“Are they slowing down at all? Have they showed any sign of reading your signal?”
Aja let out a derisive snort. “I didn’t spend the last three weeks out here spreading thousands of little surprises and building my own little hidey hole to get spotted before the fun even began. Don’t worry, they’re going full speed.”
I looked down at my scanner to see the readings that Aja was sending to us. At first I had objected to her staying on such a far, outer rim on a small ship, too far away to be helped at all, but she had insisted. She said that most of the alien’s scanners were set to a sort of standard human or mimic structure, and since she technically had a significant mutation, she would be the easiest to shield from their sweeps. She also was the one with the greatest technical know-how to do what we needed her to do.
“Remember, we need at least half of them in the web,” Mimi reminded her calmly.
“Girl. I know you may be some sort of super alien whatever, but I remember the plan. We’ve only been working on it for four whole weeks.”
“Right. Just hold steady. By my mark, alright?”
“Sure, by your mark. Not by the mark of the lady that’s actually here and set most of this up. Noooo, definitely not by her mark.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
Aja let off some choice words but quieted as all of our scanners beeped. The Harvesters were about to reach another one of our proximity warning markers. So, hold steady she did. I watched as that triangle of death moved closer. And closer. And closer. Until they were only about twelve hours from us at their top speed.
Until they reached the asteroid field.
So thick that one could hardly see out of it and stretching many times farther than our planet’s diameter, it was a heady field. Stuffed to bursting with floating rocks, space particles, and cosmic radiation, it certainly was a sight to see.
Those kinds of fields were often a huge problem for our ships before we had integrated mimic technology. Heck, we had even used one when escaping the mining ship that we original four had all started on. But with ships that big and that strong, they could just plow right on through the mess with only a bit more energy to their forward shields.
And that was exactly what they did.
I watched on my screen as the triangle hit the grainy field of little red dots. Just like we knew they would, they weren’t bothered in the slightest and cut quite a path through the debris. They just kept going and going, until finally all but the last line was within the field.
“Aja, now!”
The eccentric woman didn’t hesitate for a moment. The readout on our scanners switched from the more informative and technical readout to direct visual feed of the event. One moment, the ships were coasting forward like nothing was amiss; the next moment, everything was exploding all around them.
It was pure and utter chaos as fire, rock, and shrapnel went everywhere. The ships didn’t have any time to respond as each and every asteroid around them exploded violently, doing as much physical damage as they possibly could.
It had been Mimi’s idea to employ the same strategy that had been so popular during ancient wars. Mines. Apparently, humans used to just fill the ground with them so that whoever stepped on them was blown into bits—or at least their limbs were. This left many people crippled, and that was exactly what we were hoping to do to their ships.
The first six ships were completely engulfed by the fire with the middle ones trying to slow behind them.
However, one couldn’t stop a multi-ton vehicle on a dime, and they soon slammed into their damaged brethren as well as the farther out asteroids. A couple tried to veer out to the sides, but instead they hit the other asteroids that were quickly closing in on them.
Normally, that wouldn’t happen. But normally, asteroids weren’t filled with magnetic properties and full of explosives. That was what Aja and a very small group of engineers had been doing ever since Mimi had her idea, and I couldn’t believe that it was actually working.
The final line of ships did manage to slow to a stop, then changed course, going around. But the rest of the ships that had entered the field were quickly being surrounded by the magnetic geodes that had already locked onto them. With no option to back up themselves, they either had to forge forward or perish.
It was morbid yet satisfying to watch them try to jet through the mass as fast as they could. Eleven of them entered the field, and by the time five of them burst through, smoking and limping, six of them were in burning smolders.
“I can confirm that a half-dozen are stilled,” Aja said. “I repeat, a half dozen! I’ll discharge an EMP to make sure they’re fully disabled, but you still have fourteen of them barreling towards you hot and heavy.”
“And now the element of surprise is gone,” Mimi murmured. “They’ll be on the lookout for defenses. This will make your job harder. Are you ready, Beta Team?”
“You betta believe it,” a vaguely familiar voice answered. Was it the demolition expert from our grand takedown of the coup? I couldn’t quite place it. “Are they still traveling on the paths we predicted?”
“According to my readings, they are,” Aja said. “But they’re about to go to my field and I think there’s gonna be a little delay before they get into your range.”
“I ’spose that’s the price we pay for a little secrecy.” That was true. In order to keep them out of the scanning requirements of the Harvesters’ ships, they couldn’t have the same fancy, long-range equipment we had planet-side. That would make them put out far too much energy and they’d be spotted in a snap. And if they were spotted…
I shuddered to think of what would happen to them and put it out of my mind. There was still far too much that could go wrong for me to be thinking negatively. I had to stay positive and alert. It was almost time for the last part of phase two.
We waited, and I realized I was holding my breath again when my chest began to ache. Reminding myself to inhale and exhale, I waited for the revolutionist to give us an update as my scanner switched back to the technical readout from our long-range sweep.
“They’re approaching. Do you have the satellites in arrangement?” Mimi asked, her voice still as calm as a lake.
“Nah, I decided I’d just sit here with a thumb up my butt.”
“Cut it, Jax,” Gonzales said, breaking the radio silence. She wasn’t supposed to do that, but I appreciated that she did. “I know you think you’re cute, but when I say that it isn’t the time for cheeky banter, then it really isn’t the time.”
“Right. Got it. Satellites are in place but dead currently. It’ll take me at least thirty seconds to boot ’em up, so I can’t do that until these suckers are in range. The moment they see them flicker to life on their screens, they’ll know something is up and hightail it around us.”
“Steady,” Mimi repeated, as stalwart as ever. Man, did I wish I was there to hold her hand. To leech some of her bravery. But I had one real job, and I was going to do it. “They’re still a bit away from you by our readings. You’ve got about two minutes before they’re in your sweet spot.”
“Sweet spot? Oh, talk dirty to me,” he muttered before Gonzales let out a small growl. “But I’m not so sure I like that ‘about’ word you used. I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit more of an exact kind of guy.”
“You’ll know exactly when they come into the range of your equipment. Something you might notice more quickly if you were quiet and focused.”
“Ouch. Point taken.”
He was quiet a moment, then we heard a bit of a whoop. “Alright! We have visuals on our scanner. According to my estimates, they’ll be in the perfect location in fifteen seconds. Beta Two, Beta Three, engage your satellites on my signal.”
In an ideal world, he would have had a master switch that he could use to flip them all on at the same moment. But something like that ran the same crux of the high-powered scanner and would be too easy for the Harvesters to pick up.
So that l
eft three revolutionists in three small ships with satellites integrated into their systems as they hid in the shadows of several moons and large celestial objects. Ironically enough, in the shape of a triangle.
“Ten seconds,” the maybe-demolition expert murmured.
I didn’t think it was possible, but the tension ramped up even higher. I forced myself to breathe as the seconds ticked away.
“Five seconds.”
We were so close. This was the last little trick up our sleeves before it was onto phase three. Aka, direct space combat. We needed to take out at least two of the ships. Just two. We could do that.
Right?
“Three seconds.
“Two…
“One…
“Engage satellites now!”
There was yet another silence on our end, but slowly, three very small red blips illuminated on our screen as the satellites booted up.
I could see the remaining Harvester ships also alight with energy, no doubt seeing the small ships just like we did. But that only lasted for a second before the entire screen filled with static.
“And we have ignition!” the revolutionists crowed. “Engaging our escape pods now. See y’all on the flip side. Please don’t let us all die in the dark void of space.”
Before anyone could say anything else, the line was filled with a sort of screeching sound that nearly pierced my ears before the automatic dampeners toned it down.
“Aja, is it working?” Mimi asked, her voice wavering slightly.
“Aye, you bet ya. I don’t have any sort of nav or scanning system at all. Those ships are flying about as blind as they come. Manual skill, baby!”
“Alright, send in the second wave.”
“Nothing would please me more. Dragging them now. Good thing that I happen to be a great pilot on top of being an absolute technical genius.”
“Yes, lucky.”
“Dragging now. I’m sending you my manual feed. I can’t see it myself, but maybe you might.”
A hazy sort of picture flitted over my blank field screen and sure enough, I saw the remaining Harvester ships loom in the distance. All of them were sitting in a loose pattern, no doubt trying to reset their systems.
But they weren’t going to have any luck with that, because the three satellites we had set up were all emitting a feedback loop of frequencies that we had specifically set up to scramble both their navs and their comms. We based it on the tech from our own ship and although it seemed more of nuisance than anything, it soon would hopefully have some grave consequences.
“Approaching now! The asteroids should soon catch onto their magnetic pull instead of— Oh, and there they go! Spinning back now, and hopefully I can get first class tickets to the show.”
True to her word, she spun backward, and I was able to see the hundreds and hundreds of asteroids that flew forward, heading straight for the Harvester ships.
The ones at the back had absolutely no way of telling what was happening until the mines crashed into the backs of their ships. The whole lot of them rocketed forward, but with no navs and no comms, there was no way to communicate their flight path. And maybe, just maybe, they all could have gotten out of it unscathed if Aja wasn’t bringing up another wave of bomb-filled asteroids in a perpendicular line.
Once more, she flew off at the last minute and once more, one of the ships was hit full on by the first of the wave. It veered to the side, trying to avoid the barrage, only to have one of its brethren come flying up behind it and cleave right through it. The resulting explosion was insane and whited out our screen for a moment.
“Holy…” Aja breathed, her screen shaking as she rapidly retreated. “That went even better than I hoped! Are you guys enjoying the view?!”
We certainly were. I watched, heart in my throat, as the ships continued to scrape and collide with each other as they frantically raced forward ahead of the last of the mines. It was frantic and haphazard, full of shrapnel and fire. It seemed almost too good to be true until one of the ships happened to crash into the small satellite-bearing ship and disrupted the feedback loop.
After a moment or two, they had outrun the last of the asteroids and there was just silence as they floated along. One could almost feel the shock emanating from those vessels and I slowly counted them, not daring to believe that we just might have set out to do what we wanted.
“Well, I’ll be,” Aja murmured, confirming my hope against hope. “Looks like we got it down to ten of them.”
“Perfect,” Mimi said, and I could feel the fire all the way from where I was standing. “Prepare Phase Three.”
8
The Third Phase’s the Charm
More noise but this time, not as much chaos as all of our pilots began to prime their ships. According to our calculation, we still had at least ten hours before the aliens arrived, but considering how cautiously they were proceeding after our two little space surprises, it seemed that we might have a bit more.
But time was a double-edged sword. I felt so on edge that I wasn’t willing to leave my seat in the control bunker of the cannon I was in. I was afraid that going to get a drink of water, or even relieving myself, would cause me to miss something vital and I would somehow doom us all with my negligence. For someone who often thought I wasn’t that important or vital to much, I sure did like to mentally exaggerate the scope of my failures.
“Higgens?” I heard a familiar voice murmur.
Surprised, I watched as my small bunker’s door opened and saw Mimi standing there, looking far more exhausted than I ever liked to see her.
“Hey,” I said, getting out of my seat and crossing the short space to her. “What are you doing here?”
“We have time until those aliens get here,” she said, lifting her hand to rest it on my cheek. “Far too much time. I feel like my mind is going to close in on itself and my heart explode. I don’t even really have to have a heart, Higgens. I just make one up sometimes, so you can listen to it beat.”
I pulled her into a hug and rocked us both gently. The steady motion calmed my own mind, and I hoped it helped her as well.
It seemed to after a few minutes, as her fake heartbeat faded into nothing. I appreciated that she put it on for me, but she really didn’t have to. I loved the alienness of her just as much as I love her humanness. I was sure she knew that, but sometimes what the heart knew, the mind would argue against.
Eventually, we pulled apart and I looked into her eyes once more. They were black again, with the darkness almost reaching the corners, and I understood that feeling.
“Hey, Mimi, have you ever heard of depression?”
“Yes, it is a human ailment, correct? A mental disorder that negatively effects how humans think, feel, and act.”
“Uh-huh, and do you know what anxiety is?”
“Another human mental illness.”
“Yeah, well, I’m beginning to think it’s not just human. All those things you talked about, the things that are weighing you down? I think they might be signs you’ve got one or two of those.”
“Oh. How unfortunate. Of all the human habits I had to pick up, it was those two.”
“Well, I’m no expert. It’s not like we could afford a therapist on the islands. If we did, maybe I would have been treated a little better.”
Maybe, but not likely.
“Goodness knows you deserve it.”
She pressed into me again, and then we were rocking. I couldn’t say how long we held each other like that, but eventually it faded into an idea.
“Hold on a second,” I said, pulling away from Mimi. Looking down at my scanner, I called up some old-time, calming music and it gently drifted through the tiny little control bunker. Holding out my arms again, she walked into them and we slowly danced around.
“This is nice,” she murmured into my chest. “Here, it’s almost easy to…”
“Forget that there’s a malevolent alien race bearing down on us that’s intent on our complete and tota
l annihilation?”
“Yeah. That.”
I felt the tiniest of chuckles go through her, and that made me smile. Even in times like these, I could ease a little of her burden. I might have been a fledgling engineer and wrench monkey, but I was her fledgling engineer and wrench monkey.
“So I was thinking, with this union of ours…”
“Yes?” I murmured, eyes closed and calm filling me for a few moments.
“I think I want some of your earth flowers there. The really pretty ones that I saw holos of in Gonzales’s room back on the mining ship all that time ago. I… I think those might have been the first flowers that I ever saw.”
“What were they?” I asked. “Roses?”
Mimi seemed to ponder a moment then shook her head. “No, not those. I’ve seen those in your vids often. No, these are…uh, more pointy? I think I read something about them being harmful to your domesticated creatures.”
“Wait, do you mean lilies?”
“Lilies?” she repeated as if she was turning the word over and under on her tongue. “Yes, I think that’s it. Lilies. I love them. In all sorts of different colors.”
“You know, I think my mom once told me that lilies mean devotion.”
“Really?” Mimi murmured. “How fitting.”
“Glad you think so.”
The minutes faded away as we continued slowly twirling around the room. Maybe it was silly to be holding each other like that, listening to pretty music as we talked about flowers for a wedding that we didn’t even know would happen for sure. But it was what worked for us. And as the seconds passed, my determination built higher and higher.
We would do this.
If it was the last thing I was going to do, I was going to make sure that Mimi got her happily ever after.
And if I got mine too along the way, then that was just a bonus.
“Warning, the ships are about to reach weapons range.”
Mimic: The Space Shifter Chronicles Boxed Set (Books 1 - 9) Page 72