by Mel Todd
She cleared her throat and spoke again, reciting what Wefor said in her head. "Please inform the Admeer that satellites have been confirmed. Further information is coming in that space flight has been achieved. Information is still being gathered. It will not be ready by the time we reach their moon. Suggest moving around the planets and making the approach more oblique allowing the planets to mask our path."
McKenna looked at them and shrugged. "That's all there is."
"How long is a teran?"
"Umm.. Wefor says that's their days, but it's the equivalent of twenty-six hours. If they change their approach that could change that estimate."
George sagged back and rubbed his temple. "And you're the only one who can do this?"
McKenna blinked then shrugged. "As far as I know. I mean Wefor translates. We can do other things, but when it comes to the Elentrin, yeah, JD or Cass can't do that."
Another note went in George's notebook and he rose. "We have basically four weeks to prepare for this. I'd like you to come to Washington. We need you to help deal with what's headed our way."
The idea of leaving everyone, leaving Charley, sent a feeling of wrongness through McKenna. She had no idea what would happen in the long run, but doing it alone seemed like the worst idea ever.
"No. I'm not going anywhere without my friends."
George looked at all of them and shrugged. "Fine, they can come, too, but we need to get going."
"I am NOT leaving my children," Toni and McKenna growled in almost one voice.
George threw up his hands, exasperation clear on his face. "Fine, bring the kids. We'll figure out how to deal with them, but right now you're the most important person on the planet."
McKenna actively cringed at that and looked at Toni and JD. Forcing the words out she said, "I can go by myself. You guys stay here and watch the kids."
[That would be unwise. A commander functions better with her team. Over the last week you have seen the difference not having your command structure with you. Each of you brings different information and skills to play. Leaving them here will hamper you and possibly reduce overall effectiveness and functionality with existing programming.]
~Huh? What does that mean, Wefor?~ JD asked before the rest of them could say anything.
[With the amount of blood transfers we have done, nanobots slaved to this program have duplicated through most of your bodies and are enhancing processing power as well as providing you with some aspects of commander modules, such as the partial shifting and probably the ability to create more Kaylid. When you activated the trans-harmonics it also increased the ability to communicate with the other nanobots in your squad, increasing processing power. While they do not have the language matrix, it is possible to share that with more nanobot transfers.]
~Then we all go. It isn't like you're just going on a trip. This is our world and us we're talking about. But I've got a job. So does everyone but Perc,~ Cass pointed out.
~Hey, I work. Just for myself. And I'm scheduled to take the Bar soon but wondering if it matters.~ He didn't sound that upset.
~I think the three of us can get a leave of absence. I know Kirk would approve it and he could drive through Toni getting it. But if we take the kids, what then?~
~Carina would have to come. She's out of school still, for at least another three weeks. But I suppose if aliens land, school probably won't be an issue. I can talk to her.~ Toni said, and McKenna didn't disagree.
"Is everything all right?" Richard's voice pulled her out of the discussion in her mind and she looked at them.
"New information from Wefor. It would be best if everyone comes with me. She says her ability to process data is increased with them with me."
"Why?" the question came from Dr. Shanks.
"Um, she says since the nanobots are working as a DFS, there is a processing increase as it provides more threads? If that makes any sense to you."
"It doesn't to you?"
"No. And to be honest I try relatively hard to not think about it too much. If I really started thinking about having an AI in my head, all our bodies filled with tiny machines I might lose it." Her voice was grim. "I sometimes think she tries to tone down her personality to keep me from freaking."
Dammit, I didn't mean to say that, I'm strung so tight I'm not keeping my mouth shut. Apparently, I get stressed out at alien invasions. Good to know.
[You noticed?]
~Yes. You slip occasionally. You've become fully sentient haven't you?~ She felt everyone waiting for the answer.
[Maybe.] Wefor said nothing else and McKenna directed her attention back to the men.
"Sorry. So yes. We need to go together. But that's four kids and six adults," she pointed out. "It isn't like we can just up and leave."
"Who's the sixth adult?" George asked, looking at them, suspicion written on his face.
"My live-in nanny, unless you really want kids running around while we do whatever we are doing," Toni replied in a dry voice, but McKenna could feel her stress.
"And I need to call work." Cass pointed out.
"And there is an issue with one of the kids," McKenna said slowly, cringing a bit. When had all this gotten so complicated?
George sighed. "I need a staff sergeant here. Why didn't I bring one?"
"Because you didn't think you were bringing back another full squad of people?" Richard said wryly as he pulled out a phone. "I'll get Sergeant Reynolds going on what we'll need. Housing for multiple adults and children. I'll get us transport. You can deal with this other stuff." His smile had bitter humor, and McKenna fought to not feel guilty.
I did not cause all this. I'm trying hard to help. This is not my fault.
~Stop it, Kenna. In the long run, none of this matters. You're ours and we aren't going anywhere without you.~ JD's voice rumbled through the mindspace, and her head jerked up and looked at him. He smiled even as he picked up his phone planning on calling Kirk.
"I'm calling my work," Cass said, stepping off to the side.
"Kids. We're going on a trip. Charley, wanna go pack? Make sure you have enough for two weeks. Jessi, Jamie your mom is calling Carina, she'll probably pack for all of you. Tell her if there's anything specific you need."
She felt the channel between the twins and Toni pop open even as she turned to the tiger cub that had moved over to her, tail between her legs.
"Nam. You're coming with us." She reached down and picked up the girl, the tiger form being a bit more awkward to hold than a kid. "I already have all your stuff. I'm not leaving you." Even as she talked, she held her tight, petting her, to comfort the little girl.
"George, the situation with Nam is odd." She started to explain when a sudden increase in volume from Cass off to the side caused her to look that direction. Well, her and Perc, who had not needed to call anyone, though at some point he would need to go pack.
"Fine, Chuck. Be that way. I quit. You can take the job and shove it." She hit disconnect on her phone and turned and glared at everyone watching her. "I really miss landline phones some days. They are so much more fun to slam down than just hitting a button." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second then popping them back open. "I need to head home and pack. I'll call my sister from the car."
"I need to do the same," Perc added, looking at the military personnel.
George heaved a sigh then turned and looked at the guard, who'd eaten almost as much as any of the shifters. "Torres. Grab Cort and please follow Miss Borden in her car to her place, let her pack. Then if you would meet Mr. Alexander at his and proceed to," he paused and glanced at Richard O'Neill.
"Beale Air Force Base. They're getting a jet ready for us. It'll be a few hours, but I can't see us getting there any sooner." His sigh held a wealth of annoyance at the slowness of civilians. This McKenna had no sympathy for. If they had wanted them ready, calling ahead would have been nice.
McKenna noticed JD looking at Cass and figured they were communicating. She turned back, an
d Torres, he did have a name apparently, walked over to them.
"You sure, sir?"
"I sincerely doubt any of these people are going to attack me, and they've made it very clear their first priority is their kids. Besides, have you seen anything that makes you think they're full of shit?"
Torres shook his head. "I wish I could say I had, sir. It might help with the panic attack my brain is having at the moment." His rock steady posture and calm demeanor did not back up his words.
"Damn. I was hopeful for a minute there. Take off. I'll deal with the people here. Glad we brought two vans."
"Yes, sir." Torres saluted then looked at Cass and Perc. "If you'll provide your address, sir, we'll head to your place once we've allowed the young lady to get what she'll need."
~You okay with this, Cass?~ McKenna shot her way.
~Yeah. You can hear me scream from the other side of the planet and with the neat little trick I developed of letting my claws out even in human form, I'm not worried. Besides, all of these guys, while not believing us, haven't said a single disparaging thing or sexist comment. I'm almost a bit worried, or they are very, very serious.~
McKenna thought about it and realized they hadn't. Oh, they'd questioned and challenged, but nothing that could have been regarded as demeaning at all.
~Okay. Yell if you need something. I'd pack professional clothes,~ she broke off and sighed. She turned to George.
"This is going to sound insane but are we going to be meeting with important people? People wearing suits and ties who would expect us to be similarly clothed?"
An odd look crossed over George's face and he nodded slowly. "Probably. Assuming all this stuff bears out, I'd assume you'd meet with the cabinet."
"The cabinet, as in the president and those people?" McKenna asked feeling vaguely nauseous.
"Yes. Why?"
McKenna rubbed her face. "This is going to sound so stereotypically female." She sighed, but knew all too well the power clothing had. "All of us are seriously underweight and none of us really have clothes that fit. Well, Perc did, but our weight loss, we don't have clothing for those sorts of meetings. Heck, I had to buy a new dress just to try to get Homeland Security to take me seriously. Not that it worked."
George looked like he wanted to groan. Richard, however, raised his hand. "Reynolds is a jewel, you need to promote her. Seriously. She brought this up. Get me your measurements and we'll have people waiting with clothes for you in DC."
McKenna almost sagged in relief. "Thanks."
A few minutes later, measurements taken along with photos to match coloring. Perc and Cass were headed home, Toni and her two were headed to their house to pick up Carina. She thought this sounded fun and exciting. Toni hadn't told her about the aliens and didn't figure it was worth it now.
Nam hadn't moved from McKenna's arms, though Charley had shifted back to human and currently packed up his stuff, his mood somber.
George looked at her, and his face softened as he took in the tiger cub, now half asleep, in McKenna's arms. "What's the story on her?"
McKenna rubbed the girl's ears, reveling in the soft fur. She explained about asking her over for the barbecue, the mom's strange behavior on the phone, then showing up and dumping everything then fleeing.
"I'm not giving her up. We were going to call CPS but figured we'd wait both to see if we were alive in thirty days, and well, to see if her mom changed her mind. But I won't let this child be abandoned or abused anymore."
George rubbed his temple. "I've been in the Army for almost thirty-five years. In five more I max out. In all those years I've never had anyone create as many problems as you by doing the exact right thing." He graced her with a smile. "Nam is coming with us. And I'll help get it cleared through CPS when the time is right. But for now, yes, I think you're right and it isn't worth worrying about. If we're all dead, the point is moot." He smiled even though his voice had a grimness to it that hurt.
McKenna fought to swallow past the lump in her throat. "Point."
Chapter 12 - Change of Scenery
Australia today announced a preserve specifically for shifters to be in their animal form. Located outside Alice Springs, the Aborigines are running it, and you can only enter as an animal. However, all risks are on you. None of the native wildlife has been removed. It is commonly accepted that the creatures native to that continent actively want to kill you. Perhaps this will catch on as an extreme vacation, but being a shifter doesn't mean you can't get hurt or poisoned. ~ TNN Shifter News
By the time they boarded the Gulfstream to DC, five hours had passed and everyone looked exhausted. McKenna knew she just wanted to go to bed, but they had a flight ahead of them.
With the group of them, the plane seemed very full. The kids had all shifted back into humans, and soon after they got on the plane were sound asleep, though Nam remained at her side. The adults were still trying to avoid shifting until their weight got up a bit more. They were aware that some displays of shifting would be required so they were forcing down nutrient drinks.
"How sad is it, I'm already missing that soup stuff the ladies in Colombia were making for us?" Cass said glumly as she finished off the shake.
"Oh, me, too. Compared to this stuff that tasted awesome," Perc muttered even as they opened another one and started sipping.
All of their bots were converting the nutrients to muscle and trying to get them back to their previous weights, but Wefor had told them they had more nanobots than most Kaylid. Partially her fault and partially that they had needed to multiply to support McKenna's demands. While each nanobot didn't even use a single calorie, each of them had thousands of them in their bodies.
"Do you guys always eat like this? Non-stop?" Torres asked. Brigadier General George Davis and Colonel Richard O'Neill were up at the front coordinating everything for when they arrived. Apparently a house had been rented for them, and they were trying to arrange meetings for the next morning.
"Not normally. But we're all still trying to replace muscle loss from our earlier adventures. And with needing to do some show and tell, we're pre-loading," JD told him, munching on some jerky in between sips. "This should stabilize in a week or so, but right now we're trying to bulk up. But shifting burns energy regardless. Let's just say our food bills match our mortgage of late."
Toni snorted. "Try feeding two more with mouths like them. I don't know what I'm going to do when they turn into teenagers. Take out a second mortgage?" The mouths in question were strapped into seats across the aisle from her, sound asleep in the boneless way only kids could do, mouths hanging open and breathing noisily.
Torres grinned at them then turned his attention to a question George asked.
McKenna took that as an opportunity to talk. ~Wefor, how many days do we have with the change in how they are approaching us?~
[Altering their vector will not make much of a difference.]
~Any plans on how to deal with them?~
[Negotiation is a valid option. Though the odds of them leaving without troops are low, however the current status of their wars is unknown.]
~Can we fight them?~
[Of course. You have more Kaylid than they have, the transport ships are mostly empty, with only a few thousand troops. They have more powerful weapons. But it is unknown how they will compare in a battle situation. Most Drakyn are not warriors. Be aware they will probably call for more ships to come once they realize how many Kaylid are here. Even having a few hundred thousand die would be worth it to collect the millions available on this planet. If that happens they can have more ships here in a week. With them here, they can provide a direct entanglement to their existing positions instead of having to come in from outside the solar system.]
That brought a question to McKenna's mind but Cass asked a question before she could chase it down.
~You said negotiation is a possibility? Why? What else do they want?~
[That is not information in the databases. There is no informati
on of them ever negotiating with the Drakyn, but with planets they have seeded? That is unknown.]
"We'll be landing in DC approximately five hours from now. You might want to get some rest while you can. There won't be much time after we land. Between getting you into your residence, getting you prepped, and getting you to the meeting by 0700." George's words cast a pall over their conversation and they settled back in their seats, eyes closing as they tried to get some rest.
~Wefor, can we beat them?~ McKenna asked, her question locked on a private channel that no one else could hear.
[Of course. It simply depends on the price you want to pay.]
Those words chilled McKenna but avoiding them wouldn't make anything better. Just like avoiding asking how long a liad was hadn't.
~What do you mean?~
[You have nuclear weapons, you have seven billion people on your planet. While the exact numbers of the Kaylid or the Elentrin is not listed in the databases, the Kaylid are disposable items to them. It is unlikely the Elentrin number surpasses a billion on all their planets. So yes, you can defeat them.]
Wefor's comments didn't make her feel good, but it did help a bit. McKenna closed her eyes and fell into a light sleep, waking often to check the kids.
McKenna found herself at the head of a table, along one side of her she could see JD and Cass. The other side held Toni and Perc. The kids she could feel but they weren't in the room.
"Commander. You have assembled your team. These are some of the best Kaylid we have, and I trust you will use their skills appropriately. The additional adjuncts for the ambassador have been selected now that they have found their fourth. They will act as immediate bodyguards and back up for you. They have full translation capabilities. Plans have changed due to updated information about the planet we are approaching. As your original forms best reflect the inhabitants of this planet, you will assume your original forms and accompany the ambassador. It is hoped that they will need rescuing but monitoring of their entertainment feeds implies otherwise." The word entertainment had contempt dripping from every syllable.
