by G. E. Stills
Rho’naa nodded her head. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll go join my team now.” She headed for the door.
“Rho’naa,” Kyra said, stopping her before she left the room. “You’re part of my command, but you’re also my granddaughter. It wasn’t easy for me to choose you for this mission either. Don’t get killed.”
“I’ll try not to.” She ducked out into the hallway.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Silencio, one of the stealth ships, slipped into the La’new system containing a red sun. She entered stationary orbit just above the northern pole of the outermost planet. Her special design of gradual curves and no sharp bends, together with her flat black color blended with the blackness of space, making her nearly invisible with all her outer ports closed. Her electrical system had been cut to a bare minimum to further make her hard to detect.
For two days, the ship remained doggo, using passive receiving systems only to gather information. A number of La’new ships plied the solar system, but the largest number were clustered around the forth and only inhabited planet. A thorough scan revealed no intrusion alert system. On the third day, the Silencio moved further in-system and established orbit behind one of the eight moons of the sixth plant out.
“This is as close as I dare get,” the ship’s captain told her.
“This will be fine, captain, we’ll take it from here,” Rho’naa told him.
She assembled her team in the landing bay beside the jet-black capsule. Deja-vu struck her at seeing the craft. It was a larger version of the one she had used when infiltrating Sto’kan. For a moment, a feeling of melancholy gripped her when she thought of Keish’ar. Damn I miss him. I hope things are going good for him.
One by one, each member boarded the craft, when her turn came, she stepped in and gazed around. She marveled at the compactness. To her left was an enclosed chamber where all their equipment was stowed. To her right were ten crash cages, five on each side of a narrow aisle. Each member of the team had backed in and secured themselves in one. The rear was dedicated to guidance and the main engine. Drago’s thought snapped her from her musing. “I have established a link to the capsule’s computer.”
“Good.”
She went from one team member to the next starting at the rear and made certain they were secured in their crash cages with their sleep masks positioned correctly. When she reached the front, she backed into her own and secured herself in. The craft did not provide for crew activity. They would remain in their cages for the entire journey and once the engine cut off, there would be no gravity. Sleep was the best way to deal with the forced inactivity. After a final look, she donned her own mask.
“Launch in one minute twenty seconds,” Drago advised.
The bay door of the Silencio trundled open and maneuvering jets guided the capsule to a safe distance. The main engine surged to life boosting the craft to a fraction of light speed then cut off.
“We are on course and will arrive at target in two days, twenty-nine minutes,” Drago said. “Initiating sleep mode for all.”
Although they could have reached Nest 1 in a few hours, they were taking a long intercept path in hopes if they were discovered, the La’new could not follow their trajectory back to the Silencio. Rho’naa faintly heard the hiss of gas. “Good night, Drago. Talk to you in a few hours.”
“Good night, Rho’naa.”
****
“Time to wake up, Rho’naa.”
She opened her eyes on hearing Drago’s thought. “Report,” she instructed as wakefulness increased.
“All systems are optimum. Capsule is positioned at outer edge of atmosphere on night side of planet and ready for drop. There is no sign we have been detected.”
“Okay, wake them up.”
‘Yes, ma’am.”
Rho’naa removed the retaining straps on her cage and floated out in the zero gravity. After checking to see that each member had their breathing helmets in place, she ordered Drago to open the hatch. She opened the supply chamber and the first man stepped forward. He donned his pack and his body suit, then pulled himself from the capsule and along the outside handholds to wait. After the last member left the craft, she put her own equipment on and joined them.
At her signal, all pushed away from the capsule to begin their slow decent to the planet. “Drago, now.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The abandoned capsule’s engine fired briefly. It dropped toward the planet. On the outer edge of the atmosphere, the charges planted on it exploded shredding the craft into small pieces that would burn up during further entry into the atmosphere. Just like a shower of small meteors, nothing would reach the ground.
Rho’naa spread her arms and legs deploying the thin membrane that made up her body suit. Her rapid decent slowed and the dissipater built in the suit quickly began to reduce the heat. She looked at the heads-up display and waited for the temperature to drop to acceptable level. While she waited, she glanced around searching for the other members of her team and counted nine tiny specks. The hours of training during their journey here was paying off. Her team’s descent appeared to be flawless.
The temperature reached safe level and she folded her arms and legs, plunging rapidly toward the surface once more. Her feet touched the ground thirty minutes later on a plain composed of knee high orange grass. The rest of the team darted from where they had landed and joined her.
Removing her mask, her first words were to ask each member if they were okay. Next, she addressed Tylee. “Well?”
Tylee grimaced. “None, there are no alternate dimensions I can detect.”
“Fuck. That isn’t good news.” She dug in her pack and pulled out a small pen shaped item while her team gathered in a circle. She pressed a button on the pen and a hologram of the planet formed in the center of their circle. Rho’naa touched the hologram causing it to zoom in. A green X marked their location and red ones marked know locations of bug communities.
“This hologram is composed of information obtained by unmanned drones doing observations. It is not detailed, but it is the best we have. We need to find a place to hide. Preferable underground, but at least hidden from overhead observation.” She zoomed in more. “We’ll start our search here in these mountains.” She magnified one spot and made certain that each person observed it before collapsing the hologram and placing the pen back in her pack. Those with teleportation ability took the hands of those without. An eye-blink later they appeared in an open meadow. Rho’naa gazed around at the surrounding forest. Although the vegetation was similar in form to what she was accustomed to, the coloration was all wrong to her senses. Everything around was primarily red, yellow or orange in shades ranging from deep hues to bright and the shadows rather than being sharp were blurry.
“It is due to the system’s red sun,” Drago informed her.
“It will take some getting used to.”
The group spread out and searched. On the third time they teleported they heard the sound of falling water in the distance. “Fresh water and maybe boulders to hide under,” one member said.
As the team trekked closer, the sound increased to a roar. The thick cover of trees thinned and they encountered patches of boulders. Upon rounding one of these, they came to the tumbling river. On their right, the water flowed over a rocky cliff to plunge twenty feet and form a deep pool. Behind the waterfall, they discovered a chamber large enough to accommodate all of them comfortably.
“Looks as if we’ve located our camp,” Rho’naa smiled.
They shucked their gear and settled to the ground. It had been a long day, but they were safely down on Nest 1.
“Inflate your air mats and get some rest. Tomorrow we begin the mission we’re here for.” She followed her own advice and after eating one of her rations sticks, lay back to relax.
Tylee turned to face her from her mat positioned next to h
ers. “I’m sorry. There’s no safe haven for us to hide in.”
“That is certainly not your fault. I just feel bad because you are here in jeopardy for no good reason and I feel somehow responsible.”
A frown formed on Tylee’s face. “I volunteered for this assignment. I’m here because I want to be. I can still use my healing ability so I won’t be completely useless. Although I’m not as good as you, and never will be, I’ve been training with weapons and in unarmed combat during my trip from Sto’kan to here.”
Rho’naa knew she had struck a nerve. Reaching out she placed a hand on Tylee’s arm. “I never said you were useless. I love you like a sister and hate to see you in danger.”
Tylee’s frown relaxed, but still her expression remained sober. “I love you too and you’re facing the same dangers, more so, because you’re the one in charge and I know because of that you’ll take greater risks.”
She couldn’t deny Tylee’s accusation. Tylee would see right through it if she lied. “Get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow.” To end the conversation she turned her back to Tylee.
****
Rho’naa triggered the hologram to life and the team gathered around. “For now our mission is to observe. We need intel. We can’t tap into their mental conversations, but we can read their documents and study the surroundings. Try to avoid contact and only engage the enemy in self-defense, and then only long enough for you to teleport out of there. Remember once the bugs know we’re here, our mission takes on greater peril and our chances of failure increases.” She gazed around and saw each member nod in understanding.
“To begin with, we will split up into teams of two with two remaining here. I want the two remaining here to watch camp and gather wood for a fire. I think we can safely have one inside here and it will remove the chill and dampness.”
She split her people into groups of two, then pointed out a location for each team check. “The bugs have even worse night vision than us, but thanks to our night glasses we can see well. The enemy may have night vision capability too, but we have found no evidence to point to it in our past dealings with them. Therefore, we will wait until dark to start our probes. Our goal is to find out which hives have the queens. For now, we will not need our breathing equipment and since we have a finite supply of the gas, we will leave the dispensers here too. Any questions?”
All remained silent and she continued, “The two remaining here start gathering wood. The others, get some rest.” She strolled across the cavern to her sleeping mat and sat. Tylee crawled onto her own mat beside her.
“Thank you for not choosing me as the team to stay here,” Tylee said.
“If I had, you’d be whining a complaining right now about me playing favorites and I don’t care to listen to it.” She smiled. “Just be careful, please.”
“I will. I promise, and you do the same.” Tylee rolled to her back and closed her eyes.
Rho’naa relaxed back and closed her eyes thinking about the coming mission. There was less chance of detection of her small two person teams at the same time the risk of discovery was greater because they would be in more places simultaneously. In addition there was less chance a small team would survive an engagement than a larger team.
“You can’t watch over each of them every second,” Drago reminded.
“I wish I could, but I know I can’t.”
“You are just a human, you can’t be everywhere at once. Some may die here, Rho’naa, but if the mission is a success then their loss will not be in vain.”
Drago was a machine so she ignored his casual feelings about the death of some members of her team. Her thoughts turned to Keish’ar and how much she missed him. She hoped he was safe and wondered if he had seized any more Men-gar planets.
It seemed she had only closed her eyes briefly before Drago roused her from slumber.
“It’s time to wake,” he whispered.
After making sure the other members of her team were awake, she dug into her pack. First, she removed her weapons belt, next, she removed a small bundle that fit in the palm of her hand. Placing it on her sleeping mat, she unrolled the compact suit of body armor. Her initial military training and combat conditions with small teams of mixed gender had long ago killed any modesty in her. Feeling no discomfort at all, she stripped naked and slipped her feet and legs into the flat-black garment. Next, she slid her arms into the suit and shrugged it over her shoulders. The material encased her hands and feet and offered no impediment to motion or grip. The suit covered her from feet to neck and gaped open from her navel to her neck. Rho’naa placed a finger at the lower extreme of the opening and traced her finger upward causing the suit to zip closed.
The thin bodysuit fit like a second skin leaving no doubt as to the gender of the individual wearing it. This would be the first time these suits were used in actual combat conditions. She marveled at the science and engineering that went into their construction. Although the material was paper-thin it would neutralize and prevent penetration of any high velocity projectile smaller than an artillery shell by spreading the impact over a wide area and transferring much of the kinetic energy to the ground the person stood on. It would not stop straight on penetration by things similar to a knife or the hard appendages of the bugs, but it would deflect any indirect hits by either.
Rho’naa paused in her preparation for a moment to gaze around the room. All of the team was in various stages of donning their suits. She strapped her weapons belt around her waist and secured the Velcro closures that held holster and sheaths tight to her thighs. The holster on her right side had a beam gun held in by a flap. There were two sheaths on her right hip. One holstered a serrated and hooked knife and the other held a knife with a long thin and razor sharp blade. She pulled her night vision goggles over her head, but for the moment left the lens part resting on her forehead.
The team gathered around her paired with their partners. “Alright, is everyone ready and clear on their assigned missions?” She received a chorus of yeses. “I want all of you back here before first light, sooner if detection is threatened.”
One by one the teams blipped away, when her turn came, Mardra took her hand. “Ready?” she asked.
“Let’s do it,” she said.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Keish’ar paced in front of the view screen on the bridge of his flagship. Things were going well. Five additional Men-gar worlds had changed allegiance and joined them. In two more days, he planned to send an additional one-hundred ships to join the human fleets.
His forces were quickly isolating the home Men-gar planets. Soon they would be the only worlds remaining of the old empire. As the territory under control of his forces had increased, encounters with Men-gar fleets loyal to the empire had become ever more frequent. Keish’ar paused and studied the large view screen.
Thus far, those encounters had been brief and relatively bloodless. After he explained the new Men-gar-human alliance and when faced with the choice of joining them or perishing, most of the fleet commanders changed sides without firing a shot. Their capture augmented his growing number of ships as well as crews. It never ceased to amaze him how unpopular the ruling regime was or how they had managed to remain in power this long. He had dispatched fleets to capture the ships stationed at the Men-gar human border. From reports he received, that part of the operation was going well.
He felt certain that by now the ruling class on the home worlds knew something was seriously amiss with their empire. No matter how careful he was in trying to prevent it, a few ships managed to escape. He felt confident they did not know about the null weapon. By the time the victim knew about it, the field had encompassed his ship and he was powerless to flee.
Soon only the three inhabited worlds of the core system would remain. At that time, he intended to give them the ultimatum of surrender or die. As befit the ruthless nature of his race, he did
n’t much care which they chose.
But I am learning compassion thanks to my association with humans. Even my lover Rho’naa who pretends to have none has it.
Keish’ar resumed his pacing. He wasn’t concerned about his situation, he was worried about the safety of the woman he loved. He didn’t know the details of her current assignment and when she had talked to him about what she knew of her mission at the time, she had tried to play down the danger involved, but he knew better. What she was doing carried a high risk and it was driving him insane with worry.
****
The weeks had rolled by. Rho’naa whispered silent thanks into the air. So far none of her team had been injured or detected even though there was a huge bug presence on the planet. La’new security on Nest 1 was lax. The bugs appeared to feel there was little risk to them this far behind the contested territories.
Rho’naa watched the monitor screen of the stolen La’new computer over the operator’s shoulder. Finding a storehouse full of electronics had proven to be a treasure trove. The theft of one of the many computers stored there would likely never be discovered. The man whose shoulder she was peering over was fantastic with computers. The supply room had also furnished a number of power units for it and an antenna. A day later the man had informed her he had successfully tapped into the net system the bugs used to transfer data.
Reconnaissance and hacked data files had quickly bolstered their information on the bug locations and activities. There were three continents on Nest 1, but only the large one was inhabited. Rho’naa looked up from the screen and glanced around the room at her team. A feeling of pride swelled her chest. Their performance of the mission had been flawless. These people are the best of the best.
“Found it!” the man working the computer exclaimed.
Instantly her attention jerked back to him. “Talk to me, Marshal.”