“I understand,” Eric said right when Yalena had opened her mouth to argue back.
It seemed like Bako felt the need to justify that decision. “We’re too vulnerable under those domes. They weren’t built to last under fire from above.”
“We know,” Cooper jumped in, “but we still think they’ll target Unifier and Earth. We could use all the help you could offer.”
“Working on it, my friend,” Bako said.
Cooper quizzed Chris about his preparations back on Earth—he, too, wouldn’t be back on Unifier for a while.
“The Earthling pilots won’t train themselves,” Chris said, before giving them a wave goodbye with both hands.
Right after Chris left, Jea reassured Cooper that she’d be staying on Unifier to assist with ‘anything you need’. Heidi flushed like she was about to explode or, at the very least, punch Jea.
Thankfully, before any of those reactions, Bako pulled Eric and Yalena aside. “You’ve got three of ours on your mission.” He nodded toward the spot where Alec and Dave were tinkering with an open part of the Chimera—the Chameleon’s twin Eagle meant for Eric and his team. They were helping Reid with his pre-departure check-ups as Heidi’s second pilot.
“All top-level pilots we couldn’t do without on this mission,” Yalena said firmly.
“I’m not asking you to pull them from the assignment.” Bako’s face was stern. “But I also haven’t forgotten the first victim in this war was a Martian, may Adam rest in peace.” He kissed the tips of two fingers and pointed them up, as if to the heavens. “And the first attack happened on Mars. There are those among our ranks that feel we didn’t start this, and yet we’re paying the price.”
Yalena felt traces of anger threatening to bubble up inside her. She forced a calm tone. “That’s because we’re all in this together, all humans, no matter the planet or station we live on.”
“Bring the Martians back alive,” Bako said, “and I’ll have a stronger case to make for helping Unifier and Earth.”
Eric clasped his hands loosely behind his back as he gazed down at his feet. The level tone with which Bako reminded them of the gravity of their mission seemed to have shaken him. That worried Yalena. She suspected there was a point at which Eric might crack under the pressure...or dare she even think it? He could give up, terrified to lose more people close to him.
Yalena, on the other hand, had stilled her heart. She was itching to leave, to bend Felix’s world to her will. After all, if the Fians couldn’t see them, how would they stop them?
“We fully intend to bring everyone back,” Yalena said with a snap in her voice that made Bako square his shoulders.
The Martian gave Eric one last long and piercing look, disregarding Yalena. “I hope you will, my friend.”
After a terse nod, Eric walked away with his hands balled into fists.
Splendid, Yalena thought darkly. She almost wished for Alec’s explosive temper that would have pushed her to punch the likes of Bako. They didn’t need threats upon send-off. They needed inspiration.
But Bako wasn’t the enemy. Yalena clapped a hand on Eric’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”
Eric breathed noisily a few times, then turned around to face her. “Bako is a realist. He’s given us the insider intel others wouldn’t have bothered to share.”
Yalena almost snarled. Eric could paint things in their best light all he wanted, but it didn’t change the harsh truth. “Mars will be needed. We can’t lose their support.”
Eric licked his lips tentatively. “If Unifier called for help and Mars didn’t answer, Cooper, Chris and Jea will have a fight on their hands even harder than the one they’re preparing for.”
Yalena shook him with the hand she’d rested on his shoulder to stop him from ruminating. “That’s why Cooper has appointed this so-called Trinity. We have our mission, and Bako, Chris and Jea have theirs. The three of them need to make sure the near worlds will follow Cooper and unite for a defense.”
By the glum look in Eric’s clear, blue eyes, she wasn’t sure she’d breathed enough hope into him yet. A part of Yalena’s intuition screamed at her that her brother wasn’t ready, but it was too late.
Eric drew Yalena into a hug and kissed the top of her head lightly. “I’ll see you out there.”
Even though her heart wasn’t in it, she made a feeble attempt at a joke about the new invisibility tech. “Until you don’t.”
Chapter 3. Stealth Operation
Yalena asked Nico to go into stealth mode as soon as they had crossed the Unifier shield on the Chameleon. She really did need to test the tech before they’d left the inner planet radius, despite the faith she had in Nico and Natalia’s work.
Eric must have ordered to his crew to go into stealth mode too. There was symbolism in seeing Eric’s ship—the Chimera—disappear in front of Yalena’s eyes. It was the detail that had been missing, the reason they’d been confined to the near worlds, but no more. With a way to go undetected, the real work began now.
With the antimatter fuel generation method developed last year, the ships could burn through as much antimatter fuel as they produced. That cut roughly three days from the trip to the wormhole they’d taken in their first-year mission. They passed by one of the Belt checkpoints without revealing themselves, to test both the stealth tech and the patrols’ condition.
Josie had no doubt already flown there, lighter on her Bluedrop. The first Belt station consisted of various ships connected to a ring structure. Yalena thought they’d been quick to organize it and lucky that someone was willing to spend so much time at the border between the inner and outer planets to run the patrols. Despite their best efforts to bring civilization to the Belt, it was still a great black abyss out there.
Jupiter’s orbit had taken the gas giant far out of their way, but the Chameleon and the Chimera flew past Saturn on the second day of their trip. Yalena squinted at the radar output, and then immediately peered out of the viewing window.
“They’re here.” The level statement didn’t succeed in hiding Yalena’s indignation.
“Throwing noise at them to hide our radio communication with the Chimera,” Nico said, as if guessing Yalena’s next instinct.
She thanked him, then caught herself whispering on the line to Eric. “Do you see what I’m seeing?”
“It’s not a warship,” Eric’s voice came over the comms. “It must be a scout, spying on our next move without getting too close.”
“That means they’re still not ready to send that hellish army Sibel spoke of,” Yalena said. Eric would be able to read the subtext in that sentence. We’re not too late.
“Not yet, anyway,” her brother said. “We did need the stealth ships. Imagine what they’ve got waiting for us on the other side of that wormhole.”
It was hard for Yalena not to spend the remainder of the trip nervously tapping her fingers, thinking of the Fian welcome committee on the other side. Once she was in front of the wormhole—a blurry ring of buzzing strings in shades of purple—she forced herself to take a few deep breaths. The sight of the wormhole wasn’t as intimidating as it had been the first time she’d seen it, but it still unnerved her.
Nico’s face set into a frown. “Still can’t figure out how it hasn’t collapsed yet. Especially with gravitational time-dilation at zero.” His upper lip twitched, like that mystery had been bugging him in the background all this time.
“If the Fians keep using it to come here, then it has to be stable,” Yalena said. Unlike Nico, she didn’t have the mental space to add another mystery to the list.
Yalena leaned back in her seat. She’d waited months for this moment. “Alec, take us through.”
“Copy that,” he said from the first pilot seat. Then, he spoke on the comms to the Chimera. “Heidi, I’m going in.”
“See you on the other side,” Heidi replied.
The Chameleon lunged forward, diving nose-first into the purple haze. It only took a minute for the wormhol
e to spit them out in a solar system hundreds of light years away.
Yalena leaned forward in her seat, staring out of the viewing window. “Holy stars.”
A dozen Fian ships were parked around the wormhole exit. Alec swore and adjusted course swiftly to avoid nudging the nearest one.
“We need to get out of here fast,” Dave said. “Before Heidi bumps into us from behind.”
Yalena’s eyes stayed glued to the view outside as Alec sped away. The ships were smaller, more agile than the one Felix had taken to Unifier and Mars last year. They seemed made for pursuit and close-range battle. She didn’t remember the Fians having a fleet before. Perhaps that was what all the delay had been for. They’d been building it.
Peace was never an option, Felix had said before attacking on Mars. Building a fleet and using it against the near worlds was his choice—war.
Yalena flinched, realizing she’d probably never understand the full extent of Felix’s motives, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that the Fians were preparing, hard.
Once they’d placed some distance between the Fian welcome committee and the Chameleon, Yalena forced herself to breathe normally. She’d expected this. The commander had expected it too—that’s why he’d researched stealth technologies. Still, the odd sensation that they’d be found out crept up inside her. What made it worse was not being able to call Eric. Even though the Chimera was around, they needed to limit the radio transmissions. The Fians were probably listening for any noise in the static and they wouldn’t expect much radio pollution on this side of the wormhole.
“So far so good,” Yalena said decisively. “Natalia, run a scan to compare the solar system to the last time we were here. If there’s an army in here, it has to be big. Let’s find it.”
“Well, same as last time,” Natalia piped in after a few minutes of typing. “Two planets and one large moon in the Goldilocks zone. The moon has too much argon in its atmosphere, so we’d need masks there. The two planets—Nova Fia and another, warmer world—seem to have breathable air.”
“If I were Felix, I wouldn’t want the army on Nova Fia.” Yalena thought out loud. “It’s too close to the civilians and the enemies he’s locked up.” She pressed her lips together. The image of her father and Sibel rotting away in a tiny, dark cell flashed in her mind.
Natalia pulled a holo image on her screen. “Then, it’s probably on the third planet in this solar system. It’s so close to Nova Fia that one could see it in the sky. It’s even hotter and more humid than Nova Fia.”
Yalena blinked at the screen showing the new world from space. “We’ll start there.”
“I detect no radio wave transmissions coming from it. It’s silent,” Nico said, as if to disagree.
Yalena didn’t let it sway her though. “If I were building a secret army, I would make sure it’s silent, too. Do we detect any settlements?”
Nico clicked his tongue. “No cities. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t settle here when they first arrived. Seems like a viable option.”
“All I’m finding are three small man-made structures, spread out in different parts of the globe,” Carmen said.
Yalena turned to her. “Research centers?”
Alec looked back to them from the first pilot seat. “Or the entrance to underground barracks to keep away from the heat.”
“Choose the closest one,” Yalena told Nico. “We’ll land in the vicinity.”
“Copy. What about the Chimera?”
Yalena paused to evaluate the situation. She’d have to send word to Eric eventually, but being so close to the Fian fleet made her wary. “Send them the landing coordinates only. A tight beam should keep us under the radar, unless they’re targeting us already.”
Nico got to work, while Yalena grasped the armrests of her chair in preparation for landing. Even from the clouds above, the world seemed covered in lush greenery, like a rainforest. A part of her was in awe. Humans would have industrialized it in a heartbeat. Perhaps the Fians knew better.
The Chameleon slipped under the sky-high trees. The foliage was deep green, with lianas falling from the trees and giant lily pads gently floating in the shallow lakes.
Yalena’s jaw dropped at the prehistoric scenery in front of her. “Wow.”
The landing wasn’t as rocky as the jungle terrain would have suggested. Alec’s injury felt like a remnant of the past. If it wasn’t for the gentle puffs of air that ruffled the plants below the Chameleon, it would have been impossible to spot any sign of the Eagles landing.
Natalia ran a more conclusive scan with Carmen by her side to confirm the results. They murmured to each other for a short while only, but Yalena felt restless, watching the small droplets of water stick to the viewing window.
Even though this world didn’t resemble Nova Fia very closely, Yalena relived the time they’d landed there. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake now—chasing butterflies and assuming they were safe.
This world was enemy terrain. She intended to treat it that way.
Yalena let the muscles on her face relax, but her eyes remained alert. “What’s the word, Natalia?”
Natalia took her time before replying. “Breathable air, rich in oxygen.”
“It’s incredible,” Carmen jumped in with much more excitement. “It’s similar to the levels that existed on Earth in the prehistoric age. We’ll need to use masks to gradually go up to that level, especially those who come from polluted air.” She kept her eyes on Yalena. That was meant for all the Earthlings, then.
“Sebastian, distribute the masks, please,” Yalena said. When he nodded, she moved over to Theo. “Monitor our vitals when we’re out there. If you see anyone struggling, you let me know.”
“Copy that,” Theo said.
Yalena positioned the mask Sebastian gave her over her nose and mouth. The elastic fit comfortably around the back of her head, yet she wished she could take it off. Any object they brought into this new environment was another potential trace they might leave behind. The cloaking of the Chameleon had protected them for long enough, but it couldn’t hide them now.
Despite that, Yalena sounded confident when she briefed her team. “Your Berries are loaded with the location of the Chameleon and the Chimera. If something goes wrong, get back to the closest Eagle and wait for us to regroup.”
No muffled concerns. No scared faces peeking back at her. Second year at STAR Academy had indeed turned them into soldiers.
Yalena signaled to Dai. “Open the gate.”
The sense of deja-vu was overwhelming. Yalena hopped off the Eagle and into the greenery below. Her boots sank into the muddy soil underneath with a satisfying sucking sound.
The rest of the crew followed behind her, but no one chatted. Dai sealed the Chameleon. One could only tell it was there by the slight movement of the air around it, like the summer haze over a hot road.
Yalena checked the Berry fixed on the back of her wrist. Two yellow dots on the map Nico had preloaded on their devices showed the location of the Eagles. Heidi had landed the Chimera nearby. One by one, the Chimera crew popped out of another hazy spot in the jungle.
“Hey,” Eric whispered the greeting. “Any sign of them yet?”
Yalena shook her head, like avoiding speaking would ensure the success of the operation. But that wasn’t just it. She was concentrating, extending the vibe outward or at least willing it to probe the new surroundings.
She couldn’t fight the sensation that they were intruding on someone else’s territory, but she pushed the feeling down. Enemies didn’t get to keep their privacy.
Eric and the Chimera crew drew out their weapons and established a parameter around the Eagles. Only Jen joined Natalia and Carmen, who’d started gathering probes from the new world.
Yalena and Eric huddled over Nico’s open metallic briefcase of gadgets.
“I’m thinking,” Nico said, “we should use the drones to check a wider parameter.”
“Send one circli
ng around us and another to the Fian base. We need to know how it’s being guarded.” Eric glanced over at Yalena to check she agreed.
She confirmed and Nico entered the new task into his Berry. The drones came alive at once and shot out of their molds in the briefcase.
Yalena forced a deep breath out. They’d trained for this, she thought. This time, they’d come prepared.
The sounds of her classmates moving in the mud around her felt boosted to her ears.
“Boss, come check this out,” Natalia called her over.
The holo over Natalia’s tablet projected a structure of a chemical compound in blue light.
“Novofex,” Jen announced.
“We extracted it from the water.” Carmen pointed to the small sample tube attached to the side of the tablet.
“This means they can survive here, the Fians.” Even though it sounded like a general observation, Jen watched carefully for Yalena’s reaction.
Yalena scanned the limited part of the jungle she could see through the dense foliage. “Then, where are they?”
As if on cue, Nico cursed. “One of the drones is down.” He gave his Berry a good shake, as if to get better signal. “I think it got taken out.”
Yalena and Eric didn’t even have to signal their teams. The first line of defense leveled their sonic guns, ready to shoot.
Eric slipped his hand into his silvery protective glove and then turned to Yalena. She felt glued where she was standing, and not just because her boots were caked in mud. Her eyes darted from the tree branches to the damp, black ground and then to her classmates’ faces. She couldn’t escape the sensation of being watched.
“What about the other drone?” she asked.
“It’s surveilling the establishment,” Nico said. “It seems abandoned. Plants covering the front gate like it hasn’t been used in years. Wait... Damn it!” Nico’s face turned ashen as he hit refresh on his Berry. “We lost the second drone.”
The Hive Engineers Page 2