Defending the Galaxy: The Sentinels of the Galaxy

by Maria V. Snyder

  After I disentangle, I jump into Elese’s bunk, waking her. She reacts almost instantly and I’m pinned under her.

  “Stars, girl. You gotta be careful. I could have—what’s going on? You’re grinning like a fool. Did Niall say he wuvs you again? Called you Honey Bunny or something equally sickening?”

  “No. I can worm again!”

  “Huh.” She releases me.

  Elese isn’t as excited as I thought she’d be. I sit up. “Huh? That’s all you got?”

  “No, I’m glad. It’s just…”

  “Just what?”

  “You’re safer staying out of the Q-net. Maybe the looters won’t target you if they know you can’t worm anymore.”

  I groan. “Not you, too!”

  “Sorry that I care,” she shoots back.

  I grab her pillow. “Apology.” I swat her with it. “Not.” Swat. “Accepted.” Swat.

  “Oh no, you don’t.” She dives for Morgan’s bunk, snatches up the pillow, and attacks.

  I block and dodge and get in a few good shots. We’re laughing and yelling breathless insults at each other—it’s easy to hit that pampered ass of yours, it’s so big!—it’s not as big as your mouth!—when Morgan arrives. We jump to attention and hide the pillows behind our backs. But it doesn’t stop the giggles.

  “Do I even want to know what you’re doing?” Morgan asks.

  “Not in the least, sir,” Elese says.

  “Is there a reason for this…frivolity?”

  “Ooh frivolity. I bet Beau would love that word,” Elese says. “It’s probably harder to use in a sentence than skedaddle.”

  I tell Morgan my news before she makes Elese skedaddle to detention.

  Morgan gives me a curt nod. “Good. Now you can stop moping.”

  Moping! I open my mouth to deny it, but both women are expecting my outburst. Instead, I press my lips together, fluff the battered pillow, and set it back on the bed. Elese also returns her weapon.

  “Hey, that’s my pillow,” Morgan says in outrage.

  “Uh, dinner time,” Elese yells and we bolt from the unit.

  We just about run into the guys as they leave their unit.

  “What is it?” Bendix demands. “HoLFs? Looters?”

  “No, worse,” I say.

  “Officer Morgan!” Elese cries in mock horror, pointing.

  We all turn. Morgan is standing in the hallway with her arms crossed.

  “Run!”

  I don’t know who says it, but we all bolt. Our laughter echoes off the walls. We don’t run for long.

  After we get our food and sit down, I explain what put me in such a good mood. Before Niall can smirk, I give him credit for encouraging me to contact Beau. Except he’s not really gloating. He’s acting more like Elese first did. I can’t really blame him for being worried.

  “I can’t wait until we’re all together again,” Zaim says.

  “Yeah, the officers here don’t have a clue as to what we’re up against,” Bendix says. “And the few that do…” He makes a disgusted noise.

  “Officer Cole held his own,” Elese says with admiration.

  The conversation turns to the mission, but I’m only half-listening. I’m keeping an eye on the time. When it gets close to when I have to meet up with Beau, I head back to my unit. Niall hops up to join me while the rest keep chatting. They’re going to help construct more null wave emitters and prep for the mission, but everyone’s been ordered to get a full night’s sleep every night. We all need to rest up for the big op, because once things get set into motion, there’s no stopping until it’s finished.

  I expect Niall to question me, and he doesn’t disappoint.

  “Do you think you’ll eventually return to communicating with the Q-net like before?” he asks, entwining his fingers in mine as we walk.

  “I’ve no idea. But I’m not going to count on it as I don’t want to be disappointed.”

  “Disappointed,” he repeats.

  Something’s off. “What’s really bothering you?”

  “I don’t miss entangling with the Q-net at all. Not that I expect that of you. But it was nice to have your undivided attention for a little bit.”

  Undivided? I consider that. Guess I did space out when I was talking to Q. Huh. I never really thought about it. And Niall never said anything before.

  I squeeze his hand. “If Q starts talking to me again, I’ll make sure you have my full attention. Unless we’re fighting shadow-blobs or looters or doing our jobs or—”

  “I get it, Mouse. Thanks.”

  Before we reach my unit, we’re interrupted by Morgan, who never did join us for dinner. I wonder where she went.

  “Radcliff wants you on a higher priority terminal when worming with Dorey,” she says.

  I don’t think I need it, but every little bit will help. “Where?”

  “Officer Boyle’s office.”

  Ugh. “Does this mean he’ll be peering over my shoulder?”

  “Yes. He insists you leave the screen on.”

  Lovely.

  Niall gives me a better-you-than-me wave when we go our separate ways. Morgan tags along with me.

  “Are you going to be watching, too?” I ask.

  “No. I’m just going to ensure he treats you with the proper respect, then I’ll skedaddle.”

  Nice. Except why wouldn’t he? Probably because I’m young. I’ve seen my fair share of skeptics since this entire endeavor began, including the one striding beside me. I’m learning that people tend not to believe anything unless they experience it for themselves. Yes, shadow-blobs are rather unbelievable, but there’s enough of us now you’d think we’d be more credible.

  By the creases in Officer Boyle’s forehead, it’s not hard to guess that he’s unhappy with the arrangement. I don’t know what he’s grumpy about; his office is set up exactly like Radcliff’s so he has an extra terminal. I sit down in front of it, insert my tangs, and entangle with the Q-net. First thing I do is turn on the screen. Then I worm to my meeting point with Beau.

  “You need to identify yourself when entering the Q-net,” Boyle says behind me. “We follow the proper procedures here, Junior Officer.”

  I don’t bother to answer him.

  “She’s worming,” Morgan says as if talking to an idiot. “There is no proper procedure. It’s all improper. Besides her name would tip off the looters. Leave the girl be. She’s saved our asses too many times to count.”

  Love you, too, Morgan. Then I tune them out as I reach Beau. Howdy partner, I say. Will we connect like before?

  Welcome back, Beau says.

  Yes!

  You ready for some serious worming? he asks.

  Yup. What are we doing?

  I’ve been closing the connections between DES, the Protectorate, and the looters.

  I thought Q sealed all those holes, I say.

  Q did the ones into DES, but these are their secret communications. They’ve been using the Q-net, but the paths are well hidden.

  Can you worm into them and read what they’re saying? That would be wonderful.

  No. But I’ve been collapsing them like they’ve been doing to our escape tunnels. Q’s been helping to flag the important ones. Especially the ones between the Protectorate and the looters. There are a ton of them. It’s exacting work and, once finished, we’re going to build our own blockade to keep them from just making a new tunnel.

  Wow, you’ve been busy. Color me impressed.

  Well, it’s not rescuing small children, but it’s something.

  Typical of Beau to be jealous of our mission to Ulanqab. I ignore the jab. How do you know which ones are worth flagging?

  Radcliff’s tuned into the enemy and has been taking names.

  Which was why the security chiefs thought Operation Strike Back had a decent chance of success. Radcliff’s been listening to their communications. Thanks to Dr Carson.

  Once we get through this, DES is going to clean house, Beau says.

&n
bsp; You’ve been in contact with them? I thought Yulin was playing dead. Worry about Radcliff and the rest of my team swells.

  Q helped me create an unwormable connection directly to Director Ormond, but Radcliff’s only using it to update her on the looters.

  Wow. Ormond was the highest ranked director in DES. And there is something comforting about the very top person in DES knowing about the looters.

  What’s the plan for tonight, I ask.

  I’ve been working in the deep levels of the Protectorate. There’s two high-ranking officers working with the looters that we need to block.

  I follow Beau to the protected clusters assigned to the Protectorate. A path through the complex safeguards lights up.

  Thanks, Q, Beau says.

  Unable to resist, I ask, Did Q talk to you?

  No. But whenever this happens I always thank Q.

  Good idea. Then we stop talking in order to concentrate on navigating through the tiny holes in the programming. I’m…heavier than before. The tangs keep me grounded. But they also allow me to be here helping so I’m not complaining.

  Behind me an outraged Boyle sputters about me entering the Protectorate’s data clusters. Morgan placates him.

  Easy there, Beau warns.

  Oops. Sorry. Focusing all my attention on the work at hand, I ease past a twisted knot, finding the one little gap to slip through. Ahh. Not even a quiver.

  Ha ha. Now the hard part begins.

  I refrain from groaning. Instead, I work alongside Beau, plugging holes and creating a barrier. He was right. Everything has to be done with an exact precision. And it takes forever. Not that I could have gone faster with Q. In fact, other than being heavy, it’s not that much different. After we finish, we carefully exit the Protectorate’s clusters.

  Wow, that took—

  Forever, I supply.

  No. With you helping that went twice as fast. Go get some rest, Ara. We’ll resume this at oh-five-hundred.

  Ugh.

  Beau must sense my lack of enthusiasm because he says, The more of these we do, the better our chances of a successful operation.

  How do you figure?

  When we strike back, there’ll be warnings sent through the Q-net.

  Except they won’t get to the right people?

  Exactly. Good night, partner.

  Night, Beau. I disentangle and glance at the clock. Oh-one-hundred. Ugh. I stretch, stand, and stop. Officer Boyle is still at his desk. And he appears grumpier. Before he can say anything, I tell him I’ll be back in four hours. Then I bid him a good night and skedaddle.

  The days I spend worming with Beau blur into one endless session. Not really, but, if you ask my brain, it would agree. The only breaks I get are when I visit Little Barnacle. Turns out that’s not her name. Her name is Shay, but she will always be Little Barnacle to me. She’s five A-years old. Her dad worked in security and her mom was a bugologist. Yes, I know that’s not the proper term or even a word, but I’m not going to correct her when we’re talking about her parents in the past tense. A concept that hasn’t really sunk in for her yet. I hope I’m there when it does. She’ll need a friend.

  It takes a total of five days to coordinate everything and for the various parts of the plan to be ready. Also to give the mechanics on all the active Warrior planets time to build enough emitters for the op. No, not everyone will have one, but it’s a lot more than we had before. And we can’t wait too much longer. The looters are close to finishing the blockade around Planet Qingyang. Once they finish, they’ll probably attack the planet.

  The night before Operation Strike Back commences, both Beau and I stop worming to go to bed early. Despite Elese’s snoring and my nerves, I fall asleep.

  At oh-so-early, we assemble in Pit 45. There are twenty-eight of us! My team, plus my parents—funny how I don’t think of them as a part of my team even though they’ve gone with us on at least one mission—that’s eight. Two of our techs volunteered. Then there’s all twelve officers from Pingliang, and six officers from Ruijin, which leaves them six just in case they’re attacked.

  We’re not wearing our heavy rucks. Instead, we’ve our weapon belts and our tactical pants over our jumpsuits. The extra pockets are more useful than a change of clothes and sleeping roll.

  The portal is already open. And Morgan is once again in charge. Officer Boyle is staying behind to keep his base safe, and Kingston…well, I’m not sure why she’s not in charge, but I suspect it has to do with leaving all of us on Planet Ulanqab. She doesn’t look happy, but she never does. Perhaps I should introduce her to Officer Tora. I can see them becoming best friends. They can gossip about how much they both dislike me.

  One at a time we portal to Planet Nanxiong. The planet seems to be a low priority for the looters so we’re hoping they’re not watching it as closely. Q also didn’t find any signs of a blockade being built around it.

  The sensation of portaling is becoming familiar—still nauseating, but not as scary. When I’m spat out in Pit 27 on Nanxiong, I marvel. This is the fourth planet we’ve visited in only twelve days! We’re Interstellar Class travelers. No one else is as excited by this designation. Tough crowd.

  The security team for Nanxiong is waiting for us. It’s still fun to see the shock on their faces. Their expressions all agog because of people just popping into their pit!

  Eight Nanxiong officers will be joining us for the operation, leaving four behind to guard the base. Once all twenty-eight of us appear, we clear the area to give the officers joining us from Planet Qingyang some room. My mother and father go to Pit 37 to wake the Warriors. Morgan hands out the rest of the hearts she has brought from Yulin to the new officers until she runs out.

  Only six security officers from Qingyang join us. Since they’re the next target on the looters’ list, they’re understandably skittish. Actually, I’m impressed they sent half their officers. There’s a few familiar faces with them. Gavin, my father’s assistant and five other archeology techs from Yulin have volunteered. Good for us as they’ve all been training with pulse guns and null wave emitters.

  “Ara!” Gavin calls when he spots me. “Can you believe this?” He gestures to the pits a bit wildly. “First Qingyang now Nanxiong.”

  “I know. We’re Interstellar Class travelers.”

  “That’s brilliant!”

  Finally, someone who appreciates my genius. “How are the officers from Qingyang? Do they seem competent?”

  “They’re all a bit stunned. No surprise. And I don’t think they believe us about the HoLFs, but they touched the hearts I brought from Yulin. We have more…uh…I think Foster has them. Yep, he’s handing them out to the rest. That should cover everyone.”

  Good news. “What about our people? Are they doing okay on Qingyang?”

  “Well, everyone’s a bit cramped. I suppose it could be worse if we’d had a full roster of scientists on Yulin. And they’re all nervous. No surprise. We all keep expecting to hear a missile heading for us.” He shudders.

  “Thanks for volunteering.”

  “It’s better than waiting for death from above.”

  Gavin can also be a bit of a drama king.

  “Where’s your father?” he asks, scanning the crowd.

  And it’s quite the crowd. Forty-six people plus my parents. “Dad’s already in Pit 37 with Mom.”

  Morgan’s voice slices through the din. “Quiet.”

  The silence is instant.

  “I’m going to put you in teams of four. You’re to stay with your teammates at all times. Death is the only excuse I’ll accept for being without your teammates. Understand?”

  A strong chorus of “yes, sir” follows despite the sudden whitening of a couple of the techs’ faces.

  “Good.”

  Morgan moves through the group. She puts one tech with three officers and my parents will each be in a separate team. When she’s done, there are eleven teams and only three of us left.

  Morgan gestures to me, Niall,
and Elese. “You’re with me.”

  Ah. Should I be honored or insulted? I’m going with honored. Morgan trusts us to have her back.

  “When we get to Pit 37, I want complete silence,” Morgan orders. “We don’t know if sound carries through the portal and we don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

  There’s a scattering of laughter and a few nervous giggles. She reviews our orders and what we should expect on the other side.

  “You all know what it feels like to be…propelled from the portal. As soon as your feet hit the floor, you move—left or right it doesn’t matter. Just find cover if you can. Dive onto your stomachs if you can’t. Just don’t stand there or you’ll be an easy target. Also you’ll be in the way for the next incoming group.”

  Another round of “yes, sir,” sounds. She goes over a few more instructions and assigns each team to a larger group. We fall into two lines. Morgan and I lead. Niall and Elese are right behind us.

  The green light is pulsing when we arrive in Pit 37. Something is odd about the configuration of the Warriors. It’s hard to tell exactly what it is until we get closer. The five rows of Warriors that were around the center have been moved back and wedged between the other statues. The eight key Warriors still remain in a circle but they’re further apart, creating a much bigger center. The hope is that with this rearrangement, the portal will be larger than the ones we’ve used before. Large enough to transport three teams at a time instead of one person. And guess who is in the first dozen to go through? Yup, yours truly.

  Morgan signals to my parents to join their teams. I get a significant look from each of them when they pass me. Mom’s dragon warns me to be extra extra careful without making a single sound. Impressive.

  A few minutes later, the portal is ready. The black rectangle is about five times wider than the ones we’ve been using. It’s the same height, though. When the green light steadies, Morgan gestures for the first dozen to enter the portal. We’ve estimated the time to transport twelve people would be approximately four minutes. So we have four minutes before the next dozen will come through.