by Barlow,M
“Nothing, that part sucks. But you know we go out for beers afterwards is fun.”
Mara rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I’d kill for a drink after training.”
“Everything is better with beer.”
“It’s difficult for me to smile, pat their backs, and tell them what a fine job they’ve been doing. They slack, thinking that being enhanced meant they don’t have to work hard. We don’t have the time, and I don’t have the patience.”
Nick smiled. “Try it.”
“Fine, but the next time one of the tough guys tells me ‘I never fought a girl before’, I’ll break his neck.”
“I told Dana she was tough for a girl right before I asked her out.”
Mara chuckled. “You’re worse than this machine.”
Training never bothered her. In fact, she enjoyed it. It was her outlet. What bothered her was her mother, and what that Manakari pilot told her about her mother.
“Hey, watch the eyes,” Nick said and waved his hand before her face.
Her eyes glowed as she thought of her mother. She calmed herself.
Nick looked around to make sure no one noticed before he watched her. “What’s bothering you?”
“I told you.”
“C’mon, I saw you after those jerk wads destroyed your world. You look worse.”
Mara ignored the slot machine and turned her chair around to face him. “I’m confused.”
“That’s a first.”
She gave him a stern look. “The alien I captured in the Philippines told me we’d started the war. He said my mother had launched a pre-emptive strike on his planet. He said that she chased down the survivors and killed them in cold blood.”
“Holy crap, you caused this? You’re the bad guys?”
“Could be.”
“That’s rough. The next beer is on me.”
“Dana is changing you,” Mara said with a faint smile. “We’re preparing to go to war with the Manakaris. I need every reason to hate them. A while back, I had plenty. Now, I’m struggling to find a reason to feed the hate and keep fighting.”
“And your mother is in a coma. She can’t confirm or deny.”
Mara nodded. “We couldn’t move her to the US.”
“What about the Manakaris you’ve faced?”
“They’re aggressive, but I can’t tell if they’ve always been this way, or if things changed after my mother invaded their world.”
“Is there a way to find out?”
“If my mother remains ill, I’ll find out in two years, and by then, it’ll be too late.”
Nick scratched his stubble. “Then don’t make it about them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ok, think about it this way. They will attack Earth, massacre us, and kill you and your family.”
Mara nodded.
“That’s it. Their hate and anger aren’t going away, and their plans won’t change. Figure out what you need to do to stop that from happening.”
“Fight until my core goes dark.”
“Then do that,” Nick said, “I haven’t told you this, but my dad, he’s a gambler, and my mother enables him. He lost a lot of money, and he’s always asking for my help.”
“You have no money.”
Nick glared at her. “I have some, but I’d like to spend it on school, beer, and dates. But they’re my family, so I help them. I look at my rich friends, I see their families handing them money, and I hate mine a little.”
“I would.”
Nick smiled. “You are.”
“What’s your point? I need to get over it?”
“No, I’m trying to say you’re not alone. All families are awful in a way. You need to find a way to forgive your mother if she started this.”
Mara said nothing. Korrans’ long lives came at a price. Hate, anger, and resentment lasted hundreds of years. In a way, humans were blessed.
Nick continued. “Also, not to state the obvious, but that pilot could be lying to get inside your head.”
“I suppose.”
“Another beer?” Nick asked.
“No, I’ll head to the base. I lost my money.”
*****
Mara returned to Area 51 and went straight to Shara’s room. The lights were on, so she knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Shara’s said.
Mara pushed the door open and entered. “What are you doing?”
“I’m analyzing the antimatter launcher.”
Mara glanced at what used to be a powerful weapon. Now, it was at least twenty small parts arranged on a metal table. “We won’t have enough soldiers to take the Manakaris in straight combat.”
“I figured as much,” Shara said, pointing at the launcher. “Judging by this, their technology is quite impressive.”
“That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. Do you think we can teleport humans with our warping devices?”
Shara’s eyes narrowed and dimmed. “To what end?”
“Between battleships and from Earth to battleships.”
“You’re insane. But I’ll look into it.”
“And see how far you can stretch the teleportation distance.”
Shara’s eyes dimmed more. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
Mara ambled around the room until she stopped between the bed and the window. “I spoke with Jessica, the Secretary of State, earlier today, and I realized I’m not giving it my all.”
“Whatever we before, we more than paid for it. But, I’ve grown fond of this planet, and I’m sure you have too. We can’t let the Manakaris destroy it.”
“Sometimes I forget how smart you are.”
Shara’s face flushed, and she tried to change the topic. “So what were you thinking for strategy?”
“Three-stage fight. A bomb, a main force, and a backup force. If you can warp humans, we’ll use infiltration teams in space and on Earth.”
“That’s dangerous. Not to mention we don’t know if our technology can teleport humans.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure something out. We must neutralize the Manakaris’ antimatter launchers.”
“We can’t use ours either.”
Mara shrugged. “Maybe, but we can use this strategy within the solar system without destroying Earth.”
“Can you train this many soldiers by yourself?”
“No, I’ll borrow enhanced soldiers from Australia to help me.”
“This planet is changing you. You never worked with us, and now you work with everyone.”
“Well, you’ve always been busy with your science, and Alissara—though a fine pilot—always preferred caring for flowers to fighting.”
“True, but remember our garden?”
Mara chuckled. “It was gorgeous. I’m surprised she hasn’t started a patch on the base.”
“She’s changed.”
Mara nodded. She was busy enhancing and training the soldiers, and Shara was busy building the battleships and drives, Alissara became withdrawn. On Korr, she would’ve never lasted this long by herself. Mara was too caught up in her own head, she’d forgotten her little sister. Besides, Alissara had always been the closest to her mother who lay unconscious in another country.
“When we get a chance, we’ll go to Egypt. She made a friend in there.”
Shara smiled. “She told me. A young Egyptian girl.”
“Well, I should rest. I’ll start the training early tomorrow.”
*****
Bitter Work
April 14, 2031
The next morning, Mara set to commission infiltration training. Her first stop was General David’s office. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but he looked like he’d been up for hours.
“You have a minute?” Mara asked.
“What can I do for you?” He asked and motioned her to take a seat.
“I’m fine. I need a large airship for training. It doesn’t have to be functional.”
“Wh
en do you need it?”
“Now.”
“We don’t keep any airships on base for security reasons,” General David said and thought for a moment. He got up from behind his desk. “They decommissioned a few ships in Arizona. I’ll ask the base commander to send us one. Give me a couple of hours.”
“Thank you!”
Mara left the room and took the elevator to the surface. Snow covered the ground around the building, but it was a thin layer of ice that would melt before midday.
The Navy Seals were doing their morning training. She approached the commander of the unit. She greeted him and got straight to the point.
“Commander, I want to start an infiltration training campaign. Your men are prime candidates if it’s okay with you.”
“Of course, how many do you need?”
“Five at a time.”
“You got it.”
Minutes later, she hovered above the freezing desert next to the base with five soldiers. They were the first enhanced team of US soldiers. They were Navy Seals which Nick claimed was a big deal.
“I chose you because of your Close Quarters Combat experience,” Mara said, looking at their calm faces. “This is the start of infiltration training. You will not fight from the safety of your battleships. You will get into the enemy’s ships and take them from the inside.”
Small micro expressions gave away the tension that’d been building up as she spoke. They hid it well. Mara recalled her conversation with Nick last night.
Be assuring. Smile. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We’ll start with a simple mission. I will go inside a large airship. I want you to rush in through the open door and get past me. Your target is to grab a small flag from behind me. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the soldiers yelled.
“It’s Mara, but it doesn’t matter as long as you can get the flag.”
“Where is the ship?” The leader of the small band soldiers asked.
She put on a serious face and pointed to the space behind her. “It’s in front of you. I cloaked it to simulate actual combat experience.”
Their eyes widened. They tried to figure out how to break into an invisible ship.
Mara smiled. They were priceless. “The ship will arrive in half an hour,” she joked. The soldiers chuckled nervously.
Once the ship arrived, Mara walked into the door with the flag. She planted it at the rear of the ship, then she hovered facing the door. When a minute passed and nothing happened, she exited the ship where the soldiers lined up outside the way she left them.
“What are you waiting for?”
“A signal,” the team leader said.
She shook her head and gritted her teeth. “What’s your name, Captain?”
“Dean, Ma’am.”
“Dean, once I enter the ship, you attack.”
The soldiers activated their defensive shields. They exchanged nervous looks before they made up their mind. Mara headed back inside the ship. This time, they followed her. She could hear their hasty steps on the sand, then the metal before the five of them rushed inside. They raised their hands and attacked her with power waves from every angle. The attack was precise, powerful but didn’t take her down.
“Remember, you can’t catch the flag if you destroy it. And if you blow up a ship in space, you die.”
The men formed a tight, defensive formation and sprinted toward her. They attacked her with smaller, more focused power waves. They used a form of jumping, punching, and kicking. It looked potent, but proved futile.
A clever distraction.
Four soldiers attacked her while the fifth snuck in to her right. He was a meter away from the flag when she saw him.
A part of her was impressed the soldiers devised a simple, yet effective strategy on a short notice and commended them. The other part didn’t like losing and wanted to crush them.
Mara blazed to the end of the ship. She pushed her palm through the soldier’s chest. The power wave knocked him back to the small door where he entered the airship.
She pushed her hands forward and sent power waves toward the rest of the team. As her attack caused them to lose balance, she generated orbs that tracked their bodies and burst, rendering them unconscious.
Not bad. Other soldiers rushed into the combat area to carry their comrades’ limp bodies away.
Mara landed on the ground and walked toward the rest of the unit. “Next team.”
She’d expected the result. It was hard to imagine five recently enhanced soldiers could take her on in straight combat.
One team after another failed to reach the flag. When the day ended, she contacted Gabriel Wu in Australia and asked him to send a unit of well-trained, enhanced soldiers to the US.
*****
Next morning, Mara faced the same unit. She concocted a new strategy. After yesterday’s trials, she decided to start small and put the soldiers in a more realistic scenario.
“Today, you’ll go against each other,” Mara said. “Inside the airship, ten well-trained Australian soldiers are waiting. I need you to go in, five soldiers at a time, and get the flag.”
Five soldiers split from the unit.
Mara smiled. She gave them these colorful bruises yesterday afternoon. They had the spirit, but did they have the tenacity and ingenuity to get the job done? Only one way to find out.
“Go,” she said, her voice calm.
Manakaris’ ghost ships carried a few soldiers. Their battleships carried hundreds of soldiers. And their Imperial ship carried at least a thousand soldiers on board. They weren’t likely to match the Manakaris numbers. She had to be cunning. Five or ten trained soldiers could be a force to be reckoned with. They could take down battleships in minutes.
A soldier’s body was tossed outside the airship. There were still four inside the ship. Another got thrown out. Three left. Scratch that, two left. Unless there were only two Australian soldiers left standing inside the airship, the Seals’ cause was lost. Another body flew out, and a second later, the last one joined them.
Okay, maybe these five soldiers weren’t ready to storm battleships, yet.
The Australian team left the airship—all ten of them. Months of training paid off. The Australian soldiers improved. Americans would, too.
“All right, in light of this less than ideal outcome, I want ten soldiers to storm the airship this time.”
Once the Navy Seals were comfortable taking on the defenders, she’d stack the odds against them again.
*****
Shara looked at a hologram of the first US battleship. Everything was to the designs she provided except for one small detail—small yet important.
“What do you think is wrong with this design?”
The engineer lifted his shoulder for a second before he relaxed them when he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the ship. “Nothing, I guess.”
“How do you plan to fire the antimatter launcher?”
“Well, I don’t really know—”
Shara’s eyes smoldered, but she contained her anger and pointed at the cannon. “This weapon right here.”
“I suppose one of the—”
“You overlooked the retractable plate. Once they fire the weapon, it will destroy the ship.”
The man slapped his forehead. “Sorry I don’t know how—”
Her eyes were lighting up again. She motioned him to stop talking. “Fix it.”
The engineer nodded and left. He was so nervous he almost hit Alissara on the way out.
Alissara walked in and gave the engineer a sympathetic look. “Why didn’t you just shoot him?”
“I have considered it. He neglected to add a retractable plate for the antimatter launcher.”
Alissara’s brows lifted for a second before she shook her head. “I guess he had it coming! Have you been here the whole time?”
“Yes, I have so much to do. The ship production is behind schedule, and I still need to figure out the teleportation mechanism.”
“No, you need a break. Come with me.”
“Are you insane? I’m not going anywhere.”
Alissara scowled. “Do you want me to throw one of my tantrums?”
The idea was terrifying. Alissara’s last tantrum destroyed her lab on Korr.
“Fine. Where are we going?” Shara asked with a don’t-you-dare-do-it smile.
“We’re taking the night off.”
“An entire night? Maybe you should throw your tantrum. It’ll take less time to rebuild.”
Alissara grabbed her hand and dragged her outside the room. “Reno. Mara is there.”
“I thought she was training the soldiers.”
“She was, but she, too, hit a wall.”
“So she left?”
“Yes, she is meeting her friend which is better than yelling at poor, overworked engineers.”
Shara glared at her. “Don’t we need disguises?”
“And passports. I’m young, not stupid. I have you covered. Now, stop asking questions.”
Shara closed her eyes and gave up. Whatever Alissara wanted, she got. She followed Alissara into her room. On her bed there were pants and sweatshirts.
“Do we have to wear these?”
“Yes, Mara wears those when she goes to the city, and I have makeup to make you look like the girls in Reno.”
“I’m sure the Manakaris are shaking.”
Alissara’s eyes glowed. “Hush!”
*****
“I’ll meet them before I head back. I have a test tomorrow,” Nick said.
Mara smiled. “That’s fine, but first, look at this.”
“Five hundred dollars? You need to cash out. Don’t give it back to the house.”
“I don’t know who the house is, but I won’t,” Mara said and cashed out her small fortune. Her first winning night, and she’d make sure it stayed that way.
“C’mon, I’ll walk you to the cashier.”
They made their way to the cashier area. Five glass windows with people sitting behind them. She slid her ticket in a small opening at the bottom. The man handed her five hundred dollars.
Mara waved it in front of Nick.
He smiled. “Well done. Now, you’re lucky.”
She handed him the money. “You are, too.”
He pushed her hand away. “No, that’s your money. You can’t give money away.”
“I don’t need it. Spend it on Dana or give it to your family.”
