Engagement part 5 by Ronald Faltus

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"I understand all this from the mission briefing. Stop beating around the subject and tell me what's the big deal with the power cell?"

Initially Myers was worried by the Sergeant's exclamation, but seeing that an ear to ear grin was still on Remo's face demonstrated that hassling Hines was normal in this out fit.

Remo deferred to Myers, "You're the superior officer here, and I think the honor should be yours."

"If you insist, but don't go of complaining that I stole your glory." Watching him nod in affirmation, she turned to Hines, who by now looked out of patience and ready to explode if she procrastinated any more. "Each time they used the burst transmitter, the equipment would completely drain the power cell, causing it to reset and start a recharge cycle. That particular model of external generator has an internal diagnostic that records each cycle restart and marks it with a time stamp. All we have to do is match up the times form the generator with the coordinates file for the transmitter, and we will know when and were each burst was sent."

Pausing for a moment, she watched the facial expression change form frustration to comprehension. Hines was following the explanation, so she continued, "Then all we have to do is plug the numbers into the astromec computer on the Grey, taking into account the planetary spin and such. Then, we can eliminate all the coordinates that correspond to their shipping attacks, since we know they were warning them about the Grey breaking orbit and heading their way. What's left could possible be direct communication with their home base."

Sergeant Hines mulled over the screen, periodically looking up at Myers as he thought. Even with the dozens of data lines that scrolled across the display, he now knew that this was the best lead they had to tracking down were the organization was launching their attacks from. Rubbing his hand against the back of his neck, a satisfied smirk rose form his hardened features. "Your right, we got them. Good job the two of your."

"It was her idea, I just followed her lead."

Confronted with the compliment form the two of them, modesty took over. "I'm sure you would have come up with it yourself."

"Remo, I want you to back up all the data into a hard copy. Don't want to risk loosing any of it when we transport the gear." A rustling in the outside hallway drew his attention. Looking over his shoulders, he saw one of the other commandos standing in the door way. As he began to get off the table and head toward the door. "Excuse me, I'll be right back. Lieutenant, I don't suppose you mind giving the Private here a hand. As you can probably tell by now, he sometimes gets distracted easily."

Myers was radiating an inner glow of pride by now. Reflecting on the day, she could not get over how much she had changed from just a few hours ago. Just yesterday she was a spit and polish officer, consumed with her own duties and image that was considering a transfer request. And now, for the first time in her years of service, felt like an actual member of a team, and providing a positive contribution.