I glanced at the list. It didn't surprise me that every pirate of the original crew, who wasn't wounded so badly as to be unfit for combat, had volunteered again. Lt. Colonel Chang, who was still listed as a Lt. Colonel, so his field promotion has also been confirmed. Desai, who had been promoted to Major Desai. Major Simms. Staff Sergeant Adams. Everyone. The list also included lots of special forces, and a half dozen very experienced pilots. I was going to make it very clear that Desai was the chief pilot, unless she told me different. What surprised me were the number of civilians on the list, mostly scientists. "Sir, I'm concerned we're bringing more people than we need, a lot more."

"How so?" Brenner asked.

"We don't need all these people," I tapped the list of names, "to achieve the mission objectives.  If anything goes wrong, this," I tapped the list again, "is only more people who won't be coming home." Brenner gave me a sharp look, so I didn't wait. I was tired, which made me cranky. More importantly, I needed to know how far I could push the Army before they pushed back. I had to know how much they needed me. "I'm not being given this command because the Army has great faith in my leadership abilities. I'm here because Skippy wants me to come along, and because I'm expendable."

"All right, Colonel. Tell me, what do you see as the mission objectives?" General Brenner asked.

I replied warily, aware this was a test, "I see three objectives. First, fly out to the wormhole, go through it, and get Skippy to shut it down permanently behind us. Lock it out, so no one but Skippy can use it again. Second, continue to assure that no other species ever finds out that humans are involved in capturing Kristang and Thuranin ships, because if the Maxolhx coalition ever does learn the truth, Earth could be in trouble, even without them having access to the local wormhole. And third, make Skippy happy that we're keeping our end of the bargain, by helping him make contact with this Collective, if is still exists. Do I have that right, and in the correct order of priority?"

"Sounds about right." Brenner said with a tight smile.