For the first time, he took his eyes from the direction of their target and scanned the entire landscape that surrounded them. He quickly spied what he was looking for on the hillside at their rear. It was one of the dark entrances to the Telgoran underground. Benson’s flippant comment became a fleeting notion, which became an idea. The idea quickly grew into the outline of a plan.
You’ve got to be kidding me, he thought, surprised by his apparent willingness to even consider such a reckless scheme. There were so many holes in the plan, so many intangibles that could cause failure, that he felt compelled to abandon it immediately. And yet… what was there to lose? A lot, he replied, the internal debate now fully engaged. They could lose their way, for one. He could lose his recruit status for another. This was thinking outside the box—perhaps too far outside. If the move caused any backlash, he’d have to fall on his sword and make sure everyone knew it was his idea, his plan and no one else’s. Then there were the Telgorans. They held no animosity or distrust of humans, he knew, but what would their group tell those they passed? Don’t mind us, we’re just passing through? Despite the uncertainties, those were all things he could handle. It was the potential loss of dignity, respect and the ability to look his father in the eye that made him pause.
Despite the potential downfalls, Eli didn’t see another way through this task that offered any hope of success. He struggled with the choice, and noted the others looking at him expectantly as he did so. Play things safe and suffer failure, or risk it all on the slim hope that success was possible? His father often spoke about the need for weighing the risks of an action against the potential rewards that action could offer. One of his favorite sayings was, “You’ve got to go out on a limb sometimes. That’s where the fruit is.” One thing was certain: there was no fruit to be had by crossing the plain in front of them.
Limb it is, he decided with a heavy sigh and shake of his head.
“Okay, everyone,” he announced to the team. “Take off your armor down to your boots, but leave it powered up. Except for you, Ellison. I have a task for you.”
The members of his team shared looks, obviously uncertain of the order they had been given.
“Let’s go folks. You heard the man,” Benson urged as he began shedding his new skin. With some scattered murmuring, the others quickly followed his lead.
Eli pulled Ellison aside and instructed him on what he wanted. The other recruit asked a few clarifying questions, but quickly grasped the concept of what he was being asked to do.
Satisfied that his orders would be closely followed, Eli began stripping down to the black, one-piece garment they all wore under their armor. It was elastic in nature to ensure a snug fit, and left little to the imagination. But it would have to do.
He surveyed his team. Dressed in black, form fitting skins and armored boots, they were an odd sight to behold. The pulse weapons they carried rounded out their strange ensemble. It would have to do. They weren’t going down without a fight, and he now had a plan that might somehow work. If they were lucky.
“Here’s what we’re going to do . . .”
* * *
Free hopped to his feet, retreated into the darkness and placed his back against the cavern wall. The armed humans were climbing the hill and seemed to be headed directly for his location. He didn’t think they had spotted him yet, and he wondered what he should do. Should he retreat or stand his ground?
For one of the only times in his life, he wished he could reach out to the Family with his mind. He needed guidance and direction.
* * *
“Jayson, we’ve got company.”
Eli looked to where Benson was pointing and noted with some trepidation that the ever-present pacer was hovering along ten meters behind their column as they double-timed up the hill. Apparently, the floating orb had elected to track them versus staying with Ellison. He wondered briefly if it would relay their location to the Minith at the tower, and briefly considered shooting it down. He dismissed that idea almost immediately. Going off the grid to accomplish a training mission was one thing, destroying Alliance property in the process was something else entirely.
“We’ll have to live with it,” he replied with a shrug. They were fully committed to this course of action. Either his plan would work, or it wouldn’t. The presence of the pacer was a factor beyond their control. All they could do was continue forward. He just hoped the orb wasn’t the manner with which the Minith tracked their location.
The mouth of the cavern loomed ahead, and Eli pushed his pace, anxious to reach the entrance to the Telgoran underground. He had heard stories of what lay beneath from his father and from the man called Titan, who was Earth’s Emissary to the Telgoran people. His excitement at seeing this strange world for himself was muted only by his worry of how their presence would be met. Although they were allies, it wasn’t every day that a group of armed humans was permitted to enter their world. The fact that their weapons weren’t capable of lethal force probably wouldn’t matter much to the native population.
Eli crossed the final few meters and slowed as he approached the cavern entrance. Although speed was paramount to their plan, he didn’t know what to expect inside and opted for caution.
It was a good call on his part as it gave him the fraction of a second that was needed for his training to kick in. He noticed a blur of motion and instinctively twisted his torso to the right. The lighting-fast thrust of the agsel staff missed by centimeters. Without thinking, he grasped the staff with his left hand and pulled, trying to disarm the thin, gray-skinned figure that wielded the weapon. His effort yielded zero results. His strength could not match the Telgoran’s. The sticklike arms held muscles like steel, and the alien used those muscles and Eli’s grip to yank him forward. Eli gave himself up to the movement and used the momentum of being yanked to leave his feet and twist his body to the left. He landed neatly beside the Telgoran, lifted the weapon he held in his right hand, and fired.
Eli was surprised by the agony that suddenly coursed through his body.
Not the welcome I was hoping for, he thought as he and the Telgoran collapsed to the ground.
* * *
In business or in war, the process is the same, even if the methods are a bit different, Oinoo thought.
Approach undetected. Observe in silence. When the time is right, prod for weakness, then retreat and assess. Repeat the cycle, using increasingly forceful prods, until you’ve determined whether your opponent is weak or strong. When you find weakness, you initiate steps to consume and absorb. If you find an opponent who is too tough to digest, you move on.
As the leader of the Zrthn force moving against Telgora, it was his responsibility to assess the situation and develop the strategy they would follow. He considered their initial prodding forays against the Shiale Alliance’s defenses. Weakness had been revealed.
It was time to take the first real bite.
Chapter 8
Eli came to slowly. His head pounded and his body ached from the electrical pulse that he had sent into the Telgoran—and which had obviously traveled through the agsel staff and into his own body.
Stupid.
“You okay, Jayson?” Eli opened his eyes to find Benson standing over him.
“Yeah,” he croaked. “How long have I been out?”
“Not long. A minute or so.”
Eli pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around. The Telgoran was still out. He lay a couple of meters away, surrounded by three of the team. All had weapons pointed.
Two of the team were keeping watch at the cave entrance. The remaining four were spread out in a defensive line ten meters down the tunnel.
Good.
He shook his head against the throbbing, stood slowly, and approached the gray figure. Eli had met Telgorans before, but it had been years since his last encounter. His dad had once shown him a picture of giant stone carvings from an island on Earth that closely resembled the natives of this world. This one looke
d like what he remembered. Even prone, it was clear he was taller than a man. He had a head that seemed too large for his thin, reedlike body. He had just learned firsthand that the strength in those deceptively thin arms and legs lived up to everything he had been told.
Eli looked at the darkened cave beyond their position. He noticed the floor dropped noticeably downward as the tunnel descended beneath the planet’s surface. He expected company at any moment and marveled at the idiocy of his thinking. What had seemed like a good idea only minutes before now seemed like the largest blunder of his life. He considered abandoning the cave before additional Telgorans arrived—and they would. An attack on one was an attack on all. That was a benefit of having a mental link. But he wouldn’t leave. That was a coward’s way out, and he resigned himself to standing firm and taking accountability for his actions.
He rubbed his eyes and exhaled. Failure was a tough pill to swallow, but he reconciled himself to proceed as best as he could.
“Saunders, Sanchez, Perot, Childes,” he called out to the four men guarding the tunnel. They turned in his direction. “Lower your weapons and step back to the tunnel entrance.”
“What’s going on?” Benson asked.
“I messed up,” Eli confessed. “We’re going to put our weapons down so we don’t pose a threat to the other Telgorans when they show up. That goes for everyone. Weapons on the ground and retreat to the entrance.”
Without complaint or further questions, everyone did as they were instructed. Weapons were piled up next to the Telgoran on the cave floor and they moved to the entrance and sat down.
All they could do now was wait.
* * *
Free awoke with a start and jumped to his feet. He still held the staff and swung it in a circle as he looked around.
What he saw was both confusing and comforting. The humans were seated at the cave entrance, hands on top of their heads. Their weapons were piled at his feet.
“What is this?” he asked.
One of the humans—it looked to be the one he had fought—stood up.
“We . . . friends,” the man answered in a rough, but passable, version of Telgoran.
* * *
“Don’t tell me you speak Telgoran too.”
Eli shook his head at Benson and gave him a hard look. Hopefully, the other recruit got the message. Not now.
Eli turned back to the Telgoran and held his hands open, out at his sides.
“You have our weapons,” he said, pointing to the pile. “We mean no harm.”
Unlike his mastery of Minith, Eli’s Telgoran was rudimentary. He had spent hundreds of hours learning the basics of the language, but not having a native speaker to practice with limited his abilities. Again, he thanked his father for his foresight in suggesting he study all the languages of the Shiale Alliance—not just the two he had grown up around, Earth Standard and Minith.
“Why did you enter our cavern?” The Telgoran’s voice was high in pitch, but clearly understandable. He debated on how best to answer the question, decided on the truth.
“Long story,” he began.
* * *
Free listened to the story, only stopping the man when necessary to ensure he understood what was being communicated. The human’s speech patterns were halting, and he used the wrong tenses and words on occasion, but for the most part, he got his message across.
As he listened, understanding filtered down upon Free’s mind. Gaps were filled in and bridges of knowledge were built. He finally knew why the human soldiers gathered on the plain below and where they went when they departed. He was surprised to learn that Minith waited in the distance with weapons, and that no human force had ever managed to reach them, much less defeat them. The story reminded him of his own people’s failed attempts at defeating the Minith in the years before the humans had arrived and showed them a new way.
By the time the human, who called himself “Eli,” finished, Free understood their need. He knew of the tower that stood alone in the desert. An entrance to their underground home was nearby. He agreed to help them in the same way that the emissary, Titan, had helped his own people years earlier.
He only had one condition.
* * *
“His name is Free and he’s agreed to lead us to the tower,” Eli relayed to the team. The announcement was greeted with muted cheers and smiles all around. “Everyone grab your weapons and get ready to move. We don’t have much time. Ellison should already be moving by now.”
“What’s he doing anyway?” Benson asked. “We didn’t have time to discuss that earlier.”
Eli smiled. “He’s making sure the Minith think we’re still playing their game.”
“Okay. Whatever that means,” the other man ceded as he picked up his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. “I still can’t get my mind around how you speak both Minith and Telgoran. You’ll probably tell me next that you speak Waa also.”
“Not likely,” Eli replied. He grabbed his own weapon from the pile and clapped Benson on the shoulder. “They don’t share their language with the likes of us lowly humans. They all speak Earth Standard, though, so there aren’t any language barriers.”
“Oh . . . yeah. I forgot.”
Once everyone was set, Eli nodded to Free.
“We’re ready.”
“Try to keep up,” the Telgoran announced. He then turned and sped off into the tunnel without a single glance backward.
Damn, he’s fast, Eli thought as he rushed to catch up. He had told Free that speed was important and that they needed to hurry. He hoped his team could maintain the pace and chanced a quick glance behind. So far, so good. Everyone was keeping up.
He also noted the pacer floating along in its normal position, ten meters behind the last soldier. He had no doubt it could keep the pace.
Chapter 9
“These pings are getting more intense, Major.” Shawn Tinson, the corporal in charge of monitoring the deep-space probes for the Rhino-3 station focused his attention on the screen at the front of his stations and adjusted the buds seated firmly in his ears. “There’s something out there, but I can’t tell what—or exactly where—it is.”
“I’m not surprised,” Major Stevens replied, looking over Corporal Tinson’s shoulder. As commander of the monitoring station, it was Stevens’s job to receive information, analyze it, and make the appropriate decision on how to respond. He was trying to do that now, but the incomplete data was making him both anxious and more than a bit irritated. “Despite what they tell us, these sensors aren’t good at picking out hard targets beyond the outer edge of the system.”
They had been receiving ghostlike pings for the past two hours, but nothing definitive had shown itself. He sincerely hoped it was a glitch, but his gut and experience told him otherwise. He’d have been certain the system was acting up only three days earlier, before they’d lost contact with Rhino-2. That station was located in the next closest solar system, which was virtually right next door, less than three day’s travel by mothership. As the outermost ring of the Shiale Alliance defenses, it was up to stations like theirs to monitor space traffic, watch for unexpected incursions into their territory, and report back to Waa on anything out of the ordinary. Not that it would do them any good if they were attacked. It took three days for messages to reach the nearest mothership and another week for them to be relayed to Waa. Designed primarily as a remote listening outpost, their on-ground forces were minimal—less than a thousand soldiers, most of who were trained in communications. The 350 Minith posted to the tiny planet made up the core of their infantry force. They were truly the outermost line of the Shiale Alliance.
Stevens turned to the sergeant on his right.
“Send word to the mothership that we’ve got potential targets on the outer horizon. Then alert the Minith commander and the rest of our forces to stand ready. It’s probably nothing, but I’d rather be prepared than not.”
“Yes, Major,” the sergeant replied. He swallowed befo
re continuing. “The mothership is probably just entering range of Rhino-1 and hasn’t yet received our message about Rhino-2 going silent. By the time they receive this transmission, they will likely be en route to that location.”
“I’m aware of the timing issues, Sergeant Bloom. But there’s not a lot we can do about it.”
It was obvious the mothership, with its load of five thousand soldiers and hundreds of fighting vehicles, was chasing ghosts of its own. If someone was playing cat and mouse with them, they were cleverly staying one step ahead of the Alliance cavalry.
The support mothership was normally stationed an equal distance from the three outposts that made up the Rhino sector. Its job was to provide backup and support to the three stations if and when needed. That was the idea, anyway. Unfortunately, the three-day comm lag had turned into a week when the ship moved out to support Rhino-1, who had been the first to report the ghost pings that Stevens and his team were now seeing.
The week delay in communications, coupled with the four-days of travel time once the mothership received the message, meant help was a long way off for Rhino-3, should it be needed.
“Contact!” The single word from the corporal interrupted Major Steven’s thoughts like the alarm it was. “Zrthn battle carrier just crossed into the outer fringe of the solar system. Looks like . . . at least a half dozen support ships in attendance.”
“Bloom, get a message out to the mothership and another to Waa!”
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