Family, 8

They sent for the heavy hitters, the vat-born

those whom science had bred to fight and

who knew nothing else.

They sent the armored men to Witness with orders to clean things up.

 

Family, 7

And they (being Sector Command) sent 

an expedition 

to Witness, to conduct an investigation

but they never came back.

 

Family, 6

And

(being Sector Command)

they determined that the application of force would solve their misperceptions

once and for all.

 

 

Family, 5

And they

 (being Sector Command)--

 

Family, 4

Sector Command became aware 

and by their limited view (of events)

they had

a problem.

 

Family, 3

998, the so-called 'hijacking' of the

Pintoria Yego

a three-plus million tonne alluvium freighter

in low orbit over Witness-

 

Family, 2

Family

After several generations,

such new lives.

 

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (20)

Adapted, you might say.

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (19)

These our cousins,

 grandchildren

blood anyway.

 

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (18)

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (17)

Or so the epidemiologists think.

 

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (16)

And that at an unrecorded event

in the mid-900s

the unspecified incidence of infection.

 

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (15)

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (14)

Our New Year

Goodbye year.

Hello year.

 

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (13)

We know that sometime within the first fifty years

on Witness

they gave up on guarding the planet 

against an enemy that wasn't ever going to show up

and simply joined the labor force.

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (12)

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (11)

Plumber/Pipe Fitter, Third Shift Maintenance at Erbestall Terminal

 

Witness, Kalizch Stars.
 

Sector 2-H, Windlass Cay.

Calendar approximate 004.8, M42.

Voyage of the Belknap, Year One Thirty-Three.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fate of the 68th Kinetic (10)

Propellant Foreman, Light Gas Refueling Crew

 

Witness, Kalizch Stars.
 

Central Hub, Orbital Dock. St. Pilsner's Gate.

Calendar approximate 005, M42.

Voyage of the Belknap, Year One Thirty-Four.