(Author's Note: This is not the final addition to Jack and Veronica's story arc; there is a forthcoming epilogue which is the final work in this story arc. Author's Note2: This is a work of fiction; for example, a casual review of the temperatures I've implied and those I explicitly listed throughout the story arc will reveal a strong dichotomy with the actual recorded temperatures.) XLV Friday, 18 December, 2016 [14 months since the events of Carthago Delenda Est], 0515 hours Staff Sergeant Jack Northcutt, United States Army, (Mobilized) Individual Ready Reserve, finished filling the filter of the well used and often abused, Hamilton Beach, black and stainless, 40 cup, urn-style coffee maker. Jack was the first one to arrive at the briefing room for the daily 0700 company briefing, and as was custom throughout Jack's career when he was the first to arrive, took it upon himself to turn on the lights, turn up the heat, and start making coffee. Jack hated the instit