The process of clearing up the Rebel base went quickly, from the end of the battle.  The body-count was high...a lot of people had been exposed to the diminished Martian atmosphere when the base had been compromised, some of them had died very painful deaths as a result.  The ones who died right away were lucky...many had extreme cases of nitrogen narcosis from the rapid decompression, only a few lasted long enough to get medical attention.  The worst, however, had not only suffered decompression, but had also been exposed to massive doses of radiation, and the shock to their bodies had been fatal.  The base was, largely, a graveyard, and the radiation levels guaranteed that nobody would be using that base for a long time to come.

The survivors had been rounded up...their leaders had fled, taking an escape rocket that launched to somewhere further out in the Solar System--if anyone knew where, they weren't saying.  Those survivors that were medically sound enough to transport were loaded onto the destroyer James Madison, for transport back to Earth.  The members of Revolt Squadron, along with half of the remaining members of Fox Squadron, were assigned to the James Madison for escort duty as it shuttled the survivors back to Earth.

The Ranger, along with the destroyer Invictus, received orders to verify that the rest of Mars was clear, including Sera Base.  While it was not widely known, the presence of a reflex furnace beneath Sera Base had High Command very skittish about the possibility that some of the rebels might have escaped or set up operations there.  Observation hardware said 'no'...but several of the generals and admirals insisted, since they already had forces in the area, for an eyes-on verification.

That assignment had fallen to Echo Squadron, and Captain Wilson had summoned them to the Ready Room to discuss exactly what was going on and what he expected.

Vance walked in, a bit agitated but trying to keep a calm face on things.  If the aliens came back...Zentraedi...they call themselves Zentraedi... he reminded himself.  If they came back now, while the Ranger had so many Veritechs out escorting the rebels back to Earth, the pilots that were still aboard would be hard pressed to hold their own.

Still...orders were orders, and he was pretty sure he wasn't the only one who was getting orders that made him nervous.  He came to attention and snapped a salute.

"Lt. Hardy, reporting as ordered, sir!" he said, crisply.

Walking into the Ready Room, Hanako had similar feelings to Vance, but with a bit more confidence in their odds of survival.  Of course, she had Vance to look up to and trust in his leadership, so that helped.  Still, she was on edge all the same, and it showed in how she moved - much more clean and crisp than usual.  She always did fall back on formalities when she was uneasy.

"2nd Lt. Hanako Moriya, reporting as ordered, sir!" she said as she arrived seconds after Vance, her own salute formal and by-the-book.