The silence of the bunker was suddenly shattered by the scream of two alternating sirens. Commander Fulton half fell from his cot and stumbled for the door. As he entered B12's Control Center, he fumbled with the buttons on his duty uniform and scanned the status monitor. A dozen specialists were already making their way to their duty terminals.

"Damn," thought Fulton as he watched the power curve on the monitor soar. This was a major breach.

He sported Lt. Roget as she stepped off an elevator pad and motioned for her to follow him as he made his way to the Mission Control console.

"What's going on sir?" the Lieutenant asked as she fell in behind him.

The console was lit up like a Christmas tree. Fulton ran his hand through his hair and shook his head.

"We've got problems," he answered matter-of-factly. He immediately initiated an analysis program and paused as the initial data filtered onto the screen. "It looks like twelve Ferrets have made a successful jump."

Lt. Roget stepped up beside him and began key punching access codes. "Twelve? Intelligence hasn't indicated any groups with the resources for such a large breach. Any chance this is a drill simulation?"

Fulton glanced at the Lieutenant's monitor and raised an eyebrow. "No, I think this is the real thing."

"Look at this!" Lt. Roget used her finger to trace a line along the monitor. "It's a tight energy band. These guys don't seem to be worried about detection. Do we have a pinpoint on the target window?"

Fulton's skilled fingers danced across the keyboard. The resulting data made his jaw drop. "Lord a' mighty, it's a Scatter Team. Looks like they've paired off - I count six windows: France - April, 1936; Australia - June, 1904; West Texas - May, 1884. I can't get a bearing on the other windows, but they seem to fall between the years 1964 and 1972."

Lt. Roget cursed under her breath. "We'd better get Alpha Team on deck. I'll run a historical correlation with the dates to see if there are any patterns."

"Alpha Team hell! This is going to require full activation." He picked up the commo-handset and punched the Full Alert Status button. A startled voice on the other end of the line picked up.

"I want teams Alpha, Bravo and Charlie on deck in fifteen minutes! Have them draw full weapons and PTUs. We've got Ferrets, mister. This is not a drill, so no screw ups."

Fulton didn't bother to wait for an acknowledgment. He continued to scan the incoming data.

"Lieutenant, I want you to trace that power surge and notify the fly-boys. At least we can take out that isolation chamber and shut them down."

"No good sir!" she immediately answered. "They cloaked their tracks with a surge-repeater. Damn, these guys are good. All I can tell you is that the Scatter Team jumped from somewhere west of the Mississippi. It's gonna take a few hours to get a wild trace."

Fulton clenched his fist and banged the side of his terminal. "Well, that's it then. It's up to our little band of merry men and women. Let's hope the Retrievers can mop these guys up."