stared at the monitor on the ship console. VELMA flipped through several maps collated from the transospheric nanosatellite array, and Raxthezana and I, as well as the others, studied and debated our next course of action via our helmet comms.
“I vote we ping IGMC,” I said. “We have grounds to demand numerous concessions.”
“I vote no,” said Joan. “That puts you at needless risk. Remember, they don’t know if you’re still alive.”
“If they can track us with chips, they do know,” I said.
“While Ikthe travails, it is no longer safe to treat this as our home,” Naraxthel said. “With the new Ikthekama Scabmal, I believe we will be welcome to bring our mates to Ikshe and preserve them from these uproarious terrors.”
“I requested this of the Ikthekama,” Raxthezana said. “She bade us welcome with no hesitation.”
“But we don’t know what IGMC is planning,” I said, my voice firm. “By Chris’s own admission, at least one co-director knew and approved of the former Queen torturing me. Assuming they had an understanding, the overthrow of her government will have changed the terms. IGMC could be planning to destroy both planets to get rid of the evidence of their crimes.”
Silence for a few minutes while everyone digested what I said.
“I guess what I’m saying is, we don’t know that Ikshe would be any safer,” I continued. “I’m inclined to think that as long as Co-Director Kellan Hackney is acting head of IGMC, nowhere in the universe is safe.”
“Now you see how perceptive my mate is,” Raxthezana said with smug pride. “Let us vote. Should CeCe contact IGMC and attempt to treat with them? I vote yes.”
Blushing at Raxthezana’s obvious bias, I grinned like a schoolgirl and shook my head. He merely nodded at me as if to say, “you will see that all will agree with me.”
Naraxthel and Hivelt both voted yes.
After a minute, Natheka and Raxkarax both voted yes.
“I vote yes with a caveat,” Esra said. “We should contact them as a single unit of miners.”
“I agree with that,” Amity said.
“Yes, what Esra said,” Pattee replied.
“Joan?” I asked.
“I’ll gladly stand beside you in that case,” she said, and my throat tightened.
Clearing my throat and swallowing, I pressed my hand over my heart. “Thank you.”
“Did you have anything in mind when you started thinking about contacting IGMC?” Pattee asked.
“Actually, yes,” I said. “If the HRC’s drop ship wasn’t swallowed up in a sinkhole or anything, I think we should broadcast from there. VELMA will have recorded our interactions between Chris and the survivors from the HRC, and she would have captured when Chris murdered them after Frank alluded to some other activities. I think the drop ship reveals the lengths IGMC was willing to go to implement and enforce their plans.”
“Hm,” Joan said. “Plus, if there’s more seismic activity, we could launch in it.”
“Good point,” Pattee said. “I wouldn’t mind checking out what kind of armory they’re sporting, either. You know. For science.”
We laughed.
“Since VELMA is so good at it,” Esra interjected. “We should have her access the drop ship’s computer system and then hitch a ride on their comms to the Lucidity. She can monitor operations and make sure they’re not planning anything nefarious. If they are, she can give us a heads up.”
“I like that idea a lot,” I said. “Are we missing anything?”
“Well, there’s only one problem I foresee,” said Joan. “But it’s kind of a big one.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“We’re operating under the assumption that faced with evidence of their crimes, and the fact that our evidence is irrefutable and shareable, they will back down,” she said. “But we’re still out of range of DSN towers. CeCe, your field drone is probably still in transit to Titan. Co-Director Hackney knows we can’t send the evidence to anyone who matters to IGMC such as the shareholders or the board or the news outlets, in a timely manner. With no accountability, he could stay on his course. And that may very well be the elimination of anything or anyone that can incriminate him.”
I sat back in my chair and blew a raspberry.
“You’re right,” I said. “He may choose to go scorched Earth, even knowing that the evidence will out him as soon as IGMC on Titan gets a hold of it.”
“That’s true,” Amity said. “But the Lucidity and the fleet traveling with it comprise a whole hell of a lot of people. I’d wager as we broadcast video of these altercations to the entire fleet that plenty of good people will stand up and demand that Co-Director Hackney steps down. IGMC isn’t just one or two guys. There are so many people in security, maintenance, hospitality, research and so on. Hell, the machine operators won’t take shit from anyone. If they showed up at the Lucidity’s front door, Hackney better lay down the welcome mat or the machine operators would fuck shit up.”
I had to chuckle at the bittersweet memory. Joan, David, and I had all done stints in mech drill mining operations, and those people were some of the toughest, wiliest and most hardworking engineers in the business.
Biting my lip, I thought of Amity’s words and weighed them against my own experience: my abject humiliation and betrayal by other people who should have considered themselves, if not academic peers, then at least equally human? Shouldn’t our shared humanity have been considered? Then again, when I first stumbled across the conspiracy, no one else had been named. If there were engineers or security or flight crew aware of it, they were buried so deep in anonymity that I never sniffed them out, and my digital fingers had been in everything I could find. I took a deep breath.
“Okay, yeah,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
Rather than waste fuel and travel separately to the site of the drop ship, everyone hitched a ride with Natheka and Amity. We were pleased to see Diablo awake and flopped on the floor like a mastiff. He had the energy to raise his head and sniff before he laid his head back down and chuffed.
VELMA had found the drop ship three kilometers from Pattee’s glade obscured with both literal and digital camouflage. In a matter of seconds, she had the hatch open, and we climbed aboard, scoping the layout and choosing the best place to broadcast from.
Turned out the roomiest place had a wall of innovative, possibly ill-gotten high-tech military grade weaponry, so we stood in front of that to send our message. Since I’d done nothing but think about this since the rokhura swallowed Co-Director Clemmins like an oyster, I’d jotted down several notes.
With shaking hands, I held the paper Joan had torn out of her field journal and looked into the comm as VELMA pinged Co-Director Hackney.
“Hackney,” I said, when he answered the call. I saw right away that he looked drawn and tired, and I hoped it meant he would be reasonable. “I don’t know what you had planned with the Theraxl Queen, but she was ousted.”
“We want our property, Ms. Pain,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. Clasping his hands together, he looked into the video feed. “You’ve broken a number of contractual agreements, and I have grounds to sue. Just turn over VELMA-X, surrender yourself to my HRC team, and we’ll leave the good people of this star system alone. No harm, no foul.”
“I see,” I said. “So, you’re planning on some kind of military incursion or perhaps initiating a mining operation otherwise?”
“Both,” he said. “We invested a lot of time and money in these programs, Ms. Pain. It’s imperative that we see a return.”
“Do you know where we are?” I asked.
“Somewhere on the Ikma Scabmal Kama’s planet,” he said, bored.
“We’re in the HRC drop ship,” I said. “The men you sent after us? All dead.”
Hackney flinched before concealing his startled expression.
“The Ikma Scabmal Kama is missing,” I added. Cocking my head, I squinted at him. “Do you know where Clemmins is?”
“Immaterial,” he said. “I’ve stated my demands.”
“Clemmins is also dead,” I said. “After murdering two members of your HRC. I have video footage of it, in fact. I also have audio that I managed to find of you and Clemmins discussing using the Ikma to interrogate me. I’ve sent these media files to every ship in your convoy, and they should be opening the packets any minute now. And it might interest you to know that I sent evidence of your acceptable risk policy to Titan. It will have arrived by the time you enter IUR charted territory.”
Hackney grimaced and pulled the camera closer. “I don’t care what you have, Ms. Pain. I want VELMA-X, I want your head on a silver platter, and I want the goddamn ore found on these planets. I’m going to get them come hell or high water.” The transmission ended, and I fisted my hands.
“VELMA, punch through the intercom in Hackney’s office,” I said, shaking with barely tethered rage.
“You’re live,” she said.
“Hackney, you want a war, you’ve got one,” I said. “We’re your motherfucking nightmare come to life. We will rain hellfire on you and on anyone who threatens our people. As many lackeys as you send after us, we’ll send them back in body bags. We’re the bitches of Predator Planet, and we don’t play. And Hackney? I am Doctor fucking Pain. But you can call me War. End transmission.”
“Hooya!” Pattee yelled.
“Hot damn!” Amity shouted and jumped up and down.
“Goddammit,” I said with tears in my eyes and slid to the ground. “I didn’t want it to come this.”
The women gathered around me and sat.
“Wait and see,” Amity said. “I’m betting five of my last eight ice cream pouches that there’s a mutiny by the end of the day.”
“I see your five and raise you six,” Joan said.
Sniffling, I laid my head against the bulwark and laughed.
“Alright, I tried. Now it’s up to our hunters and their Queen to make the rest of the decisions.”
“Warning: foreshocks detected,” VELMA announced. “Earthquake imminent.”
“Naraxthel and I are taking command of the drop ship,” Esra said. “We’ll follow Natheka back.”
In the air once again, I agonized over an impending war, but Raxthezana rested his hand over mine. We sat in the jump seats on Natheka’s ship as we raced back to the plain.
“It occurs to me that this Hackney governor would have gone to war over our planets even in your absence,” he said.
Blinking a couple times, I took a deep breath and pondered his statement.
“You’re right,” I said with a slow nod. “Thank you.”
“I approve of your new name,” he added. “War of Certain Death speaks of formidable power, just as you possess.”
Smiling, I leaned my head against his arm. “Sometimes I think you hunters have an inflated sense of our abilities, but I never get tired of it. Keep sweet-talking me, and I’m all yours.”
Standing on the plain surrounded by ships, I looked at each member of our party, and felt a pang of dread. The coming hours and days could end everything. We said our goodbyes and boarded our separate ships, and I tried not to think about it.
“K-90 Miners and Theraxl hunters,” VELMA said. “Director Hackney decloaked the Lucidity and the Mining Ship. I sent CeCe’s packet, and while efforts are being made to prevent receiving transmissions, I’ve managed to break through the firewalls. Additionally, you should know that the executive science class ship’s weapons are oriented toward Ikthe and not Ikshe.”
“That’s good, at least. Can you override the weapons systems?” Pattee asked.
“I will try,” VELMA said. “It is locked down with an encrypted spiraling algorithm equation, the likes of which I’ve never seen.”
“If anyone can do it, you can,” Esra said. “Isn’t the answer to an equation basically math poop?”
“That is an unexpected analogy, Esra Weaver,” VELMA said. “It may prove useful in the future.”
Meanwhile, more severe weather maps and seismic activity charts popped up on the console monitor, suggesting that the excursion was approaching critical mass.
“You know,” Joan said. “For something that’s supposed to take several thousand years, this sure is escalating.”
“It has to be because of the FQBs,” Esra said. “Time is money. The faster IGMC can get to the ore, the faster it can get to its bottom line.”
“Attention: Nanosatellite Array breached at several locations,” VELMA said.
“Are they Theraxl ships?” Raxkarax asked.
“Negative. Augmented digitization specs indicate drones,” she replied.
“Oh snap,” I said. “Hackney can use programmed drones even if the crew mutinies.”
“We’re hit,” Esra said, calm under fire. “Naraxthel is taking us down. The drones are weaponized.”
“Activating LASER scattershot capabilities,” VELMA said.
“She can only hit wherever the SLO nosecones are,” Amity said, and I realized there were things I knew nothing about since I hadn’t been here that long.
“Kathe,” Raxthezana murmured, and I saw what he was looking at. We could see two drones tailing one of the hunter’s ships. “Hold on, CeCe,” he said, and the ship tipped up and rolled until we were crossways from Natheka’s ship. Raxthezana fired weapons I didn’t realize his ship had, and both drones exploded.
“Thank you, Raxthezana,” Natheka said. “I’m taking her down; Diablo chewed through the straps.”
“Pattee, what do you know about these drones?” I asked.
“They’re nasty little pieces of work,” she said. “They run on solar power, have unmatched maneuverability and pack a punch. Everyone needs to fly two-by-two if we want to stand a chance. Most ships can’t dodge fast enough.”
“What are their weaknesses?” Joan said. “How do you think they’d perform where cyanobacteria are thick in the air?”
“Bingo,” Pattee said. “Let’s cruise closer to the ground.”
Dipping well below cloud cover, we followed Hivelt’s ship. I could see Raxkarax a little way off, and two more drones zipped out of nowhere and started firing at his ship.
“I’ve got these,” Raxkarax said and red beams pulsed from his ship and painted the drones with a vibrant crimson until they exploded.
Three more sank out of a cloud and lined up behind Raxkarax whose evasive maneuvers managed to shake two of them. The third one started spinning erratically, but screens lit up on our console indicating we had more at our six.
“Raxthezana?” I said.
“I see them,” he answered, and he rolled us, then dove and raced until we skimmed the tops of trees.
Stomach in my throat, I gripped the console and focused on the screens. I noticed the longer the drones were this low, the crazier they behaved. “I think it’s working,” I said. “Great call, Joan. All we have to do is outlast them.”
“Hivelt, rogue drone above you; don’t move,” Raxthezana said. His weapon pulsed, and the stray drone turned a shade of orange before it exploded, parts scattering in the wind.
“My brothers,” Raxkarax said. “Let’s give them a tour of the Agothe-Fatheza.”
When I glanced at Raxthezana, he wore a sly smile, and then we were off, tilting and swerving until the ship evened out and slowed, and I could see a huge smudge of dark green below.
As more drones appeared on screen, they gradually dropped away, unable to fly in the thick air.
“VELMA, where are you at with the weapons systems?” I asked.
“Standby,” she said, but that was it.
“How long can we keep this up?” I asked.
“Not long,” Raxthezana said. “We should find a safe place to land and regroup.”
“I agree,” Pattee said. “We need to strategize. If Hackney is able to conscript ground troops, we’ll be in for it.”
“Oh schist,” Esra said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“About 150 drones just appeared over the horizon,” she said. “I don’t think they’re after us. You guys need to move!”
“Go to the Magnetic Burst Field!” Amity shouted. “Hurry!”
Thrusters in overdrive, inertia pushed me back into my seat, and we went sonic.
“Separate,” Hivelt said. “We’ll split them up and approach from different directions!”
Looking out, I started when one of Raxkarax’s engines blew, and his ship fell out of the sky. “Joan!” I screamed, but a shudder and jolt rocked me in my seat, and the view started spinning.
“Forced landing,” Raxthezana announced, and I grimaced, feeling dizzy and terrified.
“Taking heavy fire,” Pattee said, and then we lost her signal.
“Brace yourself, CeCe,” Raxthezana said and then we crashed through a thick canopy of trees.
Smoking wing and thrashed landing gear notwithstanding, he had managed to “land” us on the ground. More or less. We walked down the lopsided ramp.
“We’re okay,” I said via comms, my helmet secure. “Report!”
“Still alive,” Joan said. She sounded weak.
“Where are you?” I asked.
Before she could answer, the ground gave way under my feet, and I was falling. Landing with a hard smack, I noticed the ground wouldn’t stay still.
“Raxthezana?” I asked, my tone conversational and subdued. Time slowed. Laying back in the small crater, I watched the sky spin above me, and then the trees joined in the kaleidoscope with swirls of green, and sparkling drones swam in geometric shapes. Everything was quiet and pretty and so …
Thunderous noise broke through the haze, and chaos jerked me to full awareness. Sizzling streaks of energy coursed over and through me, and I realized the shel were my greatest ally in this moment.
Springing out of the hole, I looked around and spied Raxthezana pinned under part of his ship. Lifting with both arms and pushing off with one leg, I was able to shift it enough that he could slide out from under it and roll away, but everything was still moving and trembling.
“VELMA, what’s going on? We were shot down!” I yelled and held onto my mate while the world crumbled around us.
“CeCe, I detect signs of concussion,” VELMA said. “You require rest. Seek shelter. Active earthquake detected. Active volcano within a ten-kilometer radius. Seek shelter.”
“I’ll be fine,” Raxthezana said. “VELMA tells me I have suffered a concussion. I think I can get our ship in the air again.”
The rumbling rattled my teeth, but Raxthezana reminded me of the drones, and I looked up, but they were gone. If we launched again, we were at risk of being shot at by the drones. But if a volcano erupted, we couldn’t guarantee we’d be out of danger in time.
“We should try,” I said. “VELMA said there’s a volcano.”
“Ik,” he said. I helped him to his feet, and we staggered toward the ship, avoiding the hole and climbing over broken trees.
Inside the ship, Raxthezana ran a systems check and made some adjustments. The ramp wouldn’t stow the whole way, but the hatch closed, and we strapped in and lifted off, the rumbling of the ship indistinguishable from the ground outside until we were in the air.
“We can’t go far, but we can leave the blast radius,” he said.
Terror clutched at my heart, and I reached for his hand. He squeezed mine for a second, and I gripped the arms of my chair.
Through the viewing window I could see miles of devastation and a black storm system gathering in the south. Fires glowed in some places, and I saw another swarm of drones headed our way.
“Eruption imminent,” VELMA announced.
“VELMA, we’ve got incoming!” I yelled.
“LASER scattershot deployed,” she said, and three bright blue lines severed the view out front, blasting three drones into dust.
Raxthezana engaged the thrusters and torqued the tiller at the same time, pushing his ship into a spin and arrowing into the line of drones. He broke through at the same time the image on the console screen showed a volcanic eruption that filled the monitor. A second later, the shock wave pushed the ship and Raxthezana fought with the tiller to pull the ship out of a sideways roll.
He grunted and cursed, and I watched through the portal as we flew into a nightmare.