by GARY DARBY
“Yep,” Jadar agreed. “So they use their dogs and most likely some mechanical means to do their guard duties—”
“While they,” Staley interjected, “tend to more important matters, like mining Kolomite.”
“Like mining Kolomite,” Jadar agreed.
“Still . . .” he let out, hesitating before saying, “I may be way off base on this and I sure wish we had an XT specialist with us so that we both could chew on this bone together.”
Shaking his head, he said, “Don’t get me wrong, I know nothing from nothing about Mongan psychology but after reading Dason’s report and the comments that Tor’al made about the Mongans . . .”
He paused as if trying to get his thoughts collected. “Go on, Jadar,” Shar prompted, “we’re listening.”
“It’s just that,” Jadar replied slowly, “my gut’s telling me that these characters think they’re the masters of creation, or at the very least, lords of the nebula and everything in between.
“They’re not hurrying or feel a sense of urgency because they don’t believe that anything or anyone in our neck of the woods is a big enough threat to them. And if I’m right, it may be a weakness we can exploit.”
“Their proverbial Achilles heel?” Shar said.
“Could be,” Jadar acknowledged and then went on to say, “Remember in Dason’s report that Tor’al stated that the Mongans act in a symbiotic threesome, and that the Sha’anay believed that the three Mongans must be in agreement before they acted?”
Shar gave a slow nod that matched his words. “Yes, decision-making by committee. It’s certainly not the fastest or most decisive way to do business, though, I admit, you usually come up with more options.
“Or, differing viewpoints that sometimes offers a better way to chart out a course of action than with a sole decision maker. Still, it could slow them down when quick actions or decisions are needed.
“You think that between their arrogance and lousy management style that that could account for their slowness in building that complex?”
“Uh huh,” Jadar replied. “And it could be the opening we’re looking for to hit back at them.”
“You’ve got something in mind?” Shar queried.
Jadar rubbed at his tired eyes before saying, “A dangerous something,” Jadar answered. “But, yeah. Watching them last night gave me an idea of how we might just do some real damage.
“But if their ‘lousy management’ makes them just as crummy in their guard duties then we could give them not only a good scare but put a real crimp in their mining op.”
He made a sweeping gesture with one hand and said, “With the available scouts that we have—”
“Hold on,” Shar said, “just make sure I’m on that available list of yours. I may have a busted wing, but I can certainly hoof it and if need be, shoot with my other hand.”
Jadar gave him a small nod. “Very well, sir, consider yourself available.”
He paused, thinking to himself before he said, “Let’s make it three teams of three, then. That’ll leave enough behind to guard our more severely wounded back here and provide a small reserve in case we need additional help.
Pointing with a finger, he went on. “LT, you’ll take a team, Shar, you take one, and I’ll head the other. Commando-style raid. Sharp, hard-hitting, get in and get out before they know what hit’em.”
“Against their mining facility or their ships?” Shar asked.
Jadar’s expression grew grim, and he stared straight at Shar. “Their mining operation. It’s the only thing I’d risk these scouts against because if we can take it out, we hurt them much worse than damaging or destroying a starship or two.”
“I agree,” Shar replied. “Go on.”
Jadar held up his L-gun to Staley. “Ever see what happens when you put one of these in overload mode?”
“A fair-sized explosion, as I recall,” Staley answered.
“Yep,” Jadar replied, turning his weapon from side to side before hefting it in his palm. “Set them to overload, get’em close enough and they’re going to spoil somebody’s day big-time.”
He took a deep breath. “I don’t like the idea of killing an alien any more than the next scout. But if it means stopping them from blowing up our star and obliterating billions of humans in the process, or anyone else’s star, then I—”
Shar held up a quick hand. “You don’t have to justify it to me, Jadar, or to anyone else. The Scout Oath’s prohibition against taking life was never intended to prevent us from stopping murder on a galactic scale. When do we start?”
“How does tonight sound?” Jadar asked.
To their quick nods of approval, he said to Staley, “We’ll shove off at nautical twilight. Mission brief is thirty minutes prior. Equipment checks before that and everyone has eaten at least a half-ration and popped a peppy pill.”
“Got it,” Staley said as she rose and turned away.
“One more thing, LT,” Jadar said.
Staley swiveled around and replied, “Yes, sir?”
“Make sure that everyone, including yourself gets a good, long nap today,” Jadar ordered. “It’s going to be a long night.”
Chapter Twenty
Star date: 2443.083
The Alpha Prime Planet
Stopping abruptly, Jadar Marrel went into the scout freeze posture, his whole body rigid, not moving, barely breathing. Danger had popped up just in front of him.
The scouts who followed behind him froze in place as well. A loud rustling and a soft grunting came from the underbrush just ahead. Needing to see what lay directly to his front, Jadar snapped his snoopers into place and fixed his stare in the direction of the piglike snorts.
He slid his L-gun to his other hand and brought out his knife. Only if the thing were too big to take down with a long knife would he let loose with his laser pistol, not wanting the distinctive sound or brilliant light display to give away their position.
They were too close to the Mongan complex to risk a laser shot. In the darkness, it would light up the whole hillside and alert the Mongans that they had unwelcome visitors.
The bushes shook back and forth with a violent shaking of the thin limbs and leaves for several seconds as if the thing was tearing out the roots before the shuddering stopped.
A sound, as if something sucked air through a straw from the bottom of a glass came from the brush. Then, the creature gave a sharp squeal and bolted through the underbrush, directly away from the scout team.
“Must’ve smelled us,” Jadar whispered to Shar, who crouched at Jadar’s shoulder.
“Not too hard to do,” Shar muttered back. “Seeing how long it’s been since we’ve had a shower, even I can smell us and we’re upwind of everyone else.”
Jadar slid his knife back into its thigh sheath. “Let’s go,” he ordered in a tight voice.
With noiseless steps, the scouts crept down the low hill, their eyes focused on the lighted Mongan complex that lay at the base of the hill and extended close to the nearby lake shoreline.
Three massive Mongan cruisers sat in a rough triangle, their jumbled-looking superstructure clearly outlined against the stars and the glowing coils of the Helix Nebula.
Between them lay several oval structures that encircled what appeared to be a large, dark hole in the very center of the compound.
Taking a quick look through his micro binos, Jadar could see several Mongan triads moving about, along with any number of small machines that trundled in rapid fashion along the ground.
Jadar brought the team to a set of boulders intermixed with scraggly bushes that swayed in the gentle lake breeze. He poked his head above a chest-high rock for a second and did a quick survey with his LS and IR snoopers before he dropped back down to say, “We’re clear for the moment. Time to split up.”
He addressed the whole team. “Remember, there’s bound to be devil dogs between them and us. Try not to use your laser if you can help it, but not at the risk of losing you or a t
eammate.
“Also, we don’t know if they have other security measures in place like spy-eyes, or drones, or light-trips or anything else of that nature. So be extra cautious and if you do spot anything suspicious don’t hesitate to let the rest of the team know immediately.”
Turning, he specifically spoke to Shar and Staley. “Per the plan, Shar’s team to the right, Staley’s to the left. Give me the word when you’re both in place and we’ll go to the next phase.”
He gave a quick nod and said, “Good luck. Scouts Out.”
Jadar waited until the other two teams had melted into the darkness before he said to Chia and Vlad, “Let’s go, gentlemen, and remember, nice, easy, slow sneak—no need to rush this. Have both of your LifeSensors on free search.”
With that, the three eased around the boulders and slid through the bushes. Silent as the night sky above, they wormed their way down the hillside, using what they could find among the waist-high scrub and rocks for cover.
Jadar brought them to a small outcropping that overlooked the Mongan site. “What’s showing on the LS?” he asked.
“Multiple hits,” Vlad answered, “to our right and left, nothing close to us though.”
“Dogs?”
Vlad gave an emphatic nod in response. “Oh yeah. Fits their bio-signature and pattern of movement.”
Jadar opened his comms to say, “Colonel Tuul, Lieutenant Staley,” he whispered, “you’ve got company.”
“We know,” Shar answered in a tight voice.
Jadar waited, but no response came from Staley’s team. He glanced in their direction, wondering if he should go to their aid.
“Sir,” Chia said and held up his LS to show that he’d tuned it to the human bio-point. As if he knew what Jadar was thinking, he said, “The LT’s got her team moving, leading the dogs away from us. Trust her. She knows what she’s doing.”
He gave the young man a quick glance and a pat on the shoulder. “You’re right,” he said. “And keep on reminding me of that.”
Hunching down, Jadar scooted forward to obtain a better view of their intended target. Through his micro binos, he scanned the scene.
Ringing the complex and running between the oval structures were dozens of glow balls that emitted a soft, pale light that seemed to banish all shadows.
Next to the oval structures, he spotted something he hadn’t seen before from the hillside. Several small low-slung rectangular shaped buildings sat just in from of each rounded dome.
More fascinating to Jadar was that every few minutes, a small, multi-legged, ball-shaped machine, a robot of some type, climbed from the pit’s depths, and trundled over to one of the oval buildings.
It waited outside until a Mongan came out, opened up the globe, and removed something from inside.
The alien would turn, go back into the building with whatever it had retrieved from the device while the spider-leg machine would spin on its whirling-dervish-like legs, scamper to the pit, flip itself over the lip, and sink into the black abyss of the cavity.
Over the course of a few minutes, the little spider-bots repeated the process over and over, each time going to a different domed building. “Robotic miners?” Vlad wondered.
“My guess, too,” Jadar whispered back. “But I don’t think they’re the ones doing the drilling down inside the tunnel.”
“Maybe they’ve gone as deep as they needed,” Vlad offered.
“Or,” Chia replied, “in all likelihood the Mongans have robotic excavators at the bottom of the pit. They’ve got something similar on Midas, in some places they go down a hundred kilometers into the crust.”
“And these excavators,” Vlad questioned, “can withstand the pressure and temperature at that depth?”
“Why do you think they call the planet Midas?” Chia retorted. “The richest veins of ore are where the crust and mantle meet and that’s where they do the most work.”
“So if they’ve got excavators down below doing the drilling,” Vlad wondered aloud, “what are the spidey-legs doing?”
“My guess,” Chia replied, “from watching them is that they’re the equivalent of a conveyor belt. Bringing ore to the surface.”
“But,” Vlad protested, “if they are, they certainly aren’t bringing much up a time.”
“Not,” Jadar mused, “if it were only a particular type of ore.”
“As in raw Kolomite?” Chia questioned.
“As in raw Kolomite,” Jadar stated with certainty.
“Then,” Chia said, gesturing, “those oval buildings must be where they’re processing or refining the stuff.”
“I have to admit, it’s a pretty sophisticated setup,” Jadar begrudgingly said. “Those spidey-legs don’t seem large enough to bring much back topside.
“So they must have some way to separate out the plain ol’ country rock from the Kolomite down below and only send the raw material up to the processors.”
“Sir,” Vlad whispered, “take a look at the backside of the building closest to our right and then to the corresponding Mongan ship. Both have something glowing near the ground.”
Jadar raised his binos to scan where Vlad indicated and then he swung the magnifiers around to examine the other buildings and ships. “Same setup on all three,” he stated.
He brought his binos down and stared at the huge Mongan facility. “I wonder,” he pondered as he gestured toward the shimmering triangular shaped array, “if those are energy broadcasters? Look, there’s another to the front of each building and three on the edges of the pit.”
“Energy broadcasters?” Vlad questioned. “You mean they’re sending power through the air instead of through fibo or nano-cables?”
“I think that’s what I’m saying all right,” Jadar returned. He gave a little shrug. “Stars do it all the time and we can do the same to a limited degree—”
“But nothing,” Vlad returned, “on the magnitude that the Mongans are doing to run a massive operation like that.”
“Nope, you’re absolutely right,” Jadar agreed. “Which is just another reminder that we’re dealing with a civilization that is a good deal more advanced than ours.”
“Well,” Chia said, “that may be true but if I can believe my eyeballs, there are what looks like cables running from their ships to their dome buildings and down into the pit from there.”
Nodding, Jadar said, “Yeah, saw them too but I’m not sure what they are if they’re not for power.”
“Could be they’re for piped-in music,” Vlad offered. “You know, rockin’ to some tunes while they work on how to blow up the universe.”
Jadar eyed his young teammate and said in a dry voice, “I like the ‘I don’ know what they are’ theory much better.”
As he again scrutinized the site from end to end trying to determine how best to attack, an idea began to form in his mind. “Either of you play any sports?”
“Soccer,” Vlad answered.
“Baseball,” Chia replied.
“How’s your arm?” Jadar asked Chia.
“Three years All-League pitcher,” Chia said.
Jadar pointed toward the compound while saying, “I would love to drop a fizzing disruptor down that hole. Think you could chuck one in there without being seen?”
Chia took several moments to study the distance before he shook his head. “Sorry, sir, I would have to be all-world to reach that from here.”
Jadar grimaced in disappointment before saying, “And there’s no way we’re going to get any closer to that pit without being seen.”
Chia gestured with his chin. “Sir, if we’re able to sneak closer to the buildings, I might be able to reach one of those energy broadcaster devices, if that’s what they are.”
He grinned wide. “Could set off some fireworks.”
“Scout,” Jadar grinned back while clapping Chia on the back, “you just volunteered to be the designated thrower for our All-Star Scout team.”
He opened his comms, “Shar?” he asked in
a whisper.
“Go ahead,” Shar came back in the same quiet voice.
“Status?”
“We had to give ground. We’re okay, but there’s a couple of Mongan dogs that won’t be sleeping at the foot of their master’s bed tonight.”
“I like the sound of that,” Jadar growled in answer. “Stand by,” he said and then called softly through his cheek mike, “Lieutenant Staley?”
“Go ahead, sir,” the young woman returned.
Relief flooded over Jadar when she answered. “Your status?”
“Sorry,” she began, “but they pushed us around the hill’s flank before we could find a suitable place to stand our ground. I’ve got two wounded scouts, not bad, but it’ll slow us up getting back to our attack position.”
“Never mind about that,” Jadar said in a hasty voice. “Shar, Staley, change in plan. We’ve found something that may do the trick much better than what we initially considered.
“Both of you need to head for the rondy point. We’re going to try and get in close, and if we hit what we think is sitting down there with our disruptors, this whole place might go up. So I suggest you move out smartly, now.”
“What about you and your team?” Shar asked.
Jadar paused. “Guess we’ll just have to take our chances. Marrel, out.”
“We’ll give’em a few minutes’ head start,” he murmured to Chia and Vlad before turning to Vlad and ordering, “You’ll cover us from here. Scan with your LS and give us a heads-up if the dogs spot us, especially once we head back as all we’ll have at that point are our knives for defense.”
“Sir,” Vlad responded, “why don’t we just sneak down there and cut loose with our L-guns? Better chance of hitting that broadcaster thing.”
“Two reasons,” Jadar answered in a firm voice. “First, if we ‘cut loose’ as you want and we’re out in the open, there’s an excellent chance that the Mongans are going to return fire with something considerably more than just L-guns.”
His face turned hard. “Don’t forget what they did to our teammates in that first assault.”
“Sorta like if we spit at them,” Chia said, “they’ll turn the fire hose full blast on us.”