Harry stared his grandson straight in the eyes. “The original members know and accept Ace’s
problems. By choosing to live in the past, we have clung to what little we know is safe.
Unfortunately we have also inadvertently sentenced our younger generations to a similar fate.”
The two sat quietly for several minutes, considering what Harry had just said. As the restaurant’
s sole waiter walked past their table, they both resumed eating their food. When he had finished
most of the steak, Navin spoke up. He hoped he could lighten the mood.
“Grandpa, I didn’t mean to bring up so serious of topic with my comment.” Navin looked back
down at his plate, cutting another piece of the steak into a morsel. He was unsure of what to say
next, still feeling anxiety about his previous comment. By now his supper was losing its appeal,
and the unpleasant aftertaste was strong enough to discourage Navin from eating much more.
Looking at his grandson, Harry watched Navin’s face as the young man ate. Though he looked
very quiet, Harry knew from experience that Navin was still secretly hoping to hear more of the
story. All of the Hueys younger generations were curious about how their parents’ lifestyles had
been decided. Unfortunately they were always given vague information and discouraged from
asking further questions. No one affiliated with the team wanted to talk about the sensitive topic
that had replaced Ace Leghorn’s logic with fear.
“Navin, don’t worry about what you’ve said. I understand it’s a difficult topic and you are very
curious. Everyone deserves to know the truth of the matter, but its covered in so many secrets
that we might hurt our friends while sharing that knowledge.” Harry broke a smile. “How about
more of that story I had started?” He watched Navin look up and pretend to hide the anxious
excitement that shown so clearly in his eyes.
“That sounds great, grandpa. I’ll try to think a bit more before speaking when I’m talking about
this topic in the future.” Navin’s face broke into a sheepish smile. Though he thought he might
have caused a painful memory to resurface in his grandfather’s mind, Navin could see that the
old man also wanted to continue with the original story.
“Don’t worry about it, but don’t let me catch you doing it around any of the other original team
members either.” Harry spoke.
“Yes sir,” Navin said while looking back to his plate. Realizing he had forgotten about the
orange-flavored soda he’d ordered long before the steak had arrived, the young man took the
drink and used it to rinse the foul aftertaste from his mouth.
“Now, where was I? Ah, the partnership that lead to the Hueys’ neverending security dilemma.
As it turned out, Ace and Llana Huxley formed a strong friendship right from the start.” He
forked one of the larger pieces of lasagne meat, rolling it along the edge of his dish. “As luck
would have it, an opportunity appeared for the teams that would allow for a duel contract
negotiation with the snakes. Miscalculating the risks involved, the commanders guessed that the
unusually high payments offered were in recognition of our team abilities, evidenced by both
teams’ strong-willed victories in the Fourth Succession War.”
Navin looked up to his grandpa, who was now looking out across the room in a blank stare.
The older man was deep in thought, and it seemed that he might be stuck in a trance if not for the
well-collected thoughts he was sharing.
“We had all been fooled. That much is definite,” he continued. “Hiding their motives behind a
wall of praise, our employers had everyone convinced. We were told it would not be an easy
fight, but that the contract was similar to one of our past missions under the Capellan
Confederation Armed Forces. I suppose that had helped comfort some of us. We were
assigned to an abandoned base on a little planet called Miranda, which made its home in our
target system. There we set up camp with the Breakers. Within 48 hours, the Breakers moved
offworld to make the first planned attack against the pirates. The target, which was situated at
the edge of a dense forest, was supposedly a staging ground for the pirate’s scout forces.”
Harry’s face suddenly took on a grave appearance. He stopped looking at the other customers
and waiters of the Brush with Death. His eyes made solid contact with his grandson’s. Navin
felt the weight of the situation bear down on him.
“We lost contact with the Breakers shortly after they had went planetside. Their team consisted
of a single regiment with mostly medium and heavy Mechs.” Harry’s face flashed with a look of
disgust. “Its quite odd to lose contact with something that big, and so we organized ourselves
and made tracks for the planet. Doing so, we had to ignore our original plans to strike at a
separate location. Unfortunately for the Breakers, the journey took us nearly 80 hours.”
Navin almost broke into questions, but decided to wait. He was likely to get more information if
his grandfather volunteered it himself. Harry was used to hearing questions about the Hueys’
past, and Navin did not want to provoke any defensive silences from the man. Better to let the
story pan out. Rather than opening his mouth, he bit his lip and fumbled with his fork while
awaiting the next bit. It didn’t take long.
“Well it wasn’t long after we had made orbit that we noticed a few peculiar things.” Harry’s
voice calmed. “For starters, our initial scans of the area showed what appeared to be a
spacestation on the opposite side of the planet. That in itself contradicted the data provided by
our employers. While no spacecraft were positioned to guard the station or intercept us, we did
pick up enemy radio chatter during our drop planetside. Though a lot of it was coded, some
civilian channels murmured something about a ship being endangered.” Harry paused, finally
looking down to his plate. He took a bite and frowned.
Navin smiled briefly at his grandfather’s reaction to the food. Then he looked back behind
himself to see if anyone had picked up any of their conversation. He guessed his grandfather had
been watching for anyone’s approach while telling the tale. That would explain Harry’s blank
stare out across the room, considering his head had been tilted up just enough to scan the entire
area behind their table with his peripheral vision. When Navin looked back to his grandfather,
the man’s eyes had already returned to the blank stare out into the bar’s central area.
After several seconds of chewing, Harry continued though food was yet in his mouth. “Dropping
into the area that was designated to be a future staging base later in our campaign, we set up a
long range communications network by capturing a nearby town’s transmitter tower.” He
paused again, this time to swallow.
Suddenly Harry’s eyes broke free from their blank stare and quickly focused on something.
After a moment of observation, he seemed to relax again. His voice was unchanged when he
continued to speak.
“Unfortunately the transmitter was a decoy and after capturing it we learned it would provide no
additional broadcasting power. That was our first realization that something very suspicious was
up. Without a way to contact the Breakers half, whom had already engaged an enemy outpost
days earlier, we decided to send out a force. Ace went against the contract guidelines again,
given the situation and all, and split the Hueys into two teams.
"Two lances were stationed as guards for the staging site and the other lance traveled to the next
problems. By choosing to live in the past, we have clung to what little we know is safe.
Unfortunately we have also inadvertently sentenced our younger generations to a similar fate.”
The two sat quietly for several minutes, considering what Harry had just said. As the restaurant’
s sole waiter walked past their table, they both resumed eating their food. When he had finished
most of the steak, Navin spoke up. He hoped he could lighten the mood.
“Grandpa, I didn’t mean to bring up so serious of topic with my comment.” Navin looked back
down at his plate, cutting another piece of the steak into a morsel. He was unsure of what to say
next, still feeling anxiety about his previous comment. By now his supper was losing its appeal,
and the unpleasant aftertaste was strong enough to discourage Navin from eating much more.
Looking at his grandson, Harry watched Navin’s face as the young man ate. Though he looked
very quiet, Harry knew from experience that Navin was still secretly hoping to hear more of the
story. All of the Hueys younger generations were curious about how their parents’ lifestyles had
been decided. Unfortunately they were always given vague information and discouraged from
asking further questions. No one affiliated with the team wanted to talk about the sensitive topic
that had replaced Ace Leghorn’s logic with fear.
“Navin, don’t worry about what you’ve said. I understand it’s a difficult topic and you are very
curious. Everyone deserves to know the truth of the matter, but its covered in so many secrets
that we might hurt our friends while sharing that knowledge.” Harry broke a smile. “How about
more of that story I had started?” He watched Navin look up and pretend to hide the anxious
excitement that shown so clearly in his eyes.
“That sounds great, grandpa. I’ll try to think a bit more before speaking when I’m talking about
this topic in the future.” Navin’s face broke into a sheepish smile. Though he thought he might
have caused a painful memory to resurface in his grandfather’s mind, Navin could see that the
old man also wanted to continue with the original story.
“Don’t worry about it, but don’t let me catch you doing it around any of the other original team
members either.” Harry spoke.
“Yes sir,” Navin said while looking back to his plate. Realizing he had forgotten about the
orange-flavored soda he’d ordered long before the steak had arrived, the young man took the
drink and used it to rinse the foul aftertaste from his mouth.
“Now, where was I? Ah, the partnership that lead to the Hueys’ neverending security dilemma.
As it turned out, Ace and Llana Huxley formed a strong friendship right from the start.” He
forked one of the larger pieces of lasagne meat, rolling it along the edge of his dish. “As luck
would have it, an opportunity appeared for the teams that would allow for a duel contract
negotiation with the snakes. Miscalculating the risks involved, the commanders guessed that the
unusually high payments offered were in recognition of our team abilities, evidenced by both
teams’ strong-willed victories in the Fourth Succession War.”
Navin looked up to his grandpa, who was now looking out across the room in a blank stare.
The older man was deep in thought, and it seemed that he might be stuck in a trance if not for the
well-collected thoughts he was sharing.
“We had all been fooled. That much is definite,” he continued. “Hiding their motives behind a
wall of praise, our employers had everyone convinced. We were told it would not be an easy
fight, but that the contract was similar to one of our past missions under the Capellan
Confederation Armed Forces. I suppose that had helped comfort some of us. We were
assigned to an abandoned base on a little planet called Miranda, which made its home in our
target system. There we set up camp with the Breakers. Within 48 hours, the Breakers moved
offworld to make the first planned attack against the pirates. The target, which was situated at
the edge of a dense forest, was supposedly a staging ground for the pirate’s scout forces.”
Harry’s face suddenly took on a grave appearance. He stopped looking at the other customers
and waiters of the Brush with Death. His eyes made solid contact with his grandson’s. Navin
felt the weight of the situation bear down on him.
“We lost contact with the Breakers shortly after they had went planetside. Their team consisted
of a single regiment with mostly medium and heavy Mechs.” Harry’s face flashed with a look of
disgust. “Its quite odd to lose contact with something that big, and so we organized ourselves
and made tracks for the planet. Doing so, we had to ignore our original plans to strike at a
separate location. Unfortunately for the Breakers, the journey took us nearly 80 hours.”
Navin almost broke into questions, but decided to wait. He was likely to get more information if
his grandfather volunteered it himself. Harry was used to hearing questions about the Hueys’
past, and Navin did not want to provoke any defensive silences from the man. Better to let the
story pan out. Rather than opening his mouth, he bit his lip and fumbled with his fork while
awaiting the next bit. It didn’t take long.
“Well it wasn’t long after we had made orbit that we noticed a few peculiar things.” Harry’s
voice calmed. “For starters, our initial scans of the area showed what appeared to be a
spacestation on the opposite side of the planet. That in itself contradicted the data provided by
our employers. While no spacecraft were positioned to guard the station or intercept us, we did
pick up enemy radio chatter during our drop planetside. Though a lot of it was coded, some
civilian channels murmured something about a ship being endangered.” Harry paused, finally
looking down to his plate. He took a bite and frowned.
Navin smiled briefly at his grandfather’s reaction to the food. Then he looked back behind
himself to see if anyone had picked up any of their conversation. He guessed his grandfather had
been watching for anyone’s approach while telling the tale. That would explain Harry’s blank
stare out across the room, considering his head had been tilted up just enough to scan the entire
area behind their table with his peripheral vision. When Navin looked back to his grandfather,
the man’s eyes had already returned to the blank stare out into the bar’s central area.
After several seconds of chewing, Harry continued though food was yet in his mouth. “Dropping
into the area that was designated to be a future staging base later in our campaign, we set up a
long range communications network by capturing a nearby town’s transmitter tower.” He
paused again, this time to swallow.
Suddenly Harry’s eyes broke free from their blank stare and quickly focused on something.
After a moment of observation, he seemed to relax again. His voice was unchanged when he
continued to speak.
“Unfortunately the transmitter was a decoy and after capturing it we learned it would provide no
additional broadcasting power. That was our first realization that something very suspicious was
up. Without a way to contact the Breakers half, whom had already engaged an enemy outpost
days earlier, we decided to send out a force. Ace went against the contract guidelines again,
given the situation and all, and split the Hueys into two teams.
"Two lances were stationed as guards for the staging site and the other lance traveled to the next
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