“While Doc checked your systems, Ugu took me to task for leaving without letting her know. She had a feeling the Founding Five would try to stop us. She’s been fighting them for a long time.”
Two questions down. How many others could her sleep-fogged mind conjure up? Ahh, an oldie but a goodie. “Are you worried because the Syn-En followed the Icarus’s ion trail and found the embassy so easily?”
And rescued the inhabitants right before the Scraptor ships blew up the energy barrier and flooded the embassy with sand.
“The Icarus has a built-in tracking system.” Bei tucked her head under his chin. “I’d be worried if my men hadn’t found it.”
“So then what is it? What has you worried?” Her fingers curled into a fist. So help her, if he said nothing, she’d punch him.
His body tensed. “I promised Job and his people I’d rescue them.”
Nell kissed his jaw, then his neck, then his collarbone. He was warm and tangy from the soap she’d cleaned him with, and she loved him. But she needed sleep, and he needed to keep his promise. “Then go and rescue them. They shouldn’t miss the party.”
Bei twitched. “I won’t leave you.”
“I’m surrounded by six hundred Syn-En, fifty-five Skaperian Paladins and over two hundred Amarooks. I’ll be fine.” Plus an assortment of aliens that gawked at their surroundings. The chief engineer and her lover had even set up a row of LED panels so the Shish could see Terra Dos from the safety of their water tanks.
Her husband didn’t move.
“I plan on sleeping for another eight hours, then watching the dust being vacuumed off the dome of our new home. Go.”
He shook his head. “Rome will notify me when they find them. The Scraptor ships leave distinct trails. We’ll know where they took the Deutche clan.”
Obstinate man. She pushed out of his arms. “You’re assuming Job and his men were taken off the planet.”
“The exit had collapsed. Scans showed only dead on the other side.”
“The tunnel to the research labs where you found me was intact when we left. Job and his people could have escaped and collapsed it after they were all through. They could be lost in the mines or trapped on the surface. Rome and Keyes both said the dust storms interfere with the scans.”
Bei’s eyes narrowed. “And what will you do while I’m away?”
Finally. Reason penetrated his thick skull. “Get some sleep, take a hot shower, and visit Doc for my power boost.”
“No more showers until I return.” Bei kissed her before sliding out of bed. He tossed her his spare shirt before dressing. “And you are to have a guard at all times.”
She grabbed his pillow and hugged it close. Burying her nose in the synthetic fibers, she filled her lungs with his scent. He’d be okay. He was trained in search and rescue. “Hurry back and be safe.”
“Stay aboard and stay safe.” A rectangle of light stretched across the floor when he opened the door. “Watch over her while I’m gone.”
Who was he talking to? Raising her head, she peeked over the covers.
Elvis and Iggy trotted inside and leapt onto the bed. Elvis curled up near her feet. Growling Jailhouse Rock, he groomed his fur. His mother, Iggy, flopped down in Bei’s place and rested her chin on her paws.
Pink mopheads sprang over the threshold. Two antennae raised, the Padgows stood sentinel near the footboards.
Ck’dow tapped across the deck. The six-foot tall mantis climbed halfway up the wall and stopped.
Nell closed her eyes. She could have used these bodyguards in the time of door-to-door salesmen.
Chapter 33
Wind rushed passed Bei’s ears, and the reading on his visor counted down the seconds until he hit the ground. He was coming in hot, maybe a little too hot. When he opened his arms, the fabric increased resistance, and he slowed. Just a bit, just enough. He adjusted his position and hit the dune. His feet plowed into the soft sand, scarring the top.
“If they’re looking, they’re gonna see that, Bei.” Rome’s voice carried through the communication system in their helmets.
“ET isn’t looking at us. They’re too busy scanning our shuttles for tactical information.”
Not that ET would see anyone parachuting to the ground. The Syn-En had activated their NeoDynamic armor and blended easily with their environment.
Bei trudged along the dune. As he walked, the soles of his boots flattened and widened, providing traction. A soft breeze quickly covered his waffle tracks. He picked up the pace to a fast jog, headed for the laboratory door embedded in the rock.
“Sensors are still registering zero life signs.” Keyes touched down ten meters away.
Ensigns Richmond, Brooklyn, and Queens rolled upon landing. Spirals of dust marked their position behind him.
Bei swore softly. He should have realized their level six upgrades couldn’t take the stress of a hard landing. He yanked on the metal door. Creaking hinges echoed down the tunnel. The dark tunnel. Someone had turned out the lights. “Keep camouflaged until we verify no Bug-uglies are about.”
Each acknowledged the order as they slipped inside. Each of his ensigns registered slightly elevated heart rates and spikes of adrenalin. None had reached the point of needing their cerebral interface to calm them. At sixteen, eighteen and nineteen, respectively, each were seasoned soldiers and trained medics.
Bei hoped he wouldn’t need either on this mission, but had to be realistic. Job had led his people into rebellion. The Scraptors wouldn’t take kindly to that. Easing the door shut, Bei covered the rear. “Rome, take point.”
“Aye, Admiral.” Slipping his hand inside his pocket, Rome tugged out a sphere and touched the button on the side.
Green light strobed the tunnel, then the sphere levitated and headed down the passage. A map formed inside Bei’s visor.
Keyes fidgeted on his right. “Shall I restore lighting?”
“Negative. We’re not supposed to be here.” Invading the Scraptor embassy was an act of war. A fact he couldn’t plead ignorance of since Guenoc, the ET who’d registered Humans, had taken great pains to tell him.
Rome snorted. “They’re not supposed to mine Erwar, but they did it anyway.”
“Exactly.” Bei double-checked his Torp-SK7. Ahead, the probe turned a corner and disappeared from sight. The schematic on his visor continued to grow. “And we need the diggers to prove it. We infiltrate, rescue the diggers, and haul ass to the exfiltation site without being discovered.”
The probe hit a dead end and headed back.
“This level’s clear.” Rome flicked on his helmet’s side lamps and shimmered into view. He cradled his Destroyer rifle. “You really think going after the Founding Five in court will force them to free their Human slaves and follow the laws?”
“I think it will distract them, while we fight on multiple fronts, gather intell and prepare an all-out war with our new enemy.” Bei caught the probe and switched it off. He tossed the ball to Keyes. “Brooklyn, Queens, open the elevator doors.”
Shouldering their rifles, the two men jogged to the lift.
Blue light crackled between Keyes’ palm and the probe she charged. “If we plan to come back up this way, we’ll need power.”
Bei nodded. “Even the uninjured ones may be weak. As we go, I want you constantly updating our evacuation routes.”
Job’s clan had eaten sixteen hours ago. The men Rome had been with had been without food for more than thirty. No telling if they’d found water.
“I won’t let us get trapped, Admiral.” Keyes walked to her husband’s side and handed him the probe.
Ensign Richmond adjusted the bulky pouches of the first aid kits strapped to her slim body. “I’ve brought several canisters of NDA for the most severe trauma. Doc said I should be able to control the armor with the diagnostic beam and stabilize them for transport.”
“Given that death is the alternative, I don’t think they’ll mind being lab rats.” Bei followed her to the elev
ators.
“Given how they were treated, lab rats are an upgrade.” Holding his weapon with one hand, Rome jumped onto the elevator cables, hooked a leg around them and slid down with a soft hiss.
Keyes followed after five seconds, then Brooklyn and Queens. After one quick adjustment to her uniform, Richmond joined them.
Bei scanned the corridor. Still empty. And yet, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling of being watched. After one last glance, he leaped into the shaft. His fingers melted into a tube and squeezed the cable at regular intervals to regulate his descent.
Richmond disappeared through the elevator hatch as he landed.
His footfalls thudded against the cage’s ceiling before he jumped down.
Richmond leaned against the open doors, aiming her Torp down the hall. Queens and Brooklyn faced the opposite direction, weapons at the ready.
Something had put his men on guard. Raising his weapon, Bei caught a whiff of gun powder over the dust and neglect. Rome’s pungent homemade explosives. Several hours old. And the sweet smell of blood.
Keyes caught a probe as it came back. “We have a new collapse down hall two.”
A new map unspooled along Bei’s visor. A flashing red arrow pointed to the opening in the wall. At two-point-five meters square, a human should be able to slip inside. “Any idea where it goes?”
“Negative, but I’d like to check it out.” She charged the probe again. “There are several tunnels that run nearby. Our quarry could have escaped into them.”
“Brooklyn, go with Keyes.”
“Aye, Sir.” With a Torp in each hand, the young man ghosted after his communications officer.
“Rome, report.” Bei glided over the floor to the wall. His helmet lights fell upon the black starbursts created by the gunpowder and the streaks from the energy weapons on the wall. Obviously, the Scraptors had pursued the escapees down the hall.
“I’ve got Human blood and burnt skin residue, but not bodies.” Rome cursed. “The tunnel to the mines is completely collapsed. The enemy could have closed in from the surface and taken them. It would explain why there’s no one home.”
“Understood. Return to our position.” Bei enhanced his optics. Was there something written in the dust coating? He smiled. Three hash marks near the door across from the elevator. The mark of the Deutche clan.
Rome ducked around the corner. Two probes bobbed by his head. “I don’t understand it. If the Bug-uglies killed them, where are the bodies? And if they didn’t, why haven’t we intercepted any messages about them?”
Bei shook his head. “You’re forgetting option three.”
The most brilliant and dangerous of all of them. One he would take, if he had a large number of wounded.
Keyes rounded the corner. A spring marked each step. “The collapse does lead to tunnels. A whole mess of them. And I detected recent powder. I think I can track them.”
Setting his hand on the cold metal, Bei turned the knob. The door swung open on silent hinges. Rust striped the sinks hanging on the walls. Empty detergent dispensers gaped open. A mop decomposed on the cracked cement. Directly across from him stood a metal cabinet. Kneeling on the threshold, he ran his fingers through the dust on the floor. An uneven coating, thicker on the right than the left.
“Admiral?” Keyes tapped the placard by the door. “This is a surgical room.”
Wiping his hand on his pants, Bei rose. “No, this is the wash room.” He pointed to the metal cabinet. “The surgery room is behind that.”
And he’d bet his upgrades, Job and his people had taken refuge there.
Brooklyn and Queens shuffled to the front.
Grinning, Rome raised his Destroyer and took aim. “It could be a trap. We could have a whole mess of Scraptors behind there waiting for me to shoot ‘em. Watch Papa take out the bad guys, baby.”
Keyes sighed. “My daughter will have a Torp in her hand before she says her first word.”
“Learning to speak takes too long.” Rome shrugged. “Besides, I’m making one specifically for our child’s small hands.”
Standing in the hall, Richmond kept watch. “Shuttle is standing by for course direction, Admiral.”
Bei waited until Keyes moved into position. “Open her up.”
The two ensigns each shoved a hand behind the cabinet then shoved it forward. It teetered for a moment then clanged to the floor.
The smell of blood, sweat and burned flesh wafted from the room.
Job stood in the archway, one hand raised to shield his eyes. The other held a bloody shovel. “‘Bout time you got here.”
Chapter 34
Groat opened his desk drawer while the video reloaded. Turning off the lights had been a mistake. He hadn’t seen the Humans arrive. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, just like in the square. That was most troubling.
Bypassing the tube of oil, he picked up a letter opener and rammed it under his forearm armor. Moving the metal back and forth, he closed his eyes and groaned. Yes, that damn itch was finally scratched.
His subordinate, Tactin, stood on Groat’s right, claws clasped behind his back. “I do not see that these new Humans are much of a threat.”
The screen flickered. The Human leader Beijing stared directly at the camera for a moment before hopping into the elevator shaft.
“They found the escaped diggers.” Groat tapped a holographic key and paused the clip. When he enlarged the image of the Human’s hands, the image blurred. He should have installed a high resolution camera. This one made it look as if Beijing’s fingers had fused together.
Tactin’s armor creaked when he paced. “I thought the plan was to use the diggers as bait.”
The plan had been to use the diggers on a far outpost to gain a little more precious metals before being forced to turn them over. But his men had failed to capture the escaped slaves after over half an axis spin of searching.
And the diggers had been in the laboratories the entire time.
The Human had seen what his men had not.
Obviously, the Scraptors needed refresher training courses.
Groat could practically taste the impending war. He tossed the letter opener into the drawer. It bounced to the bottom with a clang.
On screen, Beijing joined his strike team at the research level. Green lights skimmed up and down the halls.
Tactin shrugged. “Those probes would be good to have.”
“So would their weapons.” Groat needed to know what he faced. Maybe if he fudged the truth a little, he could request an increase in his operating budget.
Of course, the return of the Skaperians should accomplish that.
But one could never have enough weapons.
Beijing knelt in front of the surgery door.
“They rely heavily on their technology.” Tactin turned away from the screen to stare through the open door and scratched his chest. “We can use that against them. Humans are not a threat, especially with our new armor.”
The new body armor itched like hell and smelled sweet. Groat hated it. He hated the Humans, too. But he wasn’t about to underestimate them. Their damn ships had led him light years around the galaxy. And the diggers had evaded his men.
“How many code breakers are working on the Human’s technology?”
“I’ve requisitioned four, but there’s a hold up in accounting.” Tactin’s mandibles tightened. “Mopus believes his company should be awarded the contract.”
Mopus. May his stink fail and his hair fall out.
Groat stiffened as, on the screen, diggers flooded the halls. One hundred thirteen workers, gone. Only time would tell if the information he gained on these new Humans was worth the loss of labor. “I want Scraptors on those tech codes, not Municians. Requisition them as secretaries.”
“Yes, Superior.” Turning on his heel, Tactin marched from the office.
The female called Keyes unraveled a cord from her forearm and jacked into the elevator’s control system. Light flooded the lift. The d
rain didn’t even register on his consumption accounts.
The Human soldiers were good.
Fortunately, the Scraptors had thousands of axis spins of experience to draw upon.
The exit camera flickered to life and split the screen. The exit doors stood wide open. Humans in black uniforms rushed inside the tunnels, helped the injured diggers into the waiting shuttle.
The shuttle that hadn’t been visible on his scans or satellites.
Groat squirted oil on his armor and rubbed it in. The Humans would keep the code breakers very busy for a while. He watched the lower floor empty, then the exit, before checking the time.
Six Earth minutes.
His screen flickered, filled with static, and then cleared.
Beijing stared out of the screen.
Groat’s hackles stood on end. That hadn’t happened when he’d watched the recording before.
The Human face faded and the new image focused on three Scraptor guards. Groat’s men raised their weapons. A fist buried itself in one guard’s face. Light crackled down his body before it fell out of frame. One had his arm ripped from his socket. The image fizzled out.
Beijing returned. “Leave. Humanity. Alone.”
Anger bubbled under Groat’s skin. The pathetic Human dared to threaten him? “Listen here, you little…”
The screen blinked out, then the words “file not found” scrolled across his black screen.
Groat pounded on his holographic keyboard, but no files came up.
He hated technology.
He hated Humans!
Chapter 35
Bei dropped the data crystal on the floor and ground it to sand under his heel. Now he could enjoy the registration party. Music pulsed through the open doors and ports of the ground floor office. Voices poured in from the crowded courtyard and echoed in the empty buildings. Faded paint peeled from the cream-colored walls. Thanks to the energy barrier, the place was preserved as it had been over a million years ago. Too bad there was no furniture. But that would come.
Tomorrow, when Humans moved in.
“Do you think that was wise? Baiting a Scraptor when our fleet is halfway across the galaxy?” Nell wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed against his back.
Syn-En: Registration Page 23