Hunter felt himself warming to the hunt. He called up his contacts and began ordering his research tools. In the late afternoon, Hunter went downstair... and walked three blocks to a bookshop to purchase a tourist book on London and the surrounding area.Weeks passed. Hunter went to Ohio twice for conjugal visits, as Penny called them. He did his best to keep in touch more frequently with his brother's family. He went to London three times, each time on a train through the Chunnel. On the last. (I recall Joe Bradley saying he had problems with the swimming; he could swim fine, but almost flunked the floating test!) You also needed to meet minimum qualifications with the weapons. Marksman is the minimum allowed for the M-16., then you move up to Sharpshooter, and then Expert. I initially qualified as Expert with the Colt .45 but only Sharpshooter with the M-16. Later I was able to requalify as Expert with the M-16.If you fail, you have to come back next year and do it all over again.. I'd been keeping an eye on the sky and it didn't look good. There were some dark clouds making their way towards me and the last thing I wanted was to be caught in a storm. I wanted to find a place other than the forest to spend the night.I came around a curve and saw a small mountain off in the distance. There were some dark areas that I was sure were caves. That became my goal. With a real sense of purpose, I headed that way, feeling good about myself. That's when I felt the first few drops. ." He sighed. "Well, at least we have that deserted planet to go to while we send out a message drone and wait for a GMU or a tow..." Normally, that would be a prudent course of action, Captain, but it is not in this case," the AI announced.Thaddeus scratched his head. "And why is that?"The AI activated the holographic display forward of the navigation station. "Because the twenty-five annual periods have elapsed and a Sa'arm Hive ship is inbound and close to the system. In fact, if it follows.