Free April 8: It's Always Something by Mackey Chandler Page B

Phoenix last month," Sass pointed out.
    "Well yes. It's one thing to set up a roadblock for migrants, but the lead vehicle had our flag on the fenders. Besides, it takes a special kind of stupid to stand in the middle of the road and scream abuse at a fellow standing up behind a 40mm grenade repeater. Anyway..." Allister said, setting the folder in front of him aside to show he was done with this matter. "Set this operation in motion, and report to me if there are any problems implementing it, or in the timing. The Holies don't seem to have any heart to challenge the spacers. If they don't feel the urgency they'd make poor allies anyway. The first time there was any real difficulties they'd be looking for an excuse to back off."
    "Yes sir." Sass was already standing to leave as soon as he saw his folder being put aside, and he saluted sharply. He knew from experience it didn't do to wait for a more explicit dismissal.
    Back in his own office Sass called the group leader who would actually implement the operation. Group Leader John Hearne didn't wear rank tabs. His USNA uniform was unadorned except for the three slanted silver bars on the collar points. It was in a midnight blue that no other service shared. It marked him as a direct voice of the party and the new equivalent of a political officer. There were a handful of operatives like him and they'd been created about six months ago. He didn't salute any USNA rank, and he didn't take conflicting orders from any rank but the party leaders. Even the Holies knew to regard him as the voice of the Colonels in the field. He looked very happy to be ordered into Sass' office, because chances were they were finally going to do something instead of talk it to death.
    Sass reached up, left handed, and lifted his own collar point to display the Patriot Party cross pinned under it out of sight. That's all he would do to affirm this was an inside circle party directive rather than a USNA operation. Nothing was said aloud, no orders would be set in any media. Hearne's group got sent on regular USNA actions, but supporting those was regarded as training to keep his group's skills sharp.
    "We have a stealthed reentry vehicle identified that we believe is a Home weapons bus, and have been optically tracking it," Sass told him. "Are you certain you have a team that can crack and disassemble it without detonating it?"
    "Absolutely. I know you lost a ship and personnel before, trying to access one of these Home devices. Two ships actually, our own and the one the Lewis boy was forced to let us board. But the specialist tasked with examining their tech was horribly under qualified. It was foolishness to task him with it. I wouldn't have trusted him to neutralize a roadside IED, and it was undoubtedly at not much more than that level of sophistication.
    "In contrast, beside the best North American bomb expert, we have one trained with the Israelis working with him as a team. Nothing cobbled together by some Indian teenager is going to stump those guys," Hearne promised. "I'd expect my teenage boy to have as much success trying to lock me out of something for a science fair project."
    "And you still feel it shouldn't be attempted in place?" Sass asked.
    "No, there is no way we can lift the equipment we need. A lot of it is massive and there's no other way to do an internal scan with sufficient detail. We need to return it to Earth, and before you ask, we can't fit the stuff on a ship without a major refit that would take it out of service."
    "Where do you intend to work on it?" Sass asked.
    "The best facility we have is in San Diego. It's fully under Sons of Liberty control, and any elements on base with a majority of Holies have been segregated and are outside our command structure."
    Sass pictured what would happen if a device the size of the one the Homies used to obliterate Jiuquan went off in San Diego. That just wasn't an acceptable risk.
    "No," Sass said firmly, leaving no room for