by Saxon Andrew
Josh shook his head. What could be done to distract the surface defenses long enough to get his Weg below them? He took a deep breath, blew it out, and activated his communicator. Jek appeared and Josh said, “Is it possible to mount two mobile blasters on the hull of a transport?”
“I honestly don’t know. Why do you ask?”
“Once transports arrive, I’ll need the two blasters to fire their beams into the planet’s surface as deep as possible.”
“How deep?”
“A thousand yards would be good.”
“Do you just need one tunnel?”
“No, my Weg have told me we’re going to have to dig five.”
“FIVE!?!”
“Four passages will surround the central tunnel. The Central tunnel will be protected by the four that surround it and it will be the one to get to the Queen.”
Jek paused, “Are you saying everyone in the other four will die?”
“I’m afraid the Weg believe they will. The only thing that will prevent it is the weapons you develop to protect them.” Josh paused, “One more thing, Jek. If the Queen is in a cavern surrounded by the material used to construct their starships, do we have a weapon strong enough to penetrate it that won’t kill everyone in the passage that fires it?”
“I don’t know. We’re going to have to experiment with some of the Weg Starships we destroyed during their last invasion attempt. I’ll let you know if we come up with anything.”
“Jek, it will do us no good to dig down to her if we can’t break into that chamber.”
“Josh, if it can be done, we’ll find it. I can’t promise anything until we work on it.”
Josh nodded, “I know, Jek. I’m just under a lot of stress and I’m taking it out on you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok. I’m glad you thought about it. I’ll get back to you.”
The display went dark and Josh rubbed his temples. He activated his communicator, “Prissy, I’m coming home tonight.”
“That’s wonderful!”
“I need a break from this tension I’m feeling. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
Prissy smiled, “I have just the thing to handle tension.” Prissy looked around and smiled, “I’ll give it to you after the twins go to sleep.”
Josh smiled, “I’ll be there in an hour. I want to see them before you put them to bed.” Prissy smiled and ended the call.
Chapter Sixteen
Two week passed and Jek contacted Josh, “I’m afraid we’ve not been able to come up with anything that will penetrate the Weg hull material. Anything that does will kill everyone in the passage.”
“There has to be a way, Jek.”
“We’ve not been able to come up with anything and we’ve about run out of options.”
“They cut it to build a starship.” Josh’s eyes flew wide open and he said, “Give me a few minutes, I’ll get back to you. Josh ended the call before Jek could respond and rushed out of his residence and pulled the telepathy helmet out of a locker. He could hear the Weg in the back of his mind but as soon as he put the helmet on, the volume threatened to overwhelm him, “EVERYONE BE SILENT!” He took the helmet off and after a few moments, put it back on. Good, they heard him. I need to know how you manipulate the material you use to build your starships.”
“We don’t manipulate it.” Josh fell back in his chair and after a moment heard, “The engineers are the ones that build the starships.”
“Engineers?”
“Yes.”
“What’s an engineer?”
“They never go above ground. They have a large pincer that is used the cut the hull material.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
There was a pause and the Weg Flyer said, “You know how some of our claws glow?”
“Yes.”
“They have a pincer completely made of the glowing substance. It allows them to cut through it.”
“Please tell me there are engineers among you.”
“Yes, but not that many.”
“How many?”
“Seven hundred thousand.”
“Could they be used in the central passage?”
“Why would you need them?”
“It appears the Quee…I mean, Mother’s, Chamber is completely surrounded by that material.” The Weg was silent and Josh said, “Are the Engineers able to fight?”
“They have never been allowed to participate in defending the Mother.”
“Oh.”
Then Josh heard, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t.”
“Who just said that?”
The Flyer said, “That was one of the Engineer Leaders. They have always asked to participate but it would be a violation of our structures.”
Josh knew he was on shaky ground and needed to be careful. He thought about what to say and said, “Who determines the structures you live in?”
“Our Mother.”
“So if the one who directs you says for them to participate…”
“Then we will be allowed to participate.”
Josh thought to the Flyer, “What do you think about that?”
“I don’t have any thoughts on the subject. However, if you’re going to use the Engineers to dig…”
“What?”
“We can dig much faster than the others. Our legs and claws are much more powerful than the others.”
“Then why haven’t you been allowed to fight?”
The Flyer thought, “It would be a real waste of their intelligence. They’re too valuable to lose in defense.”
Josh thought, “If we don’t use them, they’ll be left alone here. I would think they wouldn’t want that to happen.”
“You are right. If everyone else is taking part in the coming activity, we do not want to be left behind.”
Josh thought, “I am the one directing you, right?”
Both of the Weg answered, “Yes.”
Josh thought for a moment and then asked, “Have you been listening to the plan suggested to me by the Flyer?”
“Everyone has been listening to you.”
“Do you think you can develop a better plan using you in it?”
“Give us some time and we’ll see.”
“How much time?”
“About two hours.”
“You have three. Use it wisely.” Josh took off the helmet and punched his communicator, “Jek!”
“Yes General. Why did you leave so suddenly?”
“I’ve found a way to break through the hull material.” Jek’s expression showed his skepticism. “The Weg have a species called Engineers. They are the ones that cut and mold the hull material to build their starships. I’ll get you a picture of how they appear but first I have to go and meet with them. Just focus on the weapons.”
“General, you are putting a lot of lives on the line by trusting those creatures.”
“The ones in the most danger are the Weg doing the digging. They stand to lose more than a billion in this drop.”
Jek shook his head slowly, “I’m truly thankful I don’t have to make the decisions about this.” The display went dark and Josh had to agree with him. Thousands were going to die if something went wrong. Josh closed his eyes and knew thousands were going to die even if things went right.
• • •
Josh arrived on the Weg’s planet and found the Flyer and a strange looking Weg on the surface where he had landed on the last visit. The huge Weg had to be an Engineer. The two arms on the torso were large pincers and two of the front legs were also pincers. This Weg would have to be an incredible digger. He noticed that the other Weg on the planet were silent while listening to what was being said. Josh exited Tuffy and walked over to the two creatures. “Have you developed a plan?”
“We have.”
“How does it differ from the first one?”
The Engineer thought, “There will still be five passages cut but they will not be cut the same way.”
“How will they
differ?”
“If we are cutting the passages, the defenders at the surface will not be able to catch us. Instead of using four passages to defend the central passage, they will be cut from all sides of the Mother’s Chamber. We are concerned that as we move close to the chamber, the Mother’s close defenders might attempt to move her to another location.”
Josh looked at the Flyer, “Did you consider that in your original plan?”
“It was not something we could do anything about. Getting one passage to the chamber was the only option possible. If they moved her…” The Flyer shrugged.
Josh thought about the change and turned to the Engineer, “You’re of the opinion that surrounding the chamber with five passages being dug to it will prevent moving the Mother?”
“If they do choose to move her, there will be a passage moving close to the path they choose to run. The passage being dug closest to the escape route will turn and give chase.”
“What about the others?”
“That is your decision.”
“What decisions would be possible?”
“You have used weapons against us in the past that have been effective. Perhaps you’ll have one that can be used to chase the Queen up the passage being cut for her escape.”
Josh nodded and said, “Are you saying we won’t encounter any of her children as we dig our passages?”
“Not at all. The Mother has a large personal defense around her chamber. They will be coming out to meet us as we dig toward her.”
“How large is the force?”
“It will be similar numbers to the ones digging the passages.” Josh stared at the Engineer and he thought, “It could be larger.”
Josh stared at the Engineer for a moment and said, “So she will have five times the numbers we have in any of passages we’re digging to dig an escape route. How can any of our passages manage to match their speed?”
The Engineer looked at the Flyer and Josh saw they were surprised by his question. After a moment the Flyer said, “They won’t be using Engineers to dig.”
Josh stared at them and said, “You’re telling me that our Engineers are that much faster?”
The Engineer raised and lowered his triangular head, “I believe we will be able to catch her, but catching her is just a part of it. What are you going to do when we do? They will outnumber us five to one.”
The Flyer shrugged, “They’ll still have to get through you.”
Josh looked at the two of them and said, “What do you mean by that?”
The Engineer raised his four pincers and snapped them together. The noise was incredibly loud. Josh stared at it and then the four pincers started glowing blue. He snapped them again and the bright flash was incredibly bright, “They will have difficulty getting through us. However, the numbers are on their side.”
Josh thought for a moment and looked at the two Weg as he said, “Will they be collapsing the passage behind them as they move the Mother?”
The two Weg looked at each other and the Flyer looked at the Engineer, “He would know more about this.”
The Engineer was silent for a moment and then said, “I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“The Mother is going to be panicked and fearful of losing her life. She will also be running from the eggs that haven’t hatched. I don’t think she would close the passage preventing her from sending defenders to protect her eggs.”
Josh nodded, “Will she be leaving defenders behind to defend her eggs?”
“She’ll try. However, the defenders will hear her panic and will be driven to defend her ahead of the eggs. If she survives, there will be more eggs to replace any that are lost.”
“And if the Mother orders a force to remain behind?” Both Weg shrugged at the same moment. Josh lowered his head, “What will her Engineers be doing while this is taking place?”
The Engineer said, “They’ll be doing what we were doing when you killed our Mother.”
“What is that?”
“Those in the Chamber will be standing around watching what’s happening.”
Josh nodded and said, “One last question. Does this plan have you collapsing the passages behind you?”
The Engineer moved his head up and down, “It does. If the defenders from the surface break into our passages, they will catch up to us before we can reach the Mother.”
Josh said, “And the walls came a tumbling down.”
“What?”
“I’m sending my children with you. It will be their duty to prevent them from rushing through the passages.”
The Flyer thought, “Your children are surface dwellers. They will be in our domain underground and will not be able to do it. They’ll be pulled through the walls of the passages and killed. You should consider that before you send them down with us.”
“They’ll have to go.”
The two Weg looked at each other before the Flyer turned back to Josh, “Why?”
“Because we’re going to need a weapon to kill the Mother once we break into the Chamber.”
The two looked at each other again and the Engineer said, “I’ll think about that.”
Josh nodded and said, “Divide everyone into five groups to cut the passages. I’ll get back to you later on about what we’re going to do about collapsing the walls.”
• • •
Kim found Bart in Freddy’s Freeloaders drinking a beer at the bar. She looked around and saw many Special Force Warriors scattered around the room and she could tell they were discussing the coming drop. She saw Bart was sitting alone and she walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, “Is this seat taken?” Bart looked over his shoulder and shook his head. “What’s bothering you, Bart?”
“Nothing!”
“I know you like the back of my hand and you’ve not been your usual grumpy self. What’s going on?”
Bart sighed and started slowly shaking his head, “I didn’t know this promotion would lead to me losing my partner.”
Kim stared at Bart and bit the corner of her top left lip. She sat down and looked at the bartender, “I’ll take what he’s drinking.”
The bartender shook his head, “I never thought anyone else would drink beer and tequila.”
Kim’s eyes widened and she looked at Bart. She turned back to the bartender and said, “Just leave out the tequila.”
“You’re a wise woman.”
“Bart, that stuff will mess you up.”
Bart turned and looked her in the eyes, “That is the intention of drinking it!”
“Well, put it down for a moment; I have something I want to discuss with you.”
Bart pushed the glass away and saw something was going on, “What have you found out?”
“You know that I’ve been talking with Colonel Adams.”
Bart shook his head, “No, I didn’t. When did that start?”
“Soon after you gave me the link to receive her news. I sent her a question on one of the articles she published and she contacted me directly to discuss it. We’ve become friends after we started talking.”
“So?”
“She shared some news about the coming drop that involves us.”
Bart looked at Kim and said, “Us?”
“Yes. We won’t be dropping together.” Bart turned around and reached for his glass. “You and I will be dropping with the Weg, not the Spartan Divisions.”
Bart’s hand stopped before it reached his glass. His eyebrows came together and he shook his head, “Are you sure about that?”
“That’s the plan at the moment.”
Bart snickered and blew out a breath, “Now that’s a prescription for suicide if I’ve ever seen one.” Bart paused and then what Kim said made it into his consciousness, “Are you telling me the Spartan Divisions won’t be going in with the Weg!?”
Kim put her hand over Bart’s mouth, “Not so loud. This is a Spartan Security Top Secret.” Kim removed her hand and said, “There won’t be room for
them in the passages that’s going to be cut to the Queen.”
“Then why are we going?”
“We won’t be alone. Five Special Forces companies will go in with the Weg to try and keep a way open for the Alliance Personnel going in with them to escape.”
Bart stared at her and after a moment said, “One company for each passage?”
Kim’s eyes narrowed, “How did you know there were going to be five passages?”
“Col. LaFyete asked me to try on a new type of armor. I saw there were five different markings on the ones in the building. That had to mean they were going to be used in five different locations.”
“I don’t know about that but there will be five passages cut into the planet.”
Bart started shaking his head, “Kim, that armor was huge. The power generators were stacked in the leg and chest sections. I was as tall as a Gracken when I put it on and the combat helmet was built into the body armor.”
“It’s going to be sealed and produce air for the occupant to wear. I know that was a requirement for those following the Weg.”
“Why?”
Kim took a deep breath and looked around. She leaned in and said, “There is a real possibility that the passages maybe collapsed or choked behind the diggers.”
“Now you’re scaring me.”
“The Weg have told General Adams that if they’re not collapsed, the Weg on the planet will come rushing down them and overtake the diggers going after the Queen.”
Bart stared at her and reached for his glass. Kim put her hand on his arm and said, “Bart, please don’t.”
Bart sighed, “I’m not drunk, Kim. But I damn sure need to be now.”
“Why?”
Bart took a long swallow of his drink and said, “Do you remember what the area around the force field looked like on our first drop with General Adams?” Kim thought for a moment and as Bart said, “How tall was the mound of dead Weg outside the Alliance lines?” Her eyes went wide and Bart took another drink. He shook his head and said, “If that many Weg charge down that passage, even if we could stop them, they would choke that tunnel closed. Going underground will be a one way trip.”
