"One of the reasons I'm here today. Might be in all of our best interest to order them back to Midelon to wait for you."
Harris said, "I'll open a comm."
"We'll need Farker."
Harris looked down and smiled. "Right here on the floor next to me."
— Chapter 27 —
* * *
The bots returned to Midelon in the Bangor. Two days later, Tawn and Harris were given the go-ahead to go home. Their necks would take time to heal, but time was something they suddenly seemed to have.
"I was looking at this maneuver you pulled while we were out. How'd you come up with that?"
Idiot replied, "You made that almost exact move during the previous fight. It was not while engaged, but it seemed to apply to this situation."
Harris nodded. "Worked well. I'll have to think about using it should we ever have to fight them again."
Tawn looked into the cabin from the hatch, her head turning with her shoulders as she stared. "We're having lunch for all those interested."
Harris stood, walking to the hatch before gently stepping down. "Was reviewing the fight they put up while we were out. The two of them really kicked ass. I saw a couple moves I may have to adopt."
"I was doing the same in the lab with Boomer. Checked on her networking logs. She tried opening a comm to the Denzee three times."
"What? Why?"
"Was trying to crack their networks. She successfully blocked all of their counter attempts, and was close to busting through on her last try. That fight ended before she was able. That self-destruct upload didn't happen until much later."
"I know these bots are supposed to be autonomous, but that's getting a bit scary."
The lunch was consumed before talk turned to the mystery structure at Gondol.
Sharvie said, "Can we check it out now? The Denzee are gone."
Harris nodded. "Don't see why not. We still have three days before the first Legion ships will be ready. I want to be there to help train the colonel's crews. Other than that our time is all free time at the moment. I'll give Mr. Morgan a comm. We'll see if his engineers came up with a good way to get in there."
Tawn said, "We should go see Bax beforehand. The emperor owes us for those nine Ratoons we took out. I'd rather that payment not be conveniently forgotten about as they work to rebuild."
Gandy frowned. "We still have the issue of Eden producing titanium. What are we gonna do about that?"
Harris dropped his MRE package in the recycle bin as he wiped the barbecue sauce from around his mouth. "We have time. They'll need to rebuild that fleet by at least three hundred ships to be a real threat. That gives us three months to make our decision. No sense in putting ourselves in the doghouse with the pacifists any sooner than we have to."
Tawn stood. "Give Mr. Morgan a comm. We can visit Bax after that."
"Where you going?"
"I need a nap. The muscle relaxer they have me on, coupled with a full belly, is making it difficult to keep my eyes open."
Trish asked, "How long do you have to wear those collars?"
"A week for me," Harris said. "Couple weeks for big momma there."
"I'd comment back but I'm too tired. Give me about three hours and I'll ride out to Eden with you to collect."
Tawn waddled off toward her bunk on the Bangor.
Harris opened a comm to Domicile. "Mr. Morgan."
"Glad to hear you weren't severely injured."
"Yeah, broken neck. More of a nuisance than anything. Anyway, I commed to find out if your engineers had a good solution for us for getting into that structure we showed you."
"They do. It's similar to a diving bell in that you would lower it straight down. Where it differs is the edges will seal to that granite and a tube for entry can be extended up to the surface, or retracted if it needs to remain hidden. The material it's made of won't reflect much on the sensors either, so unless someone is right atop it they won't know it's there."
Harris smiled. "Wow. Wasn't expecting to have something already built. We might be out there later today to pick it up."
"It's waiting in a warehouse."
The small talk continued for twenty minutes before the comm was closed.
Harris sat back on the bench he occupied, resting his elbows on the table behind him. "Who's up for a ride out to Eden?"
Gandy raised a hand. "Reggie and I will go."
Harris chuckled. "Reggie. That one still cracks me up."
"Better than Idiot."
Harris glanced over at his bot. "Maybe. He has done us right a couple times now. I'd consider changing it but I've already gotten used to calling it that. Besides, it's an AI. It doesn't care."
Gandy followed Harris onto the Bangor.
Harris whispered, "Gandy, close that door over there. And you bots. No asking questions, I want her to be able to sleep in peace."
The ship raced up through the atmosphere. Ten minutes later a jump had them in free space, heading in toward Eden.
"Whoa! What the..."
Harris pressed the control stick hard to the left as the blue-white disc on the front of a Ratoon sent an invisible beam of energy their way."
"Wake her up back there! And get yourself strapped onto one of those benches!"
Gandy raced back, rousing a sleeping Tawn. "Denzee are attacking Eden! Get up!"
Tawn sat up, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes. "What?"
"Denzee ships. Hundreds of them. Eden is under attack!"
Tawn hurried out to the cabin and into the cockpit, sliding into her chair, clicking and cinching her lap belt. "How? When?"
Harris replied, "We just got here. Sixty-four Ratoons out there. They're massacring the Earthers. Eighteen destroyers down already. The resistance is disorganized. Get those rails online and see if you can manage to open a comm to the colonel."
Harris swung the Bangor in behind a pair of destroyers as it raced toward the nearest Ratoon. The two ships managed a dodge of a beam before the Bangor broke away and raced in on it's own.
"This is gonna be tight."
Tawn opened up with a continuous barrage as the lights on the Ratoon dimmed and the disc began to glow. The tungsten pellets impacted the right side of the face of the Ratoon, turning the aim ever so slightly away from the approaching Bangor. Temperature sensors on the right side spiked, but quickly fell away. The spray of hypervelocity pellets that followed pushed the nose of the Ratoon back twenty meters, ending the superweapon threat.
Harris turned to align the rails with the missile ports. Another spray of pellets had the Ratoon defenseless on that side. Two destroyers raced in to take advantage as the Bangor curled away toward the next ship.
Tawn yelled. "The Earthers are leaving! I have wormholes opening all over!"
Harris turned toward free space. "Tell me the moment the last of them have jumped."
"Ten seconds... five... they're through."
Harris deployed the last of the boson bombs. Seconds later a quick flash told of a negated field where no further wormhole travel was possible.
A comm came in from Baxter Rumford. "What did you just do?"
"Where are you?"
"Down on the surface. Was just leaving."
Harris sighed. "Should have run while you had the chance. No wormholes opening for another two hours."
"Couldn't leave until all the systems were scrubbed. Would have been an intel goldmine for the Denzee if they had grabbed it."
Harris shook his head. "The Earthers are finished. "There's no coming back from this. You can't replenish that fleet, you can't fight."
"I agree, but that doesn't solve my current problem."
"Stay low, move to the other side of the planet and find a place to hide. The Denzee don't seem to care much about fully securing an area. I'll see if we can slip in for a pickup."
Tawn said, "Are you nuts? For her? We can't get in there."
"We can outrun every ship in this system with standard drives. All we need i
s a small lead. We shoot in and grab her and we can be gone before they get a shot off at us."
"I think that's a bad idea."
Harris smiled. "If you're nervous I'm sure Boomer would be happy to take your spot."
"Funny. And no. I'm here for whatever it is we have to do."
"Bax. Make the move I just suggested. Will take us some time to get around there, so you'll have to sit and wait."
"On my way."
Harris continued to race away from the Denzee, moving in a broad arc that would eventually take them to the opposite side of Eden. The two Denzee ships that were in pursuit quickly broke off, turning back toward their fleet.
An hour passed as the Bangor made it's way around to an approach.
Tawn said, "We're gonna be seen. They have too many ships out there."
"We have to at least try."
Harris typed away on his console. "Given their positions and hers, if we make this line it should give us a twenty second window for a grab."
"They can still fire those weapons at us. With a few dozen of those ships they might be able to knock us out with a lucky shot."
"She saved us a couple times down there. We owe her this."
Tawn scowled. "We owe her a good beating for all she's put us through is what we owe her."
"She's still our contact to the emperor."
"Who is now useless in this fight."
"Not at all. He has a hundred-plus ships and he has the ear of the pacifists on Domicile. We need him to make the comm and beg for help. Otherwise they'll be sitting on their thumbs when the first Denzee ships arrive in our space. Thirty seconds."
Tawn shook her head. "All this because I wanted a nap."
Harris chuckled. "I could have left you to sleep back there. You'd have never known the difference. Twenty."
"I might have preferred that. Was dreaming about the Emporium. I miss our regular visits there."
"We'll hit it for a special meal when we get back. Ten."
Tawn said, "Denzee have spotted us. You sure you want to do this?"
"I am."
A comm was opened. "Bax? Your ass better be ready to dive into our hatch when we hit the ground. We only have seconds."
"I have a dozen others with me."
Tawn rolled her eyes. "You better line their asses up and be ready to run. Those Denzee will be coming in hot!"
Tawn looked at the nav display with an open mouth. "That whole fleet is coming."
"We're already committed. "Get ready back there! Pull them through and out of the way as fast as you can!"
Gandy nodded. "We've got them."
The Bangor stopped only centimeters from the hot sand. A dust cloud blew up and past the Fargo as the hatches on both ships opened. A stream of Earthers filed out, sprinting toward the waiting ship. Baxter Rumford was last in line, assisting an elderly man as he struggled to run. In a final effort to board he was tossed through the hatch onto the deck with Bax diving in after him.
"Go, go, go!" Gandy yelled forward.
Tawn grimaced at the display as she moved back to the cockpit. "Too many of them. Odds are way not in our favor once they open up with those beams."
Harris turned his shoulders to face her. "You think taking a few shots with the railgun would slow them down?"
"We don't have the time to try, just keep going. No, no, no!"
"What is it?"
"Lights are dimming on about a dozen of them."
Harris stared at the camera image on the display for several seconds. "Why aren't they firing?"
The cockpit was silent as Gandy and Bax came to stand over their shoulders.
Harris shook his head. "Is it the boson field?"
Bax asked, "The what?"
Tawn waved her off. "Nothing. The bomb we set off to stop wormhole travel."
Harris again turned his shoulder to face Tawn. "They can't fire that weapon in the negated field. This is... gonna be a good day to be Human."
"We just lost our titanium." Bax scoffed.
"But we know how to beat that weapon. This is huge. We have to get back to Midelon."
The Bangor moved out into free space, away from the pursuing Denzee ships. A jump was made to their new home.
Bax said, "Thank you for risking yourselves to save us."
Harris replied, "That makes us even. Who are these people you brought with you?"
"This is my team. Or what's left of them."
"How many Earthers were still there?"
"Thirty-nine thousand. A dozen ships tried to flee when they first arrived. All were chased down and destroyed before they could jump."
"Why haven't they attacked the mines?"
Bax shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Only thing I can think is they wanted to lure out the Earther fleet, which they did."
Gandy shook his head. "Eden lost. Never thought it would be like this."
"You should really be taking us to New Earth."
"We're dropping Mr. Boleman here at our base to oversee getting us more of the weapon we used back there. I'll be taking you and your crew to Domicile. I'll be setting up a meeting between you and a DDI agent so we can work on convincing our government they need to prepare."
"Bad move. Take us to New Earth. They need word to come from the emperor. And you need me to convince him to make that plea. That's what I do, remember? Manipulate people?"
Tawn said, "Can't believe I'm in agreement with her, but we need the emperor telling them they need to arm themselves. They won't listen to anyone else."
The Bangor landed with Gandy hopping out. More boson bombs would be needed. Reggie followed after.
Harris turned to face Tawn. "New Earth then?"
Tawn nodded.
"Seems you win, Red. New Earth it is."
Tawn opened a comm to the Retreat. "Colonel. There's been a new attack. The Denzee have taken Eden. We have Baxter Rumford with us. We're headed to New Earth to convince the emperor he needs to ask for help from Domicile."
The colonel shook his head. "Don't think he will. We have a scout at Eden. He just reported that the Denzee jumped there entire fleet out of there. Not sure why. And our scouts at the other colonies they previously occupied have nothing to report either. They're gone and we don't know to where."
Bax scowled. "My sales pitch just got a lot tougher. Without direct threat the emperor will be hard to convince. Ask them of the fate of Eden."
"Colonel, what's the condition on the ground at Eden?"
"Complete devastation. They rained down everything they had on those mines before jumping away."
Bax closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. "Looks like you got what you wanted, Mr. Gruberg. The mines are stopped and the empire is weak. For the moment anyway, Domicile is safe."
Tawn huffed. "Not safe with that Denzee fleet still out there. Eden may be finished, but we aren't."
The Bangor landed at the emperor's palace. After collecting their owed fees, an invitation for all to visit was offered. Tawn and Harris declined. Baxter Rumford and her team were left to make their plea.
For the moment, the Human colonies were safe. The location of the Denzee was unknown. But with a weak New Earth Empire there was every reason for them to return. Of that, the Biomarines, Tawn Freely and Harris Gruberg, were certain. A run to free space was followed by a jump to the security of Midelon.
~~~~~
— What's Next? —
* * *
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ARMS
(Vol. 5)
Beckland's Fall
— Chapter 5.1 —
* * *
The plea for a plea from the emperor to the Domers for help fell on deaf ears. He would not risk his reputation on the Denzee returning only being a possibility. Evidence of a return was required.
Baxter Rumford was sent back to Eden with the directive of restarting operations. The Fargo was found where she had left it, untouched by the Denzee. Shiploads of supplies and the crewmen needed for the mines were sent her way.
Tawn and Harris were each in the medical facility at the Retreat. Harris received the OK to remove his cervical collar, so long as he took precautions with his behavior. Tawn was told hers would have to remain for at least a week more. It was not happy news and was met with many grumbles and sour looks.
Harris chuckled as his partner emerged from her checkup. "Wobbly head still?"
"They said another week. I've had it off. It's not bad."
"Yeah, just leave it. I'd rather it heal properly than have to listen to you groan about it from here on out."
"Was expecting the colonel to be out here."
Harris gestured toward a stairwell. "We go down and out. He's up at the factory taking delivery of the Hailstorm. While they were working on it he had them transform the cargo holds into docking bays. He can take on four of those Legion ships at the same time."
"That's convenient. Room for us on there too?"
"Standard docking bay is still there, so yeah. And some other good news is the first three Legion ships are ready for trials."
After a short run up to the factory, the duo walked aboard the Hailstorm with Harris in the lead. "Looks as good as ever, Colonel."
"Back at 100 percent."
"I like the addition of the bays," Tawn said. "Can carry your own little fleet. Right into the fight while only needing one shield."
"Yes. And they still function as cargo holds if needed. Best of both worlds."
Harris nodded. "Just happy to see we have more than one ship again. The Denzee will be back, and when they come we'll be better prepared for 'em this time."
ARMS Eden Lost: (Book 4) Page 24