“Too many people have died for this alliance. I gave you you an order San Miguel!â€?

“Yes, Sir!â€?

“Is there a problem here, lieutenant?â€? Colonel Portis walked up to the refueling zone.

“No problem here sir,” the airman said.

“Zakk, just relax. The new force fields SanCom has in the stratosphere are working. They just might not need pilots anymore. I know what you think about SanCom, but they really deserve a lot of credit for this new technology. After all we’ve been through… To think that just last week they were projecting total annihilation by 2323 – just 3 years from now.â€?

“I don’t believe it Colonel. The aliens will find a way around it. We will always need pilots. Remember the drone launch against China in 2017? The Chinese crashed 100,000 drones with a simple program created by a 12 year old girl! It took real men – real flesh and blood to defeat the Chinese. It will always take a good starship and a great pilot to defend the citizens. Even if those pilots are clones.â€?