On the bridge around Bei, voices ebbed and flowed as four of his most experienced and trusted officers sought a means to defeat their enemy. He closed his eyes and watched the destruction of the two Beagle ships replay across his eyelids. Light pulsed from the artillery battery on the larger moon, and he winced as splinter-like projectiles punctured the hull of the dart-shaped ship. Seconds before the explosion, the thirty man crew bailed out an airlock. The blast wave hurtled them toward the Mole's brown lunar surface, while laser beams incinerated pieces of the scattering debris. He stopped the recall.
What was he missing?
Gritting his teeth, Bei opened his eyes. Ten minutes since the first attack and they were still picking over their options. This was not the Syn-En way. He and his men knew how to respond to every situation. It was their purpose in life.
Of course, they'd never battled ET before.
And then there was Nell.
His hands trembled before his cerebral interface steadied them. Never had the stakes been this high. For him. For his men. Was she well? Shaking his head, Bei concentrated. The sooner they took out that defense array, the sooner he'd rescue her.
"Status." His voice echoed around the circular bridge while his gaze landed on XO Penig.
The older man hunched over the keyboard. His face looked sickly in the green glow of the helm's built-in monitor. A hologram of their part of the solar system crowded the deck. "Nebula ships Io and Europa are finished gathering Helium-3 and are on course to join the fleet."
Two saucer-shaped craft spun past the large gas giant at the edge of the solar system and headed toward the glittering hulls of the fleet. Bei walked through the fifth planet from the sun and focused on the three lines representing the Syn-En ships. "Have you prioritized the evacuation?"
Working at the station next to Penig, Captain Amazon Petersburg finger-combed her black hair out of her eyes. "Once refueling has finished, our first priority will be our people in the life pods."
The fuel would keep the engines running, but not the people. Thanks to the Beagles' destruction, the already low food rations had dwindled to sixty-five days. Even if the Syn-En went hungry, and the civilians ate only two meals a day, the children couldn't afford to miss a meal. They had to land on Terra Dos. Bei ran his hands over the strings of white life pods bobbing like pearls on crushed, black velvet. "Do they have enough power to land on Terra Dos?"
Penig's nimble fingers danced across the keyboard, and a small data stream bubbled from the helm. "Yes, but only if they can get there in two hours."
Time started to count down inside Bei's head. He would lose men if this trip went on too much longer. Joining his officers at the helm, he touched the green and blue planet. Terra Dos. It enlarged to a sphere encapsulating the hub. "Any sign of civilization?"
Captain Petersburg shook her head. "Only two probes have made it past the array. But we've managed to do a high altitude scan of the Northern hemisphere. So far, we've found no cities, villages or energy signals."
XO Penig tightened the view to a rectangular continent. Snow-capped, jagged mountains and verdant patches encroached upon yellow meadows. "There are plenty of herd animals, fowl and fish, but I can't find any evidence of predators. Except this one."
The image zoomed in on the Starflight shuttle. Nell. Bei clasped his trembling hands behind his back. The hatch was open and the hull read only blue in the infrared spectrum. The ship had been deserted. Where had Bastard taken her? He glanced at his XO.
The older man shook his head and frowned. "We'll track them once we get dirt side."
Bei focused on his grim-faced Chief of security. Four of his ships had been destroyed. The attacks should have provided enough information to formulate a defense. Now. He was sick of wasting time. "What do we know about the array?"
Chief Rome folded his arms across his chest and glared at the hologram of the large, brown moon. "Those damn munitions boxes are impervious to EMP blasts and are surrounded by an energy field that can deflect our cannons and projectiles."
Shang'hai tugged on the white fiber optic cables dangling from her nape. "The Beagles' crew is ten kilometers from landing on the moon. Once they're on the ground, they might be able to inject a virus and shut the boxes down."
Penig tapped on the keyboard and brought up a belt of glowing white jewels on the Mole's belly. "Each one seems to be self-contained. No central power station to knock them out. We'd have to do it one at a time."
Time was something they didn't have, and there were too damn many of those bunkers. Bei's thoughts flickered back to the scout ship's destruction. Something didn't sit right with the explosion. "In order to mount a good defense, each would have to communicate with the others. Shang'hai formulate a virus to shut them down."
Her short pink hair quivered on top of her head. "How do we know ET even speaks in binary code?"
Bei refused to let go of his theory for lack of facts. "Bastard communicated with us. Get with Doc. He'll have copies of the virus and code used to shut down our men."
"Aye, sir." Her brown almond-shaped eyes went black as she entered the WA to retrieve the information. "Once I know ET's handwriting, I should be able to forge his signature. They'll never know the virus isn't part of their software."
"Do it." Bei glanced at the little white moon hunkering down beside its sister. He increased magnification on the wreckage and the twenty-five Syn-En Ghost Force speeding across its surface. "Any sign that they armed the smaller moon?"
Captain Petersburg smiled. When she pointed, the image of the small moon zoomed in on a pale square in a crater. Although boxy like the crashed alien ships, it seemed smaller and not as buried. "They did, but it doesn't seem to be active. I've deployed a team to pick it apart. We'll know their weaknesses soon."
"Good." Bei stared at the approaching strike team, not really seeing them. "In the meantime, the fleet will sneak around the back, using the planet to shield us."
Their altered course appeared in an arch of dotted lines on the bridge. The new arrival time of the life pods was one hour, forty-five minutes. His men couldn't afford another delay. Bei shunted his new orders through the WA.
Chief frowned and stepped through the two moons to stare at the new trajectory. "We have no idea of weapons range."
Penig clasped his bald head between his hands as his eyes went black. "We should be able to get the life pods down, but the rest of the fleet can't land. Only the Starflights are Astroterrian. They'll have to evacuate the ships, and we don't know if their engines can survive the stress of that many back-to-back atmospheric entries."
Bei double checked the XO's calculations. With two shuttles, it would take thirty-six days to get his men dirt side. But with three? Bastard had deserted the Starflight. Once his team went over it to look for booby-traps, they could use it and cut the evacuation time by a third.
With a tap on her keyboard, Captain Petersburg expanded the holographic projection of Terra Dos, the ghostly white moon and her large, brown twin, Mole. "Ghost will be moving out from behind Mole in about six hours. Her weapons might then go hot and reduce our safety window."
On cue, the two satellites advanced along their predicted orbits. Time fell away on the clock. In twenty-four hours, Ghost emerged from her darker sister's shadow. Her defense array switched on and green lines sprayed over Terra Dos's surface, extended to the space beyond and cut through the fringe of the stopped fleet.
The moons continued on their opposing orbits until they bookended the planet. Green lines formed an effective net over the world. The clock and time lapse projection froze at twelve days, six hours and two minutes.
"In twelve days, the array could conceivable cover ninety-nine percent of Terra Dos's surface. And that's not taking into account if any defenses are on this one." The captain pointed to the third planet whose circular orbit now approached Terra Dos. "Who knows what waits us there."
"Send a squadron of Beagles to do a sweep." Bei glanced from Terra Dos to her moons and the new ruby marb
le spinning toward them.
Penig's blue eyes darkened. "Beagles away."
On the curving wall of the bridge, four dart-like ships broke away from the fleet. A yellow dashed line headed toward the red planet. The motion triggered a thought in Bei's mind. Sweeping aside the projection of the planets and moons from the helm's hologram, he opened the image of the attack. The projectiles burrowed into the Beagle's side, red lines glowed from the seams in her hull, and then she burst apart. Bei overlaid size and speed information on the scattered pieces. A millisecond later, lasers shot from the surface and targeted four of the larger chunks of debris. "Did you see that?"
Penig folded his arms across his chest. "We're damn lucky our people got out when they did."
"No. Look." Bei replayed the events from the disintegration forward. He paused the replay as the lasers cut into the large chunks.
Chief Rome settled his thumb in the cleft in his chin. "It took out the fuselage and part of the nose after the initial hit. Could ET's defense array be mass and speed specific?"
Shang'hai nodded and leaned closer. "According to this, each target exceeded Earth's escape velocity. And look here." She pointed to a curved piece of hull. "This untouched piece has the mass but its speed was zero-niner-seven of escape velocity."
Chief Rome set his hands edge on the smooth helm. "Makes sense, if you're trying to stop people from leaving a quarantined planet."
"The mass requirement would cover any vessel capable of carrying a person." Bei smiled at his officers. Despite the artificial gravity, he felt light on his feet. "I think we may have found the array's Achilles' heel."
Shang'hai's brown eyes changed to black. "I could alter the mass and velocity threshold to stop the array from targeting us. The defense network could come in handy, if ET ever got wind of us trespassers."
Bei weighed his options. While the array could be a considerable asset, he needed his people dirt side hours ago. "Write the virus, first. If you can, alter ET's software but do what it takes to neutralize those weapons."
Shang'hai nodded and turned her back to him, no doubt to concentrate.
With a wave of her copper-colored hands, Captain Petersburg resurrected Ghost's hologram. "Admiral, Ghost Force is approaching the target. ETA in five minutes."
Bei watched as the image tightened. Puffs of white powder rose from under the boots of the Syn-En taking point and blended with his uniform. "Chief, prepare the probes. I want a narrower range of speed and mass to help Shang'hai find ET's targeting subroutine. Penig, prep Starflight 1. Volunteers only. As soon as the Beagles report in, I want to begin evacuating our people. Shang'hai, when can I expect the virus?"
Twirling her fiber optic cables around her index finger, Shang'hai paced the bridge. "Just as soon as the chief gives me speed. Thanks to Nell, I already have their ordinal system figured out."
Bei rubbed his hands together as anticipation coursed through him. Although regulated to more administrative arenas, he would soon find himself back in the thick of things. Only he would rescue Nell. "Status of ground forces on Mole?"
XO Penig ran his fingers along the glowing green button on the edge of the helm. On his right, the brown moon ballooned up. The hologram tightened on a small area near the equator. The image displayed dozens of brown-clad soldiers, whose features were distorted by their enviromasks. "The Beagle survivors are down. They've lost a few arms and legs, but they're ready to go."
Bei watched as one soldier chucked his broken right leg to the ground. The damaged man checked his weapon, before allowing his comrade to help him rise. "Send them the co-ordinates of the nearest munitions battery. Constant monitoring. I want to know if ET has an ace up his sleeve before he plays it."
"Aye, Admiral." Penig left his post at the helm to prop himself up against the nearest wall. His eyes shone like onyx in his sockets as he merged his consciousness with the team on the brown moon.
Captain Petersburg joined the XO on the deck. Although her upgrades were newer than Penig's, he knew she wouldn't risk dividing her consciousness. A life might be saved because she found something others had overlooked. "Ghost Force is repelling into the crater. No sign of traps and the array is still dormant."
Bei gripped his fingers hard enough that damage alerts popped up in his mind. The problem with being in charge was every one had tasks to complete while he had to wait for results. Focusing on Ghost Force, he watched the men descend into the shadows of the crater. Their uniforms and armor quickly changed from white to black, but the camouflage was ruined by the white powder clinging to their clothes.
A soft hum filled the air as the round elevator panel in the floor swished open and the glass lift rose into the room. Head bowed, Doc muttered to himself inside the clear cylinder. A moment later, the glass melted away and Doc glanced up. "Ah, Admiral. I found something."
"A way around Bastard's control?" Bei tempered his impatience. If their theories about the array were correct, he'd be on his way to Nell's side soon.
Doc swept a hand through his black hair. "That and more. Bastard sent a coded message when he passed the moons. It's on the same frequency as the one he knocked us out with."
"Got it. Very interesting." Shang'hai closed her eyes and sighed. The woman loved her computer code. "Virus is ready."
Doc's lean fingers danced on the helm controls. Ghost darted closer to her sister, Mole, shortly before a hologram of a Syn-En male spun slowly over the console. "I can change the software in our cerebral interface, and Bastard won't be able to get in, but you won't be able to get out either. Completely self-contained with no wireless capabilities."
Bei dried the moisture from his palms. Without the WA, he wouldn't be able to use his rifles or guns, but he still had his knife and his implants. If Bastard was anything like Nell, he was organic. Fragile. Breakable.
Chief Rome glanced at Doc's code. "We can use hand signals to coordinate. Will it work?"
Doc nodded, but doubts clouded his brown eyes. "It will stop what he's already used against us. But there's always a possibility he has other capabilities we don't know about."
Bastard wouldn't be defenseless, but Bei knew his own strengths. He would risk it. For Nell. His blood heated at the thought of seeing her again and making Bastard pay. "When will it be ready?"
Doc smiled. "Now."
Bei turned his back on the doctor, giving him access to his neural interface. He quickly packaged up his authorization codes and sent it to his XO. "I'll go first."
"Admiral," Penig growled from his seat on the floor. "We are in the middle of an operation."
"Which you don't need me for." Bei felt a slight tickle at his nape and then heard the click of his plating being removed. "You can still reach me through the com."
Penig frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now you sound like a damn citizen."
Captain Petersburg set her hand on the XO's. "You bring Nell Stafford back, Admiral."
Doc cleared his throat. "There's something else. I'm not sure, but I think there are passive sensors on the planets we passed. Might be on the others as well."
"Got them." Shanghai's smug bark echoed around the room. "Ha! I caught a data stream heading toward the array, Chief."
A muscle ticked in the chief's square jaw. "Aye. They know the strength of our fleet, numbers and weapons."
Bei felt a tingling at the base of his skull then silence. Complete and utter silence. Fear soured his mouth as the dead air suffocated him. How did civilians live like this? His thoughts practically screamed in his head, and they were not good company.
Bei heard his plating snap back into place and the rustle of fabric as Doc stepped back. Bei glanced at Shang'hai. "Can you infect the array from here?"
A frown thinned her lips. "Not in the time you'd like. There's some sort of entry code required to be accepted, and it changes practically every nanosecond."
Captain Petersburg rose to her feet. Everything fell away but the images coming from Ghost. White swirled across t
he deck as if they were on the planet and the lights dimmed, mirroring the shadow cast by the crater. "Admiral, I think you need to see this."
Chief Rome and Shang'hai stared at a spot over Bei's shoulder.
He turned and jerked back. Doc stood in the body of an oval transport, smiling through the opaque windows. His black boots were rooted firmly on the ground by curved sleigh runners supporting the ship's weight.
Bei stepped closer. "It looks like a shuttle."
Designed, no doubt, to hop between the moons and the planet. The glass prevented it from being used for deep space exploration. Unless, ET had found a way around the radiation. Turning on his heel, Bei noticed three more shuttles. The armor plating between his shoulder blades began to itch. Something was wrong.
Ghost Force moved closer, increasing resolution as they crept over the powdery terrain.
Using both hands, Chief Rome flattened his blond hair against his head. "It's possible they abandoned the place before it was finished."
"I don't think their quarantine worked." Doc pointed to the humanoid remains, clearly visible in the cockpit of one shuttle.
Decomposition marred the elongated face-large deflated eyes melted against hollow cheeks, the tip of the aquiline nose was eaten away, black pustules dotted his arms and gouge marks scored swaths of exposed skin. The moon had no atmosphere nor insects to perform the decomposition post-mortem which meant the damage must have been done while ET lived.
A memory stirred deep in Bei's subconscious, but without WA access he couldn't chase down the meaning. Still focused on the corpse, Bei reshuffled the team's mission. "Tell Ghost Force to hold position. Get a medic to perform a hazard assessment before proceeding. Route all information to the America."
Chief Rome drummed his fingers along the helm console and glanced at Bei through narrowed eyes. "The longer that array is active, the longer Nell remains a prisoner of Bastard."
Bei silenced him with a look. He knew what was at stake, but he knew his duty better. "Is Starflight 1 ready to depart?"
Chief Rome rolled his blue eyes. "Commander Keyes is double checking the diagnostics."
Doc covered his smile with a cough. "I'm receiving a data stream. Whatever killed them is no longer viable."
Bei glanced at his medical officer. "Ghost Force you have a go for entering."
Captain Petersburg resumed her seat next to the XO. "Bombay and Casablanca, see if those shuttles will fly."
Two white and black uniformed crewmen veered away from the others to approach an intact vessel.
XO Penig straightened. He superimposed the square building on the large, brown moon over the one on the Ghost. "Mole Force is approaching."
"They're definitely the same architecture." Chief Rome eyed the images while Doc stood behind him, working on his neural link, no doubt anticipating the trip to Terra Dos.
Bei welcomed the company, but wanted the kill for himself. When Bastard had stolen Nell, he'd made the mission personal.
Captain Petersburg pointed to the structures. The tip of her index finger peeled back and small red light streaked down the gap in the side of the white-tinged building. "This one's not complete."
XO Penig grunted as the men circled the cube rising from the brown ground. "Mole's is."
Shang'hai sat down next to Penig and clasped his hand. "I'm using Bastard's frequency and boosting it through our people." She flinched and leaned against the wall. "I'm in. Damn. ET is one kinky dude. I need a heads up."
Bei sighed, although he'd expected it, he had hope not to sacrifice any more probes. The weapons must be active to expose the firing codes. Bei pulled back from the close-ups and filled the bridge with the space around the larger moon. "Chief send the first probe."
Rome winced as the wires in Doc's fingertips made contact with the sensitive interface embedded in his skull. Hissing through his teeth, he jabbed a red button on the console. "Probe away."
Blue light pulsed from the moon's surface and collided with the probe. The fragments burst like silver fireworks.
Shang'hai rubbed her temples but didn't open her eyes. "I'm reading the code. Got it. Wait. There's multiple codes. Knocking out velocity. Give me a second before sending another."
Captain Petersburg's white teeth flashed against her dark skin. "Ghost Force reports that the two vehicles are usable and that the building is empty."
Empty. Bei grinned. The news was getting better. "Tell them to use ET's transports and check the other batteries. Make sure they're all dead before returning."
Shang'hai buried her fingers in her pink hair. "Okay, Chief. Send another probe."
Bei watched the silver ball arch in front of the moon. Lasers took it out before it had gone a kilometer.
Chief Rome snorted. "Shang'hai, the idea is not to have us shot down."
Shang'hai winced. "Sorry. I think I changed distance not velocity. Okay, try it again."
Chief Rome punched the LCD. The probe circled the moon. "Increasing speed and measurable mass."
The probe corrected for an elliptical orbit and accelerated. Bei held his breath as it swung around again. They had done it. The Syn-En now controlled the array. He straightened his uniform and headed toward the elevator.
"Shit." Doc's cursing deflated the bubble of satisfaction.
Bei stopped himself from calling for the elevator and focused on the doctor. "What did you find?"
Doc's skin looked pasty and he swallowed twice before speaking. "The virus. It's the same one that caused the plague on Earth."
Bei stomped on the call button for the elevator. "Did ET try to exterminate us or did they catch our cold?"
Doc sidled over to Bei. "Given the odd protein in the virus, I think they got us sick."
Bei's gut clenched. Billions of human beings dead, their civilizations reduced to archeological studies, and the majority of the survivors enslaved. And for what purpose? To colonize Earth? The elevator opened, and he stepped inside.
Chief Rome and Doc quickly joined him, filling the tiny space as the doors closed and the lift dropped to the lower decks of the America.
Doc scratched his head, elbowing Bei's head in the process. "If they wanted Earth, why did they take Nell? Why not just experiment on her when they invaded?"
Bei pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping it would stem the flow of crazy scenarios. Jabbing the com button in the elevator panel, he contacted Starflight 1. "Commander Keyes, lay in a course to Terra Dos. Prepare to leave as soon as we board."
"Aye, Admiral," Keyes's soft voice filled the already cramped space. "Course set and engines ready."
Hang on, Nell. I'm coming.
Lying is necessary for survival.
Syn-En Vade Mecum
Chapter Twenty-One