We've Seen the Enemy

by Paul Dayton

  Had Keenan known, it would not have been necessary, and if he had left, he would have saved his own life.

  ***

  Jane had done remarkably well. Her division was in charge of loading supplies into the large black craft, and she volunteered to deliver the supplies from the loader to their individual storage areas. Because of the immensity of the ship, some of her duties took her deep into its structure and into areas most humans would normally not venture into unless they were assigned there specifically. One area in particular was very unusual. It was central to the ship and very big, measuring at least twice the size of the vegetarium on the World Federation ships. Although all she had was a glimpse of the inside when the entry door opened to allow someone access, she could clearly see an advanced delivery system and a large elaborate rack that held black balls about thirty centimeters in diameter. She had no idea what they were, but knew she had to get in there somehow and record this room. The only problem was that there was no food storage areas in there, and a human guard stood at the single entry.

  Jane had tried all day long to slip in, but with no success. Fortunately, those delivering food by hand or small cart slept in the craft’s dormitory, and once everyone was asleep, she made her way carefully to the room. The second shift was performing their duties, and although a few queried her, her usual reply was that a food packet was found to be deficient, and it had to be retrieved.

  One particular human insisted on more information. “In what way is the packet deficient?”

  “A number of workers have complained of stomach pain. I am to bring the batch in for inspection.”

  It seemed to satisfy the human, and he left her alone as she continued toward her target. She thought about the guard at the door as she walked, but she couldn’t come up with any idea on how to get rid of him without raising alarms. Being naked limited her resources as she thought of the different tools she had – five micro-grenades in her body cavities, the gum covering the inner roof of her mouth and the inside of her cheeks for small explosions, and her false tooth suicide pill in case she got caught. That would have to do, she thought.

  She went quickly to the dispensary, grabbed a cup and poured the standard liquid. Mixing in the ingredients from her tooth, she casually walked over to the sentry – a ten minute walk from the cafeteria. The sentry looked at the cup and said, “Why are you bringing me this?”

  “You look tired. You need to resupply your energy. Drink.”

  “This is not usual.”

  “It is my new duty.”

  Jane knew these humans felt no compassion or gratitude, but had the sense of preservation of resources instilled in them when their mind was wiped. She counted on the human consuming the item based on this, hoping he would figure that this resource should not be wasted.

  She was right. It took the cup and drank it while Jane walked away. Within seconds, she heard the body hit the floor. She ran back, quickly opened the door and dragged the now dead sentry inside, and started her video as she panned the room, stopping at all the major items. In less than a minute she was done and quickly exited the room. Opening the door, she found another human looking curiously at the entry.

  “Where is the sent…” it started to say when it spotted the body lying on the floor inside the room. “What happened to the sentry?”

  “I found him this way, but conscious. He was half in the room, so I brought him inside and lay him on the floor.”

  “What is his condition?” it asked.

  “He is dead. I am going to inform my supervisor,” Jane answered, but it wasn’t enough. As Jane walked away, the other human saw the cup on the floor and asked, “What were you doing in this room?”

  Jane turned and said, “Nothing, other than inspecting the dead body.”

  “Why is there a cup on the floor?” the human queried, its suspicion continuing to rise.

  “I didn’t see it when I saw the sentry lying on the floor,” Jane made up as she casually reached back to access a micro-grenade.

  The human thought about her reply, and finally said, “This is unusual. You must stay here until this matter can…” but Jane didn’t wait for him to finish. Firmly pressing the indent, she threw the grenade and ran, and the resultant explosion ended all questions.

  ***

  Mike and John had been assigned to load cargo, but each were assigned to second shift and had to operate a loader, which allowed little in the way of exploration. For some reason, this group had an unusual number of females, and they spent all night trying to fight off the requests for mating, but with no success. As soon as they finished with one, another came by with a mating request and waited patiently until either one was sufficiently rested before continuing.

  When they had a moment to themselves, Mike asked, “What the hell is going on? At first I never felt so lucky, but, well… they just do it, you know? And then they go do it with someone else!”

  John replied, “I think they do it on purpose, to increase the size of the group. I mean, we’re both good looking, and we’re built. And like…”

  They were interrupted by another female who was requested that both impregnate her.

  Mike looked at John and said to her, “We have impregnated three women each. We can no longer impregnate any more today. See us tomorrow.”

  She walked away satisfied with the answer, and John said, “Buddy, we’ve gotta go to sleep or we’ll be bugged all night.”

  “Yeah,” Mike said. “Never thought I’d fake sleep so I wouldn’t get laid.”

  John laughed and they both lay down until their shift started.

  They woke up to a klaxon whooping. As everyone ran out, John and Mike looked at each other, with Mike saying, “Keenan.”

  “Yeah. Or Jane.”

  They ran in the general direction they felt Jane would be in, but were worried they would never find her in the throng of workers surrounding the alien ship.

  Mike looked around and picked out a human who was walking in the other direction. Walking up to him, he said, “Report.”

  “Explosion inside the craft, Central section, near the Singularity Room.”

  “Damage or deaths?” John added.

  “Uncertain. One human dead. Possible hostile act.”

  They left him and worked their way over to the boarding and loading ramp, as that was the only accessible entry or exit point in this area. They tried to appear as if they were waiting for instructions, and in the confusion no one requested that they do anything. After fifteen minutes of waiting, John said, “Maybe she’s already left.”

  “Or maybe she’s dead.”

  “God, I hope not. I kinda like her.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Keenan, who had made it to an observatory desk after he had heard the klaxon, adjusted his eyesight until he spotted Mike and John standing on the loading ramp. He didn’t know what had happened, but they were obviously waiting for something. He was too far to do anything at the moment except look, so he waited, hoping that things would clear up soon.

  Mike had had enough of waiting. “I’m going in. If she’s hurt or needs help…” He didn’t need to say anymore, and they jumped into action.

  Quickly walking inside, they went as fast as they could without drawing attention to themselves. As soon as they turned a corner, they collided with Jane, casually walking out. All three tumbled, but they quickly regained their composure. John whispered, “Am I glad to see you…” but Jane gave him the look that reminded him to watch his thoughts. It was too late, a number of humans had witnessed the collision and had come over to inquire as to damage and to verify their assignments.

  “No damage,” John said, but because he was speaking for all three it brought further query and suspicion. Jane and Mike also answered, but two of the humans persisted and called out a mental general warning. They were about to get up but now found themselves in the middle of a group of five.

  They quickly saw the situation get out of control, and Mike reached
behind and pulled out a grenade, trying hard to hide the action in the attempt to get up. This was nothing new to him, as both he and John had served as deep infiltration agents on a number of occasions and it was standard practice to hide weaponry everywhere you could.

  Raising himself erect, he said with as much authority as he could muster, “We were sent to find this human and take her in for questioning,” and he turned to leave as he and John grabbed Jane’s arms. The group was unsure but didn’t say anything, allowing them to walk away a few steps, until one of them asked, “Where is your weaponry?”

  The three had received a mental picture of the standard guard, dressed, sidearm and Intel helmet in place, and it was obvious that neither John nor Mike was such. Mike turned, smiled and said, “Here it is!” and threw the grenade as they ran.

  ***

  Keenan saw the three run out of the loading dock, followed by a small explosion.

  “Talk about going out with a bang,” he thought, but he was relieved they were all alive. He continued to watch as a group of humans in body armor and weaponry converged on where the three were as they continued running. He had worked his way over, but was still a good two hundred meters away. Quickly reaching down, he took out two of the three grenades he had left and threw them as hard as he could to either side of where they were running.

  ***

  Jane was running for her life, with Mike and John right beside her.

  “You get anything?” they asked out of breath as they ran.

  “EVERYTHING!” Jane replied, and new mission orders popped out of their subconscious.

  Jane gasped in shock and almost tripped with the new instructions, but Mike and John yelled, “RUN!” at the same time.

  They hung back and separated, each one removing the final grenades they had as they looked for cover.

  “I’ve got the loader!” Mike yelled, and John followed with “Corner of Cargo box!”

  Hitting their spots, they each launched a grenade in the direction of the group following Jane, and were happy to hear screams as the grenades exploded.

  Within seconds, a larger security force was drawn to the area as a result, and John and Mike counted their last grenades, knowing it wouldn’t be enough. Just as the larger security force converged, a third, larger explosion occurred, not exactly centered on the group, but close enough to cause significant damage. Mike looked around after the explosion, spotting Keenan on a catwalk about sixty meters away.

  With the explosions, a wave of humans, both security forces and otherwise, converged on the area, with Jane being the only one running away.

  A few had noticed this and had started running after her. John and Mike started yelling at the top of their voices, while Mike boarded the Loader and started walking the large robot over towards the security force. John looked on in horror, realizing what it was Mike was about to do.

  He gave up his cover and ran to the group as Mike reached the guards. He rammed into the crowd, throwing people in every direction. The guards were firing with their side-arms, but their small caliber wasn’t enough to penetrate the solid exterior of the Loader.

  Those that had followed Jane had turned, realizing that a bigger threat was in the other direction. Within seconds, a micro missile struck the loader, and John groaned as he saw the Loader tip over and fall on its side. Humans climbed all over it, but John made his way to the one who had fired the missile. His hope dropped immediately when he saw the human in a full Maxon 1 suit, getting prepared to launch a second missile as Mike struggled to rise in his damaged Loader.

  He used the last of his grenades, throwing it at the Maxon suit, and was happy to see legs and arms go flying as the grenade exploded, killing the controller and those nearby. He ran up, grabbed the launcher, and zeroed in on the cargo bay doors.

  Time slowed down as John watched security officers shoot Mike through the small openings in the Loader. Boosters were being pumped into his veins by the CBAssist system, and he felt detached and calm, vaguely aware of Keenan standing by his side. He watched as the crush of people ran towards him, and calmly aimed and pulled the trigger on the micro missile as a throng of people jumped on top of him and Keenan. Keenan did what he knew he had to do, and pushed the trigger on the two grenades he had left.

  ***

  Jane turned to look at the commotion. All hell had broken loose, and she knew her friends were either dead or dying. Watching in horror, she saw a Loader down and security forces trying to shoot whoever was inside, but her focus was interrupted by a large explosion inside the alien ship loading bay, followed by a mound of people suddenly being torn into pieces as their bodies flew through the air.

  Resigned and knowing full well she had to survive, she turned and ran out of the complex and into the desert night. ‘Damn you Keenan!’ she thought to herself as it became obvious that the man she loved was now dead.

  Security forces had been combing the area around the base, looking for any infiltrators. Jane knew their Maxons were programmed to activate in the event of any explosion or commotion. “Suit, report.”

  “In position. Survivors?”

  “Just me. Come get me.”

  The other Maxons immediately jumped into their council programmed actions, running into the fray, firing their missile salvos and causing as much confusion as possible. Jane’s suit ran up to her and opened, and she quickly got inside.

  “EVAC, ONE! Situation hot!” she yelled as she ran to the designated pickup point.

  Within seconds, the glowing green circle showed up on her suit viewscreen as it locked on to the pickup point, 2 clicks away. Jane ran to the designated area and waited until the Stilleto uncloaked. Looking up at the open drop door, she jumped and thrustered her way to the entry and quickly got out of her Maxon as the ship went back to cloak. Planetary defenses had come online and targeted the ship while visible, but now the automated defenses had to deduce the target speed and trajectory as they started firing their salvos. Jane was knocked sideways and almost out of the drop door as a salvo ripped through the ship, and it shuddered and groaned as the pilot attempted a random course adjustment. The Maxon 5 was still open, and a package was being automatically dropped inside and locked in place as Jane ran out and over to the bridge.

  Once there, a flood of warnings voiced by the ship comp washed over her:

  “Hyperdrive offline… Cloak on emergency power… Cooling system overheating…”

  Captain Sallecker stomped as he walked the bridge from one end to the other issuing orders.

  Turning to Jane, he asked, “Others?”

  “Down. We have to get out of here!”

  Sallecker didn’t understand, presuming her hurry to be cowardice. “How can you be sure?” he insisted.

  “Captain, this is our orders! They died so I could live. I have the information we came here for. We gotta move! It’s critical I get to the Council ASAP!”

  Sallecker stood watching her amidst the storm surrounding the S.S. Cristina.

  “Sir, Cloak won’t last much longer!” Lt. Dionne said.

  Sallecker knew it was now or never. “Get us around to the other drop site and then let’s get out of here.”

  The Stilleto quickly made it over to site #2, dropped the Maxon 5 and quickly accelerated as the cloak began to fail. Planetary defenses had picked up the failing cloak, temporarily acquiring a lock on the Stilleto but losing it as the cloak strengthened. It failed once and for all just as the ship exited the thin atmosphere.

  ***

  Mike could clearly see the security agent trying to fire his weapon through the opening in the Loader. Reaching over, he twisted the nozzle and pointed it away, and the bullet narrowly missed hitting him. Immediately after an explosion temporarily distracted the security agent and the others pinning him down, and he did one final push to lift himself up, but something was wrong with the Loader. He struggled as the hydraulics shorted, but he was able to get up on one knee and see the final action.

  Three suits had a
ppeared just over the ridge, and a large explosion had just occurred, throwing bodies everywhere. The suits were creating havoc as they provided a distraction for the major event, and Mike’s glee and thoughts were quickly picked up by those around him. They immediately sent out a mental warning while the final Maxon 5 showed up to deliver its payload. Mike’s happiness turned to frustration as a human picked up the rocket launcher that John had lost and pointed it at the Maxon 5, now working its way toward the large ship. The missile locked and launched as the suit worked its way down, but it never made it. Just before impact, the onboard computer quickly realized that this was as far as it could go and set of the package inside. The resulting explosion leveled all humans in the work area and any walking in the work tunnels for several hundred meters.

  ***

  “Shields!” Sallecker ordered.

  The shields came on, but a short from the torn conduit knocked them out almost immediately.

  “Shields offline!” Dionne yelled.

  “Punch it! Get us the hell out of here!”

  As enemy vessels received reports from the planetary defenses, they acquired their new target as soon as the cloak failed. The ship was incredibly fast, faster than anything they had ever seen before, but not faster than the missiles now locked onto the quickly accelerating Stilleto.

  Sallecker watched the rear display and Targeting, undecided as to his next course of action. Evading would allow the other alien craft to catch up, but running meant certain interception.

  “Comm to Mr. Dickens. How is the cloak coming?”

  “Not good, Sir. It’s gonna be at least ten minutes.”

  “I’m not asking for a permanent repair. We need it now.”

  There was a pause, and then the question, “How now is now?”

  “As in…” Sellecker looked at Tactical, “…in less than 22 seconds.”

  “Oh. Well then,” was the only reply. Sallecker new better than to inquire any further. He thought about Dickens and how lucky he was to have him here. He became an instant legend when a badly damaged WF221, missing its rear half no less, somehow managed to generate enough energy to pop up shields for the split second needed to repel an alien torpedo, and then, to top it off, destroy an enemy capital ship and various other support and fighter craft. This from a dying WF ship. And it was almost all Dickens’ doing. The tactic had quickly become required studying for all engineer cadets. He was here on the Stilleto on loan and through his own insistence, wanting to spend some time serving on the fastest ship of the fleet. Sallecker had Dickens’ new, Top Secret orders lying on his desk, and he was reluctant to pass them over, wanting to keep him permanently. For now, he hoped Dickens would live up to his reputation one more time, for all their sakes.