Before the Invid Storm

by Jack McKinney

  The robot!

  She reached for the phone and barked, "Patch me though to General Aldershot—highest priority!"

  It was a moment before the operator got back to her. "I'm sorry, sir, but the general can't be disturbed."

  "He can't be disturbed? Did you tell him that this was highest priority, Corporal?"

  "Affirmative, sir. But a situation has developed at ALUCE—" "What situation?"

  "Sir, General Vincinz and his chiefs of staff have departed unexpectedly from ALUCE in a commandeered frigate, and are apparently en route to The Homeward Bound."

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Sterling never explained how the "cha-cha," the pollinator she called Polly—a gift from her three Zentraedi godfathers—reached Tirol. All the principals in the pre-War drama surrounding The Homeward Bound reported that the pollinator was not aboard the shuttles, or the ship itself, and Sterling herself has denied Satori's claim that she observed it during her surveillance of Sterling's flight to the factory satellite—though apparently mistook it for a stuffed toy poodle. Several commentators have argued that, in fact, it wasn't Polly who followed Sterling out of the Tirol-arrived Homeward Bound, but one of the many cha-chas that were known to have resided in captivity in Tiresia when the REF captured the city from the Invid Regent. [See La Paz, Baker, Huxley, and others.] It's possible that Polly was overlooked during the boarding of the shuttles, the flight to Wolff's ship, and the relatively brief fold to Tirol. But, then, how is it the little, knob-horned, mop-headed creature was glimpsed by numerous foragers who descended on the Emerson cabin after the departure of Sterling, Grant, Dante, Phillips, and the Tirolean refugees?

  Mari Peirce, Homeward Bound

  Repairs to the iris gage of the factory satellite's three o'clock pod had been completed a week earlier, but two small work ships were still anchored to the rotating factory when the convoy of shuttles approached. While the repairs were being effected, there had been sporadic radio contact between the work vessels and the Zentraedi, but neither crew members nor technicians had ventured any deeper into the factory than the docking bay of the enormous pod itself.

  Dana, too, had spoken briefly with Tay Wav'vir—the domillan—and Tay had promised to be on hand when Dana arrived. Dana hadn't apprised her of the purpose of the visit; though, what with the trio of shuttles, the Zentraedi were likely to surmise that their earlier request for mecha and

  weapons had been granted.

  The shuttles negotiated the iris gate in single file, entering the vast forlorn chamber Dana had last visited in an EVA rig. When the shuttles had powered down, she emerged from the shuttle's forward doorway accompanied by three nearly identical female Tiroleans, who together formed a Triumvirate. All were wearing flight suits.

  Waiting in the bay were Tay Wav'vir and the seventy-five or so other females, looking even more haggard than they had scarcely two months earlier.

  "Par dessu, Daughter of Parino," the purple-haired Tay announced. "We were beginning to wonder if we would ever set eyes on you again."

  "There's been much to attend to," Dana said.

  Tay smirked. "Have your superiors abandoned their plans to assault the Sensor Nebula, or will they use the Super Dimensional Fortress that recently arrived?"

  "Is it truly an REF ship?" someone asked before Dana could reply.

  Dana nodded to the Zentraedi who had spoken. "Colonel Wolff, the commander, is an REF officer."

  "Colonel Jonathan Wolff?" someone else asked. "Jonathan Wolff, yes."

  The Zentraedi turned to her closest comrades. "The malcontent exterminator," she said. "Leader of the Wolff Pack."

  The statements elicited an excited murmuring among some of the Zentraedi. This briefly overpowered a wary muttering that had begun in another quarter, and was clearly directed at the Triumvirate. After a thickly built female from the latter group said something in confidence to Tay Wav'vir, the domillan cut her eyes to the triplets and uttered several phrases in Zentraedi.

  Nonplussed, the Tiroleans looked to Dana, who had anticipated the Zentraedi's reaction. "They are not T'sentrati," she said when the separate conversations had quieted. "They are from Tirol. Aboard the shuttles are an additional hundred."

  Tay held up her hands to silence everyone. "What is your purpose in bringing them here, Daughter of Parino?"

  "I'm taking them home, Domillan Wav'vir. And I've come to ask you to join us."

  Bafflement clouded Tay's eyes. "Home?"

  "To Tirol," Dana said. "I can't provide you with the weapons you requested, but I can at least offer you a chance to return to your home space along with them."

  Isolated sniggering punctuated the stunned silence.

  "Tirol is not our home," Tay explained, in a somewhat amused voice. "Most of us on this station have never even seen Fantoma, let alone made planetfall on its inhabited moon. If Tirol meant anything to us, we would have shipped aboard the SDF-3 all those years ago." She glanced disdainfully at the Triumvirate. "Tirol may hold significance for these clones the Masters created to populate their empire, but the moon holds no significance for us."

  Dana had not anticipated this. "Would you stay here, then, in this dead thing, with the Invid on the approach?"

  "This dead thing is as much a home as we have ever known," someone replied. "That's why we sued for permission to defend it."

  "But monumental changes have occurred in Tirolspace," Dana said. "Lord Breetai commands his own ship once more: the Valivarre, fueled by ore freshly mined from Fantoma. And the forces of the Regent have been driven off Karbarra, Praxis, Garuda, Spheris, and many other worlds. This is the dawn of a new era—an era in which the T'sentrati can participate, not as enslaved warriors, but as an autonomous people."

  Tay Wav'vir heard her out, then turned to her confederates. "Step forward, without fear of dishonor, any who would leave this place."

  But no one made a move.

  "Hey, you can't go in there," Aldershot's aide shouted to Nova as she stormed past his desk.

  "The hell I can't," Nova said under her breath.

  After numerous attempts to reach Aldershot from mission control, she had finally left Fredericks to mind the store and sped over to Denver Base in a borrowed Jeep, barely avoiding accidents on three occasions.

  "Satori! What in blazes—" Aldershot's adjutant said as she came through the office door with the aide hot on her heels.

  The general himself, surrounded by several officers and technical specialists, was seated in front of an array of monitors, some of which were displaying views of the frigate Vincinz had apparently hijacked from ALUCE. Aldershot turned when he heard the commotion and waved his aide and Major Sosa off Nova as they were trying to hustle her from the room.

  Nova gave a downward tug to her tunic, flipped her hair behind her shoulders, and saluted. "I'm sorry to break in like this, General, but no one would put me through to you."

  Aldershot scowled. "Excuse us, Lieutenant, if we were too busy dealing with a mutiny to return your calls."

  "But, sir, it may not be a mutiny. If you'll give me a minute to explain what I've learned about the Shimadas—"

  "The Shimadas and their secret-agent robot," Aldershot interrupted. "I've taken your conjectures under advisement, and if there's anything to them, action will be taken at the appropriate time."

  "But now is the appropriate time," Nova replied forcefully. "The Shimadas are planning to fold The Homeward Bound to Tirol."

  Everyone in the room turned to her.

  "It's fold capable, sir," she went on, "Wolff knew this from the start, and the Tokyo team found him out. I can't make a case for conspiracy—not at the moment, anyway—but I'm certain that the Shimadas have incorporated the spacefold codes into their robot." She paused, then added. "The Shimadas' machine is going to take control of the ship."

  Aldershot showed her a look of angry disbelief.

  "And just why would Tokyo want to do such a thing?" the chief of staff asked in a patronizing voice.

&
nbsp; Nova steeled herself. "They want the ship to disappear. They don't care where it goes, or if it takes another five years to get there. They want it away from Earth, so we'll have nothing substantial to hurl against the Invid when they arrive."

  After a long moment, Aldershot spoke. "Ms. Satori, that's the most preposterous assumption I've heard in some time. You and Colonel Fredericks have been so busy chasing phantoms that you overlooked the plot that was hatching right under your noses. General Vincinz and his staff are the ones we need to be concerned about—not a bunch of yakuza and their two-legged computer."

  "But, sir—"

  The general held up his hands. "No more buts." He gestured to one of the monitors. "See for yourself, Lieutenant: Vincinz is headed for The Homeward Bound. Fortunately, we learned of his treachery in time to divert the shuttle rendezvous squadron to intercept him."

  Nova turned her attention to a monitor that showed several Logans closing on the frigate. "Have you asked yourself what Vincinz is planning to do once he gets aboard Wolff's ship?" she asked Aldershot. "If you recall, sir, he and the rest of the Southern Cross staff officers okayed the mission. Why would they take such drastic measures to thwart it, unless they had good reasons to be suspicious?"

  Major Sosa snorted in derision. "Ask yourself why Vincinz failed to alert us to those 'good reasons,' Satori. For God's sake, he won't even respond to our hailings."

  Nova met his look. "Perhaps he didn't think you'd listen to reason."

  Sosa had his mouth open to reply when one of the techs reported that the Logans were within targeting range of the frigate.

  "Tell the pilots to continue hailing the ship," Aldershot ordered. "They are not to go to guns unless they find themselves in laser lock." He looked over his shoulder at Nova. "General Vincinz knows that The Homeward Bound is the only effective weapon we have at our disposal, and he doesn't trust that we'll make proper use of it. He's indignant that we were given

  custody of the ship, and he wants it back. It's as simple as that, Lieutenant." Nova worked her jaw. "May I speak candidly, sir?"

  "Candidly, but briefly."

  "Sir, I feel that you're allowing yourself to be blinded by old rivalries between the Southern Cross and the RDF. Vincinz means to commandeer The Homeward Bound because he has somehow learned what I have: that the Shimadas have only their own agenda. You've got to let him reach that ship, General. Even if he commandeers it, he won't be able to execute a spacefold without the necessary codes. And even if I'm completely wrong, we can always retake the ship if Vincinz refuses to surrender it. He's not about to fire on his own forces."

  "General Aldershot," a tech said. "Black Lions Five and Six report that they are being targeted by the frigate. They are taking evasive action."

  Everyone turned to the monitors, where, on one screen, two Logans were veering from their courses. An instant later, a burst of cyan light erupted from the starboard guns of the frigate, missing the mecha by a narrow mark.

  Aldershot muttered a curse. "Still no response from Vincinz?" "None, sir."

  "Then it's done," the general said wearily. "Order the squadron to cripple that ship."

  In Black Lion Two, Dennis Brown rolled away from the frigate, then angled beneath her, out of harm's way for the moment. Five and Six had nearly been scorched by the starboard laser array, and the tactical net was noisy with chatter.

  "Talk isn't going to stop that ship," Dennis suggested good-naturedly. "Sorry, Two," Five said, "but I was one of Vincinz's aides, so I'm a bit

  freaked that he'd try to dust me."

  "Maybe that's why he's trying to dust you," Three said.

  Dennis thought about Nova, listening to the remarks over the command net, and decided to get serious. "I'm pretty well positioned to

  stitch the aft power plant," he told his wingmate.

  "Go for it, Two. Nothing fancy. And keep it clean." "Roger that, One. No Fokker feints."

  Dennis cut his forward speed, falling back until the tail end of the frigate was directly overhead. If Vincinz was going to burn him, it would be now. But the escort's underbelly guns didn't traverse. No one laser locked him.

  "Sitting duck," he said into his helmet mouthpiece, and loosed a gaggle of Mongooses.

  "Our wings have been clipped," Captain Bortuk reported from his post on the bridge of the hijacked frigate. "Principal drives are down. We're dead in space."

  "Traitors!" General Vincinz snarled through barred teeth, struggling against the grip of the two officers who had dragged him away from the weapons console before he could loose a second blast at the Logan pursuit team.

  Major Stamp swung his chair through a half circle. "You're the traitor, Vincinz. Firing on our own people."

  Vincinz glowered. "Did you have some other way of reaching the ship with them in our way?"

  Stamp rose and approached Vincinz. "If we'd made it by stealth it would be one thing. But I'm not about to kill innocent people. And unless I'm sorely mistaken, General, your stunt may have cost us our only alibi."

  "Sir, General Aldershot is hailing on the command frequency," their communications man said.

  Stamp blew out his breath. "No one is to speak but me, is that understood? I'm going to play this as close to the vest as I can." He slipped into the command chair, composed himself for the camera, and nodded to the commo man. "Put him through."

  Aldershot appeared on one of the heads-up screens, distorted by intermittent static. Seeing Stamp in the driver's seat, he said, "Where's

  Vincinz?"

  "General Vincinz has been temporarily relieved of duty. I don't expect you to believe this, Aldershot, but our burst was unintentional."

  "As was your hijacking that frigate, I suppose." "Not entirely, no."

  Aldershot snorted. "Do you want to explain your actions now, or save it for the inquest and court-martial?"

  Stamp wet his lips. "The truth is that we've come into some information that may well endanger the Nebula mission."

  Aldershot blinked and was silent for a moment. "What sort of information, Major?"

  "That Tokyo didn't reveal all they discovered about the capacities of

  The Homeward Bound."

  "And why wasn't the GMP or the oversight committee apprised of this?"

  "To be blunt, we didn't think we'd be listened to. A lot of what we have on the Shimadas is circumstantial, and we couldn't be sure of presenting sufficient hard evidence to delay the mission."

  "That was damn foolish of you, Major."

  "We were well aware of the risks. But we felt obliged to give it our best shot."

  "You damn fools!" Vincinz shouted from behind the command chair. "That ship is going to jump, Aldershot, and you're going to have to live with the consequences!"

  Aldershot narrowed his eyes. "Put Vincinz where I can see him."

  Vincinz shrugged his captors off and planted himself directly in front of his adjutant. "Listen to me, Aldershot: There wasn't time to consult you or to request Nobutu's permission to borrow this ship. We had to act fast and trust that we were doing the prudent thing."

  "I hardly consider targeting the pursuit team the prudent thing," Aldershot told him. "And I'm not convinced that your burst was accidental. This is the same battle we've been fighting for twelve years, Vincinz:

  Southern Cross against Robotech. You're lucky I didn't order those Logans to pick you apart."

  "We'll see who's 'lucky,' Aldershot—at the inquest, as you say."

  Aldershot started to reply when one of his staff passed him a slip of paper. His face was ashen when he looked into the camera.

  Vincinz and the others aboard the bridge strained to make out what was being said two hundred thousand miles away. Then Aldershot cleared his throat.

  "I've just been informed by the pilot of one of the Logans still positioned at the shuttle rendezvous point that Commander Sterling appears to have taken the Tiroleans with her. The sentries have been overpowered, and Sterling is in the process of relocating the clones
aboard The Homeward Bound."

  Vincinz let out a rueful laugh. "She's folding to Tirol, you old fool! That damned half-breed is out of here!"

  The view from the forward bays encompassed all that had been her life for eighteen years: Space Station Liberty, the factory satellite, cold Luna, and wounded Earth. While Sean, Marie, and Angelo were strapping into their seats and bringing The Homeward Bound's systems on-line, Dana peered into her past and tried to imagine her future.

  Bowie and Musica were elsewhere in the ship, seeking out sheltered places for their hundred Tirolean passengers, and the TASC guards had been disarmed and transferred to the abandoned shuttles. The Shimadas' robot was at the rear of the bridge, mated to a wall of technology by means of a pencil-thin connector that projected from the front of its alloy thorax. A pale lavender light glowed behind its wraparound vision array.

  At Fokker Base, during preflight—and in the moments before a visual feed had been established with mission control in Denver—Louie had spoken to Dana through the robot, which had been delivered to Monument by a Shimada security team.

  "The machine will see to everything, Dana. Just show it to the

  computer link on the bridge and task it to interface. When you're ready to execute the fold, tell the machine to initialize the Protoculture generators.

  "Oh, and by the way, we figured out where Lang went wrong. Your fold to Tirol should be near instantaneous. The machine contains a download of our calculations, including all my notes relating to the Synchron drive. I hope Lang and Penn can make sense of them. But be sure to tell them of the part that Tokyo played in getting you there—I figure this is Kan Shimada's way of ingratiating himself with the REF in advance of the fleet's return to Earth. Now if we can just weather the Invid Storm . . .

  "Don't feel that you're abandoning us in our hour of need, Dana. Just keep in mind what you felt after the Masters were defeated. You knew then that this would be your destiny, just as you knew that Tokyo would be mine. I speak for all of us in the underground in telling you to 'Hurry back.'"