The Last Holidays by Grover Young

Author:Grover Young [Young, Grover]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DopplerPress
Published: 2017-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

MacDill AFB

Sheila's enthusiastic hug didn't fool me. She was still more than a little mad at me for my suicide run into the Asheville mountains. Maybe peeved was a better word, but I was not forgiven, not yet.

I scared her half to death the first time she saw me mostly encased in plaster and with tubes in every exit and entry. That sort of thing is not easy to get over, but I do understand. If she was in a similar situation, I would be going nuts, too.

At least, I was able to step off the plane as Halcyon. This wouldn't last all that long before I was back in the Chair again, but I would enjoy my 'break-time' while I could.

However, we didn't have a lot of time for reunions. Dean, and our meetings with our Sha'leian friends, had caught the attention of the high mucky-mucks. The Intel Center had generated useful data for the first time, as well as establishing some kind of rapport. For that matter, we had given warning, for what little good it did, for the Christmas attack on Asheville.

Through the same channels as before, Dean, who was still talking with Tash, reported they had an interest in meeting again, curious this time about Valentine’s Day. This time we weren't going to be able to get away with doing a 'get to know you' dinner unnoticed.

I really dreaded the coming meeting on the subject. Unfortunately, it was with good cause.

“Excuse me, Sir,” I spoke as respectfully as I could to the three star general, “even if you do succeed in killing them, you accomplish nothing, but destroying what little credibility we have with this contact.

“At best, we're talking about two, maybe four, members of their crew.” Explaining, I kept my voice even and as emotionless as I could. Calling Lieutenant Generals stupid idiots usually didn't do much except land you in the stockade or worse.

“At our best guess, after going over everything we can find in the material they themselves have given us,” I continued. Being hurt had given me plenty of time to explore the Sha'leian library icon on my tablet, “they have a crew of between one and two hundred. Losing even four members is not going to make them stop and go home. Capturing them might be even worse, from a certain stand point, since they would either launch a kinetic strike or drop a rescue mission on wherever they were being held.

“Additionally, there is the matter of possible hostages,” Dean spoke up, “There are, at a minimum, several hundred thousand people still alive in their San-Tijuana Fortress. We know there are captives and, from reconnaissance, they appear to be decently treated. If we do as you suggest, that could change.”

Honestly, the row of Big Brass sitting before us was intimidating as hell, the freaking Secretary of State himself, about half the Joint Chiefs and a few Three Letter Agencies' representatives. However the most, at least to me, was a certain UN 'consultant' by the name of 'Hammer' Hobbs.

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