***
Twelve hours after the Kra withdrawal from NORAD, General Davis stood outside the tunnel entrance, squinting in the unaccustomed noonday sunlight. A task force of three Humvees was provisioning for a trip to Montana. The mystery of the Kra retreat had cleared up with an astonishing call from Captain Suarez, describing the explosions that had devastated Arran Kra, and explaining how Gar had killed Oogon. The Kra forces, so dominating for days, were now just scattered remnants. Such a miracle had seemed beyond the power of prayer a while ago.
As the troops boarded the Hummers, Davis went to the young man in the passenger seat of the lead machine. The man’s left arm was in a sling and he had bandages on his neck and face from a laser near-miss.
“How’s that arm, Abercromby?”
“It’ll be just fine, sir. They only winged me.”
“Good,” he said to the lieutenant. “I don’t like sending a detachment this small across so much country without support. But I guess you know how it is. I can’t spare a larger force. I can’t emphasize enough how important your mission is. The enemy has suffered a catastrophe up in Montana. They’re hurting as bad as we are, so this might be our best chance to make peace on our terms. I’m counting on you to get up there and make us a deal before any more fighting breaks out. Otherwise this whole thing’s gonna start up again as soon as they get back on their feet. Think you’re up to the task, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Take it easy with that injury,” said Davis. “I’d go myself, but I’m part of a chain of command again. The President’s back in the White House and the Pentagon’s up and running, so I’ve got bosses again. We’re rigging a good transmitter on top of the mountain here so I’ll be in coded contact with you twenty-four hours a day. Any questions?”
“No, sir.”
“Carry on.” Davis saluted.
The lieutenant snapped a crisp salute with his good right arm and then turned to his driver. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.”
As the three vehicles roared away Davis called after them, “Give my regards to Gar, the Kra.” It was nothing short of a miracle, he thought, to have a second chance to accept the dinosaur leader’s peace offer.
Holly Lewis joined him, smiling. “Matt,” she said, “I’ve got some updates from the field. The news is not all bad.”
He frowned. “Better give me the bad part first.”
“The enemy succeeded in linking up from Montana to the Gulf Coast late yesterday. But the good news is they seem to be reining in their troops. Most sightings this morning have been of machines in fixed positions or withdrawing toward Montana.”
Davis smiled. “Maybe this peace initiative has a chance.”
As the column of Humvees disappeared around the first bend in the road, Davis turned to walk back inside NORAD. He offered an arm to Holly and she took it, linking her wrist around his elbow. As they strolled, she asked, “Do you think we can get a favorable a truce, Matt?”
Davis shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. It’ll be ninety-nine percent bluff on our part. But it just might work out.”
“Our bargaining position’s pretty strong, Matt. Things out there aren’t as bad as we had come to believe.”
“How so?”
“A lot of news came in while you were up north. I didn’t get a chance to tell you, given the desperate circumstances when you got back.”
“What news?”
“The Navy dispersed beautifully when the first day’s warnings went out. Ships cruised individually under cloud cover and kept silent. The beam couldn’t find them, so most everything out there in all fleets is still intact.”
“Excellent!”
“Even the Joint Chiefs are okay. Their plane was destroyed on the ground before they boarded it and it took a couple of days for them to hook up with the President in all the urban chaos back east. You might say they were caught in a colossal traffic jam.”
“How about the world situation?”
“Other military forces didn’t fare as well as ours. The Kra made great advances in South America and Africa. But even in those places there is hope because the world capital of the Kra is at Arran-Kra. Gar is in charge there and he’s willing to make a deal with us.”
Davis grumbled, “We’ve still got a long way to go to recover our strength. A lot of hardware was destroyed.”
“Quite a bit. But even that’s not as bad as we thought. There are a whole bunch of units checking in with minimal damage, just knocked out power and communications.”
“And that moon weapon?”
“Phaeon’s been out of action since the attack by Clementine.”
“She must have walloped ’em good. Let’s hope they’re knocked out permanently.”
“We’ve traced a few weak radio signals to sources up there. So there may be some remnant of the base.”
“That’s something I want you to keep a close watch on.”
“I will, sir.”