Talosian Chronicles 3: Talosian Alliance Read Free

welded on.
    “I have one ship and a few thousand people here. I doubt we are strong enough to do much more than what we’re currently doing. As for the battle, I do agree that there was a large amount of luck in that. If that Caldarian Captain had been smarter, we could have been in serious shit," Ian explained. “I only did what I had to do because I was the one in Command. I got lucky, and it worked for the most part. We still lost a lot of good people. Perhaps, if I had been a better Commander, I would have found a way to save them and still destroy the Caldarian.”
    “Every night, in your dreams, you replay that battle and try different things. Have you managed to save any of them yet?” Serena asked.
    “How did you know?” Ian asked, surprised.
    “I am a Commander, the same as you are. I do the same thing after every battle where lives are lost,” she explained. “Nothing will ever change, Ian. You have to convince yourself that you did the best you could with the tools you had. Until you do, the nightmare will never stop.”
    “You’ve reviewed the battle, have you seen anything I could have done better?” Ian asked directly.
    “Yes, I have reviewed the battle. There are some things I would have done differently, but I doubt the result would have been any better. When the Caldarian first arrived, if you would have done anything other then what you did, I agree that you would not have survived long enough to fight the final battle. In that final battle, no Talosian trained commander would have thought to use the hypermissiles in the way you did, that single act is what sets you above the rest of us. You have the ability to think of things we cannot and act on your ideas in ways that take an enemy completely by surprise,” Serena explained. “Ian, you performed far and above what any of the rest of us could have in that situation. The fact that it was your first battle, and you had only sleep training to work with, is proof of just how good a Commander you are and how much better you are going to get.”
    “Thank you for the praise, Serena, but I still think I could have done something better,” Ian replied.
    “Ian, do any of the people from Talos blame you for not saving their loved ones?” Serena asked.
    “Not that I know of, but I blame myself. I should have been able to protect them better,” Ian said, he shook his head. “I know you’re right, and I’m working on it. I just need to quit dwelling on it and move on.”
    “It’s hard to move on when one of the ones that was lost was so important to you. Those losses are the hardest to put behind us,” Serena said. "Those losses will always be a part of us, but we cannot let them influence our actions to the detriment of others.”
    Ian’s comm beeped.
    “Williams, what’s up?” Ian said, opening the channel.
    “Sir, you asked to be reminded when the next shuttle going back to Phoenix Base was getting ready to launch?” a voice said. “I'm sending a tram for you.”
    “Yes, thank you,” Ian replied, closing the link. He looked at Serena. “It looks like play time is over for me. I need to get back." He was surprised when a small golf cart looking buggy came around a corner and stopped beside them. It was a hover craft type of vehicle, but instead of having its own drive system, it used the artificial gravity system of the station to move about.
    “I understand my friend. If you don’t mind, I would like to walk around some more. I find all of this extremely fascinating,” Serena said.
    “Of course, Serena. Let me know if you see something you don’t understand or that you think isn’t right,” Ian said. During their tour, they had come across two crewmen that were in a small altercation. It hadn’t come to blows yet, but from the sound of the yelling, it was close.
    It turns out that the two men knew each other from Earth, having lived only a few blocks apart on the Gaza strip. One of them had been Palestinian and the other