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have one. Let's hope we find at least two."
                  "Really? We're gonna look?"
                  "Sure, why not. Something tells me you're not really into hunting, and we need to have something to do all day while we're up there. Plus, it will give us a lot of time to talk. We can tell each other stories of stuff that has happened to us."
                  "What story could I possibly say, you're like a war hero, you must have a million."
                  "That doesn't mean I don't want to hear yours, Lana. You're my daughter, and I just met you after all these years. I want to know everything about you. What kind of cake you had on your fifth birthday. Your favorite music. Your best soccer memory, all of it."
                  She looked at him and could tell he meant every word. Having a father that loved her was all she ever wanted; she only wished her mom were here to see it. "Thanks for accepting me, dad."
                  "Thanks for not hating me." He kissed her head and they kept on walking.
     
    ______
     
                  Thansar was in shock, it happened again. History had repeated itself and Jesse Marcos had once again defeated him with a much smaller force. Those cannons were well protected and powerful, and those Hyperian ships seemed unbeatable. If there really was more on the way, they would be in serious trouble. He was pretty sure that Marcos was just trying to get to him, and it had worked, but those ships had to have come from somewhere. No race he had ever encountered had them. He tried to think of how he was going to explain the defeat to Dobar when he received an incoming transmission. "Dobar, I do not bring you good news. Colonel Jesse Marcos, the very man we feared may hinder our plans, showed up at the last second at Polisia and defeated our forces."
                  "What, how is this possible? No reinforcements left the Coalition core worlds. Polisia was supposed to have no more than thirty-six ships plus whoever escaped from Triton. You should have easily been able to overcome that."
                  “Our intelligence was faulty, Dobar, they had seventy-one ships plus the remaining ships from Triton. One hundred twelve in all. We had lost one hundred ships at Triton and we attacked with three hundred seven."
                  "What was the problem, then? You should have still been able to easily handle them, almost three to one odds. Thansar, I think I know how you lost your war."
                  That last comment irritated Thansar, but he didn't let it show. "I warned you that these humans were resourceful, and if that had been the extent of the forces we faced, I would agree with you. Twenty-eight of their ships were SSE ships; they had a powerful planetary shield and the strongest planetary defenses we have ever come across. At least fifty incredibly powerful plasma cannons and weapons we have never seen before."
                  "What weapons?" Dobar was suddenly interested.
                  "They fired a weapon that sent out a laser net so large, our fighters could not get out of the way. One shot took out almost half our fighters, thousands of them. Then, they launched their Vipers while our fighters were still retreating in disarray. Our fighters were slaughtered. Then, there were the additional fifty-one ships Colonel Marcos brought with him. Powerful beyond description. He has ships that purposely hurl themselves into enemy vessels at top speed, destroying the enemy with little damage to themselves. They routed us."
                  "How bad?" Dobar knew he was not going to like these statistics.
                  "At Polisia, they lost thirty-four ships and six plasma cannons, and we lost over two hundred sixty ships. The overall campaign fared better, we were able to fully destroy three planets, one hundred