by G. E. Stills
“Yes, that’s the conclusion I’ve made. Killing them won’t be easy though because they are always well protected.”
Keish’ar’s expression hardened. “But kill them we will. It’s a matter of our survival. We have to get this information to our superiors no matter what the cost.”
She nodded in agreement.
CHAPTER NINE
Rho’naa sat in front of the small computer composing the data that swam in her mind. Although speed was important, getting the correct information entered was very important too.
The group had returned to Refuge to heal their wounds and morn the dead. Tylee took Keish’ar and one other to one of the Men-gar libraries. There they obtained maps and coordinates for the locations of several transmitting stations spread over Sto’kan.
Rho’naa placed the fingers of one hand to her forehead and temple then slid the wooden box she was using for a chair back so she could stand. She glanced at her watch and smiled. It was almost time for Keish’ar to take her on one of their private walks that happened almost daily now.
He entered the room. “How’s it going today?”
“Great. Another few days and I’ll have everything entered.” She flashed him a grin. “The day is going even better now.” She resisted the desire to take his hand and instead walked beside him out of the camp.
Once out of sight, they joined hands and searched for a place to further enjoy their walk. They found one behind two large boulders. When they parted hours later, their talk turned to less enjoyable matters.
“Have you selected a location for our first transmission?” she asked.
“I have one in mind. I think the first time Tylee should just take the two of us there. I hate risking more of our shrinking group.”
“I agree.”
****
They released the hands of Tylee and she took a step back. “I still think I should stay here in case something goes wrong,” she said.
“Nothing will, but if it does, that is exactly why you can’t be here,” Rho’naa answered.
Frowning, Tylee faced the portal she had created. “Two hours. I’ll be back in two hours.”
“We’ll be here waiting,” Keish’ar said.
“Fine.” Tylee stepped in to the fog and it faded away.
Rho’naa gazed around at her surroundings. Although the control tower where they stood was for a small airport, the transmission equipment there had interstellar capabilities. Large windows and their high vantage point afforded an excellent three-hundred-sixty degree view for kilometers. The tarmac below contained several small aircraft.
“Well, first we need to get the emergency generators running to power up the radio equipment,” Keish’ar said and headed for the stairs.
Rho’naa nodded and followed behind him. At the bottom level, they found them and some fuel to power them. A short time later, he pressed a button and the generator coughed to life. They rode in the elevator on the trip back to the top.
While she kept careful watch, Keish’ar activated the equipment. When he had finished, he showed her how to work the transmitter then took her place watching for danger.
Rho’naa sat in front of the console and started turning dials. She aimed the signal carrier to the location where the cruiser waited. Next, she narrowed the carrier to a width she calculated to be wide enough for the cruiser to receive, but narrow enough to reduce the risk of the bugs intercepting it.
Taking a deep breath, she recorded the encrypted voice transmission and pressed send. It read, “This is R sending to C. If you read this, respond with a single Y sent every two hours until I answer.” She pressed the send button. The message flashed out through space traveling the immense distance in seconds.
She shoved her chair back and sighed.
“Now what?” Keish’ar asked.
“And now we wait for them to respond. If they haven’t answered by tomorrow at this time, I’ll send the message again.”
Two hours passed while they watched outside and waited. The portal opened and Tylee joined them. “Anything?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Rho’naa answered.
Tylee shook her head. “I’ll be back in another two hours.”
“Thanks, Tylee,” Rho’naa said.
Another hour passed. Rho’naa relaxed back in her chair. Keish’ar had taken the elevator down to check on the generator. She sprung forward fully alert at the single spoken word that burped from the speaker. “Y.”
Did I hear it or did I imagine it?
The doors slid open and Keish’ar joined her.
“I heard a Y,” she told him. “I think.”
They waited another two hours. This time both she and Kesh’ar were concentrating on the speaker. Another Y blurted out. Rho’naa’s fingers flew over the keyboard, then pushed send. The brief and encrypted message winged out to space. Although they were uncertain the bugs were monitoring audible frequencies, they were taking no chances.
“Transmission received loud and clear.”
Drago deciphered the encrypted response.
“Loud and clear here.”
“Stand by to receive burst data transmission,” she typed.
“Standing by.”
She sent the first few pages of data.
“Data received.”
“Monitor this spectrum to receive addional data in twenty-four hours possibly from different location.”
“Understood.”
“R out.”
“C clear.”
Rho’naa sat back and smiled. Keish’ar smiled back at her.
“So, do we chance transmitting from here again or do we try from a different location?”
“I would suggest from a different location. I would also suggest we station a team here to watch for bug activity at this location. That is one way we can determine if our transmissions are being monitored.”
“Good idea.”
The next time Tylee appeared they went with her. Safe on Refuge, they informed the group of their success. The resounding cheer echoed from the rock walls. Twenty-two hours later, Tylee took them to a new airport that was almost identical in design. There was no bug response at the first location.
Again, she contacted the cruiser and with communication established, sent another data burst. By the time she sent the seventh and final data transmission, they were relatively certain due to total lack of bug response the communications were not being monitored.
The cruiser sent a message to her. “Compilation of information should be finished in an hour or less. Once complete, information will be transmitted to T. Expected to arrive there one month or less. Suggested action on your part, go to ground and wait. Will be there to rescue soonest possible. End transmission. C.”
Rho’naa and Keish’ar returned to Refuge and shared the news. “So,” she said in a voice that expressed her elation, “at the suggestion of the higher ups, we sit back, get fat, and lazy and wait for the Calvary to arrive.”
The group cheered.
“I suggest tonight we have a celebration party.”
More cheering.
Later that evening, she sat next to Keish’ar and watched the others gathered around the bonfire. She saw Bonn’an sneak out of the camp into the dark. A few minutes later, a human male, one that had become good friends with her, followed her.
She turned to Keish’ar and saw he had seen the same as her.
“Something tells me we are not the only ones engaged in a mixed relationship.”
He smiled. “You could very well be right.”
Poking him in the arm she said, “Perhaps we should take a stroll in the dark later ourselves.”
“I would love to.”
Tylee wasn’t so subtle. “I’m going to get laid tonight. Partly in celebration and partly because I’m horny. I�
�ll be at the rock formation you and Keish’ar use if you need me. I won’t take long.” Tylee smiled. “That is unless the two of you are going to use that location?” She raised her eyebrows in question.
“Go ahead with your bad self,” Rho’naa grinned, “Keish’ar and I will wait.”
Tylee sidled over to a Men-gar male, smoothed a hand over his back and whispered in his ear. He nodded.
She swayed into the darkness and he followed soon after.
“I do hope she doesn’t get pregnant. She is after all part Men-gar too,” he said.
“She won’t. She has an implant that will not allow it to happen until she chooses.”
“Although we don’t openly encourage sexual relations, we’ve been here a long time and don’t discourage it either. It helps boost morale.”
“And besides that, interspecies relationships help cement our two species together.”
“We can’t openly display ours, but only because we are in command here.”
****
After a few days, the jubilation settled. Rho’naa called a group meeting. “We need to start monitoring in case the cruiser calls. That means at least one and I suggest two, people need to be at one of the communication centers at all times.”
Keish’ar picked up where she left off. “We can’t have Tylee stay there so you will not be able to get back here to Refuge until she comes for you.” He turned the floor back to her.
“If the bugs should show up in the meantime, hide and try not engage them if at all possible.” Rho’naa studied each of the people facing her in turn. “Your shift will be for eight hours with two people per shift. Tylee is exempt for obvious reasons, no one else is.” She pointed at two people. “You two will take the first shift. I think due to lack of reaction from the bugs we will try using a single location. The first one Keish’ar and I went to.” She glanced at her watch. “It is nineteen forty. We will begin the shift rotation on the hour. Tylee will be here to take you. That is all for now, friends.”
The group shuffled away to return to their assigned tasks. They established the monitor rotation. Several times bug patrols passed in the distance. They increased their watchfulness when this happened, but none ever came to the abandoned airfield.
****
A month passed, then two with only one communication from the cruiser. The message just stated that the information had arrived on Teelan. Rho’naa didn’t expect to hear from them. The less they communicated the smaller the risk. She was aware of the vast distances involved and hence the month of time it took the communication from here to Teelan. She also knew the research scientists were pouring through the information now that they had it. She hoped the means to negate the null weapon was not overly difficult requiring lengthy refits to all the human warships.
Knowing all this did nothing to decrease the boredom that soon set in for the group. The military personnel were used to this. Lengthy times of boring day-to-day tasks followed by brief moments of furious activity was the norm. The three Men-gar guards were military as was Keish’ar. Stan, Madra and three of the former human prisoners were military also.
Tylee and the six former crew of the freighter were civilians and the grumbling arguments with others and complaints about busy work started with them. There were even a couple of physical fights that had to be broken up. Rho’naa noticed this and right away recognized it for what it was.
She found Keish’ar and motioned him outside. “We need to talk,” she said when they were out of earshot from the others.
“About?”
“Morale or to be more exact, the fact it is sinking, mostly due to boredom.”
“Yes I’ve noticed it too. What can we do about it?”
“I have several suggestions. Training—shooting, hand-to-hand, physical exercise. Maybe that will keep them worn out enough they won’t have time to argue and complain.”
“I doubt it.” He smiled.
“I doubt it too, so I have another suggestion, but I hate risking any more lives doing it.”
“And your suggestion is?”
“Raids on the bugs. On them, but even more so, on their equipment. Destroy as much of it and as many of them as possible while keeping the risk of losing our own people to a minimum. I hate thinking of putting our people at risk and it will increase the danger for Stan and Madra a lot. Anyway, I think we should become a major pain in the ass for them.”
“By becoming a pain in the ass for them are you talking about our group becoming a pain for the bugs or are you talking about you becoming a pain in the ass for the group?”
She didn’t miss his attempt at humor and she chuckled. “Both. I would rather they focus their anger at me rather than each other as long as they follow orders.”
“I will support you in any way I can.”
“Then our people may well hate you in addition to me. Good thing we have each other to love.”
“I think we should do raids on their patrols and their ground vehicles. They likely have some of them stored in large motor pools where we can destroy a bunch of them at once.”
“And that makes me think. I know where several arms storage locations are. We could raid them and get larger ordinance than just our pistols.”
“That would be even better and at the same time make it less risky for us.”
“We have an entire world to choose from. Tylee can take us anywhere we have coordinates for. We will keep them off guard and they will never know where we’ll strike next.”
CHAPTER TEN
Rho’naa peeked around the second story window, watching for the bug vehicle they knew would be passing by at any time. Three days of watching had allowed them to establish the bug patrol’s routine. Sunny stood behind her and Stan crouched behind Sunny. Rho’naa held her pistol in one hand and a detonator in the other. Soon after the vehicle passed by the first day, they had placed a piece of trash in the street. The bugs paid no attention to it and yesterday their vehicle drove right over it. Today there was a bomb under it.
While she waited, she thought of the past three months. They had increased the shifts at the airport tower to twelve hours. This eliminated two people from that duty. She and Keish’ar had initiated a rigorous training schedule. The beam weapons had no finite supply of ammunition, so, after hours of practice, her people were all becoming excellent shots. They were skilled at hand-to-hand and in great physical condition.
And of course they do not like me for keeping them so busy the only thing they can think of at night is sleeping.
Thanks to several excursions to arms storage locations, they had a good supply of bombs and other deadly ordinance.
She glanced at her watch and frowned. The patrol was late. A half hour passed and she was preparing to call the mission a bust and leave when she heard the armored car. It appeared two blocks away. She tensed getting ready. The plan was to explode the bomb, pour shots into the confusion and leave before the insects had time to react. Just like her teams had done a dozen times before.
Rho’naa placed her thumb on the detonator button and waited for the vehicle to get directly over the explosive. A little more, just a little more. She moved her thumb when she saw the two female Men-gar prisoners in the car.
“They have prisoners,” she whispered to the two with her. “Change of tactics.”
Just before the vehicle got to the bomb, she detonated it, creating a crater in front, but no damage to the vehicle itself. It jerked to a halt. The bug behind the large gun panned the area searching for a target. The team waited. The three insects in the rear exited and began searching in their scuttling movement.
“A little more. I’ll take out the gunner you pin down the others. Now, Sunny, now.”
The gunner’s head exploded. Sunny shot another in the head. The remaining two bugs spotted their location and returned fire. “I’ve got the one on the
left,” Rho’naa said. She took careful aim ignoring the bullets that peppered the outside walls and ricocheted around the room where they hid. She squeezed the trigger and the insect’s head vanished in a spray of blood. Seconds later the same happened to the other bug as Sunny’s shot found its target.
“That just leaves the driver. I’ll take care of it. As she spoke, she raced down the stairs with her teammates following close on her heels. “You get the prisoners,” she ordered Sunny. “Stan, you wait at the corner of the building out of the line of fire. Be ready to make two quick trips.”
They raced across the street splitting to front and rear. Leaping onto the front of the car, she aimed her pistol at the window and the bug behind the steering wheel. It was waiting and fired at the same time as she did. As its head vanished, the projectile ripped through her side.
“Drago!”
“On it.”
The agony in her side faded as Drago caused a pain drug to be released in her blood. Next, he slowed, then stopped the bleeding. At the rear, Sunny was yelling for the two Men-gar women to get out of the vehicle when she joined her.
“You’re human,” one of the women said.
“Yes, and we’re here to help you, but we must get away from here quickly before they send reinforcements,” Sunny said.
Both Men-gar women were shackled with their arms behind them. More restraints secured them at the ankles. Rho’naa took control. “My team risked their lives to save you, but we don’t have time to argue. You can come with us or stay here, wait for the bugs and to be eaten soon. Your decision, but we’re leaving.”
With a hand motion, she summoned Stan. “This one and Sunny, Go,” she told him.
He took Sunny’s hand and grabbed the woman’s arm.
We’ll be waiting up there.” She pointed to the second floor of the building they had been in. “Stan, be quick. You know how fast these things react.”
Stan winked. “Be back in a flash.” He and the two women he touched, vanished.
“What the—” the woman started as she gawked at the empty space where three people had stood a second before.
