Xander leaned on the wall, trying hard not to make any noise. The room was narrow and bare, except for a long white table and about a dozen plastic chairs strewn around. He felt that a single wrong move could cause all thirty VLF soldiers in attendance to fire at him and Lira, and when that happens there wouldn't be enough cover. Of course he may be exaggerating, but after hearing all those stories —

"Are you constipated, or what?", Lira suddenly asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

The ambient buzz of people fiddling with wires and connectors slightly faded, as if they wanted to eavesdrop on the pair's conversation.

"What?!"

"You're so tense, you look constipated," Lira said so casually that Xander didn't know whether to be offended. "Anyway... what time are we going to finish up here?"

"Soon enough," a deep voice intoned. Beside them, a tall and dark-skinned man approached. Lira's eyes instinctively traced the thick sideburns that extended from his wild curly hair to the bottom of his chin. He was wearing a simple moss green shirt, denims, and an apologetic smile.

"And you are?", Lira asked with a squint.

"Maurice Donovan, VLF. I report directly to Everett. And on that note, I believe I must apologize for the General's rather condescending behavior this morning. I think you know him well enough to know it's mostly bluster," the man said as he extended a hand.

"I know him pretty well, alright. He’s been the talk of the town ever since I was a kid. But... I haven't seen you around before," Lira said as she cautiously took the offered hand.

"I doubt you'd notice me even if you did. As you can see," Maurice said as he gestured to his outfit, "I'm not much like my peers. I'm not given to flaunting my colors and identity."

"And I reckon you're not into meetings as well? I've never seen you in one before."

"Oh, I hate them with a passion! I just get my info from the news briefs. Everett handles the formal stuff. I'd rather be on the field, with my ear on the ground," Maurice responded, folding his arms with a self-assured air.

"But you're here today," Xander finally spoke up.

"Well... today’s different. I'm afraid we have some very distressing news."

As if on cue, the lights dimmed. The far wall of the meeting room folded up to reveal an old plasma LCD screen. It flickered to life, and showed a very simple image.

The image was enough, however, to make everyone's hair stand on end.

On the black screen were two glowing circles. On the top right was a blue one, meant to symbolize Earth. On the lower-left was a yellow one, meant to symbolize Venus. Overlaid atop the yellow circle were three green dots, representing the Clusters that made up the Veneran Colony.

Also on the screen, a little over a quarter of the way through the black space between the two dots, was a torrent of red triangles, each of them representing an object launched from Earth.

In the middle of the screen, in bright yellow colors, was a countdown:

97 DAYS 23:36:01

"Dear heavens, there must be hundreds of them," one of the VLF soldiers near the front exclaimed.

"Yes, but these scans are still very fuzzy. Some of those are ships, and some of those could be mass driver projectiles meant to smash through our defenses. We're also still clueless on the type and size of each craft. But I'm getting ahead of myself."

From the back of the room, Lira and Xander craned their necks to see who was speaking. Swiftly crossing to the middle of the room was a diminutive-looking person wearing the ash-gray overalls of factory personnel. From here, neither of the two could tell whether the speaker was male or female — even the voice wouldn't give anything away.

"I gather it's your first time meeting her, too?" Maurice smiled at Lira, who nodded. "Her name is Maya, and she's a top-notch intelligence specialist for the VLF. I say I like to keep my ear on the ground, but that girl can get below the ground if she wanted to. Heck, she can get anywhere, and know anything."

"Just how much key VLF personnel don't we know about?", Lira asked, her irritation apparent in her voice.

"Hey, it's not like you have to know all about us. We're not the enemies, after all." In response, Lira and Xander exchanged a glance.

In front, Maya continued. "In case you haven't heard, the Earth forces will be hitting us in a little over three months. That coincides with the next Venusian evening. These latest scans show that their fleet’s estimated firepower is more than twice what we initially expected."

An alarmed chatter broke out in the room.

"Not all's gloom and doom, however. The good news is that we have already confirmed the fleet’s trajectory. We know exactly where they will hit, and when. That way, we can intercept them even before the ships break formation and spread around the planet.”

As she spoke, Maya paced around excitedly. Her fingers played with the remote control used for the presentation. “Also good news, in about a couple of weeks the fleet will be close enough for our scanners to make out their actual composition. This information should allow us to plan effective countermeasures. I mean, at least enough so that the Colony won't all be wiped out."

Despite the nonchalant delivery, the weight of those words hit everyone in attendance. "There goes our optimism," Xander muttered under his breath.

"Additionally, our reflective jammers are still working flawlessly, so Earth shouldn't be alerted as to our preparations." Then a pause. "Not that there's much to see, anyway," Maya said as she glanced at Lira's direction.

"Are all VLF officers jerks?", Lira shot, barely whispering.

"Uhm... I don't know. Do you think I’m a jerk?", Maurice replied, while Xander suppressed a snigger.

"If you want further details, we've prepared a brief that you'll all be shortly receiving. Not that the information there is much more useful than the one on this screen, but at least you have something to nibble at." Maya paused to allow for any questions from the crowd. However, everyone was too fixated on the screen to think of any.

"And with that, I turn the floor over to General Callahan."

The general stepped up to the center of the room, and scanned his audience. He had lost all the haughty air that he displayed earlier as he greeted Lira and Xander.

"As you know, the situation is very dire. We have roughly three months to counter a force that is far bigger and more powerful than even our most generous estimates. This fleet is about four times larger than the total number of ‘War Train' ships Earth sent us three years ago, and we all know how that almost brought the Colony to its knees. Now, those bastards will try to take everything from us in one fell swoop, and we can't let them."

Callahan paused to take the remote control for the presentation. In that brief moment, a deathly silence filled the room.

"In the light of all these events," Callahan continued in his gruff voice, "we should significantly step up our defensive infrastructure. To do that, we need to cut back on unnecessary activities and recruit all able hands to man the production lines. Effective immediately, these academic and research groups you see on the screen should be dissolved and diverted into defense preparations. We will be doubling our plate turret allowances, and creating additional mass driver arrays to to act as a first line of —"

"I'm sorry, may I have a word in?", Lira interjected as she took several steps forward. "The list on your screen includes the Surface Research Group. I'm afraid we can't allow that group to be dissolved."

"And why is that, Field Marshal Fari?"

"The Surface Research Group is working on a project under my direction, whose end goal is to provide an escape route for our citizens when our defenses fail."

"When our defenses fail? It seems you're already expecting defeat. Not a very healthy mindset, if I may say so," Callahan replied as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Well... you're right. I'm not expecting a win, at least not with your plan," Lira countered. Around the room, jaws dropped and eyebrows raised. The image of this young woman lecturing a battle-hardened veteran what to do in war is quite the sight.

"And what do you mean by that?" Callahan's voice hardly hid his indignation.

"In a nutshell, your plan is to divert all our resources to build a plate turret and mass driver network vast enough to counter the Earth forces. But that can't be done, at least not against a fleet this big. I helped design those weapons, and I know their rate of fire can’t be concentrated enough to be effective against this level of threat.”

Lira paused to take in the increasing number of surprised faces. Have all of you jerks forgotten I was a mechanical engineer before you decided to make me your shiny figurehead?

“When their ships finally break through,” Lira continued, “the Colony doesn't have any shields to protect against their firepower, nor enough fighters to neutralize their advantage. We need an escape route."

"If I may ask then, Field Marshal, do you propose that we just hunker down and look for a way out, instead of fighting back with whatever weapons we have? Or maybe you and your people can produce a weapon without that weakness you just addressed?"

Lira took a few more steps forward, and Xander had half a mind to pull her back and out the door. "Such a weapon is out of the question, we don’t have enough time. Instead, I'm proposing that we balance our priorities and avoid making knee-jerk reactions based on this," Lira gestured towards the screen. "We're fighting for the Colony, after all — survival is our top priority.”

"And you don't think I have Venera's survival in mind as these plans were drawn up?" Callahan's voice shifted from gruff to threatening.

"Oh, I'm sure you do, General. But as always, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We all know your group excels in covert operations and guerrilla warfare. But this is far beyond the scope of the conflict you’re used to. You can’t make these decisions without involving the experts. We need to be really smart about this… or at least, smarter than we were when the VLF engineered the Miss Universe Massacre."

Everyone in the room froze like deer in headlights. But before Callahan could reply, Lira turned to Maya. The latter was standing in one corner with a vague smile on her face. "Maya, right? Do you have details about the possible bacterial attack in the Mariner Cluster?"

“We're keeping tabs, but we don't know the origins yet. It might just be that our decontamination procedures failed,” Maya replied.

“Or, it could be a preemptive biological attack. How many disease-causing bacterial strains do you know that can survive a four-month trip through space plus rigorous decontamination procedures?” Lira then turned back to Callahan. "As you see, General, there are far too many possibilities in this war. A single mistake could catch us off-guard and kill us off even before that massive fleet hits. We need everyone onboard, and on the same page.”

Just how many targets do you want painted on your back, Lira? Xander thought with a sigh. Then he also stepped forward.

“Additionally, putting more hands on production is easier said than done. You can’t just put anyone in — there’s an overhead for training new personnel. This isn’t like the old Earth wars where you can take kids and get them to make bullets. The factories are also limited in their capacity, and all those extra hands would be useless if we can’t build new production lines — and no, we can’t build new lines.”

Xander glanced at Lira, who nodded approvingly.

From his spot, Maurice watched Callahan’s face turn beet red. He shifted his weight, ready to pounce in case he needs to break something up. Instead, Callahan smiled.

“Well now, that was quite a convincing argument. But, tell me. How do you two propose to do it?”

“Do what?”, Lira retorted. The man’s voice had a tone she didn’t like.

“I meant, how are you going to follow up on those ‘balanced’ views of yours?” Callahan’s voice sank to a low growl. “Remember, Field Marshal, the only reason you’re wearing that uniform is because the VLF allows you to. We needed someone who can rally the citizens of Venera, while our forces work order behind the scenes. This war is our war. What we say, goes, and don’t you dare forget that.”

“When you say it's your war, don't you mean it's your fault?", Lira heard herself saying before she could stop. "Don’t let that uniform fool you into thinking you’re an agent of law and order, General. And no, the reason I'm wearing this is because you brainwashed my sister to die for a cause she didn't fully understand. You caused this war. Don’t you dare forget that.” Lira’s face was a mask of silent fury, but her voice remained calm. “And if you think I’m out of line, then go ahead and try to rein me in. Do your men know how to handle civil unrest? Oh, I forgot — you do, and there's a body count to prove that.”

After a few seconds of terrifying silence, Lira turned to the stunned crowd.

“Everyone, thank you for the information you gathered. This will be of immense help, but please know that we need to consult with various experts first before a concrete plan can be drawn up. We will keep you abreast of our progress. Also we will take care of disseminating these details to the public.”

“Disseminating?! For what, so the people can panic?” Callahan roared.

“They deserve to know what to expect, General. Besides, the cure for mass panic is an effective leadership. Didn't you just say you trust me to rally the citizens of Venera?”

Lira addressed the crowd again. “We will be expecting updates in case any of you have news. Meanwhile, I should really get on with the quality inspection I was originally here for. Thank you for your service, gentlemen.”

The soldiers' eyes followed Lira and Xander as they made their way to the door. In the narrow gray corridor outside, the latter turned to Lira.

“You’re absolutely nuts, you know?”

Lira did not answer. Her face wore a stiff expression, but in the cold fluorescent light of the corridor, Xander watched as a violent shiver racked her body.

Then, a sound escaped from Lira’s throat — and Xander could not discern whether it was a sigh or a sob.