Counter Spike

by Viola Grace

  It is time to take the battle to the aliens, and a weapon to pluck them out of the sky is on the agenda.

  With a grasp of the situation and a weapon that can reach a descending ship required, the engineers get to go back to doing what they do best. Those who aren’t designing have the past coming up to bite them, the pilots are getting tired of the run to the city.

  Learning that alien hostages were held in stasis under the city seems to be just one more thorn in the sides of the pilots, but what they discover opens everything that they thought they knew into complete and shocking light.

  The future may be interesting, but the honest past will shock them to their cores.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Counter Spike

  Copyright © 2018 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-4874-1225-8

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books Inc or

  Devine Destinies, an imprint of eXtasy Books Inc

  Look for us online at:

  www.eXtasybooks.com or www.devinedestinies.com

  Counter Spike

  Innate Wright Book 5

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Xaia walked into her workspace, and she blushed. “Please pardon the mess. I had to leave in a hurry.”

  The other six pilots and the Otta elder were following her, so she moved some of her smaller projects from her station, and she went to the drawing board.

  “Please let me know if you have any ideas for weapons, and Elder Lameera, if you could let me know if we want them alive or not?” Xaia winced as she asked the last question.

  The question had to be asked.

  Elder Lameera cocked her head and said, “We will attempt to banish them and send them back to orbit if you can find a way to manage it.”

  Xaia paused. “Okay. That might not be possible, but I am just going to start bringing out a list of approved and forbidden inventions. If anyone sees anything that they feel they can work with, sing out.”

  The other women looked bemused, so Xaia started to bring up her creations and those of other women in the repair and design department.

  * * * *

  Duel looked at the lists of weaponry and a chair that offered backrubs, and she glanced around the table.

  “I would like to make a suggestion.”

  Xaia looked hopeful. “Did you find something?”

  “No, I mean maybe. If I could just ask everyone here...” She drew in a deep breath. “I think we should send the message.”

  Lameera cocked her head. “What message?”

  “The members of the Nine wanted a message sent to their people. They still want that message sent. We should send it.” She looked around the group.

  Corbyn said, “What if they attack?”

  Duel wrinkled her nose and waved at the table. “I hate to say it, but I think we will be ready for them.”

  Lameera said, “Let me think about it.”

  “No.”

  Everyone stared in surprise.

  “No, this is the right thing to do. Contacting their people, letting them know that they are still alive and are being woken from stasis in the next few days, this will make our generation more sympathetic now than if we wait to see if we win or not. I don’t want them forgotten in our triumph.”

  Lameera drummed her fingers on the table. “You are so sure you will win?”

  “I am. With this team, we will not stop at anything to keep our people alive, and each one for a different reason.” Duel took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she said, “Their people need to know. Our people would demand to know if we disappeared. No one goes missing without folk knowing that they are walking the sands or just leaving for the brights.”

  Lameera’s expression twisted, and she took in a deep breath. “Fine. Have Kab send the message. We are finally willing to act like we own this planet, so we need to own our past behaviours.”

  Duel whispered to Kab, “Did you get that?”

  “I did.”

  She kept her head down. “Can you send it?”

  “I can. I have her codes. I just have to contact the sleepers to find out what they want to say. This could take a few minutes.”

  She looked up with a smile. “He is on it. We should have an update shortly. Now, let’s pick a weapon with interchangeable ammunition. We need something that the bots can drop and pick up, even if it isn’t theirs.”

  Lido blinked. “You think they will drop their weapons?”

  “I think that these are warships and arms get shot off.”

  Xaia smiled. “I think I have something. It was originally used for inoculating plants.”

  She flicked rapidly through the files that were projected, and the rest of them waited.

  * * * *

  Lido watched Xaia flick through her records, and she whistled sharply when she saw the file. “The Saweta fertilizer shot. That is my vote for weaponry.”

  Xaia blinked and pulled the file. “That won’t work for transmission.”

  Lido smiled and spun the file to her, opening the pages. “It is the delivery system. We are going to need a means to adhere the nanites to the metal. This can be loaded with a priming shot.”

  The long spear had a capsule and a pointed tube at the business, end and the long handle allowed a strike of several feet deep.

  Lido enlarged the tube, and she flicked it upward. “We can adapt that into a delivery system. If we are using nanites, they won’t enjoy a percussion propulsion.”

  Xaia stood, and she blinked for a moment. “That’s right. It’s why we use magnets for most propulsion.”

  Xaia changed her search criteria and looked for a whole new set of files.

  * * * *

  Hima cleared her throat. “Speaking of primers, you are going to need an energy source to keep the nanites replicating. I am guessing that you are looking for a means to envelope the ship so we can gain control?”

  Xaia paused again. “That is a great idea. I don’t have any specific plans. I just know that time is a factor.”

  “Well, we would have to accelerate the replication in the nanites, so we need a food source. I am very good at watching rapid development.” She smiled

  The other pilots and Lameera laughed.

  “So, what do we have for food sources or energy packs?”

  Nyvett smiled. “The ships. The worm bots. The carriers. The Tokkel fuel sources can be used to feed the nanites.”

  Hima wrinkled her nose. “We are going to need programmers to write the code for that and for the control replication, and still, we need enough to actually make the weapons.”

  Lameera nodded at her. “We can manage it.”

  Xaia smiled. “I have a program already that can be altered for the energy consumpt
ion for replication. We just need a factory nodule in each weapon.”

  Lameera looked at her. “If I send you programmers, can you get to work?”

  “I can.”

  Nyvett said, “I can pull the power supplies.”

  Hima nodded, “Me, too.”

  Corbyn said, “To speed things up, I will start shredding the scrap metal into pieces for the reclamation.”

  Kiida added, “Me, too. Shredding seems like fun.”

  Duel looked like she was about to speak when Hima watched her stop with her eyes wide. “The message is going.”

  * * * *

  Fire burned along her nerves as she got the message, and Kab used her to store the extra power that he needed before he sent a bolt into the sky.

  She stumbled as every spark in her nervous system shorted out, and she headed for the floor.

  Corbyn and Kiida caught her and pulled her upright. They looked concerned, and it took her a few moments to realize that they were speaking to her.

  “Are you all right?”

  She smiled. “Why do people ask if you are all right, when you are obviously not all right?” She sighed and leaned forward to brace herself on a non-responsive part of the table.

  Lameera leaned toward her. “What did the message say?”

  Duel gave her a tired look. “The message said, Thirty survivors from the exploration ship, Erihan. Medical stasis was necessary. Recovery is total. Most locals are friendly. Asuul is eager to speak to his family again.” She grunted, “And then what I can only guess is our coordinates.”

  Lameera blinked. “That was it? Nothing tactical?”

  “No. Of course not. Oh, Kab got the codes to the satellite, so the message is already moving.”

  Lameera’s mouth opened in shock. “How did you get those...”

  Duel grimaced. “I didn’t do it. Kab did it. From what he has told me, he has always had them.”

  Duel took a few deep breaths. “Well, I am ready to get shredding metal if everyone agrees.”

  Xaia held up her hands. “We haven’t chosen a weapon yet.”

  Corbyn leaned forward and picked a few items, pulling them together in the display. “Would that work?”

  “Oh, that would work very well, indeed.” Xaia looked at the items gathered in the centre of the display. “Now it is just a matter of scale.”

  Duel grinned. “We will leave that to you. Call if you need anything; we have spaceships to shred.”

  She paused and looked at Lameera. “If we have your leave to get to work, Elder?”

  “Go. Go.” Lameera flapped her hands.

  Duel nodded and ran through the halls with the others at her side. There wasn’t a moment to lose. Midnight would be there before they knew it.

  Chapter Two

  Breaking out of the halls and into proper daylight with wind blowing around her felt like an escape.

  Kiida was amazed that she spent her life in the illuminated halls of the sanctuary beneath Bot City, and now, she wanted to be out where she could see the light and landscape firsthand.

  Dif was waiting for her, and like the others, she ran across the churned and bloody ground to her bot.

  He leaned down and extended his hand toward her. She took a running jump and hopped onto the edge of his smallest finger before she swung her legs up and onto his palm.

  Dif lifted her up and held his palm to the door in his chest for her to enter. She stepped inside and put her hands on her hips. “Well, how do I look?”

  He observed, “You know I could see your reflection when you were in the city beneath?”

  She blushed. “I had forgotten about that part. Please, tell me you didn’t record it.”

  “I would never. It is simply stored next to my landscapes.”

  Kiida sighed and got into the pilot’s cradle, letting it support her as the tendrils of wires and sensors fastened to her body.

  “Oh, the headset.”

  She moved her wrapped arms carefully, and the wire allowed her enough play to remove her headset with its eyepiece and earpiece as well as the neural connection at the back. A tendril descended under Dif’s control, and she hooked the set on it, watching it rise as she leaned back for the direct connection to her bot.

  She felt the cool and then warm rush of the connection, and she quirked her lips. “How many times can I do that before I get brain damage?”

  Dif seemed surprised. “No damage, but you would begin to develop portions of your brain that other members of your species would not.”

  She remembered what she had learned from the memories of Otta. He had enjoyed every moment with his bot, even snuck around his father to apply for the program. Once Otta had qualified, his father had surrendered to the inevitable and helped him with the adaptations he would need to be a pilot.

  “Adaptations? I don’t understand.”

  Dif asked, “Aren’t we supposed to be working?”

  She blinked and sat up slightly. “Oh. Right. Let’s head for the scrap pile.”

  They started walking, and ahead, Iff and Len were making good time as they headed for the pile.

  Kiida had to ask him one more thing. “Are the Nine mad about us using their nanites for everything?”

  “No. They couldn’t be.”

  “Why not? I would be pissed.” Kiida nodded her chin though no one else could see her.

  “The nanites were not their discovery. They are a human invention that began before there were colony ships, and then, they turned into the means to do medical procedures. From there, they simply got smaller and smaller until the material replication became an option.”

  She blinked and then sighed in relief. “Well, that is something.”

  “It was. In fact, Otta’s mother altered the nanites so that they could create the connection between bot and man. She also altered the men.”

  Kiida scowled. “That isn’t mentioned in the history.”

  “I am aware of that. Her daughter, Adreada Lead, was one of the founders of the valley.”

  Her eyes widened. “That is a name I know very well. She was a bioengineer, and she worked to find local minerals and proteins for her people to eat. She was fixated on making the valley self-sufficient. She was also the first elder of the Otta clan.”

  Dif murmured as they arrived at their destination, “I believe you will find that most of the first elders of your valley will be traced back to the lines of the pilots.”

  “That is...” She thought about the women that she knew, the drive, the intelligence, and the determination to keep their duty in view at all times. Sure, there were those who cheated on their partners or stole, but the social cost of such acts kept that activity to a minimum, or they got very good at hiding it.

  There were few if any luxuries in the valley and that kept everyone on an even footing from birth. To think that they had more in common than that was mindboggling.

  “Wait, if we all have pilot bloodlines from our mothers, why did we get shipments from the city?”

  “I can’t answer that. I don’t know who the donors were.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “You know that I am going to have to go through this when we get finished with this mess.”

  “I know. I wish you luck. Please, let me know what the answer is.”

  Kiida watched Len and Iff carefully pulling the power sources out of the rubble and discarding the rest. She moved over to the pile and had Dif crouch down. She took a chunk in his fingers and shredded the pieces into the size that would fit in the manufacturing equipment.

  It was tedious work, but the sun wasn’t going to halt its march. They had to get this finished.

  * * * *

  Hima examined each piece of rubble carefully before she grasped the power cell and pulled it free. She was focusing on the worm bots and examining how the power cells were connected to the main computer that powered the engine. If she was careful, she could remove three different ce
lls from each worm bot. Many of the cells were damaged, but it was their contents and not their function that they were after. When she had a pile of the cells, she looked around for a destination, and the familiar whirring of a digger got her attention.

  A woman with protective gear was driving one of the hall diggers, and when she pulled her vehicle forward, more women came out, pushing deep carts that usually held dirt or other materials for the fabricators.

  “I think I need to head out for a chat.”

  “Wait a moment. Kab is getting a transmission from the ground.”

  There was a heartbeat of silence, and then, the call came through. “Pilots, we are arranging delivery of receptacles for the power cells and the scrap metal. As each is filled, they will be replaced. Keep an eye out for us down here. We are smaller than you are.”

  Hima smiled. “Understood.”

  She carefully took a handful of the power cells and set them in the container. It was an easy start to what was going to be a very tedious few hours.

  * * * *

  Kab was too close to the other bots to lean down to get her, so Duel took the lift. It wasn’t a race, but it felt like one.

  “Well, Kab, you should have seen the look on Lameera’s face.”

  “I did see it. She was not pleased. I should have told her that I have had access to the codes since I arrived in the valley.”

  “I think she might have had a seizure.” Duel smiled as she opened the door to the lift and stepped onto the command deck.

  “She is made of sturdy stuff.”

  Duel chuckled, and she wandered over to the pilot’s cradle. “I am getting the feeling that we all are. It is becoming more apparent by the moment.”

  “I can hear the humming of communication beneath me. The valley inhabitants are excited.”