: “ Night Stalking ”

Stalker 204
The Gimle System
March 15, 2681; 2035 Hours (CST)

“Stalker 204 to Den. Navpoint Omega is clear. Request instructions, over."

"Stalker 204, this is Den, your wing is RTB. I repeat, Return to Den, over."

"Wilco Den, Stalker 204 out."

Captain Mark Shephard typed in the coordinates for home into his computer. "Bravo Wing, you heard the man. Autopilot on my mark. Three... two... one... mark." With that the three F/A-105B Tigersharks that made up Bravo Wing engaged their autopilots and accelerated in the direction of the TCS Mistral Sea. Warlock made himself comfortable as the computer took over control of his fighter.

Warlock couldn't help but wish that there would have been something at this last navpoint. He hadn't seen any action at all in the last couple weeks, not even a stinking pirate. However, he knew in the back of his mind that there was plenty of action to be seen in the upcoming weeks. Right now, his wing is just a small piece of the puzzle. There were at least six other wings doing the same thing his was. Their mission was to patrol along the projected path of Task Force 73 and clear out any and all opposition. Unfortunately for Warlock, there was none on his patrol route. And now all he could do was sit back and enjoy the scenery.

He looked to his port side and he could see the nose of the Tigershark belonging to one of his wingmen 2nd Lt. Christina Bly keeping perfect formation. He then checked to his starboard side to look in upon his other wingman 1st Lt. David Schur. As was the case with Sonic, Arctic Fox was in tight formation. Off in the distance, Warlock could see a small glimmer of light. As Bravo Wing continued along their flight path, the glimmer of light grew and began to take shape.

"Stalker 204, this is Den, adjust vector to 109 by 067 to enter landing pattern," called the raspy voice of Lt. Jacob Bentley, the Mistral Sea's Landing Signals Officer.

"Wilco Den, Stalker 204 out," said Warlock, "Bravo Wing, adjust vector to 109 by 067." Warlock adjusted his vector and then took a look outside of his cockpit. In front of him lay Task Force 73, comprised of two of the new Plunkett-class heavy artillery cruisers, four Murphy-class destroyers and centered about the TCS Mistral Sea, a spanking new Midway-class megacarrier. Warlock couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of firepower the task force could put out. He pushed the thoughts from his mind as he maneuvered his fighter to the rear of the Mistral Sea so he could land.

Office of Lt. Col. Desautels, Dark Stalkers Squadron Commander
TCS Mistral Sea
0100 Hours (CST)

It is said that command of a squadron is one of the most sought after positions in the Space Force. A squadron commander gets to be in a position of command, while still being able to stay in the cockpit of a fighter. To all of those people, Greywolf says, "Hell, you can have it!!" It may be a sought after position, but for all of those who have the position, they would gladly have given it up to have just been a regular fighter jock again. The paperwork alone is bad enough, and this was what faced Lt. Colonel Robert Desautels. He was in for another long night. It was already late in the evening and he was only halfway through the paperwork that he needed to accomplish for the next day.

Greywolf sat at his desk, staring at his data pad. His eyes seemed to be a little glazed, showing that he had had minimal sleep in the last few days. He sighed, as if he was reading the information for the hundredth time.

Alpha Wing

Major AJ Lamport - Rage
1Lt. Jeremy Bishop - Starscream
1Lt. Will Chang - Phantom

Bravo Wing

Major Walker Lewis - Bloodsport
2Lt. Jason Mitchell - Inferno
2Lt. Ryan Boivin - Java

Charlie Wing

Captain Jeanette Wilson - Isis
2Lt. Christy Meress - Huntress
1Lt. Rachel Moore - Banshee

Delta Wing

Captain Mark Shephard - Warlock
2Lt. Christina Bly - Sonic
1Lt. David Schur - Arctic Fox

Echo Wing

Captain Brooke Jackson - Majestic
2Lt. Michael Colom - Prophet
2Lt. Craig Fillio - Firefly

"Okay, tomorrow's patrol schedule is done, is next on the list," Greywolf thought aloud. He had started this a couple of hours ago while his XO; Major AJ Lamport was still around. However, Rage had long since headed to the Officer's Quarters to get some shut-eye, leaving him Greywolf to complete the paperwork on his own.

A buzz came at the door. Greywolf thought to himself, why is anyone up at this hour. Which of his pilots he was he going to have to string up because they should be in bed. He thought about it for a moment longer, but his thinking was interrupted by a second buzz. "Oh, I'm sorry. Enter." He had gotten so caught up in thinking about whom could be at the door, that he forgot to let them in.

The door slid open and in walked Captain Jeanette Wilson. "Jeanette, what are you doing up? I thought that I had tucked everyone into bed hours ago."

"Sorry, Rob, I couldn't sleep. That damn dream came back tonight and it still scares the living shit out of me."

"How long has it been now?"

"Hmm, I think that it is going on a year now."

"And you're still blaming yourself for it. Damn it Jeanette, we were at war. You can't keep blaming yourself for Calico's death. I know that you two were close, but she knew the risks of flying just like everyone else who straps into a cockpit."

"She was just a little babe. A girl who had no care in the world. She was one of those people that was able to light up a room with her personality. She was destined to be a great pilot too. But that was all taken away in a flash of incompetence on my part." exclaimed Isis as she began to weep.

"Jeanette, there was nothing that you could have done. Fifteen enemy fighters jumped your patrol. There was nothing that you could have done. Hell, you and Banshee barely made it back alive."

Greywolf's thoughts traveled back to the incident a year ago where the Isis' patrol had been jumped by an enemy fighter squadron that outnumbered her patrol 5 to 1. She and her wing had fought the enemy for almost ten minutes before the rest of the squadron had been able to make it to her position. And just as the lead element of the reinforcements had arrived, Calico's fighter, severely damaged by Maser fire, finally caved in to the stresses put upon it.

Calico had been the third pilot that his squadron had lost in their engagements with the Nephilim. Each a young pilot with a promising future, which was taken away from them by those fucking, bugs. With each death, Greywolf had vowed that their deaths would be avenged.

"Jeanette, you need to try and get some sleep. I know it is difficult, but you need to try. We have more patrols tomorrow and I need everyone fresh. Things are going to get hairy soon."

"All right, Rob. I will try, but don't be surprised if I can't."

"Goodnight, Jeanette."

With that, Isis got up and walked out of the office. As the door closed behind her, Greywolf turned to the Communications link on his desk and punched in the code. The beautiful face of Major Diona "Foxfire" Desautels, his wife of 7 years, appeared on the screen. Foxfire was stationed as a Flight Instructor at Confed Academy on Earth. She smiled as she saw the face of her husband.

"Rob, shouldn't you be in bed?" she asked him.

"Neh, I can't even get near my bed until I get all of this damn paperwork done. I am close."

"Well, then what the hell are you doing calling me then? You need to sleep, especially at your age," she said in a mocking tone.

"It is nice to talk to you too. Isis just left, she had that damn dream again, and she came by because she couldn't sleep. So, since I was taken away from my paperwork, I thought that I would call you. Oh yeah, are you going to be able to leave with me when this tour is over. I have two weeks coming to me." Greywolf's face lit up as he said it.

Her face lit up with anticipation. "Hell yeah. Col. Jefferson asked me a couple days ago when the hell I was going to take some time off. He is starting to wonder if the wedding band is just a prop because he hasn't seen you in a year. I told him that you were still alive and kicking."

Greywolf let out a little chuckle. "Okay, then it is a date. I'll call you again soon so we can iron out the details. But I am going to have to let you go now so I can finish my paperwork."

"All right then, Good night and I love you," she said as she blew a kiss at him.

"I love you too. Good night!" With that, Greywolf shut off his comm link and continued with his paperwork.

Office of Commander Jack Butler, Commander Air Group
TCS Mistral Sea
1000 Hours (CST)

Assembled in the CAG's office were the squadron commanders for all of the flight squadrons aboard the Mistral Sea, their deputies, and the trio of wing commanders each in charge of one of the megacarrier's three flight wings within the air group. This was the kind of meeting that only took place when something major was about to happen, and the air about the room gave in to that fact.

Commander Butler rose from behind his desk to address his people. "Okay people, I am not gonna shower you all with any bullshit. I just got out of a meeting with Admiral Putnam and all of the CO's in the task force. And I have been given the green light to brief you as to what the hell is going on. Here it is in the unabridged format."

A 3D projection rose up from Butler's desk. "This people, is the Ymir System. It lies within jurisdiction of the Union of Border Worlds, and is smack dab right on the Terran-Kilrathi Border. It has only one habitable planet, Ymir IV and has only one colony - New Riga. New Riga is an underground city because the climate on the surface is too harsh to suit human life. Since it was near the Kilrathi Border, we put a military force to safeguard the sector. Even though New Riga was mainly a civilian colony, we had an air force base stationed in the system, with both Confed and Border World fighter squadrons in addition to a small naval task group for support."

"Six weeks ago, this planet became the first and hardest hit colony during the Alien invasion. During the attack, the aliens with a carrier task force took the element of surprise and wiped out our air base and the five warships protecting the colony. For a while, we assumed that the aliens would just wipe out the colony and move on, after all it was just a civilian colony. We thought wrong."

"From accounts of survivors, they then landed on the planet and infiltrated the underground colony. Many people tried to resist them but it was futile. The Aliens took whomever they could find as hostages then departed as quickly as they came. There were two-hundred thousand civilians in this planet, now its only about ten thousand now." He stopped to let the words sink in.

"The only good thing that came out of this is that the aliens did not do an extensive search of the colony. They moved on to other systems, and therefore did not have much time to search the entire planet. Cause of this some people survived. They survived because they hid in the many hiding places and caverns only an underground city can have."

Then the CAG's face turned hard, "But that point is moot. They are running low on food and water. They are running out of fresh supply. If they run out of food and supplies, they'll suffer the same fate as their departed friends. The survivors, who have gotten some of their communications equipment working again, have appealed to their government for help. But the Border Worlds government so far does not have enough military forces or the medical aid or the ships needed to help them, due to losses during the recent campaign."

"So our allies have requested us for help and assistance, and it was granted. This is the beginning of Operation Malibu."

"The politicians back at Sol are using this as a public relations campaign, and are extensively using the media for attention for this campaign. This is why the newly put together task force centered around Confed's newest carrier is being sent to this region. But I shit you not people, this is a military operation. Keep that in mind."

"The objective to this operation is to evacuate all remaining civilians and to destroy any remaining alien forces in the sector, if there is any. Once evacuated we will escort the liner to another system, where they will be able to start a new life. For this operation Confed has gotten hold of a cruise liner, the Pride of Arulco, and temporarily modified it into a really large personnel transport that can hold up to ten thousand people.

"We are now currently en route to rendezvous with the liner. We will meet up with it right before we make the jump into Mylon. Confed is not taking any chances with this ship, so it has a rather heavy escort. A small escort squadron of four warships are escorting the ship as we speak. It consists of a pair of Border Worlds Navy warships, the Caernaven-class light frigates BWS Vigilance and BWS Bravery, the Murphy-class destroyer TCS Bedford, and the anti-aircraft light cruiser TCS Reno. The Bedford has a small detachment of four Excaliburs, yanked back into active service. As you are well aware, Confed have bumped up the number of patrols along this sector, because we want absolutely no surprises."

Butler passed out an envelope to each of the Squadron CO's. "Here are the individual orders for each squadron once we reach Ymir. I want these to be handled efficiently, without any hitches. And I know that each of your squadrons has the ability to do it. Brief your pilots as soon as possible. I want them to be aware of what is going on. That is all I have for you. You are dismissed."

The people assembled began to file out of the CAG's office. As Greywolf reached the door, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Butler motioning for him to remain behind. As the last person filed out of the room, Butler began to speak.

"Rob, your mission is very important. I want two elements from your squadron to rendezvous with the liner and escort them back here. The Confed and Border Worlds escorts will stay with you until you reach the Mistral Sea. Upon arrival, Reno and the Bedford will continue on to McAuliffe and the two Border Worlds frigates will return to their patrol stations in the Dakota System."

Butler's face went cold for a minute, and then he continued. "I can't stress how important it is that this vessels make it here. These are our only hope to evacuate all of the survivors to safety. If you screw this up, this operation is history."

"Sir, I have confidence in my people, we will not fail you. I can assure you that," said back Desautels.

"That is what I wanted to hear. Now get the hell out of here. I want your birds in the sky in an hour. The convoy jumps in a half hour later.

"Will that be all sir?" Butler nodded. Greywolf saluted Butler and proceeded out of the office.

TCS Mistral Sea; Air Group Briefing Room
1030 Hours (CST)

The Dark Stalkers began to filter into the Briefing Room. Each pilot was dressed in their flight suit and carried their helmet under their arm. Greywolf stood behind the podium as Rage worked his magic on the computer terminal. Rage took the orders that he had given him and distilled them to the terminals on each desk.

"All right people, take your seats. We have a few things to discuss this afternoon. First of all, word has just come down through the chain what the hell we are doing out here. Earlier today I was in a meeting with the CAG who basically gave me the low down on the situation. As we speak, the task force is moving at flank speed, destined for the colony on Ymir IV. This colony was attacked by a Nephilim carrier task force six weeks ago. Our mission is to assess the damage and rescue the survivors.

"However, we have a few things that need to be done before we get there. Confed has requisitioned the use of a cruise liner, modified to support evacuation operations. The CAG has requested that we rendezvous with them and their escorts, a Confed light cruiser and destroyer, and two UBW frigates, and escort all parties back to the Mistral Sea."

Two wings of four fighters will travel to rendezvous point and await the arrival of our friends. The other eight fighters will be split up into four wings and will patrol an area that lies just outside the rendezvous point. If there is to be any trouble, you are close by to back us up. Due to the extreme importance that has been placed on this mission, I will lead Alpha wing and Rage will take command of Charlie Wing. The rest of you have been assigned patrol duty."

"Sir!" a voice came from the back

"Yes, what is it, Sonic?" Greywolf answered.

"What is up with up with all of the protection for a single frigging cruise liner? All you need is an escort carrier and you are ready to take on an entire Kilrathi carrier battle group," she asked.

"Confed has this operation set up as a public relations thing and has paid a friggin' huge ass price tag on this big boy, both media and financial-wise. If we screw up, then everyone in the galaxy sees us screw up. It certainly will not help Confed's reputation. Now check your ICIS for your mission data."

As members of the squadron looked down to examine their desk monitor, Greywolf stepped down from the podium and walked over to grab his helmet. Everyone on the ship knew it was his, due to the fact that he had personalized it to go along with his callsign. The brass didn't like it that he had painted a picture of a gray wolf on his helmet, but he really didn't care.

Time went by and the squadron began to stir a little. This was Greywolf's clue that they were all ready to get the fuck into space.

"All right people, this is the kind of shit that I have trained you for. Let's hit the stars."

Stalker 200
TCS Mistral Sea; Flight Deck 1
1100 Hours (CST)

Greywolf and his squadron are all tucked into their fighters raring to go. He took a look down at his watch. "I have to wait another 5 minutes until I can get into space." he thought to himself. Greywolf was not the greatest with patients when it came to having to wait in the cockpit of his fighter.

At present, the Dark Stalker Squadron was the second in line for launch. First to launch were the Vampires of the Death Angel Squadron. Commander Butler wanted his biggest guns out on BARCAP patrol where there was an unknown number of enemy present, if any at all. This really didn't bother them none, probably because it gave them a little stick time to get better acquainted with their Vampires, with the possibility to kill something.

Greywolf smiled as he thought "Crazy bastards." Though they had only been on the Sea for a little while, the Death Angels were already living up to the fame and reputation, that they gained during the Second War with the Kilrathi, more specifically the Battle for Cynium. Lead by their outspoken and sometimes subordinate CO, Lt. Col. Nick Huynh, the Death Angels were one of, if not the best trained killers in the Confed Space Force.

It took only a few minutes before all 16 members of the Death Angels had launched. A slight rocking was felt as the crane latched onto Greywolf's fighter, as it picked the Tigershark up and set it inside the Port side launch tube. Once nestled inside the launch tube, the command that Greywolf had been waiting for, to come over the Comm. "Stalker 200 you are clear for launch."

About time! he thought to himself. Greywolf pushed his throttle all the way forward and engaged the catapult. The catapult grabbed his fighter and accelerated it 3,000 KPS. The Tigershark shot down the launch tube. Once clear of the carrier, Greywolf pulled the yoke of his Tigershark hard right and climbed to a position just above the Mistral Sea. As he turned Greywolf took a glance to his right shoulder in time to see Rage shoot out of the Starboard Launch Tube. "Alpha and Charlie Wings form on my location. Bravo and Delta form up on Warlock and Bloodsport. " he instructed as he slowed his fighter.

It took only moments for everyone to form up. Once formed up, they engaged their autopilots and proceeded on the routes that would take them to their assigned tasks.

Stalker 208
Dakota Jump Point
1200 Hours (CST)

Huntress navigated her fighter through to the jump point. The space around the jump point was just like any other in known space, black and empty. There wasn't even a piece of floating debris in sight.

"Wolf, why is it that whenever there is a milk run to be made, we get crapped upon?" she inquired. "I mean seriously sir, with all of the firepower that Confed sent along for the ride, the CAG could have probably sent a SAR craft out here to escort this liner back to the group." That comment received a round of laughter.

Inferno's voice came over the comm system, "Huntress is right, sir, why the hell can't they send a wing of Piranhas out here to the middle of no where to meet up with the 'Love Boat'?"

"All right people, cut the chatter, we are here a couple minutes early, so I want you to break off into two fighter teams and search the area. Arctic Fox take Sonic, Huntress you are with Firefly, Rage take Inferno, and Majestic - you are with me. I don't want anything to pop up and surprise us when our friends finally decide to come through the jump point. No team more than 10,000 kicks away from the jump point. All right, break off, search pattern Vega." The four pairs of Tigersharks peeled off and began a patrol the area near the jump point.

Dakota Jump Point
The Gimle System
1230 Hours (CST)

The space around the jump point was just like any other in the known universe, empty. The only pieces of matter anywhere near the jump point were the two wings of the Dark Stalker squadron who continued to patrol the area near it the jump point. This scene was a far cry from that of 20 years ago, when this area of space was the staging ground of fierce battles in the First Kilrathi War. Peace and calm is the only thing that rains down upon this place now.

The peace and quiet that once surrounded the jump point was dramatically broken as the jump came to violent life. The first element of the convoy to shoot through the jump point was a Caernaven-class patrol frigate. Minutes later, a second frigate appeared out of hyperrealm. That was the end of the Union's ships. Then a flight of four Excalibur-class fighters jumped into real space. Their task was to jump through and survey the other side of the jump point.

Stalker 201
Dakota Jump Point
1230 Hours (CST)

Rage squinted as a bright blue flash overpowered his field of view. "Greywolf, there's be something coming through the jump point Mate. Multiple targets. Computer identifies IFF signal to be Confederation Excaliburs and Border World light frigates. Couldn't it be the convoy?"

The face of Greywolf appeared on his HUD. "If it is, they are right on time. Since you and Inferno are the closest, intercept and make contact. Stalkers, regroup on the jump point. Convoy Phi is coming through the jump."

Rage took a look over his right shoulder to see if he could find his wingman Inferno. Inferno was flying close formation off of Rage's starboard engine. Rage's mind wondered for a second, back to the time when Inferno was assigned to the squadron. He was fresh out of the Academy and still wet around the ears. He pushed the thought aside and continued toward the jump point.

"Confederation Excalibur flight, identify yourself." Rage transmitted over the communications radio, "We are fighters from the TCS Mistral Sea, over."

A reply came back, "Glad to see you guys, it's great to see a friendly face. This is Captain Ramos, of the 25th Patrol Squadron of Confed Air Guard, now TAD (Temporary Additional Duty) to the Confed Space Force. The convoy's coming through, just give them a few more minutes."

As Rage and Inferno approached the jump point, they saw the other ships in the small convoy jump through. The first capships to jump in where the two Border Worlds frigates. They then saw the cruiser Reno jump and then thirty-seconds later, the Pride of Arulco finally jumped through. The Bedford was the rear guard.

The ships of the convoy were now getting back into formation. The two frigates were in the front scouting, while the cruiser was playing "goalkeeper" to the invaluable cruise liner, and the destroyer brought up the rear. Rage was checking out the cruiser, and decided mentally that he would never want to screw around with it anytime, anywhere.

The light cruiser was the new class of Confed light cruiser, was constructed for the sole purpose of shooting down enemy fighters. The main battery of heavy tachyon batteries, the secondary laser batteries, and the missile turrets said it as much. Rage smiled as he thought of the poor bug that would fly his fighter right into the cruiser's batteries; the result would be a vaporized cockroach.

"Confederation Convoy, this is Major Adrian Lamport of the Mistral Sea, transmit security codes?

"Roger that Major Lamport. This is Captain Kim of the Reno. Transmission of security codes commencing, awaiting for Navigation data."

"Wait one second, sir." Rage closed his link with the Aggarwald and opened another. "Greywolf, this is Rage, do you copy?"

"Affirmative, Rage. What's up?'

"The convoy has finished coming through the gate and they have transmitted the correct security codes. They want me to transmit nav data to them. I'm just waitin on your call."

"Just sit tight, the rest of us will be there in another mike. I'll make the call when I get there."

"Captain Meson, this is Major Lamport, wait one minute and Colonel Desautels will be right here."

Stalker 200
Dakota Jump Point
1245 Hours (CST)

Greywolf and Majestic were the last two members to arrive at the jump point. As they arrived, all parties were holding position near the jump point.

"All right, Stalkers, take up defensive posture around the cruise liners. Frigates from the Union of Border Worlds, Confed thanks you for your assistance, we can take it from here. Sorry you couldn't come along for the ride."

"That's okay, Colonel Desautels, this is Lieutenant Commander Benson of the BWS Vigilance, the cruise liners are now under your protection. Get our people out safely. Good luck now, Confees... and Godspeed."

Greywolf watched as the two Border Worlds frigates moved toward the jump point and vanished out of sight. Greywolf was now thinking of the semi-sorry state of the Union of Border Worlds Navy, a comparitively small rag-tag organization after Admiral Hanton's Combined Fleet had seen action that was now even smaller thanks to the recent Alien invasion. "Greywolf to Convoy, set course to 254 by 090 mark 023." With that, Greywolf closed his comm link and set course for the Mistral Sea.

TCS Mistral Sea; Task Force CO's Office
1500 Hours CST

A loud obnoxious tone came from the communication's link on Admiral Putnam's desk. He reached over and activated it. The stressed features of Lt. Hatcher appeared on the screen.

"Yes, what is it, Lieutenant?" the Admiral asked.

"Sir, we have just gotten a Priority 1 distress call from the survivors on Ymir IV. They say that one of their recently repaired sensor probes has detected the presence of a small unknown force has reentered the system from the Kilrathi border and is making its way to stationary orbit over Ymir IV, the New Riga colony."

"Couldn't it be ships of the Border Worlds Navy?"

"No sir, there are no ships on patrol in that sector."

"What about Kilrathi ships, what about them?"

"Well, sir. The survivors say that the signals picked up of the ships do not match any Kilrathi or Terran registry. They say that they think that the unknown forces are the Nephilim, the aliens."

The color in the admiral's face lightened and worried look appeared on it. "Were they able to identify the incoming ships?"

"Yes, sir, they have uploaded their passive sensor signals of their readings up to here. I just compared the signals to the latest Fleet Intel report and I decipher the existing signals to be comprised of an Orca-class destroyer, two Barracuda-class corvettes and four Triton Transports."

"They appear to be no match for our task force, Lieutenant," Admiral Putnam said. "We should be able to defeat them without any problem."

"But, Admiral, basing on last known position and known Alien capship speed, anticipated time to Ymir IV orbit is thirteen hours at their best speed."

"Any further contact from New Riga?"

"No sir, we lost the signal. We suspect that it has to do with alien jamming."

"At our best speed, what is the earliest that the Task Force can lend support?"

The face of Lt. Hatcher disappeared. A moment later, she reappeared. "This is bad sir. Helm says that running best speed, the Task Force will arrive at the jump point to Ymir in nine hours and be within support range of Ymir IV in another three hours. That will be twelve hours."

The Admiral computed the times and wasn't too happy with it. "Lieutenant, you telling me that we will arrive at the Ymir System two hours after the aliens reach planetary orbit? And that a weak little alien force can jeopardize this entire operation just because they will get there first?"

"It appears, Admiral," Lieutenant Hatcher said.

The Admiral sighed. "Okay Lieutenant, get on the horn with any other Confed and Border Worlds warships in the sector and tell them what is going on. And second, tell Commander Butler to make sure that we don't have any lost sheep when it comes time to leave."

"Affirmative sir."

"And one more thing, get Captain Greenberg, Colonel Dozer, and Commander Butler here in my office now!"

Admiral Putnam turned off his comm link and slammed his hand down upon his desk. "Shit, the bugs are going to beat us to the punch again. I just hope that those survivors are well hidden in those underground caves," he said to himself quietly.

FINIS