The Kaitian War by Sami Salkosuo
Aileen had scanned the system and found traces of recent visits by the Kaitians, although they hadn't stayed long.
"No one's there," said Nick. "I say we enter the system and go into orbit of the home world."
Louis shrugged. "Sounds good."
"Aileen," commanded Louis, "make it so."
Aileen said nothing, but acknowledged the order by accelerating the corvette toward the planet--fully cloaked, of course. On their way, they passed a lonely comet, and Aileen informed them that it was the same comet where Alex had hidden when they'd encountered the Strangers.
"He was there for ninety days," said Nick, "in a cold space ship with the most mysterious beings that we know of. Or the second mysterious, right after the Strangers."
"I wonder why, though," said Louis. "Susan and others knew about the Strangers and Alex was . . . well, he was just a man."
"That's a good question," said Nick. "Even William doesn't know."
"If I may," said Aileen. "The most logical conclusion is that Susan was observing human behavior."
"Maybe so," said Nick, "but still the question is why. For what purpose? If any of the rumors about her are true, I doubt the need to do any observation."
"That's also a good question." Louis shrugged. "And I believe we'll find the answer sooner or later. If we survive this." He nodded toward the star and the planet that was getting closer.
"Do we stay in orbit when they come?" asked Nick.
Louis thought about it for a moment.
"Perhaps we shouldn't," he said, "Even if our cloak is perfect, they might detect the changes in the gravity field around us."
"Good point," said Nick. "Aileen?"
"Louis is correct," she said, "we should be away from the orbit."
"Let's do so then," Nick said, "but let's scan the planet first. See if we can find anything."
The corvette established orbit above the planet and started scanning. They had the reports from Alex's mission for comparison.
"Nothing," said Louis, almost disappointed. "The sites of the extinct species are still barren, but the nature around them is intact, as if nothing ever happened. I doubt the Kaitians were ever on the surface."
"No reason to stay on the orbit, then," said Nick. "Let's go and wait for the Strangers."
As he said it, both he and Louis felt the shivers. Now they couldn't hold the thought any longer, this was it. If their cloak wasn't perfect, they would die.
Nick swallowed, "You know, Louis . . ."
"I know," said Louis and nodded.
Thinking of dying brought the shadow of death upon them. Death was closer now than ever before, and the thought of dying was almost overwhelming. They were already accustomed to life as immortals.
***
"It will be here at any moment," said Aileen.
They'd let Aileen choose a random location in the inner star system, away from any gravity fields, to wait for the Strangers.
"I feel them," whispered Louis.
At any moment they would either live or die, depending solely on their cloak technology. They knew that if they survived, the undetectable cloak would give an enormous advantage to humans.
Or, to be more accurate, to William and his inner circle, Nick and Louis included.
"They are here!" hissed Aileen, and displayed a black flash in one of the screens as the Stranger ship entered the system.
It was huge, bigger than Nick had expected, although he'd seen the reports. Just looking at the Strangers' ship brought dark thoughts of despair and panic. Nick had to turn away from it.
"They are scanning," said Aileen. "The beam hits us in ten seconds."
Both Nick and Louis stood up and held their breath, silently counting the seconds.
Five.
Four.
Three.
The men closed their eyes and saw the shadow of death coming over them.
One.
Zero.
Nothing happened. The men waited. But still nothing happened.
"It's disappeared within the star," said Aileen after moment of silence, and Nick was certain there was joy in her voice.
"And we are alive," said Louis, almost dubiously.
Nick said nothing and looked blankly at the screens. He knew that the Strangers wouldn't be inside the star long.
The ship did whatever it did within the star and reappeared.
"The Stranger ship is leaving the system," said Aileen.
The screens followed the ship as it accelerated and disappeared to hyperspace with a black flash in its wake.
"We are still alive," said Louis, still dubious. Nick still stared blankly at the screens, but then started to smile.
"Welcome to the new age of mankind," said Nick dramatically. "With this technology, the galaxy is ours."
"If we want it in the first place." Louis smiled. "I doubt William wants to conquer the galaxy."
"Perhaps not," said Nick, "but we don't have to conquer with arms. We can be subtle. We have time and technology so that nothing stands in our way."
Louis laughed. "So you want to be the conqueror."
"Me," said Nick, "no. I just want to work in the shadows. And with our cloak, we can really work in the shadows."
Louis smiled. "I hear you. This is a good day for mankind. Let's go and surprise William."
"Right on," said Nick. "Aileen. Take us back to SD-9."
"Yes, Counselor," said Aileen.
19
"Ma'am?" said Jeffery.
"Yes?" said Jiao, and continued to look outside from the observation deck window.
The Sea of Boston was in a small star system deep within Arash Empire space. The system had nothing remarkable, little to no strategic value, and the Arash had already mined it for resources. The only interesting detail was that it was midpoint system from the Arash home world to the Mehar home world. Jiao had come in the hope of finding a remote Kaitian outpost where they would try to fulfill their mission to capture Kaitians. So far, they'd had no such luck.
"We've completed the survey of the system," said Jeffery, looking at the report in his hand. "Plenty of heavy elements in the gas planets. All notable resources have been strip-mined from the rock planets and the resources in asteroids fields are too few for any large-scale mining operation."
Jiao nodded. "Notable resources? Are there any other kind of resources?"
"Well," said Jeffery, "one of the moons of one of the planets still has oil and coal, but other resources are mined already."
"Oil and coal? But that means the moon has had organic life in the past," said Jiao.
"That's correct, ma'am," he said.
Jiao looked at Jeffery and smiled. "Let's take a look."
Jeffery hesitated and Jiao noticed that.
"It's not our mission, I know," she said, "but I'm curious. Let's spend one day to explore the moon."
She winked. "You never know what you might find."
***
The Sea of Boston established orbit around the moon while Caleb had his squad run across the hallway. The Marines spent their time exercising as much as they could.
"Halt!" ordered Caleb, and switched the wall of the hallway to a screen looking at the moon below. He knew that the admiral had wanted to explore the moon but he had no idea why; it had been stripped clean by the Arash long before the Kaitian invasion.
"Catch some breath and enjoy the view," said Caleb.
"Wow!" said Kate, "Look at that. You can see the mines from here."
"They really strip-mined the place," said Karl, "that's for sure."
"I hear that there's oil and coal still there?" asked Ellen.
"That's right," said Caleb, "I guess the Arash didn't need it. At least, not anymore."
"Yeah," said Hannah, "I heard that oil and coal are crucial to civilizations that haven't left their own planet yet. Didn't we use them, too, in the past? Before the Revelation?"
"Natural oil was exhausted ages ago. We used mostly synthetic oil and
"No kidding!" Karl laughed. "I didn't know that."
Other Marines also laughed. They remembered how they--or, more likely, their parents--had used cumbersome oil-based fuels.
"But that's natural oil down there?" asked Henry. "That moon must have had something living there long ago."
"You're right," said Caleb. "And you raise a good point. I guess that's why we came to orbit it in the first place."
"Perhaps the admiral likes nature," added Karl with a smile.
"Not as much as we like running!" said Caleb and turned off the screen.
Some of the Marines murmured before continued their exercise.
***
"Sir!" called Tricia. They'd been in the orbit of the moon for hours and even though it was late in the evening, she'd found exploring the moon interesting and she wanted to complete her scans before calling it a night.
"What is it?" asked Jeffery. He'd stayed also on the bridge, but only because he had nothing better to do.
Tricia pointed to a screen and asked, "Do you see anything odd there?"
Jeffery looked closely. And then he looked again. But he saw nothing odd. "Just strip-mined landscape. Some vegetation has started to grow."
"Exactly," she smiled glancing at Jeffery. She saw that he didn't have a clue what he was supposed to be looking at.
"Look, sir." She made adjustments to the colors of the image. "Do you see it?"
He leaned closer to the screen when he did see something, "Maybe. Is it my imagination or do those look like tracks?" he said and pointed to the screen.
"That's what I thought, too," said Tricia, and pointed to a location at the edge of the mine. "They seem to lead there and then disappear. Perhaps to a base within, or beneath, the oilfield."
"Hmm," wondered Jeffery thoughtfully.
"Compile a report. In half an hour, I'll talk to the admiral."
"Yes, sir!" she said.
***
Jeffery showed the report to Jiao.
"You never know what you might find," she said, smiling. "This requires a closer look, don't you agree?"
Jeffery nodded.
"Send a Marine platoon to investigate. One squad to investigate the tracks and to secure the perimeter, one to secure the entrance and one squad to go inside," said Jiao. "The Jaegers on stand-by if there's need for reinforcements."
"Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery and sent the order to the Marines. He sighed in his mind; he knew that the 2nd Platoon was on duty now and that meant that Ellen was to go to the surface.
He'd passed Ellen last night and had wanted to ask her out. But he had been late for a meeting and couldn't stop. And now she was going to a mission to face the unknown.
"Have Tricia to analyze everything possible about the moon," said Jiao. "See if we can find any clues what might be down there."
Jeffery nodded again and Jiao noticed again that he was distracted. She made a mental note to keep eye on him; she couldn't afford to lose her first officer. But she also wondered why he was distracted. The situation was hardly stressful to an experienced officer, even though they were behind enemy lines, facing the unknown.
"See the Marines and brief them on the situation yourself," she said, and noticed again something slightly out of character for Jeffery.
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
***
"You heard the commander, Marines," said Ross. "We face the unknown once again. First squad, you go inside and see what's there. The second squad secures the perimeter, and I stay with the third squad to secure the entrance. Clear?"
"Yes, sir!" the Marines yelled together and Jeffery again sighed in his mind. Ellen was with the first squad and she was to go inside.
He found himself looking Ellen in the eyes; after several moments, he was surprised to realize that Ellen was looking at him, too.
He quickly turned to Ross and started to leave. "Keep us informed, Captain."
"Of course, sir." He saluted.
"And be careful." Jeffery returned the salute and walked away.
Ellen found herself looking at Jeffery until he was out of sight, the image of his black beard and blue eyes lingering in her thoughts. Her longing look did not go unnoticed.
"Well, well, well, Ellen," said Karl. "You may not be so far out of your league after all."
"What do you mean?" she snapped and turned to Karl.
"Hey, hey!" He smiled. "Didn't you see him watching you?"
"Yeah," interrupted Caleb; he'd seen the looks, too. As did, to the great surprise of Ellen--and also to Jeffery, if he'd known about it--almost all the other Marines, too. "When we come back, go and talk to him."
"Sarge is right, Ellen," said Karl. "You know that."
Ellen started to object, but said nothing. She knew he was right and just nodded.
"When we come back," repeated Caleb. "He often goes to the observation deck and you can probably find him there."
Ellen nodded again, now more firmly, and she started to smile. "You are right, I'll go see him after we come back."
***
The Marines set up a command post at the edge of the mine, near the entrance to the suspected base. The second squad was already securing the perimeter, but had found nothing out of the ordinary. The first squad was ready to go inside the suspected base.
"Caleb," said Ross, "proceed inside. And be careful."
"Yes, Captain," said Caleb, and led his squad to the entrance.
"Okay, people, we go in. Smith, Chapman, take point. Townsend, Chandler, rear. Go!"
Henry and Raquel sprinted just inside the entrance and crouched. It took a moment to get used to the darkness.
"Clear!" said Raquel, and as they moved forward, the rest of the team came inside.
Raquel and Henry moved forward, stopping many times to check the surroundings. They were in a passage, like a cave, sloping steadily downward.
"Look!" whispered Raquel.
"I see it," said Henry. It was a door.
Henry went back to inform Caleb and the squad moved near the door.
"Hear anything?" asked Caleb.
Raquel shook her head.
"Cortez," said Caleb, "send in the bug."
The bug was literally a bug, an artificial cockroach, a very useful device to do covert surveillance.
There were no openings in the door or near it; Silvio had to drill a hole in the bottom of the door.
The door was much thicker than it seemed and it took several minutes to drill the hole with the silent laser drill.
"The bug's in," said Silvio at last.
"Damn!" he cursed after the bug disappeared inside.
"What is it?" asked Caleb.
"The door blocks the signal," answered Silvio.
"Damn," cursed Caleb.
The bug was programmed to continue and record surveillance autonomously for five minutes in case of signal loss.
"Well, then," said Caleb, smiling, "take a five minute break."
"Yeah, right." Karl grinned.
The minutes crawled by until the bug appeared from the hole. Silvio took it and downloaded the surveillance data.
"Show us," ordered Caleb, and Silvio streamed the data to everyone.
Behind the door was a room, like a lobby perhaps, but empty. The bug had scanned the entire room and then continued to corridor that seemed to lead further inside the base. Just before it turned back, they saw two doors on the sides. The corridor continued farther in.
"Seems quiet," commented Ellen.
"We're lucky," said Karl.
"Let's see if the luck holds," said Caleb. "Hamilton. Cortez. Cut the door."
Kyle and Silvio started to cut the door with laser torches and quickly bored a hole in it.
"Go!" ordered Caleb.
Henry and Raquel sprinted first toward the corridor on the other side of the lobby and crouched in th
"The bug," said Caleb, and Silvio sent the bug ahead of them.
The signal was clear this time and the bug continued ahead. There were two more doors farther in, and at the end of the corridor, a door that looked like an elevator door.
"Still quiet," said Silvio, "and there are not any kind of markings or anything. Just empty walls."
"We need to secure the rooms," said Caleb, "We breach each room at the same time."
"Sarge?" said Hannah. "Rules of engagement?"
"We don't know who is inside, if anyone . . . or anything. Fire only if fired upon," said Caleb. "If you need to fire, try to shoot to wound or stun."
"Yes, sir," said Hannah and others nodded confirmation.
"Thornton, Girard," ordered Caleb, "first door on the left. Smith, Hamilton, first door on the right. Townsend, Chandler, second door on the left. Cortez, Chapman, second door on the right. Daniels, you stay with me."
The Marines moved into position and were ready to breach.
"Go!" he ordered.
All four doors were kicked in and the Marines rushed inside.
"Clear!" shouted Karl.
"Clear!" yelled Kyle.
The first rooms were secured.
"Clear!" said Tommy.
"Clear!" called Silvio.
All the rooms were secured in a flash and Caleb went to the first room where Ellen and Karl were.
"Empty?" wondered Caleb.
Henry came from the other room across the corridor. "The other one is empty, too."
"So are the rest of the rooms," said Silvio. "They are all empty."
Caleb visited each room and wondered at their emptiness.
"Let's go to the elevator," he said. But the elevator car was not up.
"It's not here," said Ellen.
"Well," commented Kate, "there's somebody here after all."
"Get the door open," ordered Caleb. "Let's see how far down it is." Silvio carefully opened the door and sent the bug. It crawled in the wall downward until it found the elevator.
"Fifty meters," said Silvio.
"A long drop," commented Karl.
Caleb was thoughtful. He was concerned about going down, but it had to be done.
"Before we go down," he said, "I want to make sure that we haven't missed anything here. Cortez, find anything you can from the elevator; see if you can get the bug inside. All the rest: search the rooms, lobby, and corridor."
"Yes, sir," said Karl and went with other Marines to search the rooms for anything they might have missed.
***
"What's the status?" asked Jiao.
"The entrance and the surroundings are secured," said Jeffery. "So far they've found nothing. The tracks that seemed to be clear from here are not so clear on the surface. They have difficulty following them but it seems they lead to nowhere. The squad inside reports that the lobby area is empty and they're preparing to go down."