Free The Synchronicity War Part 3 by Dietmar Wehr

transfer you over to Tac 1 now, CAG?"
     
    "Good thinking. Yes, switch me over to my wife." It'll
be good to hear her voice again.
     
                                                               *
* *
    Kelly was standing with the others as Resolute's shuttle
lightly touched down on the new concrete landing pad. It wasn't long before she
saw Victor wearily exit the shuttle and walk over to her. My God, he looks
terrible, s he thought to herself. Those images from Omega77 must have
been really awful to shake him up this badly. Thank God that Valkyrie filled me
in as the ship settled down into orbit. At least I know why he looks like shit.
     
    As Shiloh came up to her, she stepped forward and put her arms
around his neck. She gave him a short but passionate kiss, and when they
finished she said,"It's so good to have you back, Victor. You look
like you've had a rough time. Valkyrie filled me in on what you saw."
     
    Shiloh was relieved that he didn't have to try to convey the
horror of Omega77."I'm glad to be back on Terra Nova and yes, it
was rough. Let's go home."
     
    She let him go and looked at the others, all Space Force
officers who were respectfully standing a few steps back."What
about…"
     
    Shiloh shook his head. "I've already issued some
orders. A meeting's been set up for tomorrow morning. Let's go."
     
    After quickly speaking to the officers, she and Shiloh
walked to their ground vehicle. He surprised her by getting in on the passenger
side, which told her that he wanted her to drive. Ten minutes later she pulled
up in front of their house, looked over and saw that Shiloh had fallen asleep.
She gently shook his shoulder until he woke up and saw that they were home. He
patted her hand as he smiled and nodded to her. After a quiet dinner, during
which she did all the talking about things that had happened while he was gone,
they sat outside on the porch. When it was dark, they went to bed. She wondered
if they would have sex, but Shiloh was asleep by the time she had undressed.
Later that night she woke up and realized that he was having a nightmare. When
she woke him and asked him what the nightmare was about, he said he didn't want
to talk about it. To distract him, she told him to roll over on his stomach,
and she gently stroked his naked back until he fell asleep again. Sleep was
much longer in coming to her.
     
    When Shiloh woke up the next morning, he could smell
breakfast being cooked. A quick check of the time told him that he had two
hours before the scheduled meeting. As he put on a threadbare robe, he
remembered the nightmare. In it, he and Amanda were in bed. He had been trying
unsuccessfully to wake her up when he pulled the blanket back to find an alien
ant the size of his forearm chewing its way out of Amanda's swollen belly. He
took a deep breath and shook his head in dismay. There was no way he was going
to describe that nightmare to her, and he was absolutely determined to do
whatever it took to make sure she never became a host.
     
    After a leisurely breakfast with real coffee and a hot
shower, he started to feel normal again. Standing beside the ground vehicle, he
hugged and kissed Amanda, and gave her a playful pat on her bum. She smiled and
winked at him, which he knew was the unspoken promise of what they would do
when he got back that evening. She was still three months from her expected
delivery date, and the doctors had assured them that it was safe to continue
having sex as long as they were careful about it. No sooner had he started the
drive to the Ops Center than his implant activated. He knew who would be
calling him. Iceman was still on board Valiant and was undoubtedly watching his
house from orbit.
     
    "Hello Iceman. I'm assuming that there's something you
want to discuss with me privately before the meeting?"
     
    "Roger that, CAG. Valkyrie has shared all the visual
and technical data with all of us. We're beginning to