‘What the fuck?’ said Andy.
‘They’re not here,’ said Bache. ‘Scan further afield, they’ve gotta be here somewhere.’
‘We’ve got nothing either,’ said Cleo, from the Gabriel. ‘And I’ve scanned out further than Alpha Centauri.’
‘Shit,’ said Andy. ‘Where’ve the bastards gone?’
‘They could have an assemblage point somewhere,’ said Bache. ‘Where perhaps other ships are joining them, or we’ve been fed a red herring right from the start.’
‘What – you mean it might not be Earth at all?’ stated Rayl, glaring across the Gabriel’s bridge to where Groxl was sitting.
‘It’s no good staring at me,’ Groxl carped. ‘I’m as much in the dark with what’s going on as the rest of you. That fleet was originally intended to occupy Gaia, or Earth as you know it. If it’s being utilised to annex somewhere else, then it’s news to me.’
‘Can you think of any other planets your ruling body has expressed an interest in over the last few years?’ asked Xutan.
‘D’you want a list?’ he said, impatiently.
‘That’d be nice,’ snapped Rayl, her expression stern.
Groxl visibly recoiled, his face a mixture of surprise and indignation. Clearly not accustomed to being questioned quite so abruptly, especially by a female.
‘Oh,’ was all he could initially muster. He scanned the expectant faces around the bridge and realised an answer was required. ‘Erm, well.’ He seemed almost embarrassed and wrung his hands as he looked down at the floor. ‘To be honest…’
‘That’d be a first for a Klatt,’ said Xutan, crossing his arms and giving Groxl an indignant glower.
Groxl exhaled and pursed his lips before continuing.
‘Almost every inhabitable planet has been assessed over time,’ he said, shrugging.
Bache and Andy arrived back on the bridge, having landed their fighters back in the hangar.
‘Think, Groxl,’ said Bache, grasping the way the conversation had been going. ‘There must have been somewhere that’s had more than its fair share of attention in the recent past?’
‘There was Krix’ir a few years ago,’ he said.
‘That’s just a bloody dust bowl,’ said Andy. ‘I’ve been there.’
‘Too dry and hot for any of the clans, even Spleeta,’ said Bache. ‘Think again.’
Groxl continued staring at the floor.
‘There was a ship designated to do a study on Gannon a couple of years ago,’ he said, finally looking up again.
‘What?’ blurted Phil, suddenly gaining everyone’s attention.
‘Not a planet I’m familiar with,’ said Bache, looking between Groxl and Phil.
Phil stared at Groxl and, realising the Klatt wasn’t going to answer the question, he spoke instead.
‘Gannon is the ancient name for Paradeisos, before the nuclear war forced the survivors to seek refuge underground.’
‘Is that right, Cleo?’ Andy asked, looking up.
‘It is,’ she said. ‘The Theos changed the name one thousand, six hundred and forty-two years ago, when they began the long cleaning up of the surface and building the protected domed cities.’
‘Fuck,’ shouted Phil, his face going pale.
The bridge went quiet for a moment, partly as a result of Phil swearing, something he very rarely did.
‘Surely not, Groxl?’ said Bache. ‘Those people have only just begun emerging from thousands of years underground. They finally get their planet back and you actually planned to take it from them?’
‘Don’t you put that on me,’ said Groxl, raising his voice. ‘I freely admit to kidnapping Virr so he could stand trial for the loss of my ship. That’s it. None of the rest of this has any connection to me. Although, now I realise why the information of Virr’s whereabouts strangely came into my possession.’
‘It can’t be Paradeisos,’ said Andy. ‘If I remember rightly, a ship was stationed there to oversee and encourage the gradual emergence of the population from below.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Xutan, with a grimace.
‘I think I know what you’re going to say,’ said Bache. ‘That ship was recalled recently, wasn’t it?’
Xutan nodded slowly.
‘I chaired the committee that made the decision to recall the ship. In my defence, its remit was as good as completed,’ he said. ‘Had we any idea the Klatt had ambitions for the planet we wouldn’t have recalled the vessel and would most likely have sent another two.’
‘Can we shut up with the conjecture and just go there?’ said Phil, clearly getting agitated.
Andy nodded and pointed at Phil.
‘The man’s right,’ he said. ‘Set a course and get us there as fast as possible.’
Phil had the Gabriel flashing across their region of the Milky Way, heading directly towards the Aspro system and his home planet of Paradeisos. Choosing to jump illegally outside system space, he avoided having to register each jump and saved a lot of time. The risk of a collision was possible, but infinitesimally small and he reasoned the need far outweighed the hazard. If the GDA noticed and decided to fine him, then so be it.
He re-called everyone to the bridge before the final short jump, choosing to materialise on the very fringe of the system, close to its outer belt.
As he quickly brought the ship into the vicinity of one of the larger rocky satellites to make detection almost impossible, Rayl immediately spread the array wide and, as the results of the system scan were gradually revealed on the holomap, a collective gasp echoed around the room.
The invasion fleet was indeed here. The attack echelons had spread wide and in the short time they’d been here, had already attacked any and all vessels within the system’s space.
Debris and the wreckage of several dozen private and commercial ships littered the region as the fleet moved in on the planet.
Rayl panned in on one of the larger vessels, split open from stem to stern and slowly tumbling end over end.
‘The murdering fuckers,’ shouted Andy, as it became apparent a large percentage of the debris spewing from the wreck were bodies, some of them children. ‘That was an unarmed passenger liner.’
Andy’s eyes met Bache’s and they both stood and made for the tube lift.
‘Come back to me,’ said Rayl, only lifting her gaze from the control icons for a moment.
Andy knew, any more than that could cost lives. He nodded, blew her a kiss and joined Bache in the lift.
For the second time that day, they shot out of the hangar in their tiny but lethal fighters and engaged the Klatt fleet.