y around
their leaders, united and prepared to act. Ironically, bitterly (to
those who still remembered the evils of World War II), this was a
German trait as well.

The entire military and intelligence-gathering forces of the nation
were now mobilized to head off Hayes' disastrous charge, which had left
such horrors in its wake. For now a full account of the Dracus
incident had been received, and those with any conscience at all,
realized that they had been party to a catastrophe that could never be
set right, and whose wounds would fully never heal. And while the
Americans were no more eager than any other nation to admit such
atrocities---the slave trade, and the genocide of the Native Americans
spring to mind---truth IS a naked sword, and its hard won freedom of
the press made it impossible to deny.
But the rogue (war criminal, psychopath) had not been caught,
and the Pandora's Box of chaos and violence which he (along with
others) had opened, was far from contained.

II

Somehow Hayes had kept the fantasy together. Though there were
stirrings of discontent among his men, and an ever diminishing number
were free of a doubt that bordered on bewilderment, no word of their
true position had yet reached them. And though the destructive force
of the Third Fleet had not grown, neither had it sufficiently
diminished. And the wounded predator is by far the most dangerous.
Hayes was desperate.

After six months of running, engaging only in minor skirmishes which
could hardly be colored as 'the forward lance of democracy', of getting
his information only from Hayes, Admiral Frank was tormented by
uncertainty. Why was Congress still squabbling? When would
reinforcements arrive? It was clear that the Soviets were astir, and
what was worse, by the look of it were coming directly after them.

But more troublesome than all of this, to a loyal soldier who did not
scare easily, was the thought that perhaps Hayes was not telling the
whole truth---that they were being used for some scheme of his which
did not entirely align with the wishes of the President.

Why did Hayes continue to deny even the most basic military
communications? They had had literally no sight or sound of their
fellow soldiers in five full months. Granted they fought their battles
along the frontiers, where lines of communication were stretched thin,
and often erased altogether by the time factor. But to be so totally
isolated, t