Homecoming, Part 2

	"Welcome aboard. We'll be arriving at Asteroid Outpost Fourteen in
approximately three and a half hours. I suggest you sit back and relax. Oh,
and don't unfasten those buckles. I won't be able to shoot any asteroids
without giving our position away to any nearby NeoSapien ships so expect a
lot of evasive maneuvers. And since I love evasive maneuvers, expect a hell
of a lot of them. Flight sickness bags are located in the seat back in front
of you. And since I know you ground pounders don't like to fly as much as a
normal person should, I ordered a lot put in." Cookie turned the microphone
off. After a second he flipped it back on. "Have a nice day and enjoy your
flight."

****************************************************************************

	Captain Jose frowned at Cookie's announcement. "Alright people, we
all know he wants to see how many of these little bags we use. He can handle
whatever he plans on throwing at us. I don't know about the rest of you, but
I want to show him I'm just as big a man as he is. Let's show him what us
ground pounders can take!"

	The jumptroops cheered. Captain Jose was told to bring only a dozen
other jumptroops with him. He picked mostly the less experienced troopers. He
hoped they would have less of a problem with taking orders from a chef. The
trip ahead was long and the work at the outpost would be hard. Captain Jose
leaned his head back, reclined his seat and drifted off to sleep.

	 He was awoken with a wrenching feeling in his stomach. "What the
hell?"

	 Most of the troopers were reaching for the conveniently located
bags. Tom reached for one just in case, his earlier admonitions about proving
how tough he was forgotten by the realities of hard G maneuvers. He turned to
the nearest trooper. "Lewis, what the hell happened?"

	 Lewis opened his mouth to reply, but instead thrust it into the bag
in his hands as the shuttle pulled another move that would have been
impossible in an atmosphere.

	 Private Dagger spoke up from the seat behind Lewis. "Sir! Everything
was going just fine, nice easy sweeping maneuvers. Just a minute ago we hit
that move that woke you and now anything not bolted down is flying around."

	 The shuttle did another hard jerk, this time accompanied by a roll
This was made worse by the expected change in the plane of gravity. The
artificial gravity still pulled them towards the deck of the shuttle while
their bodies, not accustomed to the uniform gravity, expected to be pulled in
another direction. Captain Jose was the only one without his head stuck in a
bag at this point. It would have been but Tom was too angry to stop to do
anything but chew out the pilot.

	 "Alright Cookie. What the hell is going on?"

	 "I can't talk now. You may have noticed that I'm a little busy."

	 'All of a sudden you have to pull stunts like these." The shuttle
jerked hard to the right and decelerated as if to reinforce the statement. "I
don't buy it and I don't give a damn about your pilot prejudice against
jumptroopers!"

	 "This isn't about any stupid prejudice. Look at this." The view
panel in front of Captain Jose came to life for the first time in the flight.
It struck him as odd that it had never been used so he could see Cookie this
entire flight. It was filled by two large asteroids moving towards each
other. The gap between them was quickly closing. "Uh, can you make that hole,
Lieutenant?"

	 "No."

	 The jumptroops experienced a moment of panic at that announcement.
Those who could see the view screen over the Captain's chair watched as the
shuttle suddenly pitched down before sharply turning up. Their stomachs
dropped on the move but since it didn't play with the plane of gravity most
of them were fine.

	 Cookie spoke without realizing his microphone was still on. "Ah
hell." Remembering he had an audience for this he quickly added. 'Hold on,
this one's going to be murder on even me."

	 Tom saw what had the pilot spooked. The asteroids that seemed to be
sliding in front of each other actually were moving toward collision. The gap
between them was quickly disappearing and the shuttle wasn't in a position to
easily get through the gap.

	 Everyone was pinned to their seats as the shuttle surged forward as
Cookie did something to rapidly increase their forward thrust. After a few
moments of acceleration they suddenly turned hard and faced the gap. The
screen showed several deep gouges cut in the asteroid that was below their
current plane of gravity.

	 Tom felt the effect of the artificial gravity weaken and guessed
that Cookie was using some of the top mounted thrusters to cut their speed.
Suddenly they began accelerating straight towards the asteroid below them.

	 "Lieutenant, what are you doing?"

	 The shuttle continued accelerating straight toward the asteroid. Tom
felt the shuttle begin shaking.

	 "Lieutenant, what is happening?"

	 The shuttle slipped into one of the gouges. It continued
accelerating through the narrow gap.

	 "Cookie, what the hell are you trying to do?"

	 The screen showed the asteroids beginning to collide in front of the
shuttle. A could of debris, mostly dust particles, filled the gouge in front
of the shuttle.

	 "Are you going to go through that? Answer me damn you!"

	 The shuttle sped through the cloud of debris. It shook violently
sending several hands reaching for fresh bags.

	 The acceleration suddenly cut out and the shuttle pulled up hard. As
the dust cloud cleared the screen filled with a wall of rock. The shuttle
reached the edge of the gouge which had gotten them past the colliding
asteroids. The wall slid by on the screen disappearing moments before
collision. Several more asteroids now filled the screen.

	 "Everyone alright back there."

	 Captain Jose looked around for a moment before answering. "Yeah,
we're alright. How close did we cut that?"

	 "Too close. You don't want to know."

	 "Tell me."

	 "You really can't stand not being in charge, can you? We missed by,
uh, 2.52 centimeters."

	 "Less than an inch? You're crazy."

	 The shuttle closed in on the next asteroids, pulling another hard
turn to avoid the closest. "That's an asset to a pilot. I can't talk,
Captain. I'm going to be real busy again in a minute."

	 "Can you leave the screen on? And cut the gravity, that might make
things a bit easier on us."

	 'You got it. Hold on." The shuttle vectored up to avoid an asteroid
before rolling and thrusting hard to slip through another narrow gap. "Sit
tight, only nine more minutes of this to go."

	 The speaker cut out with a click that would have been audible except
for the groans of the jump troops. "Settle down people. We're in good hands."

********************************************************************

	After nine more minutes of hard maneuvering the shuttle slowly
decelerated and the gravity was turned back on. The screens still showed
asteroids, but not nearly as many as had been there for the previous minutes.

	 "Anyone back there still have a bag left?"

	 "I would, but I lent my last three to Lewis." Dirk Dagger responded.
Two others, including Captain Jose also had a few left.

	 "Not bad. Just so you know, we're going to have to go back through
there and we'll be heavy with cargo. That should be some real fun." Everyone
in the cabin groaned at that realization. "Now before we go the last bit of
our trip I have a message to play you from Admiral Kirwan."

	The screens switched from the asteroid belt to a close up of Admiral
Kirwan. "I suppose you're wondering why I put Lieutenant Macchia in charge.
The real reason is that Asteroid Outpost Fourteen is a top secret science
instillation. That's also why you have secretly been accompanied by
Lieutenant Rothland. This instillation is part of the Fleet's Block
Operations division, which Lieutenant Macchia is a part of.

	All of you are now involved in a black operation. If you don't know
what this means you can ask your CO. You are to ask no questions about the
nature of the research that goes on at Outpost Fourteen.

	Upon completion of this mission you will not discuss any aspects
ther than the normal transfer of goods with your shipmates. Upon your return
to Io base you will be given a final debriefing by myself. After that you
will forget anything you see and hear on this mission.

	Good luck."

	"Well, now you know. We'll be arriving within ten minutes. Any
questions?"

	Private Dagger spoke up. "Yeah, what does being on a black op mean?"

	"Well, Private, it means that if you disobey a direct order I am
allowed to dispense summary justice."

	Dirk looked confused, "What the hell does that mean?"

	Captain Jose answered for Cookie. "It means if he feels he has just
cause he can kill any one of us. Failure to obey a direct order, even if you
feel it is illegal or immoral can be considered high treason. Quite frankly
Lieutenant, I don't like this one bit. The admiral should have sent an entire
crew of black operatives instead of recruiting us. I don't have my most
experienced troops with me and I don't know how well they'll respond under
these conditions."

	"Hey Captain, show some confidence in us, will ya?"

	"Sorry Lewis, but it's true."

	"Captain, if your troops have been properly trained they should have
no problem obeying orders. If it helps ease your mind I'll cut them some
slack."

	"Alright, Lieutenant. Get us down so we can get this over with."

	Several minutes later the shuttle settled down on Asteroid Outpost
Fourteen. The door to the cockpit opened and Cookie stepped out followed by
Asteroth. "Welcome to the Rock everybody. Let's get down to work."