Change of Destination

“All of my kids and my only grandchild are either in or headed towards a war zone. There is no way that Robert is going to keep me from going. After all, he knows there are too many trained killers in my family.”

-Kelly Cassidy, Major, Colonial Security, former NYC police captain and senior weapons trainer, US

A demon wolf nearly killed me so I have to stay behind when everyone else leaves. By the time we fly out of here to make our rendezvous I’ll have missed the first 400 miles of walking. I guess I can live with that.

-Venus Bennett, age 19, squad 6 leader, Jacks Company, Chile

Commander Rick Cassidy, Gunnery Sergeant Molly Pickford and the rest of Jacks Company are making their final preparations for departure from the mountain valley they’ve been stuck in for nearly a full local year. At the same time the new Rift commander General Miltcar has her sights set on taking Winter Haven and the aliens are finalizing preparations for their next attack on the northern settlement, Jacks Company’s expected destination. With no information about what has been going on outside their valley a concerned Cassidy has to decide if Jacks Company should head for Winter Haven as planned or for the much farther away Winter Cove. While those groups are on a possible collision course, the cargo supply ship Asia has made it back to Earth’s solar system with news of the alien invasion of the New Hope Colony that began five months earlier