Nanotroopers Episode 9: Demonios of Via Verde

  ***ANAD ready in all respects…let me take a look, Boss…anything naughty out there, I’ll sniff it out...***

  Winger got back on the crewnet. “Let’s halt here. I’m launching ANAD, putting up a swarm screen for defense. Gibby, you take control when he pops.”

  Sergeant Hoyt Gibbs was the IC2. He replied, “Standing by to take control, Skipper—“

  The Detachment halted.

  Winger pressed a small control stud on his wrist keypad. The whole sequence was automatic, taking less than twenty-two seconds now, since they’d practiced the maneuver so many times.

  The containment capsule port in his left shoulder cycled open, and in unison, a separate tube and port on the hypersuit shell did likewise. Now an open path was clear.

  Inside the capsule, ANAD reported his progress over the link to Winger.

  ***…safing now…effectors folded…bond weapons enabled and primed…propulsors spinning up…processor in tactical one…***

  “Load max rep program,” Winger commanded over the link. Only he and ANAD could hear them talking. The quantum coupler link bypassed the crewnet completely. “I want a full defensive screen airborne, all azimuth.”