Star Wars: Rebellion (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2

         Dozens of books. Weapon schematics, ship schematics, Imperial military procedure, the list went on and on. All littering the floor around Jet, as he quickly poured over the pages, trying to learn or re-learn as much as he could about the Imperials. He just hoped all of this information, or at least most of it, was correct. He was learning about squad formations, how they would usually be groups of six or eight. And sometimes platoons would travel together, and they could be anywhere from four to six squads.

         He was so deeply involved he didn't notice when Jaxie entered the room, a cup of Ice tea in her hands.

         "Finding anything useful?" She asked, startling him out of his concentration.

         "Yes, tons. I don't know what to focus on, so I'm trying to read everything. I'm sticking mostly to Imperial military and technology stuff.. " He accepted the cup gratefully, gulping half of the wonderfully cold drink down.

         "Anything that will benefit us now?" She asked again, looking over the piles upon piles of books, shaking her head slightly.

         He nodded, "Yeah, I know how their squads are formed, I know how many men in battalion, for example. I know the chain of command, and their main tactics. Basically they aren't as dumb as we usually considered them. All we saw of them was "Swarm swarm swarm". That's not just it.. they're tactical. They may be swarming, but element of flight three, squadron one-nine-eight-six is attacking this point, while element of flight two, squadron one-nine-eight-six will have a completely different mission." He shook his head, "There very advanced, both technologically, and strategically. They probably have tactics our military haven't dreamed of yet."

         "So what are you saying?" She looked worried. He could tell by the way she bit her lip.. and had that sort of concentrating look.

         "I'm saying we can't rely on Imperial stupidity, which is one of the things I was hoping for. Chances are there just as good or better then us strategically. That leaves only once ace in the hole for us."

         "What's that?"

         He glanced down for a moment, "Heart. We have to want this more."

         She blinked.

         He winced, "I know Hun. But I think it's the best thing we have going for us. We need to kick these bastards off our planet, and make sure they never come back. I wish I knew if the Rebellion has started already.. or even if this is just some warlord out trying to gather up some slaves."

         He looked at her, seeing that she was kind of lost. That made sense, he had been speed-reading for the past couple hours.

         "Well I should probably check and see how Caleb is doing," She said, getting up.

         He nodded in agreement, "I'll come with you. Oh, by the way, did you get many people?"

         She smiled, he suspected she'd been waiting for him to ask her that. "I got a few. Started with just our neighbors, Paul said he'd join right away, then had a case of bad luck the next few calls after that. But then..." She handed him a piece of paper.

         He glanced down at it, eyes widening slightly, "Baby, you've got about two dozen people on here! Is this the list of people that are going to join?"

         Smiling proudly, she nodded. He threw his arms around her and kissed her cheek sweetly. "You are fantastic. When are they coming over?"

         "Whenever we call them back. I didn't want to make plans without you," she smiled up into his eyes.

         "Good idea, we don't know what or when we're doing anything yet," He nodded, following her down the hall to Caleb's room.

         They saw him cleaning his pistol, it laying partially disassembled on the table in front of him. He looked up and nodded towards them, "How you guys fairing?"

         Jaxie smiled, "I managed to get a few people to join, and Jet has been cramming his head with information about the bad guys."

         Jet pinched Jaxie playfully, also smiling, "She managed to get twenty-four people to join, and they're ready as soon as we call them. That's a bit more then a few, Hun."

         "Two dozen people! Wow nice there, Apple-Jax," Caleb grinned, the upbeat mood both of this friends were in rubbing off on him.

         "Yeah well, it's not that much..." She tried.

         "It is too. I wouldn't have been able to get half that," Jet cut her off, arms moving around her, pulling her into a hug. He knew that Caleb was used to such displays of affection, though he would feign nausea occasionally. "What have you been up to Kai?"

         He grinned more, "Well at first I was at a loss of where to start, so I decided getting some packs together." He pointed at the three, not quite large packs lying near his bed. "Those have a bunch of essentials in em, some ammo.. things like that. We'll each have enough food for about a week, so keep that in mind. Some essential tools and stuff too. You'll want to take a peek inside em when you get a chance."

         Jet nodded, grateful, "Thanks, you know I'm not much for.. erm.. organization. Guess that's kind of a bad thing to be saying when I'm over here helping to start an army.."

         Both Caleb and Jaxie laughed at that, but Kai just said, "I've seen you. Your very good with strategy, and your better at organizing a military operation then I am at putting a dumb pack together."

         Jaxie chimed in, "But then again, have you seen his sock drawer?"

         "I have a sock drawer?!" They all laughed at that.

         Just as a horrific screeching sound came from outside, silencing them as they ran outside.

         Another screeching sound past, just as Jet opened the front door, eyes immediately searching the sky. He just as quickly found the source of the noise.. there were plenty of them to see. Imperial TIE fighters, screeching overhead as the headed towards some destination. Thankfully, they seemed to have no interest in Hampshire.. but it was enough to make them all serious. Jet began to realize.. no.. Understand that this was all real. He was about to fight these same people.. and very probably die in the process. It hit him like a ton of bricks.. and he was almost sure that Jaxie and Kai were feeling the same thing.

         He watched the last TIE fly out of sight, then silently turned around and went back in the house. Those fighters were enough to finally get through to him. This wasn't some movie.. this was real. And he was going to be fighting an enemy with advanced technology, better tactics, and a larger force. He had to rely on experience and sheer force of will to get him through this. All the while making sure the woman he loved and his best friend didn't get themselves killed.

         He had his work cut out for him, clearly. But this final breakthrough in whatever mental defenses he had put up only motivated him more. Who knows where those TIE's were headed, or what damage they would do. He made it a goal to be able to shoot them down when next he saw them.

         "Jet," came Jaxie's voice from behind him. He had wandered back to their room, his mind formulating several plans, discarding some for better ones.. the longer he thought the better.

         But he was taken out of his reverie, "Yes angel?"

         She looked up at him concerned, he figured she had noticed the change in his demeanor, "What's wrong?"

         He looked down slightly, "I guess I just finally realized that this was real. That's all. Are you sure you want to do this? I know several places where you would be nice and safe.."

         She held a finger up to his lips, then tiptoed up, replacing her finger with her lips, kissing him softly. She smiled up into his eyes and pulled him close. God he loved this woman.

         Unfortunately, the moment didn't last. She broke the hug, just as Kai came into the room.

         "Hey guys, when are we going to get started?" their friend questioned, attention focused on his notepad as he scribbled something in.

         Looking down into Jaxie's eyes Jet replied, "We should start as soon as possible. So, I need both of you to call up the people that said they'd join and get them over here within an hour or two. I'll be taking a trip up to town to get some supplies we'll probably need from the store," he reached for his holster, his '50 cal. handgun safe inside, "And I guess I should bring a couple weapons with me just incase. Kai, can you get me one of the rifles?"

         He received a nod from his friend, who quickly left to retrieve one of the rifles from the den. When he came back seconds later he also had a pack with him.

         Jet accepted the rifle, slinging it over his shoulder, and grabbed the pack as well, looking at Kai.

         "Just in case," Kai winked. Ever the cautious type to his friends, but never too himself, Jet thought.

         Then he looked back down at Jaxie, seeing concern and determination in her eyes. Her eyes had a fire all of there own.. an energy that radiated from them. Yet another reason to love her. He kissed her passionately, his gun digging into his side, shoulder holster positioned uncomfortably.

         He didn't even notice.


~~~~~

         Well at least I know the town well enough, Officer Chris Mcdowel thought to himself, taking another turn down an unpaved road. This town is fairly big, but it's practically empty and all spread out. It just takes forever to get anywhere, it aint hard to find. He had been lost at first, trying to rely on an the outdated map given to him. Eventually he gave up on the map and just began driving around, looking for trouble, and looking at his surroundings. It didn't take long for him to figure out just how the roads connected. It was pretty typical of any other town, just less populated.

         But now he was on a mission. He was really, really thirsty. He knew there were a couple stores and gas stations in town, he refused to call it "down-town" because Hampshire had nothing of the sort, but he was quite a while away from it.

         His thoughts, occupying him from paying enough attention to the road caused him to almost miss a hardware store that he passed on his right. There was literally no traffic on this road, so he figured it wouldn't hurt pulling a U-turn. He doubted a bird would have noticed him, and judging from the tire marks on the weather-beaten pavement he wouldn't be the first person to do it. He quickly headed back in the direction of the small store, parking right next to a big brown truck. He figured having two customers at once was probably considered "busy" around here. He grinned at that.

         Walking into the tiny store, hoping they would have a vending machine. He could probably use his badge to get into their lounge or whatnot, but he rarely exercised such privileges. The badge was a responsibility, not a right.

         He walked through the store, seeing that the inside was actually bigger then it appeared. Nobody seemed to notice him walk in, for that matter he didn't notice anyone here. Thinking that odd he wandered down one isle, walking as softly as he could. He had a bit of a danger sense, and while he didn't get that familiar feeling, being cautious was almost always a good thing. He unbuttoned the snap on his holster, resting his right hand on the grip of the '44. He heard rustling coming from the back, like someone moving boxes around. His suspicion getting the better of him, he pulled out the handgun and held the powerful gun at the ready.

         He came up to the side of the door where the noise was coming from, kneeling slightly and aiming the gun at the open doorway. He called out, "Hello!"

         "Yeah just a minute, I'll be right with you," He heard someone say, then heard another voice talking, but he was unable to decipher the words. It was definitely a different voice. He lowered and hid his weapon behind the corner he was crouching and stood.

         A man came walking out, looking tired and worn out. He had to be in his late fifties at least. But despite how tired he looked he smiled and looked at Mcdowel, "How can I help you today Officer... Mcdowel," He said, reading his nametag.

         Seeing how frazzled the man looked, and that mysterious voice from in back, Chris just let his suspicion grow, "I just dropped in to see if you sold anything to drink," He said slowly, trying to glimpse into the open doorway. "Who is that back there?"

         The man raised a brow, "What do you mean? There is nobody back there."

         Mcdowel's danger-sense flared to life, a split second before someone grabbed his hand, the one holding the magnum, and flipped him over his or her side as if he had been a rag doll. The larger man pinned Chris's arm behind his back and quickly disarmed him of the '44, and grabbed the smaller handgun he wore on his other side. He was then rolled over and had a very large looking handgun pointed at his forehead. The gun was enormous, and it made his powerful magnum look like a peashooter.

         The younger man's eyes sparkled with an intensity, loose blond hair falling around him as he looked down at the incapacitated officer.

         "So, care to explain to me why your badge doesn't match the uniform, Mr. Mcdowel?" The blond man said, smiling slightly.

         "So help me god, if you don't get off of me right now.." Mcdowel fumed.. How DARE this man!

         The other man just cocked his very large handgun, "Shh. Answer and I won't put a fifty caliber bullet in your head. Or rather use that bullet to blow your head off, this thing is quite nasty in close quarters like this."

         Chris let out a resigned sigh, "They closed down the highway, and I got stuck in this town. I headed towards your local PD and was enlisted, so to speak. I'm using my own badge because I'm not apart of this police department, and I'm using this uniform because mine is back in my home in Mchenry. Now get that blasted gun out of my face before I-"

         The blond man uncocked the gun and stood up, holstering his weapon and offering his hand, which Chris promptly ignored. Rolling his eyes the other man cleared his throat, "Well, I believe you. Sorry, but with all the craziness you can never be too careful. If you want to press charges or whatever I'll come willingly."

         Mcdowel gave him a glare that would melt steel, but blew out most of his anger with a sigh. "I'm not gunna press charges, kid," looking at the younger man, "Just don't be so jumpy."

         The blond man grinned, "It wasn't me that was hiding behind the corner with his gun drawn. To me it looked a little suspicious, " he stretched his back, " I'm Jet, by the way. Jet Black. " He reached out his hand towards Chris.

         Willing to forget about this, partly because he might have done the same thing in this Jet's position, he shook the man's hand, " Officer Chris Mcdowel, Mchenry PD. It's been a bit less then a pleasure meeting you, " He couldn't help but smile slightly.

         Jet laughed heartily, slapping Chris on the back, "That's the spirit, no hard feelings. How about I get you something to drink? "

         "Deal. As long as it comes by the gallon."

         Jet nodded towards the old man behind the counter, then lead Chris into the back room. "A friend of mine owns this place," Jet explained, "I recently bought a couple thousand dollars worth of equipment from him, so now he's even more of a friend." He pointed towards the water cooler, and Chris immediately went over to it and began filling up a small cup with the exceptionally cold water. The second it touched his lips he felt better.

         "Why so much?" He asked Jet, sucking down the water greedily, realizing that he wasn't getting nearly enough water.

         Jet just raised a brow at him, " You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

         "Try me."

         Jet gave him a sigh, "I'm starting up a militia, a sort of underground army that will be fighting these invaders. I needed to buy some equipment."

         "Your right, I don't believe you."

         Jet walked over to the man and reached up on one of the shelves in the room, grabbing an empty water bottle used for camping. He handed it to the Chris, "Well you can't say I didn't call it. Thing is, I really am starting this and just thought of something. Your from Mchenry PD right?"

         Chris nodded, filling up the water bottle as quickly as he could.

         "Well, how would you feel about going back there?"

         "Can't."

         Jet raised his brow again, "Why not?"

         Chris drank down the water in great big gulps, then wiped his lip, "The highway is closed, like I told you. We can't get there."

         Jet rolled his eyes at him, "What, you cant use your legs?"

         Chris looked at the other man, "You can't be serious. It would take forever to get there?"

         Jet just laughed at him, "You've never been a soldier have you? How the hell do you think we got around in Korea? Pair of Mark One Legs, standard issue," He chuckled.

         Chris reddened slightly. Of course the walk wouldn't be that far, probably taking the better part of a day normally. He just wasn't used to thinking in terms of walking, he'd been driving for the past thirty years of his life. And he did want to get back to his town. "Why do you need to get there?"

         Jet looked away for a moment, leaning down to fill his own water bottle, "I want to meet up with an old war buddy of mine. I think I could really use his help. Hell he probably already has his own little group up and running."

         Mcdowel nodded, "How long do you think it would take us to get there?"

         Jet finished chugging some water, then returned to refill it again, " Without any interruptions we could probably get there in half a day. I'm expecting lots of interruptions, so I'll give it a day and a half, give or take twelve hours. But we'll have plenty of supplies and plenty of people. I have about two dozen people assembling at my house right now, all with there own weapons, and all ready to leave, now."

         Chris stroked his chin, contemplating. "All-right. . But I'm letting ya know right now I'm just along for the ride, I'm not joining your little 'resistance movement' or whatever, as soon as we get in town I'm headed towards the police station and getting back to duty."

         Jet just nodded, "No problem. Glad to have you with us. You feel better now?"
         Chris nodded, closing the water bottle after filling it one last time, then hooking it to his belt.

         "Ok. Well, help me get this stuff out to my truck, and you can follow me back to my place. Don't worry about your car, either. We have plenty of room. I'll get it back to you somehow, or you can come back here to get it."

         "Alright," Chris answered, wondering what he had just gotten himself into.


~~~~~

         Admiral Dilan Neelif had grown tired of his second in command's incessant whining. He didn't want to hear any more excuses, he wanted to know why the planet hadn't fallen yet.

         "-still learning about the multitude of groups on the planets surface. They are organized into.. well a rough translation would be 'Provinces'. Each major province is it's own entity, so it's not like we're fighting one planet, it's as if we're fighting many." Captain Jens Sedor went on, trying to explain his failings.

         "Yes yes, so I've been briefed," Neelif replied, "Inconsequential. This isn't the first planet the Empire has conquered that was almost exactly the same as this one. The only difference is that we can't orbitally bombard the planet into submission, and that's usually a last option anyway. So, explain to me what the problem is." He was doing his best to hold his temper.

         Captain Sedor held his hands behind him and came to almost complete attention, "Sir, I know you like the straight facts, so I'm going to explain this as bluntly as I can. While technologically inept, quite a few of the provinces are putting up more resistance then we expected. The group that calls themselves the "United States" is very troublesome, and they have even destroyed a handful of TIE fighters escorting bombers. Their primitive anti-air missiles are still anti-air missiles. Our pilots were overconfident and paid for it with their lives. The missiles are hardly a problem anymore, even our bomber's are more maneuverable then their best missiles, although they will occasionally get lucky. We haven't lost more then a squadron, though, so it's hardly a problem with the resources we have available."

         "You said you would get to the point."

         Sedor nodded, "The point is, Admiral, that with the planet fragmented the way it is there won't be an easy victory. We could be fighting for weeks, even months before we have the entire planet quelled, and even then I suspect a lot of resistance. In cases like this we will usually take out a few cities, or even an entire province with orbital bombardment, but we can't do that here. While we can make examples out of cities by more conventional means, it would more then likely only strengthen they're resolve."

         The admiral's eyebrow perked up, "How so? Fear has always been an effective way of dealing with every conquest."

         Sedor frowned, "Yes, I agree. But the majority of these people are different. If I had to classify it, I would say that everyone on this planet is stubborn."

         Neelif laughed at that, getting up from his chair and looking out the view port of his command quarters. The great blue ball of Sol 3 hovering close by, "How do our ground forces fair?"

         The captain pulled out his datapad, punching in a few characters, "Well we're still in the process of landing troops and armor, but all in all I would have to say it goes well. Every prefab fort and garrison is on time and going as planned. There has been some minor resistance, but mostly from locals of the various areas, I have a feeling the 'respected' governments of each province are still mobilizing. We've been in system for twelve hours now, and they still haven't organized a sizeable counter-attack on any of our large forces."

         "What resistance is to be expected?"

         Sedor again hit a few commands into his datapad. "There armor will probably be the most problematic, and there primitive aero-fighters. The fighters will not be much of a problem, as they are frail and even a hit from a blaster rifle can destroy them. The tanks will be our toughest challenge, and that's not saying much. The United States probably has the best military technology, and they're tanks are about the best on this planet. They are no match whatsoever to our hovertanks and walkers, of course. I just fear that they may use their armor as an anti-infantry weapon."

         "The Americans--that's what the people of the United States call themselves, I don't know why--will be the most problematic. There tanks are about the only military vehicle that they have that is armored enough to stand up to blaster fire. We have some schematics of it, and its armor can probably take a glancing blow from a medium blaster cannon, if taken at the front. Its armor is weaker at the sides and back, and much weaker at the top or bottom. All in all, a couple grenades or a mine will be enough to take them out of commission, so I suggest we start issuing all infantry forces in the area anti-tank weapons and equipment."

         The Admiral nodded, "Good thinking. See that it's done, and make sure the other admiral's are informed."

         Sedor gave the higher-ranking man a quick affirmative gesture, "Speaking of which, Admiral Draysen wished to speak to you at your earliest convenience. He did not specify why."

         Neelif just rolled his eyes. He despised that man, but unfortunately had to deal with him. "I'll see to him when we're finished here. There is one more matter I would like to address. How are we dealing with this planets atomic weaponry?"

         Sedor once again made a few requests on his datapad, bringing up the appropriate information, "Easily enough, it was the first priority of the conquest, after all. We dropped many EMP devices on such sites, including many of the ones they thought they had hidden. The first wave took out most of the global arsenal of weapons, and we have scanners looking for more. Places that we bombed are being the first places to be taken over. We can’t have these people throwing atomic weapons around when they're sitting on a giant bomb. All in all it's not much of a problem. One of the provinces in the larger continent.. 'Asia', managed to get some ballistic nuclear weapons off the ground. It was a simple matter of hitting them with Ion cannons and recovering them once they crashed."

         Neelif nodded, pleased for once. That was about the only thing that worried him on this planet. He didn't want these people destroying the planet he was working so hard to conquer. Seeing nothing else immediate to discuss he dismissed the Captain with a wave, and brought up the comm. A few moments later a holographic image of Admiral Reth Draysen appeared. He looked annoyed, as usual.

         "What is it Dilan?" Draysen said, as if he didn't know he had originally sent the request for Neelif to reach him.

         "I was about to ask you the same, Admiral." He refused to let frustration seep into his voice, "Or did you not ask for me to contact you?"

         "No I did," came the reply from the three inch tall hologram, "Why aren't we dealing with a planet-full of people willing to surrender yet? I thought that's what your fleet was here to do? The edge of the blade, so to speak."

         Neelif practically snarled at the man, "The overtake of the planet is going as planned. It's not my fault of the occupants happen to be a special variant of human known as stupid as I'm sure your quite familiar with."

         He just received a hearty laugh as a reply, "That's all well and good. So instead of fighting a bunch of people using archaic weapons, you’re fighting a bunch of stupid people with archaic weapons. That improves your position how?"

         Neelif visibly rolled his eyes, "It may take some time to completely conquer this planet. We can’t make an example out of a continent or two, we'd blow the entire system. "

         "Yes, yes I read the report. How many kilometers down is the Dryadium? Do you really think a turbolaser bolt-"

         Neelif cut him off, "You know damn well we're worried about outcrops of the ore. Quit playing your kid games with me, what did you want?"

         Sighing, as if he realized his fun had to come to an end, the other admiral straightened, "I was going to say that we've finally gained access to the space station, if you want to call it that. There was a bunch of scientists, and not one weapon. We're interrogating them now, the majority come from the group known as the Americans, and that's where the brunt of your ground forces are fighting."

         Neelif nodded, "Good. Send me a report on your findings, and keep most of them alive."

         In response he just saw the other man disconnect the link. Neelif just smiled.

~~~~~

         "All right guy's, here's the game plan," Caleb Smith said to the two dozen people gathered in his front room. Jaxie had done her best to produce chairs, but there was just simply not enough room. At least everyone will hear me, He thought, always the optimistic type. "Jet will be back in a few minutes, he even managed to recruit a cop while he was gone. We're going to be walking a lot, so make sure you have enough supplies on you for at least four days, preferably a week. The plan right now is for us to head out to Mchenry, and hook up with a couple of Jet's old marine buddies. They have experience, and we need all the experience we can get. Jet also has a strong feeling that his friend may be doing the same thing that we're doing, so we may be hooking up with another resistance group."

         He continued, "We expect to encounter enemy on the trip. This is very real, so keep your eyes open. Do NOT shoot at anything that doesn't shoot at you first, and if you spot someone blatantly Imperial, report it before trying to take them yourself. Remember, these army troopers are wearing bulletproof vests and helmets, and if we're unlucky enough to meet up with any stormtroopers, we should just avoid them altogether. There armor, even at the joints, is impervious to bullets, and even more important they are elite shock troopers. If we see them, we avoid and run. Any weapons we procure will go to people most skilled in weapons on down, we're in this for survival, not having a cool gun."

         Someone in the back raised a hand, and Kai nodded towards the young man, "Yes?"

         "What if we're surrounded by stormies, and we have to fight without blasters. What do we do?"

         Kai idly wondered if this kid was of age, "In that highly unlikely situation, use a melee weapon and go for the neck. That answer your question?"

         The kid gulped and sat back down.

         Kai just continued his little briefing, "Does anyone not have a weapon?" He waited a couple seconds, and when no hands were raised he went on, "Ok. Well we have quite a bit of a hike ahead of us, so prepare yourselves. Make sure you don't burden yourself down with too much, but bring enough. If we start mixing it up, make sure you find some cover and aim for the head. If you don't have some cover you can make some, it only takes a few minutes to dig a hole, and you all have shovels too, right?" Another bunch of nods, "Well if we get into it, you cover your buddies while they dig, then fall back. Work as a group, don't Rambo it guys. This isn't a game, this isn't a movie. This is real, and we're fighting a much larger, more advanced enemy then the world has ever known. But we're going to win."

         A chorus of cheers erupted, lifting Kai's spirits even more. He noticed Jet's truck pulling into the long driveway," Alright guys, lets do this. May the force be with you,"

         Everyone cheered again at that. The phrase had caught on quickly due to the circumstances. Kai also wondered... well, he couldn't let his mind wonder about things right now. There was work to be done, and a planet to save.

         A few moments later Jet walked into the room, a slightly shorter, older man following him wearing a Hampshire police uniform. Jet introduced the man as Chris Mcdowel, Mchenry PD. Jet had filled Kai in earlier over the phone, and the cop was only along for the ride. An extra gun until they got to Mchenry. Kai didn't get a good impression of the guy, but he tried not to let superficial impressions rule his judgment of people. He'd give the guy a chance.

         He walked up to the officer, "Hi, I'm Caleb, friends call me Kai." He offered his hand.

         Mcdowel shook it, "Jet told me a little about you. Apparently your rallying the troops while Jet was away. Nice group you got here."

         Kai nodded, though wasn't sure how to take that comment. They were completely disorganized and most of them had no training in warfare. They'll learn, he thought grimly.

         Suddenly he heard Jaxie's voice, "All right everyone, we're leaving in one hour. You guys can do what you need to do, prepare, fire off a few practice rounds, whatever. Just make sure your here in one hour if your going to participate in this. We're following militia rules, Jet's the one with the experience so we follow his orders. Any of you are free to leave at any time, but while your hear you'll have to obey his orders. We all agree to that?"

         She got a bunch of "Yes Ma'am's" and nods in return. Kai excused himself and headed towards his room to get his pack, bringing it down, looking for where Jet had gone. He found him with Jaxie in the den, talking quietly.

         "Woops, sorry. Private time, I'll leave," He said, and began to walk away.

         "No no, Kai. We were just planning a bit. I don't consider "Private time" discussing Imperial military procedure," Jet laughed.

         "Ah."

         Jet's eyes narrowed and he looked at Kai, "Something on your mind?"

         He knew he wouldn't be able to hide anything from Jet, "Yeah.. these people aren't soldiers."

         "Yes, I know."

         Caleb frowned, "Well, what if we bump into a platoon of troopers on the way? These guys are probably more likely to shoot each other."

         Jet looked at him, "I'd give them a bit more credit then that. I think even after a year of living out here your still not used to these people. Most of them are farmers, more of them are hunters, and even more of them own or have at least used a gun. These aren't your typical 'City-folk'. They know how to handle a weapon, and anyone with any experience in hunting is one step ahead."

         Kai tried to accept that as an answer, but he was having trouble with it. "Ok.. I guess. Well, we'll know when we fight, now won't we?"

         A grim look formed on Jet's face, "Indeed we will. You may have just understated that quite a bit."

         Jaxie cut in, "Alright boys, enough drama. We have a war to plan. Jet, when we get to Mchenry, what are we going to do?"

         Jet nodded, "Well, we hook up with my buddy Jaconda. He'll join us, or we'll join him depending on what he's doing over there. We recruit as many people as we can there then hoof it back here. I want to get started on our little headquarters, so we bring in some machinery, and more importantly, some construction workers and engineers. We're on a very large plot of land, so we start digging. We build a nice little underground base to work from, and while that's being built we go on the offensive. We find places to attack, we get more people, and we build up our forces. That's about as far as I've thought at the moment, so anything beyond that we'll deal with later."

         "We should also have ranks, a military structure, stuff like that." Kai added. He wanted this to become a bit more, professional. This ragtag stuff had to end sooner or later.

         Jet nodded in agreement, "We'll just borrow the rebel military structure then. I think it's fitting, and I'm more familiar with it then I am with the Marines chain of command. "

         Kai smiled, happy his idea took. "Well, at least we'll have plenty of time to discuss things on the walk we'll be taking, "

         Jaxie nodded at that, "It's been a while since I've walked so far, but I'm sure we'll all be fine."

         Jet noticeably bit his lip, "Well I'll doubt we'll be worried about the walk that much."

         That seemed to end the conversation, so Kai just nodded and slipped out. He ran into Mcdowel, almost literally.

         "Hey, so what's the plan?" The cop looked anxious.          

         "We sit tight for an hour. Help yourself to whatever you want in the house while you wait, or go outside and fire off a few rounds target practice. I'll be meditating." Kai tried to dismiss him as quickly as possible.

         The older man nodded, "Alright. It has been a couple weeks since I've been to the firing range, I'll go practice some."

         Caleb just nodded back at him, and went up to his room. He sat down, rested both hands on his legs, and closed his eyes.

         He had a lot to think about, and only an hour before the rebellion would begin.