Khyber Connection

EPILOGUE

The services were held for Major Lucas Priest in front of the Wall of Honor, where his name had been added to the list of those members of the First Division who had died in combat. The entire division had turned out in full dress, and Forrester, wearing his many decorations, delivered the eulogy. Director General Vargas was present and he awarded Priest a posthumous decoration, the Medal of Honor, the oldest and highest award a soldier could receive. At the close of the service, Forrester called the men to attention and Director General Vargas came forward to address them.

" Stand at ease," he said. "A solemn occasion such as this may not be the best time for this briefing, but we are faced with a new and very serious threat. I leave from here tonight to go directly to the meeting of the Council of Nations in Geneva. As of this morning, an official ceasefire was called in all current temporal confrontation actions. I have been in contact with the Council members separately and we have been conducting informal negotiations. I have no reason to believe there will be any dissension during the session of the Council.

"The scientific evidence I will present at the session is overwhelming in its conclusiveness. We are faced with a confluence effect between two separate timelines, an effect rendering both timestreams unstable. Due to unthinking and tragic actions on our part, we have been confronted with hostile actions from the other timeline. There is, at present, no means of negotiating with the opposition and no reliable means of pinpointing the various loci of confluence. Every effort will lire made to pursue. that course" but in the meantime we must be prepared to face further hostilities, further attempts at interfering with our history in order to cause a temporal split in our own timestream.

"Forthis reason a massive and rapid reorganization of our temporal forces and support apparatus is essential, and these changes are already under way. In order to meet this new threat, the Referee Corps has decided to merge the two units most experienced in temporal confrontation and adjustment actions. As of this mo-ment, officially, the Temporal Intelligence Agency has been brought under the umbrella of the Temporal Army Command, and I will propose at the Council of Nations meeting that we establish a unified command among all temporal forces, to be headquartered here at Pendleton Base. Henceforth the quasi-civilian status of the TIA is converted to full military status, with an end to the covert nature of their activity in this timeline. The function of monitoring temporal inconsistencies and disruptions will be taken over by the Observer Corps.

"The First Division is henceforth incorporated into the TIA and Colonel Forrester is assigned as deputy director with the rank of brigadier-general. This new unit will be headquartered here, and additional quarters will be provided for the new incoming personnel. Special security procedures will be devised to guard against infiltration. The function of this new agency will be twofold: to conduct adjustment operations to maintain temporal integrity, and to conduct active, covert operations to create disruptions in the alternate timeline if points of confluence for crossover can be identified. You will be briefed as developments occur. In the meantime all leaves are cancelled and the entire unit is on Yellow Alert standby status. General Forrester"

Forrester called the unit to attention.

"There remains one more item of buisness which I would like to personally take care of before I depart for the Council meeting," Vargas said. "Lieutenant Finn Delaney and Sergeant Andre Cross, step forward please."

They marched to the front and stood to attention.

"I would like to personally commend you on your performance," Vargas said. He stepped forward and pinned the Temporal Star on both of them, then handed each of them a small plastic box containing insignia of rank. Andre was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant and Delaney, to his chagrin, found himself looking down at captain’s bars. As Vargas gave him the bars, he smiled. "Try not to strike anyone above the rank of major, Captain," he said. "We need capable officers such as yourself."

After Forrester dismissed the unit, most of them ad-journed to the First Division lounge, where they all made a final toast to Lucas Priest. Forrester joined Finn and Andre at their table.

"I’m buying," he said. "I don’t know about you two, but I’m in a mood to get blind drunk."

"Sounds good to me," Delaney said. Andre nodded. Forrester cracked a bottle and poured for them. "To Lucas," Finn said.

They raised their glasses.

"I’d like to join in that toast, if I may," said a voice from behind them.

They turned to see a colonel dressed in black base fatigues standing behind them. His sandy hair was cropped short and his gray eyes regarded them steadily with a somber expression.

Finn almost dropped his glass. "Martingale! But … you’re supposed to be dead!"

"No, just transferred." He came to attention and saluted Forrester. -Colonel Steiger reporting for duty, sir. "

Forrester returned his salute absently and beckoned him to sit.

"Steiger"" Andre said. "It’s my real name. Now that the TIA has gone army, we’ve dispensed with code names and agent Phoenix is now just plain Colonel Creed Steiger."

"Phoenix!" Finn said. "So you’re the one Darkness was talking about."

Steiger nodded.

"By the way, he asked me to give you these. "

He held out two small plastic envelopes containing what looked like plastiskin grafts.

"Symbiotracers"" Andre said.

"He thought they might come in handy." Steiger looked over his shoulder and they followed his gaze. There was a strange dark blur in the far corner of the First Division lounge, and as they watched, it resolved itself into the figure of Dr. Darkness. He held a glass of scotch whiskey in his hand. "About that toast," said Steiger.

"To Lucas," Finn repeated.

"To Lucas."

They raised their glasses and drank. When they looked back, Darkness was gone.