“Another inverse square rule,” Alexis said quietly, then shook her head.
“Charge complete,” Long reported.
“Get us out of here?” she asked Ghost.
“Prepare for transition to normal space,” Alexis said.
Nigel’s eyes got huge. “Is this as bad?”
“Worse,” Jim said.
There was a moment of discontinuity, and that was it. “We’re in the Sol system,” Chug said.
Nigel looked around, and saw Jim grinning. “You asshole,” he said.
Jim started laughing. After the tension of the earlier combat, the entire CIC broke out in chuckles. Nigel’s eyes shot daggers around the room, but then he smiled and gave a couple laughs himself.
There’s hope for you yet, Alexis said, trying not to think what she was thinking. “Afeeko, damage report?”
“Teams are reporting in,” the elSha said. “Damage is minor and under repair.”
“Very good. Chug, get our bearings and let’s begin as planned.”
* * *
EMS Pegasus, Heliocentric Orbit Inside Mars’ Orbit, Sol System
“Why are we going so slowly?” Nigel asked.
“They blew the emergence point,” Jim replied. “They were shooting for closer to the moon.” On the Tri-V, the men could see Varley Station above Mars as viewed from the telescope.
Alexis glanced at them but didn’t comment. Ghost could do a pretty good job of doing the impossible, but pretty good added up to light minutes in many cases. She was happy not to be outside the orbit of Jupiter and forced to spend a couple days gliding into the system. The view around Mars showed why. A pair of Maki corvettes were in close orbit to the station. It only made sense for Peepo to send patrols to most of the Human outposts, and probably garrisons to the larger cities like Bradbury on Mars and Verne on the moon.
They’d fired the torches for a few minutes and were coasting. It wasn’t wasted time. As they flew, Hoot was carefully aligning the comms antenna and working to fine-tune the radio for data traffic, something that wasn’t done much anymore. Most modern ships used laser comms; they carried more data and were more secure because they were almost impossible to intercept. Another telescope showed their target, an ancient space-based telescope known as the SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
The telescope had been used in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Of course, it was long retired, but it still worked. Alexis knew it did, as it was one of a number of targets in the Sol system known collectively as “Larks,” which spacers would find and take selfies on as a rite of passage. Others previously included a lost lunar landing vehicle, a space probe, and a red sports car. The SOHO was useful to her because it still had power transmission capabilities. Hussars’ intelligence operatives used it as a dead drop from time to time, though not often because of its Lark status.
“Comms are coming up,” Hoot said.
“You’re up,” she told Ghost.
Alexis knew what Ghost was going to do, and it wasn’t pretty. It would ride the connection through the century-old SOHO satellite, and, once linked with the universities on Earth still monitoring it, the AI would have access to the planet’s AetherNet. Once in the AetherNet, all of the planet’s networks were within the sentient program’s reach.
Ghost would then interpret the entire network, finding every possible way of intruding into the systems it wanted access to. Each one would be probed several thousand times to find the most vulnerable, picking the best 100, then prioritizing and giving each a second level, a third, and finally a fourth level of scrutiny. Once those channels were set, they would be penetrated and taken over. One was used to start; the others were kept as backups. The hack completed, a direct connection was made.
Pegasus was now using its nearly undetectable ion drive to slow its approach. As it did, Alexis used the new connection to send a slew of messages. Sansar did likewise, sending messages to seemingly innocuous email accounts which would eventually lead them to her people still under cover.
Finally, once that work was finished, they were ready for the real reason for their visit. Using their pinplants, Ghost created a virtual environment in the Four Horsemen’s minds to reflect what would be seen on the other end. To them, it appeared as if they were standing in an elaborate office with massive windows overlooking the sprawling metroplex of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Alexis was impressed with the office—at least 100 square meters of floor space, with rich local woods and an expansive desk, their images would be projected from the Tri-V situated in the center of the room, facing the desk. An all-too-familiar Veetanho sat behind that desk looking at a slate.
“Hello, Peepo,” Alexis said.
Peepo looked up, confused at first, then in shock as she took in the four Humans standing in her office.
Alexis saw the subtle movement of her shoulder which meant she was reaching for a weapon. “Don’t bother,” Alexis said. “We’re not actually here.”
“And don’t bother calling for help. We’ve arranged for a private talk.”
Peepo came up with a gun and fired anyway. The shot was aimed at Sansar’s head and passed cleanly through the Tri-V.
“You slay me,” Sansar said and smiled. “Well, actually not. That’s the second time you’ve tried…and failed.”
Alexis found it interesting and informative that Peepo went for Sansar among all of her worst enemies. Of course, Sansar had probably given her the worst black eye.
“How is this possible?” Peepo asked. “Intel says you’re still hiding at your home base. New Warsaw, isn’t it?”
Alexis did her best to hide the shiver that went down her back as she reminded herself the name of the system wasn’t as secret as the location. Still, it was a telling statement. “Oh, some of us are there, but we are here with you now. Well, not in the room, but trust me, we’re close by.”
“How do I know it’s really you and not some trick of your people on Earth?” Peepo got up and walked around the Tri-V.
“We first met at your bar in Karma,” Jim Cartwright said. “You said you were sad my father was killed. Of course, you probably had him killed, so that was a lie.”
“I was sorry he had to die,” Peepo said, “but this is a dangerous business.”
“You figured I was dead when I nuked all your damned Tortantula,” Sansar said.
“Unfortunate, that,” Peepo said, leaving it up to them to guess what she meant.
“You can be sure it’s me,” Nigel said. “I’ll be the one standing over your rapidly-cooling body.”
“You obviously know where I am,” Peepo replied. “Why don’t you come here and see if you are able to do that, little Shirazi? You are nowhere near the man your grandfather was.”
Alexis put a hand on his chest, stopping his retort. “As for me,” Alexis said, “I’ll just leave it to your intel people to verify that.” Alexis smiled, the smile of a predator. “Despite how tempted I am to put a 40-terawatt particle beam into the building you’re sitting in,” she saw the slight tensing of Peepo’s demeanor and enjoyed it immensely, “we’re not guilty of breaking Union laws, despite what you say.”
“If you aren’t here to kill me, why are you here? You must be close, there is very little lag.”
Alexis enjoyed that part. If she only knew. Pegasus was on the far side of the Moon, as quiet as she could be.
“We’re here to try and bring an end to all this,” Sansar said. “This conflict does nobody any good. It’s costing the guild millions of credits and untold lives. Mostly alien, but plenty of Humans, too. Your occupation of Earth, and this whole vendetta against humanity, needs to end before something goes horribly wrong.”
“Why would I do that?” Peepo asked, having finished her circuit of the group standing in the middle of the office. She laughed. “Give up? I’m winning.
Your planet gets more and more manageable by the day.”
Jim Cartwright laughed. “Humanity? Manageable? You make me laugh. Humans can barely manage themselves! I bet you’re getting your asses kicked all over the place.”
“There are indeed pockets of difficulty; however, I just liquidated Zeke Avander, one of your allies, yesterday. Our network is cleaning up other pockets as we speak. I still don’t see how ending it does me any good.”
“You’re doing so well, you decided to move against our colonies,” Alexis said.
Peepo’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“The operating base you established in Golara ring any bells?” Sansar asked. This time Peepo’s astonishment was obvious. “Well, it should. I’m happy to tell you, though, we took it out a week ago.”
“Entropy!” Peepo yelled. The double doors flew open, and a pair of MinSha in combat armor appeared. When they saw the four Humans, they scrambled for weapons. “Stop,” Peepo ordered. “They’re just Tri-V holograms; I don’t need my office torn up again.
“I appear to be blocked from my network access,” she added, casting a glance at Sansar, “get me intel reports on my slate.” The two guards gawked. “MOVE!”
“Speaking of Golara, I wanted to thank you for the battleships,” Alexis said with a huge grin. “They are a most welcome addition to our war effort.”
“There is no way you could have defeated a fleet that size,” Peepo growled.
“Unless we could appear anywhere we wanted?” Alexis asked.
Peepo was quiet for a long moment. In that time a pair of elSha came in, examined the Tri-V images, and left. Alexis checked her clock. Ghost had warned her that 10 minutes was the absolute maximum for the encounter, and it was obvious Peepo was stalling. She caught Sansar’s attention and nodded.
“So what’s it going to be, Peepo?” Sansar asked. “Are we going to call an end to this needless conflict, or do the Horsemen have to come there, dig you out, and put you on trial in front of the entire planet? We could do a better job than the sham trial you gave me.”
“If you were able to dig me out, you already would have,” the Veetanho snapped.
“Maybe we wanted to offer you a chance to end this without more bloodshed,” Nigel said. “My people know how much you aliens love killing, but we aren’t always like that.”
Peepo snorted in reply.
“You started this,” Jim said and pointed at her. “The fact that we’d even come to you with this option, after you’ve done your level best to murder all of us, says a lot about our intentions.”
“It says you are weak,” Peepo said, “and undisciplined. This is why you need to be controlled, for the greater good.”
“The greater good?” Sansar yelled. “What are you talking about? Do you presume to know what the entire galaxy needs? You arrogant bitch.”
“There’s more going on in this galaxy than you little Humans know about. It is vital you are brought into the fold.”
“Bullshit,” Jim said, and the others nodded.
“Then we are at an impasse,” Peepo said.
“So it would seem,” Alexis agreed. “Before we go, you need to be aware of a problem. My people salvaged a ship some time ago. It appeared almost identical to Pegasus, our Egleesius-class ship you are so familiar with. It turns out we were wrong; it’s a Keesius.”
“I am familiar with the Keesius-class ships—they are weapons of mass destruction that were outlawed long ago. And for good reason!” She paused and then asked, “Why are you telling me this? Is this supposed to be some sort of threat?
“No, we aren’t like you,” Alexis said. “We wouldn’t intentionally unleash something like this. However, one of my scientists accidentally activated it, not knowing what it was, and the weapon has jumped out of our control. We believe its target is Capital System.”
Peepo licked her thin lips, her eyes narrowing. “You won’t stop it?”
“We’re trying,” Alexis explained. “This happened after we left to take out your base in Golara. My second in command sent a force after it. They aren’t sure if they can stop it, so I’m letting you know so you can warn your people.”
“You say this after you try to negotiate a truce?”
Alexis grinned and shrugged. “Never show all your cards until the deal is done. Isn’t that what you told me when we first met? You should just have time to get a courier to Capital to warn them. That’s the best I can do.”
“See you soon,” Nigel said with a wink. The connection cut.
* * *
SOGA HQ, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Earth
There weren’t enough hells in all the races’ mythologies to condemn the Humans to, Peepo thought as she issued orders sending a courier to warn Capital Planet. It was unlikely the Humans would be able to stop the Keesius. They weren’t built to be stopped; they were built to destroy planets. Hopefully, she could at least get her daughter off the planet before the Keesius arrived.
That didn’t cool her anger, though. The Humans, and especially the Four Horsemen, were infuriating. She held their planet; they were defeated. Why couldn’t they see that?
She’d known—intellectually—that Humans often fought on after they were beaten—she’d seen it on the battlefield plenty of times, herself—but to experience it when she held their planet was different. Sometimes their tenacity allowed them to turn the tide and emerge victorious, but not in this case. She held their planet!
It was time to end this. It was time to end their resistance, as other races were starting to take notice and think they didn’t have to do what they were told, either. That was unacceptable.
She picked up her slate and brought up the orders she’d been working on before the Horsemen had shown up and interrupted her. Taunt her? She would see who taunted whom at the end. She pushed the enabling button with a vengeance. Orders flowed across the galaxy, and credits changed hands in a number of places.
There would be a rapidly-cooling body, but it would not be hers.
* * *
EMS Pegasus, Heliocentric Orbit Inside Mars, Sol System
“Report charge status,” Alexis asked her engineer.
“Batteries charged,” Long reported.
“Weapons?”
“All weapons charged,” Xander said. “Tubes loaded with reprogrammed anti-missiles.”
“Is the shield update you came up with in place?” Alexis asked Ghost.
“Will it help?”
“Then it is good enough.” She spoke to her command crew. “Are the skiffs away?”
“Clear and away,” Hoot confirmed. Two craft slightly larger than shuttles were coasting away from Pegasus. Disguised to look like mining ships returning from the asteroid belts, they would enter Earth’s traffic patterns and penetrate Earth’s defenses. They contained Horde operatives and volunteers from all the Horsemen. Because they could well be facing another fight, Alexis had asked the other commanders to return to their quarters. They weren’t happy with the situation, but it was her ship.
“Wish them luck,” Alexis said. “Bring the shunts online and prepare to depart. Chug, at your discretion.”
Pegasus fell into hyperspace. This time there was only a delay of a few minutes before the hyperspace generators were cut, and they dropped into 2nd Level Hyperspace with the same frightening, gut-wrenching experience as before.
“I don’t think I will ever get used to that,” Xander said to universal agreement.
“Sensors, check for any contacts,” Paka ordered.
“Working,” Flipper said, then almost immediately called out, “Contact!”
“Engage the modified shields,” Alexis ordered.
“Impacts on Shields 3, 5, and 9,” Glick said.
“No damage,” Afeeko said.
“Helm, get some speed.”
“Roger that,” Chug said, and the acceleration warning sounded.
“Contacts on camera,” Flipper said. The images showed three of the lumpy stick ships and something else. Alexis thought it looked like a melted Christmas tree.
“Marking four targets,” Glick said. “Ranges from 50,000 to 60,000 kilometers, bearing 121 azimuth 92.”
Ghost said to her.
“Time to charge 11 minutes,” Long told them.
“Target the...melted-looking thing,” Alexis ordered. “All forward lasers.”
“Only three are operational,” Xander reminded her. “Two bearing.” She manipulated the controls, and, a moment later, the tactical board flashed. “Firing!”
On the Tri-V, the image of the strange ship was clearly visible as a pair of 100-megawatt lasers from Pegasus connected the two ships. Instead of the usual glow of shields absorbing the energy or the flare of a charged hull penetration, there was a bright flash and the two lasers rebounded away at odd angles. Everyone on the bridge gawked, even Alexis.
“The marines who boarded the battleship to retrieve F11 noted that sort of phenomenon,” Long said. Alexis searched her memory for a long moment, then she remembered that Corporal Johansson and Private Culper reported fighting an alien in powered armor, like their CASPers, which had shields like a ship. They had also reported that energy weapons seemed to bounce off its shields.
“It’s more of a deflector,” Xander said, “than a shield.”
“More hits on our shields,” Glick said. “Power levels are dropping fast. The bigger ship has much more powerful weapons.”
“Combine laser fire,” Alexis said, “try for a pinpoint shot on the big ship.”
“Helm, bring all weapons to bear,” Paka ordered.
“One of the smaller ships has launched five small craft,” Flipper said. The telescope focused on a series of quickly moving dots before zooming on one. It was the same manta ray-shaped craft they’d seen before.
“Missiles,” Alexis ordered. “Two each.”
The orders were given, and the ship shuddered as 10 missiles left their tubes and raced away. They’d had time to tweak the missiles’ computers since the last encounter, and these flew much truer. Unlike previous attacks, the small craft took evasive action.
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