O’Donnell and the Koch Brothers

Lawrence O’Donnell this past week made a rather widely publicized statement about the Koch Brothers.

Apparently he is accustomed to disparaging these two men because they use their resources to promote conservative political agendas. But this time he was taking note that David Koch had donated a large amount of money to a hospital which proved beneficial to the liberal MSNBC host. Then he went on to talk about how he could hold these two conflicting ideas at the same time. He believes the Koch brothers do harm with their money politically, but he also believes the Koch brothers do beneficial things with their money by funding hospitals.

If he believes they are doing something immoral by contributing to conservative causes, does he also believe people who give large amounts to liberal causes should be publically chastised or branded? There certainly are large, liberal contributors who intentionally use their money to try and shape public policy. Mr. O’Donnell uses his position to promote liberal causes. He apparently believes a person who uses his influence to promote liberal causes is practicing their rights and freedom of speech, but a person who does the same to promote conservative causes is doing something unfair.

I think he missed an opportunity to learn something. He is not allowed to tell others how they spend their money, but if he could, his own quality of life would have been negatively impacted.

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Refit, Retrain, and Rethink

The next episode for Jamison’s Battlefields. Here are the previous episodes in order. Like any story you will get the most out of it by reading it in sequence.

The first battlefield was The Battle for the Mind.  Zilkas Asteroid Belt, Jamison’s Rescue,  Dinner with an Alien, Dibolocos Attack, Departure Orders, Homecoming, Into the Darkness, The Family Business,  Jewel’s Place, Shanghaied,  First Mark,  The Pirate’s Life, Defensive Position, Adrift, Self Sacrifice, Crash Down,  The Lake House, Dancing with Egopods, Lunch with Aliens and Kilkian Alignment. 

The second battlefield is The Battle of the Hands, Here are the previous episodes in this battlefield Learning to See, Maintaining Common Sense, Meeting Compagno, Unseating Dibolocos, The Journey Homeward, and Ambush on Platinum 9.  Today we get Episode 27

 

Refit, Retrain, and Rethink

Chambers took the ship back to home port outside the capital. After checking orders and finding nothing pressing she dismissed the crew for two weeks shore leave. But she herself stayed on in order to both oversee the repairs and to go through the crew. She planned to have a crew she could trust when she was done, and it was the privilege of a captain to take such an action.

The CDF engineers put a new main drive into the ship and also upgraded most of the weapons. They were hoping that these new weapons would allow them to have more success against pirates. Chambers knew their main problem was not weaponry, but that the nature of the Dibolocos gave them advantages which could only be counteracted by the assistance of the Kilkians.

But she kept this knowledge to herself, at least for now, because the people here looked at the two alien races as much the same. Even the very few who were genuinely aligned with the Kilkian king were not as aware of the true nature of their warfare as she and Jamison. Although every person aligned with the king had a helper assigned to them, most were totally unaware of them.

In fact, the official status of the CDF was that they were not at war. They simply had a large number of pirates to deal with which had successfully disrupted trade at a critical time in the history of the colonies. Because of the inability to trade, society had further dilapidated and the military had taken full control of the government. Furthermore the CDF believed the pirates were random groups which could be Dibolocos led, human led or even led by Kilkians. Chambers understood that the piracy was actually an organized continuation of a secret war by the Dibolocos, but Colofen had advised her against voicing this truth. The people were not ready to believe it.

When the two weeks was nearing completion, Chambers was summoned by the CDF Strategic Command. When she prepared to meet with them Colofen warned her she should expect the meeting to be difficult.

Upon arrival, she discovered that she was the guest of honor at a banquet. She was aware that her victories had been the only success achieved by the CDF. This banquet which was being recorded, would be used as propaganda to help quell the fears of the populace. The CDF was in danger of being overthrown by the anarchy which had overtaken the general population. They hoped to be able to use her story as a success story, which would buy them time in restoring order.

But at the event she was alarmed to discover that a full third of the Central Strategic Commanders, the CSC, were actively aligned with Dibolocos. None were actively aligned with the Kilkians, only her. She was relieved that they did not seem to have any idea what was really going one. But she didn’t understand how she could bring about a unified defense or central government when so much of it was controlled by the enemy.

During the ceremony, she was made aware of several things. One was that she was being given a promotion in rank in addition to being commissioned as captain. The other was that they were moving her from her current command to a heavy cruiser. The CSC had handpicked a crew for her. She would be obligated to use the new crew, a fact which immediately worried her. Her efforts in getting her current crew and ship squared away had been a total waste.

One last fact that surprised her was, that her ship would be equipped with a full communication center. Not for military communications but with equipment used for civilian communication and entertainment. She was made to understand that they expected to continue using her as the primary source for their propaganda. In order to be prepared for this role, they had a couple of days of specific training for her to go through before departure.

During this training time, Chambers began to notice the problems of working in a world that was predominantly controlled by Dibolocos. While the training materials did mention that Dibolocos or humans could be the captain of a pirate vessel, the majority of their energy was in convincing her the Kilkians were the primary culprits. They even put in some suggestions that the Kilkian king might be orchestrating all of the piracy. The training reminded Chamber’s of brainwashing as much as a training event, but she kept quiet and didn’t correct any of the lies at the request of Colofen. Once she and her ship had departed then she would be freer to speak about the truth.

She also learned that her orders would be convoy escort. Along with her heavy cruiser, four light cruisers including the one she had brought home would be in the group. She would have command of all of all of them. On the last day of the training she met the other captains. Captain Bittlesworth was a man actively aligned with the Dibolocos. She was dismayed to make this discovery. Captain Avery was actively aligned with the Kilkian king. She was glad for this and hoped for a chance to speak with him privately in the near future. Captain Dremmer was passively aligned with the Dibolocos, but not particularly loyal to them. In a similar mindset was Captain Corel. He was the first officer who had unselfishly given her the credit for the victories over the pirates they had experienced.

Captain Bittlesworth had expected to be made the group commander and to have the helm of the heavy cruiser. He was a tough looking, handsome and self-composed man. He also gave every indication of wanting to get to know her better. She supposed he planned to charm her based upon his demonstrative attention and overly gentlemanly behavior. She also supposed this meant she would have to watch him the closest.

Ambush on Platinum 9

The next episode for Jamison’s Battlefields. Here are the previous episodes in order. Like any story you will get the most out of it by reading it in sequence.

The first battlefield was The Battle for the Mind.  Zilkas Asteroid Belt, Jamison’s Rescue,  Dinner with an Alien, Dibolocos Attack, Departure Orders, Homecoming, Into the Darkness, The Family Business,  Jewel’s Place, Shanghaied,  First Mark,  The Pirate’s Life, Defensive Position, Adrift, Self Sacrifice, Crash Down,  The Lake House, Dancing with Egopods, Lunch with Aliens and Kilkian Alignment. 

The second battlefield is The Battle of the Hands, Here are the previous episodes in this battlefield Learning to See, Maintaining Common Sense, Meeting Compagno, Unseating Dibolocos and The Journey Homeward.  Today we get Episode 26

From there they made a direct path back to the colonies. As the normal operations of the ship resumed, Chambers now had the opportunity to drop in and chat with Jamison fairly often, captains can do whatever they want. This was how he learned of everything that had happened on the journey thus far. For both of them it was refreshing to see each other, but visiting the enlisted area allowed Chamber’s to see that some members of the crew were not loyal to her leadership. She made plans to review the entire contingent aboard the ship so that when she went back out she would be able to completely trust everyone on board.

These plans had to be put on hold when they received a distress signal about two days away from port. It was from Platinum 9, a mining colony on a massive moon. The civilization on the colony had broken down to the point where the workers were rioting in the streets and the surviving members of the administration were holed up in their headquarters asking for immediate evacuation. Chambers diverted to the site and dispersed enough personnel to pacify the situation.

Below deck, Jamison had been studying the conditions among the colonies. While focused on this and strategizing with Colofer in unspoken conversations, he learned his circumstances were about to take a drastic change.

“A group of men are about to come and get you. Do not fight them.” Colofer spoke the warning only seconds before Jamison became aware of their approach. They quickly surrounded Jamison with drawn weapons and insisted he come with them. They gathered with the remainder of the landing party. If any of the other men had questions, they did not ask. Keeping with the instructions of Colofer, Jamison did not resist in any way either.

When they hit the ground the majority of the soldiers were sent to recover the colony administrators. The group holding Jamison was left behind to guard the shuttle. As soon as they were alone, his captors dragged him out of the ship and instructed him to run for his life. He only delayed a second, as his new insights and the cold look in their eyes indicated they were planning to open fire.  He ran towards the settlement, knowing he would never cover the ground before they started shooting.

About 25 meters later Colofer instructed him to dodge left. As he did so a shot ripped through the air he had previously occupied.  A few paces later he was told to dodge left again, with a similar outcome.  Following these instructions he survived the dash into the cover of the buildings on the edge of the settlement.  At first he thought this meant he was safe, but he felt compelled to keep running until he was past several more buildings.  Behind him the soldiers fired a larger weapon and completely destroyed the building he had first hidden behind. If he had stayed in the original hiding place he would have been killed.

They were sending a group out to make sure he was dead, but that group encountered resistance from a group of disgruntled miners. A firefight ensued, until the main group returned with the evacuees. They were returning with all haste and also taking fire from the disgruntled workmen so dealing with the situation on the ground prevented them from discovering Jamison was still alive. A few minutes later the shuttle pulled away leaving Jamison hiding in the colony without a weapon and surrounded by thousands of angry people.

He hunkered down half expecting Chambers to realize what had happened and send a landing party down for him. But instead a couple of hours passed and he felt the departure of the ship in his emotions. Colofer assured him it would be alright. And on the ship Colofen had similar instructions for Chambers. As she pulled away, knowing full well she was leaving her friend in a very hostile situation, she silently asked the king to watch over him.

Back on the moon, Jamison was hunkered down in the rubble of the destroyed building. It appeared to have been an empty warehouse. The shelving made for lots of mangled metal, but there didn’t seem to be any goods among the destruction. This was probably the cause of the rioting. Pirates made shipping difficult, or sometimes impossible. So colonies began to starve, and starving people could do desperate things. Jamison well remembered his short return to the capital city after being rescued from the Zilkas Asteroid Belt. If the capital was in that much distress it only made sense outlying areas were worse.

He spent the rest of the night searching for anything useful, and evading detection from the large mobs roaming the streets. Unfortunately he found nothing he needed. There was no food, no water, no weapons—and daylight was approaching.

He decided his best bet was to be out of town when the sun came up. So he worked back to toward the landing area where he had been shot at. As he approached the destroyed warehouse he realized a lot of people were gathered there. This time it wasn’t workers. It was their families. They heard the facility holding their supplies had been destroyed and came to scavenge what they could. The discovery that it was empty had hit them hard. Many groups were weeping openly. Others were wandering with that particular blindness brought on by hopelessness.

Jamison considered whether or not he could blend in with these groups and perhaps be undetected as a stranger. He doubted this plan would work, and decided to circle around them and head out of town.  Across the landing zone was a mountain range where he hoped to hide. But upon arriving he realized that those mountains were the center of the mining operations. The workings held lots of hiding places as long as the workmen didn’t come back to the mines.

By this time the growing twilight allowed him to see farther than he had before. In front of him was a series of cliffs he would not be able to climb. Behind him was the landing pad, with thousands of miners crossing toward him to reach the mining works. They were probably looking to scavenge anything useful. Jamison’s mind searched for a plan, he needed a hiding place. Every place he looked was unlikely to work.

Too quickly for comfort he was against the rock wall, and scouted toward the right hoping for cover. What he found was a massive water tank. He climbed the ladder to the top and found a control room.  Apparently they had used water pressure to perform some of the drilling and digging. The water was then collected and reused. According to records the water would eventually be too heavy with sediment and have to be replaced.

In the control room was a few instruments including sensors to analyze material.  Since he was thirsty he tested the water to see if it was safe to drink. It was not. It had absorbed massive amounts of heavy metals and contaminates from the mining operation.

He kept one of the sensors. It was the only useful thing he had found after searching all night. Every water cooler was empty, every weapons locker emptied. He climbed down and continued his search for a hiding place. The workers were already moving into the camp. He assumed they would search every room, he needed a someplace that was less obvious.

As he heard angry footsteps approaching he noticed a small tunnel going under the edge of the water tank. With no other options he crawled into the opening and disappeared into the darkness. In the dark he could feel his hands and knees come into contact with something slimy. Then he felt his head contact the back of the burrow. He rolled over on his back and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark. While he waited he listed to the rustling of something else that was in the den with him. Probably, whatever animal had dug the hole in the first place, he just hoped it was not dangerous.

Children’s Ministry

I believe ministry to children is an indispensable part of a church.

It is not just a matter of the adults in the church need a place for their children to be while they participate in spiritual exercises. It is also that the children as they grow need to learn their own spiritual nature. And it is also that the church has a responsibility before God, to minister to children.

The church must always remember children are important to God. He made this clear by including them and emphasizing their importance during His earthly ministry. He also made it clear the faith of a child is a precious and special faith, which is not to be wasted or depreciated.

So ministry to children should be more than just childcare. Even for the youngest of children, special care should be taken to make them feel safe, loved and to train them in Christianity. This means teaching them to love God and to serve God through the church. Their ministry be carefully planned and intentionally structured. The spiritual lessons should be carefully ordered and presented.

Since children are important to God, they must be important to us too.

Gambel’s Quail

This is a male Gambel’s quail. Specifically it is the lookout. A covey of quail will often post a sentry. One of the birds will be posted on top of a shrub or brush pile so that it can see danger coming and warn the others.

When I saw this bird perching on top of the scrub, I took several pictures of it, and then decided I wanted to find the covey. After all it is the time of year they have chicks with them, and a line of babies would make a great picture.

I stepped out of the car without spooking the bird, then I used my camera to scan every likely hiding place. I continued scanning until I decided I could give up. It would be just as easy to walk towards the sentry. It would call out an alarm, and then join the others for a mad dash out of harm’s way.

My plan worked to a point—a point followed by failure. The reason my plan did not succeed was because I had made a faulty assumption. The vast majority of quail are in coveys, but there are always a few unpaired birds.

This particular bird when it did fly down and take off running, crossed a golf course where I could see with great certainty that it was alone. There would be no pictures of chicks, because there were no chicks. It was a false assumption.

Believers also commonly make false assumptions. We tend to think the people around us are already Christians. But some of them are not. The last thing we want is to have people we thought we would see in heaven never show up. The bad part will be realizing we had missed many chances to talk to them about it.

“Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.” Colossians 4:6 (HCSB)

My Hope for the Cantor Loss

One of the more mysterious things to happen in politics this past week was the defeat of House majority Leader, Eric Cantor by relatively unknown, Dave Brat. When the votes were counted, neither Cantor nor Brat were quick to believe the results.

They had been told by polls how the election was going to go. Only this time it didn’t.

They had expected the difference in money spent campaigning to rule the day. Only this time Brat, spent less than $123,000 while Cantor spent almost $5,000,000.

The media believed it had relegated Brat to extinction by marginalizing him as a part of the tea party. But that apparently didn’t have the expected effect.

 

I cannot tell you what really happened in Virginia. But I can choose to see it as a positive.

I find it hopeful that the polls were wrong. Polls have been thoroughly misused, to not only inform the public, but also to shape public opinion. This event may reshape the power of the pollster.

I also find it hopeful that dollars did not rule the day. Dollars winning elections should be an abhorrent thought to all Americans, the idea that we are bought.

I find it hopeful that the public bucked the negative labeling of the press. I believe a media which was doing its job would inform the voting public of the positions of each candidate. Then they could vote, accordingly. Perhaps they will again begin reporting the public opinion instead of trying to shape it.

 

Note on that last point, America and politicians have been told the way to win election is to stay aligned with your political base while winning votes from the moderate middle. But perhaps at some point it can once again be about public service, leadership and maintaining American values and virtues.

The Journey Homeward

The next episode for Jamison’s Battlefields. Here are the previous episodes in order. Like any story you will get the most out of it by reading it in sequence.

The first battlefield was The Battle for the Mind.  Zilkas Asteroid Belt, Jamison’s Rescue,  Dinner with an Alien, Dibolocos Attack, Departure Orders, Homecoming, Into the Darkness, The Family Business,  Jewel’s Place, Shanghaied,  First Mark,  The Pirate’s Life, Defensive Position, Adrift, Self Sacrifice, Crash Down,  The Lake House, Dancing with Egopods, Lunch with Aliens and Kilkian Alignment. 

The second battlefield is The Battle of the Hands, Here are the previous episodes in this battlefield Learning to See, Maintaining Common Sense, Meeting Compagno and Unseating Dibolocos.  Today we get Episode 25

The light cruiser set up an orbit while injuries and damage could be sorted out. A shuttle picked up Jamison, along with all their usable supplies and logs. Shortly thereafter they were underway to return Chambers and Jamison to the colonies. Battlefield repairs were made, but the ship would have to be docked to allow it to be returned to full battle readiness. Colofer and Colofen came on board too, but they hid themselves so that only Jamison and Chambers understood they were there.

They both had trouble sleeping on the month long voyage. Jamison had been put in a bunk in enlisted quarters, not the normal place for a major, but his commission had not been accepted so they saw him as a civilian. He had to get used to the rush of emotion caused by so many around him being unaligned, or worse being aligned with the Dibolocos. He also had formed an unconscious habit of tracking where on the ship Chambers was. It especially bothered him that she never seemed to lay down to sleep herself. He didn’t know why or what was unfolding but he could tell something was odd.

For Chambers her first victory on the ship had been met with the gratitude of the crew, but the captain quickly grew suspicious of her. She was assigned to sick bay since she had a medical background. Unfortunately the officer in charge wanted to play doctor with her. So she was constantly playing cat and mouse to stay out of reach without creating an open conflict. Since they bunked in the same section she found it necessary to avoid the sleeping quarters when he was there.

During these times she would spend time in the chart room, studying the spread of CDF forces. Her visits there were noticed by the captain, which only raised his suspicions further. They would be traveling by the Capital Nebula, and every time she saw it on the charts she felt uneasy. Then one night she was there, head down taking a nap in the seclusion. She bolted straight awake and in a panic drew her side arm searching the room for a target. Her eyes found nothing, but the automated charts revealed their course had altered to pass immediately beside the nebula. Suddenly she knew she had to get to the bridge.

She ran down a corridor for ten feet before realizing she was headed the wrong way. Back the other direction and around two corners was a lift that came out near to the bridge’s only entrance. She sprinted all the way up, hoping she wasn’t too late. Then she was stopped cold in her tracks by two guards at the bridge entrance that had orders to not allow anyone in, especially not her.

She begged, she reasoned, but the two low ranking men just stared at her with mild amusement. She was considering how to force entrance when the doors opened from the other side. The first officer, a man passively aligned with the dibolocos came out and started at seeing her there.

“Chambers, I was just coming to get you.”

“Why what’s happened?”

“I am demanding the Captain seek a second opinion on his current course of action. You being an outsider struck me as the most logical choice. Follow me please.”

The soldiers who had barred her entrance now followed her onto the bridge. Standing behind her with their weapons held at ready.

“Chambers what are you doing here?” the captain demanded. Then seeing the guards he yelled, “Collusion! Mutiny!” At this he drew his side arm and aimed it at one of the startled guards. The man dropped dead before having a chance to react. He might have fired again, but the helmsman disarmed him. This, of course, made him even more angry and he threatened personal violence toward everyone he saw.

The first officer had him subdued and confined to quarters. Then he explained they had become aware of a supply convoy moving in a similar route to them. Instead of joining the convoy for safety the captain had insisted they move the other direction. Hence the order to approach the nebula.

The first officer objected since this route made them vulnerable to ambush. It’s hard to sneak up on someone in open space. Any object could hide an enemy, but a nebula would be ideal cover for a trap. To make matters worse the first officer was pretty sure the captain had been quietly sending messages off-ship of an unknown manner and destination.

Chambers demanded an immediate halt. They came to a complete stop in space in relative proximity to the edge of the nebula. Then she ordered three missiles be sent into denser pockets of the nebula. All three found a pirate ship. Their hiding place also served to prevent them from seeing the incoming round and do anything to prevent their own destruction. Cheers were rounding out the bridge when the officers realized she was shouting a new order.

“Now, Run! Top speed! Heading 287 mark 65.”

“What are you doing?” asked the confused first officer. His question was answered when a fourth ship came out of the mists. It was huge, and would not have been brought down by a single missile like the others.

The commanders on deck followed her orders and they were off on another wild chase. Again the other ship was faster, but less nimble. They fired their big guns often and the competent crew dodged the shots easily, but as the distance closed it would get harder and harder.

Chambers focused her thoughts to see if Colofen had any ideas, “Make a giant arc back toward the nebula. You will have just enough time to get back before they catch you.”

The route worked, and everyone was hopeful there seemed to be a plan. When they neared the nebula again, Colofen had Chambers command they enter at a very specific point. As they did the mists cleared for about 20k meters. At the end of this spontaneous tube they found another turning off at 90 degrees. They turned and followed the new tube to the end where they stopped. The tubes closed behind them and they were blinded by the nebula. Behind them and close came a massive explosion. The nebula cleared enough to show the big ship had chased them in and when the nebula closed they went straight instead of turning. This caused them to impact a moon sized asteroid.

The first officer would normally become captain when the previous captain was unable to serve. As soon as they were out of danger the man began communicating with the CDF Strategic Command. After giving them a full report he made an unusual request. A few hours later, Chambers was made captain. When the previous captain was told about it, he committed suicide.

Brewer’s Blackbird

 

This intimidating stare belongs to a Brewer’s blackbird. The bird is typical blackbird size and this picture highlights one of the typical field marks for the Brewer’s, the bright yellow eye. Another field mark is the green and purple sheen of the feathers. While the sheen is visible in this picture, it is best seen in person.

Sheen is the way the sunlight reflects off of a bird. Feathers are like prisms which can reflect back a specific color of light. In this case the reflected light is purplish in some parts of the bird, and greenish in other places.

Your daily walk with Christ should also function a bit like a prism. When a person walks in the light of God’s Word, that light not only shines into them changing and shaping them, but also reflects out of them visible by the world around them. This light might be visible as a positive attitude or an internal joy. It might be visible as a humility and a life pattern of placing others ahead of yourself. Or maybe it comes across as courage, allowing you to always do what is right no matter what the cost.

Can you see some manner in which God’s Word has done a transformational work in you, which is visible to the world around you? In John 3:21 (HCSB), Jesus says, “But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

Immigration Revenge

The failure of the US Government in regards to dealing with illegal immigrants is appalling. America does not want an open border policy, but neither should we allow the manipulation and mistreatment of immigrants for political purposes.

A new situation is just beginning to come to light as Phoenix and other locations around Arizona are receiving multitudes of illegal aliens dumped there by the government. The stated reason for this action is Texas officials have been overwhelmed with the number of illegal aliens entering that region of the country. If they had been Mexican they would have been simply returned across the border, but these individuals are from other places and only passed through Mexico with the goal of reaching the United States. In the original groups there were men, women and children, but in the last couple of days, it has been only women and children.

Part of what makes me call this a failure is the fact the individuals are simply released to the streets. They are given orders to appear at hearings which would likely result in their deportation, first, but they are in charge of themselves until that time. Of course many of them are not prepared to be in charge of themselves, nor are they of a mindset to appear for deportation.

Media coverage has made it clear the only assistance they receive when they hit the ground here is from compassionate citizens. In many cases the people were assisted in getting bus transportation to other U.S. Cities where they had relatives. I assume these individuals have no intention of coming back for their hearings. Others have said they will begin looking for work. Another distressing aspect of the situation is that some of the people have been unaccompanied minors. Reports on supervision of these kids has been inconsistent, some saying they were always given supervision others saying they were treated the same as adults.

Two things worth saying. If we had closed the borders we would not have this problem. But second, dumping these individuals here, in a way in which hundreds or maybe thousands per week will become the responsibility of Arizona appears to be revenge. Arizona is made to be the bad guy in the national discussion of illegal immigration. (Even though every action we have taken has also been taken by other states.) And now we are being punished by being inundated with illegals.

But notice the process of taking this revenge included treating these immigrants as pawns, or worse like cattle. Also notice the compassion of Arizonans of all kinds have stepped up to assist these immigrants.

I bet there will be more to revelations on this story in the weeks to come.

Unseating Lobokidos

The next episode for Jamison’s Battlefields. Here are the previous episodes in order. Like any story you will get the most out of it by reading it in sequence.

The first battlefield was The Battle for the Mind.  Zilkas Asteroid Belt, Jamison’s Rescue,  Dinner with an Alien, Dibolocos Attack, Departure Orders, Homecoming, Into the Darkness, The Family Business,  Jewel’s Place, Shanghaied,  First Mark,  The Pirate’s Life, Defensive Position, Adrift, Self Sacrifice, Crash Down,  The Lake House, Dancing with Egopods, Lunch with Aliens and Kilkian Alignment. 

The second battlefield is The Battle of the Hands, Here are the previous episodes in this battlefield Learning to See, Maintaining Common Sense and Meeting Compagno.  Today we get the Episode 24 or the fourth episode of the second battlefield.

Unseating Lobokidos

They spent the rest of the day together and then the entire next day.  Then it was time for Jamison and Chambers to head back to the lake house. Compagno was going to pack up too, and head back to the colonies. He had once been a business leader and now he was certain he could help restore law and order to his homeland.

The journey back to the lake house was uneventful. When they got there they were told their training was complete. They should pack up and prepare for the CDF ship that was going to discover them. From there they would return to the colonies. Where each of them would take on separate assignments.

They dreaded the idea of parting, but also held excitement at the prospect of a new assignment. They both agreed, whatever the king had planned would be a okay with them. They double checked the emergency beacon on the lake house and confirmed it was working well. Then they sat down to dinner together.

It was during the meal that Colofer and Colofen began to reveal what their assignments would be. First for Chambers, her skills and her background were going to be especially useful as a warrior in service, not just to the CDF, but also to the king. When she returned she would be quickly commissioned to captain her own warship. In this position she will do much to stop the piracy and smuggling which prevents safety and a sound economy for the colony.

As she proves her capability she will become one of the key officers directing the defence of the colony and quickly be promoted to the security of all the colonies in their section. She would then be in a position allowing her to use her relationship with the king and special skills to greatly curtail the activity of the Dibolocos. When the enemy is no longer able to operate freely among the colonists they will have a greater opportunity to see the truth about the Kilkians and their king.

Chambers had quite a few specific questions about how all of this would come about. But instead of being givin the details she was simply encouraged to move forward, trusting the king. She accepted that answer. After all, the king could tell her in advance it was going to happen, so she had confidence in his abiltiy to work it out. But at the same time she felt some apprehension about the possiblity she would mess up the plan by some mistake she made along the way.  Colofen reassured her, but not in the way she had hoped. He told her that she absolutely would make a series of mistakes along the way. The reassuring part was the king already knew and planned how to make it all work out alright.

Jamison was getting antsy to hear what his assignment would be. He was glad to hear that Chambers would be so successful and instrumental in bringing about the peace the colonies, which they needed so desperately. In addition to this, he was glad to hear about the way the king was compensating for human weaknesses in advance. He was quite sure he would make mistakes along the way as well.

Colofer, in response to his thoughts, announced it was time for Jamison to learn his assignment as well. Jamison was going to be the king’s lawbringer. He would organize the people into a local government. This government would be challenged at every turn but once it was established it would pass laws to protect the citizens of the colony. Selecting the right set of laws in order to maintain a safe and morally ordered society would be difficult, but after it comes about people will be able to choose their alignment for themselves without as much of the manipulation and control of the Dibolocos.

They cleaned up after dinner, and not hearing anything from rescuers, they went to sleep as normal. In pre-daylight hours the next morning the sensors on the lake house went off, waking up everyone in the household. Jamison arrived first, and to his surprise the ship was not hailing them, instead it was sending out a distress signal.

Chambers arrived next and as she came in she kept glancing up. She said Dibolocos pirates were up there somewhere. They both recognized the impression and knew it was Lobokidos. Then the distress call was repeated indicating a CDF light cruiser under attack by pirates, it was mostly disabled. Chambers pushed Jamison out of the way and indicated she was available to help. The communications officer responded there didn’t seem to be anything they could do.

Chambers asked to be taken aboard. She explained she was a military officer with experience fighting pirates. At first they refused stating the move would only get her killed. But she insisted and they were getting increasingly desperate. The ship didn’t see any means of getting Chambers on board anyway, they didn’t have the technology to beam people back and forth. That was Kilkian and Dibolocos technology, but not human.

Chambers took that as permission so she prepared herself for the trip. A moment later, she was beamed aboard into a chaotic situation by Colofen.

At first she was almost struck down by the overwhelming sense of immediate danger. Complicating the matter, this was the first time she had experienced a group of people, and the inherent feelings of some being actively or passively aligned with Dibolocos. But she had to push this all aside in order to join the battle. She had been beamed directly onto the bridge. The communications officer was the only person on the bridge who was not injured in some way.

“What is the status of the ship?” she commanded.

“Shield is at 15%, Power is still full, all weapons are disabled with the exception of a surface mine layer.”

“And what damage has been done to the pirate ship?”

The captain, first mate and navigator all glanced at each other in a way that made Chambers sweat. “As far as we can tell, they have not sustained any damage.”

“So as far as you can tell, they are about to destroy us without our having any chance to defend ourselves?”

“Yes.” The captain was under dibolocos influence. Chambers wondered if this was why he didn’t seem more upset at his impending death.

“How far back are they?”

“They are ten-thousand meters back and closing. We assume they want to be close enough to make killing us a more personal experience.”

Chambers believed this was true because of her past experience in fighting Lobokidos and speaking with Jamison.  Suddenly an idea came to her and she commanded they enter the atmosphere of the planet. Next she gave the navigator orders to fly down to about 3000 feet above the surface and to head toward the previous settlement. When they began to approach the camp Chambers dropped even lower to just above the treetops.  Then right before crossing over the camp, they took off again, changing their trajectory to straight up.

The pirate ship, which was now just a couple of hundered meters behind, was not as nimble as the CDF ship.  So when it turned upwards to follow its prey, it swung wide over the settlement. When it did it vibrated every building in camp, including the one storing the instable explosives. They responded as Chambers had anticipated and the massive explosion ripped upward into the pirate ship, destoying it completely.

Lobokidos was not hurt in this explosion, but his body was blown apart into hundreds of pieces which settled down on the planet with the rest of the debris. It wouldn’t take long for the parts to all come back together and form again. But everyone else on board the pirate ship was dead.