Truvia emerged on the bridge. Carus and Letticus nodded to her, then Letticus indicated the large central screen. “A small asteroid is about to fall into L5.”
“Where did it come from?”
“Tracking back along its trajectory indicates past Mars, perhaps the asteroid belt. Pulsdar indicates it’s not very dense. Otherwise we don’t have much information. We’re studying it.”
“Too much of a coincidence. Get a warpod out there and find out what it is.”
Carus said, “A warpod can’t fly a direct route through the horde. It will have to circle around the rim. That’s going to take a few hours and lots of fuel. This asteroid, or whatever it is, will be well inside L5 by then, probably within the horde.”
“Why did you mention fuel?”
“All our warpods are low on fuel.”
“Why don’t they fill up? That’s why we have a tank out here.”
“They should have but they haven’t,” Letticus said.
Truvia scowled. “These warpod commanders are poorly trained. We just didn’t have time with this bunch before our labs were raided. Call them and tell them to fill up now.”
“That’s going to take time. The fuser’s only about ten hours away. It takes two hours for each warpod to refuel. The tank is back where they were before we moved them. They’ll have to go back, fill up, then turn around.”
“I trusted you two to take care of this kind of thing,” Truvia seethed.
Carus decided to change the subject. “What’s wrong with your eye?” he asked.
“I hit it on a hatch,” she replied, turning away slightly.
“No, you didn’t. Junior hit you,” Carus said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Truvia replied.
Letticus checked the clock on the station puter. “You and Mr. Medaris are supposed to leave for the moon in eight hours. One of the warpods will have to refuel to take you there.”
Truvia made a decision. “Our journey is postponed. I have the sense we’re under attack, maybe from two fronts. Until we find out who’s on this fuser and what this so-called asteroid is, I will stay here to coordinate and make decisions.”
“Then what are your immediate orders?” Letticus asked.
“Refuel one warpod. Send another one with whatever fuel it has around the rim to meet and greet that asteroid.”
“If it has to do a lot of maneuvering, it won’t be able to get back over here.”
“It’s a chance we’ll have to take.”
“I have the three Legionnaires you requested prepared to go outside. Do you wish to kill or capture Maria Medaris?”
“Capture. Do not kill her.”
“Are you ready for them to go out?”
“Yes. Retrieve our future queen.”