‘There’s a shit load of debris around that planet,’ said Rayl. ‘And I’m getting the readings of recent weapons fire. It can’t have occurred too long ago either, because in a few hours most of that shrapnel will have dropped and burnt up in the upper atmosphere.’
‘Is there any sign of a wrecked ship on the surface?’ asked Andy.
‘No – although there is a lot of ocean and we’re still a long way off,’ she answered. ‘I’ll get a better view once we’re nearer and – oh!’
Everyone on the bridge turned to face her.
‘I have a reading on the surface – no, two and three now. They’re tiny and emitting distress signals.’
‘Lifeboats,’ said Bache, watching as the locations flashed up on the holomap depiction of Uskrre. ‘They’re all grouped close together and not many of them.’
‘The ship was attacked unexpectedly then,’ said Phil. ‘Very few got off inside a narrow window of escape. Judging by the amount of debris, it was a sizable vessel and would have had several dozen lifeboats.’
‘They’re arming weapons,’ said Rayl, glancing up at the Klatt ship on the holomap.
The Klatt cruiser had achieved a low orbit and proceeded to fire on the surface. As they watched, powerful bolts of white energy penetrated the planet’s atmosphere, taking out the lifeboats on the surface one by one.
‘Cleaning house,’ said Bache. ‘They’re tidying up and leaving no evidence. I wonder where the original attacking ship is?’
‘I think there’s something hiding in the rings of the other planet about two point two million kilometres away,’ said Rayl. ‘I’m getting fluctuating readings from there similar to another cloaked Klatt ship.’
‘That’s Proxima C,’ said Andy. ‘There was a lot of debate on Earth whether it had rings or not in the old days.’
‘They’re being very wary whoever they are,’ said Phil. ‘D’you want to go over and have a look?’
Andy sat back, rubbed his chin in thought and stared at Uskrre.
‘No,’ he said, finally. ‘Concentrate on Uskrre and that ship in orbit. I want to know what this is all about and why they so desperately wanted us out the way. Keep an eye on that other hidden ship though, I don’t want them sneaking off anywhere,’ he added, nodding at Rayl.
‘What’s that?’ questioned Bache, standing and stepping inside the holomap.
He squinted and pointed at one of the land masses on the surface of Uskrre.
‘What’s what where?’ Andy asked.
‘I know we’re still a way off, but I’m sure I saw something large and hazy on the surface,’ he said.
‘Could it be smoke from a crashed ship?’ Phil asked.
‘Not unless smoke forms in a perfect circle,’ Bache answered. ‘It’s gone now. Were you scanning with different frequencies?’ he asked, turning to Rayl.
She nodded and glanced up at the map again.
‘Show me where you saw it and I’ll concentrate everything there and range through the array’s repertoire.’
Bache showed her the region and stood back so they could all see. At first nothing happened but a few seconds later a small circular area on the edge of a forest blurred slightly for a split second.
‘There, did you see it?’ Bache asked.
‘Yep,’ said Andy, turning to Rayl. ‘Flick back through the frequencies slowly.’
She was already there, as the oddity returned and this time remained. It was indeed circular and was as if you were looking at it through slightly steamed-up glasses.
‘How big is that?’ Bache asked.
‘Around twelve kilometres diameter,’ Rayl answered.
‘Big enough to hide a city,’ said Phil.
‘Or a military base,’ said Bache. ‘Belonging to the Klatt and hidden, it’ll be military, I’ll stake my reputation on it.’
‘Any standard scans of the planet wouldn’t show up anything,’ said Rayl. ‘It’s only because of some of the alien tech we’ve assimilated over the last couple of years that we were able to detect it.’
‘Resistance is futile,’ mumbled Andy, raising his eyebrows at his wife.
She completely ignored him and concentrated on giving the region as much magnification as possible. The holomap panned in and a forested area on the edge of a range of hills zipped in towards them.
‘That’s also where the lifeboats came down,’ she said, as three thin trails of smoke could be seen from the recently destroyed craft.
‘We need to get down there for a look, don’t we?’ said Andy, deliberately ignoring Rayl’s sudden glare.
‘No, you don’t,’ she said. ‘We have perfectly good drones that can do that.’
Andy glanced up at Bache for some support, but found none.
‘She’s right,’ said Bache. ‘One of those excellent GDA drones I so generously gave you will do the job just fine.’
‘Yeah – okay,’ said Andy dejectedly, bringing up a drone control screen. ‘I’ll prepare one and wait until we’re a little closer before launch.’
Thirty minutes later, Phil slowed the ship and put them cruising in a huge arc, following the turn of Uskrre, one hundred thousand kilometres above the area of interest.
It was silent on the bridge as Andy launched one of the four-metre-tall drones from the port hangar. They all watched as it flashed away towards the bright blue orb hanging seemingly motionless and alone in space. The planet’s star, a red dwarf known on Earth as Proxima Centauri, was directly behind them and was able to enshroud them even more from Uskrre’s direction at least.
The Klatt cruiser was oblivious as the cloaked drone passed it within five hundred kilometres. Andy deliberately took it over the horizon and behind the planet for insertion as he didn’t want its heat trail to attract any unwanted attention. Once the heat shield was discarded, he brought it back at several times the speed of sound and activated its own array.
‘It’s a cloaked energy dome,’ said Rayl, watching as Andy transferred its images onto the holomap.
‘They’re similar in size to the city shields on Paradeisos,’ said Phil, referring to the domes on his home planet. ‘Just a little more hidden.’
‘Is there no way we can see inside?’ asked Bache.
‘I have nothing that can penetrate that,’ said Cleo, who’d been watching in person quietly for a while. ‘But I’ll work on it.’
She promptly disappeared again and they all returned their attention back to the drone’s footage of the dome.
‘Only one entrance while the dome is activated, it seems,’ said Rayl, pointing. ‘It’s over here adjacent to the river running through the bottom of the valley.’
Andy brought the drone around to face the arched doorway, but kept it up at around two hundred metres to avoid the trees and what looked like camera pods and who knows what else sticking out from the top of the arch.
‘Would the drone fit through that?’ Phil asked.
‘Just about,’ said Andy. ‘If only we could find a way of opening it. If I was closer, I might be able to do it with my DOVI.’
Cleo reappeared, grinning.
‘You might not be able to from here, but I can,’ she said, waving her hand at the hologram as if she was casting a spell.
The doorway appearance changed from a fuzzy barrier to a smooth opaque semblance.
‘Is that open now?’ asked Andy, turning to Cleo.
‘Take the drone down and find out,’ she said. ‘That’s all the gate control does. It’s a reasonably simple proximity detector, if you’re near enough and transmitting the correct frequency code, that’s all the system is designed to do.’
Andy nodded, and dropped the drone down slowly, watching for any reaction. None came, but the drone’s antigrav drive began kicking up dust and leaves.
‘Get it through as quickly as possible,’ said Rayl. ‘That dust and probably the noise too is a bad giveaway. If someone’s watching they might put it down to a squall of wind if you’re quick.’
Andy took the hint and accelerated the drone as low as he dared at the doorway. One of its many antennas clattered the top of the frame on its way through and he lifted it up again once it cleared the door.
They all gasped as the images from inside came into focus on the holomap.
‘Holy shit,’ said Andy.
‘You’re not kidding,’ said Phil. ‘That’s an invasion fleet.’
‘Full scan quickly and get back out again,’ said Cleo. ‘I have to keep the gate open so you have control over the drone, but it being open will probably attract attention.’
He didn’t waste any time, whipping the drone up to the apex of the dome, scanning with its entire repertoire and then back down and out. Once again, it clipped the frame top as it exited.
‘They’re here,’ shouted Cleo, making everyone jump.
‘What – who is?’ said Andy, concentrating on piloting the drone, as everyone else turned and stared at her in surprise.
‘Ed and Pol,’ she said, hopping from foot to foot. ‘They’re in the dome.’
‘Fuck,’ said Andy, his eyes wide. ‘We need to shut that dome down and go pick them up.’