**Exhibit 10.73****SEPARATION AGREEMENT AND GENERAL RELEASE**          This Separation Agreement and General Release (“Agreement”) is entered into by and betweenBarry S. Watson (“Employee”) and Alion Science and Technology Corporation (“Alion” or the“Company”) as of the latest date of execution by the parties to this Agreement. This Agreementsupersedes and cancels any prior employment agreements or arrangements Employee may have enteredinto with Alion or its subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, assigns or predecessors in interest,including without limitation the Employment Agreement between Employee and Alion dated December20, 2002 (the “Employment Agreement”), except as otherwise provided in this Agreement; provided,however, that the Employee Intellectual Property Agreement between Employee and Alion datedDecember 18, 2002, shall remain in full force and effect.          In consideration of the mutual covenants, agreements and representations contained herein,the adequacy of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties hereto expressly and intentionally bindthemselves as follows:     **1. ****SEPARATION OF EMPLOYEE**     Employee hereby agrees that he will announce his retirement from Alion and has notified Alionas of April 21, 2006 (the “Notification Date”) that his employment as Sector Senior Vice Presidentand Sector Manager for the Systems Technology Sector of Alion will cease. Alion and Employeeagree that Employee shall remain an employee with Alion in an untitled position until April 28,2006 (the “Separation Date”). Employee voluntarily resigns from employment with the Companyeffective upon the Separation Date, or, if earlier, upon death or the date Employee acceptsalternative employment, and the Company hereby accepts Employee’s resignation. Employee expresslyacknowledges that, upon the occurrence of the Separation Date, he will no longer be an employee ofAlion. Except as provided in Paragraph 2 below, effective as of the Notification Date, Employeeshall not be eligible for further pay or benefits, including without limitation any benefits underany severance pay plan applicable to him as an employee of Alion, except as provided in thisAgreement. From the period of the Notification Date through the Separation Date, and except asotherwise expressly permitted by Alion’s Chief Executive Officer, Employee shall not perform anywork for Alion, shall cease all of his activities in connection with his duties at Alion, shallhave no authority to act on behalf of or bind Alion and shall not represent to any third party orto any employee, agent or representative of Alion that he has any title, role or authority to actfor or on behalf of Alion; provided, however, that, up to the Separation Date, Employee shallprovide reasonable assistance and cooperation to Alion at such times as Alion may reasonablyrequest. In addition, effective on the Notification Date, Employee expressly resigns from alloffices, directorships and fiduciary positions with the Company or any related entities, includingwithout limitation as a director of METI, Inc., a subsidiary of Alion.

 
     **2. ****PAYMENTS BY ALION**          (a) For the period from the Notification Date through the Separation Date (the “SalaryContinuance Period”), Employee shall remain on the Company’s payroll at his current proratedannual base salary (the “Salary Continuance Payments”). If Employee signs and does not revokethis Agreement, then, within eight (8) business days from the seven day period set forth inParagraph 4(c)(ii), Alion shall make a lump sum severance payment to Employee in the amount of$486,449.62.          (b) In addition to the Salary Continuance Payments and lump sum severance payment set forthabove, the Company shall pay to Employee, within sixty (60) days from the Separation Date, a lumpsum amount equal to $1,164,933.70 representing all amounts due for the vested and proratedunvested shares of phantom stock under the Alion Phantom Stock Plan (the “Plan”) and the PhantomStock Agreements executed between the Company and Employee pursuant to the Plan for the Dates ofGrants, as defined in the Plan, of February 11, 2003 and November 3, 2003. Such amount, computedas [x shares] times [share price] shall be increased or decreased as necessary to reflect the“Fair Market Value” assigned to shares under the Plan as of the March 31 “Valuation Date” (as suchterms are defined in the Plan).          (c) In addition to the above payments, the Company shall pay to Employee, contemporaneouslywith the payments set forth in Paragraph 2(a) above, an amount of $24,236.45 for outstandingaccrued Paid Time Off (“PTO”).          (d) Employee shall be permitted to continue the use of the automobile under the Company’scurrent automobile lease for Employee until the Separation Date. On or before close of business onthe Separation Date, Employee shall return the automobile, along with all accessories purchased orreimbursed by the Company, to the Company’s Director of Human Resources. As of one (1) day afterthe Separation Date, any insurance coverage on behalf of Employee with regard to such automobileshall cease at the Company’s discretion.          (e) Except as provided in this Agreement, no further payments shall be made to Employee.          (f) The Company shall withhold such tax, payroll and other amounts from payments under thisAgreement as Employee authorizes or the Company reasonably believes to be required by law.     **3. ****EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS**          (a) Employee agrees and acknowledges that his participation in any 401(k) Plan, short-term andlong-term Disability Plans, or any other benefit plans made available to him as a Alion employee,and his participation in and entitlement to any and allother benefits in which he is currently enrolled, but which are not specifically addressed inthis Agreement, will terminate on the Separation Date.
2

 
          (b) Employee’s participation in the Alion medical, dental, vision and otherinsurance plans shall cease as of the Separation Date, provided that Employee and/or Employee’seligible dependent(s) remain eligible for such coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus BudgetReconciliation Act (“COBRA”) after the Separation Date, as provided by applicable law.Notwithstanding the foregoing, to the extent that Employee is eligible for and elects COBRAcontinuation coverage for Employee and any eligible dependent(s), for a period of eighteen (18)months from the Separation Date, the Company will reduce the cost of coverage that Employee isrequired to pay under such plans as elected by Employee pursuant to COBRA to the then current costof such benefits to active employees as of the Separation Date; provided, however, that Alion hasand reserves the right to amend, modify or replace such plans to provide substantially similarinsured coverage.        (c) Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, Employee waives any right of participationin, or additional benefits under, the employee benefit, fringe benefit and compensation plans ofAlion with respect to any period after the Separation Date.     **4. ****GENERAL RELEASE BY EMPLOYEE**          (a) Employee hereby releases and forever discharges Alion, its subsidiaries, affiliates,insurers, predecessors, successors, and assigns, and the directors, officers, shareholders,employees, representatives and agents of each of the foregoing (collectively “Releasees”) of andfrom the following:          (i) Any and all claims, demands, and liabilities whatsoever of every name and nature(other than those arising directly out of this Agreement), including, without limitation,those with respect to Employee’s employment by Alion, or the terms and conditions ofemployment, benefits or compensation, or termination of his employment, which Employee hasor ever had against Releasees; and          (ii) Without limitation, any and all claims known or unknown as of the date ofexecution of this Agreement for tortious injury, breach of contract, and/or wrongfuldischarge (including, without limitation, any claim for constructive discharge), all claimsfor infliction of emotional distress, all claims for slander, libel, or defamation ofcharacter, and all claims for reinstatement, back pay, front pay, compensatory or punitivedamages, severance pay, attorneys’ fees, or costs, as related to Employee’s employment byAlion, or the terms and conditions or termination of his employment, benefits orcompensation, or termination of such employment; and          (iii) Without limitation, any and all claims known or unknown based upon anyallegation of employment discrimination, including, without limitation, discrimination onthe basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age (including any claim pursuant to theFederal Age Discrimination in Employment Act), religion, disability, national origin or anyother classification protected under applicable law.
3

 
          (b) It is agreed and understood that this release is a GENERAL RELEASE to be construed in thebroadest possible manner consistent with applicable law.          (c) Employee acknowledges and agrees that Employee:          (i) has not filed or pursued any claim released hereby against any Releasee by filinga lawsuit in any local, state or federal court for or on account of anything which hasoccurred up to the present time as a result of Employee’s employment or termination ofemployment, and Employee shall not seek reinstatement with, or damages of any nature,severance pay, attorneys’ fees, or costs from any Releasee; and          (ii) has been given the opportunity, if he so desires, to consider this Agreement fortwenty-one (21) days before executing it. Any change made to the Agreement during the21-day period, whether material or not, will not restart the running of the 21-day period.In the event that Employee executes this Agreement within twenty-one (21) days of the dateof its delivery to him, he acknowledges that such decision was entirely voluntary and thathe had the opportunity to consider this Agreement for the entire twenty-one (21) dayperiod. For a period of seven (7) days from the date of the execution of this Agreement,Employee shall retain the right to revoke this Agreement in accordance with 29 U.S.C. § 626by written notice to Alion, c/o Kathy Madaleno, Director of Human Resources, 1750 TysonsBoulevard, McLean, Virginia 22102. This Agreement shall not become effective orenforceable until the expiration of such revocation period; and          (iii) has been and is advised to consult an attorney regarding this Agreement prior toexecuting it and that he has been given sufficient time to do so; and          (iv) has received full and adequate consideration for this General Release; and          (v) fully understands and acknowledges the significance and consequences of thisAgreement and represents by his signature that the terms of this Agreement are fullyunderstood and voluntarily accepted by him. This Agreement has been individually negotiatedby Employee and is not part of a group exit incentive or other group employment terminationprogram.          (d) Excluded from this General Release are any claims or rights which cannot be waived by law,including the right to challenge the enforceability of this Agreement and the Employee’s right tofile a charge with an administrative agency or participate in any agency investigation. However,Employee is waiving his right to recover any money in connection with such a charge orinvestigation. Employee is also waiving his right to recover money in connection with a chargefiled by any other individual or by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or any otherfederal, state or local agency.
4

 
          (e) This General Release becoming and remaining effective shall be a condition precedent toEmployee obtaining any payments or benefits under this Agreement.     **5. ****NONDISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION; RETURN OF PROPERTY**          (a) Employee shall keep secret and confidential and shall not disclose to any third party, inany fashion or for any purpose whatsoever, any information regarding Alion which is (i) notavailable to the general public, and/or (ii) not generally known outside the Company, and (iii) isconsidered proprietary to or a trade secret of the Company, to which he has or will have had accessat any time during the course of his employment by the Company, including, without limitation, anyinformation relating to: the Company’s business or operations; its plans, strategies, prospects orobjectives; its products, technology, processes or specifications; its research and developmentoperations or plans; its customers and customer lists; its manufacturing, distribution, sales,service, support and marketing practices and operations; its financial condition and results ofoperations; its operational strengths and weaknesses; and, its personnel and compensation policiesand procedures.          (b) Employee agrees to return to Alion, on the Notification Date or at such later time asAlion may allow in its sole discretion, (i) all documents, data, material, details and copiesthereof in any form (electronic or hard copy) that are the property of Alion or were created usingAlion resources or during any hours worked for Alion including, without limitation, any datareferred to in the immediately preceding Paragraph; and (ii) all other Alion property including,without limitation, all computer equipment (except as otherwise agreed, but including electronicinformation and/or software on Alion-provided computer equipment to be retained by Employee) andassociated passwords, property passes, keys, credit cards, business cards and identificationbadges.     **6. ****NO DETRIMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS**          Employee agrees that he will not make, disclose or cause to be disclosed any negative,adverse, false or derogatory comments or statements about Releasees with regard to any product orservice provided by Releasees, aboutReleasees’ prospects for the future, or about Releasees in general. Alion agrees that noauthorized officer of Alion will disclose or cause to be disclosed outside of Releasees anynegative, adverse, false or derogatory comments or statements about Employee. The parties agreethat this provision will not be construed so as to bar any person from providing full and truthfultestimony in response to a summons, court or administrative order or subpoena, or as otherwiseprovided by law. For the limited purposes of this Paragraph only, the term “Releasees” shall meanonly the directors, chief executive officer, senior vice presidents and corporate vice presidentsof Alion.
5

 
     **7. ****FUTURE ASSISTANCE**          Alion may seek the assistance and cooperation of Employee in connection with any audit,investigation, litigation or proceeding arising out of matters within the knowledge of Employee andrelated to his position as an employee of Alion, and in any such instance, Employee shall providesuch assistance, cooperation or testimony, and Alion shall pay Employee’s reasonable costs andexpenses in connection therewith.     **8. ****NON-COMPETITION; NON-SOLICITATION**     Employee acknowledges and recognizes the highly competitive nature of the business of Alionand Alion’s subsidiaries and affiliates and, accordingly, agrees as follows:          (a) As of the Notification Date and for a period of one (1) year after the Separation Date,,Employee agrees that he will not, without the prior written consent of Alion, directly orindirectly, whether as a principal, agent, employee, consultant, contractor, advisor,representative, stockholder (other than as a holder of an interest of five percent (5%) or less inthe equity of any corporation whose stock is traded on a public stock exchange), or in any othercapacity:               (i) provide any services, advice or assistance to any business, person or entity whichcompetes with Alion in connection with any contract or other business arrangement in whichEmployee (1) was involved, directly or indirectly; (2) acquired knowledge through access toconfidential information; or (3) had any responsibility or material and direct involvement (exceptthat this restriction shall not apply if Employee provides services, advice or assistance to orwithin a separate division or operating unit, of any such business, person or entity, that doesnot itself compete with Alion or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates and Employee has had noinvolvement with any part of such business, person or entity that competes with Alion);               (ii) solicit, entice, divert or take away, or attempt to solicit, entice or divert or to takeaway, the business or patronage of any of the clients, customers or accounts, or prospectiveclients, customers or accounts, of Alion, or any individual or entity having a businessrelationship with Alion, in which Employee was involved or acquired knowledge through access tosuch confidential information, or to induce or attempt to induce, directly or indirectly, anyindividual or entity having a business relationship with Alion, whether as an employee,consultant, customer or otherwise, to terminate or cease such relationship; or
6

 
               (iii) (1) solicit or encourage any employee of Alion or any of Alion’s subsidiaries oraffiliates to leave the employment of Alion or such subsidiary or affiliate, provided that suchemployee was employed orhad an offer of employment with Alion at the time Employee ceases to be employed by Alion;(2) without Alion’s written permission, hire any such employee who was employed by Alion orAlion’s subsidiaries or affiliates as of the Separation Date or who left employment with Alion orAlion’s subsidiaries or affiliates coincident with, or within three (3) months prior to or after,the Separation Date; or (3) encourage any Alion consultant, vendor or other independent contractorthen under contract with Alion or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates to cease work with Alionor any such subsidiary or affiliate.          (b) The parties represent and agree that any breach of this Paragraph is likely to causeirreparable injury to Alion and that damages for any breach of this Paragraph are difficult tocalculate. Therefore, upon breach of this Paragraph, Alion will, at its election, be entitled toinjunctive and other equitable relief. However nothing in this Paragraph shall limit Alion’ rightto seek any relief or remedies, including damages to which it may be entitled.          (c) It is the intention of the parties that (i) the restrictions contained in this Paragraphbe less restrictive than the restrictions contained in the Employment Agreement; (ii) thisParagraph represents additional valid and good consideration in exchange for Employee executingthis Agreement; and (iii) the restrictions contained in this Paragraph are reasonable as to time,geographic scope, and in all other respects.     **9. ****GOVERNING LAW; SEVERABILITY**          This Agreement is entered into and shall be construed under the laws of the Commonwealth ofVirginia. In the event any provision of this Agreement is determined to any extent to be illegalor unenforceable by a duly authorized court of competent jurisdiction, then the illegal orunenforceable provision shall be severed from this Agreement. In the event of such severance, theremainder of this Agreement shall not be affected thereby, and each remaining provision of thisAgreement shall be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law; provided, however,that the parties expressly acknowledge and agree that the full waiver and release of all claims byEmployee is essential to effectuate the parties’ intent in entering into this Agreement and that,in the event the general release ofclaims set forth in Paragraph 4 is severed, the parties’ remaining obligations under thisAgreement shall be deemed waived (other than obligations arising under Paragraphs 5 and 8), and anyconsideration or value delivered by one party to the other under this Agreement shall constitute abinding obligation by the recipient to the other.
7

 
     **10. ****WAIVERS**          The failure of either party to require the performance of any term or obligation of thisAgreement, or the waiver by either party of any breach of this Agreement, shall not prevent anysubsequent enforcement of such term or obligation and shall not be deemed a waiver of anysubsequent breach.     **11. ****AMENDMENTS**          This Agreement may be modified or amended, in whole or in part, only by the mutual agreementof the parties in writing.     **12. ****NO OTHER INDUCEMENTS**          This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding of the parties in connection with thesubject matter hereof. Any and all prior negotiations or discussion, either oral or written, aremerged into this Agreement. Neither of the parties has made any settlement, representation orwarranty in connection herewith (except those expressly set forth in this Agreement) which has beenrelied upon by the other party, or which acted as an inducement for the other party to enter intothis Agreement.     **13. ****PERSONS BOUND BY AGREEMENT**          This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of Employee and Releasees andtheir respective successors.     **14. ****ASSIGNMENT OF INTERESTS**          Employee warrants that he has not assigned, transferred or purported to assign or transfer anyclaim against Releasees.     **15. ****PREVAILING PARTY ENTITLED TO FEES**          In the event that any action or proceeding is initiated to enforce or interpret the provisionsof this Agreement, or to recover for a violation of the Agreement, the prevailing party in any suchaction or proceeding shall be entitled to its costs (including reasonable attorneys’ fees).Nothing in this Paragraph is intended to, or shall, place any limitation or condition precedent onEmployee’s ability to challenge this Agreement.     **16. ****CONFIDENTIALITY**          Employee agrees to keep confidential the existence of this Agreement, as well as all of itsterms and conditions, and not to disclose to any person or entity the existence, terms orconditions of this Agreement, except to his attorney, financial advisors and members of hisimmediate family, provided they agree to keep confidential such existence, terms and conditions.In the event that Employee believes he is compelled by law to divulge the existence, terms orconditions of this Agreement, he will notify Alion’s Law Department of the basis for that beliefbefore actually divulging the information. Employee hereby confirms that, as of the date of thisAgreement, he has not disclosed the existence, terms or conditions of this Agreement, except asotherwise provided in this Agreement. Alion also agrees to keep confidential the existence of thisAgreement and not to disclose its terms and conditions outside of Releasees, its attorneys andconsultants, unless Alion is otherwise required to disclose such terms and conditions by operationof law or request by a governmental agency, or as required by any federal or state securities lawsor regulations.
8

 
     **IN WITNESS WHEREOF**, the parties hereby agree to the terms and conditions of this Agreement asset forth above.         **EMPLOYEE:**               By: /s/ Barry S. Watson         Barry S. Watson    Date           **ALION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION:**           By: /s/ Katherine Madaleno         Katherine Madaleno    Date    Corporate VP and Director of Human Resources      
9