Free Resolution by Ben Winston Page A

that John had launched on their first visit to Selnia, while she was still under hostile control had made it into the system, but there was no ship close enough to launch an attack on the system. While the targeting data was available to the Kingdom forces, the distance involved was too great for reliable accuracy.
    For a time, the military leaders of the Empire had begun to wonder if the Goddess had advised them correctly. At the onset of the war, they had been losing ground on most fronts. However, after the attack that destroyed the grounded fleet, the Goddess used that as a rallying cry for her people and was able to mobilize a more driven fighting force. Once those troops began to arrive on the front 'lines', the Kingdom forces began to fall back. In some cases, the retreat was rapid as an over-whelming force countered their forces.
    The Tammerain did not hesitate to take the war down to the planets and did not seem to be overly concerned about civilian casualties. The 'Empress' had convinced her people that this had always been a war of genocide, and no human should be allowed to remain alive to profane the Goddess' domain.

Chapter 58
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    "I t's good to have you guys back!" Mark said as he gave Chloe a hug, and shook John's hand. "Have you seen Mary yet?"
    "No, but we did get to talk to her briefly. She's really busy but said she would see us as soon as she could get away from the medical center. There has to have been a lot of wounded," Chloe said sadly.
    Mark nodded. "I've been told that the Tammerain have retreated on all fronts. Is that you're doing?"
    "We had a hand in it. A Sentient AI named Selnia is the one most responsible for it. She has assumed the persona of the Tammerain Goddess until the damage the Grays have done to them can be reversed," John explained. "She's got a long road ahead of her, but I think she'll be able to do it. At least this time, we have the chance for a lasting peace between the two realms."
    "Yeah, that would be a hell of a lot better than getting hunted to extinction by a race of mislead religious zealots," Mark replied. "What's going to happen with the Grays?"
    "I don't know yet. I have issued orders for the transit points to deny travel outside of their space, unless it's to return to their space. It's a problem that will need a lot more consideration before a solid decision can be made. I just hope the Tammerain won't hold a grudge once they know the truth," John said as he took a seat next to Chloe.
    "Mark, we had four people that opted to not accept the upgrade to Guardian. I've given them permission to return to your barracks. Carl and Alice are visiting the wounded; approaching the long serving Marines they can find to proposition them. I should have asked, but I really didn't think you would mind," John explained.
    "You're right, I don't mind at all. Most of those were going to get transferred to your command anyway. In fact, if you would like to make a new commercial for our people to do some recruiting, I would allow that too. Like I said, I'll help any way I can. However, right now we have a large mess to get cleaned up and a lot of destroyed cities and devastated planets to begin rebuilding. A long hard road is ahead of us," Mark said.
    "The Guardians have a few facilities that might be able to help, but there is a risk of technology transfer. Mark, there is some of this stuff I don't think anyone should know about. If we decide to use those facilities, we'll have to keep the people that will be running them. The same can be said of the medical technology, although most of that isn't as bad as I feared it would be. In fact, with a few alterations, we might just reach an agreement about opening up medical centers, provided we can get the people for it.
    "Do you have an estimate on your losses yet?" John asked.
    "Nothing solid. The numbers range from as little as a couple hundred thousand to over a ten billion. I know we have a lot of wounded. Right