"OK, Mr. Price, what do you suggest?"
Ben looked around to the west. "Lots of mountains west of here, Captain. We'll just have to go hide."
Ann and Natalie nodded their agreement. Ann took the tablet from Ben and walked back to Eaagher, typing as she went.
"Hard faces return. Friends must leave now to keep your secret."
Eaagher waved his left hand, then wrote.
Where hard faces?
"Orbit"
Many?
Ann waved her left hand. Yes, many.
Eaagher typed Friends leave and touched his forehead.
Ann waved her right hand then repeated, "These Friends must go now to keep secret."
Eaagher waited for her to continue.
"Friends in orbit not leave. Fight hard faces."
Eaagher waved his left hand.
"Ann, finish up with Eaagher, and then we gotta go."
"OK, just one more." She typed as quickly as she could. "We three now go hide ship to protect you. These Friends hope to see you again short future."
Eaagher looked at the sky. To Ann, he looked nervous, but she knew that was just projection on her part. She had no idea what 'nervous' looked like on a Seeker. She shut down the tablet and handed it to Natalie, who flipped it over and replaced the battery in a few quick motions, then returned it to Eaagher.
Ben was getting increasingly worried. "Gotta go, gotta go!"
They ran to the shuttle, Natalie in the left seat, Ben on the right, and Ann stuffing herself in the jump-seat just behind and between the pilots. Natalie pulled the shuttle off the sand and moved quickly north just a few meters off the water.
"We need to get as far away as fast as we can," she said quietly.
"Right," Ann answered. Ben just nodded as he pulled up the imagery of the continent.
"Where are they, Marco?"
"They're still moving around, Captain. I can't tell for sure, but I think they're setting up over Capital City."
"Yeah, too much snooping around down there by us humans."
"May be, ma'am, may well be."
"Weapons are ready, Captain," Jim Kirkland reported. He'd loaded their two rotary launchers with Bludgeons. Joanne had no plans to hang around if fired on, so she'd ordered no Spartans. The rotaries remained inboard, maintaining the stealth of the ship.
Joanne stood at her command station, wondering what she should do next. Intrepid was now as buttoned-up as she could be: a silent, nearly invisible ghost in space. The shuttle crew would have to fend for themselves for now. There was nothing more she could do for them, so she tried to put that worry off for the moment.
Intrepid Shuttle
Big Blue
Friday, December 2, 2078, 0225 UTC
As Natalie hurried the shuttle north, flying just above the swells a couple kilometers off the beach, Ben and Ann were studying the landscape.
"There's a pretty deep valley right here," Ben said, pointing. "With a decent sized river. We could use that to get inland."
"And then what?" The stress was starting to show in Natalie's voice.
"And then we'll figure something out," Ben replied evenly.
Ann looked from one of her companions to the other. She knew they had a relationship, and that could be a problem in this scenario, but so far, they seemed to be handling themselves well. Still, it would be something she'd need to observe. She outranked both of them, and if necessary, she'd pull that trump card, but for now, Natalie was the best available pilot and Ben the resident expert on the planet. Her best option was to listen, advise, and let the Intrepid people take the lead.
They turned up the valley, which was enormous — several kilometers wide and at least a kilometer deep. Natalie cruised westward at two hundred kilometers per hour, not more than a dozen meters over the river, the tops of the trees at eye level, Ann watching quietly, but nervously, from behind as the world zipped by a few meters away.
"OK," Ben said, "there's a fork in the road about fifty klicks ahead."
When he didn't say any more, Natalie couldn't resist. "So, what? Take it?"
"You can't have your fork and take it too, Nat. Go right."
"Why right?"
Ben shrugged. "Honestly, there's no good reason other than it moves us further away from the Seekers."
"That works."
A few minutes later they saw the mountain that split the valley in half rising out of the horizon. Once it grew to dominate their view, Natalie moved the shuttle right, up a long and rising area of whitewater, then settled down near the surface again as they followed the smaller tributary northwest. The valley was rising gently, the water flowing swiftly in the opposite direction. The walls were gradually closing, and Natalie could see that they would come to the end before long. After all, the mountain range that ended in the sea was not that wide, perhaps a hundred kilometers.
"How far should we go?" Natalie asked.
"West of here is the plains. I think we should maybe double back south a little and find a notch somewhere to hide in."
"I don't get it," Ann said.
Ben leaned back, showing her the images on his tablet. "Look at how the mountains come up out of the plains. There are some pretty rough areas right on the edge, here and here," he said, pointing. "If we tuck in there somewhere, hopefully we'll get lost in the rocks."
"OK, fine. We'll be out of cover here shortly."
Natalie flew up and out of the remnant of the valley they had been following, then turned hard left and dropped back down to skim just above the low foliage of the foothills. She kept her eyes ahead, sneaking only a few glances at the sharp mountains just off to her left.
Ben and Ann agreed on a promising site to put the shuttle down.
"OK, Nat, just a little ahead there should be a big stone outcrop, slide around that to the left and then set us down somewhere soft."
"Soft?"
"Yeah, soft. As in, not hard enough to break the belly."
"Smartass."
Natalie found the massive stone prominence easily, slowing the shuttle as she gently moved around it and laid the shuttle down as close to the rocks as possible. There were boulders strewn all about, and it took her a few tries to find a suitable spot. She shut down the Drive, and some of the tension that had her shoulders, her whole body, feeling like a coiled spring started to release. "Now what?" she asked, shaking the stress out of her legs and shoulders.
Ann shrugged. "Now we wait, I guess. Is there anything to eat?"
"Sure," Natalie answered, "there's food and water in the back. Hungry?"
"Yes. Being scared out of my wits does that to me."
Ben looked at her with surprise. "You hide it well."
"I'm married and I've delivered a child, Ben. It's required."
Intrepid
Big Blue
Friday, December 2, 2078, 0830 UTC
Captain Joanne Henderson paced the Bridge, impatient for something to happen while at the same time dreading that something actually would. They had tracked the shuttle up the coast, but once Hayden ducked into the river valley, they had lost it. Marco Gonzales guessed that they would follow the valley west, and he was able to pick them back up when they came out but lost them again not long after that.
"I think, Captain, that they've holed up in one of these little canyons along the western edge of the mountains." He pointed at a picture of the landscape they had taken only a few days earlier. "Plenty of cover there, and the black shuttle will blend in as well there as anywhere else."
"OK, where are the Type I's?"
"As we expected, they're in synchronous orbit over the old settlement."
"OK, so, they're about 120 degrees off our position, but at about the same altitude..."
"Yes, Captain, that's correct."
"...but from here I can't just go get the shuttle. We'll need to figure out how to get them back."
"Yes, and assuming they're in one of those canyons, our line of sight from here sucks."
; "Put up a tactical display, Marco, let me see it in 3D." In a few seconds the main display screen revealed the four enemy ships close together over the old city, with Intrepid around to the east of the enemy, more or less over the Seekers' hideout. The Sentinel appeared about half-way between Joanne and the enemy ships.
"We can't stay here for long. If they see us, it'll compromise the Seekers."
Her line of thought was interrupted by the arrival of the lead Intel tech, husky Texan Colin Garrett. He was nominally in charge now, what with both Ben Price and Ann Cooper not available.
"Captain? Ma'am, the Sentinel just phoned home. It sent an automatic alarm back to Fleet."
"What? Explain."
"Well, ma'am, it's programmed to call in a significant IR event. I'd say the arrival of four Type I's would qualify."
"How long ago?"
"About five minutes. I came as soon as I saw it on the SLIP scanner."
"Fine, Garrett, thanks."
He made no move to leave the Bridge.
"Something else?"
"Yes, ma'am. We should be watching the enemy ships for a reaction. If they're hearing our SLIP transmissions, they might move to find and take out the Sentinel."
Jim Kirkland had been listening to the conversation. "He's right, Captain. But the Sentinel just did us a gigantic favor. We don't have to tell Fleet that the enemy is here."
"Yeah. Except, it can't tell anyone else."
Garrett turned back to Joanne. "Did you want a Fleet report, ma'am?"
Joanne looked at the young tech, just months out of Advanced Intel certification school, with new eyes. He was no slouch, this one. "Yes, Garrett, go ahead."
"The best we have is Eagle at GL 66, that's ten light years."
"And, almost ten days."
Garrett nodded sadly. "True, ma'am. Regrettable. The next is Friendship. She's at GL 293, about twelve light-years. Then —"
"Never mind, Garrett."
"Ma'am?"
"None of them are close enough to be any help. I can't call them myself without exposing us, and any order from Fleet is three days away. So, we're on our own."
"Yes, Captain."
Joanne looked at the young, disappointed face of the tech. Disappointed, she noticed, but not afraid.
"Thanks, Garrett. Keep an eye on the SLIP. If the enemy starts talking, we may have to act."
"Yes, ma'am. We'll be watching."
Garrett left the Bridge and headed back to the Intel section. He'd given the Captain what they had. If it wasn't enough or wasn't what the Captain needed to hear, that wasn't Garrett's problem. Price had taught them over and over that the truth was the truth, and their job as Intel techs was to deliver it as completely and objectively as they could. Commanders would do whatever they could with it, but once the information was delivered, he had done his job.
Intrepid Shuttle
Big Blue
Friday, December 2, 2078, 1030 UTC
After a forgettable lunch of pre-packaged what-the-hell-was-that, Natalie opened the side entry stairs of the shuttle, and they took some time to relax outside.
Ben walked back the way they had come in, and finding nothing interesting after a hundred meters, returned to the shuttle.
"Not much out there, really, just some scrub and rocks."
"Yeah, I felt a little like Neil Armstrong coming in here. Too many boulders."
"But you weren't running low on fuel."
"Don't pop my balloon, Price."
"Or fighting a 1201 alarm—"
"Price!"
"Yes, you're right, Nat, it was exactly like Neil and Buzz."
Ann laughed at the exchange, encouraged at their sense of humor. They were all stressed, but the danger was not immediate. They were down, safe, with food, heat, and whatever else they might need for at least a week, probably longer.
Ann sat on the entry stairs, sipping coffee as she studied the landscape around them. Natalie had set the shuttle down in line with the east-west orientation of the small canyon they were in, although 'canyon' might be too generous a term for it. It's more of a gorge, she thought, but no stream. The sides were not more than fifty meters apart, and the walls rose steeply for about twice that distance. The stone was gray and flecked, like granite, and small foliage grew on ledges in the walls. Except for the wind in her ears, it was silent. There were few insects and no birds on Big Blue, so the planet at rest was unusually quiet to human ears.
"Are we worried about being seen out here?" Ann asked.
Ben leaned back, stretching. "I don't think so. Antares reported some larger wildlife, not a lot, but there are human-scale animals here. If they see us on IR, they might not notice."
"Might," Natalie said from just inside the shuttle.
"There are no guarantees, Nat. If they spot us, it'll be trouble, yeah."
"We should stay inside at night."
"Yes, that would be smart. We'll be a more obvious target when it's cooler outside."
Natalie stepped out of the shuttle, handing Ben and Ann holsters with sidearms.
"You think this is necessary?" Ann asked.
"We don't know the wildlife. Where there are animals our size, there are likely predators who eat animals our size."
"Fair enough." Ann slipped the leather over her shoulder and cinched it up around her waist. "And if they enemy shows up, at least we can take a few hunks out of them."
The sun had come around now and was fully illuminating the gorge. The three humans retreated to the back of the shuttle, finding some shade and a few cool rocks to sit on.
"We should talk about that," Natalie began.
"About what?" Ben asked.
"If the enemy shows up."
"What do we have besides three .45's?"
"There's three 2K7X's and about a hundred rounds each in magazines. There's also a couple hundred .45 rounds."
"Well, that's better than nothing," Ann responded.
"Maybe," Ben said. "Two things you both need to remember. We can't be taken, and we can't let the Shuttle be taken."
"Ben, you're not leaving us much of a choice."
"Ann, you know this as well, maybe better, than I do. They show no indication of understanding atomic energy. We can't hand them a working reactor, no matter how small it is."
"And we can't let them have us, either," Natalie said, a distance in her voice.
"And we can't lead them to Intrepid."
"Let's just hope they don't find us."
Ben nodded his agreement. "Yes, Ann, I hope that, too. But if they do, I'll try to hold them back, you and Natalie get in the shuttle and get out of here."
Ann shook her head. "This is no time for chivalry, Ben."
Ben looked at her, frustration clear on his face. "It's not that, Lieutenant Cooper."
Ben stood, walked to the corner of the shuttle, and looked out into the sunshine. "It's really pretty simple. I'm single. You have a family. Nat is the best pilot. If you think about it rationally, I stay and shoot as long as I can while you two bug out."
"And you get to save me in the bargain?" Natalie asked.
"Well," Ben said, smiling, "there's that, too."
Ann leaned back against the rock wall. "Before we get all emotional about who might live and who'll probably die, how about we let this process play itself out?" Natalie and Ben nodded their agreement.
"Don't forget who's senior here — that would be me — and if it comes to the worst case, I'll be making the decisions."
They looked at Ann in surprise. Neither Ben nor Natalie expected her to pull rank. She was an HQ Intel wonk, after all. But, she was indeed senior.
Ben looked at Natalie and then replied for both of them. "Yes, ma'am. We understand."
"Good. I don't suppose there's a deck of cards on this tub?"
Intrepid
Big Blue
Friday, December 2, 2078, 1430 UTC
Twelve hours was a long time to sit around and watch your enemy organize themselves. Joanne watc
hed the tactical display as the enemy dispatched a shuttle to the surface. So far, they were concentrating on the old city, and she was happy to let them have it. She called her staff together on the Bridge to decide what to do next.
"They don't seem to know we're here," she began, "So, let's keep it that way. Any suggestions for what we should do about the shuttle?"
Marco Gonzales answered, "I've been thinking about that. We need to pick them up somehow, and we need to keep an eye on the Seekers. If the enemy should discover them —"
Marine Captain Andy Martin spoke up. "Then I'll have to go down there and help them un-discover them."
"Yes, Captain, indeed you might," Marco agreed. "But I was thinking if we set up a high-inclination elliptical orbit —"
Joanne looked at him in surprise. "A Molniya orbit? I haven't thought of that in years."
"Molniya?" Martin asked, puzzled.
Marco Gonzales explained. "Early Soviet spacecraft could not easily reach synchronous Earth orbit – their launch sites were just too far north, A practical alternative was a high-inclination, highly-elliptical orbit with its apogee over the northern hemisphere. The satellite would linger for a long time over the service area. Once several were in place, you could have continuous communications – or intelligence - coverage."
"Wow. Inventive."
"Yes, they were always good at overcoming problems with simple, reliable solutions."
Martin was starting to understand. "So, with this orbit, we could hang out for a long time over the Seekers."
"Yes."
"How does this help with the shuttle?"
"Well, the perigee of a Molly orbit is deep in the southern hemisphere. If they could work their way around the other side of the planet to that third continent, they could meet up with us as we go by."
Communications Officer Jesse Woodward agreed. "And a high inclination would give us a line of sight to where we think they're holed up. We could talk to them with the laser, let them know what we're thinking."
Joanne nodded her understanding. "And we could do all of this out of sight of the enemy on the other side of the planet?"
"Yes, Captain, I think we can."
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