"This is not a game and she is not a piece of meat." The

  man had been thinking of this for almost two days.  Just this.  (i)Stuck in the craw(i), as they say.  

  "It's not time yet," had been the iron wall line given by administrators on both sides of the Seas.  And yet. 

  Soldiers were sent. 

  Diplomacy was a burning piece of paper in both the Eagle's beak and the devil snake's mouth. 

  And women sent out for store-bought food and water were promptly raped.  A businessman had his tie wrapped around his throat.  And the real-time entertainment virus was hacking itself through the internet door. 

  "Drift." 

  "Collateral." 

  "You guys sitting on your hands in a bunker." 

  "These guys have been beat up pretty badly." 

  "What are you telling me for? I am not a school marm." 

  "Because you'll need protection." 

  "This is a war.  There is no protection." He looked at the Go Team heading to the Front.  "Not really.  Not the way this is forming itself." 

  "Forming itself Sir?" 

  Peoples' minds swam with the existential questions.  (i)What are we doing here? What's the solid line between vengeance and defense? Who said?(i) 

  "Even the orders are vague."