Hover platforms, used to carry heavy equipment, arrived to transport the REF troops to an airlock where Deutschland was waiting. A last platform arrived bearing the bodies the computer had collected from the first mecha to fall. Quietly, some of the soldiers loaded the bodies of those who had died in the computer battle. Then the procession of hover platforms left for the airlock.

An hour later, Deutschland settled onto the deck of docking bay 1. Both bunkers opened and the survivors of the factory assault walked or were helped out. A Colonel appeared and approached Mike.

"Have any other officers returned?" he asked, returning Mike's salute.
 
"No sir, Captain Sorin and Captain Hynes are still aboard the factory, and Lieutenant Brown is dead," Mike replied.

"Very well, you and your troops will be debriefed shortly. The General's compliments and would you and your sergeant join him in his quarters after the debriefing."

"Yes sir," Mike said.

2nd Lieutenant Connors and Sergeant Major Mueller entered the command staff living quarters area, having been debriefed and given a chance to clean up and put on fresh uniforms.

"The Black Watch is on duty today," Hans whispered to Mike. At the entrance to the living area and at several of the higher ranking officers doors, members of the 42nd Cyclone Mecha Squad stood guard. Their armor was totally black except for the area on the helmet between the earpieces and behind the faceplate, which was red, white and green checkered. "Highland dicing," Hans recalled the pattern being called.

"Just goes to show you, no one gets spared from standing guard," Mike whispered back.

They walked up to the door leading to General Forester's living quarters and knocked. Hans looked briefly at one of the guards and noticed that several parts of the soldiers' armor actually had very fine dark green stripes on it. The black faceplate never turned his direction. The door opened and a Major showed them into the General's office. The General bade them to sit down.

"I've read the transcripts of your debriefings." the General began, "First off, I want to say, well down. You captured the factory with both the computer and fold system intact." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Do you think it wise to allow the computer to remain in control of the factory?"

"General, I don't think we have much choice in the matter. If the computer was a standard Zentraedi model, it would be different but in this case..."

"Yes, Intel was completely surprised to find out that the factories computer was self-aware. Our Zentraedi allies had no knowledge of this. Are you confident the computer will keep its end of your agreement?"

"Yes sir, it seemed very enthusiastic about joining us, particularly after it discovered we're at war with the Invid. My impression was that the factory has had more than one fight with them."

"What about this liaison staff you and Sorin want to put together?"

"We believe that having several officers coordinate the factories activities with the REF will keep someone from trying to use it to build a private army."

The General nodded to himself as he glanced over a paper on his desk, "A wise decision, very well, submit this list of officers to me when you have it ready. I see you took no casualties, just some heavily damaged mecha. I've not had a chance to look over the other teams' reports, how badly were they hit?"

"Black team lost both Cycloners, and an Excalibur. Yellow team lost an Alpha, Lieutenant Brown's, a Cycloner and their scientist. The Knights were untouched."

"And Komet was shot down. Fifteen, fewer than I feared," the General finished.

"Fifteen sir?" Hans said, speaking for the first time.

"Yes, the captain of the Prinz Eugen had a mental breakdown after Komet was destroyed. He went to his cabin and shot himself," the General did not looked pleased at this.

He shook his head then looked up and smiled. "Lieutenant Connors, in recognition of your outstanding conduct in bringing this mission to a successful conclusion, you are promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Congratulations." He stood up and offered his hand to Mike.

Mike stood up and shook hands with the General and with Hans.

"What will happen to the factory, sir?" Mike asked.

"It will be moved into orbit here for a time. I imagine it will eventually be folded to Tirol to produce mecha and ships. We'll know more once weíve reported to REF command on Tirol. Again, let me congratulate you on a job well done." He walked around his desk to shake Mike and Hans' hands, then showed them out.

They ran into Major Hartmann on their way back to their quarters.

"Congratulations Lieutenant, I just heard," he said, "Can I speak to you alone for a moment?"

Mike nodded and told Hans to go on ahead.

"I've a . . . put my part of our agreement into your account already. I expected to lose the bet, but you won it more convincingly then I thought was possible. I was quite amazed at how your troops performed. Maybe my motivation speech was too good," He smiled.

Mike smiled too, "No sir, you were right on target. But most of the credit has to lay with my people, they are good soldiers."

"That they are, I'll see you later." He turned and continued towards the General's office.

A couple days later, Mike, Hans and Robert were standing in one of the observation lounges sharing a drink and watching four capital ships move into orbit about Ganymede, taking up stations around the factory.

"The Duke of York and her battlegroup, Hyperion, Avenger and Liverpool. They arrived this morning," Mike said. "Another battlegroup is supposed to be arriving in the next week also."

"When's it going to Tirol?" Hans asked.

Mike shrugged, "They haven't said, probably won't until the day it happens. I'm told the Cyclone and Destroid squads will be pulling guard duty onboard the factory until it gets to Tirol. We're not taking any chances on an Invid attack, one quarter of Bismarck's VT's will always be flying CAP, another quarter on ready-react, and another quarter on ready five."

"Aren't you glad you're not in a VT squadron?" Hans asked Robert. The ready-react pilots would be sitting in or near their cockpits for hours, able to launch in under 15 seconds while the ready five pilots would be waiting in their squad room, able to scramble in under 5 minutes.

Robert chuckled and winced as he gingerly touched his bandaged forehead, "The factory is almost ready to start making mecha I heard, that's pretty quick considering what we did to it, kinda scary too."

"I'm not surprised, its pretty smart," Mike said.

They all watched as the recently arrived Ikazuchi Command Carrier and the escorting Garfish Carriers and Warrior Class Cruiser finished positioning themselves arround the factory. "That thing is gonna give us an edge, huh?" Robert said.

"Thatís what the Colonel said," Michael answered.

"How much longer will it all last?" Hans asked.

Mike shrugged, "Jupiter and Saturn fleets won't be ready to depart for a month or more yet, waiting for some new mecha the R & D people are working on. End of June according to the squad commanders briefing the other day, possibly longer. I guess this thing will be making some of those mecha. Fleet assembly has been slowed until closer to the departure date."

"Wonder what we'll do until we get to go," Robert said.

"Oh, I'm sure command will find something interesting for us," Mike smiled.