde and Williams crawled just a little to the south, so as not to give away the position of their comrades before standing up, and slowly started walking towards the two at the perimeter. Burrows and his companion did not see Wilde and Williams approaching them from behind. Chantel was also too busy looking towards the Fed sector to notice the two girls walking straight up to their position. Wilde and Williams were staring at the two figures ahead of them, as they walked cautiously towards them. Wilde now came within about ten meters of one of Chantel's raiders, covered in a green camouflage web. She saw him out of the corner of her eye and stopped dead in her tracks, signaling Williams to do likewise. Wilde could not even use the ComLink as the raider was too close. She quickly looked around and spotted more of the camouflaged figures. A cold sweat stung at her back as she was gripped with fear. All the figures she could see were in front of her and Williams, and they had not yet been spotted.

Wilde and Williams now starting to walk backwards, very slowly, very carefully.

"C2, C4 what the hell are you doing?" Richards' question could only be heard by Williams and Wilde through their ear pieces.
"It's a trap." Williams' whispered response was heard by a raider less than three meters in front of her, so quiet was the afternoon air. He spun round to see Wilde and Williams and immediately opened fire. As soon as Chantel saw how close the two Federation Troops were she knew this would be a killing war, just the way she liked it. Within seconds all twenty raiders were firing at Williams and Wilde. Hundreds of bullets ripped into them, the repeated hits shattering the body armor, and then shattering the bodies. Williams' head was almost ripped off her shoulders by repeated hits to the neck, she stumbled backwards under the force of the bullets hitting her, arms flailing, legs buckling. Her blood was splattering out of her body and still the constant rain of bullets kept her shuddering backwards before finally hitting the floor. Her eyes lifeless before she even hit the ground.

Wilde saw Williams fall as she herself was shuddering under the impact of the machine guns trained on her. The bullets smashed into her armor plating, cutting their way to the flesh and bone. She had stopped feeling the pain of the bullets hitting her, those few seconds before felt like weeks ago. The cold vision of yellow fire against a backdrop of green now replaced by a myriad of images. She could not tell whether they came from her eyes or her mind. She could see her mother holding her when she was ill with measles, making all the pain go away. How much she had loved her mother, how much she had been loved by her mother. It seemed so important now, more than ever. She had never known her father, but there was Blake. He would protect her. He would love her. The warmth of their nights together, just the two of them, all the secrets that went unsaid.

Wilde was so cold now, and still she could feel the jolts of something hitting her, annoying her. It broke her concentration. They should stop that. It's ridiculous. So far inside as I am now, she thought, its ridiculous. Children, they would have children. Blake would couple soon. He couldn't hold out forever. Two boys and a girl. The boy just like Blake. She hadn't done the best things in her life yet. But all that would come, it must. If it didn't happen it would all have been so pointless. You wade thorough the bad times to get to the good, and God knows she'd had her fair share of bad times. She'd have babies, of course she would, and with Blake too. But all that would have to wait now. It would have to wait at least for a while.

Richards, Howe and Casper had opened fire as soon as they had acquired targets, but there was no way they could have helped the two girls.

"Squad G under fire, two down. Multiple targets. Need back up immediately." Richards' words barely hid his desperation. Hanson at Ops immediately put the base at full alert, waking those asleep, and calling to duty those that were not. Maldina now abandoned her patrol and headed back at full speed to the perimeter.

Richards raced through the options in his mind, but knew now there was only one course open to him.

"G3 and G5 you will retreat on my order. Crawl back out of range and then make a run for it." Richards was mortified by what had happened to Williams and Wilde, but at least he could try to save Casper and Howe.

"And you sir." Richards rank of sergeant did not warrant Casper referring to him as Sir, but the poignancy of Richards orders transcended all such etiquette.

"I'll cover you from here, then join you in a few minutes. When you get clear head out towards Lieutenant Maldina. Good luck." Richards knew full well this was the last order he would ever give.

Howe and Casper made it back, both receiving a couple of hits in the back as they retreated. Neither were seriously injured due to the range from which they were hit. They met up with Maldina's group and then headed back yet again to the perimeter.

By the time Maldina arrived at 24-93 the fire fight had long since finished. First they found the half naked body of Sergeant Richards. He had been stripped of all weapons, body armor and supplies, and had been hit by literally hundreds of bullets, some from distance, and some at point blank range. Then they found Wilde and Williams. Their body armor was in shattered fragments around their bodies, little tiny pulverized pieces, that hadn't even been worth stealing. The grass stained red around them. They were all grotesque lumps of contorted and twisted meat, no longer human at all. All three were taken back to the base for cremation.

It was 1900 before Blake regained consciousness. Patel was still attending him, and was relieved to hear his voice again.

"Patel, come here. What happened?" Blake could remember nothing.

"There was a sniper sir, you were hit with three high velocity rounds, but the Doctor says you'll be OK in a couple of weeks, maybe a month." Patel smiled at him reassuringly.

"And Wilde." Blake remembered leaving the Crofters with her.

"Private Wilde was not hurt sir." Patel did not yet know what had happened to Wilde.

"Where is she?" Blake was wondering why he didn't have any visitors, not Wilde, Brompton, or even Maldina. He thought that Chantel might be allowed to visit him, but did not realize the irony of this.

"She's on patrol sir." Patel smiled at the Captain, realizing he was a little disappointed to be all alone at such a time.

Blake was very woozy with all the drugs he had been given, but he could still feel a terrible pain as he tried to breathe.
"Patel, did they get the sniper?" Blake croaked.

"No sir, but Lieutenant Maldina is out there with five squads looking for him." Patel said, trying to reassure him.
"Oh f---." Only now did Blake realize that Maldina would be in charge of the sector.

"Patel, gets to Ops and order Maldina back here immediately." As Blake spoke Lieutenant Maldina walked into the MedLab, her face white.

"Patel leave us, and watch that no one enters." Maldina's voice was barely audible. Patel looked at Blake, and then stepped outside the room as he nodded his concurrence with Maldina's order.

"Blake, Wilde is dead." Maldina could not look at Blake, and carried on speaking as he did not reply. "And Sergeant Richards and Williams." Still there was no reply from Blake. No one had been killed from his command in over six months and now this. Wilde still looked away from Blake, she could not bear to look at him. "G squad was ambushed by at least 20 raiders, there was nothing anybody could do."

Only now did Maldina turn to look at Blake, his eyes were closed. Christ he was unconscious again. Had he not heard? Maldina went to leave the MedLab.

"Lieutenant Maldina." Blake's voice was low, but steady. "No one else leaves the sector." It was when Maldina heard these words that she realized and accepted that she had caused the deaths. Blake knew they had been outside the perimeter, it was obvious. Three killed! Maldina slumped in a chair by Blake's bed, her eyes filling with tears. He said nothing, his eyes still closed. Maldina held his hand. "I'm sorry Blake, I'm so sorry."

"Maldina, keep two groups of two squads at the perimeter." Blake continued to speak with his eyes closed. "Send Talbot to see me."
Maldina stood up, wiped her eyes and walked to the door.

"How did Wilde die, and Richards and Williams?" Blake said as he opened his red stinging eyes.

"They had two raiders at the perimeter, Wilde and Williams went to investigate while Richards, Howe and Casper took up covering positions. There were twenty other raiders waiting for them, dug in, camouflaged positions. Wilde and Williams were hit at very close range and died instantly. Sergeant Richards died giving covering fire to allow Casper and Howe to retreat. They surrounded him, got up close....."

"Richards split up his squad?" Blake knew Richards would not normally have done that.

"Yes, I told him to." Maldina thought about telling Blake that Wilde had wanted to stay with him until he regained consciousness, but could not bear to. She had never felt so bad in her entire life.

"Maldina come here." Blake ordered, holding out his hand to her.

She approached him, now looking straight into his eyes.

"This is a war, it always was, and there will always be casualties. Your job as an officer is to limit the casualties. To do the job with the minimum loss of life. You know that don't you? Only ever engage at long range and in numbers, that way no one gets killed."
Maldina said nothing.

"Another thing Maldina, this isn't Burrows. Someone else has taken over. Be careful." Blake could manage no more and passed out.

Maldina left MedLab and went to the Ops room where she found Lieutenant Talbot and Sergeant Woods. They were talking about the day's main incident and fell silent when Maldina entered the room.

"Have you filed a report with Division?" Talbot asked his fellow Lieutenant.

"No, I'll do it now. Call Hanson, he was at Ops when it happened and should be allowed to make any comments. And Howe and Casper of course." Maldina slumped into a chair and waited for them to arrive. More than anything she wanted this day to be over.

"Did you tell Blake?" Asked Talbot.

"I told him." Replied Maldina.

"What did he say?"

"He said someone has taken over from Burrows, and we should be careful."

"Now he tells us." Talbot's words made her feel much better. Maybe it wasn't really all her fault. The PLA had suddenly become much better armed, and apparently, better led. The attempt on Blake's life might have been a prelude to a full blown attempt to take the sector. She must impress this upon Division, she thought, suddenly things weren't so bad.

Hanson, Howe and Casper all walked in together. Howe and Casper still looked shocked and scared.

"OK Woods, raise Colonel Rogers." Maldina was not looking forward to this.

Woods pressed a couple of buttons, spoke to Division and within seconds Col. Rogers' face filled the Ops room screen.
"Lieutenant Maldina, and Lieutenant Talbot good to see you both. Tell me how is my favorite Captain doing, well I hope?"
"He's OK sir." Maldina said without giving the matter any thought.

"Well then Lieutenants how are you enjoying a free hand over there?"

"Sir I have to report an engagement earlier today. Squad G was ambushed by the PLA and we lost three troopers." Lieutenant Maldina hurriedly spat the information out.

"Send the video transmission of all five troopers involved directly to, they will be analyzed here." Col. Rogers' voice now spoke with formality. "Lieutenant Maldina, I take it they died on your watch?"

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Then you will inform their next of kins personally. The surgeon has informed me that Blake will not be fit for at least two to three two weeks. Until he is back you are restricted to purely defensive measures. You will not cross the perimeter, understood?"
"Yes sir." Only Maldina replied, yet he was addressing both her and Talbot.

"Anything out of the ordinary and you report it to me."

"Yes sir."

"I'll contact you as soon as I've had time to review the footage. What were the names of those who died?" Rogers asked
"Sergeant Richards, who I will recommend for a posthumous medal of honor, and Privates Williams and Wilde." Thus far this was going much better than Maldina had feared.

"OK Lieutenants, let's have no more casualties. Wilde, wasn't that who Blake was involved with?"
"It was sir." This time just Talbot answered.

"Not the best of news for a man coming out of a coma, is it?" With that Colonel Rogers terminated the ComLink.

"Well that could have been worse." Said Maldina.

"Hardly, they're holding an inquiry without even asking for a report." Lieutenant Talbot knew the gravity of the situation far better than her, and was worried that it would reflect badly on him, even though he hadn't been in charge at the time. However, he was also relieved that the Colonel had given Maldina a direct order to stay within the perimeter and exercise due caution.

"It must be policy to hold an inquiry, review the tapes to determine exactly what happened." Maldina was happy to rationalize it as normal.

"Maldina you better notify the next of kin now, before they find out by some other means." Talbot still thought Maldina was taking all this too lightly. He stayed with her until she had made all the calls.

After Maldina had gone off duty Talbot went down to see Blake in the MedLab. He was asleep at first, but woke up when Talbot started talking to Reece, the medic attending him.

"So Blake, Reece tells me you'll be on solids in a few days." Said Talbot PLActicing his bedside manner.

"Have you told Wilde's family?" Blake asked.

"She had no family. She listed a cousin as next of kin, Maldina spoke to him but he didn't even remember her. I am sorry you lost her Blake, I know she meant a lot to you." Talbot chose to ignore the night with Chantel.

"And the others?" Blake's voice was weary and tired.

"Williams had a mother, Maldina spoke to her, but Richards didn't have anybody either." Talbot knew that this was common place, life expectancy not being too great these days.

Blake felt bad that he had not known that Wilde didn't have any family. One more thing to feel bad about.

"Lieutenant, I want you to go round tonight and talk to people. See what you can find out. There's someone else out there, not Burrows."

"Well not just Burrows, he's been positively ID'd on the videos as the cheese in the mousetrap today. Obviously someone else is in charge, but we don't know who."

"First priority is to find out." Blake said, his eyelids beginning to grow tired again.

"OK I'll see what I can find out," said Talbot before leaving the room.

As Talbot left, Regan entered, his face much more solemn than usual.

"Well Blake, looks like you really are indestructible, shame about Wilde though." Regan said with all the tact he could muster.
"Thank you for your compassion Regan, now f--- off and let me sleep."

"Listen Blake I have some bad news. You know how you shagged that girl you met in the Crofters a few days ago, Maldina tells me she was called Chantel." Regan went straight to the point.

"Yeah, so what?" Blake was concerned by his friend's question.

"F--- Blake, you arsehole! Chantel is the name of a knockout brunette Major in the PLA. She's f---ing famous. Didn't anybody check her out? She wiped out Sector NW 413 and 308, she's really famous for this kind of stuff. I can't believe she used her own name." Regan sat on the side of Blake's bed, his hand rubbing his mouth.

"Are you sure?" Blake asked, horrified.

"Since the attempt on you, Chantel left the Baker Farm and there's no trace of her. Also, I talked to Baker's next of kin, and they've never heard of Chantel, certainly isn't their daughter. They're putting the Baker Farm up for auction."

"So she's an impostor, it doesn't mean...." Blake stopped mid sentence as the pain ebbed through his body in waves "...she is PLA." Have you checked the personnel archive she logged?"

"Not yet, I wanted to talk to you first. Blake its her, its obvious. Major Chantel is the ultimate PLAying mantis, from what people told me she came on to you like a steam train, I mean is that a normal occurrence? "

"So why didn't she kill me when she had the chance at the Farm?" Blake did not want to believe his friend.
"I don't know Blake, maybe you came too soon and ran off in shame before she had the chance."

"Regan this isn't funny."

"Blake, I wasn't joking. We've got to confirm it with Division, better still I'll have a look what I can dig up in Ops, keep Division out of the loop."

Blake felt totally sick, this could not be the same Chantel. Responsible for trying to kill him, and for Wilde's death? It would be too much. "Regan, check straight away with Division, and talk to Talbot, I don't want a cover up on this."

"It's your call boss, but you're going to come out of this worse than anybody." Regan warned.

"Not worse than Wilde, Richards or Williams." Blake corrected him.

"Listen, while you're in MedLab I think it's best we have your dick cut off, to avoid similar problems in the future." Regan said as he stood up.

"Not funny Regan."

"Don't go anywhere, I'll go get the microscope, tweezers and that tiny scalpel they have for micro surgery." With that Regan left the room and Reece, the on duty Medic, re-entered. Blake lay there in bed trying to take in what Regan had told him. He remembered that Maldina had wanted to check Chantel out with Division, and he had stopped her. Suddenly it dawned on him that this could all be his fault, not Maldina's. If they had checked out Chantel, discovered she was a PLA Major, they could have caught or killed her and stopped all this. It was a nightmare. It could not be the same Chantel, Regan must be mistaken.

Regan went to Ops to speak to Talbot, but he had already left on patrol. Corporal Jones Liz was Ops officer.

"Jones, has Maldina posted this weeks New Personnel Log?" Regan asked.

"No, not yet it's only Thursday. It will be posted tomorrow." Jones Liz responded.

"Blake asked me to have a look."

"OK, I'll bring it on screen." Jones Liz said as she brought up the file on the screen in front of them. Regan scrolled through three personnel archives until he got to Chantel. He then cross referenced the information with what they had on Major Chantel of the PLA. Although they had no clear definitive photos, fingerprints or DNA of the PLA Major, the description fitted Blake's Chantel. There was a similarity in the photos they did have of Major Chantel, and the age and height were correct. He pulled the file from the log and stored it on a disk.

"I need to examine this archive."

"What is she Regan, an ex of yours as well."

"Jones, you're a genius, but keep it quiet. Catch you later" With that Regan left.

When Talbot transferred the watch to Maldina the next morning there was little to report. He had covered several farms that night, and awoken several nervous farmers in order to question them, but he had learnt little. He still did not knew the new PLA commander, or what extra resources they had. All he had learnt was that people were nervous. The ambush of Squad G had worried Sector NW126's residents. The future was suddenly far less certain.

Talbot told Maldina that Blake wanted to see them both as soon as she came to take over the watch. They entered MedLab to find Regan already there, and Patel the Medic in attendance. Patel was dismissed from the room before Blake began to speak.
"Lieutenants, Regan here has a theory as to what's happening in the PLA sector. He thinks that a Major Chantel has taken over, and is increasing the stakes with more firepower." Blake spoke slowly and quietly. "This Major Chantel being responsible for the Baker Farm massacre so that she could take over the farm and attempt to kill me before disappearing."

"Your forgetting that the Baker girl was raped. Blake you're in the best position to say whether she was anatomically capable of doing that." Maldina said, she was not surprised at Regan's theory, but dismissed it anyway.

"It could have physically been one of the two raiders that Woods got that carried out the massacre, or Chantel could have done it herself, notwithstanding her anatomical limitations." Blake countered.

"I don't follow, how could a girl rape another girl, with a stick or something?" Talbot asked earnestly.

"I will not go into that, if you've got time you can read the official report on Chantel, she has done, and forced others to do, some pretty horrific things. I would not put anything past her." Blake did not want to dwell on the horrific psyche of the woman he'd slept with.

"You're making a giant leap based on no more than the same name, albeit uncommon." Maldina said, continuing to defend a woman she had taken an instant dislike to.

"Maldina, I passed her archive to Division last night, they had a eye witness confirm her as Major Chantel The only doubt, and its a slim one, is to whether she came here just to kill Blake, or she's here to take the sector." Regan's words did surprise both Maldina and Talbot.

"Blake, if you'd let me send her archive three days ago when I requested then......"

"It's irrelevant now Maldina, lets stick to the point." Talbot interrupted her. "I'd say after what happened to G Squad that she's here to take the sector. Maybe killing Blake was just a precursor to that."

Maldina now felt completely vindicated and suddenly empowered. "I think we all know it's somebody new, Chantel or whoever, the point is to do them before they get a chance to do us. They want to take over this sector, let's wipe them out before they get a chance." Maldina's position was predictably robust.

"With the resources we have against an unknown number of PLA, a defensive position would be much more appropriate than another wild goose chase round the PLA sector. Look where the last one got us." Talbot did not agree with Maldina's idea.
"Don't worry Talbot I'd leave your butt here safely tucked away in Ops."

"Just what the hell do you mean by that Maldina?" Talbot was furious at her remark.

"Will you both shut up and listen." Blake could hardly make himself heard. "Maldina, this is your big chance. For once you're right. We have to locate their main party, and hit them hard, total force, rockets and everything."

Maldina's face lit up like a Christmas tree at the news.

Blake continued, "Obviously this can only be done with full satellite cover. Maldina put in a request to Division for at least 36 hours cover. As soon as they can comply and the satellite pinpoints their position you take 6 squads to go and wipe them out. But until you get satellite cover you just defend the perimeter."

"Yes sir." Maldina was in ecstasy.

"Well, go and put the call in Lieutenant we need this as soon as possible." As soon as Blake had finished speaking Maldina rushed from the room.

"Talbot, obviously you'll be on Ops while Maldina's out on attack. You stay here at the base with the remaining three squads, and you don't leave the base. Howe and Casper will be incorporated into your F Squad, I don't want them split up." Blake said.
"You're taking one hell of a risk sending Maldina out with six squads. If she gets ambushed it will be curtains for everybody." Talbot was genuinely concerned, not just for the sector but for himself.

"Even Maldina couldn't get ambushed with satellite cover, anyway she'll have you at Ops, and Sergeant Hurst's squad on point." Blake was quite confident in the plan. Regan of Hurst's squad would be the furthest forward, leading the attack physically, as was often the way. Blake's only concern was whether satellite cover would be delayed long enough for him to either take part in Ops, or preferably lead the attack in a couple of weeks time.

After Talbot had left, Regan voiced his own concerns.

"Blake have you spoken to Rogers?"

"Not since getting shot."

"Then how do you know Maldina won't get satellite cover now, or in a couple of days."

"I don't."

"You're serious about letting all this go ahead while you're laid up in bed here?" Regan could not believe this was true.

"We need to attack now Regan, otherwise we're sitting ducks for the next PLA move."

"Blake, I've been reading up on Chantel's other campaigns, she's a real operator, calm and considered, she won't rush anything, why should we?"

"I don't trust Maldina sitting around waiting for something... to happen." Blake was visibly tired, and could barely make himself heard.

"We'll finish this later Blake." With that Regan left the room, and Patel re-entered.

Maldina had gone straight to Ops where she put in a call to Colonel Rogers at Division.

"Lieutenant Maldina, not reporting another disaster I hope." Rogers was not pleased to see her, even though he was about to call her himself.

"No Sir, I'm calling to request satellite cover as soon as possible in order to conduct a surgical strike against a new PLA force in our sector." Maldina was talking up the situation already.

"I've had a gander at the relevant videos, they do not support your contention Lieutenant. The PLA did not demonstrate significantly superior firepower or materially different tactics. It was just a matter of, well you getting caught with your pants down." Rogers liked the idea of Maldina with her pants down.

"Sir we believe a Major Chantel has taken over the sector, and has brought in additional firepower. It would appear she conducted the raid on the Baker Farm as subterfuge for the assassination attempt on Blake and the ambush against G squad." Maldina insisted.
"If Chantel is still there, she's probably got bored and gone back to the real action by now. However, I do believe a quick clinical strike as a reprisal for G squad would have a beneficial effect on moral. As you have somewhat belatedly learnt, such an attack can not be conducted without satellite cover and so I have already booked you a slot. We can give you twelve hours from 1900 tonight. Get your troops ready lieutenant, this is your big day."

"Thank you sir, I won't let you down." Maldina couldn't help but grin as she spoke.

"You won't let me down twice Lieutenant, mess this up and even your father won't be able to save your cute little ass." With that Colonel Rogers terminated the ComLink.

Maldina was so excited she did not know what to do first. She ran down to the Officers' Mess to catch Talbot before he went to bed.

"Talbot are you awake?" Maldina asked as she knocked on the door.

"One minute." Talbot was particularly distressed to hear from her.

"Open up, I need to talk to you."

"What about?" Talbot asked.

"Oh for pity's sake." As she said this Maldina turned the handle and opened the door, she caught a glimpse of O'Connel's naked

 body before the door was shut again.

"For Christ's sake Maldina give me a minute." Talbot exclaimed as he raced to put some clothes on.

Maldina waited outside until the door opened again. O'Connell stepped out. "Thank you Lieutenant," he said as he brushed past her.
"Your with O'Connell now Talbot? I didn't even know he was samesex." Maldina said as Talbot came to the door.

"What is so important Maldina?"

"I've already spoken to Rogers, we get satellite cover at 1900. We need everybody on duty, as Blake planned. You stay at Ops and direct me to the target.

"Have you spoken to Blake?" Talbot asked instinctively.

"Not since I spoke to Rogers no."

"Let's go over it with him Maldina, flesh out the details."

"We'll talk to Blake at 1800, let him get some rest first. Oh..... and Talbot, what is the story with you and O'Connell, you two boys going steady?" Maldina had changed the subject and put Talbot on the defensive in one skillful move.

"Aaah f--- you Maldina." Talbot said as he slammed the door, obviously in no mood for verbal bantering.

At 1730 Maldina went to see Blake. He was asleep, having spent much of the day ruminating strategies with Regan. The medic on duty was Peters, from Maldina's own squad. She instructed him to give Blake analgesics and sedatives so he could be assured of some quality sleep. He had been in a lot of pain, struggling to keep himself conscious most of the time since the attack - this was not helping his recuperation. Of course Peters complied without question, and thus doing assured Blake would not wake up until the early hours of the morning. Maldina felt bad about doing it, particularly and she felt it might not have been necessary, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Better a body than a bullet, as the shoot first, ask questions later theory went.

Regan did not find out that satellite cover would be granted until almost 1800, he immediately went to the MedLab, but of course Blake was out cold. As he opened the door to leave Talbot appeared with Maldina.

"How's the Captain, feeling better?" Maldina asked.

"The Captain's feeling absolutely nothing, he's been pumped full of codeine and s--- and won't be awake for a week." Regan knew who was behind it, but could not accuse her.

"Aah I see this is another Maldina masquerade, 'let's go talk to Blake' after you've had Peters here knock him out. You're a piece of work Maldina, you really are. Who do you want to go and see now, Wilde?" In the early days Talbot had found Maldina amusing, but he now thought of her as deceitful and dangerous.

"I thought he would be awake by now." Maldina said sheepishly.

"Don't bother lying to me Maldina, you better devote your energy to making sure you plan this thing tonight properly. We've got an hour before the satellite comes on line, if I were you I'd get my team together and get to the perimeter so you're ready for the kick off." Talbot was becoming more apprehensive about the attack by the minute.

"Let me worry about that Lieutenant, you just point the way." With that Maldina turned her back on Talbot and Regan and walked away.

"Far be it for me to talk badly about your fellow officer, but that bitch won't be happy until we're all in body bags." Regan said with great conviction.

"Listen Regan, watch out later, anything unexpected, if you sniff a trap, then scream out on the ComLink. I can recall everybody after a quick word with Col. Rogers." Talbot was already thinking of contingencies plans.

"The first thing Maldina will do us is set up a call group of the six squads, with only her reporting to you at Ops. She's not stupid, and she's not going to want to let this chance slip."

"What did Blake tell you to do?" Talbot thought that Blake might have given him specific orders that would allow him to ignore those of Maldina under certain circumstances.

"Nothing useful, we didn't think anything would happen this soon." Regan said, not daring to lie.

"Then I'm going to call Rogers."

"And say what? You're scared Maldina will f--- it up. That you need authority for a mutiny? There is nothing you can say Talbot, nothing you should say. Not now, and not during the operation, unless there's a complete disaster, and by then it will be too late." Regan knew that their fate was in Maldina's hands now, and no amount of scheming would change that.

At 1830 Maldina Squads B, C, D, E, I and J and headed out towards the perimeter at the point nearest the base. This left Talbot with A squad, less Blake, H squad and his own F squad with its two extra members, the survivors of G squad. All were on duty at what was obviously a pivotal moment for the sector. The fate of the whole area was in Maldina's hands. She had allocated all the rocket launchers, topped up all the ammunition and made sure everyone had the proper camouflage webbing. As she headed out towards the perimeter she could not help but feel this was her destiny, and that she must seize it. Her big chance, as Rogers had put it. She had not spoken to her father, General Maldina, in over six months, but she could call him later tonight, or in the morning, after a successful operation.

At 1900 the Com screens burst into life with an image of the whole sector. Talbot, Kemp, Clegg and Watt immediately starting refining the scans to interrogate the PLA sector to pick up any large groups. Talbot was at the table screen with Kemp looking down at the area - nothing obvious. They could see Maldina and her team at the perimeter at 26-64, only visible with the Infra Red enhancement, their camouflage webbing so effective over the black uniforms. Clegg and Watt had a wall mounted screen each and were methodically checking off the farms one by one, while also keeping a check on the video images Maldina's video cam was sending back.

"F1 to C1, we are fully on-line with full instrumentation operating. So far, just picked up yourselves." Talbot's nerves were settling now that it was underway.

"C1 to F1, we'll stay here while you check our immediate environment and then we'll head out a little way, up to a better position." Maldina would not be rash, she was in control now.

"OK." Talbot searched Maldina's immediate area. There was nothing. He continued the sweep outwards, still nothing.

"Kemp you take a sweep right along the perimeter from top to bottom, and I'll continue pressing outwards from Maldina's position." At Talbot's words Kemp left the table screen and went to a third wall mounted screen, where he began to conduct the search as ordered.

"F1 to C1, you're clear for two hundred meters any direction." Talbot liked the way it was going, they almost sounded like a team.

"OK. We'll start NE 50o, B squad lead us to the brow of that hill." At Maldina's command Sergeant Hurst, Regan and the rest of B squad stood up and walked slowly towards a small hill north east of their position. The other squads followed closely behind, spread out in an arc.

They searched around them as they went, always looking to the horizon, but saw nothing unusual. The sun still hung quite high in the blue sky, giving good visibility, but it would soon be setting. They moved to the top of the hill and surveyed the panorama before them; nothing.

Back at the Ops room Clegg had found something unusual.

"I've got a farm here, eight people outside, and seems like quite a bit of activity inside, but nothing definite." Clegg couldn't make out what was happening inside the building.

Talbot came over and had a look, eight wasn't really too many people for a farm, but if there were more inside than it could be suspicious.

"Enhance the image of one of them fully." Talbot ordered

As the image grew in size, they could clearly see a gun slung around the suspect's shoulder.

"F1 to C1, we have positive ID on armed suspects at Farm B12, that's 36-92." Talbot was almost reluctant to relay the information to Maldina, they had found something, but it didn't look like the commune. He patched her in on the image, but she could not make out to much.

"How many?" Maldina asked.

"Only eight confirmed, maybe more inside the building itself." Talbot replied.

"O.K. we'll take a look." Maldina decided to move on the little she had.

"Don't you think it's better if you wait to see what else we pick up, we've only checked a few farms so far." Talbot said with some exasperation.

"C1 to F1, we'll check out what you've found. Resume contact when you have more information." With this Maldina terminated the ComLink.

"Reece, this is Talbot, as soon as you can safely wake up Blake, do it." Talbot ordered over his inter-squad ComLink.

"As I said before sir, it will be some hours, unless we get a Doctor over here." Reece responded.

"S---, then get a f---ing Doctor double quick." Talbot could not believe his own stupidity in not having called a Doctor earlier.

Maldina took her Patrol Group straight to Farm B12 . By the time they were within sight of the farm it was 2030 and the sun was setting. It was getting to that difficult part of the evening where normal vision was fading, but it was not dark enough for the night vision goggles. They took up a vantage point on some high ground west of the farm. They observed the farm for ten minutes, but could not see anyone moving outside or inside the buildings.

"C1 to F1, you've been very quiet. Don't you have anything new for us?" Maldina asked.

"F1 to C1. No. As you can see from where you are, all the suspects have entered the farm buildings. We have no one in the open."
"You've not picked anything else up?" Maldina could not believe that in over half an hour they had not found anything interesting on the satellite images.

"Nothing confirmed." Talbot said abruptly.

"What do you have unconfirmed?" Maldina was trying not to lose her patience with Talbot.

"Maldina we are pretty much on Infra Red now, so it's already getting difficult. But we don't have any large groups. You're on top of the biggest group we've got." Talbot had decided to filter out information which might lead Maldina into splitting her force to pursue wild goose chases.

Maldina decided to stick with what she had. Eight targets, one confirmed as armed, that had disappeared inside the buildings: a barn, a large cowshed and the farm itself.

"OK all squads move out and take the farm, B squad on point, with I and J squads covering the rear." She did not want to split her Patrol Group up again and so took everybody down to the farm. Regan was the first to reach a low stone wall less than fifty meters from the barn, which was the nearest building to them. Hurst then ran passed him with the rest of the squad up to the barn itself. As they covered two on each side of the door Regan, who had now caught up with them, kicked open the barn door and jumped to the floor, his four comrades peering round the door frame with machine guns at the ready. It was pitch black in the barn. As Regan fumbled to put on his night vision goggles, there was movement from the far side of the barn. Hurst opened fire with his machine gun and rocket launcher. The far wall of the barn exploded with great intensity and a fireball blew back at the squad knocking them off their feet. As the dust settled they saw the bits and pieces of what remained of a horse, and pipes leading up to what had been some kind of distillery.

"Nice work Sergeant, next time we need someone to put down a lame horse or they bring back prohibition, we know who to call." Regan said as he inspected the remains of the barn.

"I was covering you!" Hurst protested.

"Covering me in horse s---." Regan said as Maldina walked into the ruins of the barn.

"Stop f---ing around and check the cowshed." She ordered.

"Come on Hurst, we could have steak tonight if you repeat your party trick." Regan had obviously not finished goading him.

Hurst and the others from B squad now ran to the cowshed as the other squads returned to the shadows. The element of surprise clearly lost, Regan blasted the door of the shed with a rocket. This opened not only the double door of the cowshed, but part of the wall as well. Brunei of B squad threw a flare into the shed as they all peered in to see what they could make out, two blood stained cows staggered out and mooed in what they presumed was agony, and then they and other cows started to stampede out of the shed and away from the flare. Du Bohn and Thornely, from Hurst's squad, leapt out of the way and Brunei waved his arms as he moved to the side away from the stampeding cows, but this just funneled them towards Hurst and Regan in the middle. Regan threw himself to the floor as the cows began to run over him, Hurst began to run away from them, but was soon knocked over and trampled. Thornley, the squad's medic knew they were both hurt and ran to Hurst after the cows had cleared the yard.

"My f---ing back, Jesus I can't move." Hurst was in agony. His body armor was cracked wide open and blood was pouring from his back.

"I'm OK, look after the Sarge," Regan shouted out to Thornley as the medic made a move towards him.

"I don't f---ing believe this." Maldina said as she looked at Hurst. "Peters, check out Regan." Maldina screamed to her squad medic. Peters looked at Regan and saw that his leg was clearly broken, twisted out of position at a strange angle to his body, but apart from that and a few cuts he was OK.

"Ma'am, we've got to get Hurst to a Doctor now, he's badly hurt." Thornley was clearly concerned about his sergeant.
"Can he walk?" Maldina asked.

"No." Thornley replied.

"Nor can Regan." Peters added.

"Maldina, for Christ's sake check the farmhouse, we're sitting ducks out here." Regan shouted to his Lieutenant. Before she could reply Talbot came on the ComLink.

"F1 to C1, it looks like we have the main party. They are at point 36:74 heading from Farm B18 to the perimeter. 32 bodies, but can't positively ID them as it's too dark."

Maldina's big chance was turning into a nightmare. She had to think quickly and act decisively.

"C1 to F1, continue tracking your new target, and send the 4x4 to our position with Casper and Howe with full First Aid." Maldina switched the ComLink transmission from the base to her Patrol Group. B squad and D squad stay here to provide cover, I, E and J you come with us, my squad on point. Let's clear this building." With these words Maldina started towards the front door of the farmhouse.

At about ten meters from the door, five windows of the farmhouse were smashed to pieces by escaping bullets. Three pistols opened fire on Maldina and her troops from the upstairs windows, and two from downstairs windows. The split second they did so, the members of B and D squads returned fire from their covering position with machine guns and rockets. The windows of the farmhouse exploded as the rockets hit, pushing fragments of wood, glass and stone into the interior of the building. Each of the members of the two squads, except the badly injured sergeant, exhausted their clip of five rockets each as they poured fire into the building.

"Cease-fire!" Regan shouted after several seconds of pounding the farmhouse. The scene fell quiet once more, as the farmhouse blaze began to slowly pick up intensity.

"Anyone hurt?" Corporal Bates of D squad shouted out.

Maldina was lying face down in the dirt. She could feel a great pain in her stomach like she'd been kicked. She gingerly turned over and sat up. Looking down she saw two bullets that had lodged in her body armor. She slowly got to her feet. "Anyone else hurt?" She asked, holding her stomach.

"I Squad OK." Corporal Jones Liz reported.

"Then take your squad in, see if you can see anything in the farmhouse. E Squad as well Hanson." Maldina ordered.

Two others had been hit by bullets, Clarke and Fogg, both from Maldina's C squad, but they weren't hurt badly either. None of the bullets had pierced body armor. They had received trophies instead of wounds. Jones Liz now took her squad through the front door of the farm house, but they were quickly beaten back by flames. Hanson tried the back door, but encountered the same problems and could find nothing before being beaten back by the flames.

"We'll have to wait for the fire to go out before we do a body count." Liz Jones reported.

"OK, Corporals Liz Jones and Bates join Black in securing the area, we'll stay in the courtyard and wait for the 4x4." Maldina ordered. "C1 to F1, what is the position on the raiders?"

"F1 to C1, they're approaching the perimeter now. Still no confirmation." Talbot replied.

"And the 4x4?" Maldina asked.

"It will be with you in about twenty minutes."

"Talbot how's Blake?" Regan said butting in on the conversation.

"He's still out cold, the Doctor's with him now." Talbot waited to see what reaction Maldina would have to his words.

"F1, keep the Doctor there when he's finished with Blake, we have five wounded here." Maldina counted herself, Clarke and Fogg amongst the wounded, which was stretching it a bit, they were bruised more than seriously bloodied.

Just then they could hear the rapid firing of machine guns. There were four or five bursts of fire, and then it grew silent.

"J1 to C1, we have two contacts here, both down. I'm approaching them now." Corporal Black reported.
"Are they armed?" Maldina asked, somewhat concerned at how easy it had been.
"Wait one minute." There was a brief silence before Black came back on the ComLink. "We have recovered two rifles, but they're kids, no more than thirteen, both girls."

Maldina's heart sunk. The thought struck her that this could have been a nursery, it certainly wasn't the main commune.

"C1 to F1, what is the position on your raiders?"

"They've passed the perimeter at point 34:72 on a heading of 260o , looks like they're heading for the School." Talbot was still searching the map as he spoke, he doubted they would attack the High School at night, but that was the first target the raiders' heading would take them to.

"Talbot, it can't be the School, it'll be empty 'till tomorrow morning, what else is there, apart from the few houses in the old village there?" Maldina was trying to visualize it, as she searched for the map on her imaging screen.

"There's the North road, the restaurant..." Talbot stated, thinking aloud.

"The main reservoir!" Maldina thought of the damage they could do there. "They are going to poison the main reservoir."

"A1 to C1 over." Blake's voice on the ComLink, a welcome sound even to Maldina.

"Keep your Patrol Group together until the 4x4 gets there to evacuate the wounded, then return to base double speed. Squads F and H will intercept the raiders. F1 you will lead the attack. Wait for me there, I'm coming to Ops." With this Blake swung his legs out of bed and tried to stand, the pain stung at his chest and side, and he sat back on the bed.

"Wait Blake, I'll get the wheelchair." Couples released the wheelchair from it's place on the wall and mounted it quickly. Within two minutes he was wheeling Blake into Ops.

"Captain, I'm glad to see you, but you look absolutely ridiculous." Talbot said as he saw Blake in a white medical gown with his helmet and ComLink on, being wheeled into the room by Couples.

"Let's cut to the chase Lieutenant, where are the raiders?" At Blake's words, Talbot pointed to the table screen, where red dots which represented the raiders were now approaching the school. The screen looked unreal now, as infra red imaging had replaced the normal satellite pictures. "I'd say if you got moving now and approached from this side of the old village you could catch them here as they pass that derelict warehouse."

"Get them against the wall you mean." Inquired Talbot.

"Exactly. But hit them from range, and keep lateral movement. If they work out how few you are, they may get brave, and that could be it for all of us." Blake said gravely.

"What's our fall back position if they come on to us? " Talbot asked.

"I'll expect you to hold out as long as you can to give Maldina and her Patrol Group time to get back and defend the base. If the PLA knew how thin we were here, and how far away most of the troops were, they'd head straight for us. In a way it would be better to let them wander about, but we can't risk them pumping poison into the reservoir, 32 people can carry a lot of poison."
Blake was rationalizing his actions, letting Talbot come up with his own ideas, but as Blake had dreaded there was no real alternative.
"OK Blake, we'd better get going." With this the Lieutenant Talbot left Ops.

Talbot had his Patrol Group running at full speed down the main road into the town center, along the North Road, bypassing the High School and finally up to some high ground overlooking the old warehouse. Blake, back at Ops, watched their progress on the satellite screens to make sure they did not run into the raiders prematurely. It was a real race for Talbot to get his troops into position on time, but they were helped by the guarded and cautious progress made by the raiders, who picked their way slowly through the school.

By the time Talbot had his Group in position they were exhausted and breathing heavily. So much so that it was difficult for them to steady their guns and track the raiders accurately in their night sights as they made slow progress towards the reservoir. They had arrived with barely seconds to spare.

"F1, in position. Target's coming into sight, but not yet in range." Talbot whispered breathlessly.

"A1 to F1, good work. Wait until they are in the middle of the warehouse wall before opening fire. I estimate two minutes the way they're dawdling." Blake said, trying to help Talbot's nerve.

"C1 to A1, the 4x4 has arrived without incident." Maldina reported.

"A1, C1, you better get in it with the rest of the wounded then Maldina."

"Only Hurst and Regan are that badly injured, the rest of us can walk back."

"Negative, you run back at double speed. Anybody that will slow you down goes in the 4x4, understood."

"Understood." Maldina was feeling OK, but a five kilometer run at full speed was pushing it a bit. She ordered that Hurst be placed in the 4x4 first, he was unconscious now and his pulse was erratic. Next was Regan, who also had to be carried into the 4x4 on a stretcher and then Clarke, Fogg and herself.

"Corporal Black, you have seniority here now, head straight back to base, double speed. Check in with Blake when you cross the perimeter. Good luck." With that Maldina shut the door of the 4x4 and they sped off.

"Come on then you lazy f---ers," Black screamed at the rest of the Patrol Group, "let's f---ing move it! Last one to the perimeter gets my size 12 up their arse, and I'm not talking shoe size!"

"F1 to A1, I have positive ID on Chantel, and it does look like she's leading the raiders." Talbot reported with a strange feeling of relief, at least now they were beginning to know the enemy, and for once had the jump on them.

"Take her out Talbot, you have rockets, use them." Blake said as though in a trance.

"She's out of range for rockets, but I can try."

"Is she wearing body armor?" Blake asked.

"Unfortunately." Talbot replied, though it was obvious that she would be.

"Aim for her head with the machine gun, get Morrison to do it too, he's a good shot. Killing her is a top priority." Blake wished that he was there in Talbot's place.

"F1 to A1, if you want her dead 100% certainty, we've go to close the range, we're too far away for good kills." Talbot wished Blake was in his place as well.

"No, stay at present range and fire a. s. a. p. - this is still a holding action." Blake corrected his previous instruction.

"Fire on my command, intermittent with lateral movement between bursts, F squad first. Three, two, one, fire!" On Talbot's command he and his squad members, Kemp Watt, Clegg and Reece opened fire on Chantel and her raiders. Talbot hit Chantel, but only in the legs, as he failed to fully compensate for the trajectory of his bullets at this range. After ten seconds F squad ceased firing , and Sgt. Woods and her squad started. F squad now adjusted their position in the darkness, before it was their turn to open fire again.

"Morrison that bitch is still moving, go for the head." Sgt. Woods' instruction to the crack shot in her squad was pointless, Morrison was already doing his best to hit Chantel, but was having little luck. The raiders had thrown flares and smoke bombs in front of them, which made targeting difficult. This was purely a defensive measure, and a sign of how successful the attack was, but also how well prepared the raiders were.

Behind the smoke Chantel and her raiders were retreating along the warehouse wall, the way they had come. Six of the 32 raiders had been hit, two seriously. They started to return fire, but could only manage to direct their weapons in the vague direction of the Fed troops, as they too had to fire through the cover of smoke they had created. Chantel was limping, with three minor hits to the legs, but it added to the perception of failure and retreat. She desperately tried to estimate the number of Feds firing at them, but due to the rotation and intermittent nature of the firing patterns, it could have been anything from two squads to ten. She had little alternative but to order a full retreat, her only chance of turning the engagement around would be if she could find good cover on the way back to the PLA section, and catch the Feds following her in the open. This was a fairly remote possibility as at present she could hardly walk, and two of her number had to be carried. At this rate they would be mauled, or worse all the way back to the Commune. In fact with the Feds in tow, it would not even be safe to go back to the Commune. Chantel knew she had to think of something and fast.

"F1 to A1, they've thrown up smoke and are retreating, no casualties here." Talbot reported happily.

"A1 to F1, keep at them if you can do so safely, and keep your distance. At all costs do not reveal yourselves, intermittent fire and lots of movement." Blake now had to think what to do now. He saw that Corporal Black and the main Patrol Group were still too far away to be useful, but he could order them to change their direction and try to intercept the raiders on the PLA side of the perimeter. He decided against this as it was too risky, Chantel would keep for another day.

"Remember F1, no matter how it looks out there you are in a defensive position, do not expose yourselves, do not get carried away." Blake was glad he was reminding Talbot of this, rather than trying to instill it into the head of Maldina. He knew full well that if Maldina were in Talbot's position, she could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with ease.

Talbot did try to keep the raiders in sight, without revealing his position, but he soon lost in the black of the night. Blake watched their progress on the satellite images, until satellite coverage expired and they returned to the dark.

In the 4x4 Hurst was slowly bleeding to death. They had tried to stop the bleeding with the gum guns, but most of the damage was internal and the hemorrhaging was too widespread to be stopped.

"He's not going to make it back Maldina." Casper said after looking at Hurst's blood soaked body.

"Shut up, he can hear you." Maldina stage whispered.

"Hursty'll make it, he's a tough old bastard." Regan did not sound convinced.

"He's barely got a pulse, maybe we should take him straight to the Doctor's rather than to MedLab." Casper did not want the responsibility of Hurst dying on him. He had seen enough death recently.

"Casper we're going straight to the base and Hurst is going straight to MedLab, whether he makes it there alive or not." Maldina had raised her voice in anger and it seemed to stir Hurst. He regained consciousness momentarily, opening his eyes and raising his head to look over at Maldina, then suddenly his head fell back on the cot. Casper felt his pulse.

"He's dead!" Casper pronounced.

The look Regan gave Maldina said it all.

Chapter 4: The Slow Fall From Grace

The 4x4 was back at the base well before Corporal Black and the main part of the Patrol Group. Maldina went straight to Ops room, rather than the MedLab where Regan was carried and the other walking wounded headed. Hurst's body was taken to the mortuary room awaiting confirmation of his death by a Doctor. Maldina entered Ops just as Chantel took her raiders to the School.

"Do you want me to get over there and help Talbot?" Maldina asked.

"That's the last thing I want. I presume you're OK?" Blake responded.

"A couple of hits, but I'll survive."

"And the others?" Blake needed to ask this as Maldina had not radioed in Hurst's death, and unsurprisingly no one had been monitoring the progress made by the 4x4 too closely.

"Well Clarke and Fogg don't seem too bad, Regan's leg is badly broken and Hurst...... Hurst is dead." Everyone stopped and looked at Maldina as she said this.

"Hurst died?" Blake was shocked. "He wasn't even hit was he?"
"He was hurt in the stampede. The cattle crushed him, smashed up his body inside." Maldina's explanation sounded weak, she knew that, but it was the truth.

"Are you OK?" Blake asked.

"I was hit a couple of times, but I'm OK."

"No I mean about.......Never mind Maldina. Get down to MedLab with the others and get yourself sorted out." Blake had thought that Maldina might have been upset about Hurst, but this was obviously not the case.

Now that they had lost satellite cover Blake felt even more vulnerable. As he waited for Black to return each minute felt like an hour. Talbot had now lost all contact with Chantel and did not know if she was still at the school or not. Talbot remained on observation overlooking the main school buildings, but no one in his Patrol Group had seen anything in quite a while. They continued to peer through their night vision sights, examining every window, every visible nook and crevice of the school, yet they found nothing.
"F1 to A1, it's all very quiet here. I think they've retreated beyond the school towards the perimeter." Talbot conjectured.
"A1, F1, I'm sure you're right, but stay there in a covering position in case they're concealed in the school. I'll send reinforcements as soon as they Black arrives back here." The calmness with which Blake spoke reassured Talbot and the others, who were still in a somewhat precarious position.

Within twenty minutes Black had arrived with the main body of Maldina's Patrol Group. Blake immediately sent Black back out with two squads to reinforce Talbot. With this larger force Talbot cleared the school buildings, room by room, but Chantel and the raiders had long since gone. As soon as Talbot returned to base Blake called him and Maldina to the briefing room. Blake was visibly tiring by now, slumped in his wheelchair, his face racked with pain.

"Tonight's operation failed, and we narrowly averted disaster. We can not risk another night like this. You are to restrict operations to purely defensive measures." Each word seemed to increase the pain Blake was feeling.

"We can't just give in after one set back, and anyway it wasn't so bad, we lost one and they lost at least half a dozen." Maldina's grief over Hurst was touching.

"It's not a game of football Maldina, we didn't win 6-1, Hurst lost his life and we came close to losing the whole section." Blake could not hide his anger, as was often the case when he was talking to Maldina.

"You're tired Blake let me take you back to the MedLab." Maldina's offer took Blake and Talbot by surprise.

"Are you OK Maldina?" Talbot gave her a strange look.

"I need to go to MedLab anyway, I still haven't had these wounds checked out." She added.

"Well OK then Maldina, Talbot I'm sorry, but you'll have to take the next 12 hours straight." Blake said as Maldina started to wheel him towards MedLab.

"OK Blake, but you look after yourself." Talbot said as the two others passed him, Maldina giving him a wry smile as she went.

"Blake, don't you think I feel things too. I have to come to terms with Hurst's death just as you came to terms with Wilde's." Maldina's words did not ring true at all.

"Maldina, sometimes you frighten me. The fact that you said that shows that you have no idea about my emotions and apparently have none of your own." It had been just three days since Wilde's death yet Maldina thought Blake had come to terms with it?

Maldina wheeled Blake into MedLab just as the Doctor was finishing the brace on Regan's leg.

"I don't know Maldina, are you sure you're not some kind of robot?" When Blake saw Regan he could not help but smile. "A fine pair of cripples we make."

"Speak for yourself Blake, this brace is just for show." Regan joked.

"Well who's next then?" Asked the Doctor.

"That will be me." Said Maldina.

The Doctor looked at the two holes in the abdomen of Maldina's body armor, the bullets still wedged in them.

"You better take that off." Ordered the Doctor.

Regan and Blake exchanged glances like schoolboys as Maldina undid her body armor, and then removed her tunic. She sat on the bed, naked from the waist up as Blake now moved over to his bed.

"I can't stand the excitement, I'm going to get some sleep." Blake said as he gingerly got into the bed.

"I'll wake you up if she takes anything else off." Regan said as he swapped his crutches for Blake's wheel chair.
Maldina quite liked the attention, it made her feel like some wounded sex goddess.

"Feast it up Regan, it's the closest you'll ever get to the good stuff." Maldina said with a smile.

"It's as close as I wanna get believe me." Regan replied.

The next morning Regan was having lunch in the refectory with Du Bohn and Brunel from his squad when Lieutenant Talbot joined them.

"Regan I spoke to Division this morning and your getting another field promotion, Corporal Regan. Your also getting Casper." Talbot spoke with some gravity as the promotion was necessitated by Sgt. Hurst's death.

"But you're not going to re-number are you?" Regan asked.

"No, not just yet. You stay B2, and Casper becomes B6. Meanwhile Howe is going to Blake's' squad as A6. Got it?" Talbot asked.
"Just tell me who I have to slap to get back to being a Private." Regan had been promoted three times, and bounced back to private three times. He was a capable soldier, but was too strong willed and insubordinate to be successful. And in any event, rank brought more responsibility than privilege.

As they spoke Hanson approached the table.

"Lt. Talbot, I picked up some information on patrol you might want to hear."

"What?" Talbot asked.

"The building the Patrol Group toasted last night was main PLA school. They say there were over 20 babies and children inside. They'd been taken there, away from the commune because they thought we would launch an attack."

"Well we did attack, just at the wrong place." Regan added dryly.

"Hanson, this came from a reliable source?" Talbot asked.

"It came from the Anderson farm, her sister's in the PLA and her two children were killed in the blaze. It's reliable. Anderson nearly gave me both barrels of his shotgun early this morning, and we used to be close." Hanson lamented.

"Keep this information to yourself Hanson, that goes for everybody, I'll talk to Maldina and Blake." This was the last thing Talbot had wanted to hear, they had been worried that the destroyed building had contained children, but 20! Even if this was an exaggeration it would promote the PLA cause greatly. Some viewed the PLA as freedom fighters, others as terrorists, the tragedy at the school would greatly increase the former.

Talbot got up from the table, leaving the rest of his meal and headed for the MedLab. When he opened the door he was surprised to find Maldina there talking to Blake. She was sat on the edge of his bed, in full uniform

".....I never realized that before." Maldina said before turning her head towards Talbot.

"Morning Blake, Maldina. Listen I have some bad news. The farm that got burnt to the ground last night was a PLA school. The word is that around 20 kids were killed." A stunned silence greeted Talbot's words.

"But......" Maldina could manage no more. She had turned so white she was almost blue.

"We'll have to do some damage limitation. You better get some sleep now, but when you come on duty do the rounds and speak to people. We'll have to say that the PLA were,...were,.....s---. Were using......, no! Say we gave the PLA the opportunity to surrender, and that they didn't even mention that they had children there. That they provoked the firefight as we tried to capture the building. In fact make an announcement to everyone in the sector to that effect." This was a lie, but it was not far fetched, and Blake hoped it would cast doubt over the whole incident.

"As ordered." Talbot said as he turned and left MedLab.

"I'll get those bastards." Maldina said, her voice almost breaking, tears in her eyes.

Her reaction shocked Blake twice over. Firstly he was surprised that she was crying, secondly he was non-plussed as to how she transferred the blame onto the PLA.

"You're going to get what bastards?" Blake asked her.

"The PLA. Every time I have a chance to get them they do something like this." Maldina said, still sobbing.

"What did they do?" Blake was trying to catch the thread of her logic, and failing.

"They opened fire on us Blake, they had a house full of little children and they open fire on us."

Blake now saw what she was getting at, but was still surprised that Maldina did not feel at least partly responsible.

"Don't worry Maldina, you'll get another chance at the PLA." Blake thought that it must be liberating not to feel remorse. He put his hand on the back of her neck to comfort her and she rested her head against his chest.

"I'd better get on duty. Talbot hasn't had a minutes rest in over 24 hours." Maldina said as she started to get up.

"Maldina, keep it simple. I'll be in Ops a little later if you have any problems." Blake said, intending to get a little more rest before getting up. He was still in a great deal of pain.

"OK thanks. See you later Blake." As Maldina shut the door behind her, a smile broke out on her face, then she rushed to Ops.

"Talbot you're relieved, get some rest you've earned it." Maldina said upon entering Ops. Talbot was in no mood to argue over Maldina's condescending manner and left the room.

"OK I want C squad, D squad and H squad ready to leave on patrol in ten minutes." Maldina ordered, glad to be back in the saddle.
"Bates, as Ops officer I want you to keep a keen eye on the border. Only report unauthorized crossings of large groups, six or more, less than that and I don't want to know. I'm going to take my group on a patrol over the perimeter, and then double back quickly to catch anything the PLA try to put through while they think I'm out." Maldina explained her plan to Corporal Bates hoping that he would be impressed, as it was he was unmoved.

At the PLA commune there was growing resentment of Chantel and her methods.

"Chantel if I thought for one moment that you used the school as a decoy I'll shoot you myself." Burrows was furious over what had happened.

"Let's keep focused, and not blame each other for actions of the Feds, Burrows. It's obvious that nowhere and no one is safe now.

 The only way we will know safety in this sector is when the Feds have been destroyed." Chantel did not like to linger on the causes of the school fire.

"You still think you can destroy the Feds, you couldn't even kill Blake." Burrows had long since come to regret inviting Chantel to his sector.

"Blake may not be dead yet, but he is out of the picture. One way or the other I'll have his corpse before the end of the month. Anyway while he recovers I can play with that imbecile Maldina, and slowly bleed the Feds to death."

"They're bleeding us to death as well Chantel, or haven't you noticed?" Burrows was perturbed by her indifference.

"We have more fighters Burrows, we can trade them life for life until they are annihilated, we still have over eighty fighters left."

 Chantel smiled as she said it, she loved the undeniable logic of the numbers.

"They still have forty six alive, you've only killed four, that means according to your best estimates half of us are going to die. Look around you Chantel, you really intend to kill every second person you see in your bloody trade off?" Burrows was more appalled than ever.

"War is hell, life's a bitch, what do you want me to be, a f---ing angel. You can leave me now Burrows." Chantel had tired of his relentless whining. "Go and f--- Davies, it will make you feel better."

Burrows left the room shaking his head and muttering under his breath. He had broken bread with the devil and was now paying the price.

Maldina took her patrol through the town center. She intended this as a show of strength, the town center had been neglected in the last week or so and she thought the site of a strong patrol group would boost morale. They walked down the main road and turned into the High Street. It was still early in the morning, but there were a few people on the streets. As they walked down the middle of the road, away from the sidewalk, they could sense the unease amongst the civilians. There were no smiles, no greetings, just strange looks and whispers. They felt more like an army of occupation than of defenders of democracy and freedom.

As they carried on regardless up the High Street there was a shout of 'child killers'. After this clarion call, abuse began to rain down on Chantel's group. 'Murderers, butchers, bastards, baby burners' were just some of the terms used to greet the Feds. They were shocked by the hostility, particularly as it was coming from friends, and in some cases relatives. Over half of the Fed troops had grown up in this area. It made their reception that much harder to bear. Some of them tried to argue, to explain what had happened, but to no effect.

"It's just PLA propaganda, ignore it. You were there at the farm yesterday when they opened fire on us. You know the truth. They should be shouting abuse at the PLA, not us." Maldina was trying support her troops, give them strength to ignore the words, but she could see it wasn't working too well. She decided to walk away from it instead. She turned right when she got to the crossroads and started walking up the hill and away from the Town Center. They left the crowd and the abuse behind, but the words were still ringing in there ears, forcing them to reconsider the gruesome events of the night before.

Back at the base Blake was having breakfast in the MedLab with Regan, the other resident invalid.

"The worst thing Blake, was the edginess. The feeling of impending doom long before we even got to the farm. When they leave on patrol with Maldina they leave scared." Regan was still talking about last night's events.

"You were scared were you Regan?" Asked Blake mischievously.

"Scared? I might smell of fear, but scared? The only way Maldina could scare me would be if she started taking her clothes off." Regan said smiling, knowing that Blake had wanted to change the subject.

"Regan, don't even think about it. You wouldn't last longer than Hurst." Blake had been referring to the fact that Maldina had spurned Hurst after just one night.

"She couldn't get me killed that easily Blake, don't worry."

"That's not what I had in mind. I've had enough of people talking about Maldina like she's the grim reaper. I don't need you starting as well." Blake sounded annoyed.

"Blake this is me talking, we both know she's a death trap. I just hope you can get back on your feet before we're the only two left alive. The way she's going they'll all be dead in a couple of weeks." The light hearted way Regan was talking about the deaths was reminding Blake of earlier days.

"Ah Regan, give me a break. I mean you can't blame her for your injury. You were trampled by a cow for God's sake. So was Hurst for that matter. I don't see how you can pin that on her unless she'd been stood there in the cowshed brandishing a cattle prod, singing the theme from Rawhide." Blake said.

"Very funny Blake, let's see if you'd still be laughing with a two ton cow on your back!" Regan had not seen the funny side of Blake's remark.

"That's no way to talk about the Lieutenant." Responded Blake trying once again to lighten the conversation.

"I don't think I'd mind having the Lieutenant on my back - Lieutenant Maldina that is, before you get any funny ideas about Talbot." Regan confessed.

"You've got a soft spot for Maldina have you? Regan, she'd eat you alive and spit you out whole."

"That doesn't sound too bad. Anyway, you are hardly one to talk. You f---ed Chantel for Christ's sake, and she's a mass murderer."
"But a mass murderer with a great ass. And don't forget, I didn't know who she was - obviously." Blake didn't like being reminded of the time he'd spent with Chantel. "But you and Maldina, I really can't see it Regan."

"I suppose you think you have more of a chance, being the Captain she despises and all." Regan said only half joking.
"Aaah Regan, if you weren't a cripple I'd beat you senseless."

"The state you're in you couldn't beat an egg. You can hardly breath never mind fight." What Regan said was true, Blake was recovering well, but was still in quite a lot of pain.

Before they could continue Seymour, the on duty Medic from Corporal Black's J squad, entered the MedLab.

"You two boys still fighting are you. You should know better than to go rounding beating your chest, the condition it's in." Seymour's last remark was directed at Blake. "Now if you don't mind you are both to take your shots."

"Your squad did well last night Seymour." Blake said trying to sound official.

"Hardly Captain, we shot two young girls in the back." She replied acidly.

"But they were shooting at you." Blake said defending the actions of Corporal Black.

"Blake, if a three year old child hit you as hard is it could, would you hit her back equally as hard?" Seymour's was a rhetorical question.

"Oh come on Seymour they weren't three years old, they were in their teens. They could have killed somebody." Blake argued.
"They did - themselves." As she said this she injected Blake with a pain killer, before turning her attention to Regan.

"Seymour, can I ask you a question, as a lesbian." Regan was trying to change the subject.

"Regan, you're not a lesbian." Seymour retorted, stony-faced.

"You know what I mean." Regan carried on regardless. "Don't you sometimes wonder what you're missing?"

"Regan, do you want a dick stuck up you?" She said as she injected him.

"No! Of course not." He replied.

"Nor do I." With that Seymour walked over to the sink and deposited the used needles in the little trash can there. "Let's face it Regan you're biggest fantasy involves Lovett and I, and why? Because deep down you want to be a lesbian too. Deep down every woman and every man wants to freed from the need for the masculine parts in sex. I've had and given pleasures you couldn't even imagine."

"Oh you'd be surprised." Said Regan defensively.

"Surprised?" Seymour said as she bent over towards him, her face only centimeters from his. "I'd be f---ing amazed." She bellowed at him, spitting the words out with venom.

Seymour was a tall, leggy, rather attractive brunette with bold striking features. She had broad shoulders and slimish hips and loved intimidating men. She was relishing her game with Regan.

"Now, now Seymour, don't let your sexual frustration get the better of you. If you want to see Regan naked just ask him nicely. I'm sure he'd let you play with anything that took your fancy." Blake said, his eyes still closed as he lay on the bed.

"Don't be facetious Captain, or I won't give you your bed bath. Your lucky that rank has it's privileges, and Regan's unlucky that they don't extend to Corporal's, particularly newly promoted ones." Seymour was joking, but Regan was not too sure.

"C1 to A1." Maldina said over the ComLink trying to raise Blake.
"Captain, Lieutenant Maldina is trying to speak to you." Seymour informed Blake. "I'll get your helmet for you."
"Rank certainly does have its privileges." Regan said.

"A1 to C1, go ahead." Blake said, now sitting up in bed wearing only shorts and his helmet.

"Blake I'm at the Greenhall Farm, they're trying to refuse us access over their land." Maldina reported.

"What? How do you mean?" Blake had never encountered this in the sector before.

"The Greenhall Farm is cordoned off barbed wire because of the livestock and ..." Maldina began to explain.

"I know the bloody place Maldina, what are they doing, blocking the gate?" Blake's frustration was bubbling to the surface.
"Yeah, they've put a tractor and trailer in the way and are standing around with shotguns." Maldina added.

"Is Greenhall himself there?"

"Yes", he's standing just the other side of the gate." Maldina was speaking in hushed tones so as not to be overheard by Greenhall and his workers.

"Standby Maldina, I'm going to Ops." With that Blake swung his legs out of bed and stood up. His face contorted slightly as he started to walk slowly. Seymour opened the door for him and helped him to the Ops room. Once there he ordered Jones Liz, the Ops Officer, to put Maldina's image on the main screen and radioed Greenhall.

"Greenhall this is Blake, what price this treachery?"

"Blake...., these are bad times. I don't want your people crossing my land anymore. I won't collaborate with child killers." Greenhall said.

"You clear their path right now, or you will be arrested and charged with treason. Your land will be reallocated and you and your entire family removed from the register. Do understand Greenhall, that this is no idle threat. Clear their way right now or you are finished!" The gravity with which Blake spoke showed just how serious he was.

Greenhall hesitated for a second and then capitulated, he had no choice. "OK Blake, I've made my point."

"Greenhall, be careful not to choose sides too soon. Everybody's allowed one mistake, and this was yours." With that Blake terminated his transmission to Greenhall.

"She'll have the birds in the trees against us before the year's out." Regan said as he turned and left Ops.

"A1, C1." Once through Greenhall's fields head south until you get to the High Road, then make your way back here." Blake instructed her.

"But I'm on patrol. That won't even take us to the perimeter." Maldina complained.

"It seems people are in a rather sensitive mood. There's nothing to be gained stomping round the country side with a big patrol group stepping on peoples' toes." Blake explained.

"It will be seen as a show of weakness." Maldina continued.

"Just do it Maldina, we can argue about it when you get back. Out." Blake said, he then removed his helmet.

"Black, as Ops Officer you've got a particularly important job today. When Maldina returns we'll have no one left in the field, so just monitor the perimeter and the center. Only respond to large unauthorized perimeter crossings." Blake said this and then returned to the MedLab, his strength visibly ebbing away.

Chantel knew the time was right to recruit a couple more key figures. The PLA had lost all their informers in Blake's lie detector scam after the Baker Farm incident, but Chantel had been working hard on replacements. She had already recruited Travis at the Crofters, and Ainsworth, Barnet and Smythe on their respective farms. She had turned Casper and Howe by injecting them with time release poisons when Wilde, Williams and Richards were killed. They now needed the antidote within a month or they would die of heart failure. There was no Federation treatment that could help, even a heart transplant wouldn't save them. However unwilling and unreliable these 'zombies' seemed, when push came to shove they knew the PLA was their only chance of survival. Chantel had rejected the idea of using this technique on Blake as she doubted that he could ever be turned. But with the young and weak it was a sure thing.

The one obvious target she had at the Fed base was Powell, an old flame of hers. Chantell had met Powell in the North East two years ago. Powell had been captured and then seduced by Chantell. She hadn't had any other samesex lovers before Chantell, nor since, but they had built up a very strong bond during Powell's incarceration. Chantell had done it purely for pleasure and had released Powell at the girls' request so she could return to her family. It was by pure look that Powell was now Corporal Black's second in J squad. Chantell knew Powell had not told anyone about their relationship and was confident that she could rekindle the flame and turn her. The only problem was opportunity. The other trick would be to kill Corporal Black so Powell would take over J squad. This was more difficult than it sounded.

She decided that once again she would have to move over the perimeter and do a little covert work. Firstly she bleached her hair, then she put in blue contact lenses and inserted two plastic tubes into her nostrils which changed the shape of her nose. She then inserted latex strips into her mouth to change the shape of her cheeks. The final touch was the reshaping of her eyebrows. Her transformation complete she and Chester headed out to the Ainsworth Farm. Ainsworth was not particularly pleased to see them and was relieved to give them a lift to the Crofters. They entered the Crofters through the back door without anybody seeing them and went straight upstairs. Once safely upstairs she informed Travis of her plan. All that was left to do now was to wait.

Corporal Black's squad did not come into the Crofters until late that day. They were a close knit group who were more often than not together. Seymour being the only notable exception as she preferred Lovett's company whenever possible. However, this evening D squad, and therefore Lovett, was on duty and so Seymour accompanied the rest of her squad to the Crofters. They weren't a bad group and she got on quite well with the two other girls, Powell and Fish.

"Four beers and a white wine." Black ordered without consulting the others.

"Do we have to drink what you order, I quite fancy a scotch." Jones John said.

"Drink what you want, those are just for me." Black joked dryly.

"What time is Lovett on duty 'til?" Fish asked Seymour.

"0800, we go back on duty when she comes off." Seymour complained.

"Well if your at a loose end tonight Seymour..." Jones John offered.

"I'd never be at an end quite that loose, Jones." Seymour replied.

"Who wants to eat what?" Black asked them, as a waitress had approached their table.

"Well I've already said." Jones John winked at Seymour.

"He's a revolting little turd isn't he? I'll have the fried chicken." Seymour was tiring of Jones John's innuendoes.

"Steak casserole for me." Powell said quickly.

"Steak casserole for me too." Added Fish

"I'll have fish." Jones John said with a smile, looking directly at Fish.

"You'll have my boot up your arse if you don't shut the f--- up." Black had tired of Jones John's insinuations as well.
"No I want the cod, really." Jones John said defensively.

"And I'll have the roasted ham. Thank you." With that Black wrapped up the orders.

"So Seymour, how's Blake doing? Any idea when he'll be back?" Fish asked.

"Well not even light duty for a week or so. He's still in a lot of pain when he breathes." Seymour explained.

"But it won't be like that anyway, he'll gradually takeover again as he feels up to it." Black said.

"The sooner he's back in charge the better. We've had a lot of bad luck since he's been out hurt." Added Jones John.
"Bad luck? Her name is Chantel, evil bitch." Fish said, correcting Jones John.

"If it were up to me, I'd take her out! Find her, kill her. The way she tried to do with the Captain." Black said.
"Beat her at her own game!" Fish liked the idea.

"Sounds like she's got you all worried." Powell said.

"Of course she's got us worried. Richards, Wilde, Williams and Hurst all dead, not to mention the children who died at the farm yesterday." Black explained.

"You can't blame her for what happened at the farm, she wasn't even there." Powell said.

"That was Maldina's fault, not Chantel's." Agreed Seymour.

"It was Chantel who raised the stakes in this sector, not Maldina nor Blake. Don't forget that. She changed the rules, forcing us to play hard ball as well." Black said with as much sincerity as he could muster. Sometimes you have to tow the party line, whether you agree with it or not.

Travis made sure that the drinks kept flowing to Black's table, each one with a little vodka to speed things along a little. After what seemed like at eternity, Powell excused herself from the table and headed towards the restroom. Travis met her at the door.

"I'm sorry Powell, someone's been sick in there. You'll have to use the toilet upstairs, while we clean it up." With this Travis led Powell behind the bar and upstairs to the bathroom which was part of his living quarters over the Crofters. Black had seen Powell being led upstairs and went over to speak with Travis when he came back down into the bar.

When Powell came out of the bathroom she was shocked to see Chantel standing right in front of her. As a reflex reaction Powell reached for her gun, but Chantel grabbed her arms and held them by her side.

"That's no way to great an old friend Powell. What were you going to do, shoot me?" Chantel asked, her face right up against Powell's. Powell stamped down hard against Chantel's left shin and foot, although Chantel didn't let go of Powell's arms, it did throw her off balance and the two of them crashed to the ground. They struggled on the floor until Chantel hit Powell hard in the face with her elbow. Powell's nose began to bleed profusely and Chantel let her raise her hands to her face.

"You made me do that Powell." Chantel said as she removed Powell's gun from it's holster and released the ammunition belt. She put the gun down outside the bathroom, and closed the door.

"Are you OK?" Chantel asked as she wet a towel in the sink and that placed it gently against Powell's nose."
"I was much better before you broke my nose." Powell complained.

"It's not broken Powell, I wouldn't do that to you." Chantel said with a smile. "I would never really hurt you, and certainly wouldn't damage your features." As Chantel spoke she was delicately caressing Powell's cheek and lips.

Powell was actually pleased to see Chantel, even though it had been a shock, she even liked the new look, in a trashy kind of way. Chantel had to quickly discover how she felt.

"You know I risked a lot to come and see you, and you try to shoot me, looks like I misjudged how you felt." Chantel said with a deeply wounded expression on her face.

"What's the use Chantel, everything is wrong about us." Powell protested, hoping to be proved wrong.

"I came here to save your life Powell, this sector will be PLA within the next two weeks. If you don't let me help you, you'll be dead with the rest of them."

Black approached Travis at the bar when he returned downstairs.

"Where's Powell?"

"She's in the bathroom upstairs, someone was sick in the ladies' restroom and we had to clean it." Travis replied.

"Don't mind if I check on her do you." With that Black walked round the bar and headed upstairs.

"Powell are you OK?" He shouted as he reached the top of the stairs.

Chantel gave Powell a knowing look.

"Yeah I'm fine Corporal, just an upset stomach. Why what's wrong?" Powell replied.

"Nothing, forget it." Black said before heading back downstairs and returning to his table.

"Thank you Powell." Chantel said as she began to kiss Powell slowly and passionately. Powell returned her kiss immediately as they lay on the bathroom floor and embraced briefly. They arranged to meet later and Chantel gave her the radio frequency to use should Powell need to contact her. They both went downstairs, Powell walking into the bar, while Chantel went out of the Crofters by the back door.

Chester had been with Chantel for over three years. He was her bodyguard, her right hand man; whatever she wanted. Right now she wanted him to kill Black, and he didn't want to disappoint.

He sat in the Crofters and watched Black and the others at their table. Before too long Black got up and went to the restroom. Chester followed him, holding a silenced automatic in his coat pocket. As he shut the door behind him he took out the gun and pointed it at the back of Black's head, he fired twice killing Black instantly. As Black's body fell to the ground, a man at the urinal turned round to see what was happening. It was the last mistake he would ever make, Chester walked up to him and placed the gun in his mouth. He pulled the trigger and blew a hole in the top of his head. Chester placed the gun in his hand and fired it again, against Blacks lifeless body. He removed the silencer and left the bathroom and walked to a car waiting outside, with Chantel at the wheel. They were at the Barnet farm within twenty minutes.

Talbot conducted an investigation into Black's death, but it was a pretty foregone conclusion. He had been murdered by Phipps, who had then killed himself. The motivation was obviously connected to events at the nursery. Phipps must have had children there, although Phipps' wife denied any knowledge of this, which fueled rumors of a secret mistress. Black's death also led to Powell's field promotion to Corporal and appointment as leader of J squad. She was upset by Black's death and knew also why he had died, but did not really feel guilty, she hadn't done anything.

"We keep losing good people like Black, and we'll lose the section." Regan said gravely.

"This time you could just be right. The roll call keeps getting shorter, and we get less popular by the day." Blake had become a little despondent, he had counted Black as one of the most reliable and important members of the sector. The sight of his lifeless body, his face blown off, was one more bitter blow in a growing series.

"Five dead and two crippled. Any chance of replacements, our losses are over ten percent now?" Regan asked.

"No, this sector isn't worth it, just a handful of farms. We hold it with what we've got or we lose it. No fatalities will be replaced, nor reinforcements sent. We are on our own here." Blake would only have said this to his old friend Regan. He would never let anybody else know how serious the situation was.

"Do you think there's anyone else out there like Phipps, vying for revenge?" Regan asked.

"Black was not killed by Phipps, two bullets in the back of the head is hardly the work of a pissed off farmer. Nobody heard the shots, I know the Crofters gets pretty lively, but that gun was silenced." Blake said, staring into space.

"Then who did it, Chantel?" Regan was worried at the thought that she was back amongst them.

"Chantel wouldn't walk into the gents, unless she was disguised as a man, too conspicuous. And I really can't see her in a false mustache and her tits all taped down. It was some other assassin." As Blake said this Maldina entered the MedLab.

"Blake I think we should declare Marshall law." Maldina said earnestly.

"What is your case Lieutenant?" Blake asked.

"We were nearly lynched out there today, then Black gets killed. It's reason enough Captain." Maldina insisted.

"You're probably right, but I won't have martial law in my sector. Things are bad enough already, we impose martial law now and we lose the people entirely."

"If we don't impose it we're going to lose the whole sector." Maldina interjected.

"The only military benefit of martial law would be a curfew, and the mood they're in, the people wouldn't abide by it. We waste too much time policing the civilians as it is." Blake explained.

"What about replacements?" Maldina asked.

"Nothing yet." Blake answered, stretching the truth, without breaking it.

"Well it's going to be impossible. We can't be everywhere at once, we don't have enough troops." Maldina complained.
"We never did. We watch everywhere, we put up more surveillance cameras; we reduce the number, but increase the size of the patrols. We concentrate our resources where we need them the most."

"That's easier said than done." Maldina said.

"Well we'll see won't we Lieutenant. First of all everyone is to keep the ComLink active at all times, secondly, my squad is going back on active, Ops room of course, but it will be a start." Blake had only decided to do this now, and it made him feel much better.
"Well if nothing else it will stop you from getting bed sores." Maldina joked.

"Don't tell me you've got a sense of humor after all? It would make you seem almost human." Blake said.

"Don't get carried away." Regan added.

"You two boys think you're the tops don't you." Maldina said.

"You mean we're not?" Regan asked her.

"Not by a long shot." She replied as she shut the door on her way out.

"I'd f--- her." Regan said.

"Good luck with that, you'd need it." Blake said. "Attractive as she is, it would not be worth the cost."

"What cost Blake, she's a sweet girl" Regan's words were heavy with sarcasm.

Later that day Blake was in Ops with the rest of his squad. It seemed a quiet evening until the alarm was sounded at the Failsworth Farm.

"This is Captain Blake to Failsworth, respond please." There was no answer. There were no cameras in that area and no squads out on patrol at that time, so Blake had few options.

"A1 to G1, take G, H and I squads to investigate an alarm at Failsworth Farm." Blake ordered.

"G1, A1 OK." With this Talbot got the troops ready and was leaving the base's main exit within two minutes. "G1, A1 we're leaving now, should be there within twenty five minutes." Talbot reported as he left.

"A1, A2 how many hours do you have on drones?" Blake asked.

"Three." Houghton replied.

"Fantastic, then launch drone 1, and get it to the Failsworth Farm a.s.a.p., put the image on the main screen."

They all watched the image from the drone as it skipped over the landscape at a height of around 40 meters. Blake wanted to make sure that he wasn't sending Talbot into a trap. He simply could not afford to lose any more troops. As the drone approached Failsworth Farm, Houghton allowed its altitude to fall slightly.

"Smith Claire, keep trying to raise Failsworth." Blake instructed, as he noticed she had stopped trying to get through to the farm on the radio.

"I can't see anything strange at all." Houghton said.

"Keep circling, but take her down to five meters, we've got to get a look inside." Blake said as he tried to look through the farms' windows.

"These drones weren't made for this, we need those helicopter drones that can hover." Remarked Houghton.

"You give him one toy and he wants another, just do the best you can, low as possible, slow as possible." Blake instructed.
The images still revealed nothing unusual, nobody outside the building, nor movement visible within.

"OK, take a sweep towards the perimeter, north east." Blake said.

Regan entered the room on his crutches.

"Any news?" He asked.

"No, if you're going to sit in, shut up." Blake ordered abruptly. Regan swore at him under his breath as he watched the image from the drone skimming across the country side.

"G1 to A1, I have visual on the farm." Came Talbot's voice over the ComLink.

"A1 to G1, OK approach in broad ark, twenty meters apart, cover to cover." Blake instructed.

"There's not much cover here, but I'll do my best." Came Talbot's reply.

As the drone reached the perimeter, Blake told Houghton to take it back to Failsworth Farm, as quickly as possible.

"A1 to G1, hold your position for a couple of minutes."

"G1 to A1, something wrong?" Talbot asked nervously.

"A1 to G1, Just waiting for the drone."

Upstairs in the Crofters, Powell was relaying the ComLink signal to Chantel. She couldn't receive the pictures, but Chantel was getting the audio loud and clear. Both Casper and Howe had refused to do this for her, but Powell was much more helpful.
"Burrows can you see the plane, or hear it?" Chantel asked.

"No, nothing." Burrows reported.

"What about Talbot and his three squads?"

"Still nothing." Burrows said.

Chantel was more nervous than usual as this time she was the cheese in the mousetrap, it was Burrows' turn to spring the ambush.
She sat in the bathroom of the Failsworth Farm, with Chester stood at the closed door. All they could do now was wait, and listen to what was happening.

Everyone in the Ops room watched as the images transmitted by the drone revealed the Failsworth Farm in the distance.
"Right Houghton, this time take it to a couple of hundred meters and circle the farm. If anybody hasn't got the plot yet, we're looking for a PLA ambush party." Blake explained.

"And here's me looking for Bigfoot." Remarked Regan sarcastically.

"Regan, you're not helping." Blake said. "A1 to G1 keep everybody scanning around, if there's PLA there they should be a couple of hundred meters from the farm, probably to the north."

Everybody sat in silence in the Ops room staring intently at the pictures as the drone slowly completed it's encirclement of the farm.
"Captain we've completed 360oa what next?" Houghton asked.

"Lets try another sweep but with infra-red." Blake instructed.

Houghton switched the drone to its infra-red camera and the image went blue and yellow, and distinctly blurred.

The door to the Ops room opened and Maldina walked in.

"I heard you were having a party without me." She commented.

"If you want to stay, shut up, and that goes double for you, Regan." Blake said, trying to concentrate on the screens.
Maldina and Regan exchanged glances.

"Hotspots, look!" shrieked Berry, as about twenty smallish orange circles appeared on the main screen.

"OK Houghton, carry on straight ahead, no change of course. Smith Claire give me a close up." Blake requested.
Smith Claire put her normal vision images from the drone on the main screen, at maximum magnification. Twenty PLA raiders lying in wait on a small ridge overlooking the Failsworth Farm.

"A1 to G1, we have visual on twenty plus raiders, five hundred meters, ten degrees north of your position. Retreat and then sweep round to the back of them to get them from the north." Blake said calmly.

"G1, A1, OK. Request you keep the drone up there to check on their position." Talbot responded.

Meanwhile Powell was relaying everything to Chantel. She was disappointed that Burrows had been spotted. Apart from ruining the ambush it presented her with a dilemma: if she warned Burrows that his men had been spotted Blake might realize that she had access to Fed communications. She thought about leaving Burrows and his men there to be ambushed by the Feds, but she couldn't afford to lose the guns or the people.

"Burrows, you've been spotted. They are going to try to go round the back of you and come at you from the north. You better pull back towards the perimeter right away, quickly. As you move back keep looking at that drone, to make out that's the reason you're retreating." Chantel instructed him.

On the main screen in the Ops room they could see Burrows and the others get up from their-dug in camouflaged positions. They could see some of them looking up towards the camera.

"Houghton you were too low with the drone, they've spotted you." Regan reprimanded him.

"There's no way they could see or hear the drone from there. I mean it wasn't even overhead." He protested.

"A1, G1, they're moving out. Head north immediately and try to cut them off." Blake instructed Talbot.

Chantel decided she was in a precarious position at the farm and decided she and Chester should relocate. Her latest plan had been a failure, thanks to the drone, and she now had to cut her losses and make a run for it. They left by the back door of the farm and Chantel was horrified to see some figures moving in the distance. At first she thought it was Burrows, but quickly realized it was the Feds. She and Chester both threw themselves to the ground behind a thresher, but they were too late.

"Look at the farm. Two people just jumped behind that tractor thing." Clegg reported to Talbot.

"Are you sure?" Talbot asked.

"They came out of the back door, took a couple of paces then jumped behind the tractor." Clegg said.

"G1 to A1, we've got two possibles at the farm, seen leaving just now."

"Then go to the farm and check it out." Blake instructed.

"And the raiders to our north?" Talbot inquired.

"Leave them." Blake said.

"You're crazy, you're going to let them get away?" Maldina interrupted.

"Houghton follow the raiders with the drone. Maldina, shut up."

"You're going after a couple of farmers and letting the raiders go." Maldina continued.

"Lieutenant get out of Ops now." Blake said, in no mood to argue. He was sure that the occupants of Failsworth Farm had been killed as part of the trap and wanted to catch the killers rather than trade long range gunfire with a raiding party which was already in full retreat. "Houghton keep the drone on the raiding party, monitor their withdrawal all the way to the perimeter."

Maldina slammed the Ops door on her way out, and Regan hobbled out of the room after her.

"Maldina, I'd have thought by now you'd have learnt to let him do it his way, you'll never win by arguing with him."

"He should at least show me some respect, he treats me like a child, f---ing stupid bastard." Maldina seemed particularly upset.

"He was just concentrating on the Operation, he would have sent me out if I'd interrupted him in the middle of giving orders like that." Regan explained.

"You know I don't know who I hate more, him or Chantel." Maldina said with terrific repressed anger.

"Come on Maldina let's go to the Crofters before you explode, I'll get you lunch." Regan said as he hobbled towards the exit on his crutches, Maldina following two steps behind.

Talbot threw his patrol around the farm to cut off the escape of anybody still there. He then approached the thresher with Kemp and Clegg. Clegg circled round to the left, with Kemp to the right. It was Kemp who got a look behind the thresher first.

"All clear - there's nothing there." He said with a mixture of disappointment and relief.

"OK let's search all the buildings." Talbot said.

"A1 to G1, keep the troops encircling the farm in place and you, Kemp and Clegg conduct the search." Blake said to make sure Talbot did it the way he wanted.

Chantel and Chester had got away from the farm before Talbot's patrol had thrown a cordon around it. They had entered a small wood which bordered Failsworth's land and were heading east towards Greenhall's Farm. Burrows had taken his raiders back to the perimeter and was now ensconced on a hill which had a commanding view of the area. He had seen the drone disappear into the distance, recalled as it was low on fuel. Only now did he feel safe again, relieved to have escaped without casualties after his position had been spotted by the drone.

Talbot, Clegg and Kemp cleared the main farmhouse room by room. It was in one of the upstairs bedrooms that they found the Failsworth family. They were all alive, and so had obviously done a deal with the PLA. All they reported was a faulty radio - they 'hadn't seen anything.' Talbot did his best to get the truth out of them and get them back on side, but to no avail. Another farm on the red list.

Powell went back to the base as soon as Talbot's Patrol Group was recalled. Chantel and Burrows were both safe and a disaster had been narrowly avoided. Powell was even relieved that there had been no casualties on either side, it made it easier to justify her actions. She was not really betraying the Feds, just safeguarding lives. How noble. She drew up guidelines over what information she would pass to Chantel, and information she wouldn't. Her golden rule was to not lead the Feds into a trap. She didn't want blood on her hands. She had excused herself of culpability in Black's death, but wouldn't be able to turn a blind eye to any other such incidents.

Soon after recalling Talbot back to the base, Blake got a call from Colonel Rogers. He had been following the afternoon's events and was not particularly impressed.

"So how are you feeling Blake, still not a hundred percent I suspect?"

"Not quite yet sir, no, but another week or so and I'll be fine." Blake said defensively.

"I hope so for all your sakes, I can see your section going down the toilet Blake, all pretty messy. A shame really after you kept a lid on it for so long." Rogers said, still with a half smile on his thin lips.

"Oh we're far from finished here sir, it's just that we've had a run of individual problems, and of course this Chantel....."

"Well my boy, you do have your work cut out for you don't you." Colonel Rogers remarked, cutting short Blake's excuses.

"What we really need is more media and PR help. We can hold this area if we hold the farms." Blake said

"You lose popular support and I have no choice but to pull the plug on the operation anyway." Rogers warned. "You're supposed to be an army of protection not occupation, any more disasters like the nursery and you'll have riots in the street." Rogers went on.
"All I'm asking sir, is a couple of good media reports. Surely you can get a story or two from the footage you have." Blake argued.
"Stories like 'Feds massacre babies' aren't going to help you sonny."

"No - the rape and killings at Baker Farm, something to show the PLA as enemies of the people, not just enemies of the Feds." Blake continued.

"That was weeks ago Blake, ancient history. Look, get yourself a good story and we'll see what we can do with it, but you've got to get the story first my boy." Rogers said, with a rather tired tone in his voice. "In the meantime try to keep a better grip and avoid the blunders, it has a knock on effect on everybody you know. Next report I want some good news, or at least good footage of bad news." Rogers chortled to himself as he terminated the ComLink.

"Stupid fat twat." Blake grumbled under his voice at the blank screen.

5. Trust

Maldina saw her chance for revenge late that evening. Both Talbot and Blake had gone off duty and were presumably asleep, leaving her in charge. She left I and H squads at the base and took J squad with her on patrol.

"C1 to H1, we're coming up on Greenhall Farm now, I'm going to give it the once-over to check everything is OK, before we head on to the perimeter." Maldina tried to sound casual, hoping that Sergeant Woods would not pick up on the fact that she was actually launching a full scale raid on Greenhall's Farm in reprisal for him blocking access to his land.

"Powell, keep your squad here to cover us, while we go in." With this Maldina left J squad at the front of the farm while she took her own squad round to the back.

"C1 to H1, disable the Greenhall alarm system." Maldina instructed. "We're going in."

"H1 to C1, OK wait one second..........it's disabled." Woods complied without too much thought, she'd had a tough few days and this seemed pretty run of the mill, well as run of the mill as Maldina ever got.

Maldina adjusted the laser sight on her machine gun and used the intensified beam to cut a small hole through the glass in the back door. This allowed her access to the lock and so enabled her to open the door silently. She returned the laser to its normal setting and activated the night vision camera on her helmet. This automatically transmitted a clear image of the scene onto her visor, thus giving her cat like vision in the dark. She now switched her machine gun from automatic to semi-automatic and attached the silencer. This made the gun over 160 mm longer and so slightly less maneuverable in confined spaces, but she thought it a fair trade. The others in her squad were silently copying her actions as they prepared to enter the farm. Maldina signaled complete ComLink silence and stepped through the open door into the farm's kitchen.

The farmhouse was completely silent and thoroughly dark. Maldina scanned round the kitchen and walked towards a door on the far side. She opened this slowly as Cooper and Clarke covered her. Beyond the kitchen door was a long narrow corridor. Cooper now went past Maldina into the hallway, before taking up a covering position and being passed in turn by Clarke. Maldina now walked past them to the first of two doors and opened it, as slowly and silently as before. Cooper entered this room and quickly returned having confirmed it was just a regular dining room, devoid of anything interesting or alarming. Maldina and Clarke now repeated the exercise with the second door. Clarke walked into what he realized to be the lounge, with ComCentre, easy chairs, coffee table and alike.

He scanned round the room, but suddenly heard the roar of a an unsilenced machine gun firing behind him. As he tried to turn round something fell on him, knocking him off his feet and pushing him completely into the room. It was Maldina. "Put your gun on automatic." She screamed at him. "C1 to J1, we're under attack, open covering fire on the upstairs rooms. C Squad exit the farm now. Let's get the f--- out of here." Maldina fired at the large window in the lounge, shattering the glass and then jumped through the window frame. Clarke lost no time in following her.

Without breaking stride, Maldina had ran to cover behind a low stone wall less that ten meters from the farmhouse. Clarke was right behind her.

"Where's Cooper and the others?" Clarke asked, surprised that no one else had followed them out of the building.

"C Squad come in! C3, C4, C5?" Maldina screamed at the ComLink microphone in her helmet.

"This is C5, I'm pinned down in the kitchen, Cooper and Fogg are both down." Peters reported as J squad started to pound he upstairs windows of the farmhouse with automatic gunfire.

"Get out Peters." Maldina screamed as the watched as the second floor of the farmhouse began to shatter and crumble to pieces as thousands of rounds of ammunition poured into it.

"J squad cease-fire." Maldina ordered, belatedly countermanding her earlier order. "Peters, get out of there now. Cooper, Fogg, respond." Maldina implored.

There was no answer.

Maldina waited a couple of minutes, trying to decide what she should do next. In the event, Clarke decided for her.

"I'm going to see what happened to them." He said as he got up and ran back over to the farmhouse.

"J squad, close in and provide tight cover, we're going back in." Maldina ordered before running after Clarke.

The farmhouse was deadly quiet again. Clarke went round to the back door and burst into the kitchen. There he found Peters body. He'd been hit in the chest several times, but he'd been killed by a shot to the face at close range.

"What the f---! Peters has been executed. Someone's walked right up to him and blown his face off." Clarke said over the ComLink to no one in particular.

"Come on let's find the others." Maldina said as she brushed past him into the hall. Lying in front of her was Fogg. Again he'd been hit several times in the torso, but had been finished off by a shot to the head at close range. His helmet was lying by his side, and the coup de gráce had been applied to the temple, removing part of his head.

"Same thing with Fogg." Maldina said before continuing to look around.

At the bottom of the stairs, by the door to the lounge was Cooper. He'd been shot several times in the back, and Maldina
presumed he'd been finished off, just like the others. She stepped over him to the foot of the stairs and looked up.

"He's still alive." Clarke said, after turning Cooper over onto his back."

"C1 to H1 send the 4x4 with a medic, fast as you can." Maldina ordered. J squad enter the farm. Seymour join me at the bottom of the stairs, we have a casualty here.

"H1 to C1, do you want me to wake up Blake or Talbot?" Sergeant Woods asked, believing it to be a good idea, considering that two people had been killed already.

"Negative Woods, just send the 4x4." Maldina was annoyed at the suggestion.

Seymour had a look at Cooper, while Maldina, Powell and Jones John headed gingerly upstairs, Powell leading the way with the most bravado. While Jones John and Maldina were rather cautious, Powell was always at the front, crashing through doors, always pushing onwards. They found no PLA, but the bodies of Greenhall, his partner and their two children, all dead in their beds with multiple gunshot wounds.

"Whoever killed Fogg and Peters is still in the farmhouse, we'd have seen anybody leaving." Jones John said, heightening the tension even more.

"Better carry on searching." Maldina said, as she walked over to a wardrobe, and flung open the doors, revealing nothing but clothes.
"Fish, Cooper have a look round downstairs, see if you find anything." Powell ordered, apparently warming to her position as a squad leader.

"And be careful, there must be raiders still in the building." Added Maldina chillingly.

They continued to sweep through the farmhouse finding nothing, but tension and raw nerves, until Fish came across a trap door leading to the cellar.

"J3 to J2, there's a door in the floor here."

"J3 this is C1, stay there and do nothing, we're coming." Ordered Maldina.

They gathered round the trap door and Jones John attached a cord to the door's handle. With everyone standing well back, Jones John pulled the cord, lifting the door no more than a hundred millimeters and allowing Maldina to throw a grenade down into the cellar. Everybody jumped for cover, including Powell who was already at the back door of the farm house on her way out. The grenade's explosion ruptured the methane tank in the cellar setting off a second far greater explosion. The second explosion blew the floorboards up, the walls in and the roof down, totally destroying the farmhouse.

Powell had been knocked over by the blast, but she was still conscious and could have moved quite freely if she had wanted to, but chose not to.

Only now did Sgt. Woods raise the general alarm back at Ops. All the images she was getting back from Maldina's patrol group were of rubble, with the exception of Powell, whose camera was showing a nice still picture of the sky. The first thing that came into her mind was that they were all dead, but the telemetry showed that only Fogg and Peters were without a pulse, although Cooper's pulse was now even weaker than before.

"C squad, J squad, come in." She began to repeat over the ComLink. "O'Connel, Heath you better hurry up, it looks like there's been an explosion, they're all down hurt." Sergeant Woods ordered.

Blake ran to the Ops room and burst through the door, it was the first time he'd ran since getting shot, and it hurt.

"Sergeant Woods, what is going on?" He asked, trying to appear calm.

"Lieutenant Maldina took a patrol out, C and J squads, they went to the Greenhall Farm, where Peters Fogg and Cooper were all shot, Peters and Fogg fatally. Now there's been an explosion and no one is responding on the ComLink." Woods reported nervously.

"Squads A, D and E get ready to move out in five minutes. Woods, keep trying to raise them on the ComLink." Blake said with some urgency.

"The 4x4 will be there in a couple of minutes." Woods now added.

"Recall them now! 4x4 back to base right now!" Blake screamed.

Chantel and Chester had the 4x4 in their sites, but it was still nearly a kilometer away. When Chantel heard Blake's order to recall it she opened fire instinctively, but without her sniper's rifle, which was at the Crofters Bar, she had no chance. O'Connel saw the gunfire in the distance and heard the shots ricochet into the road in front of them. He reversed the 4x4 back along the road in panic, before turning around and heading back to base at break neck speed. He reported the incident to Ops and was told to rendezvous with Blake.

As Blake got suited up, Talbot and Regan were going over the recordings from the events at Greenhall Farm. They were still reviewing the images as Blake headed out with his Patrol Group. He had ordered the 4x4 to rendezvous with him less than half way to the farm, as he was in a lot of pain and could barely manage to jog, let alone run. He had reprimanded Woods for not recalling the 4x4 as soon as the Greenhall Farm had exploded. Sending the 4x4 unsupported to a insecure location was a cardinal sin.

Blake's squad all clambered aboard the 4x4 at the rendezvous and set off at a quick running pace towards Greenhall Farm. The other two squads ran alongside, keeping up as best they could. When they were about a kilometer from the farm, or rather where the farm had been, Blake and his squad got out of the 4x4. He first surveyed the rubble at x6 vision, then had a good look around the horizon, but found nothing suspicious. They walked cautiously the rest of the way, with the 4x4 bringing up the rear.

The first person apparent in the smoldering rubble was Powell. McGinley, D squad's Medic, attended her and she regained consciousness almost immediately. She was unhurt and soon started helping the others to dig through the cadaver of the farm. Blake organized securing the perimeter with his squad while the rest dug through the ruins of the farm. Maldina, Fish, Jones John and Seymour were all found alive, but unconscious. Cooper and Clarke were found conscious, but Cooper was quite badly hurt, mainly from the shots to his back that he had taken at quite close range. Together with the bodies of Fogg and Peters, they were all loaded into the 4x4, with the exception of Powell and Fish who were both well enough to walk. The bodies of the Greenhalls were located, but left there in body bags for the civilians. There was no trace of the PLA, not even in the cellar.

"Right, we all go back together, walking pace." Instructed Blake as they returned, albeit slowly, to the base. As he was walking back it struck Blake for the first time that he had lost control of the sector. He had a 4x4 of moaning, injured troops, two corpses in body bags strapped to the roof rack, and the gut feeling that he could no longer let his troops go out on small patrols. This sector was slipping through his hands. Once again the doctor had been called to the base to patch up the wounded and certify the dead. Once again it had happened on Maldina's watch. Her long run of bad luck was too long and too unlucky to be put down to mere happenstance. Blake did not know who to blame most, Chantel or Maldina.

Back at the base, Blake went straight to Ops to hear what Talbot and Regan had found.

"Well first of all, the Greenhalls were dead before J squad opened fire." Talbot explained. "They were all found tucked up in bed, even though there had been shots fired downstairs for two or three minutes before J squad opened fire."

"OK, next." Blake said.

"Well Sir, the PLA knew too much. They knew Maldina was going to the Greenhall Farm, they knew about the 4x4, and they knew when to get the hell out of there. They didn't even take Powell's gun, and she was lying on top of the rubble." Talbot appeared shocked at his own findings.

"There's no doubt over who did it Blake, Peters' CamCom picked up Chantel and one other, unknown, raider." Regan added.
"Two raiders did all this." Blake said, quite shocked.

"No Maldina did most of it, throwing a grenade into a cellar with a methane tank." Regan chipped in.

"Shooting Peters, Fogg and Cooper and putting the rest to flight?" Blake corrected him.

"We only saw two, but of course there could have been more." Added Talbot.

"Well as for the conspiracy theory, I think you should calm down a little. We knew Greenhall was sympathetic to the PLA, so he could have been harboring Chantel and the other raider. They see Maldina's patrol coming and are able to fight their way out of there, escaping through the cellar tunnel." Blake stopped in his tracks. "Show me on the map exactly where the 4x4 was hit." He instructed Woods.

"Well it was .... here sir, on the moor road." Woods replied.

"If Chantel left Greenhall Farm here, and encountered the 4x4 here, then she wasn't going back across the perimeter." Blake said, now thinking aloud.

"Looks like she's heading for the base, she's heading north of the town center." Talbot added.

"Looks like she's going to the Crofters - Blake you didn't have another date with her last night did you?" Regan asked.
"Regan that is not even remotely funny. Either she came out there to hit the 4x4 or she was coming here."

"But you wouldn't. She just shot up Maldina's squad, watched a farm collapse on the whole patrol group. She doesn't have time to go back and finish them off or take the guns because she's too busy coming this way." Regan speculated.

"It can only be that she was after the 4x4. She knew they were no reinforcements coming, otherwise she would have headed off in the other direction." Blake was now warming to the conspiracy theory.

"They must be tapping in on our communications." Was Talbot's conclusion.

"Or somebody's forwarding our transmissions to them." Regan suspected an inside job.

"OK, lie detector everybody at the base tomorrow morning at shift change over, we have to presume we've been compromised. I'm going to the MedLab." With that Blake left Ops.

Blake had never seen the MedLab so busy. Cooper was still unconscious on one bunk, while Maldina, Fish, Jones John and Seymour were all conscious and receiving treatment. Seymour was the most seriously hurt with a broken leg, she was lying on the other bunk. The rest were just bruised and battered and were sat on the edge of Seymour's bed.

"How's Cooper, Doctor?" Blake asked.

"Very serious, he lost a lot of blood and slipped into a coma. I'm getting very little electrical activity in the cerebral cortex which indicates severe brain damage. Even if his body recovers, I doubt his brain will." The Doctor said solemnly.

"When will you know for certain?" Blake asked.

"The next few days." The Doctor replied.

Blake nodded then turned towards the others. "Well Seymour, you managed to break your leg did you?"

"I had to sir, I couldn't bear being separated from Regan." She quipped.

"How bad is it Doctor?" Asked Blake.

"Fractured tibia, clean break, but she'll be in a cast for at least six weeks."

"Fish, Jones John, you both OK." Blake asked of them.

"Never better." Fish said ironically.

"Fine." Was Jones John's reply.

"And you Maldina, you're all right?" Blake said, only now looking at her.

"I'll survive, for now, I just need to get some rest." She said.

"Come on then I'll walk you back to your quarters." Blake offered.

He helped her to her feet, and she limped out of the room, holding onto Blake round the shoulder, while he had his arm round her waist.

"What's going on Blake, I don't understand it?" She said almost crying.

"Maldina, you entered the farm without making any noise, right."

"Of course, haven't you seen the playback?"

"Not yet no." Blake said as they arrived at the door to her quarters. Blake opened the door for her. "Let's talk about what happened tomorrow, OK." He said as he removed his arm from her waist.

Maldina's arm lingered around his shoulder for a few seconds before she slowly let go. "OK, good night then, thanks." She said as she stood in the doorway.

Blake turned away to head back to Ops, but stopped as he saw Talbot approaching. Maldina went into her room and shut the door behind her.

"Blake, where do you want to conduct the lie detector tests tomorrow?" Talbot asked him.

"The Briefing Room as squads come on duty. Test everybody, you, me and Maldina included." Blake instructed him. Just then there was a muffled scream from Maldina's room. Blake swung round, and leapt into the room, gun first. Maldina was sat on her bunk in floods of tears, wearing just her panties and her tunic of body armor.

"What the hell is wrong?" Blake screamed at her.

"I can't get my stupid tunic off." She responded defiantly.

"Was there any thing else Lieutenant?" Blake asked of Talbot who was stood in the doorway, gun in hand.
"No I guess that'll be all, see you both tomorrow." Talbot said as he shut Maldina's door.

"Now what is it Maldina?" Blake asked again, more softly this time.

"My tunic is broken, I can't get it off." Maldina lamented.

"Come on, stand up." Blake said as he got to his feet. Maldina stood up right in front of him, almost touching. Blake saw that she had removed the epaulet on her left shoulder, but the one on her right shoulder appeared jammed. He also noticed a long crack in her body armor tunic along the stomach. He tried to release it which would then allow her to open the tunic, but it was jammed tight.
"Maldina this tunic has had it, we might as well cut it open and make you a new one." Blake said as he struggled to free her.
"Like hell, and lose the caps!" Maldina was referring to the silver caps she had where the armor had been punctured hit by bullets. They were like medals of bravery, and highly prized by certain troops.

"Well you'll at least have to get your crack sealed, if we ever get this thing off." Blake said, still trying to pull the epaulet off.
"I don't like the sound of that." Maldina said.

Blake removed his machine gun from its holster.

"You're not going to shoot it off are you?" Maldina said with obvious concern.

"Christ Maldina, of course not." Blake said as he began to hammer the epaulet with the butt of his gun. The epaulet suddenly came flying off, and the tunic sprung open and fell to the floor. Maldina, now standing there in just panties and a flimsy cut off undershirt, had grabbed Blake to steady herself as her tunic fell. With this attractive, half naked woman draped all over him, Blake was suddenly overcome with desire. Her lips hung just millimeters from his as they held onto each other for a few brief moments. They were staring into each others eyes like lovesick kids, not really Maldina's style, nor Blake's. Maldina moved her head forward slightly, nudging his lips with hers with infinite delicacy. The sensation so soft that it hurt, as her lips grazed his. Every thought in his mind was of what he should do to her, her to him, and how, but he could not allow these thoughts to crystallize into actions.

Without a word Blake slowly stepped back, breaking the embrace and made for the door.

"Blake, don't you want....... to stay?" Maldina implored in a whisper, her eyes still dewy with recently shed tears.
"Of course I do." Blake said heavily before shutting the door behind him as he left.

Maldina took one step towards the door, and then stopped. She then turned and threw herself on the bed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. It had been a very long and difficult night, but at least it had not ended too badly.

Blake went to his room, by the side of Maldina's and then returned to stand outside her door, his hand on the handle. He stayed there for a couple of minutes and then returned to his room to make a difficult report to Colonel Rogers.

"I'm going to offer you this once, and once only. You, Regan and Corporal Hanson out of there, immediate transfers." Colonel Rogers smiled at the end of his offer trying to entice Blake.

"For me no, but I'll suggest it to Regan and Hanson, I think they'll go, Regan's injured anyway." Blake said.
"No son, its a package deal, all or nothing."

"Then it's nothing, I'm not leaving these people just because there is a fire in the hold, we can still stabilize the position." Blake argued unconvincingly.

"I didn't think you would leave Blake, but I owed it to my own conscience to offer." Colonel Rogers said gravely. "Good luck my boy. Good-bye" With that Rogers abruptly terminated the ComLink.

Blake tried to get some sleep, but couldn't. He had too many problems and all of them had the same source: Chantel. He also felt guilty now, perhaps he had been a little rough on Maldina, she was being genuinely out-thought and out-fought by Chantel, she was no match for her. Blake knew he had to resume full operational responsibility. If there were to be patrols, he or Talbot would have to lead them, Maldina had been tested and found wanting too many times. Above all there was no one overriding priority, he had to kill Chantel. If not she would continue to dwindle his forces like a wolf at herd of sheep. He also knew that even if he succeeded, he would be adding yet another moment to haunt him in the long dark hours of the night.

The next morning Blake went straight to the Briefing Room, not even stopping for breakfast, which was unusual for him. Talbot had set everything up, and was the first to be questioned, Blake doing the honors. It was not great surprise that he a scored high impermeable mark. Next were the rest of Talbot's squad, Kemp, Clegg, Watt and Reece; all with high enough scores to be beyond suspicion. Next was A squad, who all sailed through without problems. Talbot made a point of asking Blake additional questions, but he was telling no lies.

With Fogg and Peters dead, and Cooper in a coma, Maldina's squad consisted of Clarke and herself; both passed without problems.
Next were D and E squads, all passing with flying colors. This brought the process to Howe and Casper, all that remained of F squad. They were called into the briefing room, the worry and distress so palpable on their faces that Blake instinctively took the safety catch off on his gun. Blake's squad, Houghton, Smith Claire, Berry and Hall, who were on guard duty during the proceedings exchanged nervous glances as they saw Howe and Casper's reactions.
"What's all this sir?" Howe asked trying to smile.
"The communications have been compromised, and we're running a process of elimination. Step up and be eliminated." As Blake spoke he crossed his legs and swiveled his chair round slightly to the left, putting Howe and Casper in the line of fire of his still holstered firearm. It was subtle , but noticeable.

The really great thing about the time release poison Chantel had used on Casper and Howe was that there was no antidote and so there was no hope for those discovered to have been injected. This made those poisoned completely desperate and therefore exceptionally dangerous. Bravery and prowess are nothing compared with the actions of a desperate man. Howe and Casper now knew they had no real chance of survival. Whatever their personal relationship with Blake, which had always been good, there was simply nothing he could do to help them now.
Gentlemen remove your weapons and hand them to Smith Claire. After a moment's tense hesitation they both complied, but very slowly.

Casper sat down at the table and Hall placed the electrodes on his temple, while Talbot adjusted the laser imager scanning his face.
"What is your name?" Talbot asked of him.

"Private Casper." With this Talbot calibrated the machine.

"Have you now, or have you ever collaborated or co-operated with the PLA?" Talbot asked him, staring at his screen, rather than at Casper.

There was along pause before Casper responded.

"No I have not." He rushed the words out.

Talbot looked away from his screen, first at Casper, and then round at Blake. Everyone in the room knew what the machine had detected.

"I was not involved in the deaths, she got us after Wilde, Williams and Richards were all dead. There were more than twenty of them, all around us, we had no choice, no other option." Casper tried to make them see how it was.

"Casper wasn't even lying, the machines crazy, we haven't done anything, we haven't relayed communications or anything." Howe added.

"Chain them up and take them away, we'll interrogate them later." Blake said sadly. "And take those f---ing uniforms off them." He added.

With that Houghton and Smith Claire grabbed Casper, and Berry

and Hall took Howe and bustled them out of the room.

The priority now was to complete screening the rest of the base, but word was spreading like wild fire that there was a screening and that Howe and Casper had been detected. The news was greeted with disbelief by most, and with anger by others. When it reached the women's dorm the news seemed to make Powell ill, within seconds she was complaining of intense headaches, and minutes later she had slumped to the ground unconscious. She was rushed to the MedLab for examination. Meanwhile in the Briefing Room the screening continued.

Blake took over when it was the turn of Talbot's squad, and then Talbot returned to the hotseat for H and I squads, without any further excitement. This left only J squad. Fish and Jones John came in pushing Seymour who was in a wheel chair. Powell was still in the MedLab apparently in a coma.

"This is just a matter of completeness, I know you all took rather a battering yesterday, but we're doing this with every single person on the base, myself, Talbot and Maldina included." Blake said as they entered the room.

The last to be questioned was Seymour, and with her positive result, Talbot gladly dismantled the equipment and packed it away. Blake then wheeled Seymour back to the MedLab.

"Is it just your leg that's hurt?" He asked her.

"Yeah, it's just bruises everywhere else, I look like a chessboard when I take my uniform off." She commented.
"Does Lovett like chess?" Blake asked of her girlfriend.

"I couldn't care less if she does or not, just because she's the only other samesex girl on the base doesn't mean I have to have sex with her all the time." Seymour corrected him.

"You split up did you? OK fair enough." Blake said as he pushed her into the MedLab. "What happened to Powell?" He asked the Doctor who had already returned that morning to see to Cooper.

"Looks like she was more seriously hurt than we thought. She's slipped into a light coma." The Doctor explained.
"Same as Cooper?" Blake asked.

"No she has normal electrical activity in the brain, it's probably more to do with shock, rather than something physiological, I'm sure she'll be all right in a few hours. Cooper on the other hand has only a small chance of recovering, and if he does recover, he'll be of no use to you people here." The Doctor went on.

"Then get him out of here, transfer him to the hospital, and do it today." Blake ordered. This gave Blake an idea, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it earlier. "While you're at it Doctor I want to transfer the two cripples to the hospital as well."
"What?" The Doctor asked, a little non-plussed.

"Regan and Seymour, transfer them to the hospital for fusion treatment, I need them fully active, they are no good to me with broken legs." Blake explained.

"I'm not sure I can justify it Blake, they've both just got simple fractures."

"As a favor Doc', I need them better and fully active, not just hobbling around here on crutches.

"Blake we don't need to go to the hospital, it's a bit of overkill isn't....."

"Seymour, your opinion is not part of the considerations for this." Blake interrupted her. "How fast can you do it Doctor?"

"I'll get them to send an ambulance over for Cooper this afternoon, Seymour and Regan can piggy back it."

"What about Powell?" Blake asked.

"No, leave Powell at least another 24 hours, if she comes round fine, if not I'll send her to the Hospital, but I doubt it will come to that." The Doctor said, thinking on his feet.

"OK, then it's settled." Blake said as he started to head out of the room.

"But sir......." Seymour started to say as Blake disappeared through the door.

Blake found Regan in the Mess having breakfast with Du Bohn and Thornley, the two girls from his squad.

"So how's the leg Regan?" Blake asked.

"OK for hobbling, pretty bad for dancing, no f---ing good for running around." Regan said with a smile.

"Girls would you excuse us for a minute." Blake requested, quite politely for him.

"Boys talk is it?" Du Bohn said as she took her plate to the next table.

"Girls or guns, that's what it'll be." Thornely said, following Du Bohn to the table.
"Regan, you're no good to me like this." Blake began to explain.

I'm sending you and Seymour to the hospital for special fusion treatment, you should be back and ready for duty in a week or so."
"But that's bulls--- Blake..." Regan protested.

"It's an order Regan, and it's final. You're going this afternoon." Blake said, and started to get up from the table.
Regan knew there was no point arguing, but did anyway.

"You need every gun you can get and a week is a pretty long time round here these days." Regan reasoned.

"I need you 100% fit for active duty, that's what I need." Blake said as he disappeared from the Mess.

Later that morning Blake took D squad and his own squad on a patrol to plant Motion Activated Cameras. These MACs were small stakes planted in the ground capped by a cluster of cameras and microphones that only sent signals back to base when they detected movement. They were small enough to lie undetected by someone walking within 5 meters of them, and had an active radius of three kilometers. Blake had only found forty of them in store at the base and was determined to make each one count. The sector already had 15 such MACs along the perimeters, Blake had decided to double this and add the rest to the interior. The MACs they planted within sight of farms, houses and shops were all planted surreptitiously, such was Blake's mounting distrust of his sector's inhabitants. He had two which covered the Crofters, one covered the front door, a row of houses and the south east face of the base, the other covered the backdoor and a clutch of twelve houses. He would now keep an eye on the comings and goings at the Crofters.

By the time Blake got back to the base the ambulance had picked up Cooper, Seymour and Regan. Blake was pleasantly surprised that Regan had gone, he'd had a sneaking suspicion that Regan would pull some stunt to get out of going to the hospital, the fact that he hadn't was strangely unsettling. Blake went to Ops to make a final check that all the MACs were where he wanted, and then went to get some lunch at the Mess. He'd only been there a couple of minutes when Maldina joined him.

"Hi!" She said as she sat down across the table from him.

"Hello lieutenant, how are you?" He said with a forced smile.

"I'm OK thank you. Repaired the tunic." She said in lieu of anything more poignant to say.

"Fantastic." Blake said continuing to enjoy his chicken casserole.

"With you sending Seymour and Regan to the hospital, we're down to thirty seven on the duty roster, don't you think we should ask for some replacements?" Maldina said changing tack.

"I already have."

"Then they're sending some people?" Maldina said, her face brightening at the news.

"No." Blake said with finality.

"Well they will soon then?" Maldina asked without conviction.

"Not in the foreseeable future they won't." It was only now with Blake's words ringing in her ears that she began to realize the full gravity of the situation.

"Then we're f---ed!" Maldina said, staring off into the distance.

"That fact is 'need to know' Lieutenant, don't spread it around, it'd be bad for moral." Blake said, as he continued to eat.

Talbot had been interrogating Howe and Casper, who had both been pretty co-operative. Once he'd learnt about the poison, he'd try to reassure them with far fetched stories of antidotes the Feds had developed, but they weren't at all convinced. Although he'd pressed them to confess to passing on Fed communications, particularly relating to the Failsworth and Greeenhall Farms incidents, they had both totally denied it. He arranged to meet Blake and Maldina in the Briefing room to discuss his conclusions.

"Well Lieutenant, what did you get from your recently lost friends?" Blake asked Talbot when he and Maldina entered the room.
"Well they say they were given the TurnFor poison the day Wilde, Williams and Richards were killed. They both said that since then they've been sleeping only, waiting for Chantel to takeover the sector. They would show their true colors only as we lost control."
"Beautiful, a knife in the back of a dying man." Blake added.

"They're both adamant that they refused to relay communications, and that they played no part in what happened at Greenhall Farm." Talbot continued.

"Well when we get a minute we'll send them to Division for a full interrogation." Blake said.

"Don't take too long, they'll be dead in a couple of weeks." Maldina said with a smile.

"Such compassion Maldina, it's truly heart warming." Blake said sarcastically.

"Well you know me Blake, always a big hearted girl." Maldina's remark surprised Blake, she seemed to be developing the capacity to take a joke.

"Be careful Maldina, you're beginning to develop a personality." Talbot said. "Not a pleasant one, but a personality none the less."

Blake laughed at Talbot's remark, but it was a little too cruel for Maldina to take.

"Talbot , why don't you take a nice blunt object, and stick it up your arse, it would at least free O'Connel for other duties." Maldina was most pleased with her witty come back.

"Ladies please, you're supposed to be officers, not hairdressers." Blake tried to restore order.

"Really Maldina, how can you talk about sticking blunt objects into orifices, after what you did in the shower with Hurst, a blunter object than that I have yet to encounter."

"Enough!" Blake with a raised voice, "Lieutenant Talbot, let's not talk ill of our dead, I mean his body's not even cold."

"Sorry Blake." Talbot said, knowing that he had killed the only light hearted moment the three had enjoyed together in weeks. "Anyway you better get some sleep, ready for your watch tonight." Blake said quite grumpily.

Talbot left the room, leaving Maldina and Blake alone. There was an awkward silence before Maldina spoke.

"You don't have to get over-protective with me about Hurst, we only spent that one night together, and I can't remember much of that, I was so drunk." Maldina said sheepishly.

"What he said was disrespectful to Hurst, not you." Blake said. "I mean it's not as though you were that upset when he died was it?"
"Where as you were when Wilde died?" She regretted her words as soon as she said them, the circumstances of Wilde's death were such that it would have better not to mention it.

"You get accustomed to losing people you love, it doesn't mean you become blasé." Blake said, knowing that Maldina would not pick up on his implicit criticism of her.

"You have to enjoy the time you have with people." Maldina said wistfully, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"You have to try to extend the time you have with people as well, keeping them alive." Blake said solemnly.

Chapter 6 ­ Fight Back

"E1 to A1, I have a category two alarm."

"A1, E1 we're coming." Blake rushed the short distance from the Briefing Room to Ops with Maldina one step behind. "What is it?" He asked upon entering the Ops room.

"Well we've got an alarm at the School, and as you can see from the MAC on the main screen the place is on fire." Hanson explained.

"Get a Fire Truck to wait at the crossroads while we check it out. A squad, D squad we're moving out now, pack rockets, and number threes take flame throwers." Maldina gave Blake a strange look as he said this. "Hell Maldina the place is already on fire.

 Hanson, track us out there on the MACs."

"You're only taking two squads?" Maldina asked in disbelief.

"Yes Maldina two squads, a whole third of our total force. What can I tell you times are hard. This is a General Order, no one is to leave this base until I get back." With that Blake left Ops.

"Good luck." Maldina said as he disappeared through the door.

Within ten minutes Blake had his Patrol Group at the crossroads. The Fire Truck had not arrived yet, so Blake had his troops spread out to take up covering positions. Back at Ops Hanson had not picked up any enemy activity on the MACs, and continued to scan through the different images. The smoke from the school had increased slightly, but it still didn't look anything like a major blaze.

"A1 to E1, can you see anything at all?" Blake asked.

"Nothing sir."

"Launch the drone, I need to know what is going on." Blake cursed himself that he had not thought of this earlier.

It was five minutes before the drone was overhead, but with so much smoke, the images it was sending back were of little use. Blake was disappointed and a little uncertain of what to do next, but only for a few seconds.

"The rest of you wait here while I take a look." Blake said as he broke from cover and ran towards the school.

"C1 to A1, you can't go in without your squad. That's 01:12 Blake!" Maldina protested, for once she was able to quote regulations at Blake.

"ComLink silence. Total silence" Blake said as he stooped down behind the school wall.

The Ops room was becoming crowded as everyone back at the base wanted to get a look at the action. They all watched the big screen as Blake moved again, this time from the wall to the main school block. As he ran he fired a rocket at one of the windows which instantly disintegrated, allowing him to jump through the smoking remains and into a classroom. There was no other smoke inside, as the fire was on the far side of the school. Blake went out of the classroom and now walked slowly down the corridor, carefully scanning everything in his path. The school was deadly quiet and he strolled along the middle of the corridor, machine gun in his right hand, pistol in his left. All that could be heard were his footsteps, however quietly he tried to walk, the stillness was such that you could still here the squeak from the rubber soled boots. As Blake got to a 90o turn in the corridor he stopped, and took out a small mirror on a telescopic pole that looked like it was from a car radio. He stuck this out in front of him and looked round the corner and along the next corridor. Nothing.

There was absolute silence in the Ops room as they all watched Blake's progress. He didn't open any of the doors that he passed, giving each room no more than a quick glance through the window. He was walking towards the upper block, where the smoke was emanating from. Suddenly there was a noise behind him. Blake spun round in a crouch with both weapons pointed out in front of him. Twenty meters away he saw a rat scurrying along the corridor, the red dot from his laser sight briefly marking it's target. There was a burst of laughter in the Ops room as the tension was broken briefly, before Blake returned to his lonely walk down the corridor.

He paused at the bottom of the main stairs, which also opened out to the School Hall, only separated from the corridor by large glass doors. He ran passed the doors and onto the stairs, taking them two at a time and he hurried up to the second floor. He was taking a lot of risks, he knew it, but it was the only way. Now on the second floor he jogged down the corridor, only giving each door he passed a cursory glance. Blake was not being systematic, but instinctive. He knew where he would be lying in wait if he had set the trap. Blake could see the smoke through the windows and realized that he was now above the fire. By the lack of heat he knew that it was no more than a smoke signal - honey to trap the fly. Normally with a fire one squad would be sent with the Fire Truck, Blake guessed that the intention was to rob him of another squad. When he had passed the fire by about ten meters, Blake carefully looked out of the windows on the right side. There he saw the perfect point for an ambush. There was a wood that started less than fifty meters from the school building, and then continued back for kilometers. It would give them the perfect vantage point for the attack and then an easy escape route.

Blake thought about bringing the two squads he had at the front of the school round to the back to intercept any PLA that were in the woods, but then thought better of it. Careful inspection of the trees revealed nothing, not even at 4x vision. Blake breathed very heavily, choking back the pain in his chest. Very carefully he opened the window slightly, and then adjusted his sights to Infra Red. He flicked a switch on his gun to arm the rocket launcher. The Infra Red image through up two hot spots amongst the trees. It seemed too few, but he could find no more. Perhaps they had divided their force and had more fighters somewhere else, but this would not have been a good strategy and so he discarded it. Maybe they really thought they could do the job with just two. Then it would be Chantel and her accomplice, but which was which. Blake switched back to normal vision, but however much he magnified the image, the camouflage was too good and he could not even make out clear targets, never mind identify them. But they were PLA all right, who else would be there in full camouflage gear.

Blake picked the target on the left and fired a rocket, the target turned into a white fire ball in his visor image and Blake quickly tried to locate the second target, but his eyes were playing tricks on him as he saw shadows of the bright light, while the IR imager was overloaded for a couple of seconds. Blake, took off the sight, but could only make out the burning corpse in the woods, and not the second target. Again he tried the IR imager, but found nothing.

"A1 to A and D squads, move up through the school and take up covering positions on the right flank just past the point of the fire. Then let the Fire Truck through." Blake instructed as he continued to scan the woods for the second target. After finding nothing, he attached a cord to the window frame and then absailed down the wall to the grass below. He detached the cord and made out for the woods as fast as he could run, which was far from a sprint.

Blake was relieved to see that the burning corpse was holding what was left of a machine gun, but mortified that by its build as it appeared male. It certainly wasn't Chantel. They conducted a sweep of the woods while the fire was put out, but found nothing.

Back at the Barnet Farm Chantel was shaken by her close call with death. She had been patiently waiting in the woods for the unsuspecting Feds to arrive with the Fire Truck, when Gates was obviously hit by a rocket. The second that he burst into flames she withdrew into the cover of the woods. She was not at all affected by Gates' death, why should she be, she had not even known him that long? But Chantel had been scared, caught in someone else's sights. It made a chilling change to recent events, which had been going so well. She would need reinforcements and had to plan her next move cautiously.

Maldina was the first to greet Blake when he returned to the base. She walked with him to the mess where he went to get some lunch.

"How did you know they would be there?" She asked.

"Because that's where I would have been if I'd been conducting the ambush." He replied.

"And if they had been waiting in the School Hall?" Maldina pressed.

"Well you'd probably be in command by now." Blake said truthfully. "But the School Hall would have been the wrong place for an ambush."

"If you'd sent the two squads into the woods maybe they could have picked up Chantel." She went on.

"Or maybe they would have got killed. There was no way of knowing how many PLA were really in the woods. You have to play it safe in these situations Maldina, you really do." Blake instructed.

Maldina was not convinced by his argument, but she had been impressed by his actions. They showed courage if nothing else. She had never seen him acting so dynamically. Like the man he used to be, that she had heard so much about. More than anything she was impressed by the fact that he had used a rocket and not just the machine gun.

"But you must admit that you were trying to kill them, not just wing them. It's not what you would have done a week ago." Maldina said triumphantly.

"I did not have Chantel ambushing my squads a week ago." He said weakly.

"So things have changed?" She said enthusiastically.

"Nothing has changed, well maybe just the characters have changed. But if you want to hear that killing Chantel is a top priority, then OK, it is. If we can get rid of her we have a chance of getting back to normal, with her and its a fight to the death." Blake said, partly to himself and partly to Maldina.

"And you had her in your sites..." Added Maldina.

"I had two targets, and one clear shot." Blake replied.

"And what you aimed at, you hit." Maldina said as she smiled at Blake, having realized that she had become unintentionally critical of him.

"Don't start smiling at me now Maldina, I've had enough shocks for one week." Blake said as he continued to eat.

"What's wrong, did you prefer it when we were fighting?" Maldina asked.

"We never fought Maldina, rather that you were insubordinate, sullen and cantankerous. Now you're merely insubordinate." Blake said in between mouthfuls of food.

"How charming of you. You mean I'm not cantankerous or sullen anymore?" She asked.

"Well not since we've been chatting." As Blake spoke Talbot joined them at the table.

"We haven't been able to find anything. If Chantel was with the terrorist you just killed, then she's gone to ground and we don't know where." Talbot reported.

"But no ones crossed over the perimeter?" Blake asked.

"No, she's still in our sector, probably hold up at one of the farms." Talbot suggested.

"Why don't we make a check on all the farms in the area?" Maldina said, warming to the idea that Chantell had not got away just yet.
"No, we keep up the surveillance and only respond if we i.d. her. I don't want my squads running around the countryside like headless chickens." Blake explained. This time Maldina contained her disappointment and didn't argue back.

"Well I'll get back to Ops then." With that Talbot left the room.

That evening Talbot was in the Crofters Bar with Kemp, Clegg and Reece having a quiet drink, when Maldina came in and joined them.

"So what did you think of Captain Kickass today then Mal?" Kemp said, with the kind of informality that comes from being s---faced drunk.

"Oh it was pretty impressive." She said with a forced smile.

"Particularly when you consider the poor guy has broken ribs and can hardly walk most of the time." Talbot added.
"Well it certainly puts your exploits into the shade." Maldina responded.

"And your's dear girl, your forgetting he didn't even get anybody killed." Talbot said to a round of nervous laughter from the group.
"Very funny Talbot." Maldina said weakly, as she stood up and went to sit at the bar, alone.

Within a few minutes she was joined by Travis.

"So how's it going Maldina?" Travis asked as he gave her another double vodka.

"Slowly Travis, very slowly." She said without looking at him.

"Well that's the best way isn't it ­ so the girls tell me." Travis said laughing.

"Not always Travis, sometimes we girls need a little action." She said finally looking up at him.

"And who would you like to give it to you?" Travis smirked.

"Well not you for one thing." Maldina said wearily, her eyelids growing heavy.

"What about him," Travis said, indicating a man who had just sat down by her side.

Maldina turned her head to look, oh no, tall, stocky, blonde with brown eyes, Chester was not her type at all.

"You are......joking aren't....you." She said, barely awake.

"Come on Maldina let's go through to the other room." Chester said, taking Maldina by the arm. Just then Travis, who had gone to the other end of the bar, shouted to some teenagers sat at one of the tables.

"Hey you kids get the f--- out of here, you want me to loose my license?"

As he went round to kick them out of his bar, much to their protests as they were becoming regulars, Chester guided Maldina round to the other side of the bar, and through the back door to a waiting truck.

"What.....why..?" Was all Maldina could manage as Chester drove off into the night.

Within fifteen minutes they arrived at the Barnett Farm where Chester put her over his shoulder and carried her into the Farmhouse. He took her upstairs to one of the bedrooms where he put her down on a large four poster bed.

"Well done Chester, I presume it all went well." Chantel inquired, as she kissed him briefly on the lips.

"Perfectly, she was alone, and I doubt they will even realize she's missing 'till she goes back on duty, she doesn't seem to be a particularly popular girl." He replied.

"We have a lot of work to be done by then, wake her up." Chantel said as she removed Maldina's machine gun and the ammunition store onto a dresser a foot away from the bed. Meanwhile Chester tied her legs and arms to the four posts of the bed and then injected Maldina in the right arm. Within seconds Maldina was wide awake.

"Wha...what...you! You bitch. I won't tell you anything?" She spat at Chantel, who was sat by her side on the bed.

"That's OK honey, I'm not asking any questions. You've served your last day for the Feds, now you're coming over to our side."
As Chantel said this she gently stroked the inside of Maldina's thigh above the stockings.

"If you mean become a lesbian, or join the PLA ­ either way the answer's know. Now get the f--- off me." Maldina protested as she struggled prostrate on the bed.

"Chester would you like to f--- her?" Chantel asked her loyal companion.

"As long as I could make it hurt." He replied as he slowly began to take off his clothes.

Chantel now began to pull down Maldina's briefs, tugging them down from her hips, round her bottom as Maldina squirmed on the bed trying to resist. Still they came down centimeter by centimeter until they were just above her knees. Chantel pulled her skirt of body armor up over her abdomen, as Maldina desperately tried to break free.

Chester was now stood naked by the side of the bed, waiting for his next instruction, as Chantel returned to stroking the inside of Maldina's thighs ­ ever so lightly.

"If you don't want Chester to f--- you, just tell me and I'll stop him." Chantel said as she started to caress Maldina's buttocks as well, now with one hand on top and one hand on the bottom, her head now resting on her Maldina's abdomen.

"Get him away from me." Maldina screamed, staring at Chester's naked body less than half a meter away from her, and obviously filled with anticipation.

Chantel now moved and sat astride Maldina, with her legs on either side of her, sitting gently on her stomach.

"Don't worry Maldina, he doesn't have to touch you at all, I'll protect you if you want me to." Chantel said as she began to remove Maldina's armor breastplate.

"Get away from me." Maldina screamed indiscriminately.

Chantel edged up Maldina's body. "This could be a night of great pleasure or of great pain Maldina, only you can decide." Chantel said as she pulled up Maldina's tunic and began to fondle her breasts.

Maldina's attention turned very briefly to Chantel, but then she saw that Chester had started to masturbate.

"Get him away from me, please." She pleaded.

"Chantel, the Fed's! We're almost there." It was Powell's voice on the PLA Intercom.

"F---, get dressed you idiot." Chantel screamed at Chester as she jumped up. "Where's the Turnfor poison." She demanded.

"Over there on the dresser." Chester shouted as he struggled to put his clothes on. Chantel went over to the dressing table, but just then came the sound of machine guns outside. Chantel went for the light switch and turned it off, throwing the room into pitch darkness. She jumped back onto the bed so she could see through the window, without getting too close to it. The window was suddenly shattered by bullets and exploded into a thousand pieces. Chantel fell backwards onto the floor, blood pouring from her face. Chester picked her up in his arms and carried her to the door. Maldina saw them disappear into the landing, as she lay there exposed and terrified on the bed, covered in shards of glass.

Blake had seen Maldina being taken from the back of the Crofters unconscious on the MACs, but by the time Talbot and the rest of them ran outside, the pickup had disappeared. Fortunately it had been spotted again at a crossroads near the Barnet Farm. Blake had immediately taken his squad, together with Powell's and Jones Liz' squads to intercept them at the Farm. While J and I squad took up covering positions, Blake's A squad went straight to the farmhouse where they ran into two PLA guards.

Now inside the Farmhouse, Blake and his squad started clearing the building room by room, each time with a stun grenade. They had not found any other PLA, but only Maldina laid out on a bed, covered in blood.

"Hall get in here quick." Blake shouted to his medic as he turned the light on. "The rest of you get out and check the other rooms."
Hall checked Maldina's pulse, and started to remove the shards of glass from her body, but there were no serious wounds.
"Maldina, are you OK?" He asked.

"I'm alright." She responded numbly.

"Are you in pain anywhere?" Hall added.

"No, not really." She replied.

"Untie her Hall." Blake ordered as he gently pulled her briefs up, then put her skirt of body armor back down to its normal position before pulling her tunic back down to cover her breasts.

"Who did this Maldina?" Blake asked softly.

"You're ex, did you know she goes both ways?"

"Chantel?" Blake asked, though he obviously knew that it was her.

"Yeah, don't worry she didn't do anything." As Maldina spoke she noticed that Blake was looking for something on the floor. "What is it Blake?" She asked.

"What? Nothing." He responded, then he found what he had been looking for on the dresser.

"Turnfor, unopened. Thank God for that." Blake said looking at the little bottle of treason, and seeing that there was no puncture hole in the top.

"What would you have done if they had injected me?" Maldina asked, as she sat up in the bed, having now been untied by Hall. "You would have been detained Maldina, you know that."

"I still need to dress those wounds." Hall said as she pulled up Maldina's skirt to apply a dressing to a cut she had on the top of her leg.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot." Blake said as he pulled up her tunic to reveal a few other minor cuts.

"Captain, I can handle this if you need to go." Hall said, trying to get rid of her commanding officer, in what she thought was an embarrassing position.

"No, stay Blake please." Maldina said instinctively. At this Blake started to brush off the pieces of glass from the bed.

"I1, A1, area secure, no other PLA targets." Jones Liz reported.

"And Chantel?" Asked Blake.

"No sign of her." She replied.

"What about the blonde guy who abducted me?" Added Maldina.

"We have two corpses here, if you want to try to identify him." Jones Liz answered, trying not to sound officious.
"Hall can you leave us one minute." Maldina asked.

"Sure." Hall said as she got up and left the room.

"Hold me Blake, just hold me for a minute." Maldina said with tears in her eyes.

Blake hugged her gently, as Maldina started to kiss the side of his face.

"Come on Maldina, let's get out of here." Blake said as he tried to get up.

"Just a minute Blake." Maldina said, and stopped kissing him.

"I mean it, just hold me for a second." With that they both sat there on the bed, hugging each other.

Suddenly Maldina realized something important.

"Blake someone warned them you were coming."

"What?"

"Just before you arrived here, a female voice came on the Intercom saying that the Feds were coming." She explained.

"It must have been one of the Barnet women who saw us."

"No she said, 'we're almost there'." Maldina explained.

"Well if it was one of our girls here then that means it was Jones Liz, Smith Claire, Hall, Fish, Powell or Lowell. But I wouldn't suspect any of them."

"But I would, it was one of those bitches." Maldina said as she started to return to her old self.

"Come on Maldina, let's get back to the base. You can walk can't you?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, I guess so, and you wouldn't carry me back anyway." Maldina said as she hooked her machine gun up.

As soon as they got back to the base, Maldina went to the Medlab with Cliffe, while Blake set up the polygraph in the Briefing room and then had the six girls under suspicion brought in, unarmed of course.

"We believe one of you girls is passing information to the PLA." Blake saw the look on Powell's face, it was obvious. "Powell let's start with you."

"O.K., no problem." She said as beads of perspiration started to appear on her brow.

Houghton applied the device to her temples as Blake looked coldly on.

"Acting Corporal Powell have you ever passed sensitive information to the PLA?" Blake asked.

"No I have not." As Powell spoke the polygragh machine had what could only be described as a small seizure.

"That things crazy." Powell protested realizing that the machine had found her out.

"Houghton, Berry, taker her away and throw her in the stockade. Looks like that coma you had a few days ago wasn't as serious as you'd hoped.

Just for the sake of completeness, Blake tested the other woman, but their results were negative. He decided to get some rest before interrogating Powell and so went to his cabin to sleep.

Maldina was upset that she'd missed the proceedings, but was delighted to find they'd caught someone and went straight to the
stockade.

"Well Powell, looks like I didn't have to wait long to get my revenge on you?" Maldina said as she approached her slowly.

"I didn't do anything," Powell said, her arms secured above her head, and her ankles secured against the floor.

"The first thing to do Powell is to remove the uniform you are not worthy off." With this Maldina brought out a knife which she carried in the side of her right boot.

"For God's sake Mal, I didn't do anything." She protested.

Maldina silently cut open Powell's tunic, all her armor having already been removed.

"Does this turn you on Mal, I didn't know you were samesex." Powell said as Maldina exposed her breasts.

"Look at the camera Powell, there are over twenty men staring at you right now." With that Maldina lowered the knife to Powell's crotch and sliced through the side of her briefs, freeing them to fall to the ground. "One by one those twenty men are going to come in here, and spend ten minutes alone with you, doing whatever they want. F--- you up the arse, come in your face, beat or cut you while they f--- you, whatever they want." Maldina spat these words in Powell's face, which she was holding only centimeters away from her own.

"You wouldn't do that Mal, you wouldn't." Powell said disbelievingly.

"They're drawing lots right now to see who will be first, to see who'll get sloppy seconds and so on." Maldina said calmly, then she slapped Powell hard across the face, using her armored glove. Powell's head rocked to one side with the impact. Maldina now adjusted the binds securing her arms and legs so that Powell fell from the wall and slumped onto the floor.

Maldina lifted her onto a wooden table that was lying in front of her, and then retied her limbs to the table legs. Powell lifted her head up and looked behind her as Maldina carved a delicate line down her back in blood. Now she nudged Powell's bottom with the point of the blade.

"But before that Powell we have a little pay back time." Maldina smiled as she spoke. "Your girlfriend quite upset me earlier today, and now you're going to pay the price." Now Maldina slapped her arse hard so that the whole table shuddered forward and Powell yelped with pain.

The door was suddenly flung open and Barker and Smith Paul came in.

"I get to go first Lieutenant, I won the lottery and I want to take her from behind over the table, just as she is now." Barker said, as he started to removes his pants.

"Please for pity's sake, it's me. Guys, how can you do this to me." Powell sobbed.

Maldina slapped her again across her naked buttocks, and once more the table shuddered forwards slightly.

"OK, I'm gonna butt f--- her." Barker said as he motioned towards her.

Maldina crouched down at the head of the table and held Powell's face close to hers.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be a little sore Powell, mind you that is the general idea." With that Maldina slapped her again, this time across the face.

At that moment the door opened again and Lieutenant Talbot walked in.

"Outside boys, five minutes." Talbot said upon entering the room.

"Talbot, I didn't think this was your scene." Maldina said.

"It's not, I just want to talk to her for a minute ­ alone." Talbot said. With this Maldina and the other two left the room.
"Powell, if you tell me everything now I will stop this." He promised.

"OK, OK, just wait, you win." Powell said against the backdrop of tears. She paused for a moment to compose herself before she went on. "I knew Chantel years ago, she seduced me when I was very young. I guess that I....... I could never say no to her." Powell whispered pitifully.

"Did she use the Turnfor poison." Talbot asked, hoping that they had.

"No." Powell said, barely audibly.

"Then you're just a f---ing traitor. Black, Fogg, Peters all killed on your account. The remainder of your life shall be far from pleasant, but it shall be fairly brief." With that Talbot left the room.

In the morning Blake went to visit Powell for himself. She had not been raped, that had only been a trick to coerce her to talk, but she had been left alone, naked in the dark expecting all manor of atrocities.

"You are to face a court martial Powell, a summary court martial. You will never leave this room alive. It will be conducted via ComLink is six days time. That is the price of treachery and you will pay it in full." Blake spoke rather formally and without much emotion.

"You'd better kill me now Blake. You'll be dead in six days time." Powell said matter of factly.

"And what makes you think that Powell?"

"Something a little bird told me."

"Never trust a lover talking about war, or an enemy talking about love. They both have too many reasons to lie. And I'd hardly call Chantel a little bird, she's more like a vulture." Blake spoke without the conviction his words really demanded.

"It will happen Blake, I've seen it all before. If I were you I'd get out of here."

"Your concern for my safety is quite touching, but right now you should be more concerned with your own. Six days and you're dead Powell, any trouble and I'll leave the door to the stockade open, you might not even last six days." Blake said with renewed menace.
"Blake can't you adjust the binds, my whole body's killing me." Powell pleaded.

"I think that is the general idea." Blake said as he left the room.

Blake didn't like to see anybody suffer, not even traitors. In a strange way he had no stomach for the senseless violence which war demanded. He didn't know what to make of Powell's comments about his being dead within six days. It could only have been bravado, as if she had known something specific she would not have been so indiscreet. But it was playing on Blake's mind.
He called Maldina into the briefing room to meet him.

"I think we should arrange for Powell to escape. Got any ideas?" Blake asked her.

"Escape? What are you talking about?" Maldina didn't know what to think.

"If she escapes she's bound to be picked up by the PLA and taken to Chantel. From there on she'll find out what the PLA are up to, and so will we." Blake explained.

"But we don't have turn-for poison, or anything like that. Do we?" Maldina asked, still playing catch up.
"No, but we could slip an indigestible bugging device into her food, they clamp onto the stomach lining when they hit acid and send by signals for up to two weeks."

"But how do we let her escape?" Maldina asked.

"That's what I asked you an hour ago. Any ideas?"

"No, not really." Maldina admitted.

"Come on Maldina, you're the only devious person on the base." "Flattery won't get you anywhere." Maldina said, trying to flirt.
"Won't get me anywhere I don't want to go." Blake responded. "Now think how you are going to let Powell walk without making it look too obvious." He continued.

"Well, we could put her in the 4x4, saying we're going to transport her to Division, then it breaks down on the way."
"Go on." Encouraged Blake.

"Or crashes and she's the only one left conscious."

"Not bad Maldina."

"It could even crash near the perimeter, make it easy for her."

"But why wouldn't her legs be bound to the 4x4? It's standard practice, she knows that."

"Maybe one of the escorts could be fooling around with her in the back." Maldina said, adding to her plot.

"Next problem is how do we stop her killing them while they're playing possum?" Blake asked, semi-rhetorically.

"Don't give her enough time. They pretend their semi-unconscious, you know, lot's of groaning." Maldina went on, warming to the idea.

"You know I'm beginning to quite like it. Just to make it interesting we could give her a few grams of gastro-tract plastic explosive and a detonator, give us a shot of killing her and Chantel."

"I didn't even know we had stuff like that." Maldina admitted. "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve from the old days." Blake said, without a trace of a smile.

Within hours Blake was back at the stockade to pay a kindly visit on Powell, having made all the preparations.

"Well Powell, it looks like Division are taking you seriously. Since you say that this whole sector will be taken by the PLA within the next few days, they've decided they want to court martial you themselves. I'm sending you to Division immediately." Blake had tried to look slightly worried as he spoke, and it had its effect.

"Well it looks like I might even outlive you." Powell said with a wry smile.

"Don't bank on it, Powell, the only walking talking corpse around here is you. You're dead already, you just don't know it yet."

"Why don't you deliver me to the PLA?" Powell asked, just as Blake was about to leave her cell.

"Why on earth would I want to do that?" Blake was worried that somehow she knew what they had planned.

"To survive Blake, come over to our side. Fight for the people, not the state. You'd be a hero and heroes are generally very happy in the PLA." This was part of a script Chantel had given Powell to use if she was ever in this situation, as was the 'six days and you'll be dead' speech. She didn't think it had the slightest chance of working on Blake, but it was worth a try, especially after her earlier success. Anything was worth a try.

"You're out of your league Powell. Only the feeble minded can be turned. And those who are turned are despised by everybody. Hated by those people they have betrayed, and mistrusted by those they have joined. You have less than a week to live, and when you die, there will be no tears of remorse, or even pity, shed by anyone. Not among those with whom you have served and betrayed, or by those who have used you as like cheap whore, for the momentary advantage of what they can get out of you. The truth is Powell, you were never more than a military asset of Chantel's, and now you have been discovered, you are of no further value, military or otherwise. Your life is already over Powell. You're dead, but you don't know it yet, so don't give me advice on how to survive, survival is something you know nothing about. I have tem more squads coming to reinforce this position, and they'll be here before your corpse is cold and stiff with rigamortice." Blake continued to stare at Powell, who remained silent and despondent, slumped over the table, naked, her head now turned towards the floor. Blake leaned forward to whisper in her ear:

"Don't worry Powell, you won't be alone long, with the extra firepower at my disposal Chantell will join your burning carcass in hell before the week is out." With that Blake stood up straight and left the room. As the door slammed shut behind him Powell began sobbing quietly, prostrate in her cell.

Within an hour Powell was dressed in a long undershirt and had been put in the back of the 4x4, her wrists and ankles tethered together with her ankles also shackled to the 4x4. Corporal Bates, Beck and McGinley from D squad had been selected for the afternoon's adventure, mainly because Beck was supposedly a good enough driver to crash the 4x4 without damaging it, or injuring anybody, while still making it look authentic. Blake and Maldina had chosen a spot on a road which cut through a thick wooded area, quite near the perimeter with the PLA, but on the road to Division.

Beck drove the 4x4 with McGinley beside him and Corporal Bates in the back with Powell. At first Bates sat across from Powell on the right hand bench, which ran perpendicular to the front seats McGinley and Beck were sat in. Beck could see them in the rear view mirror sat across from each other, as Bates started his act.

"The rumor is that your samesex Powell, is that true?" Bates asked.

"Not exclusively Bates, but if you're asking me out on a date it will have to be quick." Powell said, uncharacteristically flirting with the corporal.

"What a waste, you know you're an attractive girl, but it's all too late now." Bates said with a smile. He had been ordered to molest Powell against her will, but if he could achieve the same result with her acquiescence, it would obviously be better for all concerned.
"Not necessarily, Bates, we still have now." Powell said with a weak smile.

"I can't stop the 4x4, Powell, I really can't." Bates was apprehensive about Powell's apparent willingness to have sex with him. She had certainly never shown any interest in him before, though he had in her a couple of times.

"You don't have to stop the car." Powell thought that if she could get him to untie her, she would have a chance of escaping, she had noticed that the back door of the 4x4 had not been locked.

Bates was keeping one eye on the scenery, as he had to get his timing just right. As far as he could work out they had only another five minutes. He had to make his move now. He leaned forward towards her and put his hand on her knee. She then leaned towards him, and they kissed. Bates knew this was going well, in fact it was much better than he expected. He had really dreaded having to force himself on Powell, even if she was a traitor, and notwithstanding that he wouldn't really have to do anything serious.
Bates now got off his bench and handed his machine gun to McGinley before turning to kneel in front of Powell. However, their positioning was awkward as she could not open her legs properly because her ankles were tethered together. Bates took out his knife and cut the plastic strap that held her ankles together and attached to a bar that ran along the bottom of the bench. Powell was now free, only hampered in her free movement by having her wrists tied together, and by having Corporal Bates all over her. Bates was doing no more than caressing the inside of her thigh with one hand, and her left breast with the other, and this his did clumsily through the shirt she was wearing.

McGinley had turned round in his seat to watch the show, and Beck was watching as best he could in the rear view mirror. Powell had noticed them both watching as Bates was mauling her, hi mouth pressed firmly against hers whilst his tongue flailed around wildly. In order to stop Bates touching her, Powell put her hands towards his crotch, so that in effect they were protecting her own, but she did no more that. Bates was being surprisingly reticent, as they kissed and fondled each other like teenagers on a first date.
Beck now saw that they were approaching the end of a long straight part of the round, which ended in a curve that he was to misjudge badly.

"Save some for us Bates." He shouted to give them time to brace themselves, as this had been the agreed cue at which he would crash the 4x4. As the 4x4 entered the bend in the road Beck carried on driving straight, and then swerved wildly at the last minute. The 4x4 skidded sideways off the road coming to rest in a ditch at the side of the road.

Powell was thrown sideways against the window as the 4x4 crashed, and smashed her head and shoulder against the bullet proof glass. Bates was lying on top of her covered in blood. In front she could see Beck and McGinley slumped in their seats, with low moans coming from their direction. Powell pushed Bates off her and went to grab his knife, but the holder in his boot was empty, she then tried the back door which opened quite easily. One last look over her shoulder at Beck and McGinley who were both moving and groaning slightly, and she was gone. Bates turned his head to watch her as she ran away into the woods.

"Well Maldina, could it have gone any better than that?" Blake asked Maldina, who had been watching it all with him back at Ops.
"I think Bates should have forced himself more, it was too friendly, but it went well, all in all." Maldina replied.

Hanson, who was sat behind them as Ops duty officer, continued the subterfuge:

"E1 to H1 and I1, we have a priority alert, the 4x4 is down on the Division Road at point 32:87. Get there as soon as you can, we may have casualties and an escaped prisoner." An ambulance could not be requested unless the area was secure, so everything was being done by the book, just in case the PLA still had access to their transmissions, however unlikely that now was.

"This is D1 to E1. We're all OK here, but the prisoner is loose. Do we have permission to pursue?" Bates asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

"E1 to D1, that is negative, hold your present position until reinforcements rendezvous at your position." Hanson instructed under the watchful eye of Blake.

"Got anything yet Southgate?" Blake asked.

"No sir just background noise from her and heavy breathing." Replied Southgate.

"Remember, if you are certain she is talking to Chantel you have authority to hit the transmitter and detonate, in fact it is your
responsibility to do so, a lot of lives may depend on it." Blake said, trying to encourage his subordinate, who might be called on to execute Powell.

As they waited for developments from Powell's transmitter Blake recalled the 4x4. He then assembled an attack group of four squads: A, C, H and I. It was the most powerful force he could justify putting together, and meant everybody would be on duty or at least on standby. The base would be vulnerable, and if things went wrong he knew he could lose the whole sector, but is was a chance he was willing to take.

"We are going to track Powell to her PLA rendezvous, and hit the PLA just as they are scraping up all the bits of Chantel and Powell from the wall." Blake instructed. He had only decided on this plan within the last few minutes as Powell had been tracked heading south west, away from her original course of south by south east. She had crossed the perimeter to PLA territory, but then re-crossed back to the Feds' side on a heading which would take her to a number of isolated farms in the sparsely populated south part of Blake's sector.

Blake was now taking his attack group to intercept her.

Blake and Maldina now headed out with the attack group, leaving Talbot in charge back at the base. They had to move quickly if they were to stand a chance of intercepting Powell, who was herself still moving quickly, as she ran and stumbled her way towards the Ainsworth Farm. She had decided to go there as she had no idea where the PLA base was, and this was the one of the few places she could of think where Chantel might have been. The other main possibility was the Crofters, but that would have been far too dangerous as all approaches were covered by Macs, the tiny motion activated cameras that Blake had planted. Powell was exhausted by now, but still kept pushing herself on. She stopped briefly as she reached the brow of a large damp hill overlooking the Ainsworth Farm. She could see no movement there, nor anything on the horizon, and she set off again down towards the main farmhouse.

"G1 to A1, it looks like the target is definitely moving towards AF3." Talbot was using the code names assigned to the buildings in the NW126 sector, something they did not normally do, but in light of recent events, Blake had reinstated the practice.
Blake was still in considerable pain as he ran, but he kept up the pace despite everything.

Within a few minutes Powell was at the front door of the Ainsworth, she knocked loudly, as she tried to catch her breath. Powell had been too tired to stake out the farm before approaching, and she hadn't even bothered trying to look through the windows to see who was there, she was simply exhausted.

"Who is it?" Demanded the voice from inside.

Powell stood a half a meter in front of the door so that she could be seen through the spy hole and stated as calmly as she could: "Its Powell, a comrade."

Ainsworth had seen that it was her, and knew that she had been discovered by the Feds, but not that she had escaped.
"How did you get out?" Asked another voice.

"They were taking me to Division in the 4x4, it crashed and I escaped." Powell explained.

"Stay there." Instructed the second voice again. This second voice belonged to Rigby, a PLA corporal who had been at the Ainsworth Farm for the last few days with Claridge and Booth. He now contacted his own HQ.

"Rigby to Central, over."

"Central, report Rigby, over." Replied Davies at the PLA Base, less than twelve kilometers away in the PLA sector.

"I have Powell here, she says she's escaped, need instructions, over." Rigby said nervously.

"Hold her and wait for further instructions, over and out." Davies terminated the transmission and changed frequency, as the PLA constantly did to avoid detection by the Feds.

Rigby was still not sure what to do. 'Hold her?' he wasn't sure what she had meant, but decided to let her in and hold her there at gunpoint.

Back at the Fed base Talbot was pleased that they had discovered Ainsworth was working with then PLA and relayed the events to Blake, who was now within a kilometer of the Ainsworth Farm. Blake got Talbot to patch the transmissions directly to him and Maldina, overlaid on the normal traffic so that they could hear what was happening with Powell, but were still in contact with all the other Feds.

"A1 to G1, you will detonate only on my direct order, understood?"

"G1, A1 understood." Talbot replied, knowing full well that Blake wanted to be the one to put and end to Chantel.

Powell was now inside the Farmhouse, but with a PLA gun held to her head.

"I need to see Chantel, where is she?" Powell pleaded in near despair.

"We she's not hear for one thing, and why are you in such a hurry." Rigby asked, deeply suspicious of her.

"A1 to G1, did you get that, it looks like Chantel is not in the building. As soon as you get within half an hour of the dead battery count-back you detonate, confirm!" Blake ordered angrily, annoyed that Powell had not gone to Chantel.

"G1, A1, confirmed." replied Talbot glancing over at a clock on the panel in front of him which was counting down from five hours and twenty minutes.

Powell's microphone was picking up her voice and the voices of people around her quite clearly. This was achieved by the use of a frequency analyzer back at Ops which picked out the frequencies at which the human voice normally operates. Other sounds only being heard when no one was speaking. Blake and his group were now in visual

"No one just walks off from the Feds like that Powell, I just don't buy it. I think we should get the f--- out of here. Central, are we supposed to just sit here." Rigby blurted out nervously.

"Hold your position Rigby, I'll let you know when you can make a move." Davies instructed.

"We're sitting ducks here Davies, I don't trust this bitch one little bit." Rigby snarled into the radio.

"I don't care if you don't trust her, I trust her, and that's enough." It was Chantel.

"Chantel, at last, where on earth are you?" Powell was relieved to hear her voice Chantel.

"That's not important now Powell, what's important is where you are, and you are not where you should be." Chantel said slowly with a mixture of suspicion and disappointment.

"Well they found out that I was working for you because I warned you they were coming at Barnet Farm, you know when you had Maldina. I escaped while they were moving me to Division because I got the sergeant to f--- me in the back of a truck and the driver was so busy looking in the rear view mirror that he crashed." Powell spoke with a certain degree of pride, even though she had exaggerated.

"Sounds like there's hope for you yet. Rigby, bring her back to the PLA base tonight under cover of dark, and make sure you bring her back in one piece. See you later Powell." With that Chantel terminated the transmission.

Less than a kilometer away from the Ainsworth Farm, Blake had mixed feelings at the news. He was pleased that they had not just killed Powell out of hand, and that they trusted her enough to bring her to their base. The problem was the timing. They would now have to wait at least five hours until nightfall. On a purely personal level that meant crouching in the damp grass on a hillside hour after hour. Not the best way of passing the time. It also meant tying up four squads, about half of his total force these days. He decided to leave one squad watching the Ainsworth Farm and send the rest back to the base to get some rest. Tonight was going to be a busy night.

"H squad will remain here and watch the target, maximum discretion Woods, you cannot allow yourselves to be compromised. A, C and I squads returning to base."

Back at the base Maldina cornered Blake in the mess.

"So what's the plan Captain?" She asked, quite formally and respectfully for her.

"We go back tonight, just before dusk, then track them back to their base and monitor what happens." Blake explained.
"Monitor what happens, why don't we just wipe them all out?" Maldina had an exasperated tone in her voice, which had been lacking in recent days.

"Do I have to explain everything to you? We see what happens to Chantel. If we take her out first, we won't have to massacre anybody." Blake had thought that this was obvious, but obviously it was not. "The sooner I get this sector back to how it was before, the better."

Maldina did not speak, but merely looked at Blake with palpable disappointment in her eyes. Blake had been ready for a big argument on the subject, and was surprised at her new found reticence for insubordination.

"Even with Chantel dead they still outgun us, we could still lose the section." Maldina said, sounding like a good lieutenant for once in her career.

"They can outgun us as much as they want, its when they outfight us that we have a problem. With Chantel smeared all over the wall, they won't be outfighting us anymore." There was not even a trace of a smile on Blake's face as he said this. "It's simple Maldina, kill Chantel and the threat to this sector dies with her."

"I hope you're right Blake." Maldina said unconvincingly. She now realized that she was in a no win situation. If Chantel survived she would be miserable at not having her revenge, if she died, then all the fun and games would be over, and the sector would return to the boring, career stifling place it had been before. A sudden wave of depression came over her at the thought of it.



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