I sat with Beth-any, holding hands, in the Sick Bay, the two of us staring out at the monitor, which was showing a screen of  She was doing a lot better, but was still under close monitoring and had a rather large bandage on her thigh.  Not that most people got to see that, anymore, as Adelphe had, finally, given her leave to put clothes on on a regular basis.  “Wow,” she said, “That is cool. ”

I laughed at her choice of words.  Sure enough this ice planet, our sector headquarters, was indeed ‘cool’.  The light from the sun was bright, if not containing enough heat to melt the ice on the planet, and it was a brilliant blue white light, which showed up the ice, and the long, black, cracks in the ice, beautifully.

“And you’ve been here before?” she asked.

“Once, when I was a lot younger, when I was, what, five?”

“A lot younger,” she said, moving her hand on my leg.  We had just gotten to sleep together last night and were both really excited about it, even if we did have to be very careful.  I rubbed my own hand on her tummy.  She wasn’t showing yet and, praise the Creator, she wasn’t sick yet either, or not much.  Morning sick, I mean.  “I will miss you, while you are gone. ”

This was annoying timing, really.  We had gotten to come together just last night, and I had to leave her, this afternoon, for two days of meetings and things in headquarters.  Adelphe said she couldn’t go.  “I’ll miss you, too,” I said, and she caught my glance toward the door and giggled, struggling to get her clothes off.

“Come on, Carl,” Brother said, as I hurried out into the hallway.  “They are holding the connection for us. ”

I blushed, but he wasn’t at all upset.  I guess he understood how we must be feeling.  He had Justina by the hand and I hurried up and took her other hand and we hurried toward the airlock.

“What are we doing first, Uncle Andrew?” I asked, as the big door closed behind us and we started down the ladder, toward the others, who were, most of them, still in the corridor through the ice, climbing down into the ‘shuttle’ that would take us to the headquarters.

“We’re going to do the hard part, first,” he said.  “Meeting our new partners, and partnering. ”

I gulped.  I had several Uncles, and Aunts, and even one cousin, who would all be partnering with these Catholics.  I didn’t really understand all of the issues, but many of the men were rather upset.  I knew my cousin was really upset that  his betrothed wife had died, of course, but I didn’t really know how he felt about taking a new, Catholic, partenaire.  I mean, he hadn’t been able to come together with his old one, since he hadn’t yet been quite of age, although she had been.  He hadn’t really wanted to talk about it, at least, not with me.  He was probably jealous of me.

That all kind of ruined the shuttle ride for me, thinking of what was coming next.  I had so looked forward to this, too.  They had the walls all lit up with the view of the outside, the water, and all of the huge fish that, somehow, found enough to live on here. . .  with the bright light coming enough through the ice to bring the plants. . .  or plankton or whatever. . .  Adelphe had explained it all to me. . .  enough light to give them energy enough to grow.  and then the fish ate them, and got energy that way.

OK, so I kind of did get excited about the fish and all, and managed to forget what was happening until, with a kind of circular move, the shuttle shone it’s light on one of the huge headquarters ships.  It was all over airlocks, and we took a while to cruise along until we got to the right one.  The one we were attatching to was on the side, and we met up with a door that was on our side.  Which meant that, instead of a ladder, the doors opened us right into a big meeting room.  I was on the far side and was practically the last person into the room.

I walked in, behind everyone and, moving over to the edge of our group, saw a very interesting, very tense, sight.  Our two groups were not mixing and huggin and all, like we would normally do, but standing apart, men mostly in front and, in front of them, our Colonel was standing in front of our group, facign their colonel.

Not that we got to call him ‘colonel’ now.  the groups had two colonels, which we couldn’t do, and the other one was senior, so our colonel was now called a ‘light’ colonel.  Anyway, the two of them were out in front and , when the last of us came in and the ship crew, staring at this tableaou, closed the door behind us, our colonel reached out and shook the hand of the other one, in total silence.

“Welcome,” the other colonel said, finally, in tones that showed he knew how hollow his words were.  “We deeply regret  your loss, but we hear you fought well. ”

“huuurah,” the other group said, the men, all together.  It was traditional, altho I hadn’t expected it.

“Thank you,” our colonel said.  “We hear that you have brought honor on the corp as well. ”

With that our group, the pathfinders anyway, ‘hurrahed’.  I didn’t, soldiers didn’t do that.

“Well, we have business to take care of,” the colonel said.  “First of all. . . ” he turned to face our group, “Know all men present that, by the order of the CF high command, I hereby subsume command of the 501st pathfinder group under the 302nd pathfinder group until such time as these two groups can be reconstituted.  These two names, honorable names each, will be held in abeyance until such time as they can be reconsituted, and our combind group will be known as the 903rd pathfinders. ”

“Hooorah,” the men all said, seriously but loudly. . .  each of the two groups honoring the other, and honoring their new group and commander.  It wasn’t like our men didn’t respect the 302nd, either.  They had done really good work and fought hard in very difficult areas.  It was just the whole Catholic thing.

“Our second order of business is the re-establishment of broken households. ” He paused a bit, and then, consulting his comp, said, “Gregory MacDougal, stand forth. ”

Mr.  MacDougal not only stood forth, he brought his three children with him.  He had lost his wife, and their nursing babe, in the attack, in their hut itself, but had managed to kill the attacker and, with practically every child firing a pistol as the enemy took their hut apart piece by piece, had managed to keep the rest of them alive for the forty five minutes it had take a shuttle with soldiers to arrive.  He himself had gotten a nasty injury to his face, and had a really cool scar as a result.

“Cynthia LaTourneau, stand forth,” the colonel said, next, and, from the crowd opposite, a rather plump woman, with three children herself, including one babe in arms who had obviously been interuppted nursing, stepped forward.

“Greggory MacDougal, I present you with a replacement wife, and charge you to keep her in all honor,” the colonel said, a formula which must be common among New Catholics.  Neither one seemed to know what to do and, eventually, the woman, pulling her reluctant children, walked forward.  Mr.  MacDougal eyed  her, his face hard but then, suddenly, just as she reached him, her infant cried, and his face changed.

“Ach, the pair wee bairn,” he said, reaching forward and picking up the infant who, surprised, turned toward him and then, just as he brought it close, reached out and grabbed his long red beard.  “My bairns have always done that,” he said and turned, and led his new family through our group and out a door on the far side.

That set the order for the rest of the partnerships, with the woman going to the man, with her children, and the man leading them off.  Most of the women were from our group, actually, as many of the men had died defending their wives or partners and offspring.  But then, “Mark Trentin,” the colonel called, and my cousin came forward, very shyly, blushing furiously and, without even being called, a girl came forward from the other side, toward him.  He looked at her, and reached out both his hands, and the two of them looked at each other.  Then, switching to only one hand, he led her toward the door.

Then, suddenly, the room broke out in cheers, and catcalls, especially from the Catholic side.  I knew the New Texans didn’t do this but, amongst us, and especially amongst the New Catholics, apparently, it was rather common and ‘OK’ to give a newly married man a hard time about what he was about to do.  The couple, grinning and blushing, hurried off.

“Ok, next, briefing,” the colonel said, all business.  “Wives and kids. . .  or partenaires. . .  he said, “Can go off to their quarters, or stay, as they wish.  but if everyone would be seated. ”

We all sat down, facing the screen, and he began.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as some of you know, and other’s of you have guessed, we have a problem.  And, no, I’m not referring to our particular units.  I am referring to some changes in the aliens.  These changes are not widespread, yet, and don’t seem to be very definitive.  But several actions, most particularly the attack on New Texas, are read by our intelligence unit as indicating a change in their behavior, a very worrisome change.

The attack on New Texas was like nothing we have ever seen.  One thing we have always ‘known’ is that the enemy just don’t work together.  But on New Texas they did, a coordinated attack by three completely different units.

This is a serious development, obviously.  With all of our handicaps in fighting them, we don’t need this.

Our theory is that it is the result of a ‘super genious’ or, a metamorphisis one past that which we know already that we call ‘genious’ class.  Essentially we are thinking that the ‘genious’ is sort of the equivelant of a ‘Juvy’. . .  a creature that works alone well. . .  whereas the supergenious works well together, like ‘Pack’. . .  except, of course, on a much larger scale.

As a result our strategy is going to change, somewhat.  The fleet is going to be beefed up.  Up to now they have largely been confined to shuttling colonists and soldiers back and forth, and protecting them on the way.  We have had fleets protecting planets, of course, but largely against colonizing ships, not actual attacks.

But now we will have to beef up our fleets, and many are calling on us to take the battle to the enemy, finding and killing fleets before they get started.

For us, that means that our focus is going to change.  Before we were kind of ‘pre-colonists’.  We would go to planets that the scouts had found, and settle them ourselves for a while, and then invite the colonists in.  That is going to change.  From now on we go in right after the scouts and, basically, scout the ground.  Find out what is where, mark stuff out, and then get out.  The colonists are going to come in hot and heavy, and have to settle for themselves.

That is what most of the Pathfinders will be doing, at least.  Our particular unit has a different job.  The screen behind him lit up.  “This is Terra Bleu,” he said.  “Don’t ask me what the name means, I don’t get it either.  It doesn’t look very ‘bleu’ to me.  Probably some Francophone scout having a bad day. ”

But what is interesting, very interesting, is that this is an enemy planet, a long settled enemy planet, and yet. . .  look. ” He brought up a screen that we were all used to looking at; a screen that showed the alien population on a given planet.  But. . .  “That can’t be right,” Glenn said.  “Are those colors right? There isn’t any red anywhere, and hardly any yellow, except around those islands. ”

It was hugely different from anything I had seen before.  The jungle planet had been colored in red practically over the whole thing, and the desert planet, which had practically no enemy at all in the desserts, was still deep red along the coasts, and yellow in most of the oceans.

But this, this was largely light green. . .  meaning hardly any enemy at all.  Some of the ocean was yellow, and, as Glenn said, the islands were yellow as well.  I hadn’t seen that many maps, I guess, but this was really different.

“Exactly,” the colonel, the new colonel said.  “There is something really odd about this planet.  The scouts have just found it and they reported it back to here, of course.  And our job is to find out what is going on.  The scouts, in their quick survey, couldn’t find any reason for this, so it is up to us. ”

Put together the way we are, the 903rd is an excellent choice for this assignment.  We have some excellent doctors, from both units, and the 302nd has a molecular biologist.  The 501st did great work on ‘Hell’ and we have all of their data; including some very interesting biochemistry work and the development of a new killing drug.  All told we have been chosen to investigate this phenomemon.

He turned away from the screen and back to us.  “Hopefully you all see the point.  We hope that whatever it is that is killing the enemy here is something we can duplicate everywehre. ”

“Well, that’s the end of this briefing.  Now we need to finish our organization.  We will be sleeping in dorms here, except for those of us who are recently married. . .  we’ve given them cells.  But for the rest of us, we will have new shift and ship assignments. . . ”

I listened, worried, but Beth-any and I were assigned to the same ship and shift as Adelphe and Uncle Andrew.  But, but they had assigned half of each shift, on each shift, to Catholics, too.

I found our dorm and, as it was, technically, the middle of our new sleep shift, I went off to the shower.  A couple of Catholic boys had the same idea and came over and stood next to me.  One of them was about seven, and he looked at me, “You, you look funny!” he said, staring at me.

I guess I did, all naked like this.  The camaflouge still hadn’t completely worn off and, since I was buck naked, the part under my loincloth was totally white while the other bits, all of my other bits everywhere, were kind of splotchy.

“Camaflouge,” I said.  “We used it on Hell. ”

“You were on Hell?” the other boy asked.  He was almost my age, about a year younger, maybe.

“Of course, we all were.  We just came from there. ”

“Wow!” the boy said.  “How was it?”

“It was great,” I said, “all over jungle.  I got to climb all over, and hunt enemy all the time.  I made myself a fort, or a kind of blind, out of these limbs. . . ”

As I talked I noticed more and more people, Catholics, all listening to me.  I had to move out of the shower to let the men shower but I couldn’t get away.  All of the boys, adn even some of the men, kept asking me questions.  The boys all wanted to see my loincloth but, of course, I hadn’t brought it with me.  “I have pictures, though,” I said.

Eventually all of the other men and boys drifted off, but that one boy, the older one, stayed with me and we went out to go to bed.  “Where are you sleeping?” he asked me.

“I. . .  I can sleep anywhere I want, I guess,” I said.  “My wife is over on the other ship. ”

“Oh, you have a wife?” he asked me.

“Yep.  Not you, yet, I guess. ”

“No.  I still need to be certified.  We’ve been kind of busy. ”

“Certified? Like, to enter puberty?”

“Yeh.  The doctor was on the other shift, and he’s been really busy. . . ”

“My sister can certify you,” I said.  “She’s a great doctor. ”

“Oh, great!” he said, looking nervous and looking around.

“Oh, she’s not here right now,” I said.  But, seeing his disappointed look, I said, “we can do it by screen, if you are willing to have me take your blood. ”

“That that would be great,” he said.

“Come on,” I said, and took him back in the boy’s room.  “Hey, Adelphe,” I said, on the com, “I have a boy here needs to be certified.  You have time? I’ll take his blood. ”

“Sure, Carl,” she said.  “Beth-any is sleeping.  Is he there?”

I broadened out the video screen and waved him over.

“What’s your name?”  she asked.

“George, ma`am.  George Whitfield. ”

She had me move the video screen around a bit and then, “Well, George, it looks like you were ready quite a while ago.  Let Carl take your blood and I will talk to your folks. ”

“Thank you ma`am,” he said, and duly came forward to me.

“We better get to bed,” I said, after poking his finger and feeding the blood into the machine.

“Where are you going to sleep?” he asked me and I, grinning in side, gave into the inevitable.  Not that I minded.  “Next to you?” I said.

Next to him turned out to be next to his whole family, of course, of which he was the oldest boy.  His mother was kind of surprised when he told her, rather nervously, what he had done but just nodded and told us to lay down.

We had hardly laid down, however, when her comp beeped and, with a glance at her children, she and her husband wandered off, coming back some minutes later.

“George, get up,” his father said.

“Yes, father?” he asked, getting up.

“We’ve assigned you a wife,” his father said.  “From Hargrave, too, the saints be praised. ” He suddenly realized what he had just said and looked at me, rather apologetically.  “You will find that easier, anyway.  Her parents are just now telling her and we discussed it and think it would be best for you to come together now.  They’ve arranged a room and all, and we will take you there, meet her, and the two of you won’t have to come forth until it is time for us to leave. ”

“Oh, Father,” George said.  “That’s great!”

“That it is,” his father agreed.  “Say goodbye to your new friend, and come now. ”

“Bye,” he said.  “Sorry we won’t be bunkmates. ”

“We can, still,” I said.  “You and yours… you and your wife can sleep next to me an my wife, once we are on ship and on shift. ”

“I’d like that,” he said, and we shook hands and, quickly dressing, he followed his parents.

“Cool,” I mumbled to myself and, turning over, went to sleep.

I awoke, the next morning, with an eight year old girl staring at me.  “What happened to George,” she asked me, as I got up and put my blankets away.

“He got married, last night,” I said.

“Really?” she asked, leaping from her bed and following me as I went off toward the shower.  “To who?”

“I don’t know,” I said, and she stopped at the doorway of the boy’s room, obviously disappointed.

“It was Susan Hanson,” she told me, when she got back from her morning shower.  “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Uncle Carl,” I said.

“You’re not my uncle,” she said.

“I am now,” I said.  “We got assigned together. ”

“That doesn’t make you my uncle,” she said, dubiously.

“They call it that, daughter,” her father said from behind her.  “The New Genevans and, I suppose, the New Texans as well.  If you are shift-mates then they call each other ‘Brother and Sister and Uncle and Aunt’. ”

“You don’t?”

“No,” he said to me.  “We use ‘mate’ sometime, but not often.  “I guess it just never caught on.  But, you are married? Where’s your wife?”

“Back on ship, med bay.  She got a nasty wound on Hell and she’s still recovering. ”

“Oh, sorry.  And your parents?”

“They died… on Hell,” I said, and he put his arm around my shoulder, which I didn’t really like.  And besides, I was  a soldier.  “I’m so sorry,” he said, sounding almost weepy.  I could tell these New Catholics were going to take a bit of getting  used to.

He forced me to walk with him, like that, all the way to the meeting, too.  Luckily once we got there I got assigned to a different planning group than I was in.  Our shift was going to be settling this one area, near this river.  Uncle Carl and Aunt Aliyah would be in charge of the medical/experimental group there, and Beth-any and I would form part of the soldier protection.  So my group was the soldier group, and we had to plan for forts and shelters and fields of fire and all of that.

“But remember, we will need to be capturing as many enemy as we kill,” our captain said.  “Our med teams will need lots of live specimens to experiment on and dissect for their trials. ”

“I don’t mind capturing them for that!” one of the New Catholics said, and I agreed with him.

“Well, good.  Has anyone here ever actually captured an enemy?” he asked and, suddenly, startled, I realized that my hand was the only one up.

“You there, what is your name?”

“Carl, sir, Corporal class. ”

“And you have captured an Enemy?”

“Just a Juvy, sir. ”

“Why was that? Foolign around? Wanted to eat it fresh?”

“No, sir.  We were experimenting with a drug to kill them, a drug I could put on my darts. ”

“You’re that Carl?! I would have thought you were older.  Well, how was it? Tell us how you did it. ”

I told them, and they all laughed at the story of my chest.  One boy asked, “You weren’t in armor?”

“No,” I said.  “My adopted parents are Pathfinders, and we were working on native tech.  I was just wearing a loincloth. ”

“Ow!” he said, and everyone grinned.

“So, a simple trap with some vines?” the captain asked.

“Yes, sir, but that was just for a Juvy. ”

“Well, we’ll need Juvies.  We have no idea what is causing this effect, and we will need to test all ages. ”

“yes, sir. ”

“I doubt that would work for Adults, or even Packs, though,” another man put in.

“True,” the captain said.  “And we won’t be limited to native tech anyway.  This isn’t a colonial plant, but a high priority experiment.  We will have all of the equipement we need.  So, what do we need?”