After the DropShip made it out, after Dad told him Mom had died, Dan spent a lot of time on the aft observation deck.  For days and days you could still see Terra.

One night an African kid about his age came up to him.  "Hey, Jake," Dan said.  Jake was Nini Khumalo's son.

"I heard your mom didn't make it to the ship," Jake said.  "Neither did my dad."

"I'm sorry, Jake."  It felt like a really important thing to say.

"You too, buddy."

ATRIA, FEDERATED COMMONWEALTH

MAY 3036 

"When we land on Atria," said Dad, "I've got to take the Excalibur out." 

"How come?" said Dan. 

"Got to find an old buddy of mine.  You remember I used to talk about John Taggart?" 

Dan nodded.  "The mercenary." 

"Well, the troops and I are going to need work out here.  We can't be Com Guards anymore.  We have to be soldiers for the Great Houses.  John's been doing that for years.  He can help us get started.  But he's in a tough fight down there.  If he's going to help us, we have to help him first."

SCENARIO 2: SAVING TAGGART

PLAYER: Purists

ENEMY: LegionOfVega

Kenner's command demi-company must intervene to save the command lance of his old friend John Taggart, while the rest of his troops turn the tide in the overall battle.

OBJECTIVE: Destroy all Kurita troops.  Kenner's Excalibur, Wabash's Griffin and Taggart's Awesome must survive the battle.

SPECIAL RULES: Kenner has the Sniper special ability (his range penalties are halved), and Wabash has Hopping Jack (his to-hit penalty when he jumps is 2 instead of 3).