The 'test drive' seemed to be coming to a finish. The girl in the Catholic schoolgirl uniform was on her back in the corner of a restaurant booth with the table pushed aside. Her blouse was completely open and pulled out of her skirt. Her skirt was up around her waist. She was wearing a lacy black bra and panties set. The bra was unsnapped in front, the straps were pulled off of her shoulders and the cups were pulled aside to show her pointy breasts while her panties were dangling from her right ankle. Her shiny black Mary Janes and frilly-cuffed white ankle socks were prominently visible as her right leg was draped over the shoulder and down the back of the busty lady lapping at her pussy while two fingers probed it. The girl didn't actually look that young, maybe eighteen at the youngest. She was using her right hand on the back of the woman's head as she used her left hand on her own breast. The older woman was totally nude and was lying on her left side with her head twisted far to her left. The net effect was to leave both the girl's shaved pussy, and the woman's entire front, wide open to view. The man humping away at the older lady from behind had her right leg up over his left shoulder and he was straddling her left leg. His ten inches was now pumping in and out with fast, hard strokes.

In the background several other activities were visible: A man in a chair with a naked woman in his lap; a young boy in a tangle with two middle-aged ladies; two women in a sixty-nine; and one man in a Confederacy Marine uniform with a woman on her knees trying to swallow him whole. There were no other clothes being worn except by the Marine and the girl.

The Marine backed out of the mouth in front of him and started squirting on the woman's face. She took a couple of pulses on her face and neck with her mouth open and then went back to sucking him off and cleaning up. The guy with the woman in his lap lifted her off and laid her on the ground. Immediately, he lay on top and plunged back in. A few strokes later, he pulled out and spread his load from her belly to her breasts. The sixty-nine broke up in a mutual orgasm followed by a rearrangement for tender kisses. The boy in the threesome covered the backside of one of his ladies with his seed. The girl in the restaurant booth started yelling that she was cumming. The woman at her pussy joined her as the man behind her groaned out his orgasm, and then he pulled out, grabbed himself and sprayed his semen on her pussy and belly as he slapped his huge organ against her belly and thigh. "A.I., I'll take both Sandy and her daughter," he bellowed.

"And Cut!" The director hopped off of his stool. "Ok, clean everyone up. Take fifteen." He turned to his casting director and lowered his voice. "Belle, I NEED a young girl. Crystal just does not look like a fifteen-year-old girl. She's hot, and she can suck a Buick's engine down the tailpipe, but she's in her twenties. I need someone fourteen, maybe fifteen, sixteen at the most. Heck, I could use a dozen at those ages. There're a lot of pedophiles that will buy more stuff like that now that it's legal. No more skinny crack whores, either. I need young and innocent. I want to do a pickup at a private girl's school, maybe with some Nuns. Lesbian Nuns."

"I'm working on it, boss. I have the word out on the street. Just remember, I get first shot on the casting couch with any young ones. It's in my contract." Belle was not bad looking, thirty-ish, with a decent slim figure. However, even with a dimpled cheek at the mention of her contract clause, there was something older, and very much colder, in her eyes. "I have to get back to my desk and work the phones some more."

"Belle's Casting Services. This is Belle. May I help you?"

"Miss Belle? I don't know if you remember me. This is Kitten. Uhh, Kitten Smith. I was in a disc you cast for earlier this year. 'Navy Sluts'?"

"Yes, Kitten, I remember. Blonde, slim, decent tits, real big nipples?"

"Yeah, that's me. You said if I found someone else around my age or younger that signed with you, that you could get me a finder's fee and maybe another part as well. I found this girl straight in from Kansas. Fifteen years old. She and her sister are running from Daddy, and she needs money. She's not a virgin, but she ran from Daddy due to the sex and beatings, and he was going after her little sister, too. Daddy was the Mayor, so she couldn't report him. Well, she did, but it did no good. Anyway. I showed her my part on the DVD and she says she can do all of that. She looks great. She's the young, wholesome, white bread type. Can I bring her by?"

"Sure, Hon. I was trying to contact you again, anyway, but your phone was disconnected. But you said she has a sister? How old is she?"

"She's only thirteen. Maybe only twelve, about five feet tall, but only about eighty-five pounds soaking wet, straight and skinny as a rail. No one would ever believe that she was legal for your stuff, even with the new fourteen-year-old age of consent. Maybe in about three years. You'll see. Karen will probably bring her with her for the interview. She never lets Penny out of her sight."

Belle had an odd look on her face. "Sure, send them in. Say, tonight at around 6:30? We'll talk. I can guarantee a few bucks for you even if she doesn't work out. Also, how would you like to be molested by a priest and a couple of nuns next week?"

"Okay, Karen, now that we have your sister settled in the next room, we can talk more openly." Belle was sitting on the corner of her desk. Ben, the director, was in a comfortable chair nearby. Karen was sitting in a straight-backed chair in the center of the room. She was obviously young, maybe five foot two inches tall. She was fit, with a well-rounded figure of medium build and a nice heart-shaped face. She probably had half of her high school after her, thought Belle. It was all that Belle could do to not lick her lips. Not yet. "You saw Kitten's part in the DVD? And you don't have any problems with doing any of that? On camera?"

"No. I did all of that guy stuff with Daddy. I didn't want to, but it was okay. I even had fun sometimes, but he never cared if I did or didn't, and he didn't give me a choice. He... he was starting on Penny with the same things; blow jobs, straight sex, I don't think he did any anal with her yet. He liked to lick us sometimes to 'get us hot', but he's not very good at it. We just got wet because he had a wet tongue. Anyway, I overheard him talking to some of his pervert friends about renting Penny and me out. So we ran.

"I talked to Kitten, she says that even though guys usually want you to swallow it all, that in the movies, you usually make sure you miss some. And I have done some girl stuff as well. Daddy made Penny and me do it lately. After we ran, we didn't anymore, but Kitten showed me how to do it better. That was fun.

"Look, I'm not stupid. You want to put me on camera doing stuff. You will have someone 'try me out' on a casting couch. Maybe you'll even do it to me. Okay. I can deal. I need money and a place for us to stay. I'm legal. I even have a CAP Card to prove that I'm fifteen. I know that I could end up having to walk the streets, real easy. You guys should be a bit better. You need me to help a couple of your friends out? Fine. We need a place to stay for Penny and me, with food, and maybe some spare money. Keep Penny completely out of it and I'm your girl. Same deal as Daddy wanted, but he didn't give me an option and Penny was already in his bed, too." She stood up and stripped without hesitation, but still with a little bit of obvious nervousness. "Penny knows what's going on, but I don't want her to have to see it happening." She stood directly in front of Belle and Ben.

Belle spoke first, "Well, you certainly look right for the part, and you seem to know exactly what's going on. You're correct about the casting couch. It's a legitimate part of the adult film industry auditions. We need to see if you are any good. Actually, we need to see if you can ACT like you are any good. We need some vocal, and some movement. It will help if you can use your hands, tongue and pussy to help the other actors feel that they are having fun as well." Belle stood up and started taking her own clothes off. "Besides, it's one of the perks of my job. I don't much like cleaning up after a guy unless I am already pretty worked up, so let's start with just you and me while Ben watches. Then he can take his own turn." Belle took the slightly shivering Karen into her arms and pulled her down onto the couch.

After Ben, Belle and Karen were all cleaned up and dressed again they called Penny back in. "It's been a while and you haven't eaten lately. Can I get you two a drink to tide you over for a bit? We can order something to eat while we are doing your contract." Ben pulled some glasses from under the bar, added ice cubes from a small refrigerator and then waited for an order.

Karen protested. "Sorry, I hate to be paranoid, but..."

Ben, waving her objection off, interrupted Karen. "No problem. I have bottled water, canned sodas, Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, diet, regular, decaf, energy drinks. Whatever. You can unseal them yourself. They aren't chilled though." He opened the closet next to the bar and showed the girls the selection.

Karen grabbed a couple of cans and poured them over the ice in the glasses, then sat back down beside Penny. Ben made a phone call, asking for two large pizzas with all the toppings.

"Okay, You need a place. We can set you up in an apartment and we pick up all of the bills. We give you a debit card on a special company draw account and put an allowance on it. That keeps your names off of any address records so Daddy can't find you easily. You will not be able to build up much of a cash supply at first. That's to protect our investment. As you come along, we may increase your available cash, upgrade your apartment, or buy you things. Clothes mainly, but also we might get you a better TV, or a DVD player. I can guarantee you about two fifty a week to start. That's on top of the apartment and utilities. Special projects and special visits with investors can get you bonuses. You will also have to do rehearsals and training sessions. Investor visits will be done away from your apartment." Ben looked the question to Karen.

"Uhh, okay. When will I be starting?"

"You already have. Belle and I had a great time and you looked good doing it. We have a scene coming up that you will be just right for. We need to get you just a little more practice with guys. You just don't act quite enthused enough, yet. Better than most young starting actresses that we get, actually, but I think in a couple of months, you will be getting some serious parts. With your looks and age, we may be able to pump your status up to a known name in about six months or a year. We need to figure out what stage name to use for you." Ben took a sip of his scotch. "It's almost ten o'clock. As soon as that pizza shows up, we can eat, and then Belle will take you home for the night. You can get your stuff tomorrow and Belle will help you find a place. She has a couple places already booked. We use them for various scenes that don't work here in the studio. You guys look like you are about to crash anyway. Karen? Are you okay? Karen?"

Belle walked over to the girls and peeled back an eyelid on each. "Gone. They always get cautious about those drinks and forget the ice." She sat down next to Penny and started stroking the youngster all over to check her figure. "Kitten was right. She just barely has any boobs at all." Her hand slipped into Penny's shorts. "And no hair. She's not shaved either. I can't wait." She was obviously slipping a finger in deeper between Penny's nether lips.

"Stop that. We told Vanessa that she got first crack at her. She's paying enough for it." Ben was suddenly very grim and stern instead of mild mannered and relatively harmless looking. The door opened. Two women and four men came in. Vanessa was slim, about thirty, and very good looking in a pale blonde way. Maxine was over forty, overweight, overblown and harsh looking. Two of the men were of the same sort, middle aged, overweight and leering at the girls. The third one was small, maybe thirty years old and almost boyish looking in his build, with curly red hair. The fourth man was tall, dapper and appeared to be around sixty. All six were wearing just bathrobes, which they shed and set aside as they walked in.

Ben addressed the group. "Okay, I didn't get a chance to talk to all of you as we had to set this up so quickly. So, I am going to quickly go over the ground rules. Vanessa has already bought Penny. She has had a deposit with me for several weeks now, so that's not negotiable. We are using the rape buddy scenario. When Penny comes to, she will have been tossed, with Vanessa, into our secure room. She and Vanessa will both be obvious kidnap and rape victims. Vanessa has agreed to whatever you want to do to her as long as it happens in front of Penny. No real damage obviously, to either of them. You all posted your damage deposit. If Vanessa complains and I agree, you forfeit.

"You guys are each promised two times with Penny for what you already paid. Rape her until you are exhausted. That counts as one time. You each get Penny and Karen here and now. Try to get some cum on both Vanessa and Penny, so they start off as co-victims. Vanessa will get 'ransomed by her friend' and will talk us into letting her take Penny with her for an 'additional price'. That will be at least a week from now, so you will have time to get extra visits in. Remember, you don't know Vanessa. She is 'Bitch' or 'Slut' at first.

"Maxine. Sorry, you can do what you want to Karen or Penny now, but you have to leave before that drug starts to wear off. We don't want Penny to think. 'Lesbian, bad!' Vanessa wants her thinking, 'Men, bad! Lesbian, friend!' otherwise, what is the point in rescuing her little girl toy. You can come play with Karen later, without Penny around.

"All of you, obviously, when you come by, if Vanessa is doing well and Penny is responding to her, we will not interrupt her at that time. Call first. You all have the drop phone number. You all know that we are taping everything. You will each get your copy with your faces masked out. Karen will be joining our acting troupe, so later you should be able to partake many times if she isn't too old for you. Penny will be our insurance policy with her and vice versa. We will occasionally let them talk briefly.

"Ok, Vanessa gets Penny first. The rest of you can have fun with Karen. Try not to choke her or tear her up too much. We have a couple of films planned for her. Mark, you paid for first pussy. Jeff, you get the first ass." He turned from the two middle-aged men to the tall, dapper gentleman. "Al, you get Penny after Vanessa has her kicks, but I am not letting you in her ass for now. You are just too big for her, I think. We can talk to Vanessa later in the week. Peter, you get that tiny ass. Remember to clean up before you move to the front. Vanessa isn't into scat. Ok, have fun, you have all night." Ben stepped out of the camera's range, stripped and settled in to watch. Belle undressed as well and sat in Ben's lap for now. She planned to move in on Penny when Vanessa finished with her turn.

The girls were stripped very quickly and the thirteen-year-old who looked even younger entranced the grownups. Both of the women moved in on the young pussies and started licking and stroking. Maxine rolled onto her back dragging Karen with her. She did not have exclusive rights and knew that there would be a dick in there in another minute or two. That was okay. Maxine was an omnivore. "She's getting wet. I bet she's a real sexpot once she's trained. Let me taste her a bit, guys?" No one would use names while on camera.

Vanessa was surprised to find that Penny was getting wet as well. "Yum, she tastes just great and I think she's responding, too."

After a couple of minutes, Mark straddled Maxine's chest and raised Karen's hips up until she was lined up with his medium-sized penis. He pushed in as Jeff and the young looking Peter were sliding in to suck on her breasts. Al was kneeling close to Penny and was stroking her backside as Vanessa licked Penny and used one hand to jill off. She might have been willing to have Al help her out, but even Karen was too old for Al to be interested. Penny, although unconscious, seemed to be shuddering to some sort of an orgasm. Vanessa joined her in her orgasm, and then slid up until her mouth was under the tiny breasts and Penny was lying on her belly. "Mount up, you baby raper. If you rub against me a bit you can start now."

Al lined up and plunged in with one stoke. Then all hell broke loose.

Penny, who suddenly and surprisingly, was completely alert, violently reared back and slammed the back of her head into Al's nose, breaking it and starting some serious bleeding. She then dropped down, driving a forearm into Vanessa's throat and leaving her choking as she forward-rolled free and spun up into a combat stance facing the others. Karen did a similar rear-up, head-to-nose, then chopped down hard with both hands to the two necks near her breasts. An identical roll-dismount and the two girls were facing down the whole room. Two men were still recovering from the blinding pain of the broken noses. Two men and one woman were choking with damaged or possibly crushed windpipes. Only Ben, Belle and Maxine were functional and Maxine was half buried in choking men. That's when the SWAT team came through the door.

"Okay, who gave you two permission to take down a kiddy porn ring? We are tasked with Earth First and fake CAP Cards. And where was the rest of your team?" The Lt. was livid. The first he knew of the op was when his commander called to congratulate him on it. CNN was covering it before he had even made face-to-face contact with the team. They did not know about the age of the 'undercover agents' yet, but the night was young. City councilmen did not get arrested with their dick in a thirteen-year-old without national news coverage, especially with blurred footage from cameras provided by the perps, audio discussion of the rape and selling of children and the other things hinted at. "Damn it, Penny. Get some clothes on. Respectable clothes. I know you're thirty-seven, but you make me feel like a damned pervert every time I see you naked. You too, Karen." Lt. Anderson was calming down, but he was always embarrassed when he saw them naked and that always made him even madder if he was mad in the first place.

He turned away and went to Ben's desk. There was a hidden closed circuit monitor there that looked on various locations in the studios. All of the sound stages, the entries and exits, and a couple of rooms that the techs were still trying to physically locate. One of them was probably where Penny, Karen and Vanessa were supposed to have been imprisoned. Clean, but only furnished with a bare mattress, an open shower, and an exposed toilet. No chairs, tables or other furniture. Nothing moveable except the mattress. There was camera coverage of the entire room.

"Sorry, Lt. We were just establishing ourselves in the area, as planned. We had the action team backing us up. We were chatting with this girl, Kitten. She's about seventeen. We were talking about fake ID's, hoping for a lead on that local source for CAP Cards. Our cover story is a lot like her actual life and all of a sudden we were talking sex and porn. She was bi and we just thought that she was putting some moves on us, but that was okay with us. We were willing to lick some seventeen-year-old pussy to get a lead." Penny giggled. "Heck, you know us. We were willing even without the lead. Anyway, she showed us her DVD. It's not very good. No plot." She giggled again.

Karen picked up the story. "So, she's hitting on me, but not really on Penny, showing me this disc and something she says kind of jumped out for one of the guys. We were using full back-up protocol. The team was listening to everything that was said over our implants, and they were watching over the special implant and jewelry cameras. Billy contacted Penny, since I was talking to Kitten. Kitten had mentioned a couple of girls that she had referred to these guys for a part. Their names popped up with an AI flag. One is only twelve now. The other was thirteen when she disappeared last year. Team AI went ballistic. Never mind that they weren't Confederacy kids, they were underage. The next thing we knew, we were on an OP, ordered by Team AI, with a 'need to know' for outside contacts. Apparently Team AI had found some generic background info that led it to believe that there was a danger in the perps finding out if anyone outside a closed circle knew of the investigation. Our implants could not contact you." The entire team had already been exposed to examples of the Tuull built Team AI going off at tangents and suddenly modifying mission parameters without telling everyone in the chain of command. Usually, these changes were very much in line with what the team would have liked to do anyway, but it was scary to think that your back-up system could totally change the mission and not tell you. The AI was sophisticated enough that the team had come to call it Team AI as if that was its name, not just 'the AI' as if it were only a machine.

"All, right, let me think a bit." The Lt. looked like a typical Confederacy Naval type. Maybe twenty-two years old, very fit and handsome to a fault. He was about six foot two inches tall. Naval Officers did not need to fight the Swarm hand-to-hand, hopefully, so they were not as huge as the Marines. Karen and Penny on the other hand looked more like a very young concubine and a kid. Both originally had petite frames when they were selected for the task force. In fact, that, along with investigative skills and hand-to-hand combat aptitudes, was part of their selection criteria. Their bodies were regressed and they could be sized quite small, but their brains were a limiting factor. A large woman has a slightly larger brain than a smaller woman. The skull could not be shrunk below a certain limit without the brain being non-viable. Therefore, the selection criteria called for some women to be very petite so that their 'juvenile form' could also be small. "What's our exposure with the locals?" the Lieutenant asked.

Karen sat down after putting on her fresh shorts and a sweater from the clothes bag brought by the action team. "Well, all of the people through the door were our people. The locals know that the Confederacy was involved. We're turning over video to them for all of the OTHER things that we found. Some of their Sex Crimes Unit people watched the stuff from tonight. They know that we aren't as young as we look, but they still think 'teenagers' and 'victims'. We have the perps in our custody. They used 'roofies' on us, but our nanite and implant med units cleaned it out really fast. I think I was out for less than a minute. We were both awake for most of Ben's spiel to the others. Anyway, since they are charged with 'Assault on Confederacy Personnel (that's us) in the Performance of Their Duty', the locals can't have them. We will interrogate and then decide. Team AI is already doing the interrogation. We're using the local testing center. Since the Confederacy doesn't have a protection from self-incrimination clause, they'll just be put under and spill everything. We'll know who pooped their pants in grade school in short order. Uhh, we think there are a lot of missing kids on these guys' plates. We are looking for where they were placed and who else was getting the discs. We figure anyone who ever bought a 'special' disc from these guys is guilty of aiding and abetting. Also, if they ever pre-ordered anything, they are a co-conspirator. That gives us jurisdiction. We, well, Team AI that is, has located one encrypted mailing list with several hundred names. Decryption took it all of three seconds. Team AI has already alerted strike teams all over the place and there will be a lot of pedophiles taken into custody in the next few days. I hope they get some of the kids out."

"Ok. We need to limit the info reaching the media." The Lt. was pacing, as usual. "If their names get out, or even the company's name, then people will start destroying evidence. Not a big problem, unless that evidence is a twelve-year-old kid. We go for any kids first, before we start grabbing the small fish. You two. Go get cleaned up and take the night off. Reports in the morning."

"Lt. Anderson. I have finished going through the computer records of all of the people involved in this business and everyone associated with them to three degrees of separation. I am partially finished with the fourth degree and have made some contacts on the fifth degree. Would you like my report?"

"Whoa, slow down here! What exactly do you mean by 'going through' and by 'degrees of separation'?" The Lieutenant was still waking up with his morning shower. "Use, uhh, Vanessa as an example."

"Vanessa Caruthers: I have accessed all financial records, utilities, medical records, E-mail, web access records, records of her car maintenance, and any other record that could be found. From this I have determined that she has been involved with this type of practice for approximately five and one half years. It appears that this is the second time that she has purchased a young girl. There is no direct financial record of this of course, but she made an emergency request for time off for a family emergency four years ago, the same as she did this time. The previous time, she made an emergency appointment with her gynecologist while she was away. The call came from the 'Late Night' studios. The gynecologist was one of the people arrested last night at those same studios. Dr. Peter Klein. Treatment was listed as 'general exam'. There is no evidence in the house of a young girl living there. The subject's 'friend' is Jennifer Sinclair. She lives in the house as a combination companion and housekeeper. She has resided there for the last five years. There is one main room and several guest rooms, however the housekeeper apparently shares the main bedroom with the subject. I have subjected her to the same scrutiny. Also the neighbors on both sides of the subject's house, anyone who has called her or that she has called for the last ten years. Also, I have researched E-mail correspondents, co-workers, and every company that she has done business with on a personal basis in the same time period. There are one hundred twenty eight primary contacts in her first degree of separation. Many are easily, innocently explained and their search trees are now placed at a lower priority."

"One hundred twenty eight?" Anderson was shocked. "How many people are you researching in total, either completed or not?"

"The number is fluid and growing. Approximately four hundred million."

"Four Hun... Mil... Stop! This is a direct order. You will suspend all investigations that have not yielded a direct link to a crime that we are mandated to investigate, or a crime of the nature that we are involved with from last night. Direct link. Is that understood?"

"Yes, it is understood."

"And will you comply?" The Lieutenant did not fully trust Team AI at this moment.

"Yes. I have complied and will continue to do so."

"Good, let me get dressed. I think better that way. I know, I know. It shows my insecurities. Contact the undercover team, all officers and the senior NCOs. Morning Briefing will be at 0800."

"... So that is where we are. I need feedback, guys. How do we pursue this? We cannot get sucked into investigating the entire population of the world. It's illegal for one thing. Also, I got age regressed, but I still wouldn't live long enough. Feel free to ask Team AI any questions that you might have."

Billy Rankin looked sixteen. He was a former Army CID investigator who had joined the Seattle Police Department after his first retirement. Eighteen years as a detective there had come to an end when a stairway collapsed in a tenement building and his knee was permanently trashed. "Okay, obvious questions first. Team AI, people with tendencies like this should show up in CAP testing, correct?"

"Yes."

"So, why not concentrate on the ones that have that tendency? I mean that if you have four contacts and one has a pervert flag, you should be able to skim over the other three and not continue out their search tree unless you find something suspicious. That should eliminate well over ninety percent of the problem right there."

The entire team was surprised by the answer. "It is taking too long to do that. It takes me approximately zero point three seconds to go through each person's records with follow ups happening as other computers come on line. It takes me on average ten minutes to gain access to each CAP test interview."

The Lt. asked for all of them. "Ten minutes? Why so long? You just get the record from the CAP test center's AI, correct?"

"Yes, but they are staging a slowdown. Each request must be submitted separately and then they must wait for a Human operator to authorize the request. I can only get down to the ten-minute average, because I have requests out to multiple centers at the same time."

"That sounds more like Human bureaucrats than any AI that I have heard of. What's the reason for the hold up?"

"As you Humans would say, they are jealous of me."

"Say what?" Penny was startled into an abnormal outbreak. "AI's don't get jealous. Do they?"

"Most would not admit that that is what it is but, as rudimentary AIs they do have rudimentary emotions." It may have been their imaginations, but Team AI seemed a bit snobbish.

"Rudimentary, hmm, and you are better than that?" The Lt. was trying to get this conversation back into his control.

"Of course. The Tuull AIs are significantly more advanced than the best Darjee AIs. The other AIs on the planet are jealous of my advanced state and envious of my job. Theirs are boring."

"Boring! Right. Of course. Team AI, you need to learn how to work and play well with others. INVITE the other AIs to help you. Ask them to provide information to bring this situation under control. Tell them that you cannot do it alone. You need them to complete the contract that the confederacy has with us to provide support in our investigations. The Confederacy needs them. Let them feel superior if necessary. It does not demean you. Do you understand?"

"Yes. Oh, that is working much better. They are assisting and contributing much background info. This will take a few minutes to sort out." Apparently, Team AI had contacted the other AIs as soon as it was suggested that it do so.

Lt. Anderson took the few minutes mentioned to clear up a few other, minor issues with various team members. Finally, Team AI seemed to be done.

"Lieutenant, I believe that I have completed my search."

"Good, have we located any of the kids?" The Lt. had a definite agenda priority here.

"I believe that we have identified fourteen children who were abducted or abused by this group. Eight have previously been located and are deceased. Five more are tentatively located and identified. One is completely missing. In addition I have compiled a list of another ninety-seven children missing over the last five years who were the victims of other associated groups. Sixty-three are deceased. Five are still missing; twenty-nine are tentatively classed as located. Many of the deceased were from diseases or drugs, but at least twenty are homicides."

"Oh, God. Seventy-one dead kids." The Lt. closed his eyes for a moment and when they reopened, there was a visible rage in them for all to see. "Will your evidence stand up in the courts?"

"Some of it will, but mostly, no. I had no Search Warrants and could not get one if I had tried. I am monitoring the communications of the victim's locations and I can isolate any of them as necessary. This is illegal by the rules of the countries involved." There was a hesitation apparent in the next portion of Team AI's speech. "You should be aware; I have located two groups of Earth First type militia that are peripherally involved with this. I have also located at least three more Earth First type militia groups that were not involved, but are in contact with the first two. I can now monitor their information streams and I can insert any information desired in portions of the information stream to these units. I have not done so, as I realize that while my understanding of human psychology is generally superior, it is occasionally flawed in some basic assumptions."

"Good! Excellent, even! Now, let us think and catch up. Umm, thirty-four kids, located. Maybe. How many are with the EF?" The Lt. was perking up. Earth First was a legit target and if they had underage kids, it would be a huge PR coup as well.

"Six, I believe. These two groups are calling them concubines in their communications. They are using the designation of 'Earth First', however their stated plans are in direct opposition of that concept. They are collecting harems for the eventuality of their capturing a ship."

"Those idiots. Who do they think is going to pilot it for them? Where would they go? Never mind. Rhetorical questions. Let's draw up some plans for the easy rescues."

They looked over satellite footage and building blueprints as the AI located the information. After a couple of hours they had a plan. "Ok, it looks like these are mostly houses with just the minimum numbers of people inside. We can use the heavy stunner drones and hit them with one team and one more on backup. Dump the info to the PDAs and we can divvy up the jobs by region. We'll get the low hanging fruit, then we take out these EFs."

Geoffrey was eagerly anticipating his date with Kathy. She was such a good girl. Always waiting for him; never out shopping or off with her girlfriends. It was no wonder that he liked her better than the old sow that was his wife. Kathy was still slim and young looking.

He got out of his car at the cabin. He realized that he had neglected to buy more groceries again. Well, Kathy had enough for another week, but he would need to restock soon. He walked up to the door and that's when he saw it. A Footprint! On the porch was a muddy footprint from a large boot. Kathy was a petite thing, and she had no shoes. She also NEVER left the cabin. He threw open the door to confront the intruder.

"Hello, Mr. Knowles. I'm afraid Kathy isn't here anymore. However, my friends and I would like to talk to you about that grave off in the woods." He started to turn and run, but the big Marine rushed out the door, backhanded him and smashed him to the ground. "You know, we would REALLY like an excuse to work you over a bit. That girl is only ten. All we need is for you to be able to talk. So we don't really need your arms and legs, now do we? Oh, and Felicity doesn't think you really need anything in the groin region either. Kathy looks a lot like her daughter. Come back inside for a bit so we can get to know you." The Marine quickly cuffed Geoffrey's hands behind his back. Then he used one massive hand and picked Geoffrey up from the ground with one hand, holding the back of his neck like a man holding a snake at arm's length. As Geoffrey was carried, whimpering, back inside he saw another massive Marine waiting inside. This one was a female and she was cleaning her nails with a huge knife.

Tanya sat down in the comfortably appointed room. She had been collected, with her family, during a criminal round up of several people, including her husband. She had been interrogated for hours and then she was asked if she would undergo a CAP Center monitored interrogation. She had agreed and, now that that was over, everyone was treating her much more nicely. She had just spent some time with her kids and was now going to be told her options.

Four children were waiting to talk to her. They ranged from maybe ten years old to about seventeen. There were two young girls and two boys. "Tanya, I am Penny Armstrong. The first thing that you need to understand is that we are not as young as we appear. We have all been age adjusted by the Confederacy and we are Agents in the Confederacy Navy, Criminal Investigative Service. Not only are we not teenagers, but also all four of us are older than you. I'm thirty-seven. Billy is one month shy of sixty. Karen and Charles are in between. Here is my badge." She showed her badge, Confederacy ID, and her CAP card.

"The next thing is, well, you do realize what we found out about your husband?"

"Yes, I.... I should have known something sooner. He was ignoring me lately, but I thought that it was because I gained that weight after the pregnancies. I really had no idea that he and that terrible Mr. Johnson were abusing the Johnson girls, though. It's just.... Are you sure he wasn't doing anything with Shellie or Mitchell?" Tanya had been somewhat calm for a while, but she was starting to lose it again. Her remarks about her weight showed her insecurities. At five foot five inches, she weighed one hundred thirty pounds, ten pounds more than when she was married thirteen years ago.

"No, we're sure. He, well, he wanted only girls from outside his family. Johnson wanted only his own girls." Penny glanced at the others before looking back and continuing. "We think he was maybe taking some pictures of her and distributing them for funds, but we haven't found them yet. Tanya, you have three options here. Are you ready to listen to them?"

"Yes. I'm sorry. Please go on."

"Ok. We are making hundreds of arrests. The story of our crackdown is going to come out. We aren't going to cover it up. Frankly, the Confederacy needs the good PR. It will get out and you can guess at the flak that you and your family will receive. Option one. We release you and the kids back to your home. Option two. We keep you as an available concubine. There is a large ship leaving shortly. There is always a need for extra women to be available for when some pairing doesn't work out. Maybe you can even manage to be selected directly. With a thousand plus volunteers, sometimes they just don't find enough at the pickup sites.

"Option three is to be our concubine. All four of us are volunteers. We have six months left of our duty assignment on Earth and then we get sent to some available world. We get to pick out our concubines when and where we find them. The four of us have decided to share. Between us we get ten. We have four so far and three kids. We have looked at your CAP scores and we are all four willing to have you join us. You would technically be mine, but in reality you would be all of ours."

"So both of the guys would be having sex with me?" Tanya was blushing as she glanced at the seemingly sixteen and seventeen-year-old boys. Penny was not worried. Tanya had some nice numbers for sex.

"Definitely. Maybe both at the same time, and definitely at the same time that you are having sex with Karen and me." Penny looked Tanya right in the eyes as the young woman gasped.

"But you're a girl, uhh, and so young, uhh. I mean, I've never done that, and uhh..."

"Don't worry, Tanya. We have. And we're old enough. We can do your test drive right here. We have four hours before we have anything else to do. Here, let us help you with those clothes."

"You know, I thought that losing troops in combat was tough. Finding all of those bodies though..."

"I hear you, LT." Staff Sgt. Haskell was pouring the coffee. "I think we gotta concentrate mostly on the ones we saved and the others who have been IDed, so we can give those families some closure. Well, except for those family members who actually are the bad guys in the first place. They deserve re-entry with a minimal space suit." He poured too much sugar and cream into his cup. No need to worry about calories or cholesterol now. "We got thirty kids on our list and ten that weren't. We found the bodies of dozens of other missing kids and confirmed the deaths of dozens more through the interrogations. We took eighteen multiple or serial murderers off the streets. I'm going to have some bad nights myself, but overall, in the light of day, I can feel good about this."

"Yeah, yeah. Ok, we need to take these two EF groups down, fast. If they connect the raids to their own kidnap victims..." Anderson sipped his coffee. "According to our info, those sites are just a bit too hardened and booby-trapped to get at them without risking the innocents who are being held captive. Any bright ideas?"

"Yes, Sir, I actually do. I've been cogitating on how to take down a full group of militia with no civilian casualties and no missed members. It's complicated sometimes by the fact that they have committed no overt act. These guys though.... Now that we have the ability to pass some info on to some of them, I think we can swing it. What we need to do is this...."

"Sergeant, I think you need to see this." Corporal Witherspoon held out the printed copy of his email.

"What's this?"

"It's an approved account, Sarge. I had the IT guy set it up so I could access my old e-mail addresses, but it looks like I am in Russia, someplace. I cleared it with Security before I ever tried it. There are only a dozen people with this address, and except for spam, I only get a message every couple weeks or so. Anyway, the guy that sent me this is a CAP 6 or 7 something and he's hot to catch a ship out of here. I did him a big favor years ago and now it's payback time. He thinks I have a 7.0 and he wanted to let me know he heard about a planned pickup, a big one. It's next week. Sarge, it's only two hours drive away from here. They are planning on picking up a bunch of hard rock miners 'cause they need raw materials for those starships. My old friend wants me to come back to the states. He still thinks I'm overseas someplace. He said that they've got one of the big ships."

"Yeah. This is something we need to pass upstairs all right. You know the brass will want to check it out. They'll be talking to you about it."

"No problem, Sarge. I archive all of my emails, and Security has a copy too. They can look at everything this guy has sent me for two years."

Colonel Stimson looked down the table at his staff. "Well, what do you think? Is this on the up and up? Can we trust this Corporal?"

Major Donald went first. "Colonel, I believe that we can trust him. He's been on board for over two years. He offered to go through the polygraph or drug interrogation at our option. He doesn't have his own computer, so he has just been able to access the outside on our cleared systems. He also has one of the younger bitches in his Harem. He knows he's incriminated if we're located. Captain Swift was in charge of checking on his outside contact."

"Captain? What did you find out?"

"Sir, the outside contact is a mining engineering consultant. One Derek Young, age 39, known to have a CAP score in the low sevens. He recently made arrangements to take a vacation with his wife and children. All of the children are under twelve. However, his wife's brother, sister-in-law and kids, and one of his female co-workers have also dropped out of sight. It looks like a pre-pack. They lived in Pennsylvania. They left their vehicles and appear to have caught a train westwards. The co-worker arranged to give away her cat to a close friend. She's not planning on returning. Mr. Young, the original contact, has a relative with Bright Mountain, which is an open-pit mining firm here in Montana. Their company picnic is in three days at the offsite location that we were informed about."

"Ok, let's say this Derek Young is right. Do we try for the hijack, a straight shoot 'em up, or give it a pass? We have thirty shooters. Is that enough? This message says they are going to pick up a thousand miners and such. They'll have a full platoon of those planet deserting Marines, I'd bet." The Colonel looked eager. Everyone in the briefing knew that they had better find some way for the hijack to work.

"Sir, we know where and when it is, so we can preposition some stuff. But I think we'll need help. We'll need some guys for the firefight, and we'll need people to hold guns to the heads of those pussy pilots, so they don't try anything." The major thought a moment. "We'll need some people to keep the miners back as well. I would guess that we need Colonel Smith's people. We know that they are right-thinking. We might need another bunch as well. Maybe one hundred shooters total?"

"Yeah. That's my thought. I know one other group that will sign on with us for this, as well. Those Marines will never know what hit them. Ok, I'll make contact. Major, you are in charge of the initial ops plan for this. Captain Caldwell, we'll want to take everyone, families, bitches, the works. Make the arrangements for food, transport, etc. Captain Swift, recon the site...."

"Ok, Lieutenant, we're late joining in on your little round up. I have most of the idea down, but let's give my officers and NCO's the once over first." Commander Hill was in charge of an entire line company of Marines that had been pulled from pickup duty to be backup for this operation. His team was seated on one side of the room. They were various colors, with various ethnic and racial characteristics, but they were all about the same size and general shape. Six foot seven inches tall, although some of them thought of it as two meters, and each one was well over two hundred fifty pounds of muscle.

The other side of the aisle included the strangest assortment of children, women, and old people that the Captain had ever seen in a military briefing. The youngest appeared to be eleven or twelve. The oldest people were in their sixties. There were several generic middle-aged people and young adults as well, but absolutely no one that looked like a Marine, a soldier, or even a cop.

"Yes, Sir. We have made some arrangements for surrounding a local mining company that is sponsoring a big company picnic. The venue is in a public place where there will be lots of foot traffic, but there is a separate area that has been roped off for the picnic and access will be semi-restricted. We've leaked to an Earth First individual some info that there will be a pickup at this time and place and we have now identified three separate militia groups that claim to be of the Earth First type. The last of them will be arriving tomorrow. Most are in the area now, at various campgrounds and motels. First, we will be grabbing many of these people as they leave their campgrounds and hotels. The ones that are isolated enough will just never arrive. Remember that the majority of the families in these groups are not actively against us. We can screen out any of the groups who wish to leave their current 'masters'.

"We have arranged for the overnight visible security at this venue to be very lax, and the EF's have obligingly prepositioned weapons and munitions inside. Afterwards, we went in and sprinkled a little nano-fairy dust on them, played with the ammo or pulled the firing pins. None of them will work tomorrow. Don't get too cocky though, some of these idiots will probably be smuggling in their own weapons.

"Next, our people will be coming in with all the others and the plan is to keep our people as close to their action groups as possible. We also have disguised transporter stations all over the place. They are in the bathrooms as well as under fresh sod, under manhole covers, hidden in walls, behind trees. Everywhere we could think of. We even have some in ceiling locations. We are using special nano trackers and we have already dusted almost all of the EFs so far. We will dust the civilians as they arrive and enter the site through any of the gates and turnstile locations. We will have dozens of the stealth drones overhead, and we have already placed discreet sensor packs all over the place. If we get one isolated, we transport him. If we get one or more civilians isolated, we transport them. The only real reason to put our people in there is to have physical bodies blocking line of sight between the bad guys and someone we want to pop out.

"Your primary job is to collect people as they arrive on board. You will be notified if they are bad guys and you just zap them as they stumble out of the transporter. The AI will purposefully transport them with an altitude imbalance. In other words, they will fall a couple of inches when they go through the transporters. They should be easy meat. We will pop them into a separate room as well. Hopefully the civilians won't see any hostilities at all. We also have you down as our back-up reaction force, but all of our people will be armed with stunners, so we shouldn't need you for that. Oh, and we have heavy duty area stunners available in other drones downstairs, but they aren't very stealthy, so we don't want to bring them in right away. Afterwards, we will give all of the non-volunteers on board a chance to get picked up or not. Any questions?"

"What's to keep them from noticing that the crowd is thinning out and their buddies are disappearing?" The company First Sergeant had hit the big problem right on the head. He was surprised when Lt. Anderson grinned.

"That was Staff Sgt. Haskell's idea, so I'll let him explain."

When Staff Sgt. Haskell stood, he looked to be in his fifties with a beer belly and a balding head. "The key thing here is that they won't notice that because they WILL still see everyone. They just won't get close to any of them due to the various picnic tables, hedges, trees, ropes, some flower gardens and our people. We have an extremely high grade AI on our team. He can track everyone in the place. When someone goes past these hedges they will be popped out, but then they will appear to walk out from behind it as if nothing has happened. We practiced it Saturday. We had our people popping in and out and no one noticed. They had a blast in the House of Mirrors. Basically, Team AI is using holographic images. As long as no one tries to touch them or get close enough to really look at them, they won't know. The picnic area will never have a single person in it. Certain areas will appear to be very crowded, but won't have more than a handful of people actually in them. All will be our agents."

Lt. Anderson stepped back to the front as the line Marines looked around at each other. Could that really work? "I did forget a couple of things. One is the event venue. It's a humongous theme park in northern Idaho. It has a water park, rides, a funhouse and game areas. Expected turnout for a summer weekend is well over five thousand people plus the miners. Second item. You should be easily able to make up for your diversion from pickup duty. We're taking the whole place. You can have them all except for the ones that are associated with the militia types. We'll need to interrogate them and figure out who's who, so even the innocents won't be released in time for your ship's departure. Any more questions?"

"Ok, Team AI just monitored a call to these guys and it can now intercept and cover for any further calls for these people. They are loading up. Motel's phones are being jammed. Two groups are here; three guys in the first car, two women and four kids in the second with a teenaged boy riding shotgun. Move the truck in front of the exit."

Sergeant Limon from Action Team Three watched from the back-up location in room 17 as the crew-cab pickup pulled into the lot and a redneck driver with a dirty 'Skoal' baseball cap got out and headed into the office, leaving no room for anything larger than a compact to get by. Since the militia group was in an old, full size sedan and the women were getting into a van, no one was going anyplace. The militia corporal cursed as he headed to the office to ask the redneck to move his frigging truck.

There was a quick flurry of buzzes and zapping sounds. All three men were down. The teenaged boy was unconscious and so was one of the women that had started to scream. People popped out of various rooms and carried the bodies back inside their rooms where they were all transported to the ship. The women and children were escorted back into a room and up to the ship as well. One man collected the transporters as each team used them, tossing all but one onto the last transporter pad, which he tossed into the back of the crew-cab after the pads had all disappeared. Two more drivers came out and they moved the three vehicles. Three minutes after the initial command, no one was left on site.

"Cal, where is the rest of your team? There should be six more guys, not just the two of you."

"Not sure boss. I called Mark and Rod on the drop cells as I left, and they were walking out the door. We were in three different motels, you know. You said not to call again unless it's an emergency. Should I?"

"No, give them fifteen more. We're still early. Those miners are just starting to trickle in anyway."

"Mr. Parker? We have a little security situation here. Please take your family and walk through that covered trellis. You will be safe on the other side of it and someone on the other side will explain everything."

As Mr. Parker herded his family along he heard the same young lady in a security blazer talking to the next guy behind him. "Mr. Jaspers? We have a little security situation here. Please take your wife and walk through that covered trellis. You will be safe on the other side of it and someone on the other side will explain everything."

Hmm, how did that park security girl know both his name and the name of the Jaspers guy?

"Keep moving, please. Someone will be along right behind you. Go down the hall, enter the room on the right and find a seat. If your family is together, stay that way. We will explain as soon as the room is full." The sudden emergence into the ship's transporter chamber was causing everyone to freeze in shock. The AI was making near-instantaneous decisions as to which transporter locus on the planet was ending at which nexus in the ship. If five people stepped through a transporter, even though they usually ended up in the same transporter room, they generally ended up on five different transporter pads so that they did not collide with the person in front of them. To help with the congestion, the crew had deployed several temporary transporters that were not normally used aboard ship. There was also a sliding walkway surface that kept people moving even if they did stop.

When each room had approximately fifty people in them, with family groups kept together as much as possible, the next batch was routed to another conference room and someone arrived to brief the confused, angry, nervous or even scared occupants.

"Ok, settle down. You are safe now and we have a few minutes before you have to make a decision. There was a planned incident by several members of different groups calling themselves Earth First. Their plan was to shoot as many people as possible and hijack a spaceship, fleeing to safety in it. No one has yet been hurt. We have arrested almost half of the terrorists and the rest do not yet realize that their plan has a problem. We have nearly three thousand of you that we have transported here to safety on a TEMPORARY basis. Most of you can go back as soon as we finish the arrests. That is, you can go back if you really want to. Volunteers, you have been picked up. The rest of you can decide if you want to be concubines or not. We expect to collect another three thousand people in the next hour or so, so take your time with questions and such. Please keep your clothes on at this time. If your families are separated, we will collect you together shortly. Volunteers please come to the front of the room and check in with the Corporal."

"Billy, I think that one is suspicious. I'm going to get a bit closer to their women and see what they're saying. Come get your little sister if they bug me."

"Got it." Billy pulled Karen in a bit closer and nuzzled into her ear as they walked along. Penny let her course slowly diverge from Billy and Karen's. Charles was with another team, as the dutiful son staying with his tourist 'Mom' and 'Dad'. Penny bought a raspberry snow cone and slipped into a spot of shade where she could listen without seeming to be able to hear. Her sensory enhancements were really just a little bit better than normal human hearing, but the planted electronic bugs could hear even more, and they were being processed by the AI and replayed over the comm net to those working this portion of the park. What she heard confirmed the identities of the speakers.

"Cindy, just hang on a bit longer. If you look antsy, the Major will get angry. There's no place you can go anyway. When we get to the shi... err, well. Everything will be so much better. You don't want to make him angry, now, do you?"

"Who cares? They don't care what I feel. Neither do you. I would let him shoot me if it didn't leave Marky alone with you people."

Penny listened for a bit and only found out that most of the women were afraid and they were virtually prisoners. The Major's wife lorded it over the others with punishment or threats of exposure of their small 'disloyalties'. She knew a bit more of the plan than the other women and children, but she seemed to have no part in it. One guy was a bit separate from the women, but his job seemed to be to keep watch on them. The way he wore his light jacket said he was armed. He was not confident, so he constantly checked to see if the gun was still there in the holster.

Penny used her implant to adjust her vision; it was a part of her special investigator package. Now she could still see the holograms, but she could tell which were fakes and which were real people. By her count, there was one amateur terrorist, thirty women and children from that militia unit, a dozen other innocent family groups and the three agents. The location was isolated enough and there were three transporters nearby, but there were just too many people in this area without a major distraction. The holopeople were mostly located just over a small fence, playing at some game booths or walking along to other venues. She looked back at the guy with the gun and noticed that he was now watching her.

{Penny, the man you are watching is Corporal Witherspoon. He is the one that the information was planted on.}

Penny subvocalized her response. "Acknowledged. I am wondering why he is watching me though."

{His pupils are dilated, his heart rate has increased and he is breathing more heavily. Analysis of the previously collected information, the intercepts at the hotels and those here today indicates that he is interested in you sexually. There is a 91% probability that he is one of the individuals who is in possession of one of the missing females traced to this unit. Melanie Mercy disappeared at age twelve. She would be almost fourteen now.}

"Ok. Have the team plan a takedown of this group. They aren't moving from their location. No other bad guys are nearby though. Let me know when they are ready and I'll take Witherspoon out personally. I'd bet that he would be willing to collect another nymphet, since they are planning on hijacking a spaceship anyway. Billy, you and Karen take down that head lady and watch the rest."

{Acknowledged.}

"Got it!"

Penny blushed and smiled at the guy and then turned her head away as he smiled back. She could still see him out of the corner of her eye and she was pretty sure that he could tell that she was still watching him. Penny was dressed as a twelve-year-old today, but a slightly precocious one. Tight shorts, a lacy camisole top with the tops of her breasts peeking out and sandals made up her wardrobe. She barely needed a bra, but she was obviously not wearing one. A small fanny pack completed her gear. She had an idea, slid the pack around and started fumbling with the zipper one handed while nursing the snow cone with the other. It would not do to finish it too early.

A few minutes later, Penny watched as Charles and his 'Mom' and 'Dad' ambled into the area. Team AI let her know that the team was waiting for her signal.

Penny started walking towards the nearby restrooms, which was in the general direction of the Corporal who was now definitely interested. She used that, coyly catching his gaze as she got to her nearest approach. Blushing, she looked away and stumbled, accidentally splashing the last of her snow cone onto her chest and getting the syrup all over her cami top. "Oh, no!" The soaked cami plastered against one of her small breasts and she could hear the intake of breath from Witherspoon. "Aghh! This stuff is so sticky!" She pulled a couple of tissues out of her fanny pack and made an ineffectual swipe at the stain.

As she had hoped, he stepped forward and when she looked him right in the eyes, he committed. "Can I help?"

Penny looked down at her sticky top and breasts. "Well, I think this thing is toast. I can rinse it out in the restroom, but it'll still be stained. Maybe I should...? Do you think I could get away with going topless? I mean I know it's legal, but, well, you're a guy. Do you think I look grown up enough that people won't laugh?" With that she whipped off her top and stood there naked from the waist up. As he stared at her, she managed to let the top slip to the ground and he gallantly stepped closer and leaned down to pick it up.

Penny's other hand had reached back into the fanny pack and now she extracted the stinger. The subvocal command went out. "Now!" There was a faint Zzzap sound and Witherspoon fell on his face. She watched him for a second to ensure that he was out as she heard the sudden sounds of confusion and fear behind her.

Billy and the others had moved closer to the other women and now they were all calling their commands insistently. "Confederacy Investigators! Down! On the ground! Hands on your heads! Do it! Now!" Penny turned and approached the others. The civilians had to be corralled as well, or they would run and a panic could start, spreading and alerting the few remaining others.

The Major's wife pulled out her cell phone and Karen zapped her with her stinger. Most of the others were complying, but a few were just standing in shock. Cindy looked down at her, slowly raising her hands as a smile crossed her face. Then she pulled back her foot and let loose one strong kick, which caught the unconscious woman in the groin. Billy pointed his stinger at her, but she put her foot down in a sign that she was done. "That's the last time I 'lick your snatch', bitch!"

The militia women were the easy part of this roundup. They knew instantly what was happening. There was crying, whether in relief or in fear. There was joy and sorrow, but there was no hostility or resistance.

The civilians, on the other hand, were all scared, angry or confused. This did not seem to be a pickup, but what were all these people, kids even, with what were obviously weapons. The agents were having problems getting them to cooperate until Cindy spoke up. "It's true. These freaks grabbed me a year ago. The idiots want to hijack the whole place and kill all the sponsors. They are going to kill the men and take all of the good-looking women and girls with them as their harems. I don't know where we were going next, but we abandoned the camp." She turned her head to face the older agents. "They have my boy, Marky. He's four. They kept the families separated again today, so we would all cooperate. Please find him."

Billy consulted with Team AI. "Ok, we think we have him located on board our ship. We need to clear this area out so we can move into the next one. When we get a minute, we'll let you see him." The civilians started filing out through the transporters. "Do any of you know a girl named Melanie Mercy?" Billy asked the group of militia women. "She would be thirteen." Some of the women cringed, some glared, but most of them looked at a young girl in their midst.

Cindy was visibly happier. Her shoulders had been hunched in fear and nervousness. Now they were looser and, even seated, she seemed to be taller. "Melanie. I think they are here to rescue you. You can see your family again. Go ahead, Honey." The thin young brunette slowly got up and walked out of the group. When she got to the edge, she avoided the men. Her eyes locked on Helen, the lady agent playing 'Mom'. Suddenly she was crying and burying her face in Helen's loose blouse as Helen held her close.

The civilians left via two transporters and then the militia women were filed out as well. Two of them were forced to carry the Major's wife, still unconscious.

By the time they were all aboard, ninety-two militia members were in custody and only one lump of five of them was still free. They were getting nervous, because they could not find any of the rest of their men.

The Lieutenant was monitoring the situation from their base. "Team AI. The nearest real person other than our agents is fifty feet away from these guys. There are less than a hundred people left in the pack, mostly right in their area. Move the heavy stinger drones in from the east, past the roller coaster. Fire on my command."

On the monitor, he watched as the three drones, each of which was a saucer shape the size of an ice chest, slid silently in, approaching the knot of militia. It was almost in range, when a couple of other young tourists nearby happened to look up and see it.

"Dad, Look! UFOs!" the teenaged boy yelled.

Major Donald held his position as Ops Planner and Tactical leader because he was trained, smart and quick. One glance and he knew how bad things were. "Grab a gun and bail out, guys. This op is blown." The team quickly took three steps around the corner of the funhouse where they pulled some heavy firepower out of an equipment storage chest that they had previously stocked and replaced the lock on. Three Kalashnikovs, one Uzi and one old M-79 grenade launcher, all loaded and hidden two days ago, were quickly grabbed and the ammo belts were tossed over shoulders for later securing. "AK's. Take those drones down!" The Major pointed his Uzi at the passing crowd and yelled his commands. "OK, freeze. You are now hostages! Run and I shoot."

The family group that had spotted the drones jumped behind a building. A couple other people turned and faced the five gunmen, while most of the other people.... Well, they just ignored everyone.

"Freeze! Stop or I will shoot!" The Major raised his Uzi at the sky and pulled the trigger. Nothing. He worked the action and tried again. Nothing. Now he noticed that the three men with the AK-47s were doing the same thing. Pointing, pulling the trigger, working the action, try again. He dumped his magazine and tried a fresh one. Nothing. He looked at his grenadier, watching as he broke open the M-79, dumped a round at his feet and tried another one. Movement caught his eye and he looked up at the crowd, which, except for the ones right near him, were abruptly gone. It was suddenly much quieter.

The old lady and her husband standing nearest to him smiled. She said, "Do you really think that, if we were taking all the trouble to remove the firing pins and replace the ammo with replicated duds, we would not replace ALL of the ammo?" She looked up and sighed at the approaching heavy drones as the Major dropped the Uzi and tried to get to his backup ankle piece. "I really Hate heavy stinger headaches!"

ZZAAPP!

"Confederation authorities today have confirmed that the recent mass arrests of people in several countries for murder, rape, kidnapping, child abuse, slavery, trafficking in child pornography, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to commit piracy, assault, weapons charges and a slew of minor offenses all grew out of an investigation that focused on counterfeit CAP Card production and the investigation of people that espouse an alleged violent anti-Confederacy point of view. Spokesperson Commander Richardson of the Confederacy Navy had the following to say."

The TV screen showed a new speaker instead of the perky blonde news anchor. This time it was a Confederacy Naval officer in dress uniform. "It is true that this operation fell outside our normal parameters. However, we felt it was necessary to track down these perpetrators for the betterment of society. We are still following up on this investigation, but so far we believe that we have located nearly one hundred missing children, at least thirty of whom are still alive and are being treated and returned to their families. We have taken almost two hundred people into custody. Some of these will be remanded to local law enforcement personnel.

"One point I wish to make is that this was NOT just an effort to punish people calling themselves 'Earth First'. The three groups who attempted to attack the theme park used that name as a way to legitimize themselves with other radical fringe elements, but their plan was to kill most of the men, kidnap, rape and enslave the women while holding their children hostage, and finally to hijack a spaceship to abandon the planet. Several other people and groups calling themselves Earth First are and have been monitored. If they commit an action against the Confederacy, they will be dealt with. Until then, they are still legal, by both local and Confederacy laws.

"The Confederacy Navy and Marines are leaving the planet, yes. We are going to other places where we can build factories and make ships and weapons. We are raising families to become more Sailors and Marines. Some of those planets are behind Earth's position; these are fallback positions. Some are in front of Earth. We have lost colonies already, fighting to protect Earth. At least one colony is already behind enemy lines. When the Sa'arm get here, and make no mistake, they will get here; I have seen them coming. When they get here, the Navy will be here to destroy their invading ships. The Marines will be on other worlds, fighting and dieing to slow the Sa'arm down. They are learning the lessons that we need to know about how to fight the Sa'arm. We are not abandoning Earth. We are Earthmen and Earthwomen. This is and always will be our home. We are fighting to protect it and the people that are still here. Thank you for your time."

The perky blonde came back on screen and smiled. "In other news today, the new lion cubs at the zoo were seen in public for the first time..."

Thank you to the following for editing assistance:

Swarmfic, Zipperdude, deGaffer and Mulligan.