"A working military base after three years?" " With real soldiers." " How's that even possible?" "Well-fortified." "Water on three sides, good sight lines." "The right group of men could hold it." "Good call coming here, Colonel." "Did you see the firepower attached to those armored Humvees?" "Browning M2s, 500 rounds a minute." "Hoo-whee!" "This place could be everything we hope for." "Food, supplies, trucks, weapons..." "Manpower." "Sure would be nice to boost our ranks for the final push." "Let's not pop the champagne just yet." "We don't know anything about who's down there." "Come on." "All right, how should we play it?" "Let's take a closer look." "Approach through the woods." "Once we know it's safe, we'll circle back, get the rest of the 2nd Mass wagon train." "Cochise and Dingaan can join us after they figure out that damn Espheni hub." "If they figure that thing out." "Got a trip wire." "Looks like they got the place booby-trapped." "Smart move." "I'd do the same." "What do you think it sets off?" "Ooh." "They're not shooting to kill." "Not exactly a welcome mat." "Freeze!" "Weapons on the ground now!" "Easy!" "Easy!" "Tom Mason, 2nd Massachusetts." "This is my son Hal." "Colonel Dan Weaver." "Where's the rest of your party?" "Where's the rest of yours?" "You got a commanding officer back at that base?" " Guns on the ground now!" " We're not putting our guns down!" "We don't know who the hell you are are!" "Get your guns on the ground right now!" "Drop them!" "Dan Weaver?" "Is that you?" "Katie Marshall." "Well, I'll be." "Stand down, fellas!" "Dan, meet the 14th Virginia." "Good to meet ya." "Matt!" "Of all the gin joints on all the Eastern seaboard..." "Set up shop here a year ago." "Enemy wiped out the joint army/navy forces stationed here during the initial invasion." "We all got hit hard." "We hit back harder." "Fighting 14th stands about four dozen strong." "With our 40, that makes a couple platoons for our march on Washington." "Technically, Colonel Weaver, you are now the ranking officer on this base." "Technically speaking, you have set up a base defense operation center, therefore, you may retain the responsibility of post commander." "I'll observe you." "That's some enlightened thinking for an old curmudgeon like yourself." "No, not really." "The ultimate responsibility for the objectives of our Washington mission will be mine." "Basically, we think the Espheni are using D.C." "as a major base of operations." "We don't know exactly what they're planning, but our intel says it's gonna be bigger than the power core." "We'll stop 'em before they can put their plan into action." "This is the final push, Captain." "Can't wait for you to brief me." "Perimeter is secure, Captain." "Thank you, Lieutenant Shelton." "See that our new guests have everything that they need." "He's a good soldier." "Not much of a bedside manner." "Yeah, I kind of got that when he pointed his gun at me." "It's a very impressive arsenal you have here, Captain." "Unfortunately, we haven't had enough soldiers to utilize most of it." "Until now." "Colonel Weaver." "Impressed." "I should have known aliens couldn't keep you down." "Second Lieutenant Demarcus Wolf." "Thanks to Captain Marshall." "Ah." "You were smart to stick by her all these years." "She always did have the makings of a leader." "Sir." "I learned from the best." "I'd just arrived into Fallujah, and Colonel Weaver here got stuck with me while we were pinned down by insurgents." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Well, yeah, you know, you get to know each other real quick under those circumstances." "I truly believed the sub-communicator could hack its frequency." "We've already wasted half the day on it, Cochise." "Even if this thing is some kind of Enigma machine..." "What is an Enigma machine?" "In World War II, the Germans built a device to encrypt their messages." "The British built a machine to decode those messages." "The good guys won the war." "Ah." "We could likewise use this hub to intercept Espheni communiqués." "We can't figure it out." "We're gonna have to rejoin the others at the base." "Then we remove the hub from the ground and transport it." "How do we do that?" "Every time someone touches the damn thing, they get hit with a blast of alien mumbo jumbo." "Perhaps..." "We devise a series of pulleys and levers so we do not make physical contact with the device." "No." "No, Cochise." "Uh, Dingaan." "Dingaan!" "Stop!" "Dingaan!" "Okay." "Let's not try that again." "Got any other bright ideas?" "Then a couple of weeks ago out of the blue, beamers dropped out of the sky, mechs ran out ofjuice." "Like somebody flipped the Espheni power switch to off." "That's 'cause somebody did." "We discovered their power core was on the moon." "Tom flew a captured beamer up there, destroyed it and the rest of their tech." "You flew a beamer to the moon?" "And lived to tell the tale." "Well, that put them on their heels." "We fired up our gennys and got the command post up and running." "Bare bones, but it's a hell of a lot better than what we had a month ago." "This isn't real time, is it?" "No, but it's as up-to-date as possible based on radio intel." "Awesome." "We picked up a satellite-uplink truck on the way." "Talk to Lieutenant Wolf." "He's our signal corps officer." "And all these red clusters are..." "Hot zones with reported heavy Espheni resistance." "That means there's an Overlord in the area." "Our best estimate is that there are about 100 left in the U.S." " Hundred Overlords?" "Based on what?" " Volm." "Volm intel on the ground, and their tech ID'd downed mother ships." "You been working with the Volm?" "We've heard about the Volm relocating humans to South America." "We declined that offer." "What the hell am I gonna do in Brazil, work on my tan?" "We agreed to fight with them, shoulder to shoulder." "Well, I wouldn't go that far." "It's not like the Yankees, the Limeys, and the Frogs all fighting a common enemy." "We haven't seen the Volm in weeks." "Our contact, though, did leave us a little recon gear" " before he went back to his ship." " Right." "See, what we've been focused on is trying to dismantle Espheni tech, and we've instructed the militias around the globe" "to do the same." "The plan is that while they're clearing out their respective regions, we, together, march on the Capitol." "Right into the heart of darkness." "Our troops surround the city, put a stranglehold on the Espheni's neck till their feet stop kicking." "Take back D.C., then the country, then the world." "That's the idea." "You came back different from that farm." "More focused, clean shave." "Came back older." "I like it." "Though I am jealous you got a 24 hour break at a farmhouse with a woman that wasn't me." "I saw something at that farmhouse." "I saw that the world that we thought was gone still exists." "I was so close to it." "So trust me, there's gonna be so much quiet, you're gonna be bored to death of me." "Yeah." "I'm headed to the infirmary." "Sounds like they could use a real-live doctor." "Hey." "You want to tell me how you managed to survive three years of war and still look that good?" "Every guy that hits on me, I just kill them and drink their blood." "No hablo espanol." "Hi." "Am I interrupting?" "I don't think we've met, man." "I'm Hal Mason." "Sergeant Zak Kagel." " Nice to meet you." " Yeah, man." "Well, it's great having you all here." "It's just the jolt of energy we're gonna need to win this war, am I right?" "You are." "Marking your territory?" "Ha ha." "Please." "You should talk to her." "The two of you clearly have a whole lot of unfinished business." "We've had dead Skitters in the lab, hornets, whirly-bugs..." "Whirly-bugs?" "Ugly-ass flying things with eight legs and bulging heads." "Oh, they call them waspers." "We even had an Overlord once." "Cut his ass open, did some tests." "What were your findings?" "That he was an evil alien sumbitch." "Now, let me get this straight." "You shot the Colonel?" "Is that friendly fire or, uh..." "No, I meant to shoot him." "Y'all had a Volm with you?" "Cochise." "He was fiddling with this Espheni device we..." "Uh, I found." "Hey." "Everything all right?" "The spikes are out." "I'm great." "Yeah." "I know." "But..." "I mean, that was a life-threatening risk that you took, taking your spikes out, Maggie." " Did you..." " Yeah, Hal, I did it for you." "It had nothing to do with being terrorized by not knowing who I was or what I was capable of." "All that paled in comparison to a chance at winning Hal Mason back." "Well, good." "I'm glad to hear that you just thought about yourself." "Yeah, I'm glad to see you found yourself a little cushion out there to fall back on." "Are you talking about Isabella?" "Maggie, I think that you're giving yourself a lot of credit here." "You think I have..." "I'm putting together a little get to know you shindig." "We got alcohol..." " I'm in." " I like it." "This is awesome." "It's a wish list for how we want the world to be after the war." "You've been polling?" "Yeah." "A little light reading for you." " Do you know this book?" " No." "De Tocqueville." "A Frenchman who traveled around America in the 1800s, viewed Western expansion and wrote his criticisms, observations of America in this book." "I think you'll get a kick out of it." "Thanks, Dad." "I want you to keep working on this, though." " All right." " I really like this." " Cool." " We're gonna need this, too." "Linda and I split up right after the girls got to high school." "You and Burt?" "Uh..." "No, that did not work out." "The way you looked after me over there, Burt just..." "He couldn't do that." "Hmm." "Well, I looked after all the soldiers under my command." "All right, well, how you looked after me, then." "And how you..." "Looked at me, too." "How'd you get that beauty mark?" "Uh, that was, um..." "Close call." "About six weeks ago, squad got, uh, ambushed by a bunch of Skitters." " We scattered." " Right." "Yeah, it was, uh..." "Anyway..." "To second chances." "The 14th." "We're not blood kin like you guys, but we're definitely a family, too." " Hear, hear." " Right." "Uh-huh." "Yo!" "And when your brother's got your back, it makes all the difference." "Right." "Captain Marshall brought order to a world that doesn't have any." "Three squares a day don't hurt, neither." " Yep." " Are you all military?" "All the 14th?" "Yes, ma'am." "Don't like the drills or nothing, but maintaining order is necessary for survival." "Cool spikes, bro." "Can I touch 'em?" "Um..." "Yeah." "Sure." "Go ahead." "Bzzzt!" "Good one, super-freak." " Oh, that's a nasty infection." " Yep." "What happened?" "Uh, we were out on patrol, hunting collaborators." "We traded gunfire." "I took a stray bullet." "As in human collaborators?" " Yes, ma'am." " Bullet was a through-and-through." "I stitched him up." "Everything was fine." " But now a week later, it's..." " Doesn't look fine anymore." "Yeah, I'm gonna have to re-open it, find out what's causing that infection." "What do you guys have in the way of painkillers and antibiotics?" "Nada." "Our cupboard's bare." "No PVP-I or Iodine tincture or Dakin's solution?" "Nothing." "Well, can you at least find me some maggots?" "Whoa, maggots?" "Yeah, they're gonna eat away all that necrotic tissue." "It's gross but effective, just like in the olden days." "Just find out wherever they're dumping the food, open one of the bags, you shouldn't have to look hard." "Okay." "Don't worry." "You'll get used to the creepy-crawly feeling." " What's going on?" " We need you to come with us." "Why would I do that?" "Okay, put the guns down, guys." "You don't want to do this." "Trust me." "What's up, super-freak?" "All right, so tell me about this dinosaur." "How's this thing work?" "This is an old-school combat radio, like in 'Nam days." "Chatter on here blew up a few weeks ago." "Militias started talking." "Some of them call themselves Mason militias." "I ain't even know what that meant till now." "So why don't you tell the troops to come here?" "Captain." "She don't want us engaging them." "My orders are to listen and log." "Do not respond in case any of them have been compromised by the Espheni." "That's a little paranoid, don't you think?" "You don't agree with those orders?" "Look, I owe Captain Marshall my life." "But you ask me, we spend way too much time worrying about human collaborators, you know what I mean?" "And I been with Katie a long time, and..." "She's different than she was." "Different?" "How?" "I don't know if it's the war or her being bushwhacked a few weeks back, but..." "It's like she got ice running through her veins." "Well, leadership takes a toll." "I know that firsthand." "May I?" "That's a lot of militias out there." "Yes, sir." "You two get this radio network up and running ASAP." "We need your help, LT." "Requesting permission to have breakfast with Captain Marshall." "Permission granted." "Clean up nice there, Colonel." "Thank you." "Although you know what they say about commanding officers fraternizing with their subordinates." "I didn't know that we were, uh, fraternizing." "Least, not yet." "Okay, Trevor, this is what's gonna happen." "I'm gonna carefully undo the stitches." "Then, hopefully, I'm gonna find and remove this foreign object that's giving us problems." "Then I'm gonna let the maggots go to work on the infection." "They're gonna eat all the dead tissue, inside and outside of your body." "All right, then I'm gonna redo your sutures." "Now, in terms of pain relief, in lieu of painkillers, all I can offer you is some hard liquor." "Thanks, but..." "I'm a decade sober, so..." " All right." " Don't worry about me, doc." "I can manage." "Got it." "A piece of your shirt got caught in the entry wound when the bullet went through." "Okay, that's good news, okay?" "All right, now here comes the weird part." "It's okay." "I'm not a spy." "I know the Espheni infiltrated your unit." "Them spikes got to be hooked up to their main circuit board." "Do you report to an Overlord, or is this some sort of telepathic communication?" "I've learned how to control my spikes." "They help me kill the Espheni." "Don't you get that?" "Let's see what we got here." "Oh." "You don't want to talk?" "That's fine." "Don't say I didn't give you the chance, now, super-freak." "What do you think you're doing, giving orders to my men?" "Why isn't Lieutenant Wolf contacting other militias?" " I thought we all agreed on a plan." " Ah." "Tom Mason's march on D.C." "To find out what the Espheni are planning there." "I'm sorry, I don't understand the logic in hunkering down." "Our focus has been on strategic strikes, not home-run swings." "That strategy has kept my men alive." "Respectfully, do you want to survive, Captain, or do you want to win?" "Have you really been letting a schoolteacher give orders?" " We're all on the same side." " That's what I thought, too." "'Course, I'm only a schoolteacher, so I may be wrong when I say that" "I think the fighting 14th seems a little bit more interested in military decorum than in actually fighting." "Captain Marshall?" "Easy, Tom." "I have to attend to this." "What do you mean, "Easy"?" "They're not even going after Espheni targets." "They're more interested in going after human collaborators." "Listen, I understand." "I get it." "You got some history with Captain Marshall." "Whoa!" "Hey!" "You think I'd lose track of the big picture" " because an old flame bats her eyes at me?" " No, I don't." "That's not what I'm saying." "I think we may have to remind your old flame who the real enemy is." "It's a difficult situation, Tom." "Gonna be a little tension at first." " I understand what she's talking about..." " Yeah, apparently." "Stop squirming." "Stop squirming!" "You already had a few of these removed." "With a Volm device!" "Right, your Volm pals." "My mistake." "Stop it!" "Stop it." "You're still alive, huh?" "Yeah." "Lieutenant Shelton?" "Where's my son?" "Where's Ben?" "Nobody's seen him since last night." "It doesn't even look like he slept in his bed." "Where is he?" "Your son is being questioned about his spikes." "Questioned on whose orders?" "Captain Marshall's?" "Captain Marshall has been apprised." "I assure you, it's standard operating procedure for anyone suspected of Espheni influence." ""Espheni influence."" "Have you lost your mind?" "I want my son released right now." "Can't do that, sir." "Your son is suspected of espionage." "Listen to me." "If my son's an Espheni spy, so am I!" "I've been on their ships!" "I've had eye worms." "We work with the Volm because I gave the order." "If that amounts to treason on this base, lock me up with my son." "Escort Mr. Mason to the brig." "Whoa." "Hal Mason, you need to come with us." "Let's do it the easy way." "Let's go." "Move." "Go on." "Move." "Turn in your weapons at the armory." "Let's go!" "Inside." "They're locking up my people, and they're taking away our weapons." " What the hell's going on?" " I'm still trying to get a clear picture of what actually went down." "In the meantime, my men are taking necessary precautions." "What kind of precautions?" "Frankly, I've gotten some worrisome claims about certain members of the 2nd Mass." "What is this?" "You got a dossier on us?" "Dan, put yourself in my shoes." "A man I don't know comes onto my base and tells me he flew a beamer to the moon." "He admits to having had eye worms, to being held on an Espheni ship." "His sons are also infected." "That's what they do to you!" "They took my Jeanne, and they turned her into..." "Dan, I'm sorry." "I..." " I'm sorry." "I didn't..." " Well, now you do know." "And Tom and his family have been victimized the same way." "All right, hopefully, we can just chalk this up to an unfortunate misunderstanding." "But is it possible that the Espheni are playing a long game with Tom Mason, one that you or me, or even Tom himself isn't aware of?" "That's ridiculous." "Loyalty always was your strength..." "And your weakness." "You stuck it out in a marriage you knew was doomed." "You covered for the brigadier general when you knew he was a drunk." " I covered for you, too, Katie." " Yes, you did." "I should have been reprimanded." "Instead, you took the heat for me." "That's the moment I knew I loved you, Dan Weaver." "He said he flew a ship." "To the moon." "What would you do if you were me?" "Matt, Matt, Matt." "Hey, hey, it's me!" "It's me." "Me." " Shh, shh." " What's going on?" "Things are going a little bit south here, Matt, and I need your help." "We got to get you out of here." " What about dad and Ben?" " I'm working on it." "But we got limited options." "I need you to go to the whiskey distillery and bring back reinforcements." " How am I gonna get out?" " You remember those motorcycles you saw on the way in here?" "Yeah, the ones they use for patrol, right?" "You just hop one of those and ride through the front gate." "They're just gonna let me through the gate?" "I helped myself to some laundry." "Here put this on, like you own it." "Ride past the sentries, wave to them like you're going on patrol." "Uh..." "Yeah." "I know you can do this, Matt." "You're the only one I can trust with this." "I need your help." "You can do it." "I know you can." "It's not over till it's over, Colonel." "It ain't over till it's over, soldier." "If I supply the mech pod with electricity..." "It reacts." "So..." " Maybe, Cochise..." " Hmm?" "Possibly, huh?" "If we can swap it out with the hub, this mech pod will mimic its pulse." "Or bring the house down and kill us all." "I should be the one to perform this exchange." "No, no, no." "We're pretty sure it won't kill a human." "If it kills the last Volm we have left," "Tom and Anne are gonna kill me." "But we need to bring this hub to the others if we stand any chance of intercepting Espheni communiqué." "Okay, listen up." "You..." "And I..." "Are gonna lift..." "This hub..." "Out of this nest of wires while you put the mech pod in its place." "Now, when you touch it, it's gonna feel like a freight train going through your brain." "Fight through it." "Otherwise, we're all dead." "On my count." "Four..." "Three..." "Two..." "Now!" "Dingaan?" "It worked." "Huh." "It worked!" " All right, man!" " Uh..." "Okay." "Yes." "Where is my husband?" "You can't keep her locked up here without an explanation." "You two are gonna be laid up far worse than he is if you don't tell me what's going on!" " What is happening?" " I need you to calm down, ma'am." "Do not touch me!" "You want to get yourself locked up in the brig," " like your husband?" " The brig?" "What is my husband doing in the brig?" "If they think we're with the Espheni, they're not gonna let us sit for very long." "We got to be ready when they come." "Are you ready?" "On your feet, fellas." "Hands on the back wall." "Right arm back, Mason." "Come on!" "Put your gun down!" "Watch your back!" "Watch your back!" "Guns down!" "Here's what's gonna happen." "We're gonna walk out of here, and when we're safely off the base, we'll let Lieutenant Shelton go." "Guns down on three." "One, two..." "You know, Captain Marshall warned me that only the guilty try to run." "Stop!" "Come on!" "I always did like them feisty." "Drop the knife." "Now." "Maggie." "Been looking for you." "Wanted to talk about them spikes." "Heard you had them removed." "I bet that was painful." "Not as painful as it was for Ben." "You should have heard him scream." "Those spikes were the worst thing that ever happened me." "I got rid of them the first chance I got." "But you know what?" "I've never felt better." "Thank you." "For the record, Maggie, about Hal, I'm sorry about..." "You have nothing to be sorry for." "Hal and I screwed that one up all on our own, especially me." "Look, we're not gonna go for cosmos or anything, but..." "Yeah, you and I are gonna need each other." "I want to believe that they're innocent." "You're right to be cautious, but you know the right thing to do here, Katie." "I want to be clear, Dan, you are not under suspicion, but your friends have fallen under Espheni influence." "And their court-martial will determine to what extent." " Court-martial?" " Of course." "This is a military base." "Military law still holds." "Is that what you've been doing here?" "Holding trials for human collaborators who might have turned?" "We have been fighting the enemy on all fronts." "Dan, you know how this war can change people." "I've been fighting beside Tom Mason for years, and he is no traitor." "And a court-martial is no supposition of guilt, but there are inconsistencies that need to be probed and documented by a judge." "Judge?" "Judge?" "The Katie that I used to know would have looked for the good in these men." "And they are good men." "They are, Katie." "When I found you hiding in that bombed-out building, afraid to go back into the fight," "I knew there was a good soldier there." "And for that, I will forever be in your debt, Dan." "And that debt was repaid in full by you becoming the soldier you became." "The woman you became." "I believed in you, Katie." "I believe in you." "And I believe in Tom Mason." "Ain't over till it's over." "Room!" "What the hell did you do to him?" "Hey, what happened?" "They pulled out one of my spikes." "You tortured my son?" "He was a perceived threat to our security, Mr. Mason." "Captain?" "This court-martial is in session." "Mr. Mason, you admitted to having eye worms along with your son Hal." "They were both cleared by a certified doctor." "You mean Tom's wife?" "Who's employed Volm technology to remove Espheni harnesses like Ben's." "Ben's spikes have been a great resource." "But there's a telepathic connection, no?" "You can't be certain that your son has not shared information with the enemy, can you?" "No, Ben received intel from the Overlord that helped us, that helped all of us." "Oh, is that when he and the girl..." "Maggie helped you interrogate a captured Overlord?" "I heard that was quite a parlor trick." "We took out a major base of Espheni operations." "Right, the hatchery." "And the, uh, power grid in Boston." " No, that was before." " The moon." "And, of course, the Mason militias." "We didn't name them that." "The word got out about my father." " That's where the name came from." " Thanks to the Volm, no?" "Do these Mason militia know who the man they're blindly following is?" "Who's telling them to march on D.C.?" "I don't think we're ever gonna get to D.C." "if we keep fighting each other." "I mean, I'm sorry, I can't believe that the members of the 14th would rather sit here and waste their time in a kangaroo court" " instead of fight..." " Tell me more about this" "Espheni communication device you found." "Why did you lie about two members of your team who stayed behind, one of which was the Volm, who you insisted went back to his ship?" "Okay." "Different angle." "How did you know where the power core was located?" "We saw green flashes coming from the moon." "I saw them, and then there was a tow-rope of beamers cruising up there." "Beamers?" "That's right." "I'm just a soldier, so I could be wrong, but I'm finding it very difficult to understand how it is that you flew a beamer to the moon and, as you said, lived to tell the tale." "How did you get back here, Mr. Mason?" "Mr. Mason?" "Mr. Mason!" "After you supposedly blew up the power core, how did you get back to Earth?" "I'm not quite sure." "And yet, you still hold firm in your belief that the eye worms and the spikes and all the other alien tech that you and your people have been infected by is completely gone." "I don't have to defend myself to you." "This isn't a court-martial." "This is a joke." "How dare you." "How dare you throw our accomplishments back at us as lies." "You want to put me on trial, do it when the war is over." " Tom." " What?" "This is absurd." "Putting humans on trial in the middle of this war, that's not an accomplishment." "That, Captain, is treason." " Take it easy." " What?" "I hope you're keeping very good records here today, because history will judge you, all of you, for what you're doing." "Captain?" "Tom Mason, Hal Mason, and Ben Mason, you have been found guilty of collaborating with the enemy." "For these crimes against your country, your sentence is death." "English SDH"