Bache had brought the flyer down low close to the tree tops once they got nearer to civilisation. They could see multiple columns of smoke over to the east where the military bases were situated, with the occasional explosion of ordnance sending fountains of sparkling shrapnel high into the sky.
‘It’s busy over there,’ said Bache. ‘But I don’t see any other aircraft.’
No sooner had he said it, than a small dot appeared on the skyline and quickly gained altitude before disappearing into the smoke and dust cloud hanging above the battlefield.
‘Orbital vehicle,’ said Zaphir. ‘I hope they get away safely.’
‘Depends who’s on it,’ said Nexen.
Fifteen minutes later they passed over a rugged and rocky coastline. Again, Bache kept the flyer as low as he dared, well within his limited skill level. He could see the string of islands stretching away from the mainland over to the right and began a gentle turn towards them.
‘Which one is it?’ asked Zaphir.
‘The sixth one,’ said Nexen. ‘The island will look deserted, but he said to land on a level grassy area on the southern side and wait. They will come to us.’
The sixth island was small but had vertical rock cliffs arrowing out of the turbulent ocean and it became obvious why this particular island had been chosen for a classified research base.
Bache slowed the aircraft and applied lift as they approached. The cliffs passed close beneath them, and he waited until they were over the only level area and touched the hover icon. Then he reduced power and let the flyer sink slowly to the ground.
He knew they were being observed, so he shut the engines down and the three of them climbed out. The cold biting wind whipped at their clothing so they huddled together in the lee of the aircraft. The wait was thankfully a short one, as six camouflaged soldiers materialised around them, brandishing weapons that clearly had them in their sights.
‘Commander Nexen, lay your weapons on the ground and step forward, please,’ the closest ordered.
Nexen placed his laser pistol slowly beside him and took a pace towards the soldier. He was scanned with a hand device. The soldier nodded and repeated the process with Bache and finally Zaphir.
‘Thank you, Commander, and welcome to Gatt Island. My name is Lieutenant Tylont and I must say it’s an honour to meet you.’
Tylont gave his colleagues a quick nod, all the weapons were lowered, they turned, spread out and provided a protective cordon around the aircraft.
‘Thank you, Lieutenant,’ said Nexen. ‘Although, we recently discovered the android scanners are ineffective against your home-grown androids.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong, Commander,’ said Tylont. ‘Our scientists here on the island recently determined that a centuries-old body temperature scanner is one hundred percent effective, as an android’s core body heat operates at a much lower temperature. They incorporated the miniature EMP unit into it too, so if the subject demonstrates a reading lower than twenty-eight degrees, they get zapped.’
‘Genius,’ said Bache. ‘It’d be hard for them to counteract that too, without overheating their micro-electronics.’
‘I’m sorry to rush you,’ said Tylont. ‘But are any of you an orbital pilot?’
Zaphir and Nexen glanced at each other.
‘Well, I was,’ said Nexen. ‘But not so much with all the new technology and Zaphir here is a modern pilot, but with the GDA.’
‘You’re GDA?’ Tylont blurted, his eyes widening and stumbling back a pace, his weapon coming quickly back up.
Nexen stepped between them and held his palms up. ‘It’s okay, Lieutenant, they’re our allies in this fight.’
‘But what if they got their hands on our terraforming technology? They could wipe us out.’
‘Why the hell would we want to do that?’ said Bache. ‘We’ve been terraforming planets for generations. If we held any malice towards you and your worlds, I think that would have taken place centuries ago.’
Tylont stared at Bache, seemingly searching for any sign of deceit. ‘We were always taught that you were pathological aggressors and would attack given any excuse,’ said Tylont, realising he was still pointing his weapon at them and lowering it again.
‘Completely false,’ said Zaphir. ‘We’re a council of over sixteen hundred human races and our agenda is the complete opposite of that.’
‘From what I’ve witnessed,’ said Nexen, ‘I have absolutely no reason to doubt that. They’ve already lost a starship trying to help us.’
Tylont nodded and glanced over his shoulder and across to the previous island just visible on the distant horizon where a tell-tale column of smoke was rising into the haze. ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I don’t believe we have long.’
They’d been taken down a nearby hidden stairway, through a thick bombproof door and into a surprisingly large underground complex. A multitude of low-ceilinged rooms and laboratories led off a central hangar that Bache was surprised to see contained a military orbital shuttle. A low rough-cut rectangular door took up most of one side of the cavernous space, open to the ocean crashing against the cliffs a couple of hundred feet below.
‘What’s happened to your usual pilots?’ Nexen asked, pointing to the shuttle.
‘They went on a few days’ break to the mainland,’ said Tylont. ‘We’ve heard nothing from them since this thing started.’
They all turned as the unmistakeable sound of screaming antigravs broke the quietness of the hangar. Their flyer swooped in, turned and clunked down on the smooth rock floor.
‘Had to get it out of sight,’ Tylont explained, noticing their surprised expressions.
‘He seems a decent pilot,’ said Zaphir, giving Tylont a sideways glance.
‘Only in atmospherics, sadly,’ admitted Tylont.
They passed the rear of the shuttle where, because the rear ramp was down, they could see the interior was completely full of grey crates.
‘Will you all fit in there?’ asked Nexen, peering in at the lack of passenger space.
‘We weren’t going anywhere,’ said Tylont. ‘We just needed to get all those well away from the androids. There’s a large cruiser in orbit attached to our main space station and they need to get there safely.’
Nexen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘Do you think you can fly this thing?’ he asked, turning to Zaphir.
‘I’ll give it my best shot,’ she said.
‘She’s a lot better than she makes out,’ said Bache, noticing the concerned expression on Tylont’s face.
‘Is Admiral Jackarett okay with us taking this lot up into space?’ Nexen asked.
Tylont stared at the floor for a moment and sucked his bottom lip before speaking. ‘The admiral was my uncle and one of the first killed,’ he said. ‘They were extremely well planned and went for all the senior officers first.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ said Nexen.
The following momentary silence was broken by Zaphir. ‘But staying here is a death sentence,’ she said. ‘There must be a way to get you to safety as well?’
‘I wish there was,’ Tylont said, shrugging.
‘Take our flyer,’ said Nexen.
‘And go where? There’s no reply on any military channel,’ he said. ‘We were planning on hunkering down here and going dark. Anyone who knew about this place is most probably dead now.’
‘What about supplies?’ asked Bache.
‘A hundred days’ worth if we go steady.’
‘There’s room for a couple more of you in the cockpit,’ said Zaphir.
‘Yes, I’d thought of that,’ said Tylont. ‘I’m sending one of my best soldiers with you in case there’s already trouble up there and one of the scientists to look after the seeding missiles.’
‘Missiles?’ exclaimed Zaphir, stopping her inspection of the shuttle and turning to face Tylont. ‘Nobody mentioned anything about missiles.’
Tylont nodded towards the grey cases.
‘That’s what they are,’ he said. ‘They get fired into a specific and carefully chosen planet’s atmosphere where they activate and replace whatever’s already there with an oxygen-based atmosphere.’
‘Sound fine so far,’ said Zaphir. ‘Where’s the danger?’
‘It can take anything from twenty to a hundred years to complete the reseed and the first thing it does is cleanse the surface of any existing atmosphere and life.’
Zaphir’s face went white. ‘Oh, shit,’ she whispered, peering nervously at the crates in the belly of the shuttle. ‘No pressure then.’