Garrat watched as the assault craft flew out of the setting sun.  Non reserve fleet personnel were occupied elsewhere so Stoly’s shuttles and their escorts were ushered quietly into the hangers out of the prying eyes of any orbiting observation posts.  The shuttles were parked in the two largest hangars. The passage ways were suddenly alive with carts hauling spare energy cells and what food they could spare.  Garrat felt guilty.  He and the other people working on this place hadn’t been eating all that well and these children deserved more.  He made some calls and sent out for more appropriate supplies.  Then dismounted and approached the lead shuttle.

 The Ramp came  down.  A Fellow  with Close  cropped hair, and  sunglasses. His  SMG  his ready, but  not  aggressive.

 His free hand   holds back the others  who have their SMGs  up as well.. Who's here  to help us out?

Joseph had received the request for help from “Old Rusty” as they had taken to calling the transport on the hill.  He looks across the cantina to one of the locals they had been using for shuttle runs. “Hey Dasher, ye said that pizza you brought in the other day was from that place yer uncle runs over in Crevice Town.  We just got word an old friend picked up a whole bunch of orphans from a demon slaver and we have a whole bunch of hungry mouths to feed coming into Rusty.  I’ll see you paid in full if it has to come out of me own savings but we need it fast.”

It wasn’t long before the beat up shuttle was skimming off on its mission of mercy.

  Stoly stood there, he had a savage looking knifew on his   right hip, and a cross  draw sidearm on his  let.

  He Looked around, another  fellow stepped down a  few steps. What  if we picked the wrong place?

  They  we wasted a damn good rescue..

    Garrat walked forward from his Construction mech hands out and open signaling his people to hold their positions.  “I’m not sure all you have heard but I was once called Sgt. Garrat Wolfrim of the Hermes under SM Spencer.  I Captain a salvage corvette on the side and have joined with some ESN ships and Mercenary units to front a “shipment”  company allowing us to smuggle ESN people and information on and off earth.  I cannot count the times my life has been saved by your shuttles or your nephew who still heads the shuttle pilots on the Delta fleets flagship.  I am honored to make your Acquaintance sir and will aid any operation that turns off the right lights.  I’m afraid we are still a little rough her but anything we have is yours.  My ship is emptying out it’s cupboards as we speak aaand…”. He checks his wrist com.  “More is on the way.”

    get them out, carry  them, each of your take  two...we don't need   mars  dust on bare feet..

The Guards   carried   to each  in the direction they would be pointed to.

 Stoly   shook Garrat's hand,There was a rescue like this in Arizona, two weeks ago. Theybsied   hover   cars  and Vans... we broke even...they saved  about  7 kids..6 more died  in Vans getting  toasted  by fighters., but there were  close  to 100 dead  kiss asses.. thos e kids   are on thier  way to scotland, Hunter will get them out into the Black

 we weren't going to mess around in Texas... so we used the figthers   that we  had  hidden in the  scrap yard, and got all 4 of those  next Gen shuttles out, then blew the Base where  the shuttle Devs worked... They won't be making any  for  a while, unless  there  get some from Russia... I'm  Russian..i wouldn't want to  fly in those.

 Now? no hurry on getting food... These  kids  suffered  enough, a few hours   won't make it any worse..we can leave until Morning..say  8? 9?

 he smiled a Bit...I know the SM and LC  are still around, we  see the Vids. Shame  Hannah came   down to earth, Though she and   Shadow were a decent couple..but..he's  too much a warrior... he will fight, to the knife...

 Now them shuttles  saving your lives?  that wasn't me, that was  the people piloting them. There's alot of fine  made weapons out there? but they can't kill anyhting , unless the person suing  it knows  how to shoot!

In reply to mars (msg # 59):

The.   When Stoly refers to it being the crew that saved his life, Garrat responds “If that isn’t Odens own truth.  I’ve fought alongside some good crews, lost one or two, but the hardware Is important sir.  We have one hidden room which is about the size of a smaller hangar, that we have sealed up as kinda a clean room.”  He gestures to a kind of heavy duty hover bike with a broad flat bed that’s unloading fresh power cells for the shuttles. “The mules will take you there.  There is a common space where people can kick back with a fire place and lots of deep couches.  Hot cocoa is one of the few luxuries we afford ourselves and there is plenty brewing.  Most add spirits but for the kids we can keep it boring.  I’ll help load up and we can continue our conversation there.”

As the sun set on that section of Mars the evening winds kicked up. Never pressing more than the 7 pounds per square inch on the static field the variable pressure still made the system flicker a little. Some of the volunteers helped the children onto the mules, “ Don’t worry a little one,”. Garrat said “as he had a young boy clamber on his back.  “ there is nothing dangerous down here. But I do need your help exploring this Martian base beneath the sands. Your young eyes will see things I cannot.“.  The general attitude was one of adventure and exploration. Not too intense for the tire children, but enough for their Curiosity to overcome the fear.

    The mules Entered a passageway in the back of the hanger that slipped up to a cross passage.  Other cars were coming from other hangers with children and members of Stoli’s team.  They turned onto yet another passage that seemed to run higher and deeper into the hillside. Along this passage were nooks in the platforms where supplies were stored and could be loaded onto the carts. Garrat  got off at one And the rescue children were also offloaded on this platform.

“Now “. He said “ A Martian once told me that there was a secret room around here. But you had to speak to the stone and call it a friend as it is spoken on the plains of Siberia.   I don’t know this word.” He turns to Stoly “do you sir?”
This message was last edited by the player at 16:14, Thu 22 Dec 2022.

 Stoly   looked around,..Lots of  words for   Friend..Komrade , of  course is first, Da?... But here are many

  He begins to recite   words, after  Komrade..

 https://www.rbth.com/education...or-friend-in-russian

 The Kids looked  around. It was plain to see, the Kids  did not  come from rich families, nor  could they be considered 'Stem Kids'

Garrat listens to the names.  “ With so many words for friend, your people must be very friendly.”  He thinks about it, “ I think we should stick with the obvious answer, and I like the sound of comrade.”

    He turns to the children, “no everybody sits with me on the count of three. One. Two. Three. “Comrade”


With a click and a rumble, a large rock against the wall rolls aside revealing a short hall to a chamber full of warm light.

  Stoly watches the   wall open, then he turns  and watches their back...There's not goign to  be some long  wiggly things  come out and grab as  as we try to enter?

though he sounded like he was kidding, he let all the other s enter while he looked back.

 “ I got the idea from the movie.”  Garrat confessed  “Not the movie from the idea.”  Stoly however noted that Garrat also waited.  The inside of the room was as Garrat described.  Two levels of shipping containers converted into rooms with a catwalk along the second level.  This room was much better sealed than the others with sheeted plastic over what little exposed rock there was in one corner and no sand occasionally sifting down from cracks in a makeshift ceiling.  Three quarters of the room was given over to a lounge area with a large fire in the middle of the SE quarter with couches around it, two pool tables, a ping pong table, and a set of free weights in the SW quarter, a bar/cooking space with some booths in the NE corner.  In the NW corner was marred by a rock formation raising the floor level but some clank plating was bolted in place making a raised space for a kind of situation room with a central table and terminals along the wall.  The second level cargo units rested on the exposed rock here and held the servers for the mainframe.

   Cups of hot chocolate were being placed on th tables for the children

 The  Kids   made their way to the  tbale   with some  Stoly's team  escorting them.

 ...sorry to put you out like this. We had  through to make a  run for the Bura, funnel, byt that  a damn far ways to go with a shuttle load of hungry kids.,  I should have planed for rations  and such. Gresh send  these  co-ordinace  to see if you could help.

 Stoly winced  a bit,..I  can't  leave the folsk behind  that i  foughtwith on Earth for the last 5 years..I mean..we're not winning, but we sure aren't losing.

Garrat shakes his head, “By all means, bring them by.  We were a little unprepared but this is good training and both these kids and your team deserve everything we can give them and more.”   He looks over the little ones “I adopted a daughter from the stem when I found her shot up from a skirmish while performing a lights out.  It means everything to us to help.”

  Stoly  shakes his head,... no?   me and My people ahve to go back..we have  Hunter, and  Hannah.. some woman Named Jesse?  from the  Hermes down there.. all fighting. Hannah has  evem realixed , she had to use a weapon. That was a big step for her..... I think the numabers say, that across the world, the Empire and Angels lose  like  20,000 people  a day, we lose, Like 1000?..but..we can't  keep that up, some  angels  have crossed over, we have to vet them... thsoe  we  find as spies, we kill outright, the others, help us kill EDT.

“Jessie is a good warrior.  I’m glad she’s fighting the good fight on earth.  Hannah has always had a good heart, too good to work through Shadow’s callousness.  It is better for her to deal with that here.  Hermes is a brutal place to learn what you are willing to do.  It can break people.  I need your help.  I want to help planet side, both supporting some passive programs and maybe giving lights out the ability to hit some heavy targets before I move on.”  He looks at  Stoly.  “My dad was part of a passive occupation through the dark ages.  We took stricken Midg..Earthers from your ancient battle fields and used them to father the Einherjar.  A race of super soldiers that helped us keep the frost giants at bay.  When the wormhole started to collapse Asgard was said to pull all of its forces home leaving Earth to its own devices.  The only thing said to remain is one of our data dumps, that we placed across the cosmos to preserve our history, culture, and technologies for future generations.  I would like to see if anything remains at that site or others it leads me to that might help the ESN secure earth. 
This message was last edited by the player at 01:49, Wed 21 Dec 2022.

  Well... Depends now? I was thinking of  goign to New York, see if   we  can  clean up some of the EDT there...  what you're asking , Might be  better  suited  for  Hunters   base...

 he points to the Black shuttles  with  ESN markings...Those   4  our my newest babies... They are  just a bit wider  and taller , some those   'next Gen' Mechs   can  ride inisde, the bubble  gun glass is thicker, and the swivel mount  for  the  37MM cannon on the Nose , makes it  suitible  for ground  support, as they land or take off... # of them are Going to the Hermes..One is staying here... when I leave, I'll take the Old one  with  me the isle  a few miles south of the Statue..theres  a Base  Hidden on the jeresy sie of  the river.. , I'll join up, with  what's left there.

Sitting in the far back corner, Harry would look up and watch as Garrat's distinctive figure appeared within the doorway as he spoke with someone she didn't recognise. Deciding that if she needed to know what was going on that he would tell her she would return to what she had been doing, namely smoking...or at least trying to. Placing the cigarette between her black painted lips with a leather gloved hand she would raise the cheap Bic lighter and fumble a flame into life so far so good she thought to herself before trying light it. Fortunately for her lungs if not her sanity her hand trembled and shook so violently that all she managed to do was scorch the paper and nearly burn her lip causing her to swear, loudly and vilely as she plucked the ruined cigarette from her lips and threw it towards the trash.

With a defeated sigh she would run her fingers through boot black hair, still finding the new style strange and unfamiliar before picking up a cup and taking a drink of the local hooch. A lot had changed in the month or so since she'd left the Hermes. She'd deserted, fled to Etna station, changed her name, changed her appearance, worked as a gun for hire, pissed off a crime family, got sick, got rescued and was now on Mars trying to work out if that was a good thing or not. But Garrat treated her well and so she returned his kindness with good natured abuse, violent mood swings and whatever jobs her emaciated frame could handle, though thankfully that at least was improving with her looking less like the poster child for starvation and just simply unwell at least they no longer think I'm a damn Vampic!

“The poet’s mead lies in a fjord in Norway, that’s probably closer to Hunter.  My problem is getting my Corvette down to the planet surface without detection because it is submersible and the entrance is now under sea level.”

Joseph texts Garrat.  “Pizzas are on the way, I asked Hecuba to buy children’s cloths at Olympus but she’s probably two to three hours out.  These take a while to cook so we might be making a second run.”

  Stoly gave a grunt  of confirmation...It would be good for them to have a full belly and get some sleep. The  kids who were  'more  aware' didn't  sleep much, the other  kids  were just...scared.

 I hated  taking  them in there  like that, But it worked , not only  did  we kill everyone in that  Damn manor, but were burned it  down, and  killed alot of outside folks too

“I know this is going to sound terrible, but stem kids are used to being thrown into bad situations.  If we systematically rescued a bunch and asked for volunteers to play the part of the sacrifice, in exchange for military apprenticeship you might end up with a willing group that can hold their own if things go sideways.  Recruiting is difficult.  They tend to be hard to track down and harder to convince that your not going to hurt them.  However I have been very proud of my little stem girl.  She may be serving on the rec-dec but she has faced down boarding parties as bravely as any marine.”

A family of Gavas showed up carrying trays of food.  The big bowl of mashed potatoes was once dry and the casserole dish vegetables and platter of polish and Italian sausages were recently frozen before being microwaved back to life but the Lady Elberta peaches had come from a can.  Skewers were provided to roast items over the fire and a couple of bags of marshmallows got pulled out of cupboards.

    It wasn’t enough for everyone but certainly enough to get started.

Grandma Gava, the Matriarch of the Gavas made sure everything was in place then stepped up on the seat next to Harry and placed a cool hand on her forehead.  Her words translate roughly as Are you feeling okay girl?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:42, Wed 21 Dec 2022.

There was a clunk as a bowl of stew was placed on the table in front of her causing Harry to look up at the large apefolk woman ”I’ve already eaten” Harry started, the disbelieving look she got from Nora however quickly put paid to the lie with her simply sliding the bowl closer to her. Had anyone else tried this there would have been a very high chance that they would have ended up wearing the stew. But not Nora. There was just something about Nora that made even whack jobs like Harry do as they were told. No doubt a shrink would point out that Nora was the maternal role model that Harry so desperately yearned for and that Harry would sooner cut her own arm off than disobey her and risk losing her calming influence. There would be a moment of resistance before she rather meekly whispered ”the meds make me chuck” at which point she would receive a sympathetic look as she replied ”eat what you can…you need to keep your strength up” with Harry simply nodding as picked up the spoon and slowly started to eat.