Embers of War

Adventures of the Starship Satori: 8

Kevin McLaughlin

Role of the Hero Publishing

Copyright © 2016, 2017 by Kevin O. McLaughlin

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

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One

Dan looked around the empty bridge of the ship which would be his. Someday soon, it would be his command. For now, it was still a work in progress. Now that it was in orbit, Hereford ordered them to keep it there. Rather than bringing it back down to Earth where it might be vulnerable to attack, they would finish the repairs in orbit and launch from there.

The crew was only a skeleton at this point, but more would arrive soon enough. They would go over the Independence with a fine-toothed comb, making sure that nothing remained of the old Naga command protocols. By the time they were complete, no one would be able to steal the ship away again.

An insistent beeping noise broke into Dan’s concentration. Again. He glanced around, looking for whatever was making the sound. It wasn’t an alarm. It was something else, some sort of system alert. He was still new enough to the ship himself that he hadn't yet learned each sound the systems made, or what they meant.

There was no one else there to find the alert and shut the damned thing off. Dan stood from his seat and wandered over to the navigation station first. If their course was off even a little bit, the ship could re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, or worse survive the descent and smash into a city.

But nothing was wrong with the nav console. It wasn’t anything on the scan, either. No nearby ships except for the shuttle which had just departed, headed down Earth-side. It carried Colonel Martelle, his remaining Marines, and the Naga prisoner who’d attempted to abscond with the ship. Hereford would have a field day with that one.

In a way, Dan almost felt bad. Garul was the Naga who’d captured him, once. He’d interrogated Dan, tortured him…and healed him from the wounds he’d given during the torture. That healing process had also rejuvenated the injury to Dan’s spine, repairing the damage which had prevented him from walking. Earth tech couldn’t restore the use of his legs, but one short stint with the Naga had done the trick.

They’d figured out where the Naga had come from quickly enough. The bridge had a secret compartment beneath it, housing an escape pod with a single canister-like unit. It must have been some sort of deep-sleep device. It had shielded the Naga commander completely from detection. Then they’d triggered a fail-safe during the changeover from Naga control systems to human ones. The ship’s computers had woke Garul back up to deal with whatever was going on. A last-ditch defense which had almost worked.

Now Garul was the one captured. He was a prisoner, not dead - that was something, anyway. If he hadn’t heard Dan’s voice and been willing to surrender? Well, the Marines were good at what they did. Garul would probably not have survived the encounter. Dan had mixed feelings about the entire thing. Did he owe a debt to the being who’d given him his legs back, even if it was an accident?

The beeping was coming from the communications console. Dan walked over and sat down at the station, looking over the logs. The system had been on when he first arrived, he recalled. Had Garul been doing something with it, working on something that Dan missed in his haste to call Earth?

It was an incoming message alert. Dan tapped the console key and activated the receiver, then put it on the bridge speakers.

The hissing sounds of Naga speech filled the room, jolting Dan upright in his seat. The message went on and on. It almost sounded like it was repeating itself.

Checking the logs, Dan found his own outgoing call to Hereford - and another message. The ship’s Naga communications array had been accessed shortly before he and Martelle had captured the bridge.

Garul had phoned home.

This call - whoever it was - had to be the response. Dan swore under his breath. Even retaking the ship wasn’t enough. No wonder Garul had given up so easily. He’d already gotten a message out. He knew that the rest of the Naga would receive it and respond. Now they were.

But Dan couldn’t understand Naga speech. He couldn’t decode what they were saying. There was only one Naga in the system who Dan could even begin to risk trusting, and he was on his way to a cell on Earth.

Reluctantly, Dan tapped the communications console again. He turned off the hissing Naga voices, recording the message for later. Then he contacted Earth again.

“Get me General Hereford immediately,” Dan said into the microphone. “He needs to turn that shuttle around and send it back to the Independence.”

“The shuttle that just left, sir?” came the reply.

“Yes. Just get Hereford right away. There’s no time to waste,” Dan said.

“Aye, sir.”

This couldn’t wait because the Naga wouldn’t wait. Whether they’d held off on sending another invasion to Earth out of worry or fear or just been distracted by other concerns, no one knew. But now they had a distress beacon from one of their commanders, telling them he was alive and in need of help, Dan was sure.

He didn’t know Naga culture all that well, but they were not so dissimilar from humans. They would almost certainly come unless Garul replied. They’d come in force, to rescue their people. Earth had barely survived the first assault. There was no way they could weather a second.

Two

Dan glared at the Naga commander in front of him. Even in manacles, Garul looked deadly. Any human being looking on a Naga felt the immediate threat they represented. It might be something about their reptilian appearance, far too close to the giant reptiles that once hunted mammals on Earth. But Dan felt like you didn’t need to go to an ancient genetic memory to find answers.

Garul’s hands were powerfully clawed. His mouth was full of razor sharp teeth. His entire body looked like it was made of muscle. Dan recalled Andy going up against one of the things in hand to hand combat. He was glad that he’d never been forced to do the same. He didn’t know that he would last more than a minute in a cage match with one of these things.

Right now Garul’s claws were handcuffed in front of him. His teeth were a small threat when there were two Marines with rifles standing directly behind the Naga, ready to put a bullet into him if he acted up. No, the problem here was more complicated than brute strength, and Dan was going to need to use reason to solve it.

“You won’t tell me what the message says, or you can’t?” Dan asked. He’d gotten Hereford to send the Naga back in hopes of getting the message translated, but his prisoner was being singularly uncooperative.

“Yes,” the Naga hissed. “Dan Wynn. Garul speak bad.”

His English was incredible for someone who’d never heard more than a couple of hours of conversation. Garul must have studied recordings of the session he and Dan had spent together - in the Naga’s interrogation room. It wasn’t a pleasant memory for Dan. How many times had Garul watched replays of that event? The thought stirred his anger, but for the fifth time since seeing the Naga, Dan shoved it aside. His feelings about the Naga were complex. He’d figure them out later.

“You don’t speak English well enough to tell me what they are saying?” Dan asked. Dan knew that the Naga would be able to understand his words well enough. Garul wore his own translator. The Naga enslaved an entire sentient species - small, slug-like creatures native to a watery world where they bonded symbiotically with local aquatic life. Their hive-like life on their planet had given them telepathic abilities. When anything was said around them, they could read the correct meaning from the thoughts of the speaker and transfer that information directly into the mind of the being wearing them.

The little creatures tended to enjoy orifices. Like ears. Dan tried not to squirm at the thought. He’d never had to wear one, but he had the feeling the day might come when that would change.

“Yes,” Garul said.

Dan narrowed his eyes. It was hard to read Naga expressions, but he’d been around them enough to begin figuring out their body language. He had the feeling that Garul was hiding something. Was his grasp of English really as poor as he was letting them believe? Or was he pretending to be worse at the language than he really was?

“What would you suggest I do, then?” Dan asked.

Garul hooked a clawed thumb at his chest and then pointed again - at the communications console. The message was clear enough.

“Oh, no. You want me to just hand you access to our communications array?” Dan asked, chuckling. “With no way to tell what it is you’re saying? I might as well just beam the Naga high command a full report on our defenses myself.”

“Then war,” the Naga said, shrugging his shoulders in an uncomfortably human way. Was that a gesture he’d learned from Dan? Or was that one bit of cultural body language that they would find on many worlds?

“There has to be another way,” Dan said.

All at once the communications console began flashing again. Was it the Naga, calling back once more? Dan hurried to see what they might say. He paused before receiving the call. Garul would understand their words, even if Dan didn’t. He might be able to glean some of the meaning from his reaction. But it would give their prisoner even more information to work with.

When he saw the icon indicating the source of the call Dan sighed with relief and put the message over the bridge loudspeakers.

“Satori, it’s good to see you,” Dan said.

“And you! Had a busy time of it back here, I gather,” Beth’s voice said over the speaker system.

Dan went back to the pilot’s seat and tapped some commands on the console there. He could control most operations from this point. As understaffed as the ship was, it was the best place for him to be. The main screen flashed on, showing a view of space. Earth tumbled in her slow orbit a short distance away. And there - just a point of reflected light at the moment, but drawing closer - that would be the starship Satori.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Dan said. Hundreds of Air Force and Marine soldiers dead, and it was all due to the actions of one Naga. He glanced over at Garul. That one alien had caused so much death and destruction seemed impossible. A lot of people on Earth would be calling for Garul’s head. But then again, Dan had killed Naga during his escape from Garul’s station. Were they so different?

“We’ve got a bigger issue now,” Dan said. “Garul got a message out before we captured him. Worse luck yet, we’re receiving a reply.”

“Garul? You two on a first name basis now?” Beth asked. Dan could hear her smirk even over the distance. “Wait - Dan - is that the Naga who…”

“Captured me. Yes. He’s here with me under guard, so don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to in front of a prisoner,” Dan said. “He’s saying that he isn’t able to speak our language well enough to translate the message for me.”

“Garul no speak good,” the Naga confirmed.

“My god, I’m surprised he can speak our language at all,” Beth said.

“So was I. But not well enough. He claims.”

“You don’t believe him?” Beth asked.

“I’m not sure if I do or not, but I’m out of ideas. You have anything you might try?” Dan asked.

Another voice broke into the conversation, gently interjecting herself. “I might have a solution.”

“Of course, Majel. Your thoughts are usually clearer than mine are,” Dan said.

“When I tapped the Naga AI systems and acquired their database, it included a good deal of information about their language. I would not have been able to understand their data as well as I did without creating an algorithm to translate their language,” Majel said.

“Spoken as well as written?” Dan asked.

“Of course. Translating the stored radio communications in the Naga database seemed like it ought to be a priority,” Majel said.

“Just how much information did you pull?” Dan asked her.

“Several petabytes. I’ve had algorithms organizing and cataloging the data ever since,” Majel said.

Dan walked over to the communications station and tapped a few controls. He’d saved the message from earlier. Now he transmitted the string of incomprehensible hisses and clicking sounds to the Satori.

“Can you figure out what they’re saying?” Dan asked.

“Absolutely. I’m also sending over a translation package. It should be able to translate most similar messages for you in the future. It’s not perfect, but once you install the software on your computers, it should help solve any future translation issues.”

Dan tapped a few more keys and set the software the AI sent over to install on the ship’s systems. That required a captain’s override, which took him a few moments. The computers were designed to block easy installation of new software, for security reasons. Once the computers were finished setting up the translator, he listened to Majel’s translation.

“Commander Garul, we have received your transmission,” the voice said from the bridge speakers. Majel had set the translator to speak with a thick British accent. Dan blinked, surprised. It was challenging to think about a Naga speaking in cultured tones like that. He was used to seeing them as brutes.

“We have no ships to spare at this time. Our systems are under attack by the Kkiktchikut,” the voice went on. That last word had sounded pure Naga. It was something the translator hadn’t managed to figure out. “Your orders are to return with your ship to the home system, to rejoin the battle.”

Dan glanced over at Garul, wondering how much of the translated message he’d been able to understand. It was apparently enough. The Naga’s eyes were wide, and Dan saw something in Garul’s face that he’d never thought to see on a Naga before: fear. Garul sagged, sinking slowly to his knees.

“Kkiktchikut,” he said, his voice soft. His eyes looked haunted as he stared into nothing.

“Majel, what does that word mean? Any ideas?” Dan asked. “Garul is extremely upset by it, whatever it is.”

“There was no mention of it in the entire database,” Majel said. “Similar words exist, but nothing identical.”

“What similar words?” Dan asked.

“The Naga word for terror,” Majel said. “And for death.”

Three

Ashort while later Beth Wynn and her second in command, Major Luis Ayala, were seated in the conference room aboard the Satori. General Hereford’s face sat on the giant screen installed on a wall.

They were about to get marching orders, but to where Beth didn’t know. The Satori’s mission was to be one of exploration, or so the General had told her. They’d see combat too. The Satori’s crew had already done so. But the primary mission would be to learn more about what was out there.

“It seems likely that we have a third player out there,” Hereford said.

“That may be jumping to conclusions, sir,” Ayala replied. “It could be a rebel Naga force. Maybe ‘Kkiktchikut’ is the name of a rebel group.”

“That could be, but then there’s the ship Captain Wynn saw out in the Cyan system,” Hereford said.

Beth nodded, remembering the encounter. She’d been alone in the Satori at the time - just her and Majel, anyway. Something had blown up an entire Naga battle station, but at first there was no sign of another ship. Then all of a sudden there was.

“That was not a fun encounter. The ship decloaked off my stern, and then engaged a tractor beam on the Satori,” Beth said. “Neither of those things are technologies the Naga seem to possess, based on any of our encounters.”

“Nor is there a mention of such sciences in their satellite database,” Majel said.

“Which means you’re probably right and there’s another race out there,” Ayala agreed. “I just want us to keep our options open, is all. If this is some sort of civil war within the Naga race, we might be able to play both sides off against each other.”

“If it’s a third race, we might be able to enlist their help against the Naga,” Hereford said. “But considering the technology we’ve seen that ship exhibit - there’s only one other example of cloaking technology that we’ve run into, and it’s on the Satori. Also, they didn’t just blow your ship away when they saw you, Beth.”

“No, they tried to capture me,” she replied. Which was interesting, when she thought about it. Was that because the species running that ship had been innately curious, interested in seeing who and what she was? “It could be they noticed the Satori’s engine signature and recognized it as one of their own.”

“My thinking exactly,” Hereford said. “This might be the ancient race which built the original vessel you found.”

The Satori was built around the framework of an ancient alien engine. From that engine it drew enormous power, enabling it to mount powerful railgun weapons. It also had artificial gravity, sub-light engines with inertial dampening that kept them all from being splattered by the amazing acceleration, a cloaking device - even if that was no longer working, and the wormhole drive which allowed the ship to move almost instantly between two distant points.

The Naga had some of this technology, but not others. They’d never seen any sign of wormhole or cloaking technology from the Naga. Instead, they made their way between star-systems using a folded space technology, bending space like ripples on the surface of a lake in front of their ship. The Earth team assessing and studying the drives had taken to calling it a ‘hyperspace’ engine. It wasn’t an especially scientific shorthand, but Beth was just glad they hadn’t gone with ‘warp drive’.

“We don’t know a lot about that race,” Beth said. “We know that Dust - the world the Naga destroyed - was once inhabited by a race with the same technology as the Satori uses. But what happened to them and why they were fighting the Naga in the first place is anyone’s guess.”

“Not for long,” Hereford said, wearing a wolfish smile.

“I think we’re finally getting our marching orders,” Beth said to Ayala. He nodded back, his expression cool.

Their relationship had improved since she saved his life, but he still got distant at times. Ayala was more than competent. As a field commander, he’d done a fantastic job of keeping most of his people alive against incredible odds. But he had a hard side to him that Beth was having trouble breaking through. She was more used to the easy going and laid-back style of the old Satori. Major Ayala seemed more at home in a rigorously military environment.

Sooner or later they’d find a place to meet in the middle. In the meantime, it caused a little strain in their relationship. He’d agreed to stay on, and Beth had agreed to allow him to despite their differences, because there was too much at stake to not have their best people on board the Satori.

“You are indeed,” Hereford said. “I’d like you to go to the Dust world. See how things are going there, and drop off a team to do a more rigorous exploration of the place. Then go back to Cyan. Your primary mission there will be to re-establish contact with the sentient life there. If we’re to build some sort of contact with either the Naga or these Kkiktchikut, then it would be helpful to have translators available to us.”

“Things were strained the last time we were there. I don’t know how happy they will be to see us,” Beth warned.

“I’m aware of that. Do what you can,” Hereford replied. “That mission aside, I also want you to learn everything you can about the destruction of that station. Avoid hostile contact with enemy forces if possible, but look for clues. We need to know who this other player is, and whether or not we can work with them. Intelligence is more important to us than anything else, at this point.”

Beth leaned back in her seat. It was a tall set of orders. The team to Dust, which would mean getting past the Naga defense satellites. They no longer had a cloaking device to enable them to quietly slip past. Then a second mission into a system fraught with peril both in space and under the water. It was a lot to load on their plate.

“One thing, sir. Majel - what’s the status on our wormhole drive?” Beth asked. The AI had been worried about turning on the drive. She’d done so, but only in the most extreme of circumstances, to save Beth’s life. The new ship built around her was like having a new body, and for lack of a better word Majel was afraid to go through a wormhole in the new form. Beth didn’t bring up the fear directly. But she needed to know if Majel was up for this. There was a pause before the AI replied.

“A long-range jump should be precisely what we need to calibrate the wormhole device properly,” Majel replied. Was that hesitation in her voice? She sounded thoughtful, at least. How much of the old fear remained?

“Dust should be a good target, then. It’s one we’ve jumped to enough times in the past. You should have a good data set to compare against,” Beth replied.

“It will suffice,” Majel said.

“Good, that’s settled then. Land at the base and I’ll have the crew you’re dropping off embark. You’ll pick up Charline from the moon on the way out. She’ll be leading this mission, since she knows the planet,” Hereford said.

The old team was being stretched thin. They were the only ones who had experience outside the solar system, so it made sense to use them as much as possible for exploration and discovery missions. But Beth worried about her friends. Also about herself. All of them had each other to count on, before. They knew that everyone on the Satori’s team was dedicated to bringing them all home. Split up, they were going to have to build new teams.

She looked across at Ayala. That was what she was trying to do here, on this new Satori. It was going to take time, though. Even the original Satori crew hadn’t merged into a perfect team at their first crisis. Beth hoped they had enough time to learn to make the most of these new people they were leading.

“Understood, sir,” Beth said, keeping the rest of her thoughts to herself. “We’ll be down Earth-side shortly, and be ready to depart again as soon as the mission team is aboard.”

Four

Dan wasn’t spending much time in the captain’s chair anymore. With his crew still so light-handed, he didn’t have a dedicated communications officer. Of all the stations on the bridge, that was the most important, so that was where he spent his time. Mostly he sat, waiting. The Naga had sent two more transmissions, each one more urgent than the last according to the translations Majel’s program was giving him.

It sounded like they were in trouble and needed Garul and his ship as much as he needed them. Which might be useful for Earth and might not. A lot depended on the nature of whoever it was they were fighting. While Dan had a hard time imagining anything worse than the Naga, he had a good mind and too much time on his hand.

Wishing ill on an enemy was one thing. But whatever had the Naga so rattled that they were using terms like ‘terror’ and ‘death’ to describe it might be just as bad for his race as it was for theirs.

A flashing light alerted him to another incoming call. He routed the message through the translation software. He’d done this enough times that he knew what he was dealing with by then. There were a few seconds of delay while the translation was processed, and then the computer would give him the British version of the Naga words. Dan routed the message through to his ear microphone. It was better to keep them to himself, at least until he knew what the content was.

Dan glanced around the bridge. Only two other crew were present. Lieutenant Pearson was at the helm, which meant he was mostly staring at his console for the time being. The ship maintained a stable orbit without much need for human assistance. The other crew was Colonel Martelle, who’d positioned himself over at the weapons console and had a tablet out. He looked to be reading a book. No signs of stress in the man at all. He’d simply adapted to the new environment of space like it was anyplace else. Dan shook his head, feeling a surge of admiration for the Marine. If only he could be so relaxed.

The message began piping through to his earpiece.

“Commander Garul, you have not responded to our earlier messages. Comply and report with your ship to the home system immediately. We will dispatch a battlecruiser to your last known location within an hour if you have not responded by then.”

Dan sat bolt upright in his chair as the last bit of the message played through. Martelle noticed and quietly put the tablet down.

“Trouble?” Martelle asked.

“They don’t like Garul not reporting in after he contacted them. It sounds like they wrangled up a ship to send after him,” Dan replied.

“I thought their fleet was all tied up fighting someone else?”

“Either they found a ship, or they’re bluffing. Either way, I think it might be time to reach out to them,” Dan said. “We do not want another Naga battlecruiser coming to the Sol system.”

“No, we don’t. Call Hereford?”

“Yeah. He can get whoever he wants up here to negotiate with the Naga,” Dan said.

He tapped the console, opening a channel to Earth. It didn’t take long to get Hereford on the screen. He must have been waiting in the command room, expecting the call. Dan played the message through for the general, who grimaced as he listened to the final words.

“You think it’s time we reached out to them directly?” Hereford asked.

“I think we’re going to have company here if we don’t,” Dan said.

“Agreed. I’ve spoken with the President. Since they seem to know you, he wants you to be the point man for contact with the Naga,” Hereford said.

Dan grimaced. That wasn’t what he had in mind at all! He’d been hoping that Earth would send someone else to handle communication with the Naga. There were people on Earth with far more experience in managing diplomacy then himself.

“Not my area of expertise, sir,” Dan said.

“You’re the man who got a Naga commander to surrender at the mere mention of his name,” Hereford said, baring his teeth in a grim smile. “You know the punishment for a job well done by now. But more than that, the Naga seem to respect strength. You’ve bearded them more than once now. You can speak to them as a warrior to warriors. Some old politician from the diplomatic corp is going to seem like tender vittles to the Naga.”

“Yes, sir,” Dan said. It was hard to argue with Hereford’s reasoning. The Naga would eat a weak diplomat for breakfast. Possibly in a literal manner. “Any guidance from the White House on this?”

“Tons. I’m sending you a packet. Read it over before you call them back, but read fast. There must be five hundred pages in this mess they sent along,” Hereford said. “The short version is this: you’ll patch me in on the communications, both ways. I’ll relay it to the Oval Office. They’ll have people standing by there to critique your performance.”

“Joy,” Dan muttered.

“The President wants to avoid further conflict with the Naga at all costs,” Hereford said. “He’s prepared to offer repatriation of our Naga prisoners if that will help create a truce between our worlds.”

That might help. It was an olive branch which cost them very little, and the Naga were a lot like humans in this regard. They seemed to care about their people, at least based on what Dan was seeing in the urgency of the calls he was receiving. They might have written off the crews and ships they’d sent to Earth as lost, but as soon as Garul contacted them, their attention had shifted back.

On the flip side, sending the prisoners back to the Naga would mean another face to face meeting. Earth couldn’t just give the Naga prisoners one of the captured ships. Either the Naga would have to come to Earth to pick them up…or Earth would have to bring them to the Naga. The latter option sounded far better for the planet.

Dan had a bad feeling he knew who was going to be picked for a visit to the Naga homeworld, if it came to that.

“I’ll do what I can, sir,” Dan said.

“Good. The information packet is on its way to you now. Skim through it, but be ready to initiate contact soon,” Hereford said. “They gave Garul an hour? That was fifteen minutes ago?”

Dan checked the time stamp on the saved message. “Seventeen, sir.”

“We’ll initiate contact in thirty-three minutes. I’ll have the relay set up and ready to go.”

“Understood, sir,” Dan said. He checked the console. The diplomatic package had arrived, and if anything it was even longer than Hereford had stated. He sighed. That was a lot of information to wade through in half an hour.

“Do your best, son. Hereford out.” The screen went blank.

Dan leaned back in his seat. This whole thing felt rushed. Renewed contact with the Naga should have been initiated carefully, with forethought and by the best minds on Earth. Instead, they were counting on him.

“Got your marching orders, do you?” Martelle said.

“Is it too late to resign my Air Force commission and join the Marines instead?” Dan asked him.

Martelle barked a short laugh, picked up his tablet, and went back to reading.

Five

Beth left the bridge of the Satori behind her. The landing had gone smoothly enough. The ship was safely docked on Earth, in the base hangar. Time to see how the loading situation was proceeding in the aft section of the ship.

“You may want to hurry,” Majel said into Beth’s earpiece.

“Problems?” Beth asked.

“They’re making a mess out of me.”

Beth stepped up her pace. A straight corridor ran down the spine of the ship from the bridge to the aft section, where the engine room and cargo bay were housed. It was the latter she headed toward now. Majel sounded upset. Beth quirked a little smile at the thought. It was a good thing, in a way. If Majel was coming to accept the new vessel as her physical form, it could only mean that she was becoming accustomed to it. Besides, the crew loading the ship were professionals. How much of a mess could they be making?

The corridor opened onto a platform suspended about ten feet above the cargo bay floor. The doors onto the platform opened as Beth approached, and she received the answer to her question. The loading was well underway, but Majel had good reason for her concerns. The scene in front of her was pure chaos.

The back ramp was down, which was as it should be. But where Beth expected to see an organized loading in progress, what she discovered was precisely what Majel had said: a huge mess. Dozens of people ferried huge crates onto the ship. Each brought their load in, dropped it, and then rushed off to get the next package. The result was piles of poorly organized crates scattered aimlessly across the space. It was going to take forever to strap all of that stuff down, let alone sort it!

“What do you think you are all doing to my ship?” Beth asked. She pitched her voice to carry. Everyone in the room froze. They all looked up at her. No one said a word.

“I’m serious. What is going on here?” Beth asked. “This isn't loading. You're making a train wreck of my ship, and I will not have it.”

“Ma'am, sorry man!” One of the loaders was talking, at least. The rest were still and silent under her glare.

“Don't be sorry. Fix it. That goes for all of you,” Beth said.

“Yes, ma'am!" This time they all responded. That was from pretty much everyone within earshot. Beth nodded, satisfied. It was a good starting place. Organization might not seem important on the ground, where you had all the time of the world find whatever it was you were looking for. But in space? It was a very different story indeed.

Beth slid down the ladder, her feet striking the cargo bay floor with a thud. The work crews had returned to action already, bustling in and out of the bay with even more alacrity. But at least they were stacking the damned crates correctly now. She hefted one that was a bit askew and set it more properly into the pile, then grabbed a set of straps to clamp down the stack, hooking the strap to clamps on the wall and floor.

Everything needed to be locked down. They might have artificial gravity on the ship, but any system could fail. They’d seen that enough times already. Moreover, even with artificial gravity and inertial dampers, things still got rocky on a starship from time to time. The last thing any of them wanted was to have piles of loose crates flying about in the hold.

Beth looked up from her work, glancing around to see where else she could be of use. This sort of work was good for her. It felt right, moving heavy things around with her hands. She missed hard work, pushing her body to do mundane physical things. She’d pushed her body hard enough lately in other ways, of course. In fact, Doctor Saldanha would have a fit if he saw her lifting crates around. Officially Beth was still on light duty for a couple more days, recovering from injuries sustained during the battle on the moon.

She’d had more than enough time sitting on her tail. Life was better when it was simpler, and there was nothing to clear the mind like hard labor. Beth levered another stack into position and strapped it down. A little longer and she’d have this place back in shape. She looked around. Just how much stuff were they bringing with them?

From Hereford’s description Beth had assumed it would be a small team, a scouting mission. But she was seeing the parts for a massive 3D printer, along with provisions that would feed a small army.

She picked up a hand scanner and checked the contents of a few more crates. They contained weapons, medical supplies, hauling units, and...seeds? This definitely wasn't the sort of supplies one sent on a survey mission. This looked more like the packing list for establishing a colony.

"Majel, can you give Hereford a ping and tell him I'd like a word, please?" Beth asked aloud.

"Of course. What's up?"

"I'm thinking that we haven't been given all of the details about this mission, and I have a few pointed questions to ask," Beth replied.

"Curious. I see what you're saying. Scanning the manifests, the supply lists seem strange given the mission," Majel said. "Oh - something else. I think we have an unexpected guest on board."

"Who? Is he a threat?" Beth asked. She scanned the cargo bay, looking for a sign that someone had snuck aboard without authorization. The base was as secure as they could make it, but one person could make a hell of a lot of trouble for them all once they were in space. One saboteur could do enormous damage.

“I don't think he's a threat,” Majel said. “I’m uncertain why he is here, though. Look at the worker carrying the oval crate to your three o'clock.”

Beth glanced where Majel had directed her eyes. Two people were hauling the crate, but one of them was not a man. Majel had said ‘he’, so that left her out. That left the other one. As Beth watched, he helped the woman set the box down and then stood again, keeping his eyes cast low, head tilted down. Between that and the cap he wore, she couldn't get a good look at his face. He was trying to avoid the cameras getting a good look at him, too. Not a good sign.

”He's good, but not as good as I am,” Majel said, sounding almost smug. “You can tell him that when you go talk to him.”

“I think I'm going to call security first. No sense taking chances,” Beth said.

“Oh, I think we should talk to him ourselves first,” Majel replied.

Beth was about to ask why, but before she could open her mouth the man's head turned just enough for her to get a quick glimpse of his face. She gasped.

“Yeah, it’s Andy,” Majel said.

“What the hell is he doing here? Why not just come up and say hello? Why all the cloak and dagger?” Beth asked aloud.

“All good questions,” Majel said.

“Time for some answers,” Beth replied. She started toward Andy. He didn’t notice her at first. He was busy making his way back toward the ramp, presumably to grab the next load. She went closer, coming up alongside him where he wouldn't be apt to see her right away.

“You there, come with me. I need your help with something upstairs,” Beth said. She snagged Andy not too gently by the arm as she spoke. “Right now.”

He looked into her eyes before darting a glance around the room at the other workers. But none of them seemed to notice anything amiss. Yet. If he made a fuss it would draw attention, and they both knew it. Andy nodded, not saying a word, and followed Beth to the ladder.

Six

Beth hauled Andy aside, leading him into the lift. No sense taking the ladder this time. She wanted to attract as little attention as possible until she knew what he was up to. He’d gone to lengths disguising himself. Andy’s usually close-cropped hair was about three inches long now, and he’d gone from clean-shaven to a short beard. The workman’s cap completed the disguise. Anyone who didn’t know the man well would never have placed him as the head of a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate. Whatever he was up to, Andy didn’t want anyone to know about it. Beth trusted him - they’d been through enough together for him to earn that. But she needed to know what this was about.

As soon as the elevator doors slid shut, she rounded on him. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

“You have somewhere secure?” Andy asked.

“Majel?” Beth said to the air.

“Full security lockdown in place on the conference room. I’ve cut all lines and recordings except my own memories, and those are as secure as I can make them,” Majel replied.

“Good enough?” Beth asked.

Andy nodded. The elevator stopped, the doors sliding open. Beth peered down the hall, but there was no one present. She hustled Andy down the corridor and into the meeting room, then locked the door behind her.

“OK, we’re secure. What is this about?” Beth said. “Why are you sneaking aboard my ship?”

Andy sighed and settled into a seat. “I should have known you’d spot me.”

“Majel spotted you first,” Beth said. “Stop changing the subject.”

“I wasn’t trying to cause trouble. What do you know about this mission you’re going on?” he asked.

“We’re dropping off a survey team to Dust,” Beth replied. Even as she said the words, she doubted their accuracy. The stuff being loaded onto the Satori wasn’t the usual equipment for a short survey mission. The gear list was way to comprehensive. Large food supplies, the 3D printer, the amount of weapons and medical gear…it all said that this mission was planned for a lot more than a week or two.

“The look on your face alone tells me that you don’t really believe that,” Andy said.

“So why don’t you tell us what’s actually going on?” Majel asked.

“I’ve been keeping myself busy getting John’s company humming along, you know?” Andy asked. “But that also meant staying involved in what the government was doing about space. We’re supplying a lot of the parts for the new space fleet, for example. That’s given me a lot of contacts in places where decisions are being made.”

“When I heard about a mission proposed for Dust, my ears perked up and I went diving for more information. I found out that Charline was involved in the mission, and that got me very interested,” Andy said.

Not really a shock. Andy and Charline weren’t precisely an item, but Beth had seen the way the two of them looked at one another. They were the next best thing. If Beth heard that Dan was potentially headed off on some sort of dangerous mission, she’d be more than a little interested - even though their relationship pretty much defined ‘complicated’.

“So you snuck aboard the Satori to find out more?” Beth asked.

“No. I found out more on my own. This isn’t a survey mission,” Andy said, confirming what Beth already supposed. “They’re building an alpha site.”

“A what?” Beth asked.

“Alpha site. That’s what the project is called, anyway. A backup for the Earth,” Andy explained. “Or for humanity, anyway. Tucked away on another planet. That run-in with the Naga scared the shit out of Earth’s leaders. We almost lost everything there. We almost lost all eight billion people on the planet. If John hadn’t saved the day at the last minute, it would have meant humanity’s extinction.”

“It is a colony site, then,” Majel said. “The quantity and type of materials being loaded suggested that as a possibility.”

“A colony. A backup. A way for humans to survive even if the Earth is wiped out entirely,” Andy said.

“But why Dust? Why right in the Naga’s back yard?” Beth asked.

It didn’t make a lot of sense. Dust was about as inhospitable as you could get. The planet was a desert. The oceans had been covered with a black goo bio-weapon - a living bacterium which reproduced rapidly in water and covered the entire ocean surface with a mat of dark, sticky stuff. The result was the utter demolition of the planetary ecosystem. Without oceanic evaporation, rainfall shut down. Without rain, the planet just dried up and became a dust-bowl. Thus the name.

Once upon a time, there had been a civilization of some sort thriving on the planet. There were ruins on the surface. But a long time ago the Naga had shelled the cities, blasting most of them to bits. They’d used the bio-weapon to effectively ‘salt the earth’ of the world, ensuring that nothing would be able to come back again. Then they’d built an array of satellites over the world, armed to the teeth and ready to blow up anything which tried to come near.

“How many planets do we know for sure have a breathable atmosphere?” Andy said.

“Not many,” Beth admitted. It still seemed like a terrible risk, to place the ‘back up’ colony right in the middle of a tightly controlled Naga world. Even if there were no Naga there, the satellites would still be able to pick up any energy emissions from the planet’s surface.

"The Naga don't seem to go there often," Andy said. "They circled it with satellites, but they've never moved onto the planet themselves. It's like they want to maintain it as a no-fly zone, but don't want to actually colonize it themselves. So a hidden human colony there might just work."

“They plan to dig in, don’t they?” Majel asked.

Andy nodded. “Precisely. Dig down, build subterranean complexes, and create a hive colony right under the Nagas’ noses. If the worst happens, it gives humanity a second chance at survival. Plus, they’re hoping the planet might be better now if the black crap is gone.”

“It’s one hell of a slim chance,” Beth said. “We don’t even know if the stuff we spread there worked or not.”

The last time the Satori visited Dust had been over seven months prior. They’d brought with them a possible cure for the bacterial mats covering the oceans. It looked like it might work, like the bug they’d engineered might be able to chew through the stuff and release the water into the atmosphere again. If it worked, who knew what the world might look like now? But it was a long shot. They’d only had a small sample to release and no way to spread it widely.

“They’re desperate. Anything that might stop the Naga from wiping out humanity by tossing another rock at Earth is worth a try, from their point of view,” Andy said. “Even if it means potentially throwing away two hundred people on a colony that has a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving.”

“Two hundred?” Beth exclaimed. How was she going to transport all of those…? She thought about the math for a moment. They could do it. Just barely, but they could squeeze everyone aboard for a short jump and landing. If anything went wrong, if the ship was attacked or damaged in any way, it could result in catastrophic casualties though.

"You're here for Charline, aren't you," Majel said. It wasn't phrased as a question.

Andy nodded. "She's been assigned as mission commander. Once she gets there, she'll open sealed orders which will appoint her governor for the new colony, at least until she is replaced. I couldn't...I can’t..."

"You can't just let her go there alone," Beth finished for him. "But Andy, what about John's companies? Without you to run them, what happens to them?"

Andy laughed. "They pretty much run themselves with or without me. I've handled all of the major issues with the transition, and the teams in place are doing a good job. I could use the vacation."

"I doubt very much that living on Dust is going to be a vacation, even if it turns out to be for a short time," Beth said. "If things go bad, and you end up stuck there?"

"Then I'll be alive, and helping Charline stay that way," Andy said. "I can't let them send her off into this kind of danger without helping."

Beth leaned back, tapping her chin in thought. Would she do the same thing for Dan, if she knew that he was headed into trouble? She rather thought that she would. In fact, when he'd been captured she'd risked losing the Satori trying to save him.

"I get where you're coming from, but the risk is insane," Beth said.

"Charline will be risking it. Let me be there to share it with her," Andy said.

Beth sighed. "Majel, what do you think?"

"Having Andy alone improves Charline's odds of surviving the experience," Majel said. "I like her. I like him. They like each other. I think it makes sense for them to want to be together."

The matter-of-fact way Majel made sense of the whole thing, cutting through all of the questions with simple facts, made Beth chuckle. Trust Majel to know just what to say.

"All right, Andy. You can come. I'll stick you in my quarters for now. You'll be safe there. If you keep hanging out with the loading crews, someone is going to recognize you sooner or later," Beth said. "Best to stay out of sight."

"Thanks," Andy said. He stood up from the table. "You won't regret this."

"Are you kidding? I'm already regretting it," Beth said with a laugh. "But it won't be the first time I've done something under the radar, and I doubt it will be the last. Just be careful out there."

"I will."

Beth stood. She would lead him down to her room, lock the door to keep anyone but herself out. She'd been planning to go have a chat with General Hereford about the nature of the mission after seeing what was being loaded aboard the Satori. Now she'd need to keep her mouth shut. No sense spilling to Hereford that Andy had told her more than she could have known about the proposed colony. Beth play along with it for the moment at least. But there was no way she would abandon her friends out there.

Seven

Dan crossed his arms, watching the timer count down to the moment when he would have to reply to the Naga. While many of the Air Force staff who'd worked on repairing and refitting the battlecruisers had gained some basic familiarity with the alien language, no human could speak it. Yet, anyway. Dan had already decided he was going to practice as often as he could, using Majel's translation software as a learning tool. They couldn't afford to rely just on tech. He needed to be able to speak to the Naga with his voice, too.

But he had little grasp of the language beyond a few simple words. The translator would have to do for this first message. What precisely that message ought to be was under discussion. Dan swore there had to be a committee down at the capitol working on new ways to make this more frustrating for him.

He read the current draft aloud. "Greetings from Earth. We send this message in the hope of peaceful and harmonious communication between our people. We regret any actions we did which encouraged hostility between our races, and we will offer to give back the Naga we captured as a goodwill gesture in the hopes of peace."

Dan shook his head slowly. "I don't think they understand the Naga at all."

"You read that bit of shit, you're going to send the Naga a pretty clear message," Martelle replied, shaking his head. "The Naga are about strength, right? A predator race? You don't show your belly to a predator."

"If I throw out their 'suggestions', the folks downstairs may not take it well," Dan said.

"The President ordered you into this seat. Not someone else - you. He put you there because you can do the job best, or he thinks you can, anyway," Martelle said.

The countdown was about out of time. Replying wasn't something they could stall, either. Not with a threat of another Naga invasion coming at them. Somehow Dan needed to talk their way out of this, but not by sounding weak. He needed to make Earth appear strong.

Dan tapped the console, and the instrumentation hummed to life. It was human-made computers, connecting to a Naga core system. Somehow the Naga could manage communication which wasn't just faster than light - it was effectively instant. The engineers said it was a quantum entanglement communications protocol. Two atoms with the same quantum state in different locations would both change if either one changed. Change one, and change both. This would in theory allow communication between very distant points.

But it was a hell of a lot more complex than that, which was why humanity had never managed to get beyond the theoretical point on such devices. How would you dial into a new station? Was there some central hub routing calls out to the ships where they were meant to go?

For this call understanding the technology didn't matter. Dan had the call-back address for the people who'd sent the ultimatum: reply or they were sending more ships. To Dan, that read like the Naga had figured out that Garul probably wasn't in charge anymore. They wanted him back, though. Enough that they were willing to make threats over it. Dan pressed the button to open the channel.

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Dan Wynn, captain of the Earth ship Independence. Garul is our prisoner for criminal attacks against our planet. Any further incursions into our solar systems will be met with force. Acknowledge receipt of message."

Martelle coughed, loud and hard. Dan took his finger off the button, stopping the broadcast.

"Something stuck in your throat, Colonel?" Dan asked. He let his grin leak out one side of his mouth a little.

"Almost made me inhale my coffee instead of drinking it," Martelle said. "Be interesting to see what they reply with."

"Oh, for sure," Dan said, leaning back in his seat. The message board lit up like a Christmas tree, but it wasn't the Naga calling. It was Earth. Dan watched as twelve lines all opened up at about the same moment. It looked like someone downstairs was not especially happy. Well, they could deal with it. If they'd wanted to do this job, they should have come up to do it themselves rather than hand it to him.

He was right, though. Dan had a good sense of how the Naga responded. They would see weakness as a sign that they should strike. Other personnel on the ship could handle the radio traffic from Earth. Dan watched the board for the tell-tale flashing yellow of an incoming quantum signal. Long moments passed. Nothing happened, and Dan began to wonder if he'd blown it after all.

"Give them time. Some random foot soldier in a Naga base just got a threatening message from a deadly warrior-leader of another planet," Martelle said. "It's gonna take them a few minutes to get the right person on the phone."

As it turned out, it took more than a few. Dan was left sweating, wondering what their answer would be, for almost ten minutes before a reply came through.

"I am Warlord Chektak. I assume I am speaking to a mammal of some rank?" The voice was still coming through from the translator in a cultured British accent. Dan was going to have to find a way to reset that. It was messing with his head trying to connect that voice with one of the brutal reptilian people.

"You are. I am Captain Wynn," he replied. While he was still waiting for the reply, he'd been hoping the Naga would hurry up and say something. Now that they had, he was longing for the silence and calm of a few moments before.

"Captain Wynn, you are holding some of our people. We demand they be restored to us immediately," Chektak said.

"They're being held for crimes against our people. An invasion of our world. A failed invasion, I might add, but the survivors of that assault are still our prisoners of war. Unless you can give me some cause to release them?"

Chektak gave a long hiss, easily audible over the channel, that the translation software didn’t manage to convert to anything human. Dan read the hiss as frustration, but could he be sure? The Naga acted much like humans, but assuming anything could be dangerous.

“Mammal, if you do not release our people, then we will invade your planet with force and take them back,” Chektak said.

“If you were going to do that, why haven’t you already?” Dan shot back. “We’re stronger now than we were before. It’s going to take a lot more than three ships to take us down, this time. How much of your fleet are you willing to send here?”

He was making this all up as he went along, bluffing for all he was worth. But everything pointed to the idea that the Naga simply didn’t have the ships to spare on another attack. That they were even bothering to talk instead of launching another strike; the fact they’d silently accepted defeat, not sending more ships for all these months; it all shouted to him that they were in trouble elsewhere. Something was up in Naga space, and whether it was an outside invader or a civil war didn’t matter much. It was buying Earth time to recover and prepare.

A sharp, barking noise came from the speakers. Dan jumped, but then he realized that he knew that noise. It was Naga laughter. The alien was chuckling to himself. He glanced over at Martelle who shrugged and shook his head. He didn’t know what to make of it either.

“You are not so different from us, after all. Incredible. I’d heard you were mammals with courage and fire, but I had to see it for myself to believe it,” Chektak said. “I’ve read every report on your people. You risked everything to save one of your own, more than once. Understand then, Captain Wynn. We are much the same in this regard. We do not leave our people behind in captivity. Whether I can afford to send ships or not is immaterial. I do not leave Naga behind.”

Dan sucked in a breath. Chektak was right. The Naga and humans were perhaps more alike than he’d ever imagined. Not identical, but if they held some of the same values - maybe there was a possibility of some future relationship other than war.

“I understand. We are much the same in that way,” Dan replied. “I would never leave my people behind, either.”

“Then you will return them to us without combat?” Chektak asked.

That was within the bounds of what he was authorized to give them. “Yes.”

“Very well. We shall send a ship shortly to repatriate our people,” Chektak said. “It may take us some time, but we will come for them.”

That, however, was not within the bounds of what he was allowed to give them. Dan had skimmed the diplomatic packet. Keeping the Naga out of the Sol system was considered of paramount importance. Under no circumstances did the President want another Naga fleet coming in toward Earth. Not yet, anyway. They were still too weak. Given time, they would be able to mount a decent defense, but until then they would only be showing a dangerous predator how vulnerable they were.

“I’ll do you one better, Chektak,” Dan said. “We’ll bring them to you.”

Eight

The Satori flashed into space a fair distance from the world they'd called Dust. The planet filled the main screen in front of Beth, appearing closer than it really was. They'd intentionally come into the system further from the planet than they had to. Dust had a ring of Naga defensive satellites around it. In the past, the Satori had been able to slip by detection using their cloaking technology, but no cloaking device meant those days were long gone.

Loading the ship had been completed rapidly, under Beth's direction. The stop by the lunar base to pick up Charline went off without a hitch. But Beth had a knot in her stomach about this place. Bad things had happened every time they'd visited Dust. She didn't like the planet, and the idea of leaving her friends here to fend for themselves made her feel a little sick.

Andy was still locked in her quarters. Beth still wasn’t sure what she was going to do about him. He was bound and determined to land with the other people she’d taken on. Two hundred and eight would-be colonists, all crammed into the Satori in every nook and cranny they could manage. The cargo hold was so full of people that it was impossible to walk through it without stepping on someone.

“How’s life support holding up, Majel?” Beth asked.

“It’s not. We’re losing ground steadily. The recyclers were never meant to support this many people,” the AI replied. “It’s going to start getting stuffy in here soon, and eventually you’re going to have carbon dioxide issues.”

“How long before it becomes a real problem?” Beth asked.

“Just under three hours.”

It would be enough time. Either they would be past the satellites by then, or they would have to give up and jump for home. The wormhole drive would only require an hour to recharge. Worst case, they’d simply jump back the way they’d come.

“Captain, I’m not picking up the satellites,” Hernandez said. He was the Air Force sergeant on the scan console.

“Are you sure?” Beth asked.

Major Ayala crossed the room to stand over Hernandez’s shoulder, checking his results. Ayala was her second in command. They’d had a rocky start, but at least for the time being he seemed to have set aside the reservations he’d expressed about Beth’s posting as Captain of the Satori.

“He’s right,” Ayala said, looking up at Beth. “The scan is clear. There’s some scattered debris in orbit, but nothing larger than a basketball.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad one,” Beth said. “Can we get readings on the debris? Is it what’s left of the satellites?”

If something had destroyed the entire defensive grid that the Naga had placed over the planet, it might give them more clues about the strange enemy they suspected the Naga were fighting. But if a ship had come through and blasted those satellites apart, it was armed and dangerous. A battle would be rough on the civilians packed into the ship, and running was out of the question. Beth glanced at her console. There were still fifty-six minutes remaining until they could jump out.

“Impossible to get a clear reading on the debris until we’re closer,” Majel said. “The fragments are too small to analyze at this range. But there’s something you might want to see on the planet’s surface.”

“Put it on the screen,” Beth said.

Majel complied. The main screen changed, showing a closer view of the planet’s surface. At this magnification, it felt like they were hovering in low orbit.

“My god,” Beth breathed. “It worked.”

“It looks like Earth,” Lieutenant Foster said. “Well, like a desert on Earth, anyway.”

He wasn’t wrong. The screen was showing barren yellow ground and blue ocean. Beth wasn’t sure, but it almost looked like there were small patches of vegetation on the surface as well.

“Is it like this everywhere?” Beth asked.

“Negative. Only about thirty-one percent of the ocean’s surface seems to be clear. The rest remains covered with the Naga bio-weapon,” Majel said.

On their last visit to Dust, the crew of the original Satori had seeded a little patch of ocean with a strain of genetically engineered bacteria, designed to eat the black ooze that the Naga had used to coat the surface of the oceans. The Naga weapon was diabolically simple. Once the black goo - which was itself a colony of single-celled organisms - came in contact with water, it reproduced explosively. One drop might contaminate an entire ocean’s surface in weeks. It proliferated so quickly that efforts to clear it out were useless.

But they’d figured out a bacterium that ate the Naga one, and it seemed like it was working beyond all their hopes. If things continued the way they were going, in a year or two Dust’s water might be entirely clear of the stuff. Evaporation was already beginning to happen. Beth could see bits of cloud here and there in the planet’s atmosphere. Clouds meant rainfall. Rain would mean rivers, which would allow plants to grow. In time, the entire planet might be restored to a real biosphere.

“All right. We need to get closer to check out that debris, and we have to land to let people off, anyway," Beth said. "Foster, bring us in, but slowly. There's at least one ship out there somewhere which does have a cloaking device, and I'd rather not be taken off-guard if we can avoid it."

"Bringing us in," Foster replied.

"Still nothing on scans," Hernandez reported.

Beth watched the screen, alert for anything that might give her some warning. But she knew better than most people how complete that cloaking device really was. In an atmosphere, they might be able to detect it by watching for air movement and Doppler effects, but out in space there wasn't enough material for a cloaked ship to interact with. Out in space, the cloak rendered a ship effectively invisible. It had always been one of the Satori's greatest strengths.

Now she was on the other end of that ability, and Beth had to admit it wasn't much fun.

"Are we close enough to get a reading on that debris yet?" Beth asked.

"Almost...Yes, ma'am. Confirmation on the debris. It's almost definitely the remains of the satellite network," Hernandez said.

"Something blew up the Naga satellites," Ayala said softly, stepping up to stand beside Beth.

"The question is, are they still in the neighborhood, or did they leave?" Beth asked.

"And are they friends or foes?" Ayala muttered.

"Another good question," Beth said. "Foster, bring us in at a higher speed. I'd like to get into the atmosphere as quickly as we can safely manage."

"You sure?" Ayala asked.

"In atmosphere, a cloaked ship won't be able to sneak up on us, hook us with a tractor beam before we can even see they're around, and board us," Beth said.

"Good point."

The planet grew larger on the screen, eventually filling it as the ship began to glide through the upper atmosphere, slowing down to enter a long, gliding descent toward the surface. The tension remained, though. Beth could see it in the way each of her crew watched their console, eyes barely blinking. Everyone was alert for the signs of an enemy. But none was showing up, and now that they were in the atmosphere the odds of someone sneaking up on them had been decreased dramatically.

"Bring us over to the area where the Satori set down before. That seems to be the focal point for the cleared out water," Beth said. "It will be as good a place as any to drop our survey team."

Ayala made a coughing sound. "Survey my ass."

"It's one hell of a Hail Mary pass, I'll give them that much," Beth said. "A colony, right here of all places? But when we're talking about survival of the species, nothing is off the table as a possible solution."

"I guess. I wouldn't want to be going down there, though," Ayala said. "Poor buggers. Dust might have some water again, but it's clearly contested between the Naga and whoever they're fighting. I wouldn't want to be in the middle of that tug of war."

Privately Beth agreed with him. Half of her wanted to abort this entire mission. Fly back to Earth and drop everyone off, tell Hereford that it was just too hot a site to risk. They'd find some other habitable planet someplace else. There had to be a lot more of them, after all. They'd already located a couple. All they really needed was one planet that wasn't on the radar of the Naga or their foes, and Earth could have a reliable back-door if things went south badly.

But they didn't know of such a planet, not yet. Which made this move the best possible scenario, for the moment anyway.

"Set her down, Foster," Beth said. "Gently, if you please. Ayala, with me. We'll help them unload. Foster, you have the bridge until we return."

Nine

Beth led Ayala down the hall toward her quarters. She'd been trying to figure out how best to bring the Major in on the secret she had stowed there, but finally decided the best method was simply to tell him.

"This is not the way to the cargo hold," he observed.

"No. I've got something to show you first," Beth said.

"Something?

"Someone."

He raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything more, for which Beth was a little grateful. She tapped the panel next to her door. It slid open at her touch, revealing Andy, sitting inside at her desk.

"Ah, this is the someone?" Ayala asked. "You two are mad, you know that, right? I suppose Majel already knew he was here, right?"

"Yes, I was the one who spotted him," Majel said.

"You could have brought me in on it too," Ayala told Beth.

"I wasn't sure precisely how you'd react," Beth said. "Frankly, though, I'm hoping you have some good advice on what to do with him."

To her surprise, Ayala laughed. "Well, he's here for - what? - protecting Charline, is my guess, right?"

"Pretty much hit the nail on the head," Andy said with a rueful smile. He stood up and extended a hand. "We've never met. Andrew Wakefield."

"Luis Ayala. It's a pleasure," the Major said, accepting the handshake. "I still think you're clinically insane. Isn't this the world those bugs we faced on the moon came from?"

"Well, we'll try to avoid them, at least most of the time,“ Andy said, flashing his teeth.

"Try?" Ayala asked. “Most of the time?”

"Andy was the man who ran up to the first one we met and tossed a stun grenade practically down its throat," Beth said. "Then he went back and stole a larva to lure the mom into chasing him up a tunnel so that he could get it to engage the Naga who had us pinned down."

"You're just supporting my argument," Ayala said. "None of this sounds like evidence that Mr. Wakefield here isn't a little nuts."

Andy ran his fingers through his hair. “To be honest, I don’t know if we can avoid them entirely. That lair we found? The underground one? It looked like it was once an old base of some sort. Well constructed, plenty of water…”

“And a bunch of things that thought we looked like tasty snacks living in it,” Beth added.

“You managed pretty well against them up on the moon,” Andy countered.

“I got lucky,” Beth said. She grimaced, pushing away the memories. It had been a very close thing, that final battle. She’d been damned near out of options. If Majel hadn’t managed to fry the last of the alien insects, it probably would have killed her.

“Well, that spot is likely the best place for the new colony, the way I see it,” Andy said.

“Really?” Beth asked. “What is Charline going to say about that? She is in charge of this mission, remember. Which brings me back around to my original point. What do we do about you?”

Andy shrugged and let his hands fall at his sides. Beth felt torn. If she allowed Andy to go along with the mission - even assuming Charline let him come, but Beth was betting she would - and something happened to him? Would she be able to forgive herself for allowing a friend to go into danger like that?

“I think we should let the mission leader make the call,” Ayala said. “But if she’s OK with him coming, I don’t see why we ought to stop him.”

“Really?” Beth asked. She was surprised by her second in command’s sudden agreement. “You’re the last person I would have expected to agree with this. You’re usually so by the book.”

“I’m learning that sometimes you need to go off-book when it comes to dealing with the unexpected, in space,” Ayala replied.

He wasn’t wrong. They’d gone off the rails more than once, in their early adventures. Doing whatever it took to survive and get home was more or less their usual mode. It was still a little unusual to hear it from him. Maybe she was rubbing off on the man?

“Majel, why don’t you call Charline up here? I think we need her input on this,” Beth said.

“Roger,” Majel said. Then, after a pause, “She’s on her way.”

The trio waited in silence a few minutes until they heard a knock on the door. Beth answered it, and Charline walked in.

“What’s up? Majel just said you needed me, and…” Charline’s voice trailed off as she took in who was in the room.

“Hi,” Andy said, flashing her a grin.

“I should’ve known something was up when you didn’t reply to my messages,” Charline snapped. “I wanted to say goodbye before I went off on this insane mission. Instead, you’re here.”

Charline whirled on Beth. “And you knew? You helped him?”

“I didn’t know what else to do, under the circumstances,” Beth said.

“You knew too, didn’t you Majel?” Charline asked.

“I did. You were distracted with issues about the mission,” Majel said.

Charline walked over to Beth’s bed and sat down. She shook her head, then pointed her finger at the group standing sheepishly in front of her.

“I don’t know whether I’m more flattered or angry, but I’m a good mix of both,” Charline said. “You should have said something. All of you.”

“I just wanted to help,” Andy said, coming over to kneel down in front of her. “I wasn’t trying to get in your way. This isn’t about stealing your thunder. The mission they’ve set for you - it’s dangerous.”

“I’ve faced danger before.”

“You have. But like this? With stakes like this?” Andy shook his head. “Before, when we were in trouble, we always had each other to rely on. Let me be there for you, to have someone you can trust at your back.”

Then he stood up and took a step back. “Or give the word, and I’ll go back home with Beth. Up to you.”

“You know I’ll be glad to have you along,” Charline said, cracking a small smile. “It’s always damned hard to stay mad at you. But no more secrets!”

“No more secrets then, I promise,” Andy said.

Beth rolled her eyes. That the two of them were smitten with one another was obvious to everyone. Even Majel seemed to sense it. Everyone but them, apparently. She was glad that they’d been able to smooth things over so quickly and easily. It was more or less the result she’d expected from them. But there was more they needed to talk over with Charline, and soon - before the Satori departed the system.

“Oh, that’s not all he has to tell you,” Beth said, drawling out the words. “You’re gonna love his idea for the colony’s home base, once you hear it.”

“Oh?” Charline asked, arching an eyebrow at Andy.

“Well…um…while we have the Satori here for backup, and since we have their troop squad handy, I was hoping we could borrow them and…” Andy said, talking rapidly with more than a little stuttering.

“Take over the alien nest?” Charline said.

Andy just blinked like a deer in the proverbial headlights. “Yeah.”

“Way ahead of you. I’ve requisitioned some gear which ought to help with that,” Charline said. She stood back up and turned toward Beth. “My dear captain, can we borrow your help in a little bug hunt?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Beth said. She flashed a smile at Charline, but inside she was already shaking at the idea of going up against those killer insects another time. Descending into that nest was going to be a revival of her worst nightmare.

Ten

Hyperspace was weird.

As strange as the experience of flying through the Satori's wormholes had been, Dan had more or less gotten used to it. But the Naga drives didn't open up wormholes. There was no instantaneous transit between locations. Instead, their technology folded space in some manner that he didn't entirely understand. Dan had a hunch that the engineers who'd attempted to explain the system to him didn't understand how it worked either, for all their bluster. They were trying. And they'd made it function.

For now, that would have to be enough.

The front view screen of the bridge showed a spiraling pattern of swirling light, flashing and flickering across the panel. It looked oddly similar to the wormholes, which made Dan think the technologies were somehow related. Was it possible that the Naga drive was merely a weaker version of the same technology? If so, had the Naga developed it independently, because there were only so many effective ways to travel between star-systems? Or were they linked in some way?

There was so much they had yet to learn about the Naga and even more so about the mysterious race which had built the Satori's drive. Was that the same race the Naga were battling now? The evidence seemed to suggest it. Who were they, and how were they involved with the Naga?

A ping attracted Dan's attention, the alert sounding loud in the otherwise quiet bridge. The Independence was fully staffed now. Five crew sat quietly at their stations on the bridge, and another two hundred souls staffed the rest of the ship. They'd taken on a full complement of twenty fighters, and had enough supplies to operate for weeks of extended deployment if necessary.

"Sir, something strange on scans," Ensign De Toro called out.

"Define strange," Dan said, rising from his seat to walk over to the ensign's station.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like-"

The ship shook, hard enough to throw Dan to the deck. He landed with a grunt. Lights went red, flashing an alert that the ship was under attack. Like he hadn't figured that out already. There was a shrieking sound like metal screaming against metal, and then the swirling on the view-screen vanished, replaced by a static star-field.

"Report!" Dan called out, struggling back to his feet.

"We've been knocked out of hyperspace, sir," De Toro said.

"By what?" Dan asked. How was that even possible? They should be invisible to sensors while they were in hyper. Essentially the ship was in a pocket universe or something like that. There shouldn't be a way to knock them back into real space. But clearly, someone knew how to do it.

"Check for nearby encroachments!" Dan called, settling back into his seat. "Scramble fighters."

He was willing to bet that this was no accident. Something had fired on them with a weapon that was beyond their ability to predict or understand. That meant they were likely hostile, and probably about to make a move while the Independence was still recovering from surprise.

"Ship noted, coming at us fast from our aft," De Toro said. "Multiple energy signatures detected from the vessel!"

"Brace for impact! Helm, rotate us so that the impacts aren't all striking the same spot," Dan ordered.

"Aye sir, rotating," Ensign Scott replied. The star field began to twist around, turning in a lazy spin. But the Independence was no fighter, able to turn swiftly and avoid damage. It was a massive vessel. Heavy armor was its main defense. The Naga had built it to take hard shots, and human engineers had done all they could to increase the thickness of the outer armor. Now it was time to see how well that would hold.

The ship trembled three times as shots impacted the hull. Dan listened but didn't hear any secondary explosions.

"Damage report," Dan said. He needed to keep his cool. These people were relying on him to have a steady hand while guiding the ship.

"Armor held against all three impacts, but it scored pretty deep hits," De Toro replied.

"Johansson, hit them with the Naga guns. Arm missiles as well. Where are those fighters?" Dan asked.

"First fighters are leaving now," DeToro replied.

Dan felt the gentle thrum of the ship reacting to the fighter wing's mass departing. They could only launch four fighters at a time. It would take a few minutes to get the entire compliment into action.

"Give me a look at what we're facing," Dan said.

The screen changed, showing a ship of bluish metal, all curved lines and sharp points. It had a shark-like feel to it. Like a predator. But there was a grace implied by the ship's lines that his own starship's blocky appearance lacked. Whoever had built that thing was aiming for beauty as well as effectiveness. Dan could only hope they'd skimped a little on defenses.

"Take that thing out," Dan said.

Jets of plasma streamed from the Naga guns still mounted on the Independence. They shot across toward the enemy vessel, slamming home with a burst of explosive energy. But the enemy vessel simply passed through the blast like it wasn't even there.

"Did we do anything to them at all?" Dan asked.

"Unclear, sir," De Toro replied. "There's some sort of energy field around the ship which protected them from the plasma."

"They have shields, eh?" Dan said, raising his eyebrows. That might make this battle even more one-sided than it had seemed before. But the Naga relied on energy weapons far more than missiles. If this ship had been designed to battle the Naga, perhaps he could spring a surprise on them. "Fire missiles. All tubes, maximum rate of fire."

Pillars of fire streaked away from the Independence as six missiles fired from their launch tubes. The enemy ship saw them as well, twisting to change course. The rockets altered their trajectory to continue the pursuit.

"Got them nervous enough to try to dodge, anyway," Dan said.

Then a bolt of energy shot out from the other ship, blasting one of the missiles apart. It fired again, and a third time, taking out two more missiles. The other three managed to impact. Explosions briefly obscured view of the ship. The Independence shuddered again as a second volley of missiles launched.

"Keep them coming," Dan said, observing as the blasts cleared. The enemy ship was scorched, and bleeding air from at least one spot. "If we can hurt you, then we can kill you. Order fighters to engage at long range with missiles and rail-guns. Their shields don't seem as effective against physical objects.

The Independence fired a third volley of missiles while the enemy ship was still trying to destroy or dodge the second set. Meanwhile, Dan's console was showing eight more missiles streaking in at their foe from the fighters. Their rail-gun rounds began impacting on the enemy ship as well. The shields on the ship had to be holding back some of the damage, or it would have been torn apart already. But even with the shields, it was still taking hits.

Then all at once the ship accelerated, and a brilliant flash of light that Dan knew very well appeared directly in front of its nose. The alien ship soared into the wormhole it had opened and vanished.

The bridge crew gave a cheer. Dan smiled, allowing them the moment of exuberance, but he didn't join in. The evidence was mounting that this 'Death' menace the Naga faced was none other than the ancient aliens who'd built the Satori, and who'd once lived in cities on the world they called Dust. Something had happened to them, some war millennia ago. The Naga believed them to have been completely defeated, but apparently not all of them were gone.

That was going to complicate things. An enemy that had wormhole tech, cloaking devices, and weapons that would tear a ship right out of hyperspace was going to be a problem. Whether they'd attacked the Independence because it looked something like a Naga warship, or because it was just their nature to attack first, Dan didn't know. But either way, the first blows had been struck between their races. He had a hunch it might not be the last.

"Recall the fighters, and let's get back underway," Dan said. The sooner they got to Naga space, the better he would feel. Which was something he'd never imagined he would think, before today. At least the Naga were the devils that he knew. This other race was something else entirely.

Eleven

Beth wasn’t anywhere near the front of the heavily armed column descending into the ground, but that wasn’t enough to keep the sweat from breaking out on her brow. Some of that could be attributed to the ever-present heat of the world they called Dust, but a lot of it was because of where they were going.

The Satori had settled down not far from the entrance to the cave complex. The plan wasn’t all that elaborate. Charline had arranged to acquire a case of the Naga rifles. Beth had modified all of them to fire the highly concentrated shots that would punch through the alien insects’ carapace. Andy had one of the weapons, Charline another, Ayala a third. Beth carried one, too. The other two had been handed out to sharpshooters from the Satori’s security team.

Six rifles that were sure to punch through the targets’ armor. Beth had to hope it would be enough. The other dozen troops with them had been armed with grenade launchers, each one using grenades that carried a SABOT style projectile in their core. Those had proven to be pretty effective against the aliens as well. They were armed for bear - or for giant, man-eating insect, anyway.

That didn’t make the descent into their lair any easier. The passage began in an opening on the surface. From the looks of it, the place had once been some sort of building. Weather and wear over the centuries of disuse had turned it into more of a cave, but Beth could still see the signs that this place had been shaped by intelligent hands, not just made by nature. The floor was too smooth, the grade of the spiral passage as it descended too precise.

The cool interior of the tunnel didn’t dampen her perspiration. If anything Beth found herself sweating more as they proceeded down into the ground. The passage was like a spiral staircase without the stairs. She already knew what they were going to find at the bottom. It was a massive open space, filled with stalactites and stalagmites formed as water seeped through the rock over the ages the place had been abandoned.

And in the pools of water dotting the floor? The young of the insects she’d battled more than once. Deeper in the cave, in the patches of darkness? That was where the bigger insects would be hiding.

She’d been through all of this before. It was a terrifying experience the first time. The battle against these bugs on the lunar base had been even worse. Yet there she was, heading into another fight with them again. She could have remained behind on the ship. No one held a gun to her head and forced her to come. But her pride wouldn’t let Beth step aside.

Even when going meant facing the worst of her demons.

“We’ve reached the bottom of the tunnel,” Andy said, his voice relayed over their radios. He was about fifteen feet ahead of her. “Fan out, but stay close enough to cover each other.”

There were a few affirmative murmurs, but no one cracked jokes. There hadn’t been one off-color comment about ‘another bug hunt’ during the entire planning or execution of the operation. Most of the people headed down on this mission had already faced off against these things at least once. The ones who hadn’t were well aware they were replacements for people who’d died fighting the alien insects in the battle for Earth’s moon.

Nobody was in a joking mood.

Beth took another step and found herself on flat ground. She was out of the passage. Her helmet had a light affixed to it, shining a steady beam that let her see where she was going. Ahead of her, Beth could see the lights from other members of the team crisscrossing as they spread out to sweep the floor.

“Got movement,” one soldier said. There was the sharp report of a rifle firing a grenade. “Just a small one, it’s dead now.”

“Careful. They’re protective of the young,” Beth said. “Watch for contact.”

But nothing rushed out of the dark at them. No slavering fangs or scimitar claws tore at her people. As they continued to sweep the cave, Beth allowed herself to hope that perhaps there were none of the big ones left. That all they would find were the small, juvenile insect larvae.

She knew that couldn’t be the case, though. Where there were young, there had to be older ones as well. At least one. Maybe more. There had been six of the things working in concert on the moon, so she knew they could cooperate as a nest if they wanted to.

Two more gunshots from off to her left. She looked that way, her light stabbing through the darkness. She saw the flash as a third grenade fired, saw the impact and the little splash as it tore into a small target.

“Just the larvae down here,” Ayala said over the radio. “Where are the big ones?”

If we keep killing the smaller ones, they’re going to come after us, Beth wanted to say. They were out there. She could almost feel their malevolent stares, glaring at her out of the shadows. They would strike. It would be soon, and sudden. But where were they?

She reached a pool of water. Soldiers had already cleared it. She could see the body of a young insect floating on the surface of the pool, its shattered shell mute testimony to the effectiveness of their weapons - against the little ones, at least. Beth waded out into the pool a bit, the water quickly growing ankle deep, and then it was up to her knees, the icy liquid filling her boots and freezing her feet. It seemed impossible that the water was so cold down here when on the surface the temperature would evaporate these pools in a matter of hours.

Beth shone her beam along the bottom of the pool. There was nothing hiding in there, though. The water was too shallow for one of the big ones to conceal itself, and the larvae had either died or fled. She looked back around at the team.

They’d spread out even more. She could still make out the point, where Andy, Ayala, and Charline stood close together. But the other soldiers had spread out, sticking together in teams of two or three as they examined one pool after another. In two places she could see where their lights reflected off stone walls. They’d cleared most of the space, then. Only ahead, where Andy’s little crew led the way into the deepest dark, was there still the unknown waiting to be discovered.

Two more gunshots flashed from the right. But the shots were not accompanied by yells or alerts, which probably meant they were just more juvenile insects. Beth glanced their way. No one was running or screaming, which was a good sign that they hadn’t run into any of the big ones yet.

“Andy, we should regroup,” Beth said. “We’re getting very spread out.”

He stopped. Beth could see his light swing back and forth as he surveyed the soldiers. “You’re right. Let’s rally in the middle. We’ll start placing lights down here. Give us more area that we know is clear, and then continue checking out the rest of the complex. It seems to keep going back here, don’t know how far.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll call to the Satori, have them send down a team with portable lights,” Beth said.

Inwardly, she heaved a sigh of relief. It would be better if they were closer together. They’d appear a much more dangerous target. Maybe threatening enough that it would convince the insects to back off. Certainly, their weapons were strong enough to face down one of the things if it did rush them. It was the attack from the shadows, the one they didn’t see coming, that would be the most dangerous.

Something plopped into the water next to her. At first she thought it was merely another drop of water, falling from the ceiling to slowly refill the pool. But then something else fell from above - a small rock. It pinged off her helmet before settling into the pool with a plopping sound.

Beth looked up, the beam of light from her helmet flashing across a ceiling that was writhing with movement.

Twelve

The beam of her light didn't reveal much of the vaulted ceiling above Beth's head. Just enough to see shining carapace, gleaming talons, and one enormous insect body writhing against another. There were a lot of the things. How many, she couldn't be sure. Four? Ten? A hundred? There was no way to know.

"Enemy is up!" Beth shouted. She raised her rifle even as she was yelling the warning. As soon as her muzzle was in line with the twisting mass of insects over her head, she fired.

The rifle was a Naga design. It fired a pellet of energy, with a variety of settings. On the lowest setting, the weapon acted like a bean-bag gun, shooting a relatively soft ball of force about the size of a grapefruit. At higher settings it was like a regular ballistic rifle. But these guns had been modified, honing the ball of energy down to a dot the size of a pinhead. The same kinetic energy focused to a much narrower space.

Beth’s shot hit something. She could tell because it was like the entire ceiling dropped down on her. The monstrous thing she'd fired at crashed into the pool around her. Something knocked her from her feet, and then she was underwater, liquid filling her mouth as she tried to take a breath.

Something dark moved near her. Beth still had her rifle, and she fired again. Whatever it was lashed out at her, raking her right leg with something that felt like a set of knives were being drawn across her body. Something smashed into her chest and pushed her against the bottom of the pool.

Blinded by pain, unable to draw a breath, Beth brought the muzzle of her rifle in against the thing holding her down. She depressed the firing stud once - then again - and then a third time.

The thrashing stopped. The monster on top of her was just a dead weight now, but even that was enough to keep Beth pinned beneath the water. She could see flashes of light from the surface now - more grenades and gunfire from the battle above. The pool was only knee deep, she remembered. But even inches away from breathing air was enough to drown her if she couldn't free herself.

Beth's lungs were burning. She twisted, trying to get herself loose from the monstrous insect. It had hooked teeth and claws into her body armor, trying to chew through the stuff to get to her. It hadn't managed to cut through, but in death it was still attached to her chest. Heaving with all the strength she had remaining, Beth strained to get her face above the surface. Even half a second might let her inhale a precious gulp of air.

But her strength was failing. She couldn't move the thing fastened to her chest armor. It was holding her down. She thrashed for a moment trying vainly to break free, but it didn't do her any good.

Blackness was crowding around the edge of her vision. She'd almost asphyxiated in space before, but never under water. It was a new and terrifying experience. Lungs burning, every fiber of her being crying for her to own her mouth and take a breath of something, anything, Beth forced her mind to be still. She fought through the panic and calmed her thoughts. Fear wasn't going to get her out of this. Her mind was the best tool she had.

The pool was shallow, and it grew shallower still not far from where she lay. If she couldn't lift the monster up off her, perhaps she could roll it? The things were like giant centipedes, after all. Beth heaved, shoving her entire body weight off to her right. The insect's body turned with her, spinning a full turn in the water. Beth caught a brief gasp of air, precious fresh air, as her head left the water at the top of the roll. Then she was back under the dead insect again. But the water was shallower now. She could almost get her face clear.

There! She could lift her head just enough to breathe freely again. All around her explosions and shouts echoed through the chamber. Her people were in trouble. Now that Beth could breathe again, she could see how the insect's jaws had latched into her armor. She wasn't getting it loose anytime soon. Instead, she unbuckled the straps on her sides and slid free of the chest plate. That let her slither out from beneath the thing's dead weight.

Beth rose to her feet. A short distance away was her rifle. She must have dropped it when she rolled. She picked it up and lifted the weapon to her shoulder. One of the insects saw her and rushed her way. Beth snapped off three shots in rapid succession and then stepped to the side, letting the dead bulk of the bug she'd killed crash past her into the pool.

Grenades exploded to her left. The people there were hard pressed. She started that way, hoping her friends were all right. It looked like some of the fiercest combat was happening up ahead, where Charline and Andy had been.

"Focus on the big one!" Beth shouted. She fired as she closed with it, shooting one round after another into the thing. It was enormous, bigger even than most of the other giant bugs had been. As she watched it shrugged off her shots and darted its jaws forward, slicing one of her security team in half with razor mandibles.

But the other two soldiers heard her and blasted the thing with SABOT grenades. Beth got in a lucky shot and nailed one of its eyes. The insect made a high, keening noise and whirled at her.

It rose up like a giant serpent, preparing to strike.

Beth fired from directly beneath it, tapping the trigger button as rapidly as it would engage. She was screaming loud enough to match the monster's cry.

And then it crashed backward, falling against a stone wall. It thrashed twice when it hit the ground, but Beth thought it was already dead.

Around the room, she heard a few more shots fired, but the battle seemed to be over. Beth sagged to her knees, keeping a careful watch for any other signs of danger. A pause in the fighting didn't mean it was over, but she had a sense that they'd finished the bugs off. The ones in this den, anyway.

"Report in," Beth said. "We get them all?"

"Seems like it," Ayala replied. "That was a lot more of them then we were expecting."

Beth reached down to her thigh, which suddenly hurt. Her hand came away wet and red. That first bug had sliced her pretty good there before she'd taken it out. She was beginning to feel light-headed, a sure sign of blood loss. Time to get out.

"Pull back to the surface. Bring any wounded with you. We'll finish the survey once we get people patched up," Beth said.

Then she turned to one of the soldiers. "I'm one of the wounded. One of you want to give me a hand? I'm not sure I can stand on this leg right now, let alone walk."

Three men practically fell over themselves to come to her assistance. Beth let them fuss. One of them applied a field dressing to slow the bleeding, then the other two hoisted her up to her feet and helped her back toward the spiral ramp.

Beth felt dizzy and a little nauseated, but also relieved. She'd faced the damned things yet another time, and she hadn't faltered. She'd beaten them again. Something niggled at the back of her brain, though. The insects had laid a trap. They'd all been waiting on the ceiling. They all struck at the same moment. She'd seen them trick Ayala's team in much the same way back on the moon, but she'd chalked it up to not understanding them, and Ayala getting unlucky.

This was different. Today they'd used deliberate tactics. That implied a lot more intelligence than she'd given them credit for. It meant these bugs were much more dangerous than anyone had guessed. Was that cave the only pocket of them surviving on Dust? Or were there more, someplace else? And when would they strike next?

Thirteen

Dan made his way through the ship, following the long central corridor. The Independence was huge. It had to be, to host its own fighter wing, but that sometimes meant moving from one part of the ship to another took a lot longer than he liked.

Once they were safely back in hyperspace, he’d decided it was time to get answers to some critical questions. Of course, ‘safely’ was a misnomer now. He knew full well that they had a new adversary capable of not merely detecting them while they were in hyperspace, but armed with weapons capable of somehow knocking them back into regular space.

He didn’t even know how they’d managed it. Nothing about the attack made sense as far as their understanding of the physics behind hyperspace went. The attack on the Independence shouldn’t have been possible at all. Which was a chilling thought, because it had happened. Energy shields, powerful weapons, and wormhole technology - whoever this race was, they were a serious threat.

The only being aboard the ship likely to produce useful intel on the new enemy was Garul. It gave Dan a little savage glee to have the roles so wholly reversed. He’d been Garul’s prisoner once. The Naga hadn’t seemed to take any particular pleasure from torturing Dan for information, but he hadn’t refrained either. Now the tables were turned, and he couldn’t help feeling a small sense of satisfaction, no matter how much his rational mind rebelled from the idea.

“On your way to the brig?”

Dan looked up. Colonel Martelle was leaning against the wall ten feet ahead of him.

“Good guess. Figured I would be coming this way?” Dan asked.

Martell nodded. “After that attack, we need answers. No better place to get them. You have a plan?”

“I intend to appeal to Garul’s better nature,” Dan said, baring his teeth.

Martelle laughed. “And when that doesn’t work?”

Dan hesitated. He didn’t want to resort to torture, but what if that was the only way to get the information out of the Naga? Having more intelligence on the enemy might be crucial to Earth’s survival. Was it worth holding to his moires if it risked the planet?

At the same time, could he trust himself to know he was only hurting the Naga out of necessity, and not for vengeance?

“He’s on board this ship, too. If they hit us again, I don’t know that we’ll be able to repel them as easily,” Dan said. “I think our attack style surprised them last time. They saw a Naga ship and were expecting Naga weapons and tactics. But we’ve armed the Independence with Earth weapons as well. It was those that made the difference.”

“Next time they’ll be better prepared,” Martelle said.

Dan nodded. “Precisely. We need to know who they are and what they can do. If we don’t? Well, Garul’s silence could kill him. He struck me as being more pragmatic than that.”

“Fair enough,” Martelle said. “I’m willing to take a tougher line if needs arise, though.”

“Understood,” Dan said. He relaxed a little. The Marine colonel was taking the bad cop role, letting him be the one offering the carrot instead of the stick. “Let’s try my way first.”

The two men entered the brig. An airman on duty saluted. Dan shook his head. The mashup of services on board this ship was going to cause problems if they didn’t find a better way to organize things soon. He hoped Hereford had luck getting the Space Service approved. At the moment there were Marines, airmen, Air Force pilots, civilians, and more all poured together like a stew.

It wasn’t the mix that was at issue. Air Force and Marines had always been a bit at odds with one another, but they could still work together. The more significant problem was the methods of work. Put a Marine platoon someplace with Air Force aerial support, and you were fine. But mix half a platoon of Marines with half a platoon of Air Force security, and you were bound to have small mistakes in communication. In a battle, that could cost them.

Dan nodded to the airman. “We’re here to check in with the Naga captain.”

“Understood, sir,” the airman replied. Then to Martelle, he added, “You’ll need to leave your sidearm here though, sir. No weapons in with the prisoners.”

“No worries, kid,” Martelle said. He unbelted the pistol from his side and laid it on the desk. “I know how this works.”

They made their way down the hall of the brig. The area housed a lot of cells. More than Dan could imagine a human ship of this size ever needing. But there were a lot of Naga prisoners. Most of them had opted to go out in a blaze of glory, fighting to the bitter end. But they’d managed to capture dozens anyway, out of the thousand or so who had originally crewed the three ships sent to conquer or destroy Earth.

All of those prisoners - forty-three in all - were aboard his ship. Dan grimaced at that number. Technically, about a sixth of his ship’s compliment was enemy POWs, a fact which didn’t make him happy at all. That he had just as many Marines aboard under Martelle’s command was the only thing that eased his mind a bit. He’d put one of those Marines against a Naga any day, and bet on the human.

Finally, the men stopped in front of Garul’s cell. Each prisoner was held in their own small cell space, to keep them separate from one another, the better to prevent them conspiring in a takeover of the ship. Garul especially needed to be sequestered from his fellow Naga. He was a warlord, a Naga of enough rank and prestige that Dan thought he’d have an easy time taking charge of the prisoner population, given any opportunity.

Dan pressed his palm against the panel outside Garul’s cell. The door opened with an audible snap as it slid into the wall. The space inside was small. A prisoner given to pacing would be thwarted by the sparse setting. But Garul was not a pacer, it seemed. He lay on the bed which dominated the far wall of the space. Together with a wall mounted unit for disposal of Naga waste, they were the only furnishing in a room which was otherwise bare metal.

Garul uncoiled himself from the bed and rose as the door opened. Beside him Dan could feel Martelle stiffen, preparing to deal with the physical threat the Naga represented if the need arose. Dan didn’t think it would, though. He felt like he’d grown to understand Garul, if not Naga in general. Oh, he was confident Garul would act in his own interest - and against that of humanity - if given an opportunity. But he was on his way home. If anyone was at risk during this trip, it was Dan and his crew more than the Naga they were escorting, and Garul knew that.

“Wynn,” Garul hissed, trying to make the English syllables work. “Fight?”

Dan pulled a small tablet from his pocket. He didn’t have time for Garul to play games with his speaking ability. How much the Naga could really say in English, Dan wasn’t sure. But he did know the Naga warlord would game that theoretical lack of knowledge for all it was worth given half a chance. He powered on the tablet and activated Majel’s translation program.

“We were attacked, yes,” Dan said. The tablet repeated his words in Naga. Garul didn’t need that. The Naga retained the translation being attached inside his ear. Removing the little slug-like beings was a complex process that could injure it, so they’d opted to leave it in. Its ability to translate words spoken around it directly into the wearer’s mind was useful for communicating with Garul, anyway.

But it was worth seeing Garul’s nostrils flare as he heard the little machine speaking Naga at him, anyway. It was the equivalent of a human raising his eyebrows, Dan had learned. He’d surprised Garul. That was a good thing. This was one being Dan intended to keep off balance as much as possible. Garul was smart enough to realize how much information they had to have about the Naga to make such a program possible.

“Speak thing?” Garul said.

“Translator,” Dan replied. “You can speak in Naga.”

Garul said something unintelligible, a series of hisses and clicking sounds.

“Remarkable that simple mammals have been able to accomplish such a thing,” the translator said, in its steady British accent.

“We’re good at being remarkable,” Dan said. “And we were attacked. How did you know?”

“I felt the ship shake. It’s not the first time I’ve been on a battlecruiser during a fight, you know,” Garul replied in Naga. He was no longer even trying to speak in English, allowing the translation software to do the work for him. “Why did you drop from hyper?”

“We didn’t. The attacker knocked us out of hyperspace with a weapon we've never seen before,” Dan said.

Garul’s nostrils flared again. “Then it is true.”

“What is?” Dan asked.

“The Kkiktchikut have returned.”

Fourteen

Safe aboard the Satori at last, Beth winced as Doctor Saldanha applied a topical anesthetic to her leg, and then sutured closed the three long gashes that the insect had raked into her thigh. She looked down, watching the work with the curious eyes of an engineer, and then quickly turned her head away. Her stomach wasn’t feeling up to observing the stitches going in.

“You’ll be right as rain in a few days,” Saldanha said. “But try not to push the leg too hard in the meantime.”

“I’ll do what I can, but,” Beth said, shrugging.

“But you’re the captain, and you’ll do whatever you think needs doing,” he replied. “I understand. But this leg needs rest. Or nanites. I could speed your recovery along if you’d let me…”

“No,” Beth said, her voice firm. She’d been dosed with healing nanites twice now. Both times she’d had no problems at all with the treatment. But she still couldn’t get used to the idea of having little robots crawling around inside her. If she needed them to save her life, that was one thing. But for convenience? She’d stick to the old-fashioned remedies.

“Very well,” Saldanha replied. “I’ve done what I can for you. Take two of these pills every six hours if you need to, for pain. And this one daily for a week to ward off infection. No telling what was in that water, so we’ll need to watch the wound carefully a few days.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Beth replied, rising from the med-bay bed. She tested the leg, putting weight on it gingerly at first. It was moving fine, but she could feel a little tug against the skin as her movement put pressure on the stitches.

“Off you go, then. I have other patients,” the doctor said, making a shooing motion with his hands.

He did have more than enough on his hands without worrying about her. They’d lost six members of the team, and had ten injuries. Six of those were severe. They’d been stabilized, but she would need to get them back to Earth as rapidly as possible. They needed better care than the Satori’s bay could give them, even as good as their little field hospital was.

“Majel, where is Ayala?” Beth asked as she exited the infirmary.

“In the cargo hold. Debating Andy and Charline. Vociferously.”

“I’m on my way,” Beth said.

She entered the cargo bay a scant minute later. Andy and Ayala could be heard all the way down the hall. Whatever they were discussing, it had grown heated enough that they were close to yelling at one another. The room was still packed with scores of would-be colonists, most of whom were quietly pretending they were not listening, while at the same time carefully bending an ear to every word.

“The site is clear. We should move in and secure it while we can,” Andy said.

“That room was clear. When we left it. There’s no guarantee it remains so,” Ayala said, gesturing with his hands for emphasis. “Nor that the rest of the complex is safe. How many crew have to die to clear that hive out for you?”

They both froze as Beth walked over. She kept her limp to a minimum. No sense giving Ayala’s argument more visible merit than she intended. But she was limping, despite her best efforts to disguise the severity of the wound. She had a funny feeling that was part of why Ayala was so perturbed, that he was upset his captain had been injured in the assault. How far they’d come from the first meeting, where his reaction to her was someplace in the zone between barely cordial and openly mutinous!

“Beth, good to see you up again,” Andy said as he saw her approach.

“Captain,” Ayala said. “We were just discussing next moves…”

“Loud enough that the Naga could hear you in the next star system, yes, I gathered that. From sickbay,” Beth said.

Both of them looked suitably contrite, so she moderated her tone a bit. “We’ve lost some good people on this mission already. I’m not in the mood to lose any more.”

“My thoughts precisely, Captain,” Ayala said with a smile.

“But Beth, we can’t just give up now!” Andy said.

“It’s not giving up to admit we went in with a crappy plan,” Beth said, cutting in. “Let’s face it - we underestimated them. You did. I did too. We assumed they were just stupid insects. We were wrong.”

The two men were silent as she regarded them. Beth glanced from one face to the other. Neither of them had been following the same line of thought she had. She held her frustration with them in check as best she could. How could they not see?

“What are you saying? How smart do you think they are?” Ayala asked at last.

“When they ambushed your team on the moon, I thought it was bad luck,” Beth said. “We didn’t know how they acted, what was normal for them. Remember how they all jumped out at once from the vats where they were hiding?”

Ayala nodded. “Vividly.”

“I read it as us disturbing their nest,” Beth said.

“As did I,” Ayala replied. “They reacted to us when we killed one of their young.”

Beth remembered the scene well. She’d been back on the ship, watching from the bridge as Ayala and his security teams broke into a hydroponics bay gone completely wild. The men had encountered some of the insects’ young and shot them.

“They all broke out at once after that,” Beth said.

“Right. Natural response. They were protecting their young,” Ayala said, clearly growing impatient that she get to the point.

“But they didn’t do that this time. They waited. We shot, what, six of the larvae?” Beth asked.

“At least,” Andy replied. He was beginning to understand what she was getting at. Beth could see the recognition dawning in his eyes.

“But they waited, the whole cluster of adults. They paused until we were spread out and vulnerable. Only the improved weapons we brought in with us enabled us to beat them,” Beth said.

There had been ten of them in all, including the enormous one she’d killed. Ten of the creatures. And they hadn’t attacked as soon as they saw the invading humans. They hadn’t even attacked when the first larva died, or the second, or the fifth. The things remained hidden on the ceiling, waiting for precisely the right time to maximize the impact of their assault.

“I’m not even certain they would have attacked when they did, except that I happened to look up and see them,” Beth said. “They were holding out as long as they could so that we would continue spreading out our teams. If they’d waited another minute or two, how far apart would our fire teams have been?”

The two men looked grim. Neither of them said anything.

“These bugs are a lot smarter than we’ve given them credit for,” Beth said. “A whole hell of a lot smarter.”

“I’ve analyzed the footage from the attack and concur,” Majel said. “Mathematically, the most opportune moment to strike would have happened roughly forty-four seconds after they moved. I suspect that had they not been detected they would have waited about that long before launching their strike.”

None of them said a word. None of them had to. But Beth let them think about the implications a bit before going on.

“I think this planet is a bust, gentlemen. I don’t think we can place a settlement here at all. Anyone we leave behind here is going to die,” Beth said. She pointed outside the ship, toward the cave. “Those things will kill them.”

Andy shook his head. “We’ve already unloaded most of the gear, though. Two-thirds of the colonists are outside and setting up temporary shelters, and reinforcing the cave entrance in both directions.”

Beth grimaced. She hadn’t given that order. “Charline’s idea?”

“She thought it best to get things moving while you were being patched up,” Andy said.

“And you went along with it?” Beth asked Ayala.

“She’s the colony governor. The ground stuff is her mission,” he replied. “I was against the idea, which is how I ended up debating the topic with Andrew.”

Beth shook her head. They’d have to reload everything, get everyone back aboard the ship. It would take time, but there was no way she was leaving people behind on this rock. Not given what they’d learned about these creatures. They were just too dangerous.

“Have them load back up again,” Beth said. “This mission is scrubbed. We’re going home. They’ll have to find another planet for their alpha site.”

As soon as she said the words, there was a loud rumbling from somewhere outside. Not an earthquake. The ship itself wasn’t shaking, so it wasn’t an explosion either. Beth glanced toward the closed hatch, started toward the panel which would open it up.

“Majel, what’s going on out there?” she asked.

“Cave in. The entrance to the cave area has collapsed,” the AI replied.

“Shit. Do we still have people inside?” Beth asked.

“Affirmative. I’m detecting the signals from twenty of the colony team,” Majel said. “Including Charline.”

“Shit,” Beth said, her palm already pressed against the panel to open the cargo door and lower the ramp. They needed to get in there, fast.

But as the ramp slowly descended from the ship, the lighting in the cargo bay suddenly went to flashing red. Alert klaxons sounded.

“Now what?” Beth called. Andy and Ayala were rushing down the ramp, weapons in hand. More men followed them, armed to the teeth and ready to help rescue their trapped people. She paused, trying to assess what this new threat was.

“The alert came from Lieutenant Foster, on the bridge,” Majel said. “A ship has just arrived in the system, and it’s making its way directly toward us.”

“Shit,” Beth repeated. “Naga?”

“I do not believe so,” Majel said. Her next words made Beth’s blood run cold. “Sensors indicate the ship arrived via wormhole.”

Fifteen

Beth raced to the bridge like she was being chased by demons. Which might well be the case. There was damned little time before that ship arrived in orbit. The Satori would be helpless, sitting on the ground. It could blast her ship to bits from orbit if it wanted to. Or it might opt to land and try to board the Satori, which might be even worse. With her crew scattered and many of her security personnel injured, defending the ship would be difficult at best.

They needed to get airborne. Fast.

“Majel, patch me through to Ayala,” Beth said as she sprinted down the corridor. “And prep the ship for takeoff.”

“Already on that,” Majel replied in her earpiece. “You’re connected to him now.”

“Captain, we’ve got a situation out here,” Ayala said. “Twenty of the colonists are trapped on the other side of a cave-in. We’re working to clear it now, but it’s going to take time.”

“We don’t have the time,” Beth said. “An unknown ship just jumped into the system via wormhole. It’s on its way to the planet right now. We’re lifting off. Get everyone back aboard, now!”

“The gear for the colony?” he asked.

“Leave it.”

“And the trapped people?” he asked, his voice more stressed.

Beth swore under her breath. Twenty people stuck down there. No help for them, no way out if the Satori left without them. If she abandoned them, their best hope might be that the alien ship showed up and took them prisoner. Otherwise, they’d likely become fodder for one of those giant insects.

She blinked. Charline was down there, too. They’d been through so much together. How could she leave her friend to die? But if she didn’t, then she would lose the Satori and everyone aboard as well. It was an impossible scenario.

“Major, get your ass back aboard before the hatch closes. Anyone slower than you is remaining on the surface,” Beth said. She knew as she gave the order she was going to trap a lot of people out there. Probably Andy would be among them, and she winced at the thought, but there was nothing to be done about it.

“You’re going to leave them?” Ayala asked.

“We’ll deal with this ship and then come back for them,” Beth replied. “I need you in here to help me fight the ship. Move!”

“Already on my way up the ramp,” Ayala replied. “I’ll close it behind me.”

Beth heaved a sigh of relief and slowed to a jog as she entered the bridge. “Engines hot, Lieutenant. We’re airborne as soon as you can take us up.”

“Yes ma’am,” Foster replied. His fingers flew over the controls. Beth felt the hum from beneath her as the ship’s powerful engines began pushing against the terrain beneath them.

She sat down and pulled up her console, watching the tracking data on the other ship. It had evidently detected them. The ship had been making a bee-line for the planet as soon as it entered the system, but now it was performing small vector changes to bring it directly toward the Satori, too.

They would get airborne, but could they get high enough to maneuver before the other ship hit them? Beth did a little mental math, and it wasn’t looking good.

“Majel, prep a micro-jump. Bring us up into orbit about twenty-five thousand miles from the surface,” she said.

“Roger, sending data on the jump to the helm,” the AI replied.

“Got it,” Foster said. “Ready to jump on your mark.”

“Do it!” Beth said.

The wormhole drive in the ship’s nose engaged, igniting the air in front of them with a swirl of brilliant light. Foster kicked in the primary engines and the vessel darted forward into the wormhole. There was that strange but now familiar not-moment of transition…

…and then they were in space, flying free. Beth rechecked the plot. Majel had brought them out of the wormhole behind the other ship. She grinned. That ought to give them a little shock. Now to see what they would do about it. There was something almost familiar about that little ship ahead of them, but she couldn’t quite place it at this distance.

“Here, ma’am,” Ayala said from the doorway.

“Glad to have you back,” Beth said. He nodded in reply and took his station.

“Alien ship isn’t turning,” Hernandez said. “They’re activating something - big energy surge.”

Beth braced for an attack, but it didn’t come. There was a flash of light on the screen, showing that the other ship was discharging an energy beam. She recognized it immediately.

So did Majel. “The enemy ship is activating a wormhole!”

“Brace for impact!” Beth shouted. “Foster, evasive-“

The Satori shook as beams of energy slammed into the hull. There was a sound of metal tearing, and klaxons sounded on the bridge, deafeningly loud. Beth ground her teeth together as the impacts overcame her ship’s inertial dampeners and nearly tossed her from her chair. She gripped the arms and held on for dear life. Seat belts. They needed seat belts in this thing, she thought wildly.

“Bring us about!” Beth shouted. “All railguns, continuous fire! Hit them back, damn it.”

The screen turned in a dizzying way as the Satori pivoted hard about to face back toward the alien ship. It continued to fire beams of some sort of energy, and another impact smashed into the ship. But Foster was good at his job, and he was making the Satori a hard target to hit, altering vector with apparent randomness, trying to be anywhere except where the alien ship expected them to be. It wasn’t perfect, but he was sparing them some of the abuse of the attack. Another beam shot out from the enemy ship, streaking past over the Satori as he dove the ship out of the way.

Meanwhile her own gun crews were doing their job. The Satori had two sets of twin high-powered railgun cannons, each one capable of spitting out hundreds of rounds of iron a minute at extremely high velocities. They might not be energy weapons like the Naga had, but they were Earth tech - reliable, steady, and easy to maintain. Beth favored the simplicity of the design.

Now all four guns spat out a hail of fire at the enemy ship. They couldn’t sustain this rate of fire forever, but the results when those rounds hit were spectacular. Each one blossomed into a little fireball on impact.

The enemy ship was small, darting through the hail of fire coming its way, but multiple shots impacted anyway. Then it was gone, vanished into another wormhole. But not before Beth was able to get a good look at the vessel, and realize why it seemed so familiar.

She’d seen it before.

Not this ship - but another that was similar. The alien craft was built by the same race which had constructed the original Satori - the alien ship they’d rebuilt into the Satori, anyway. She’d been in charge of the rebuild. Beth knew those lines, those curves. She’d recognize them anywhere.

The ship she was fighting now wasn’t the same class as the one they’d discovered abandoned on the moon. But it was made in the same style, and it was about the same size. That would make this ship the great-great-grandchild of the one they’d found, perhaps.

It flashed out of the wormhole directly behind her ship, hammering the rear of the Satori with those deadly beam weapons again. It was every bit as dangerous as the Satori, too, capable of making short-range jumps and using them to dart around a target, avoiding most of its fire and hitting a new and vulnerable spot with each pass.

She’d helped develop that strategy for their wormhole ship. The ship shook again from multiple impacts, and sparks flew from a console behind her as it overloaded and blew out. Now Beth was on the receiving end of the tactic, and it wasn’t a place she wanted to be.

Sixteen

Dan opened his mouth to ask what the 'Kkiktchikut' were, but before he could say a word the Independence shuddered. Dan grabbed hold of the wall as his stomach seemed to sink away in the now-familiar sensation of dropping suddenly out of hyperspace. The lights went red, and alarms sounded.

"Damn. They're nothing if not persistent," Martelle said.

Dan tapped a button on his tablet. "Bridge, give me a report."

"We were knocked out of hyperspace by the same alien ship, sir, or at least it appears to be the same one. But it brought company this time."

There was a loud clanging sound from somewhere several decks away. That didn't sound like impact explosions. It was more like docking clamps.

"They're going to try to board," Martelle said.

"Go. Get your Marines in place to repel boarders," Dan said.

Martelle turned to go, but Dan wasn't moving. "You good?"

"Yes. I want to know what the hell these things are, Garul. All our lives might depend on it," Dan said.

"They are a legend. Stories to scare children," Garul said. "Thousands of years ago, the legends say that the Naga lived only on one world. The Kkiktchikut found us and taught us to build things for them. They armed us and had us serve in their ships as soldiers."

"And then they just vanished?" Dan asked.

"No, we rebelled," Garul said. "Or so the stories say. Our ancestors yearned to be free. They fought off the Kkiktchikut masters, seized ships, and made war on them."

More explosions sounded. The ship rocked. Dan had to get back on the bridge. He was needed up there, not down here. But he had one more question he needed to ask.

"Garul, what are they? Are they creatures like you and me? Can they be killed by normal weapons?" Dan asked. He had visions of some hyper-advanced race made of energy or something similarly fantastic, and hoped that whatever they were facing was flesh and blood.

"They are mortal. The legends say they can die like any of us. But they are not like us. They are demons," Garul said. Then he sank back down onto his bed.

Dan slapped the panel, shutting the cell door. Then he headed for the bridge at a flat sprint. The enemy was on top of them. It was going to be up to him to find a way to beat them back.

"All squadrons launch as you're able," Dan called into his comm-link as he ran.

"Already on our way, sir," Captain Larsen said. "Alpha Flight is out, Bravo Flight is on its way."

"Good. Engage and destroy all enemy targets," Dan replied.

"We see two ships engaging from the front. You've got one attached to the side of the ship like a slug on an apple though, sir. Might be tricky peeling it off."

"Oh, don't worry about that one. The Marines are already one their way."

Larsen laughed. "I don't know who I feel sorrier for, the murderous rampaging horde...or the alien invaders! All right, sir, we're engaging."

"Godspeed," Dan said, wishing he were out there in a cockpit too. He was used to being in the thick of the battle, not leading from a command post. But that was his place now - on the bridge, where he could direct all of these moving parts, coordinate the pieces of the ship into an effective whole.

Colonel Martelle checked the map on his HUD. This was the spot, all right. A major intersection which lay directly in the path of the aliens boarding the ship. If they took this spot, they could move to control either the bridge, the engine room, or both. Therefore it was his job to make damned sure they didn't get one foot past this spot.

He directed Marines off to the left and right. It was a four-way intersection, and they already knew the direction the enemy was coming from. Setting up the defense wasn't an elaborate affair. They set up barriers and tossed mines out into the path he was pretty sure they were going to be attacked from. Martelle had drones proceed down all three other halls for about twenty meters. Just in case the enemy got sneaky, those drones would give them warning of a flanking attack.

"Get ready, people. They're going to be on top of us in another few minutes," Martelle growled.

He'd massed the entire platoon here. This was where the battle for the ship would be fought. There were other ways the aliens could pass around them, but that wasn't the pattern they seemed to be following. They were storming straight through the ship, making a beeline from their entry point to the center. Their movement wasn’t hard to track. They were knocking out every security camera in their path as they traveled.

Near as Martelle could determine from the video feed before it had been stopped, they’d managed to cut through the outer hull. Probably linked their ship up to the side of the Independence and then sliced their way right in. The spot they entered was an empty barracks room - a perfect spot for entry.

Which meant the enemy knew the ship, or the Naga version of it, anyway. This had to be the enemy the Naga was fighting. The tactics and weapons were nothing like what he was used to seeing the reptilian aliens use, so that meant it had to be…something else. Another life form.

The HUD across his helmet faceplate pinged another flash at him, showing another camera down. Whatever this enemy was, it would be on top of them all soon enough.

“Get ready,” he said over the tactical net. “Here they come.”

Flashes of light burst toward them from down the hall. The beams burned sizzling patches in the walls or ceiling where they impacted. Martelle ducked instinctively, and a beam of energy slashed through the air where his head had just been. Too close. From his new prone position, the old Marine aimed directly down the hall and fired a burst of rounds.

All about him his Marines did the same, laying down a barrage of fire that filled the hall.

“Grenadiers, send two HE shots,” he called out. A moment later there was the loud ‘shunk’ sound twice as the 40mm grenades screamed from their launchers and rocketed down the hall. They detonated in twin flashes of brilliant fire. The hot air from the explosions slapped Martelle across the face a moment later.

No more energy blasts were fired their way. Was it over that quickly? Martelle didn’t think so. His gut said that this battle was just getting started. He might have given the enemy pause. But they weren’t dead. They were assessing his strength, trying to find a way to win tactical advantage over him. What would their next move be? What would he do if he were them?

It wasn’t a question he could even begin to answer. He didn’t know what they looked like, what their strengths or weaknesses might be. He only knew that whatever they were, the Naga were damned near terrified of them. And the Naga were tough enough to have earned his respect. Anything that scared them wasn’t going to be easy to beat.

“Keep your eyes peeled,” Martell called out. “Any movement, call it out.”

“There! Got something!” Lance Corporal Adams shouted.

Martelle saw it too. He blinked once, unable to understand what he saw at first. The smoke from the grenades was hard to see through. It looked like the ceiling, walls, and floor were all moving, down there in the smoke. Like they were rippling. Undulating.

“Fire!” Martelle shouted. He lit up the hall with his rifle, the other Marines firing as well. The first rank of the enemy troops emerged from the smoke, crawling forward along the ceiling, walls, and skittering towards his men on the floor.

They weren’t remotely human. They weren’t even humanoid. But he’d seen them before. Martelle had watched the footage from the battle for the lunar base. He’d seen the monstrous centipede-like insects that the Satori’s crew had fought.

These were the same. Except…not quite the same. Martelle spotted protrusions from their spines that he hadn’t seen in those videos. Then all together, those protrusions erupted in beams of light, blasting away at his men. One of the Marines fighting next to him was hit and collapsed with a hole cut through his chest.

The nightmare creatures swarmed down the hall, closing to bayonet range, their deadly forelimbs slashing and cutting. The entire battle was in jeopardy, and if this spot fell, the entire ship might go down. They had to hold this place.

Martelle gave a roar and rose to his feet. One of the things dropped from the ceiling in front of him, opening its jaws wide. He ducked under one scimitar-like claw and then fired his rifle’s grenade launcher at point blank range into the monstrous mouth. The thing’s head exploded. He looked around for a new target, and the battle for the Independence began in earnest.

Seventeen

The Satori rocked again. Beth heard metal screaming somewhere as the enemy weapons tore into her ship. The armor they’d put on this new version of the Satori was much stronger than it had been on the old vessel, but it had limits. More alarms sounded, and she had the feeling they’d finally exceeded the stress tolerance of the plating.

“Hull breach, port side!” Ayala called out. “We’re venting air. Sealing the section.”

“Damage report,” Beth said.

“Number three railgun is out. Nothing else vital got hit,” Ayala said. “This time. But…”

The enemy ship flickered back into space again, exiting another wormhole. Now it was above them and forward. It opened fire the moment it appeared, stabbing out at her ship with those same twin beam weapons.

“Foster, evasive. Roll the ship, our armor is still stronger on the bottom,” Beth said. Then she whirled to the lieutenant on guns. “Hall, nail that thing!”

“Yes ma’am,” both of them replied almost in unison.

The Satori rocketed through a dive and roll, avoiding one of the beams entirely and taking the other on her belly. The railguns stabbed out at the enemy ship. Beth mentally crossed her fingers, hoping they could score a hit. So far this fight had been incredibly one-sided.

The alien vessel opened another wormhole and sped forward to evade their fire, but two of the railgun rounds exploded against its tail before it could make a clean getaway.

“Yes!” Hall said.

“You keep pounding that thing every chance you get,” Beth told her.

“On it, ma’am.”

The ship had re-appeared again, and the Satori shook once more as it was pummeled with more blasts. They couldn’t take much more of this pounding. Beth checked her instruments. Their own wormhole drive was still operational. They could flee, but she hesitated. If they ran, then the people on the planet below would be defenseless. She wasn’t sure if this ship had figured out they’d left people down there, but they’d surely check the landing site to see what the Satori had been up to.

Worse yet, Beth still couldn’t be sure if these aliens had a means of tracking them through a wormhole jump. She was pretty sure they were the race which had created the drive in the first place, so they likely knew a lot more about how it operated than she did. If she ran for home she might just be leading them back to Earth.

That she could not do. Which meant fleeing to some other star system, which would drain their drive for an hour or so, leaving them stranded. Unable to help the crew on the ground or get back to Earth.

There was another way, though.

“Majel, plot me a jump point sixty light seconds above the ecliptic. I want some breathing room,” Beth said.

“Sixty…?” Ayala asked.

“It’ll take that long for the light of our arrival to reach them,” Beth said.

“Coordinates set,” Majel said.

The alien cruiser swung in at them another time, gun blazing. It was time to go. They might survive another pass, but any one of these runs might damage something vital. Like the wormhole drive.

“Do it!” Beth said.

The wormhole appeared in front of the Satori. Then Lieutenant Foster goosed the drives and they shot forward. A moment later they were out in deep space. The planet was a distant point of light, looking much like any other star.

“We’ve got about a minute before that thing shows up here,” Beth said. “I need ideas, rapidly.”

“We can’t run, can we?” Ayala said.

“Not easily, no. It’s our last ditch. We have enough juice in the drives to reach Cyan, but no assurances it won’t follow us if we run,” Beth said. She didn’t need to mention the risk to Earth if they jumped there. Ayala nodded, and she could see the understanding in his eyes.

“I believe I might have an idea,” Majel said.

“All ears,” Beth replied, glancing down at the timer she’d set on her console. The seconds were ticking away rapidly.

“Their attack sequence is too rapid to be manual. It takes time to set coordinates for a jump, even for a powerful computer,” Majel said. “I’ve analyzed their attack, and it demonstrates a pattern.”

“Can you predict their jumps?” Beth asked.

“They’ve stuck with a Fibonacci Sequence as the base for their algorithm so far. I believe I can,” Majel replied. “But we’ll need to survive one pass before I can predict where they will arrive next.”

Beth thought as she watched the seconds tick away. It might be enough. If Majel was right about the pattern. If the enemy kept to the same pattern. If their own weapons were strong enough… Which reminded her. There was one weapon system she hadn’t unleashed on these aliens yet. It was time to drop that hammer.

“All right. We take evasive when they arrive and try to return fire,” Beth said. The young officers in charge of those duties nodded solemnly. “When they jump, we jump immediately after them. Majel, try to place us right in front of them when they arrive.”

“Right in…”

“Immediately in front of their arrival location,” Beth said, stressing the word. “Foster, be ready to turn the wormhole drive back on for another micro-jump the instant we arrive from our jump.”

Beth glanced down. The timer had reached zero. She held her breath. The next few seconds would either doom her ship or save it. She’d done virtually all she could.

“Enemy ship off the starboard wing!” Hernandez said.

Beth didn’t have to call for evasive action. She could feel the ship maneuver as Foster’s acrobatics pushed more acceleration than the inertia system could handle. Space spun past on the view screen. There was the distant thudding sound as the railguns blazed away.

“Enemy jumping,” Majel said. “Initiating following jump.”

The wormhole appeared directly in front of them, exploding in brilliant light. They leaped through, a short jump that seemed to take no time at all. The Satori exited the wormhole and saw - another wormhole! Majel had done it! The alien ship was only a few hundred meters ahead of them. They’d collide in seconds.

“Now, Foster!” Beth shouted.

He hadn’t waited for the order this time, either. The wormhole was already activating, slashing out a hundred meters ahead of their ship. The enemy ship had no time to evade. It collided with the front of their wormhole beam.

Early on in their experiments with the wormhole drive, Beth had learned that it was capable of doing considerable damage as well as opening a portal to a new location. While the side of the wormhole facing the ship carried anything through intact, the far end of the wormhole was a place of incredible gravitational flux. When matter came in contact with that forward element of the wormhole, it tore the atoms apart.

Beth had the briefest glimpse of the nose area of the alien ship coming apart before they blinked away, transported clear by the wormhole. The Satori re-appeared an instant later, some kilometer distant, just in time to watch the alien ship explode completely. All that remained was a flash of light and a growing field of debris.

She sagged back against her chair, feeling weak from the sudden dip in adrenaline. It was over. She’d beat the thing. Beth was dimly aware that the bridge crew was cheering, and she smiled, letting them have their moment. They’d earned it. Humanity had faced yet another new foe and come out on top. This ship might not have all the bells and whistles of that alien craft, but they had done all right, applying a little bit of human ingenuity to the problem.

They’d also gotten incredibly lucky. It could easily have gone the other way. Beth shook her head to clear it. “Let’s get back to the planet. We need to pick up our people and get the hell out of here.”

“Oh, shit,” Hernandez said, almost under his breath.

“That’s not the sort of language I want to hear on this bridge, Sergeant,” Ayala said.

“Sorry sir,” Hernandez said. “Just… You have to see this.”

He tapped his console and the view-screen changed. They were looking at the planet Dust again. But the planet wasn’t alone. There was a ship orbiting it. Beth sucked in a breath. She’d seen that ship before. It was the same one - or the same class, anyway - which had tried to tractor her in, when she was piloting the old Satori.

“My god,” Ayala said. “How big is that thing?”

“Very big,” Beth said.

“About a kilometer long, sir,” Hernandez reported.

“Has it seen us?” Ayala asked.

“Unsure. This all happened a minute ago, too, sir. If it jumped out to us we wouldn’t see it depart on the screen until a minute after it got here,” Hernandez said. “But it should be picking up the destruction of that smaller ship right about now.”

“Ready a jump,” Beth said.

“For where?” Majel asked. “Earth?”

“Can’t risk it. Prep coordinates for Cyan,” Beth said. “We can’t fight that thing. Be ready to jump as soon as it…”

The thing arrived directly in front of them before she could finish speaking. It lashed out with a torrent of energy. The Satori bucked like it had been struck by a massive hammer. The beams tore deep into the ship, wreaking havoc on the hull and the more fragile systems beneath it.

“Jump!” Beth cried.

Light flashed, and the ship spun wildly out of control.

Eighteen

The Satori screamed out of the wormhole, bleeding atmosphere and venting fire. Beth’s vision was a red haze. She’d hit her head somewhere along the line. Her hand went to her forehead and came away wet. She was bleeding, and it was dripping into her eyes.

Smoke was everywhere. Several consoles had shorted out during the brief moment they’d been blasted by the alien dreadnought. The lights were out, but emergency lighting came on a scant few seconds after their arrival.

“Status,” Beth tried to say. Her voice sounded weak to her ears. She tried again, projecting all the strength she could into the command. “Status report.”

“We’re in the Cyan system, near the innermost gas giant,” Majel reported. “Wormhole drive was too depleted to get any closer. Drive battery is drained for now.”

Ayala coughed and got himself back up from where he’d fallen to the deck. He made his way to his console, which was still alive with flickering lights. More red than not, from what Beth could see of his damage control board.

“We made it out in one piece, but there’s massive damage across the ship,” he said. “Those beams tore right through the hull plating. We’ve got casualties on every deck, all weapons are down. Life support is more or less functional.”

“More or less?” Beth asked. They needed to breathe if they were going to have a prayer of fixing their ship.

“It should hold long enough to get some patches on the damaged systems in place,” Ayala said. “Recommend we start there.”

“Lieutenant Foster, we have any maneuvering ability?” Beth asked.

“Some,” he said, testing his controls. “Looks like we’re not going anywhere too fast.”

Beth pulled up a sensor reading of the system on her tablet. Her console was shot, shorted out beyond any hope of using it soon. The system was made up of a single star with five planets. The inner three were solid, but the outer two were massive gas giants, and there were clusters of asteroids between them. That might give them someplace they could hide.

“Make for that nearest asteroid field,” she said. “We’ll duck in there and make repairs to the ship.”

“Just another piece of space rock?” Ayala said. “That won’t save our people on Dust.”

“Neither will us getting ourselves blown to bits. We’re stuck here for at least an hour. Let’s make the best use of it we can,” Beth said. “If we can get enough systems operational by then, we’ll see about returning to Dust. Otherwise…”

Ayala nodded. “Otherwise we sit tight and hope that smaller ship didn’t have a chance to send too much information on us to its mother ship.”

It was a slim hope, but Beth nodded. For now, it was the best they could do. For the next hour, they left a skeleton crew on bridge duty while everyone else participated in repairs. Life support turned out to be the easiest solution. Other crucial repairs would be longer in the working. The wormhole drive remained operational, which was a miracle Beth didn’t want to question too much. Of all the systems on the ship, that was the most critical, and the only one they could not repair at all if it was badly damaged. No one on Earth knew precisely how the damned thing worked, and damage to that system would effectively strand them light years from home.

For that reason, it was placed in the most secure and heavily armored section of the ship. The ‘engine room’ was effectively an armored box at the very heart of the Satori, built with every protection they could engineer around the crucial systems which maintained the wormhole, their sub-light engines, the inertial dampener, the computer system housing Majel’s mind, and myriad other alien systems. All of which might as well be magic for all Beth could understand about how they functioned.

That room hadn’t been pierced by the brutal attack. But more of the human-crafted systems wreathed around that inner sanctum had been damaged than remained functioning, it seemed. They had to get the railguns operational as soon as possible. But the repair team in charge of the port guns quickly discovered that one of the weapons was just missing. A shot had blown half of it completely clear from the ship, and smashed the other half beyond any hope of rebuilding.

The other weapons were thankfully not as bad off. Systems overloaded by power surges, conduits cut, and computer systems either damaged or fried entirely were scattered all over the ship.

Fixing the Satori entirely out in space wasn’t even in question. Many of the repairs were too severe. She would need weeks back on Earth to get her back up to full readiness. But in the meantime, they would do what they could.

The ship reached the asteroid field without much done beyond life support. At least they knew they would continue breathing for the time being! Beth heaved a sigh, wiping sweat from her forehead. Her hand came away tinged with red again. The sweat must have opened up the slice on her head.

She slid out from beneath the console. “Reboot her, Sergeant. You should have a connection to the sensor systems again.”

Sergeant Hernandez sat back down at his station and went through the process of resetting the controls. Without full sensor feeds, they were more or less blind. They knew where the major orbiting bodies would be by doing the math, but there was no way to know if there were any other ships in the system.

That nothing had jumped on top of them to blow them to bits was a good sign, but Beth wasn’t willing to take it for granted they’d continue to have that reprieve. She wanted all her ‘eyes’ open, watching for threats.

“We’re live, ma’am. Scans are populating. I’ve got…all planets confirmed. We’re closing on those asteroids, nearest ones will be passing by on our starboard side in about two minutes,” Hernandez said.

“Anything else out there?” Beth asked, trying vainly to hide her impatience.

“Scan sweep is still finishing… Yes, ma’am. Looks like three ships in the vicinity of Cyan,” Hernandez said.

“On screen,” Beth said.

A low-resolution image popped into view. It showed three ships, two of which were Naga battlecruisers. They seemed to be engaging a much larger ship. It was one of the alien dreadnoughts, like the one which had almost destroyed the Satori with a single volley. Beth sucked in a breath despite herself. Was it the same ship? If not, how many of the things were there?

At first she thought the Naga vessels were advancing, but as she watched they drew away from the other, much larger ship rather than advancing on it.

“The Naga are trying to run,” Beth said.

“Yes, ma’am. Also picking up a lot of debris near that fight,” Hernandez said.

“That’ll be the remains of the Naga station,” Beth replied. “It was already destroyed the last time I was here.”

“No ma'am. Picking that up too, but there are three new clouds of debris nearby as well.”

“Naga? Or that other race?” Beth asked.

She wasn’t sure which answer she was hoping for. Both races had proven to be deadly adversaries. That they were fighting each other was great for Earth, but that also meant both of them would fire on her if they got half a chance. The idea that there was not one but two star-faring civilizations out there ready to take out Earth ships any chance they got was a nightmare.

“Definitely Naga,” Majel replied. “The spectral analysis of the hull material shows typical Naga armor alloys in all three clouds.”

Damn. It looked like that one dreadnought had taken out three Naga vessels without breathing hard, and was in pursuit of two more. A five on one situation should have let the Naga blow just about anything to pieces. Whatever that other ship was packing, it was more than a match for a small fleet. That was going to be trouble.

“How old is that data?” Beth asked.

“About ten minutes.”

Ten light minutes. Close enough that all three ships had surely detected the Satori. They could run - the wormhole drive had recharged somewhat. They could jump out someplace. It didn’t have to be Earth. They could just jump a light-year or two away from the star, and land someplace far enough out that none of the ships would spot them easily.

Unless that dreadnought could track their jumps. Beth shoved the thought from her mind. One problem at a time.

“The Naga vessels are still trying to flee. It looks like one is falling behind and…” Hernandez’s voice trailed off as the vessel exploded on their screen. “The other is trying to jump to hyperspace.”

“What vector?” Beth asked.

“It’s coming our way, more or less,” Hernandez replied.

“More more, or more less?”

“Hard to say until we see it jump. If they make even the smallest course correction before they enter hyper, it’ll radically change their direction by the time they’ve traveled this far,” Hernandez said.

“Ready a jump, out one light year,” Beth said. "We'll repair the ship from far enough out that they'll have one hell of a time tracking us."

She watched the energy reading build around the fleeing Naga as it tried to make a jump. Would it jump out before it was destroyed? Either way, the dreadnought had surely spotted the Satori as it ran for the asteroids. What would it do once the Naga were gone? It might be too damaged to try another engagement, but she wasn’t going to bet on that. It was time to run. Past time, in fact.

No sooner had the thought crossed Beth's mind than she heard the proximity alarms come alive, blaring a warning that they'd come dangerously close to another object in space.

Nineteen

The bridge was in chaos by the time Dan arrived. A thin haze filled the air. Something had shorted out, some console or conduit blown. De Toro had the con and jumped up from the command chair like he’d been burned by it as soon as he saw Dan.

“Thank god you’re here, sir!” De Toro said.

“What are we facing?” Dan replied.

“Two of them, sir. Same class as last time. One of them jumped in ahead of us as soon as we were pulled from hyperspace,” De Toro said. “While we were busy engaging it, a second ship jumped in directly beside us and clamped on.”

“The Marines are dealing with our boarders,” Dan said. He hoped that was true. Martelle would undoubtedly have his work cut out for him. The crew compliment the enemy had to be expecting from a Naga ship was over three hundred. All Naga - which meant all fighters. While most of his people were capable of at least basic self-defense, the majority of the Independence crew were not warriors.

“Ensign Scott, how’s the helm?” Dan asked.

“Sluggish with that limpet attached to our side, sir.”

“Time to break them off, then. Patch me through to Captain Larsen.”

There was a moment of pause, then De Toro spoke up. “You’re on, sir.”

“Larsen, how heavily engaged are you out there?” Dan asked. He knew it couldn’t be pretty. Checking his radar, he saw there were only sixteen fighters remaining in space. They’d launched all twenty. That was a massive toll for just a few minutes of combat.

“Hairy as hell, sir,” Larsen replied. “But we’re keeping them busy so they can’t take any swings at you.”

“I’ve got a plan. We’re going to make the other ship jump. Continue to harass them when they come back, but I want you to detach four fighters back to the Independence,” Dan said.

“Problems, sir?” Larsen asked.

“I want this garbage scow that’s attached itself to my hull removed. Four fighters firing their missiles ought to do the trick.”

“Might damage the ship, too,” Larsen warned.

He wasn’t wrong. Precision missile fire at the alien ship directed at the spots where it had coupled with the Independence might well knock it loose. But if those missiles went even a little astray, they’d have friendly fire that wouldn’t be fun. Debris knocked loose from the explosions could slam back into their hull and damage their ship as well. But it was a risk Dan felt they had to take. Who knew how many boarders were coming their way? How many aliens were on board that ship, ready to engage Martelle’s Marines? No, it was time to end that part of the attack.

“Do it. Soon as the other ship jumps,” Dan said.

“Yes, sir!”

He cut off the channel. Then he turned to Johansson. “Fire missiles. Full barrage, all tubes. Take that thing down - or make it run for cover.”

“On it, sir,” he replied. He needed no more urging.

The ship began to thrum with the steady staccato of missiles leaving their tubes. The radar on Dan’s console showed two, then four, then ten missiles inbound on the enemy ship, and the Independence continued to launch.

The alien ship must have known what those missiles could do. It didn’t linger to even try shooting them down. Instead, it formed a wormhole directly in front of its bow and vanished in a burst of light, appearing again a few thousand kilometers aft of the Independence. Far enough that those missiles wouldn’t be able to turn around and engage.

“Now, Larsen,” Dan whispered. The flight captain couldn’t hear him, but he knew his business. Already four fighters raced in toward the Independence, while the other dozen dashed back to engage the alien vessel.

Missiles flew free from the four fighters. If the enemy had thought they were secure being so close to the Earth warship, well, they were about to receive a rude awakening. He flicked his view to an external camera and saw little puffs of freezing water vapor escaping from the breach the aliens had made in his hull. They were trying to pull away. But they weren’t going to manage it in time.

There was another danger to the ship’s crew, though. Dan activated an all-ship intercom. “All hands, brace for impact and prepare for possible decompression.”

That was all the warning he had time to give before the missiles slammed home against the alien vessel. He hoped it was enough for the crew to take some cover, especially the Marines who would be most vulnerable if the area they were fighting in decompressed.

One of the four fighters winked out in a flash of light as the aliens’ energy beams stabbed out at their attackers. Dan winced, hoping the others would be able to get clear. But the explosions from the missiles drowned out the image a moment later, blocking much of his view for a few critical seconds. He switched to a computer-enhanced radar view.

Eight missiles had been fired at the alien ship. They were smaller than the ship-based weapons but still powerful enough to pack a punch. Dan heaved a sigh of relief, seeing that none of the shots had gone wild and hit his ship instead of the target. The side of the alien vessel which had been facing his ship was a mess, ruined bits of hull twisted about themselves. The enemy still had power though, and was trying to use its engines to get clear.

“Missile batteries on the port side, target that ship and fire,” Dan snarled.

Missiles sailed through the short gap between the two ships, pummeling the alien vessel with punishing fire. Explosions wreathed the cruiser. Plasma stabbed out from the Naga guns and found purchase against its hull. Whatever force field had shielded the ship was no longer functioning.

The fusillade was brief, violent, and final. The enemy cruiser exploded in a brilliant burst of light.

“Yes!” Scott yelled.

Dan allowed himself a thin smile. “Well done. Ensign Scott, bring us about. Johansson, fire all weapons on that other ship as they bear. Let’s go help our pilots out.”

The Independence wheeled, spinning around as rapidly as its vector allowed. The other ship saw the new threat and darted away, still harried by the swarm of fighters surrounding it. The alien vessel was venting atmosphere and showed multiple hull breaches. They’d lost six fighters out there - but the pilots had done their work well.

“Energy buildup in the bow of the ship, sir,” De Toro said. “They’re getting ready to jump.”

“Johansson, target the bow and hit it with everything we have,” Dan said. He opened the channel to Larsen again. “I want that ship down before it jumps.”

“Yes, sir,” Larsen replied.

Immediately, a flurry of missiles launched from the fighters as they dumped what must have been all their remaining ordinance into the enemy ship. Naga plasma weapons stabbed out across space, striking the shield and sending flickers of light up and down the ship. Missiles streaked across the void between the ships.

“Something is wrong with their wormhole drive,” De Toro said. “Energy fluctuations!”

It was the plasma. Those shields must draw an enormous amount of power. So did the wormhole device. They couldn’t do both at the same time without problems. “Fire all plasma guns. Maximum fire. Burn out the guns if you have to!”

Streams of fire spat from the Independence, and space around the alien cruiser flashed into brilliant light. A wormhole sparked into being ahead of the ship. It sped forward, the nose vanishing into the hole in space-time. But there was something wrong with the wormhole - it was unstable, shrinking rapidly.

Then the missiles impacted, pounding against the enemy armor, blasting chunks of metal free into space, burning armor into vapor. The wormhole blinked out.

The front third of the ship was somewhere else. That aft two-thirds were still there, floating in space. More missiles slammed against the broken hulk, and it exploded into fragments.

Dan leaned back against his chair, heaving a sigh of relief. They’d won. Both ships were smashed. Destroyed. Now there was only one other thing they had to worry about. He opened a channel to Colonel Martelle.

“How are things with our boarders?” Dan asked.

There was a long pause. Dan’s heart thudded loud enough that he thought everyone on the bridge must be hearing it. They could still lose everything here. If the Marines had failed to stop the invading force, they might still lose the battle even though they’d beaten both ships.

“Martelle here.” The colonel sounded tired and worn, his voice carrying a sharp tone that Dan read as pain.

“You all right down there, Colonel?”

“We’ve taken care of the visitors. Heavy casualties. I’ve got medical working on the wounded already,” Martelle said. “But Captain - you’re going to want to get down here to see this.”

“On my way. De Toro, you have the bridge,” Dan said. Then he turned and strode from the room as rapidly as his tired legs could carry him.

The Kkiktchikut had been on his ship. Dan sucked in a breath. At long last, maybe he could lay the mystery of these strange beings to rest. It was time to see the enemy in person.

Twenty

Alarms blared across the Satori's bridge. Beth didn't have to ask what was wrong. She could see it on the main screen, big as life. The alien dreadnought had opened a wormhole to their location. It slipped silently out of the wormhole, white and blue energy discharges flashing across the hull like heat lightning.

The thing was enormous, bigger than any aircraft carrier on Earth. As it cleared the wormhole, Beth scan console showed flashes of energy building up all along the dreadnought's starboard side. It was getting ready to fire its broadside. They'd barely survived the first one. She was pretty sure they couldn't get lucky twice.

"Majel, jump the ship!" Beth cried. No human was fast enough to get them out of there in time. Majel was the only being who might be able to save them. Beth heard the whine as their wormhole drive engaged, pouring a planet's worth of power into the space in front of the ship.

She wondered what had happened to the Naga vessel. Had they gotten away? Or had they been blown to bits by the enemy? No way to tell. Oddly Beth found herself wishing the best for the Naga. Frightening as they were, this strange new enemy was even more terrifying. Their wormhole was blossoming into life ahead of them. Another moment and they'd sail through. Hopefully to safety, at least for a little while.

"Massive energy wave approaching from the planet. Gravity and quantum fluctuations," Majel reported.

"What is it?" Beth asked.

"Unknown. Possibly the wave front of the Naga's hyperspace drive, but if so it's coming right at us," Majel said.

"Will it impact our jump?" Beth asked.

"Unknown."

Beth drummed her fingers on the console. The wormhole flashed into being in front of her. There wasn't any choice. They had to run. As if to emphasize that, the dreadnought opened fire on them. The path between the two ships was littered with debris and asteroids, which blocked most of the first volley, but the Satori shook hard enough to rattle her teeth as one blast got through. The dreadnought was veering around some of the larger chunks of rock, making for a spot where it would have a clear line of fire. They could play 'can't catch me' in the asteroids for a while - the Satori was the smaller ship and could evade them for a bit.

But Beth had no doubts how the fight would end if they stayed to engage this thing. There wasn't any choice. Not really.

"Jump," she said.

"Yes ma'am," Foster said. He touched a control, and the ship shot forward into the wormhole.

Immediately Beth knew something was wrong.

There was always the smallest sense of time passing by while transiting a wormhole. Even though the science said that was impossible, it was something every human traveler consistently reported. Near as they could tell from every possible measurement, there was no space in a wormhole. You entered and left in an instant transition from one place to another. Even if it didn't feel that way.

But this was something wildly different. Beth felt stretched thin, like she was being drawn out on a rack, but even more so. The feeling went on and on - far beyond the time they should have been in transit. She had the time to wonder how long she'd been trapped inside that space. Whether she would ever escape it. The time reached out, an infinity of moments stretching out before her where she was silent, could not move, and-

The Satori exploded back into real-space with a burst of light. But the brilliance was only outside the ship. Nothing was lit within the Satori, and as the light outside the ship faded away Beth had a hard time seeing her hand in front of her face in the sudden gloom. She was in free-fall, though. Everything was gone, even the artificial gravity.

"Lights on," Beth called out. Nothing. "Majel, can you get the emergency lights on?"

No response.

"What's going on, ma'am?" That was Foster. He sounded all right, but confused. Which made sense to Beth - she felt as bewildered as the lieutenant.

She reached into her pocket and pulled her tablet out. The one she used on the moon hadn't survived the fight there, but it had been so useful in the field that she'd replaced it as soon as she got home. Beth tapped the screen, mentally crossing fingers that it would activate. It did, casting a blue and white glow over her face.

Beth heaved a sigh of relief and turned on a flashlight function. She shone the light around the room. The rest of the crew were all there, and they seemed all right, if a little groggy. Ayala also had a tablet out, and quickly activated the light. He shone the beam across the various wide-eyed faces on the bridge.

Her people were scared, and with good reason. Something had broken while they were using the one system on the ship they understood least well and absolutely could not get home without. Hell, she was frightened. If the wormhole drive had blown, then they were stuck - wherever they were. But for the moment wondering where they were could wait. They needed to get the power back on, or it was going to start getting cold inside the ship before too long. No power meant no life support, no heat, no air cycling.

Beth undid the straps holding her to the seat and drifted clear a little. "Majel, can you hear me at all?"

There was no answer. She wasn't really expecting one. With the power gone, all the speakers were out. If the power was indeed cut off from the ancient computer system managing the alien systems, then Majel might be entirely offline. No way of knowing what that would do to her. No way to tell from here how long it would take to fix things, either.

She heard a gasp and turned her head to look. Foster had unbuckled as well, and moved toward one of the small portholes allowing a peek into space. He stared out, frozen in place.

"Captain, you need to see this," he said, still not turning his head.

Beth pushed off from her chair and floated over. She caught the wall and slid in alongside Foster. The windows had been her idea. Monitors can fail, and even backups can go down. The window would give pilot and gunner small holes to look out through, allowing them at least some limited control of the ship. That was her theory, anyway. Even Beth had never expected to lose every system on board the vessel at the same time.

Foster slid over a little so that she could see out through the window. At first she wasn't sure just what she was looking at. It seemed like it was some sort of stellar cluster or nebula.

Then she realized her understanding of scale was off. Not just a little off, but way, way off. She sucked in a breath. The trip home had just become enormously more complicated.

"Is that...?" Foster asked.

"Yeah, it is," Beth replied. The massive cluster of stars looked to be about the size of a large pizza, through the window. She tried to do the mental math and failed. The numbers were too big, and she couldn't calculate the scale accurately by eye. But the object she was looking at was at least a hundred thousand light years away.

"It's the Milky Way," Beth said. "That's home."

Twenty-One

Three hours later and all they'd managed to do was restore emergency power. The battle damage had cut a line from the backup batteries to the rest of the ship. Once the crew replaced the unit, the Satori had life support and emergency lighting back, but that was all. They couldn't use sensors, and they certainly couldn't move anywhere.

Thankfully the enemy hadn't followed. This jump was far beyond what the Satori was capable of handling. The maximum jump range seemed to be something close to a hundred light years. They'd traveled a thousand times that distance. If the dreadnought could even think about tracking them from so far - and she doubted it - they had a long haul to get there.

But they needed to be able to take a look about. The Satori was tumbling a bit, so they could see there was a star nearby. That was likely why they'd stopped in this particular place. They knew gravity wells impacted the wormhole drive. The gravity of this star, sitting by itself in the middle of intergalactic space, must have pulled them from the wormhole.

Where there was a star, there might be planets. Also asteroids, debris, and maybe even other life, although Beth was rather hoping to not run into yet another alien race. But given they had no sensors to speak of, there was only one way to get the data they needed, and that was to take a look outside.

"I'm the perfect person for this job, Major. I have the background and experience to get the information we need. And I know the ship better than anyone, so I can examine the damage we've sustained from the outside," Beth said.

"Any EVA is risky. We've got suits, but what happens if you tumble off the ship?" Ayala replied.

"I'll have a thruster suit," Beth replied.

"Still think the captain should remain on the ship," Ayala said. "Respectfully. Ma'am."

Beth quirked a small smile. "You want me to stay so you can go."

"Absolutely," Ayala replied, his own face breaking into a smile. "Are you kidding? Space, out here? Between galaxies? Who knows what we might find out here. Yes, I'm excited. I also know we're in a tough place, and you're the best person to get us out. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Thanks. I'll get you out there soon as I can, OK?" Beth said. "But I'm taking this first EVA. Captain's prerogative."

Ten minutes later she was suited and ready to depart through the side airlock. Beth stepped into the lock and closed the first door behind her. The ship cycled air slowly out of the airlock. With backup power, everything was running slowly, in low-power mode. It took a full minute to clear the air from the small chamber around her. While she waited, Beth attached a safety line from the wall to her suit. Yes, she had the thruster pack on, but enough things had gone badly already today. She had no intention of adding ‘doing a Dutchman’ to the list.

Once the air was gone, a light over the door flashed green. Beth tapped a code into the console to activate the outer door. It opened in utter silence, the vacuum around her cushioning her from outside sounds. All Beth could hear was her own breathing. She activated her radio set.

"Ayala, you listening in?" she asked.

"I'm here. Your suit sensors look green. Go for mission."

"All right, slipping outside," Beth said.

She clung to the rail just outside the airlock and spun herself out into space. The view was gorgeous. Beth didn’t think she would ever tire of this part of her job. Going outside - seeing the universe from this perspective… It was jarring and peaceful at the same time. She felt at home and incredibly small all at once.

A yellow sun burned in the near distance. She couldn’t estimate its size without knowing how far from it the ship was, but at this range it looked much like Sol. A main-sequence star meant there might well be planets floating around out there. That could be dangerous for the ship. Space was big, but the wormhole drive had a tendency to veer toward gravity wells, and without the ship’s sensors they had little means of detecting a nearby planet.

The suit still had power for its instruments, though. She had the suit enhance light intake and project the image to her faceplate. It dampened the star’s light but brought up the brightness on any other nearby objects. There weren't many objects floating in space around the ship. This far out between the galaxies, stars were few and far between. The Milky Way was near enough to appear as a huge spiral disk in the distance, and there were a few other points of light here and there - likely other galaxies rather than other nearby stars. The odds of there being another extra-galactic star nearby were low.

Beth expected that some of those points of light would be planets. She spotted one right away and had the screen enhance her field. It was a pile of beige rock. There was no way to see if it had atmosphere, but she couldn’t pick out any clouds. That likely meant the atmosphere was thin if there was one at all.

The second planet was more interesting. It was a brilliant blue orb with swirling whites. Beth thought she could spot the smallest hints of another color in there, under the clouds, but the planet was distant enough that it was difficult to tell. Neither planet was close enough to represent a hazard for the Satori, though. She continued panning around the solar system, looking for more objects.

And then she saw it - the glint of sunlight off metal. It didn’t look like it was far from her ship. Beth wasn’t sure at first what she was looking at. Was it a metallic asteroid? She brought up the resolution on her screen as much as she could. Whatever it was, it was small, from a solar perspective. It was far enough away that it was tough to get a good view.

The object seemed to be spinning, and floated somewhere between the Satori and the star, ‘up’ a little bit from her vantage point. All she was getting was reflections from the sun off the thing’s surface, not enough of an outline to see what it was.

Beth pushed off from the ship, soaring up and away from the Satori. Maybe she could get a little better angle, and view the thing better? Even a big rock could be a serious threat to her ship out here. The Satori had no power to steer, no ability to adjust course. If that thing was headed toward them it was bad news.

The tether ran out sooner than she would have liked, jolting Beth to a stop a hundred meters from the ship. She peered outward, trying to figure out what she was looking at.

“You all right, Captain?” Ayala asked.

“I’ve got something odd out here, trying to figure out what it is,” she replied.

“Be careful.”

She arched her eyebrows, although he couldn’t see the motion. Like she would be anything else. There was too much on the line to take unnecessary risks. Needful ones, on the other hand?

The suit’s screen fed her more data on the object as it continued to track the thing. Gradually, she was getting a complete outline as the little computer fed more detail into the image. Another rendering pass, and Beth froze.

She knew what it was. She’d seen them often enough before, after all.

“Ayala, I have an ID on that object. It’s a Naga battlecruiser,” she said.

Twenty-Two

Dan smelled the remains of the fight before he saw them. The main hallway of the Independence had a scorched scent, like ozone and burned steel. He could hear the air cyclers working overtime to clear away what was left of the haze, but the fighting must have been ferocious.

Martelle came toward him. The Marine was still in his armor, which had holes punched through it in the left arm and right leg. He was limping, but still standing despite the smears of blood decorating his armored plates. Dan had a feeling some of the blood was his, and some of it belonged to others.

“You should be getting medical treatment,” Dan said.

“Others were hurt worse,” Martelle replied with a gruff tone that told Dan he was hurt worse than he was willing to let on. “Suit’s keeping me up and running for now.”

The Marine armor would detect injury and do its best to keep the occupant alive. Martelle was probably running on a combination of injected adrenaline, painkiller, and nanites. The soup running through his veins was likely all that was keeping the man on his feet.

“Report, then to medical. That’s an order. I need you on your feet for the next fight,” Dan said.

Martelle nodded his assent. “This way, then. You’ll want to see this.”

He led Dan to the intersection, where medical corpsmen were tending to fallen Marines. Shrouds covered the bodies of several who had been too badly injured to save, and Dan winced. Their casualties had been light, mostly thanks to these people. The Marines had borne the brunt of the hard fighting, along with his pilots. Both had taken losses.

Then he glanced around the corner in the direction the invasion had come from. He stopped in place. What he was seeing - it didn’t seem possible. But there was no doubt at all in Dan’s mind. He knew what he was looking at, what this had to be. Impossible as it sounded, it also made a lot of sense and answered more questions than it posed.

There were four alien bodies in the hall. Four invaders had caused all of this carnage. Those four probably would have been enough to take the ship, or at least wreck it, had it not been for Martelle’s people stopping them. But it wasn’t the number that took Dan aback. It was what they looked like.

Four long, armored carapaces stretched out in the hall. One had been torn entirely in half by gunfire. Another alien’s front end was mostly gone, obliterated by the Marine’s shots. The other two were pierced by more holes than Dan could count. He strode to the side of the nearest and reached down, pulling away the metal carapace. It was stuck fast, attached to all the other plates, but he found an opening where multiple rounds had broken through the armor.

Inside the metal shell was the body of a massive insect, a creature not unlike a twelve-foot-long centipede. He’d seen them before, of course. On Dust, where they’d first run into them. And on the footage of the battle for Caraway Base on the moon. These were the same monsters that humans had battled before.

But they were different, too. The other ones hadn’t worn metal armor. They hadn’t been armed - but here each bug-suit had two beam weapons placed near the head. Dan guessed they were controlled in some manner by the insect from inside the suit. It was a weaponized armor platform the aliens wore, not too unlike the ones his Marines had on.

“The Kkiktchikut?” Dan asked, turning back toward Martelle. Was it possible? Were those creatures on Dust in some way related to the ancient race the Naga were so terrified of? Had the ancestors of those beings been the ones who had created the Satori’s wormhole drive?

“You got me,” Martelle said with a shrug. “I’m calling them ‘bugs’ until I come up with a better name.”

Dan chuckled. It fit them. And at the same time it didn’t, because these were no simple insects. They were a star-faring race, and if their guesses were right had been voyaging between worlds when humanity was still learning to build cities. They were old, ancient even. They were ever so much deadlier than their Earth-like invertebrates.

It was frightening even to look at them, which made Dan wonder. They knew this race had been to Earth before, in the distant past. They had left such an imprint on the Naga that all these years later that the fierce reptilian aliens remained terrified at the mention of their name. Had they left a similar mark on humans? How much of the old fear of insects among humanity came not from some inherited memory of terrestrial bugs when they were huge and predatory, but instead from a time when the Kkiktchikut had visited Earth?

Dan walked over to the body which had been torn in half. One sword like limb was mostly severed. He reached down and tried to tug it the rest of the way free, but it was tough. The steel covering the arm was razor sharp, and he sliced his hand on the thing while tugging. He swore and dropped the leg.

“Here, let me,” Martelle said. Then he called out in a loud voice over his shoulder, “Firing!”

He strode over, rifle in hand, and fired two shots into the body, aiming precisely for the joint where the leg met the rest of the armor. The reports were loud in the small space. Dan could only imagine how chaotic the battle must have been.

The leg came away from the rest of the body, oozing thick fluid at the end where it had been attached. Dan reached in more gingerly to pick it up, careful this time not to slice himself.

“What are you planning to do with it?” Martelle asked.

“I’ll have the medical team look it over. See if we’re actually dealing with the same insects or something that just looks similar,” Dan replied. “But first, I’m going to go have a little chat with Garul. I want some answers, damn it.”

He started down the hall toward the rear of the ship, shaking his head as he passed wounded men. The medical crew was bearing them away as swiftly as they could, but there were so many casualties it was taking time. Martelle started after him, and he turned back to the man.

“I thought I ordered you to the medical bay?” Dan asked.

“I’m good for the moment. I don’t want to miss the look on that Naga’s face when you plunk that thing down in front of him,” Martelle said. “Besides, you don’t want to be alone with him in there if you’re bringing something sharp in.”

Dan nodded his assent, and the two continued on their way. Four airmen stood outside the cell block, weapons in hand. They came to a rough attention as their captain approached, and paled when they saw what he was holding.

“Is that a piece of…them? One of the aliens?” one man asked.

“I need to see the prisoner,” Dan said, ignoring the question. The answer ought to have been self-evident, and he didn’t have time to explain the details to these men. The ship needed to be underway. They might come under attack again at any time, so his place was on the bridge. But before he could go back there, he wanted to look Garul in the eye and get some answers.

“Stand aside,” Martelle said.

The men parted, allowing captain and Marine to pass. Dan’s hand-print opened the cell the same as before, and he pulled a tablet from his pocket to translate again. Garul remained on his bed, the same spot he’d been sitting. The Naga appeared outwardly calm. It was a shame, in a way, that Naga didn’t seem to sweat. Dan would have liked to see a little perspiration from this one. He tossed the cut off insect limb on the deck floor between them.

Garul’s eyes got very wide.

“Is this one of them?” Dan asked. “Is this a Kkiktchikut?”

“I still like bug, better,” Martelle said.

The tablet spat out their words in Naga, clicks combining with hissing noises into something Dan could barely even consider pronouncing. Garul listened to the words.

Then he laughed.

It was a deep belly laugh, and he almost rolled backward on the bed from the motion.

“Something funny?” Martelle asked. He raised his rifle a little. Dan arched an eyebrow. He hadn’t realized the Marine had brought it into the cell with him. It was strictly against protocol to carry a weapon into the cell, for a good reason. The Naga were deadly enough with just their claws, but armed, even one could pose a serious threat to the ship. If that one managed to free the others too… Still, Dan had the sense that in this case at least it might be worth the risk. If Garul tried to take Martelle on and seize his weapon, Dan had a feeling the Naga was biting off more than even he could chew.

“It is the translation,” Garul said. “That word he just spoke. Your device, it translated the word into my tongue as a word which describes a small, annoying insect which buzzes about on my homeworld.”

“Sounds like a bug to me,” Martel said. “Probably something like it on every world.”

“Perhaps that is so. But you call these things, the terrors of my people, this word?” Garul asked.

“They aren’t so tough. My Marines handled them well enough,” Martelle said.

“How many?” Garul asked.

“Four,” Dan said.

“It is good that you show courage in the face of danger. But you must understand… Four is a small number,” Garul said. “When they pour into your ships by the hundreds and invade your cities by the thousands, it is another thing entirely.”

Dan reached down and carefully picked the claw up from the deck. The Naga wasn’t wrong. They’d beat back these small attacks, partly through luck. The Kkiktchikut were prepared to deal with Naga plasma weapons, but the human guns and missiles were a bit lower tech, and the aliens’ shields seemed useless against railgun fire.

A platoon of Marines had stopped four of the monsters, but it had been a near thing. What if there had been eight? He might have lost the ship if they’d been able to hit even a little harder.

“They come for my world now, human. But they have seen your people too,” Garul said. “I do not think they will rest until they have found your planet. Wrested it from our databases, if nothing else. Then they will come for you, too.”

He wasn’t wrong. The Kkiktchikut had opened fire first, but they’d refused every attempt Dan had made to communicate with them. They weren’t interested in peaceful coexistence. He wondered if the aliens wanted to wipe out every race they encountered, and what had driven them to that end. Maybe Garul could give him more background on that.

“You want our help? Is that it?” Dan asked. “If that’s the case, I need more information about these beings.”

For a moment, it looked like Garul was going to clam up again, but then he opened his snout to speak.

“Most of this happened so long ago that it has fallen into legend,” the Naga said.

Twenty-Three

The story dated back only about a thousand years, or at least that was the number the translator kicked out as it tried to guess Earth years from the Naga calendar. Dan figured it was good enough for an estimate. It sounded like precise dating wasn’t possible. When the Naga ended their last war against the Kkiktchikut, there wasn’t much left of either civilization.

The Kkiktchikut - or bugs, as Martelle continued to insist on calling them, and the name was growing on Dan as well since somehow the diminutive made their enemy seem just a little less fearsome - first approached the Naga several hundred years before the war. At the time the Naga were a feudal society, comparable to Europe or Japan during their own feudal periods. Lords ruled sections of the planet, rallying Naga warriors to their respective banners and warring for control of the land.

When the Kkiktchikut landed, it caused a panic. At first the Naga fought against the monstrous looking things arriving on their world. They didn’t understand star travel, could barely imagine beings coming to their planet from another solar system many light years away. They attacked.

With casual ease, the Kkiktchikut smashed aside their assault, slaughtering hundreds of Naga. Then, using the beam weapons from their ships, they leveled several cities, killing everyone living there. It was a hopeless moment. But then the Kkiktchikut paused in their attack. They returned to the skies and left the Naga alone for three days.

After the brief period of waiting, so legend had it, the Kkiktchikut returned, and this time they spoke the Naga tongue. They offered to take on the reptilian race as friends, rather than destroy it. The Naga conferred - and agreed. They had seen the power these beings had. What other choice could there be?

But it became clear almost right away that this was not a friendship, nor even an equal partnership. Massive vessels arrived, and thousands of Naga were ordered aboard. They were armed with new weapons, trained to fight with them, and then taken into the skies.

When they landed again, it was on a world embattled. They saw cities with towers as high as mountains. The race which inhabited that world had much the same weapons as the Kkiktchikut, but this time the Naga had those arms as well. Their Kkiktchikut masters sent them into battle. It was only the first of many.

Over the hundreds of years which passed while the Naga were in servitude, they grew accustomed to their role. But they never accepted it, nor did they ever indeed forget that they were in effect slaves, their world forfeit if they rebelled.

“Which of course made revolution inevitable,” Martelle said.

Garul blinked, breaking from his story for a moment. “For us, yes. There was no other way. What we are, the Naga heart inside each of us, does not do well with slavery.”

“Nor us,” Martelle said. “We humans have had such things happen before, as well.”

“Races like the Kkiktchikut?” Garul asked.

“No. Sadly, these were crimes we committed against each other,” Dan said.

Garul blinked in surprise. “You cast your own race as slaves? How is that even possible? It is the worst crime imaginable to take one’s freedom, worse than killing.”

“Most of us would agree with you, now. We learned. We grew better,” Dan said.

Garul went on with his tale, agreeing that Martelle was correct. The rebellion was inevitable. The Kkiktchikut, content with their slave warriors, never seemed to see the threat coming until it was too late. The Naga studied their technology, learning from the weapons and tools their masters used. It took hundreds of years for the Naga to rise to a level where they could hope to win. That, and they waited for a spark to light the flame of their revolution.

That spark was a Naga named Kikilkhan. He was a leader like the ones in their legends, like the Naga of the old days. But at the same time he was well versed in the arts of modern war. With his leadership connecting the Naga, and technology they had stolen and learned to build the Naga organized at last.

When they struck, it was all at once. Every troop transport, every military base with Naga guards, every ship where Naga were stationed as guards - they all fought back as one. At the appointed time every Naga in all space rose up together to throw down their masters.

The Kkiktchikut were taken completely by surprise. Naga forces seized ship after ship, recovered their own world, and even obliterated several Kkiktchikut cities. But then the enemy brought in their massive dreadnought vessels. One after another the captured ships were destroyed, burned in space as an example.

The Naga fought as best they could, striving to win through, but the battle grew hopeless. Their weapons were powerful, but the Kkiktchikut were stronger still. Finally the great Kkiktchikut fleet appeared in the space of the Naga home system. All Naga ships had rallied there for one last battle, but every one of them knew it was hopeless.

All but Kikilkhan. He had a desperate plan. If the Naga were to fall, they would take their enemy down with them, or as many as they could. Using stolen technology, his scientists had developed a bio-weapon capable of wreaking havoc on an entire world. He sent three ships out, one to each globe the Kkiktchikut inhabited. All their cities, all their people, everything they were - was on those three worlds.

“The ratzards. We thought those were yours,” Dan said. They’d run into the things on Dust and assumed they were a Naga creation. About the size of a medium dog, they resembled a strange cross between a rat and a lizard - thus the name. The things had clearly been engineered. Their blood contained a living bio-weapon, a bacteria which when exposed to water and sunlight grew exponentially, creating massive black mats on the surface of any water.

The world of Dust was so named because it was a desert. The mats covering its oceans had cut off all evaporation, killing the biosphere, turning the place into a dead planet.

“They were the Naga’s last hope to strike back. When the enemy came at us that final time, it killed our ships first. None of them survived the first battle,” Garul said. “Then they raked our cities with fire from their ships. After they were done burning our homes, they landed and came after us in their battle armor.”

“They planned to wipe us from the stars,” Garul said. “But we had done it to them first.”

The bio-weapon had been a success. While the last Naga fought bitterly for every foot of ground on their home planet, slowly dying to the massive invading force, the three ships had slipped in and deposited their arsenals. The ratzards had done their work, going to the water and exposing the planet to the weapon. It grew rapidly. Within days, all three worlds were dying. Within a week, the oceans were dead. The land was sure to follow.

“They must have tried to fix it?” Dan asked.

“I wasn’t there, but I assume so,” Garul said with a humanlike shrug. “Whatever they tried, it didn’t work. Or didn’t work in time. Word of the disaster on their worlds must have reached the invading force, because the legends say they broke contact with the last remnants of our race. They returned to their ships and took off. We never saw them again.”

“Where did they go?” Dan asked.

“We have no way of knowing. Everything was gone, Wynn. We had no ships. We had no cities. Our technology was mostly destroyed. We rebuilt what we could, but it was precious little. We stored all the information we could, preserving it for future generations that might be able to rebuild what we once had. It took almost a thousand years for us to be able to reach outside our own solar system again.”

“Which brings us to about now,” Martelle said.

“Indeed. The first Naga-built hyperspace ship took flight only a hundred years ago. We have built many more since. We have explored scores of worlds. We even visited each of the dead planets once held by the Kkiktchikut - to see with our own eyes that they were truly gone,” Garul said. “They had fled. We did not know where. But in our hearts we have always known that they would return. We set watches over their planets to keep alert for that day.”

“And then you found us,” Dan said.

“And then we found you, flying in a ship armed with Kkiktchikut technology,” Garul said. “You can see why the Naga were not happy to discover you.”

“I understand that,” Dan said. “But it seems to me like both our races might have bigger fish to fry.”

“Fish…cook?” Garul asked. The idiom had not translated well.

“More important problems than fighting each other,” Dan said.

“Ah. On that I can agree,” Garul said. “But I fear that even working together, we might not be enough to stop the Kkiktchikut now that they are back.”

Twenty-Four

Beth stared across at the Naga vessel drifting in the distance. Now that she knew the size of the ship, she was able to get a read on how far away it was. Only a few miles. That was too close for her liking.

It had to be the same ship that she’d seen fighting the Kkiktchikut in the Cyan system. It had jumped to hyperspace. Their sensors had picked up an energy surge from its wake. The Naga ship must have soared past them at about the same time they were making their wormhole jump. Majel had said something about not being able to predict what impact the hyperspace wake would have on their wormhole.

Apparently, it had quite a substantial effect.

The wormhole and hyperspace drives had combined somehow, merging to create a massive leap for both ships across the distance. The symbiosis had been so powerful that it had slung them both clear out of the galaxy. Not just a little way, either, but a hundred thousand light years. That number still made her shiver to think about it.

As Beth watched the Naga ship, she saw what looked like small points of light flashing nearby. Were they doing repairs on the exterior? They might have taken some damage from the Kkiktchikut beam weapons. But she didn’t think she would see whatever the Naga equivalent of a welding torch was at this distance. Besides, they were trapped out here.

The Satori might be able to jump home if they got the drive back online. It would take a lot of jumps. They’d be at it for a very long time. But eventually they’d get home, and they still had plenty of supplies that hadn’t been unloaded for the colony. They’d get back to Earth if they could repair the drives - and they didn’t seem damaged, just drained of charge in some way that was making the recharge much slower. She was confident they could fix the issue with enough time.

But the Naga drive wasn’t as fast. If it took them days to travel as far as the Satori could go after an hour of recharge, then it might take them years to return home. It was an unimaginable journey.

They would be stranded. Desperate. Could they reach her ship?

Beth remembered that the Naga battlecruisers all carried a complement of fighters and a small number of shuttles. Like her space suit, those might still be working. She dialed up the resolution on her visor as much as it could. It was perfect timing. One of the fighters shot away from the Naga ship and crossed in front of the sun, giving her a good silhouette for just a moment.

Yeah, their fighters were still flying, which meant their shuttles would be as well. Those smaller ships were armed, and the Naga had more warriors on board than the Satori did, as well.

“Ayala, we’ve got a serious problem,” Beth said.

“A Naga ship sitting a little ways away? You told me,” he replied.

“Their fighters are active.”

“Mierda,” he replied. “Have they spotted us?”

“I don’t think they can miss us. If the fighters have power, then the fighters’ scanning systems will as well. Their ship should have a couple of shuttles, too,” Beth said.

“So the big question is whether they will swoop over here to blow us to bits, or try to board and take the ship.”

“I’m betting on the latter,” Beth said. “They have a long trip home without us. How soon can we be moving again?”

“It’s complicated. You’d better get in here down in the engine room and take a look,” Ayala replied.

Beth rushed through returning to the ship as best she could. She dumped the space suit as soon as she was inside, two scared looking techs hurriedly helping her out of it. That meant the word had already spread. Nothing moved faster than the speed of rumor, especially on a ship or military base. She raced to the aft of the Satori. As she sped past the armory, she noted that weapons were being passed out. Beth nodded sharply. It was a good move. She was still betting on the Naga trying to take them, rather than destroy them.

Her people would fight for every inch.

The engine room was abuzz with activity. The engines were housed in the center of the small, heavily shielded space. The housing was a big shell containing a variety of black box items. She had no idea how the things there worked. It wasn’t even possible to disassemble them. They were smooth, seamless, and there was no clear indication which parts did what.

Beth supposed they could have cut into the thing to see what made it tick, but the fear was that doing so might accidentally upset the system in a way that was irreparable. Or worse, it could damage the power production unit and make a messy explosion. Somehow that small engine produced enough power to create wormholes. By her rough estimate, one long wormhole jump burned as much energy as the entire United States used in a day.

The engineers had attached meters and instruments to the box to measure what it was doing. The hope was that it was still doing something. If it was fried, they were in deep trouble. It had never gone offline like this before.

“What’s the story?” Beth asked.

“We’re seeing power readings now, ma’am,” Lieutenant Green replied. He was in charge of the engines. Her old job. Beth felt a pang of intense emotion - figuring this sort of thing out was her job! This was what she was good at. But she pushed the feeling aside. She had to trust other people to do their job so that she could do hers.

“That sounds like good news,” Beth said, her tone wary. It should have been good news. But the rest of the ship’s systems used far less power than the wormhole drive. If the engines were building power again, then there should have been some indication. Some of the alien systems should have been coming back online.

That they weren’t said something else was going on as eloquently as the tone Green used. He was hesitant. Beth could see the confusion in the man’s eyes, and the frustration. She knew that look well enough. She’d seen it in the mirror often enough when she was trying to figure these devices out. It was hell for an engineer to have a closed box sitting there in front of her, doing something, and have no idea how it was doing what it did, nor any way to open it up and find out what made it tick.

“It ought to be. But nothing is working. No power is getting out to the rest of the systems,” Green said, running a hand through his short, sandy hair. “It’s like the power unit was cut off from the rest of the systems somehow.”

“And Majel isn’t back with us either,” Beth said. “We know that the alien computer is what controls and coordinates all of the systems. Majel has told us as much, and she ought to know - she lives inside that computer. What if the complete power drain shut off the computer and it hasn’t come back online?”

“You think that the systems can’t connect to the power unit without the computer,” Green said.

“Can’t connect…or maybe can’t draw power. It would be a sensible safety feature. At the power levels this thing generates, a fraction of a percent overload would be a catastrophe. Having a hard safeguard that blocked power unless the computer was up to regulate it makes sense,” Beth said.

“So we just wait until it reboots?” Ayala broke in. He’d been listening quietly from the side. “It seems like it’s taking a while.”

“It’s taking too long,” Beth snapped. “It should already have come back online. There’s power…why is it not?”

“You tried kicking it yet?” Ayala asked.

Beth chuckled. “With the armor around this thing? I don’t think it would matter. Let me think…”

She leaned over the big metal box housing the alien components. They’d built the armored shell with numerous access panels so that they could reach inside. In a pinch they could disassemble the entire box. That would let them give it a good, swift kick, and Beth was almost desperate enough to try.

It wouldn’t work, though. The computer was based on some sort of advanced quantum system, one she didn’t begin to understand. The machine was just too complex. But that didn’t mean there was no way for them to affect it. Beth checked the seams along the sides. They’d built this armored shell very well. The seams matched perfectly. They ought to allow for virtually no leaking.

“We have backup thrusters made on Earth,” Beth mused aloud.

“Yes, and we’re working to get them to activate manually, but since the computer controls were all routed through here,” Green said, slapping a hand on the alien computer housing, “they’re not working right now either.”

“I don’t need to activate those thrusters, Lieutenant. I need their fuel,” Beth said. “Specifically their liquid hydrogen. How fast can we get a hundred gallons or so brought up here and dumped into the alien machine?”

Green gaped at her a moment, and then closed his mouth with a snap. He nodded slowly. “Cool the machine. Drop the quantum units of the computer down to a ground state - as close to zero energy as possible. Liquid helium would be better…” He tapped his fingers on his chin in thought.

“We don’t have any. We do have the hydrogen,” Beth said.

“It might be enough,” Green said. “I’ll get techs working on it right away.”

“Mind filling me in?” Ayala asked.

“Drop the quantum computer to a ground state, and it should reboot when the atoms heat back up after,” Beth said.

“If the ROM survives the experience,” Green warned. “Doing this might kill the computer entirely.”

“You have any better ideas?” Beth asked. No one suggested any brilliant solutions. “Then make it happen.”

A loud bang echoed through the ship, the impact sending them all tumbling a bit in the free-fall. Beth’s pulse sped up. She knew what that had to be. There was only one thing nearby that would be colliding with her ship. Or rather, several things - the Naga shuttles.

“We’ve got company,” Beth said. “Green, hurry this up. I think we’re about out of time.”

Twenty-Five

The mood on the bridge of the Independence was completely silent but for the occasional tap on a console keyboard or murmur from a machine. Ordinarily there would be a little quiet chatter between the six crew present. But as they closed on their hyperspace exit there was a cool quiet, underlined by sharp tension.

The Kkiktchikut hadn’t attacked again after their two cruisers were destroyed. Dan was grateful for it. How they’d detected the Independence while it was in hyperspace remained a mystery. How they’d knocked the ship out of hyperspace not once, but twice, was an even greater one. But all that had to wait. In another minute they would flash back into real space on the outskirts of the Naga home system. Dan was fairly sure all hell was going to break loose at that point.

The outer ranges of the system made the most sense. There was no point jumping in close. The Naga might see that as an attack, and if the Bugs - he found himself more and more mentally referring to the Kkiktchikut that way now - were attacking he could end up arriving in the middle of a firefight. No, jumping in at the outer edge made more sense, several AU away from their sun. That would give him time to turn the ship around and head for home if the Naga acted threatening toward the Independence.

“How long till exit?” Dan asked.

“Thirty seconds, sir,” Ensign Scott replied.

Dan set the timer on his console and watched it tick down. Just a handful of breaths and they’d be back in the thick of things again. They had to be ready for whatever the Naga or the Bugs might throw at them. He tapped his console to open a radio link to Captain Larsen.

“Fighters ready?” Dan asked.

“Alert team of four is in the bays ready to go on your signal, sir. I’ve got all fourteen ready to launch as rapidly as we can deploy them,” Larsen replied.

“Good enough. Stand by,” Dan said. He put the channel on standby. “De Toro, as soon as we exit, I want a full sensor scan. Active is fine. Ping everything moving out there, I want to know the situation.”

They were arriving high enough above the ecliptic - the plane that most of the objects in the system should be orbiting on - that there shouldn’t be much debris near their exit point. But Dan was more concerned with the warship threat than he was with space junk or asteroids.

“Will do, sir. At this range there will be some scan lag,” De Toro replied.

“Put the scans received on the main screen as they come in, updating as we get new information,” Dan said.

“Aye, sir.”

“Coming out of hyper in three, two,..” Scott counted down. “One.”

The ship blinked back into real space without even a shudder. The heavy rocking they’d been through when yanked out must have been a result of the weapon the Bugs had used to pull them from hyperspace. This time, the exit was smooth as glass.

“No near objects, sir,” De Toro said. “I’m seeing five major planets. Two rocky, three big gas balls. We’re right in the middle, near the orbit of the third world.”

“Signs of life?” Dan asked. The scan data flashed onto the big screen.

The Naga homeworld had to be the second planet. The one nearest the sun was half molten and looked tidally locked. A little like Mercury. The gas planets were too big and too far out to produce life like the Naga. The reptilian race had evolved on a planet similar to Earth.

That left the second planet, and it was clear the place was well built up. There was an extensive array of satellites around the world. Some of them were enormous. He’d bet money those were defensive stations. Or they could be hangars, shipyards… Until they had results back from their scan, he was left guessing based only on the light their cameras could receive.

A good number of moving objects flitted about near the planet as well. Those were ships. The computer was tracking and flagging each one, attempting to guess what class ship they were and identify whether they were threats or not. The good news was that they had yanked detailed ship information on every class of Naga vessel from the databases of the battlecruisers they’d captured. That meant the educated guesses made by the ship’s computer were likely pretty good. The bad news was, he was going to have to wait to get a real confirmation of those guesses, and the delay in information might be costly.

Dan tapped a code into his console. He’d locked the quantum communication device just in case the Naga somehow broke out while they were in transit. He didn’t want the enemy able to use it to send out a mayday. Only he and Colonel Martelle, the two senior ranks on the ship, had access to the code. Martelle hadn’t wanted the code. Dan had insisted. At least two people had to have it, and he was short an XO for the time being, so Martelle had to fill the shoes. Dan activated the link to call the Naga, switching on the translation software.

“This is Captain Wynn of the Independence. We have arrived to return the prisoners to you,” Dan said. He hesitated, then took a leap of faith. “We were attacked en route by ships we believe might be enemies of yours, as well. If we have mutual foes, I would like to discuss the possibility of working together against them.”

There, he’d said it. Dan held his breath, hoping for an affirmative answer. He didn’t precisely have the authority to do more than return the Naga to their home. That didn’t stop him from wanting to do more, though. Garul was right. With the tech advantage the Kkiktchikut had, even working together might not be enough to stop them. If they fought alone, Dan had the sinking feeling that both the Naga and humanity might be doomed.

The speakers crackled to life, startling Dan from his thoughts despite his having anticipated a response. He looked down at the thing, hearing the snarling sounds of Naga words, the English translation coming a few seconds later as the computer turned that speech into something he could understand.

“We are coming. You will prepare to be boarded. We will take back the Naga you have captured, and we will be recovering possession of our ship as well. Any resistance will be met with deadly force. If you surrender, we may in time repatriate you to your pathetic mammal world.”

Dan sucked in a deep breath. That wasn’t at all the reaction he had been hoping for. He closed his eyes for a moment. Couldn’t they see? The Bugs were an existential threat to both their species. Damn their pride. If humans and Naga could work together, maybe they’d stand half a chance.

He’d been a Naga prisoner once. Dan had no intention of subjecting himself to their tender mercies a second time. But he didn’t want to cut and run just yet. If he fled back to Earth, the Naga ships might simply pursue, and his homeworld was ill-equipped to handle another invading fleet. Besides, if there was any chance of talking these beings around, he had to give it a shot.

But first he was going to need to demonstrate that he meant business.

“Ensign Scott, make for the orbit of that big gas giant,” Dan said.

“We’re staying, sir?” the young man replied. He didn’t sound frightened, which was both good and bad. It meant he had guts, and it also meant he probably didn’t understand just how bad the situation really was. He would, before all this was over.

“Yes, we’re staying. Time to show the Naga what a real crew can do with a battlecruiser. Maximum speed on the sub-light engines. I want us there yesterday,” Dan said.

It was going to require every trick he had up his sleeve to keep them alive through this next bit. But if he could win, then maybe - just maybe - the Naga would come to accept humans as their equals. And worthy of an alliance. If combat was the only way to demonstrate that, then by god he’d take his ship into battle.

Twenty-Six

Beth watched through the porthole as the second Naga shuttle changed its approach vector to match the Satori’s slow tumble and latched on. Four fighter ships stood guard over the shuttles, preventing her from putting any of her security forces outside on the hull. They’d be picked off immediately. No, this fight would have to take place within the ship. They’d need to defend the Satori deck by deck, and hope Green could get the drives operational in time to do any good.

“They’re cutting through the airlock,” Ayala said, his voice and face transmitted to the inside of her helmet via the tactical net. He led the team guarding the other side of the ship, where the Naga were making a second beachhead. “Won’t be long now.”

“Security teams in position?”

He just gave her a look. She flashed her second in command a smile in response.

“Just checking,” Beth said. Her mind was racing, trying to think of any preparations they could make which they hadn’t already done. Nothing came to mind. They’d passed out weapons to almost everyone on the ship. Even the colonists who’d stayed aboard were armed. They weren’t well trained, but they could hold and shoot a gun. Every bullet might make a difference.

Sparks flew into the hall. The Naga had brought their shuttles up against airlocks on either side of her ship. Beth had responded by blowing out the controls on the airlock doors, which locked them down pretty much permanently. Repairing the things was going to be a bitch, but that was the least of her worries right now. The Naga were cutting their way in anyway, breaching the Satori’s airlocks about mid-ship on both the port and starboard bulkheads. They’d already cut through the outer door. Now they were working on the inner door. Another minute or two and they’d be into the ship. Beth tapped her radio.

“Green, what’s our status on the engines?” she asked.

“We’ve got the siphon set up to pour the liquid hydrogen into the engine housing. About to start now. If you’re sure?” He seemed hesitant, and she could understand why.

If this worked, then once the engine warmed back up the computers controlling the flow of energy from the power source should boot back up again. They’d have Majel back. They’d have control of the ship back. With the wormhole engine live, they could get the hell out of this place. With railguns, they could defend the Satori against the Naga battlecruiser.

But the same freezing liquid which might save them could also permanently damage the quantum computer. There was no time to test the durability of the ancient device. If it failed, the procedure might destroy the thing for good.

What choice did they have? There were hundreds of Naga over on that cruiser. They could ferry over more troops using the shuttles, and even if the Satori’s crew put up a sterling fight, eventually they would be overwhelmed.

“Do it,” Beth said. She crossed her fingers, praying that she was making the right call.

The sparks entering the hall reached a fever pitch, pouring away from the metal in a rushing gout of fire. They’d cut through the bars locking the airlock door in place. There was no rush of air exiting the ship, so the Naga had something preventing decompression. All of her people were in light environmental suits anyway, with armor over the top. The suits weren’t as resilient as a full space suit, but they’d keep everyone alive if the ship did decompress. The magnetic boots which were a part of each suit would keep their feet on the floor, too, allowing them to fight more effectively.

Beth heard a grunting noise as the Naga pushed hard against the door. She couldn’t see what they were doing, but the door was designed to slide back into the wall. She’d blown out the motors controlling that mechanism, so the aliens were shoving it back through brute force. She grinned. They’d set up a few surprises for the invaders, and it was almost time to spring them.

“Wait until they have people in the hall,” Ayala advised through their radio.

This time it was Beth’s turn to give him a look. “Not my first rodeo.”

He grinned back at her. “I know.”

The Naga had the door open enough that they could pass through single file. The first one stepped out into the hall, and Beth darted back around the corner to keep herself hidden.

“All security, hold fire until the signal, then give them hell,” she said over the tactical channel.

Without power Beth had no access to the hall cameras, and she couldn’t very well peek around the corner. The Naga would spot her in an instant and gun her down. She’d already taken a couple of bullets over the past year. She was tired of being shot, stabbed, or otherwise beat up.

Which meant that she needed to guess when the best time to set off the mine would be.

She hesitated, hand gripping the clacker firmly. She could hear the booted feet of Naga as they poured into the hall. How many were there? How long did she have until they poured down the hall, either toward her team or the other one at the opposite side of the corridor? Wait too long, and the mine wouldn’t be effective. Hit it too early, and it wouldn’t take down enough enemy.

“All hands, stand by for decompression,” she said into the tactical net. She couldn’t wait any longer. There had to be at least several Naga in the hall. She squeezed the triggering device.

A roar came from the hall near the airlock. The mine was an anti-personnel device. A C-4 block in the back of the mine blasted several thousand small metal bearings outward in a fan-shaped dispersion. The little balls struck like bullets. They were designed to tear whatever they hit to shreds. At point blank range like this, they were a terrible weapon.

Wind whipped down the hall. At least some of the projectiles had pierced the ship’s hull. Air was pouring out through the holes they’d made. Without power, the systems which ordinarily would have cut off this part of the ship couldn’t function. No bulkhead doors came slamming down to cease the flow of air. They had manually closed hatches a short distance behind them, but this area was going to lose atmosphere fast.

Beth didn’t wait for more than a few heartbeats after the explosion went off. She rounded the corner, her rifle already on her shoulder. She had one of the Naga weapons. They only had a couple on the ship, but they were among the most effective tools in their arsenal. The three security guards with her lurched forward at the same time.

The hall was a mess. Any flames had already been put out by the rush of air evacuating the section. The mine had been placed on the wall directly across from the airlock. It had torn apart four of the six Naga who’d already boarded and done massive damage to the outer hull of the ship all around the airlock. With luck maybe she’d done some damage to the shuttle outside, too. Throw enough little iron balls at something, and if they’re moving fast enough they tend to punch lots of tiny holes all over the place.

Two Naga were still standing. Beth snapped off a shot at one and missed. The soldier next to her fired, his three-round burst striking sparks as the bullets slammed into the armor the Naga wore. They had spacesuits too, heavily armored things that made the Naga look like robot dinosaurs. Beth growled and fired again. This time her shot took the Naga in the chest. The alien rocked back as the small, fast energy pellet blew through his chest armor.

More rounds sailed down the hall from the rest of her security team, taking out the other invader in a hail of bullets.

Everything was silence. All Beth could hear was the sound of her own heavy breathing and the pounding of her heart. Then the ship seemed to jolt, and she knew Ayala had blown his mine. Hopefully his ambush had been as effective as hers. The success buoyed her spirits. Maybe they could hold this deck after all. No more Naga were pouring from the shuttle, and if they did her team could shoot them one by one as they passed through the narrow airlock.

Then the hall seemed to erupt in fire.

The blasts threw Beth from her feet and sent her sailing into the inner wall. That saved her. A massive chunk of the outer hull smashed into the floor next to where she’d been standing. One of the security guards was caught by the metal and killed instantly. Another died as fist-sized balls of energy blazed through the outer hull, cutting him down.

Beth’s felt dizzy and disoriented. She grabbed the wall before she could drift clear and brought her boots back into contact with the deck, then backed around the corner again. She was just in time - another volley of energy balls blew more of the wall apart, sending shrapnel flying into the hallway. Beth and the remaining security guard were just out of range, watching the bits of metal slam into the wall a few feet in front of them.

It had to be the fighters. The Naga in the shuttle had called them in for fire support. So long as they were near the outer hull, the fighters would be able to shoot through it and cut them to bits.

“All units, retreat to the central areas of the ship. The enemy has fire support. Retreat and blow the blast doors as you go,” Beth said over the radio. They had to slow the Naga down and buy more time. She and the last man from her team raced to the nearest hatch, ten feet deeper into the ship. They winched the door down, and then Beth blew out the panel on this one just like she had on the airlock. No sense giving the Naga an easy time of it. They’d burn through this one too, but anything that bought her people even a few more minutes might save them all.

Twenty-Seven

Dan watched the course projections of the five ships chasing his battlecruiser as the computer updated the plot on his main screen. He drummed his fingers. There wasn’t much he could do about it just this moment. Five ships were too damned many to face in a straight up fight. He had to find a way to split them up, or the Independence wasn’t going to last long.

But his ship was still pouring on steam, burning toward the most massive gas giant as fast as its sub-light engines could go. All he could do for the moment was wait and see how the Naga responded to this tactic.

They knew he could just run for home. He wondered how they would respond to that. According to the scan they’d done of the system, there were two dozen large Naga ships here, and twice as many smaller ships of a sort he hadn’t seen before. It looked like they were heavily armed and fast. Two of those smaller ships were with the fleet giving chase right now, but they were accelerating at the same rate as the bigger vessels for the time being. He’d only had a brief glimpse of their actual top speed as they rendezvoused with the others.

Those ships could be a real problem for him if they had half as much firepower as the scans indicated they might. They didn’t mass as much as the Independence or the larger Naga ships, but based on the information they’d seized from the Naga’s databases the smaller destroyers packed almost as much punch as the battlecruisers. What they lacked in flexibility because they had no fighter wing they more than made up for in speed.

“Why so few?” Dan muttered aloud.

“Maybe they think five is more than enough?” Scott replied.

Dan chuckled. “They might well be right. But our scans show they have a few dozen warships in the system. It must be a sizable chunk of their fleet. Why just send five after us? Why not more?”

“They must have a reason to believe they need more ships close to their home planet,” De Toro said.

“Like the Bugs. Maybe they’ve already been hit here. Maybe they’ve been hit everywhere but here, and this is the last of the Naga fleet,” Dan mused. “They might be shooting for a final showdown.”

“Could explain why they’re so grumpy, sir,” Scott replied. “Coming up on that planet now.”

Dan watched the enormous gas giant grow on the main screen. He glanced down at his console again, which was displaying tracking information on the ships. If he was right, then just about now they should be…

“There!” Dan said.

The three battlecruisers chasing them had broken off from their pursuit course and were angling around the other side of the planet. It was a simple enough plan. They’d swing around the far side of the world and hit the Independence from the front at the same time as the two destroyers continued to accelerate and slammed into his ship from behind. Trapped between the two forces, his ship would be torn to bits if it fought.

They knew he wouldn’t fight. Dan tapped a finger on his chin in thought. In a pinch, he could accelerate on a full burn and rush the battlecruisers, maybe catch them before the other ships caught up to him. But he wasn’t willing to bet on it. Most likely the Naga had done the math and picked precisely the right moment to split the force so that the chasing destroyers would be able to catch him with ease. Even now they were pouring on the steam and closing the gap.

No, the Naga had taken his measure and were gambling that he wouldn’t fight with the certainty of a lost cause. They wanted him to give up, so they’d have his ship back, not lose any of their own, and maybe have a bargaining chip in their hands when it came to their next dealings with Earth.

But the same move had played directly into his hands. He tapped the radio. “Captain Larsen, have all fighters armed with torpedoes.”

“Aye, sir. We’ll finish re-arm as quickly as possible,” Larsen replied.

“You’ve got,” Dan looked down at his watch. “Ten minutes.”

“We’ll…get it done, sir. Out.”

Dan could hear yelling over the channel as he shut it off. It was a hard timetable, but Larsen would see it complete. The fighters were already set for takeoff, flight checked and warmed up. They could have the entire wing, or what was left of it, out in space fast enough to make this work. Now if everything else went according to plan…

He punched in a set of coordinates into his computer console and watched the simulation. Grimacing - he must have misplaced an angle by a few degrees, and the ship turned into a fireball instead of turning - he tried again. This time the projection worked. Orbital mechanics were all about the math. He tapped a key to send the flight path to Ensign Scott.

“New course and speed coming your way, Ensign,” Dan said.

“Captain, this will take us…”

“Very close to the gas giant. Yes. I just ran the projection. We should have enough velocity to get clear,” Dan said.

“Yes, sir.”

The ship rumbled a bit as it veered in toward the planet. They were flying at the best acceleration the Independence could manage, and the planet seemed to surge forward in their screen as they continued to add to their velocity. Soon the red mists of the giant planet filled the entire screen. It was all you could see. Dan flicked the view to a projection which showed the tactical plot around the gas giant. The Independence was in the center of the image, cruising close enough to the gas giant to kiss it. The Naga battlecruisers were almost directly on the far side of the planet now. And the destroyers were right behind them. They’d be in shooting range soon.

But then the Independence shifted course again. Instead of using the gravity assist from the planet to swing around to the far side faster, Dan’s course brought the ship in south of the equator and then curved down toward the pole. It was still a gravity-assisted slingshot, but instead of coming out on the far side, it was going to allow them to double back without losing too much of their velocity.

The ship groaned under the stress of the high-speed turn. Even as a long, sweeping arc, and with the inertial dampeners the Naga had installed on the ship before it was taken over by humans, the Independence had never been designed to handle this many gravities of stress for so long. Dan could feel the stress sneaking past the dampeners, pushing him down into his seat. His fingers gripped the arms of his chair with white knuckles. There was nothing to do now but hang on and hope the ship could hold together.

And then they were out of the worst of it! The groaning ceased as the ship stabilized again. They’d come out of the arc facing back toward the destroyers, with the entire planet between them and the three battlecruisers.

“Now, a two on one fight is a little more even. Let’s see what we can do about making it less of a fair fight,” Dan said. He tapped his console, opening the radio. “Launch all fighters!”

The Independence gave small shudders as the first fighters lit out away from the ship, and then again as more launched. The computer obligingly added them to the tactical track. Faster than the Independence, they soared ahead of the ship. They were a hard target to hit at long range. And each of them was carrying a pair of deadly torpedoes. As soon as they were in range, they’d unleash a hailstorm of missile fire which ought to annihilate the Naga vessels.

Dan hated to do this. It almost wasn’t fair. The Naga ships would be destroyed before they could even get off a single shot at his ship. But they weren’t giving him a lot of options, and if he didn’t find a way to get their attention - and prove that humans were tough enough to warrant talking with about an alliance - then both their races would be doomed.

“Massive energy discharge from near the Naga homeworld!” De Toro exclaimed.

“Weapons?” Dan asked, alarmed.

“No, sir. Signature looks like wormhole arrival discharge. Not one, sir. Lots of them,” De Toro said.

“How many?” Dan asked.

“Collecting scan data now, sir… Looks like at least two dozen wormhole arrivals. I’m seeing twenty-two ships of the same class we battled earlier, and two massive vessels of a type we haven’t seen yet,” De Toro said. “Sir - we’re still about twenty light minutes away from their planet.”

“Which meant that arrival was twenty minutes ago,” Dan said. The fight for the Naga homeworld might be over already. He’d seen the smaller ships in action, and he couldn’t imagine the big ones were anything but an even bigger threat.

“The wormholes came out several light minutes from the planet, sir,” De Toro said. “My gut says the Bugs are playing it safe. They came in with massive firepower, but they could have arrived in orbit around the planet if they’d wanted to, right?”

“Sure. They can open a wormhole pretty much wherever they want,” Dan replied. “So they’re coming in slow instead. It should have given the Naga time to respond. Let’s hope so, anyway.”

Ensign Scott looked over at Dan. “Which side are we rooting for, sir?”

“Honestly, I don’t know yet. Ours. And whichever side is willing to work with humanity after this battle is over,” Dan said.

“Naga destroyers are turning, heading back for their home planet at maximum speed,” De Toro said. “Our fighters can still intercept and take them out, though.”

“Negative,” Dan said. “Recall our fighters. Let’s see how this plays out.”

Twenty-Eight

Beth ducked behind the crate her men had tossed into the hallway as cover. The shot that was coming at her head pinged against a bulkhead somewhere instead. She darted back up, firing again. The shot took one of the Naga in the shoulder, pinwheeling him backward to the ground.

But it wasn’t enough. Next to her Beth saw two more of her men go down in a burst of concentrated fire from the Naga troops storming down the hall. Her people were giving them hell, fighting for every foot of deck they gave. But they were being forced to retreat, one hall at a time.

“We’re pinned in the bridge,” Ayala told her over the radio. “I’ve got ten people with me. We can hold out a while, but we’re not going to be able to fight our way out.”

“Understood,” Beth said. Damn! She’d been hoping Ayala could fight his way in and hit them from the side. It would have stalled their forward advance. She had another team locked in the cargo hold. Basically, all of the non-combat personnel were there, armed and trying to hold the place. But while they were keeping the Naga out for now, like Ayala they weren’t going to be able to come to her rescue anytime soon.

Her team was down to half a dozen security personnel plus herself. They’d been pushed back almost all the way to engineering. She’d lost track of how many Naga they had killed during the fight. But the enemy had too many troops. They were outnumbered, out-gunned, and slowly being herded into little pockets. Soon enough they’d be cornered and wiped out.

And then the lights came back on.

They were dim at first, flickering as the energy began running through conduits which had been without power for a bit. But Beth wanted to cheer. Freezing the computer must have worked! Maybe they could get out of this yet. She glanced at her HUD and activated her radio.

“Ayala, we have power! See if you can get the engines and weapons online, and…”

“Drop,” came a whisper in Beth’s ear.

She knew that voice. It was Majel. She was back with them. Beth knew better than to ask questions when the AI was being so short. She knew there was no time.

“Drop!” Beth hollered over her local tactical net as she followed her own advice and hit the deck.

She was just in time. A massive explosion hit the cover they’d been using, sending bits of molten plastic and shrapnel-like shards of steel in all directions. Several bits of debris pinged off the back of her helmet. The air was thin in the hall, but enough was present that the shockwave still slammed her into the floor.

Beth brought the muzzle of her weapon up. Her vision was blurry. Something had hit her in the head hard enough to mess with her vision, and she knew there was no time to let it clear. The Naga had brought in one of their big guns. Their cover was gone, her other people were down, either dead or injured, and the Naga would be pouring down the hall any moment now.

She snapped off shots, one after another, taking out the first two who came running at her. The rest grew cautious after that, continuing their slow advance. Beth rolled off to one side, hiding behind what was left of one crate. She fired again and then looked around.

A man and woman were hauling back an injured airman, just rounding the corner behind her. The rest of her team was dead. She was going to be as well if she didn’t move from this place. Damn it! Engineering was right down that hall. If the Naga won past them they’d have the Satori entirely under their control.

Beth darted back, firing as she rose. Another Naga fell. She was almost to the corner. All of their fire concentrated on her. She dodged as best she could, making for the dubious safety of the corner. Then a Naga energy discharge slammed into her just under her left clavicle. The shock took her breath away and spun her the rest of the way around into the next hallway. As soon as she was through, a blast door slammed down from the ceiling. That had to be Majel’s doing.

Her shoulder was screaming with pain, and it was all Beth could do not to cry out. She glanced down, but there didn’t seem to be any blood. The armored vest she was wearing must have stopped the shot from going through her, but damn, it still hurt!

She was tired of being shot.

Half-dragging her rifle, Beth made her way to the blast door shielding the engine room. The door slid open as she approached, letting her pass into the well-lit room beyond.

“Are you all right?” Majel asked in her ear.

“Yeah, or I will be. Ow. Lots of ow,” Beth said, sagging against a wall and letting herself slide to the floor. “Green, good job. Remind me to get you a promotion, if we get out of this.”

“That seems unlikely at this point,” Green said. “Energy levels are coming back to normal now that the computer is back on, but even if we jump we’re not going to be rid of the Naga already on the ship.”

“How many are we talking about?” Beth asked.

“About fifty enemy combatants remain on the vessel,” Majel said. “They will breach the bridge shortly, and are already cutting through the first blast door to get into the engine room.”

Beth thought fast. They could jump, and then deal with the Naga. But cut off from help, the reptiles would likely just become more desperate. After all, their only chance at returning home had always been to capture the Satori. That wouldn’t change. They had enough firepower aboard to do it, too. Beth was about to open her mouth to give the jump order anyway, but then she changed her mind.

Maybe there was a way to get all of them out of this mess, after all. A way that didn’t involve getting a whole lot more people on both sides killed.

“Majel, open a channel to the Naga ship,” Beth said.

There was a moment of silence, then Majel replied, “They are not responding.”

“Fine,” Beth snapped, pulling herself back up from the floor. “Broadcast in the clear that since I am trapped in the engine room, I intend to blow the engines up should the Naga attempt to breach the final doorway.”

Once again there was a long pause as Majel tried to reach the Naga. Beth used the time to look around at her people - the few security airmen left with her, and the engineers who were arming themselves with whatever weapons they had at hand, preparing for a last-ditch defense. They all looked grim, but none of them seemed like they wanted to protest her call. She was proud of them.

The last thing Earth could afford was for tech like the Satori to fall into enemy hands. As bad as the Kkiktchikut were, the Naga were still firmly in the enemy camp too. Either alien race could wipe out humanity. She wasn’t going to give her ship to the Naga, not if there was any possible way to keep it out of their hands.

“The Naga Warlord in command of the ship is willing to speak with you,” Majel said.

“Patch me through,” Beth replied.

“Mammal. You will surrender your vessel,” the Naga growled. Beth stifled a chuckle at the British accent their translation program still used for the Naga language.

“Or what?” Beth asked.

“You have lost!” the Naga roared. “We have beaten you. Surrender and we will allow you to live.”

“I don’t think so,” Beth said. “I’ll blow the engines first. That should take out the entire ship. Hell, I don’t know how big a boom these engines will make. Might even blow up your battlecruiser. Even if your ship survives, it’s gonna be a long walk home for you boys.”

“You would immolate yourself rather than surrender?”

“Darn skippy,” Beth assured the Naga. “We mammals are weird like that.”

“You have honor, then,” the Naga said. “We will die together, for I am with the troop about to breach the room your engines are in. My name is Warlord Naketh. Die with honor, mammal.”

At his words, sparks began flying from the blast doors as the Naga started cutting through it.

“Place charges inside the engine well,” Beth said. “Make sure you put in enough explosive to blow through the shielding we put in place.”

“Yes ma’am,” one of her sergeants said. His voice was tight with stress, but he didn’t hesitate to follow her order.

“Naketh, I am Captain Beth Wynn. I have another possible option which might result in both our crews getting home. But if you keep cutting through that door, we will all die together here.”

The cutting stopped abruptly. That was more like it.

“I take it I have your attention,” Beth said. “Here’s what I propose…”

Twenty-Nine

Dan had ordered the Independence to turn in-system, using all the velocity it had built up to chase after the destroyers. The smaller, faster ships had lost ground at first, but their acceleration was much better than his own, and they were again speeding ahead of the Independence. He’d missed the chance to take them out, and hoped that he had made the correct call.

The battle was being played out for them on the main screen, with a roughly twelve-minute delay. The Naga had struck out with every ship in their fleet, and initially had some success tearing up a few of the Kkiktchikut vessels. But the Naga had fared worse during the initial pass, and now the ships were soaring away from one another, the Naga fleet depleted by almost half its number while the Kkiktchikut had lost only half a dozen ships. It wasn’t looking good for the Naga.

The Naga strategy was a good one, though. They couldn’t decelerate on a dime. They needed time for their engines to bleed off the velocity they’d picked up. So they had set their initial pass to send them past one of their planet’s moons. Now they were preparing to do a gravity-assisted turnaround using their moon in a similar manner to what the Independence had done earlier with the gas giant.

For their part, the Kkiktchikut had simply opened new wormholes and used them to effectively turn around in place. They’d lost none of their velocity and would hit the Naga fleet again shortly after it made the turn around the moon. The five vessels which had been chasing Dan’s ship would arrive a couple of hours later, far too late to matter in this battle.

“Can we hit one of the Bug ships with a communication laser?” Dan asked.

“Maybe?” De Toro asked. “But they might detect it as a threat, sir.”

“Oh, they’ve already attacked us twice. I think they see us as a threat. I’d like to see if it’s possible to talk to them,” Dan said.

“We can try, sir. Do you think they’ll be able to reply?”

“I hope so.” With luck, they probably could. The Kkiktchikut might not use lasers for communication, but they probably had at one point. With luck maybe they could find a way to reply. “Send this message. I am Captain Wynn of the Earth ship Independence. Our people are not at war with yours, but your vessels have attacked mine twice. We would like to open negotiations with your race.”

“Sending now, sir,” De Toro said. “I targeted one of their big ships.”

Nothing to do but wait. The laser message was away. It would take twelve minutes to arrive at the Kkiktchikut vessel. Then it might take just as long to hear back from them even if they were able - or deigned to - answer. The waiting was one of the worst parts about a space battle, Dan decided. On the Satori, he never had to sit around. That ship could flicker through space and appear right at the battle. But his battlecruiser had no wormhole drive. At sub-light speeds it would take them hours to close the distance. By the time he arrived, it was probably going to be over.

Not that he was sure which side he should take, even if he could get in there to join the battle. As one-sided as the mess around the Naga world looked, it seemed the conclusion was already inevitable. That was a huge concern. Even if both alien races were opposed to humanity, having them fight each other a while longer would at least give Earth a shot to build up first. But it was looking more like this would be the end of their conflict.

Static buzzed from the speaker in front of him. Dan looked down, checking his instrumentation. It was too soon for the Kkiktchikut to be reaching back out to him. He’d only sent the message fourteen minutes ago. It would be at least another ten minutes before he heard a response, if there was going to be one at all. But the alert wasn’t for a regular incoming communication. It was a contact via the Naga’s quantum communication system. Dan exhaled forcefully. He wondered what they were going to ask. The Naga had to have their hands full. That they were bothering to contact him at all meant they were as desperate as he had feared. He tapped the button to play their message.

But the words that came out of the speaker were not the cultured British tones their translation software produced. Instead, the words were mechanical, like they had been pieced together from a collection of different sentences and run through a computer. It sounded like an awful computer answering service. The tone was chilling. The words were even more so.

“We are aware of your race. Once we deal with our rebellious slaves, we will deal with you next,” the voice said.

The Kkiktchikut. They’d somehow co-opted the Naga quantum communication array. Dan didn’t even think that was possible, but somehow they’d done it. Perhaps they’d captured a Naga vessel. Or maybe their understanding of how to make the things work was just that much better. Either way, it didn’t matter. He had them on the phone, and they didn’t sound friendly.

“We would like to have peace between our peoples,” Dan said.

“No.”

The one word response floored Dan. The finality in that word, and that tone, the lack of explanation… He didn’t think he was going to change their minds, but he had to try.

“Why?” he replied. If one word replies were their thing, well, he could do that too. There were a few seconds of delay before the Kkiktchikut voice answered again.

“Our slaves betrayed us once, to our sorrow. We were almost destroyed as a result. We will not take a race as slaves again. We will destroy before we are destroyed.”

Damn. The Naga had turned on them, so they figured everyone else would, too? An entire race of paranoid bugs? If they brought this fleet to Earth next, there would be no defending against it. If they intended to wipe out any other sentient race they ran into, that would be the end of the road for humanity.

“There are other paths to take,” Dan said. He had to try, one more time. “Bonds of friendship and trust, rather than slavery and betrayal. It is possible for beings who are different to co-exist and help one another.”

“We do not know you. We cannot trust you,” the Kkiktchikut voice replied. “You are therefore a threat and will be annihilated. This is the end of the communication. Make peace with eternity as you watch this planet die. Your world is next.”

Then the Kkiktchikut severed the call. Dan tried to restart the communication, but whatever the Kkiktchikut had been doing to reach out to him directly, they’d cut the link. They were no longer responding to him. They weren’t going to listen. Sadness and fury warred in Dan’s heart. It was hard to imagine a race so terrified that they were willing to wipe out anything different from themselves that they came across - but then again, was that so different from what groups of humans had done in the past?

Whatever humanity’s past sins had been, though, Dan would not stand idly by and allow the Kkiktchikut - these Bugs - to wipe his people out. He would take action. There had to be something that he could do. His emotions roiled so hard that Dan stood from his chair to pace. Martelle was there, right behind him.

“You heard all of that?” Dan asked the Colonel.

“Yup. Sound like right assholes,” Martelle said. He seemed much recovered from his injuries. It was amazing what a shot of medical nanites could do in a short time. “They say they’re coming for Earth next. I’d suggest we stop them here, Wynn.”

“That seems unlikely. They’re going to wipe out most of the Naga fleet in this next pass. After that, they’ll probably bombard the planet, which has some defenses in low orbit, but not enough to withstand the Kkiktchikut fleet,” Dan said.

“Any way we can lend a hand? My Marines have taken these Bugs on before. They’re not as tough as they think they are,” Martelle said.

That gave Dan a moment’s pause. “De Toro, put the first battle of the Naga against the Kkiktchikut up on the main screen.”

“Yes, sir,” De Toro replied.

The video replayed, showing them the two fleets passing dangerously close to one another. The Naga ships had stayed in close, launching fighters and blazing away with their plasma weapons and missiles. While the missiles had done some damage - and Dan spotted one fighter which had done a kamikaze run into a Kkiktchikut ship that seemed to have a significant effect - most of the Naga fire had been plasma weapons. The Kkiktchikut shields shrugged off most of their shots without even blinking.

“Their weapons don’t work against the Kkiktchikut shields,” Dan murmured.

“Ours do,” Martelle said.

“They do indeed,” Dan replied. “De Toro, put me in communication with the Naga fleet. We’re going to give them some help whether they want assistance from us ‘mammals’ or not.”

Thirty

Beth was sweating bullets as she held her hand over the door release. As soon as she pressed that button, the Naga waiting outside could enter the engine room. Guns in hand, they could mow down everyone inside in a heartbeat. Well, almost everyone.

"Majel, you good on the explosives?" Beth asked.

"I am. If the Naga act aggressive, I'll blow the ship. I hope you know what you're doing, Beth," Majel said.

"Me too," Beth replied. Then she spoke into the radio. "All right. I'm opening the door to let you in so we can talk more. But no monkey business or our ship's computer will blow all of us to bits."

"I understand. I will be coming in alone, mammal," Naketh said.

Beth's eyebrows rose. That hadn't been part of the deal. The Naga's way of showing he wasn't scared? Maybe. She was stalling now and knew it. Beth ground her teeth together and pressed the button. The blast door snapped up into the ceiling. A big Naga in heavy armor waited on the other side. He wasn't carrying a rifle, but that didn't mean he was unarmed. Any hidden guns aside, the Naga claws and teeth were themselves potentially deadly weapons.

"Warlord Naketh," Beth said. Her translator spat out the Naga words.

"I have my own translator," Naketh said, tapping the side of his head. He had one of the Cyan life forms, then. Small aquatic animals resembling slugs far too closely for human comfort, the beings had turned out to be a sentient telepathic race. The Naga used them because of their ability to translate all spoken language directly into their host's mind once they were attached to another life-form. "And you are Captain Wynn. I have heard much about you humans. You might be surprised to hear that not all of it is bad. You've impressed a few Naga. And frightened some of the more thin-scaled."

Beth laughed. "The feeling is mutual."

On both counts. The Naga had scared a lot of humans shitless, especially during the moments where they'd almost blown up her planet. That and caused John's death. Beth felt a flash of anger and quelled it carefully before she let it reach her eyes. No telling how good this guy was at reading human body language, but she needed his cooperation right now. Not his hostility. Beth tapped the hatch button again, and the door closed behind Naketh.

"You said you had a proposition for me," Naketh said. "One which might get both our crews quickly home? I tell you, I was not especially interested until that last. But I must report back to the ruling council before it is too late."

"Duty calls, hmm?" Beth asked. She wondered what it was he wanted to report. Was it something about the Kkiktchikut ships they'd seen all over? Did Naketh have new information on them? "I understand. I too have obligations. But the accident which brought us out into intergalactic space seems to need both of us to unravel."

"I believe that the interaction of wormhole and hyperspace drives - similar but different technologies - somehow caused a massive space-time curve. A hyper-hyperspace, if you will," Majel said.

"Who is that speaking?" Naketh asked. "My ear-bug does not translate it for me."

Interesting. The Cyan beings' telepathy seemed to still not extend to Majel, at least not entirely. Maybe they could only read the minds of organic life? No one was entirely sure how they were doing the telepathy in the first place.

"Our ship's artificial intelligence," Beth said. She had her translator play back the message for him in Naga, and he nodded.

"My engineers thought much the same," Naketh said. "You think it is possible to re-create this event?"

"Not only re-create it, but actually control and direct it," Majel said. "It will require the drives on both ships to function in perfect tandem. Even a small timing error could throw our destination off by a hundred or more light years. But yes - I think I can."

"We can all go home," Beth said, meeting the Warlord's eyes. "But it's going to take all of us working together to accomplish it."

"Or I can try to take over this room before your computer blows up your ship," Naketh said. His mouth broke open in a sharp-toothed smile.

Beth froze. Had she misread him? If he wanted to go after them, there probably wasn't much she could do about it. Humans didn't do too well against Naga in hand to hand combat. She'd have to blow the ship after all. Damn it all, she honestly thought she'd found a way out of this...

"No, I think I prefer your method, Captain Wynn. We all have obligations at our homes. Enough have died today already. Let us combine our ships and return home to fight another day," Naketh said.

Beth relaxed, exhaling a little harder than she'd meant to. She caught Naketh's eye and saw the little gleam there which had to be humor.

"You were pulling my leg?" Beth asked, incredulous.

"Pulling...?"

"An idiom. Who knew that the Naga had a sense of humor?" Beth wondered aloud.

Naketh smiled again and opened his mouth to reply. Before he could say any more, he stood stock still, his palm raised to his ear almost involuntarily. The Naga was staring off into space. Beth knew the look. His ship was sending him a transmission, and whatever the message was, he didn't like hearing it. She hoped it wasn't about to impact their newly minted alliance.

"I am sorry," Naketh said after another fifteen seconds. "That was my ship. We've just received a quantum message from my home-world in response to the transmission I sent when I discovered we were stranded here."

"You can transmit from this far away?" Beth asked. She was fascinated with the idea. In theory, the range on a quantum communicator should be the entire universe, but she'd never had the chance to test the range like this!

“Yes - you do not have these devices?” Naketh asked.

“Only a couple,” Beth replied. She was hedging. The only pair of quantum radios Earth had were the two mounted on their captured Naga warships. It wasn’t a technology they understood well enough to replicate…yet.

“The damned Kkiktchikut have attacked my planet,” Naketh said. “We are one of only a handful of Naga ships not participating in the defense. We have been ordered to avoid our home system, to find a new world and colonize it.”

The Naga whirled and hammered a fist into the wall. The blow left a dent. Naketh took a step back and looked surprised at the damage he had caused. The Naga ships were made from an alloy that was a little stronger than anything Earth had to offer. Beth guessed his fist might not have done any damage to a Naga wall.

“My apologies,” he rumbled. “You offer me hospitality and help, and I repay it by injuring your ship.”

“It’s all right. I’ve hit the walls myself a few times,” Beth said. She was at a loss to know what else to say to Naketh. He was hurting. His people were in danger, and he had no way to help them. How would she feel if it was Earth? “I take it they don’t expect to win the battle? What about your other colonies?”

“The other colonies are all gone. Wiped out by the Kkiktchikut. They have a ship, a massive vessel armed with a planet-killing weapon,” Naketh said.

“They can blow up planets?” Beth asked. The engineer inside her head began doing mental math, trying to calculate the raw energy that would require. The human was horrified at the thought of an entire world populated by intelligent life being blown to bits.

“Not so dire,” Naketh said with a wave of his hand. “But the energy discharge is sufficient to turn most of the surface molten, and heat the atmosphere enough that it combusts. Nothing survives.”

That brought down the energy required to something that might be feasible, given what she knew about the Kkiktchikut ability to generate power. After all, they’d built the Satori’s drive, which produced incredible amounts of power in an engine block the size of a very small car. What could they do with a bigger engine? Or an array of such devices?

“It would have to be a close-range strike, though, right?” Beth said. The energy discharge wouldn’t maintain coherence if it was fired from too far away.

“Yes. First they invade, wiping out all resistance. Then they send in their planet killer ship to finish things. It is an ugly, dishonorable way to fight.”

Beth avoided mentioning that the Naga themselves had developed a means of effectively ‘salting the earth’ on planets the Kkiktchikut had once controlled. Her people had once done terrible things to their enemies, too. People did stupid things when they were frightened. Naga and Kkiktchikut and Humans alike, it seemed. But she had an idea.

“Majel, can we set the Naga homeworld as the coordinates for our destination?” Beth asked.

“Of course. It’s well within projected range.”

“Projected?” Beth asked.

“The entire idea is untested, Beth. It might destroy both ships. It’s the best bet I can calculate, however,” Majel said.

“I’ll take it. Naketh, if you want, your people can stay here in this system. You should be safe from the Kkiktchikut for a long time to come. There’s a world which looks like it might be habitable out there. Make for it, settle down, and have lots of baby Naga,” Beth said. “Or… We can all go to your world together and see if together we can stop the Kkiktchikut from blowing your people up.”

The big Naga took a step toward her. He reached out with both hands, and Beth had to control her flinch reaction. She heard some of her people moving behind her, probably alarmed by the Naga’s actions. Beth made a small ‘back off’ motion with her hand beside her. Naketh placed both his hands on her shoulders and stared down at her face.

“You would do this? After war between our races, you would fight beside us to save my world? Why?” he asked.

“Because destruction such as the Kkiktchikut want to wreak is abhorrent to my people, Naketh. Oh, we fight - mostly amongst ourselves. We’ll fight over the stupidest damned things you can imagine. But at the end of the day, my people believe that everyone has a right to life, and liberty. What the Kkiktchikut want to do is wrong,” Beth said. “And you’ll find that most Humans will be standing against that sort of thing, wherever and whenever it appears.”

“Then we accept…Warlord Beth. We will go into battle beside you. If this is our last day, then we will make it a glorious one,” Naketh replied.

“Let’s get to it, then. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and less time to do it in,” Beth said.

Thirty-One

Dan drummed his fingers on his chair, waiting for a reply back from Earth. He was hoping to hear from someone - anyone - with orders. This was more than he ought to be taking on solo. Declaring war on an interstellar race was above his pay grade. He’d fired up the quantum communicator and tried to reach the Constitution, which ought to be in space orbiting Earth. It was the last line of defense, the only starship Earth had still in the system. Dan tried not to think how pathetic and useless it would be against this Bug fleet if they flitted to Earth next.

But there was no response from Earth. Either they were being jammed somehow, or the gear wasn’t working on the Constitution, or something else was amiss. Whatever the case was, there was nothing he could do about it from where he was. Without orders, it was up to him to make the best call he could. He opened the quantum link, calling out to the nearby Naga vessels streaking in toward the battle.

“This is Captain Wynn of the Earth ship Independence. We’d like to assist in the battle,” he said.

The response was immediate. “I am Warlord Sachek. I command this task force. Your offer of help is useless. None of our vessels can reach the planet in time. The battle will be over before we arrive.”

“Warlord, I am aware of the space distance. I’m preparing to use our hyperdrive to bridge the gap more quickly,” Dan said. It was one hell of a gamble. To come out of hyperspace close enough to the planet to be able to engage the Bugs, the math would need to be perfect. He had every computer on the ship working overtime to triple-check the math, and Ensign Scott was sweating as he double-checked those figures.

“It is too dangerous to warp space that close to a planetary body. Your ship will arrive inside the world and be obliterated. It would be humorous to watch, though. Please, feel free,” the Naga replied.

Dan could feel the hopelessness that had sunk deep into that voice. He couldn’t blame Sachek. This was the Naga homeworld under attack, and he was stuck watching the final destruction of his home fleet just a few light minutes away. Too far to do any good, but close enough to watch the upcoming battle almost in real time.

He needed to break the Naga out of their funk. They were all about honor and valor? Fine, he could give them that.

“You call yourself a Warlord? You’ve already given up. Fine. Sit out here where it’s safe, while your fleet dies and your planet burns,” Dan said. “We ‘mammals’ will be in the thick of it showing you how it’s done.”

There was a long pause, and Dan was left wondering if he’d laid it on too thick. What he wanted was to convince the Naga to all jump in with him. Together, striking as one, they might have a shot at doing something. It might still not be enough to save the Naga, but it was better than nothing.

He wasn’t even entirely sure why he was standing up for them. They’d imprisoned his ship-mates, captured and tortured him, killed one of his oldest and dearest friends, and tried to destroy Earth. But at the same time, the Naga were more like Humans than they were different. The Kkiktchikut also might be more like them than they seemed, but of the two potential foes they seemed the ones most likely to simply blow the Earth to bits because they were having a bad day.

“Human. Will you share your warp plot with us? We…cannot compute the jump in time to be of use,” the Naga replied.

“Of course. Our computers have been working on the solution for some time. Stand by,” Dan said.

He looked over at Ensign Scott, who nodded back.

“You’re sure?” Dan asked. “We won’t get two shots at this.”

“Sure as I can be, sir. I’ve never done this before. But the math checks out,” Scott replied.

“All right,” Dan replied. He pulled the data from the helm into his console and transmitted it across to the Naga ships. “Sending to you now. Be advised: the Kkiktchikut have energy shields which will block your plasma weapons. Kinetic weapons will do more damage - use your missiles.”

“We’ve watched the battle and concur. We will jump in with you. If it is to our deaths, at least we will meet our ancestors with honor,” Sachek said. “Mammal… You do the Naga a service today. If any of us survive the day, we will not forget.”

“Be ready to jump at the time designated,” Dan said.

“We will be with you.”

The Naga cut the channel, and Dan turned back toward Scott. “We ready?”

“As we’re going to be, sir!”

Dan tapped his link to Larsen. “Still have those birds hot with torpedoes ready?”

“Yes, sir,” Larsen replied.

“Good. You’re about to squish some Bugs.”

“We’ll be ready to launch on arrival, sir.”

It was as good as he could make it. Dan mentally crossed his fingers. He wished that Beth and his other friends were with him. Together they’d done impossible things. Here, he felt more alone than he ever had before. At the same time, he was glad they weren’t present for this fight. He had a sense of the firepower those Kkiktchikut ships possessed now. This was probably a suicide run. But even so…

“Every ship we take down today is one less that will be coming at Earth tomorrow,” Dan said aloud to the bridge crew. “Our job is to take down as many of them as we can. Nothing else matters. Understood?”

The chorus of answers wasn’t cheerful, but it was determined. He’d take it. This crew might be green as hell, but they had guts.

Then the star-field on their view screen blurred as they entered hyperspace. Dan knew that each of the Naga vessels jumping with him was seeing the same thing, at about the same time. Their courses should bring them in almost on top of the Kkiktchikut fleet.

The hyperspace lasted only a few seconds, and then they were back in real-space again. The ship groaned as it came back from hyper, probably a result of being so close to a gravity well. Dan checked the tactical plot. They were dangerously close to the planet - but all five of the Naga vessels had arrived safely with him. Then he swallowed hard as the tactical plot continued to update. They hadn’t come in just behind the Kkiktchikut. They’d arrived smack dab in the middle of their formation.

“Evasive action!” he roared. The ship lurched to one side as Scott took it into a dive relative to the enemy fleet’s course. He picked out the nearest smaller ship and designated it as the primary target. “Engage with all weapons.”

He felt the steady thrum as their fighters began to launch, blasting off into space with their deadly payloads. Ahead the main Naga fleet was closing in fast, already engaged with the Kkiktchikut enemy. The Independence shook as the first beam weapon managed to score a hit, searing off armor without hitting anything vital. But there would be more hits. They were in this for the win - or to die trying. The Independence fired off a broadside of missiles, which rocketed away from the ship on plumes of fire, bearing death toward the Bugs.

The Kkiktchikut ships scattered like a school of fish when a predator drew near. They reacted to the sudden appearance of new enemies by engaging their wormhole drives and darting clear of the mess. The attack threw their formation into disarray, and Dan hoped for a minute that might be enough to turn the tide.

But they didn’t bother regrouping. Instead, their ships blinked in, blinked back out, and appeared in twos and threes, each cluster hitting one of the Naga ships the Independence had led on their raid. Three Kkiktchikut vessels appeared directly astern of the Independence as well.

“Larsen..!” Dan said into the radio.

“Already on it, sir.”

The fighter escort was already bearing down on the attacking ships. The Independence shuddered several more times under their combined assault, the armored hull shrugging off the beam weapons for the moment. Then the fighters arrived, delivering their torpedoes at point blank range. Two of the Kkiktchikut ships blinked away, but the third was blown to bits by their fire. The Independence picked out two new targets appearing out of wormholes nearby and hammered them with railgun fire. Dan braced himself as the ship shook again. This fight wasn’t going to be quick or easy.

Thirty-Two

The Satori was back to full power and aligned perfectly beneath the Naga battlecruiser. Getting both ships ready for combat had taken everything both crews could give. Now she was going to ask even more of them. Beth hoped that she would be able to see them through this, but there wasn’t much choice. She might not like the Naga much, but the Kkiktchikut were even worse.

“Green, I’m counting on you to give us power when we arrive,” Beth said into her radio. That was her primary concern, that the Satori would arrive in the middle of a firefight without any power. No power meant no thrust and no weapons. They’d be a sitting duck.

“I’ve got a backup battery slaved to the computer. It should keep it from powering down completely once the main power grid goes offline. It won’t give us weapons until the main power kicks back in…” Green replied.

“But it should keep the computer from shutting off and ending up in a failed restart,” Beth said.

“Precisely.”

“Where’d you get that idea from?” Beth asked. It was a good one, but she knew the engine as well as anyone, and she wasn’t sure she could have rigged that up in such a short time.

“Majel,” Green replied.

Ah, that made sense. No one knew how the engine and computer worked as well as the being that inhabited them. Even the AI didn’t seem to understand all of the inner secrets of the machines at the heart of the Satori, but she had a better understanding than most of them.

“Well, if she says it will work, it probably will,” Beth said.

“Probably?” Majel asked in her earbud.

“But be ready for anything, just in case,” Beth went on. “No offense meant, Majel. I trust your judgment.”

“None was taken. I predict that there is a ninety-three point zero-seven percent chance of the battery successfully keeping the computer - and me - online,” Majel said.

“Point zero-seven?” Beth asked, amused.

“I find humans get bored quickly with more than two decimal places.”

Beth snorted a laugh and raised the Naga ship.

“Naketh here.”

“We’re ready to go. Is your helm connected to ours? This maneuver has to be perfect or it won’t work,” Beth said.

“All preparations have been made per your computer’s specifications,” Naketh replied. “You place much faith in that machine.”

“Oh, she’s far more than a machine. After this is over, I’ll let you two have a chat about the nature of intelligence,” Beth said, smiling to herself as she imagined that conversation. The Naga had a thing about artificial intelligence - they didn’t trust it, and didn’t want it. Their computers were fast and strong, even capable of complex programmed patterns of response. But they drew the line at allowing the things to think for themselves.

“I would enjoy that,” Naketh replied.

“All right, stand by for jump,” Beth said. The countdown timer was ticking away seconds. Her entire body thrummed with anticipation. It wasn’t that different from the moments before any other fight, really. There was the fear that grabbed your stomach and tied it up in a little knot. And that adrenaline spike that made everything seem a bit more clear, like you were seeing the world for the first time, every time.

Beth wished they’d had more time to scout out the world they had found. Once they had power back, scans confirmed that the planet was indeed capable of sustaining human life - or Naga, for that matter. If Earth wanted to grab a colony someplace far out of the way, this would be a much better destination than Dust.

But home called. She’d left friends behind on Dust. The Naga homeworld was about to become dust if they didn’t do something. And Earth itself might well be next on the list for the Kkiktchikut fleet.

The wormhole blossomed into light ahead of the ships. At the same second, the Naga warship executed a hyperspace jump. The two fields reacted with one another. Beth could see it clearly on the view screen this time as the wormhole twisted and then suddenly grew brilliantly more intense. The Naga ship rocketed forward.

“Ahead full thrust!” Beth said.

The Satori leaped ahead, disappearing behind the Naga ship into the super-wormhole. There was a burst of brilliant light, and something that felt like sound but wasn’t. Beth had a sense that she was stretching out - and the moment they were supposed to be in transition seemed to stretch equally long, until it felt like the ship would never exit the wormhole. Like they would be trapped in that space between forever.

Then they were through. The Satori soared out into regular space. Around the bridge, all the lights were out. Only emergency lights remained. The computers were dark. In the porthole Beth could see a green and blue world spinning below them. They’d made it somewhere. But where? She keyed the microphone in her suit - that still had power, at least.

“Green?” she asked, her voice a growl. “You’d better not have broken my ship.”

“The battery backup worked, Captain. We won’t need to reboot. Power levels are low but already restoring rapidly,” Green replied.

“I’m still here, too,” Majel said in her ear.

Beth heaved a sigh of relief. Slowly, lights began coming back on. The main screen lit back up, and the humming of machinery could be heard all around them.

“Excellent. Scan the area, see what we’re dealing with,” Beth said. Her comm unit chirped at her. The Naga ship was calling.

“You have been as good as your word, Captain Wynn,” Naketh said. “The battle for my world continues, and we will be joining the others in the defense. Your ship may withdraw now; this is our fight, but it does not have to be yours.”

Beth was about to reply, but Hernandez caught her eye first. She nodded at him.

“Ma’am, there’s a big fight a quarter orbit away. Scans show a whole lot of Naga ships and a couple dozen Kkiktchikut vessels, including two of the big ones we fought earlier. And Captain? There’s another Earth vessel, too,” Hernandez said.

Beth froze. She knew who it was before he told her, knew there was only one ship that could reasonably be out there.

“It’s the Independence, ma’am,” Hernandez finished.

Dan’s ship. He was out there in the middle of that mess.

“Whose side is the Independence fighting on?” Beth asked.

“Naga, for sure. Her fighters just took down a Kkiktchikut cruiser.”

Beth nodded her thanks. That more or less sealed the deal for her. She hadn’t liked the idea of fleeing back to Earth and leaving the Naga to fend for themselves to begin with. But she sure as hell wasn’t leaving Dan behind, too. That wasn’t happening.

“What’s our power level?” Beth asked.

“We have full power for everything but the wormhole drive. Just enough for a few short hops there, but it’s coming back fast,” Foster said.

“Plot me a jump into that mess, and get ready for some fancy flying,” Beth said.

“Yes, ma’am!” Foster replied.

“Guns, you ready to hit some bad guys?” Beth said.

“Locked and loaded on all tubes. Railguns are ready,” Halls replied.

Beth re-opened the link to Naketh. “We’ve decided to stick around a bit. Care to see if you can match us for ship kills?”

“I would indeed! It would be an honor to contest with you in this way,” Naketh replied.

“Better catch up then,” Beth responded. Then she cut the link. “Foster, take us in.”

Another wormhole opened in front of the ship, and the Satori darted off toward battle.

Thirty-Three

Dan saw the burst of light appear off their starboard bow, right near a Kkiktchikut ship. At first he thought it was another enemy. They had five cruisers tearing at them now. His guns were blowing right through the Bug shields, doing far more damage than the Naga plasma weapons, and the Bugs had finally noticed. They were devoting extra attention to the Independence to try to destroy it.

Half his remaining fighters were gone, and the Independence was running low on missiles. Even so, he kept firing the things as rapidly as the tubes would load. If the ship went down, extra ammunition in the storage racks wouldn’t help. Out there, they might. Another hit scored on the Independence, and another set of sparks exploded from the ceiling as more power conduits blew out. They were still in the fight, but they were taking a beating.

One more Kkiktchikut vessel might be enough to finally do them in, but then he saw one of the Bug ships explode. Missiles and railgun fire raked across the front of the Independence, stabbing into another Kkiktchikut cruiser and scoring it badly. As the new ship crossed in front of his own, still firing with every gun it had, Dan recognized it. The Satori had arrived.

He couldn’t help it. His heart swelled with hope and fear at the same time, just for seeing that ship.

Hope, because wherever the Satori went, good things seemed to just happen. Even in the most desperate times, she’d borne her crew home again. But fear, too, because Dan knew Beth was inside that ship. They were horribly outmatched here. Even with the timely arrival of another warship, they were still outgunned. He wanted more than anything else in the world to keep her safe, and here Beth was in harm’s way. Again.

Dan shook his head to clear it. His crew needed him. Beth needed him, too. He watched as two Kkiktchikut cruisers flitted through wormholes directly behind the Satori. She jumped into her own wormhole and appeared again at a tangent to their course, blasting them with railgun fire. Dan shook his head again. This sort of fighting was almost impossible to watch. It was unpredictable and uncanny, how the ships would flash out, then appear again somewhere else. Like a game of chess, Beth and the Kkiktchikut crews were trying to predict the responses the other would use and out-think them.

“All guns, support the Satori with our fire. See if we can add a little damage to the mess she’s making out there,” Dan said. The Independence shook again, hard, and Dan heard the screaming of tortured metal twisting. His ears popped. They’d lost pressure someplace. The doors would secure whatever section had been opened to space, to keep the air inside the ship, but that wasn’t going to help if they were turned into swiss cheese.

“Sir, massive energy surge off toward the Naga moon,” De Toro said.

“On screen,” Dan replied.

The main viewer flickered and then showed an image of a massive wormhole opening up. Dan gritted his teeth together. The Bugs could bring an entire fleet through a hole that large. But as he watched, only two massive metal prongs extended from the wormhole. The metal grew longer, turning into something that looked vaguely like the mandibles of an enormous beetle. And still the ship came through, over a mile long, the largest thing Dan had ever seen in space.

“My god,” Dan said.

“There’s another energy buildup on that ship, sir,” De Toro said. “It looks like a wormhole buildup, but it’s not quite the same. I don’t know what to make of it.”

One of the Naga battlecruisers broke off from the fight and closed with the behemoth vessel. Its guns spat useless plasma which simply sparked off the shields around the monstrous ship. The volley of missiles it fired was stopped by uncannily accurate counter-missile lasers. The Naga ship kept on coming, blazing away with everything it had. Still the Kkiktchikut ship hadn’t replied.

“Energy has stopped building,” De Toro said.

“Get out of there, you fools,” Dan whispered.

But it was too late. The Kkiktchikut ship turned slightly so that its bow was facing directly at the Naga ship. Then it spat out a blast of white energy that immolated the battlecruiser completely. Dan blinked. One moment, there was a huge bright light. The next, both the light and the battlecruiser were gone, along with a couple of hundred Naga.

The behemoth continued sailing forward, slowly building speed on a course headed directly toward the Naga homeworld.

“Independence, are you there?”

A radio call - from the Satori. Dan smiled despite the desperate situation. “Always good to hear your voice, Beth.”

“Glad you’re OK,” she replied. “Listen, Naketh says that big ship there is the Kkiktchikut planet-killer. If it gets in range, it’ll fire at the surface.”

“How bad?” Dan asked, wondering who Naketh was.

“Total. One shot, and it’s game over. He said it would liquefy the planet’s surface.”

Dan whistled. That upped the game a little bit. “We’ll do what we can.”

“Us too. Moving to engage. Stay out of the path of that main gun.”

That much hadn’t needed saying. He didn’t want to be anywhere close to the nose of that ship when it fired. But they were going to have their work cut out for them. The behemoth was coming directly at the planet - and the Independence was smack in the middle.

“Scott, take us up from the orbital plane a couple of thousand kilometers. I want all guns focusing on the big guy,” Dan said. He keyed the radio to reach Larsen. “I need the remaining fighters on escort duty. Keep the smaller flies off us while we go take out the mothership.”

“You’ve got it, sir,” Larsen replied. On Dan’s screen, the icons of the fighter group formed up around his ship, their fire causing nearby Kkiktchikut vessels to blink away using their wormhole drives.

Dan saw the Satori appear behind the enemy ship, raking the aft area with guns and missiles. The mothership returned fire. That big gun wasn’t the only weapon it had, after all. There were energy batteries like the ones the Kkiktchikut cruisers used all over the hull. Dan watched two of the shots slam into the Satori before she could jump out, and winced. Beth’s ship didn’t have as much armor as his did. Those impacts would hurt.

They’d hurt him, too. As badly wounded as the Independence was, the ship couldn’t take too many full volleys of that many guns. Fortunately the rest of the Naga fleet were turning to engage the Kkiktchikut behemoth as well. Dan checked his screen. Only ten Naga vessels left. A tiny handful compared to the fleet they had once had, and the Kkiktchikut outnumbered them two to one.

“Hit them with everything we have,” Dan said.

There was no elegance to this. There wasn’t any real grace to the battle. It was a dozen tiny flies attempting to stab the heart of a giant bull while avoiding the stings of a swarm of deadly wasps at the same time. They pounded the Kkiktchikut flagship with everything they had. Other Naga vessels formed up around the Independence, seeing that the Earth-made railguns were still passing through the Kkiktchikut shields while their own plasma weapons could not. One Naga vessel exploded, taking a hit that was aimed for the Independence.

Dan blinked at the sacrifice. Not long ago, Naga and Humans had been ready to wipe each other out. But with a common foe they had at last also found common ground. If nothing else came of this fight, that was at least something to be proud of.

Thirty-Four

Beth tapped out coordinates madly on her console. They’d darted in, scored some hits, and dashed back out again. But they didn’t have much time. The Kkiktchikut would be all over them in a few moments. They were following her ship now, three cruisers. More than enough to take down the Satori in a stand-up fight. Which was why she had no intention of giving them the sort of pitched battle they were looking for.

“Sending you coordinates, Foster,” Beth said.

“Got them, ma’am. We’ve got juice for two more jumps, though. Next one is going to have to be far enough outside the battle that we can recover some power before we rejoin,” her pilot replied.

“Understood,” Beth said. The screen flashed with an alert. The Kkiktchikut vessels had arrived and were preparing to fire. “Jump now!”

They opened a wormhole and dove away before the energy beams could slam into the ship. The Satori appeared precisely where she’d calculated the destination. They were directly above the Kkiktchikut behemoth, only a few kilometers away, and facing bow down toward the point where their scans had said the enemy ship discharged its main gun. If the Satori could just take out that weapon, then they’d effectively defang this thing.

“Fire!” Beth said.

The ship rocked as every weapon fired at once, a massive fusillade of missiles and railguns. They rocketed toward the enemy ship, energy weapons scoring hits as they drew closer, firing as rapidly as the guns could reload.

Another energy weapon hit the Satori, and alarms flashed. They’d been hit bad, this time. Beth could feel it. Something was off about the ship. That beam had stabbed deep enough to do some real damage.

“Port missile bays are disabled,” Ayala said. “They almost took out engineering with that shot. Another hit in the same area…”

He didn’t have to finish the sentence. They all knew what would happen if the Satori lost her drive. Well, they all knew there were two possible answers, neither of them pleasant for the crew of the Satori. Either they’d blow to bits, or they would be stuck floating in space as a powerless piece of debris.

“Hernandez, did we hit it?” Beth asked.

“No, ma’am. Power levels still rising in the Kkiktchikut weapon.”

Shit, and double shit! They were closing with the enemy vessel now, almost ready to crash into it. The right call was to retreat, to jump out and fight another day. Use the last of their juice to wormhole far enough that they could escape. But doing that would give the Kkiktchikut time to blast the Naga homeworld into magma. Running would mean giving up on the Naga.

And on Dan.

“Fire the wormhole as a weapon,” Beth said. “Target that main gun of theirs.”

Anything the wormhole touched, it destroyed. It ought to tear up the housing around the weapon. If they could stab deeply enough into the enemy ship, maybe they could take the gun out of the picture. But it was the last charge they had. Firing it like this saved nothing for an escape.

“Yes, ma’am,” Foster said. His voice was grim, but it didn’t shake, and he didn’t argue or debate the decision.

A blast of light spat from the Satori’s bow, sending a stream of pure force in front of the ship that tore a hole in the fabric of space. Whatever the far end of the wormhole touched was annihilated, broken into component atoms or converted to energy in the hideous release of force. Plating tore away from the Kkiktchikut ship, setting off secondary explosions beneath the hull. More and more of the ship burned away as the Satori slipped sideways across it, still blazing away with the wormhole drive like it was a laser scalpel.

Then the drive cut off, out of juice. A set of four energy cannons on the behemoth sliced into the Satori’s hull, tearing holes through the ship. Alarms rang and then went silent as the atmosphere evacuated through the new tears rent in the vessel. Beth’s console exploded into flames in front of her, sending shards of glass pinging against the face-plate of her helmet.

The Satori tumbled end over end, venting air giving the ship spin as it fell away from the behemoth vessel. Beth knew in her gut that the Satori was badly injured, perhaps mortally so.

“Ayala, report,” Beth said as calmly as she could muster. Gravity was still working, so the alien drive hadn’t been compromised. How much else was left of the ship remained to be seen.

“We’ve been holed, well, all over. Weapons are out. Minimal engine controls. Crew says they can get the number three railgun back online in a few minutes,” he replied.

Beth turned to Hernandez. “How’s the enemy?”

“We hurt them pretty bad, Captain. But that energy build-up…” He hesitated.

She already knew the answer, from the tone of his voice. “We didn’t kill it, did we?”

“No, ma’am,” he replied. “Ma’am, I have multiple Kkiktchikut cruisers closing on our position.”

They’d made the enemy mad, at least. They were out of the fight, but the Kkiktchikut wanted to make sure her ship was put down permanently. She could respect that. They’d done more than their fair share of damage. Beth wracked her brains, trying to think of something she could do to get them all out of this mess. Nothing came to mind. Without enough power to jump away, without even the energy to use their guns, the Satori was a sitting duck. It was over.

“I’m sorry,” Beth said, making a sweeping gesture with her arm and bowing her head.

“You did it right, Captain. It’s been an honor,” Ayala replied.

She looked up and met his eyes, saw him smile. She gave him a wry grin in return. Funny, that once not long ago the man had tried to take over the ship from her. They’d come a long way in a short time.

It wouldn’t be long now. Beth looked down at the scan display and saw three Kkiktchikut cruisers bearing down on their position. Her helmet chirped, alerting Beth to an incoming call. She recognized the caller signature. It was Naketh.

“Satori, you seem to be worse for wear. Sorry we are late,” Naketh said.

Missiles slammed into the nearest Kkiktchikut cruiser, blasting it apart. The other two darted away through wormholes before the rockets tracking them could lock on and impact. The Satori was in the clear, for the moment at least. Beth exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and sagged against the console. One minute she was sure they were all dead. The next, they had a fighting chance at life again.

“Thanks for the assist. That big ship over there needs to go down,” Beth said.

“I see it. We are moving to engage,” Naketh said.

“We’re a few points ahead of you on the scoreboard. Better catch up,” Beth said.

“I respectfully submit that the big ship counts as more than one,” Naketh replied.

Beth stood from her chair on shaky legs and made her way to Foster’s console. Her own was smashed, and the big view-screen had a massive crack running through it. That would be useless until it was replaced. She hated feeling blind. The scan console might have more information, but she felt more in the middle of things standing near the helm.

“Where is Naketh’s ship?” Beth asked. Maybe she could help guide him in so that he could hit the enemy in the same spot her ship had already scored.

“He’s done a gravity-assisted dive around the planet, ma’am,” Foster said. “That’s what took him so long to get here. His ship has an incredible velocity built up.”

Beth saw it now, the ship racing across the scan display like it was a missile. Naketh was headed almost directly at the monstrous ship. He’d only have seconds to target and hit it as the ships passed each other. Then she looked at the course again and understood. Naketh wasn’t doing a fly-by.

“Naketh! Stop - there has to be another way to kill that thing,” Beth said into her radio.

“You were the one who told me their shields were weak against kinetic weapons, correct?” Naketh said. “What better kinetic strike than a ship at full speed? I recommend you try to get clear. This is likely going to make a big bang.”

“Naketh…”

“It has been an honor to fight alongside you, Captain.”

The Kkiktchikut had figured out what the Naga ship was up to. The big ship was turning, trying to bring its main gun into alignment to take Naketh out. But Beth could already see it wasn’t going to make the turn in time. It was too big, going too fast. He was coming in from an oblique enough angle that the Kkiktchikut simply didn’t have time.

That didn’t stop them from hammering him with every other weapon at their disposal. Energy beams tore into Naketh’s ship, ripping apart deck plating, tearing through armor. Every beam weapon in the Kkiktchikut fleet seemed focused on his battlecruiser for those last few moments.

“Get us out of here, Foster,” Beth said.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied. The Satori banked in an ungainly manner and sped away at the best acceleration they could manage. Beth watched the distance between her ship and the Kkiktchikut behemoth grow, hoping it would be enough.

Then Naketh’s ship slammed home.

There was a burst of light like a new sun was being born as the two ships collided. The Naga ship impacted close enough to the Kkiktchikut main gun that it destroyed their energy containment. All the energy they’d been storing up to throw at the surface of the planet ignited right there in the prow of their ship. The secondary explosions were cataclysmic and almost instantaneous. There was no time for anything. The largest ship Beth had ever seen turned into a slowly growing fireball and was gone.

And along with it, the first Naga Beth had ever met who had shown her that aliens to could understand nobility, honor, and even…humor.

All around her, other traces began vanishing off the radar. One after another the Kkiktchikut vessels were flickering away, using wormholes to depart the field of battle. They still outnumbered the defenders, but without the big ship perhaps they had no way to finish the planet off? Whatever the reason, they all acted almost in unison. A scant five seconds after the mothership blew up, the last remaining Kkiktchikut cruiser used a wormhole to vanish. The battle for the Naga homeworld was over.

Thirty-Five

“Iwill miss you,” Dan said. It felt strange to say those words.

Garul barked a laugh. “And I, you. Strange that we met as foes twice, and now part as allies.”

They were standing in the landing bay of the Independence. Garul and the other Naga prisoners were boarding a Naga shuttle, preparing to return to their people. There was no longer any question of trying to recover the ship from Dan. Apparently their fighting in defense of the Naga homeworld was payment enough, as far as the aliens were concerned.

“There will be more fighting before this is over,” Dan said.

“For certain. We are already laying the keels for a new fleet, armed with the electromagnetic weapons you suggested,” Garul replied. “With some Naga improvements, of course.”

“Of course,” Dan said with a smile.

The enemy had retreated, but there was no telling how long they would be gone before they struck again. Both Human and Naga were vulnerable. The Kkiktchikut had enough strength to take down either of them. But maybe…just maybe…not both together.

The worst of it was not knowing where the Kkiktchikut came from. The Naga had no idea what star system they were operating out of, or even if they had already spread to many worlds. The enemy could be almost anywhere. They could strike out at any time. No one knew the size of their fleet, or what their next plans might be. Only that they had fled once the world-killing ship was destroyed, and there’d been no sign of them in the days since.

“Good luck,” Dan said. “And call if you need us. We will come.”

He reached out his hand to the Naga Warlord.

Garul stared at the outstretched hand only a moment, and then offered his own clawed fingers to Dan, shaking his hand. The emotions around that simple handshake swirled through the Human, and he guessed perhaps the Naga as well. Each had been the prisoner of the other - and the captor. Each of them had done his best to serve the interests of his race but ultimately discovered that only by coming together as allies could they best help their people.

And, once they had crossed that boundary, they’d discovered something else. Respect for one another. Even, perhaps, the beginning of a friendship. Dan hoped that might be the case, anyway. He found himself liking Garul despite their checkered past.

“Fare well, Human. We will call if they strike, or if we learn more about our mutual foe. Likewise - if the Kkiktchikut threaten your world, call the Naga. We will not soon forget the lives you lost defending us,” Garul said. Then he turned and boarded the shuttle.

Dan hurried off the platform, and the shuttle blasted away, exiting from the ship. Garul was off to whatever awaited him next. He was a good leader. Dan had a feeling that he would rise high in whatever was left of the Naga command structure. They would need a strong hand to guide them through the rest of this crisis.

As he made his way back toward the bridge, Ensign Scott called him on his earbud.

“Incoming message from the Satori, sir,” Scott said.

“I’m almost to the bridge. Be right there,” Dan replied.

He hurried his steps a bit. Beth had taken off just a few hours ago after some hasty repairs to the Satori. It had taken three days to cobble her ship together well enough that it could survive a couple of jumps. The Satori would need some significant yard work once it got back to Earth.

But Andy and Charline were stranded on Dust, and Beth wanted to retrieve them as quickly as possible. It hadn’t been long, just a few days. They should be all right, but the fact that she was back so rapidly rather than returning with the would-be colonists to Earth worried Dan. He reached the bridge.

“Put her on, please,” he said.

“Dan, thank god,” Beth said. Her voice sounded tight and strained.

“What’s wrong? Did you find them?” Dan asked.

“We reached Dust all right. But they’re gone, Dan. We landed the ship near where we set them down. There were signs of a major battle. Huge footprints, ammunition casings, wreckage from explosions,” Beth said. “We searched the area and found dozens of dead Kkiktchikut, the armored ones, not the ones native to Dust.”

Shit. That was bad news. Their friends had been down there, and the Kkiktchikut had come. They’d fought back, and if they’d killed dozens of the enemy that was remarkable. But it seemed hard to believe they’d killed them all.

“Any sign of humans at all?” Dan asked.

“We found a few graves dug, with little markers and names on top. No one we knew,” Beth said. “Way fewer graves than there were people left behind.”

“Where are they, then?” Dan asked. He could hear the pain in her voice about leaving crew behind. There had been no choice. That didn’t make it any better for her.

“I don’t know. We’re going back to take another look. I came here because it was closer than Earth and we could make the jump sooner. But as soon as we recharge the wormhole drive I want to go back and do a complete search while you report back to home,” Beth said.

Earth had only two of the quantum communicators. One was aboard the Independence, the other aboard the Constitution back in Earth’s orbit. Once the Bugs were gone Dan had been able to use the system to update the US government about what had happened, and the severity of the new threat. They hadn’t been thrilled about the Kkiktchikut or their planet-killing gun. Dan was worried that some officials might choose not to believe it at all, even once they saw the evidence of the weapon’s power.

And now Beth wanted to head out into the void on her own again. Part of him wanted to tell her no, to order her home. But he was never one for giving orders that he knew someone wasn’t going to follow. Beth knew what she had to do. Her mind was already made up. He could worry about her, but he wasn’t going to change her mind.

“All right. Go find our people, then head back to Earth as quickly as you can. And Beth - if you can’t find them, come home. Andy and Charline are smart. If they’ve gotten themselves into trouble, have a little faith that they can get themselves back out of it again.”

“I’ll see you at home as soon as I can,” Beth said vaguely.

Dan smiled. He knew that meant she wasn’t going to return home until she found the missing people, or was forced to give up by running out of supplies. Beth signed off, and Dan sat down in his chair on the bridge. It rocked a little bit now. The ship’s damage had jarred one of the bolts securing it to the floor a little loose, so that it jiggled as he shifted his weight. Dan sighed. So many repairs to make still, most of which would have to wait until they were back at Earth. For a first run, the Independence had been put through the wringer. But it had passed with flying colors.

At a great cost. Half of his crew was dead, lost to protect a world whose name most of them couldn’t even pronounce. Dan felt the loss of each crew member almost personally, every time he thought about it. He’d been able to put it from his head during the fighting, but after? He’d visited the long rows of dead crew and Marines in body bags, sealed for delivery home. There had been others lost without any hope of recovering the bodies, like their pilots. Of the twenty who had shipped out, only four survived. Captain Larsen himself had gone down during the final minutes of the battle.

A lot more people, Human and Naga alike, were going to die before this battle was over. He was going to have to find a way to get used to the cost of battle, but for the moment it gave a bitter note to the sweetness of their victory.

“Break from orbit please, Ensign Scott. Set a hyperspace course. We’re going home.”

Kevin’s Notes

And we’re back! Another episode of the ongoing Satori saga, and this one is the biggest yet. I’ve had some folks asking me to write longer novels, which means it takes a little longer to get them out; but if that’s what people would prefer to read, I’m all for it.

There was some confusion about how Ashes of War was released. In short: a lot of people were confused because it was listed as book one of a new series: “Satori’s War”. I’ve fixed that. Ashes of War is now book seven of the overall series, and this one is book eight.

The series will have at least twelve books. After that? We shall see. I’ve got several other series I would like to work on as well, but I might extend the Satori tales. Let me know what you’d like to see next. You can always reach me via Facebook or email.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the re-launch of books one, two, and three from this series. The new versions are live as of this writing (except book three, Deep Waters, which is uploaded and will go live November 15th - so it’s probably already there as you’re reading this).

The new versions are a LOT better than the old ones. The first book, Ad Astra, in particular had a heavy rewrite. It clocked in as a novella before, in terms of word count. It’s a full novel now. The other two books also saw significant expansions during the rewrite.

Nothing from the plot of these three books was changed, though. If you’ve already read them in the old version, you won’t need to re-read them in the new “author’s preferred edition” unless you’d like to. Of course, if you choose to check out the new version, I think you’ll be thrilled! The books are much improved.

Lots more coming down the pipe. Make sure to check out the Valhalla Online series, since we’ll be seeing some of those characters showing up in another science fiction series very soon. I think you’ll get a kick out of the tie-in and how the two worlds blend together.

Thanks for reading both the book AND these notes! Remember that I’m always glad to hear from readers, so drop me a line any time.

Kevin

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About the Author

When not practicing hobbies which include sailing, constructing medieval armor, and swinging swords at his friends, Kevin McLaughlin can usually be found in his Boston home. Kevin’s award-winning short fiction is now available in digital form at all major ebook retailers. His urban fantasies “By Darkness Revealed” and “Ashes Ascendant” are available in ebook and print. His latest stories, the “STARSHIP” series and “King of the Dead” serial, are ongoing.

I love hearing from readers!

www.kevinomclaughlin.com

kevins.studio@gmail.com

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