4TCR Dropship Yong Huo
Capella
Capellan Confederation
19 January, 3050


     The bulkhead leading to the command center was open, and as Faith entered she coughed slightly from the cigar smoke filling the room. The air recycling system always seemed to be taxed when the cigars and scotch were in the air, and they certainly were today.

     The central map display showed what every officer knew, that the Liao forces were being pushed off Capella. The maps and tactical displays at this point seemed like they were etched behind her eyelids. With each passing day, the Davion beachhead grew larger and larger, until the majority control of the planet was now in favor of the sword and sunburst.

     "How long?" she asked almost nonchalantly.

     The XO scratched absentmindedly at the stubble on his face. "Two days. Thirty-six hours if they push, but I don't see them doing that. These Davrats are nothing if not meticulous. The Tikonov boys are just about packed up, and the Gatekeepers won't be far behind. We're holding the door open, but as soon as everyone clears out, we lift off too."

     "Damn. First St. Ives falls, and now this. This shit is starting to make the Fourth Succession War look like a Sunday drive. If we can't get more numbers, and soon-" Ace cut her off with a motion of his hand.

     "We can't worry about the larger picture right now. We just do our job. Leave the rest up to the Strategios. We took some pretty big lumps here, and we're going to have to lick our wounds for a while. We'll meet up with Ork back at Altorra and take things from there. My priority right now is getting 4TCR patched up again, once we've done that, we can worry about hitting Davion back for this one." She could hear a mixture of resignation, yet determination in his voice as the executive officer talked. He was right of course, there wasn't anything that the Rangers could do to change things, the house-wide strategy was beyond their control. That didn't mean that losing Capella didn't eat at her, she knew it ate at all of them.

     But that wasn't why she had come to the command center on the Rangers dropship to see Ace Kaller. She knew that losing Capella might mean a great deal more to him. And to hell if she was going to let that happen. The Davrats might push them off the planet, but she wasn't going to leave without a small victory. Amid the vast losses in this great war, they needed every small victory they could get.

     "Do we have intel on what unit holds the capital city?" she asked.

     "Probably second regiment of the Headhunters RCT. And I know why you're asking but there's nothing I can do at this point" he replied tersely.

     "Like hell there isn't. She's your mother. And a damn good scientist." Faith made sure to put the full weight of her emotions into her words.

     "And I can't be worried about a personal issue while we're lifting offworld." He shook his head.

     "Bullshit. Vandril can handle the holding action and the evac. We have thirty-six hours to get this done. You know how Davion operates, they'll identify her for her expertise and move her somewhere else. We can't let that happen." Arguing with the XO was getting frustrating.

     "She was born a citizen of the Federated Suns, she'll be ok." She could tell from his voice that he was trying to reassure himself more than anything.

     "Yeah, and for twenty-five years she's worked for the Confederation. And more than a few of those on Tall Trees. The Feds aren't stupid. They're going to find out." She paused for a moment. This was a battle she had to win. She put her hand on his shoulder. "We've busted out of far worse. We have thirty-six hours. This is our home turf. We can do this."

     She looked him square in the eye, imagining to herself that she could focus the fire in her mind and project it to get the point across. Ace looked away for a moment, and she knew she had won.

     "Tell Vandril he's got the keys, I've got a little business to settle before we lift off this planet."