Dana turned to Nick along with the other recruits when she returned the salute, “Welcome aboard Private. Let me be the first to promise that our conflicts with one another aren’t going to be quite as confusing as what you just saw.” She saw Naina make her leap to the carrier’s hangar with the recording device in hand. Two of the pilots secured the hatch while Dana noticed Naina had come up shorthanded. “I take it the mission with the old man didn’t go as hoped?”
Naina shook her head while brushing off what remained of her makeup, “It didn’t. I do have the evidence we need however.”
“Did you figure out Neil’s connection to Kecker at least?”
“It would seem they were both working together from the beginning. It’s possible that if Kecker had been executed that Goslin would have taken his place.” She considered Neil’s comment on how Franz’s trip saved him the trouble when she added, “It explains much. These men clearly didn’t care about who would win this war, only if the war could be dragged on long enough for the Solaris to reach its destination.”
“These two must have really had this planned through. Is there a reason they would be the ones to reach the Solaris?” Mercurio was the first to ask.
Naina remembered there was only one that could coincide with the Solaris and Neil’s intentions. “He mentioned the Sol Invictus. I believe this is the creation we have discovered under Kecker’s orders in regards to the Solaris and its activation. Recalling the dimensions of the Solaris and the mirror structure it appears their intention to use it as a weapon is not implausible.”
Keijo brought his confusion to the discovery when he asked, “Seriously? So who’s working for who? What sort of group of folks want this to happen?”
Naina was reluctant to answer but knew that it had to be made clear right away. “Neil made certain to avoid mentioning an organization. He said himself he wanted this act to be unite humanity against an abstract concept.”
The issue had bended in a way few of the pilots thought was possible. Mercuior pointed out, “Sounds like we’ve only found out a few new things about what Kecker is trying to do. We’ll have to warn the Parliament about this.”
Dana agreed, “That’s about right. Majewski, maintain a course with Admiral Begum and get us back to the capital ASAP.”
“No need to tell me twice sir.” His voice rang from the cockpit area.

Dana made her way to the main radio between the pilots and adjusted the frequency for the carrier in Amsterdam. “Wing 2 come in. Do you copy?”
Nasir was on the other line when he answered, “We read you Wing 1. The mission progress okay?”
“Not too much of a hitch. How are things going on down there?”
“Haven’t heard anything encouraging sir. We still have reports from Germany about the enemy breaching our borders. There’s even talk that some Coalition ranks are running amok from these guys. You don’t think they’re trying to confuse us with some kind of tactic do you?”
“If only we could know for sure. Stay on guard there, we need to issue a warning to the Parliament. It’s pretty urgent we get it through now.”
“Roger Captain. We’ll maintain our position until you return home.”
“Negative. Remain in your area and report back on any activity. We’ll need our forces to be as spread out as possible and have a possible space launch route.”
Nasir took a moment to answer the order but cooperated, “Your orders sir. We’ll follow.”
Dana ended the call when she thanked, “Good work Epstein. It won’t be long.”

|

“For once that actually sounds like a plan.” One of the pilots thanked Tano’s order.
“Yeah let’s get out of here already.” Another one encouraged.
Oleg decided it would be better than trying to accomplish an impossible task of facing the Sol Thero units head on when they could return to battle another day. “Hopefully Moscow is somewhat safe.” He said adjusting his radio. Once the radio had its signal set to Moscow he contacted, “Attention. Emergency broadcast. This is the remaining Kaliningrad forces. We’re preparing for rendezvous.” For a while there was only static before he tried to contact again, “Moscow Base do you read?”
There was still static before someone answered the call, “Kaliningrad forces? Good to know there’s survivors out there.”
“Is this the commanding officer?” 
“Negative. This is Captain Kazantsev.”
“Where is the General?”
“Dead. Along with a majority of our forces. We’ve just made contact with some sort of enemy mobile suits. We’re fortunate to still be alive but the majority of our facilities have been destroyed.”
Oleg braced himself for the worst when he asked, “Are these mobile suits jet black primarily using missiles and double barrel gatling guns?”
Kazantsev was quick to confirm the observation, “That fits the description alright. Did you encounter them as well?”
Oleg sighed before he answered, “Roger that sir. We found them making their way across the German countryside. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to gather our bearings before they attack again.”
“We will have to restore some sense of stability for the city indeed. For all our sakes this had best be the last in a while.” Kazantsev agreed.