Previously...
General Ford's lips trembled slightly as he stood at attention. "I've failed, sir. I await execution."
"Nonsense," answered Washington. "The rebellion in the south cost half a million lives, easing the population problem at least a little, while doing nothing to us except make us look good. And I've come up with the perfect plan for taking care of the Martians, the Earthians, and..." he chuckled a little, "those sourthern assholes. Notice how it's always the southerners who cause trouble? We're going to lose a lot of southerners, and it will look like the Martians' faults."
"But sir, "said Ford, "may I ask how that is in any way possible, considering how much more technologically advanced they are?"
"No, Ford, you may not. There are Martian spies about, I'm sure of it, although I haven't been able to figure out how they're planting bugs... they've obviously actually been inside the palace itself. This is strictly a need to know basis, and I don't want to put you in jeopardy, you're far too valuable.
"Dismissed, Ford."
"Yes Sir" said Ford, saluting.
Zales and Obrien were watching from millions of kilometers away. "What do you make of that, Sarge?" asked O'Brien.
"Dunno, but it's especially worrisome considering all the rockets they launched last week. It's also worrying that they've started to suspect that we can see and hear them. It's good, though, that they think there are spies there actually on their planet and don't suspect that we can even see them from here, as well as from all the satellites. If course they can shoot few satellites down, our tech just moves too fast for them. They're still using chemical rockets, for Galaxy sake!
"It's a good thing they have such small imaginations, or they'd realize that the way we hear them is by having computers read their lips, and we can see right through their walls!"
"How far have the rockets gone? Are we going to shoot them down?"
"Lieutenant Maris says no. They're not heading for Mars; in fact, they're heading away from Mars and towards Saturn, which is on the same side of the sun as them right now. He's sent a message to the Titanians, who will probably ignore it like they always ignore us. Maris says he can't figure out why they're sending rockets to Saturn unless they're planning on attacking the Titanians, but that would be senseless. Venusians can't live on Titan!"
"Hey, check this out, Ford seems to be just aimlessly waking down the street."
"Ok, O'Brien, you watch Ford, I'll keep track of Washington. The rest of the team needs to be watching, too. I don't like the looks of things."
"Shit, Sarge, those guys are just plain evil! Look at this!"
"I can't, 'm busy watching Washington."
O'Brien watched Ford saunter down the street whistling, the ever present ugly, evil look on his face. To a protohuman, a human Amish would look weird, Martians and Earth experimentals would look goofy, and one look at a Venusian would make your blood run cold. They looked evil. And they were. Ford's evil grin became even more evil looking as he steeped into the Dick and Pussy Saloon. A group was fistfighting in the corner, and Ford microwaved them.
"Hark!" Yelled the bartender, snapping to attention. "Hark!" all the other patrons echoed, also snapping to attention. "At ease, boys, I just came for a little pleasure. Barkeep, give me a bloody Martian." he laughed. "In fact, kill all those greedy fucking bastards and I'll have a REAL drink!"
The bartender laughed nervously. "Yes sir," he replied.
"What the bullet are you laughing at, twit? Are you laughing at ME?!"
"N-no, sir, of course not sir!"
Ford drew a weapon, pointed it, and the bartender's head exploded. "Well, you should have, dumbass, that was a joke! You," he said, pointing at a patron. "You're the new bartender."
"But sir, I don't know how to tend bar!"
His head exploded as well. "Anybody else here that's not a bartender?" he said, sipping the drink the now-late bartender had concocted. He looked around at the crowd. A group of wet-eared kids stupidly laughing, a couple in what was obviously a romantic interlude at a table, and... hey, he thought, she's damned good looking. Not to us, of course, but to a Venusian... Ford sat down at their table. "Hey, beautiful, how about we get nekkid and fuck?"
The man became pale, the woman's face blushed. "This is my husband!" she objected.
"Not any more," Ford said as the man's head exploded. "You know, up close you don't look so good either. Keep your clothes on, bitch." As he walked out the door, he said loudly "Drinks are on the dead bartender. I'm getting out of this boring fucking place, losers."
A very attractive (to a Venusian) woman followed him. "General? That bitch was stupid, I'd love to get naked and fuck!"
"Slut!" Ford exclaimed, as her bloody corpse hit the sidewalk. He didn't just want sex, he wanted foreplay - which included, of course, killing her already established man. If she had no man, why would the second most powerful man in the world want her?
Sadly, all this was perfectly normal behavior to a Venusian.
Continues...