“I would like to do this, and then we’ll check on that big marker on the planet,” said Harry. “I think I am going to have to do that part alone. I don’t want you guys hurt, and I might need a pick up once I’ve had my lookaround.”

“So why are we flying out here?,” asked John.

“I’m going to build a dock,” said Harry. “All this talk of building ships made me

realize I could do that. I’m going to send them to that other planet and use them to help clear it out so they can’t attack Earth anymore.”

“Are you sure about that?,” asked Guy.

“I only have to pay for the initial startup,” said Harry. “I have more than enough to do that. And if I didn’t, I could wait for a bit and let my guns and bees get me enough points to get the job done. I might be the only one who can do it at this point. Contractors in combat zones have to spend their points like water, and guys in the back lines rarely get a chance to farm like I did. This may be the only way to take the pressure off and let the locals get a break.”

“Can you spam these docks?,” asked John.

“I don’t know,” said Harry. “Maybe. What’s your idea?”

“It might be helpful to supply the combat zones and the other taken planets,” said John. “Not just the one threatening Earth.”

“I can do that,” said Harry. “How many active combat zones are out there, Nick?”

“We have a hundred active zones and the planets we lost that we can’t get close to,” said Nick.

“All right,” said Harry. “Let’s see what we can do about changing the odds.”

“Has anyone tried anything like this before, Nick?,” asked Cat.

“No one has maxed out their point allowance before this,” said Nick. “Harry is the first as far as I know.”

“No one has survived on one of those taken planets before, have they?,” asked Guy.

“No,” said Nick. “I could be named agent of the year if we can pull this off.”

“All right,” said Harry. “Let’s see what we can do with this. If you can help me, Guy, that would be good.”

“Sure,” said Guy. “If only I had a spaceship to fly.”

“It would take you years to fly home from here,” said Harry. “That’s why the xenos are winning the war. They can transport anywhere they can draw a bead and ship over as many as they need. We can’t do that yet. I plan to do that eventually.”

“I’m up for some industrial espionage too,” said Guy.

“I know but we’ll have to get deep in their lines to do something,” said Harry. “The local grunts don’t seem to know how to write, much less plan something

complicated.”

Harry led the way to the airlock. He opened it for Guy and him to cross into the bay. They evacuated the air before they opened the bay to space.

“We’re almost to the spot, Harry,” reported Cat.

“Turn us and back us into the drop,” said Harry. “Guy and I will drop the three

fabricators out first. Then I am going to need to summon something to help them get started.”

“We’re right where we need to be,” said Cat as the ship lazily floated to a stop. “Go ahead.”

“You ready, Guy?,” asked Harry.

“Let’s do this,” said Guy. “I feel like we’re pushing our luck.”

Harry nodded in agreement.

Harry summoned his menu and bought what he wanted. Three boxes appeared on the railing. He undid the packaging and they pushed each one out into the void. The gray disks circled each other, establishing their orbit.

“Get ready to pull away, Cat,” said Harry. He bought one more box and opened it with a push of the lock. He sent the drone out to start doing its job. “Go ahead.”

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The transport floated away from the three objects. The drone started working on getting fuel for the fabricators as they emitted signals to each other. Soon a set of space stations would be sending ship after ship out to deal with problems.

Some of them might be visiting the dead Wallens’s planet. He didn’t expect that to last long as he cleared more and more of the xenos out of the system.

“What did we do?,” asked Guy.

They crossed back into the crew compartment after buttoning everything up. Harry took a moment to look behind them as Cat flew back to take a station over the biggest ping on the planet.

“I bought three ship creating fabricators,” said Harry. “They are going to build docks to build spacecraft in. Then they are going to start sending ships to the closest combat zones to help the locals out, except they are going to take care of that other planet facing Earth first. I plan to close that planet off and stop them from using it to get to Earth.”

“So you might have saved the planet,” said Guy.

“Only if we can retake that planet and keep them from sending guys to get control of it again,” said Harry.

“There might be incursion after incursion there,” said John.

“The main problem is I won’t be there to show them what to shoot at and how much,” said Harry.

“I think if they behave like your bees, they’ll know what to shoot,” said Cat. “The how much part is still up in the air.”

“The boys are really great at that sort of thing,” said Harry. He grinned. “Let’s see what this giant marker is, then I can get you home.”

“The PDO guy said he wanted to talk to you,” said John.

“Now that we have instant teleportation, he can visit and give me a lecture,” said Harry. “I like that a lot better than leaving the boys to fight on their own. They might listen to Box and let him get killed out there.”

“I still think you should talk to him,” said John. “Nick? You’re his boss.”

“I sent Mister Anderson a note to send me the things he needs filed,” said Nick. “Harry was never going to do that. He’s too lazy to file paperwork.”

“All right,” said Cat. “We’re over the ping.”

“That looks like a building,” said Guy. “John?”

“It is a building, but it has a high mana count according to the scanner,” said John. “Should we put down?”

“No,” said Harry. “I’m going to have to jump. You guys will probably need to climb out of reach.”

“Out of reach of what?,” asked Cat.

“Flying xenos,” said Harry. “Let me go down and deal with things. I might need cover and a pickup.”

“I don’t know if that is the way to go,” said John. “You’re running most of the

automation here.”

“It has to be me,” said Harry. “None of you have quartermasters, and Cat is the only one who can pilot this thing if I get taken out. I think a quick lookaround is within my means. And let’s be frank, I might need someone to shoot missiles into the place.”

“Backup?,” said Guy. “You’re going to need that.”

“I need someone who can shoot monsters as I run away more,” said Harry. “I’m going to drop you a weapon box. Get ready to shoot in case I come running out of there.”

“I can do that,” said Guy. “What are you taking?”

“A hive to give me cover and operate without me in case I go down,” said Harry. He put a box on the floor. “It will be my revenge from beyond the grave.”

He pulled on something called a glide harness. He went to the back and opened the load door. He walked to the edge and looked down.

“There are a lot of pings down there,” said John.

“I got it,” said Harry. “Just lift up and keep an eye on things until I pop a smoke.”

“Holding steady,” said Cat. “I don’t see anything in the air with us.”

Guy opened the box and found several weapons that looked like rifles, ammunition, and rifle grenades. He hurriedly loaded the weapons as his friend jumped from the back of the craft.

“We shouldn’t have let him do that,” said Cat.

“I don’t think we can stop him,” said John.

“We can still do things to help,” said Guy. “I have a sniper rifle that I think I can use to bust some of those pings on the ground. We draw the xenos after us and hope that gives him a hole to get through. Ready?”

“Hold on,” said John. “Weapons hot. Track the closest targets. Fire at will. Back us out of here, Cat. Let’s see if they chase us.”

Guy went through the airlock to get a look at the ground they were passing over. He opened fire with the rifle grenade launcher, killing xenos buried in the ground before the golden bee flew over them.

“We woke up one of those giant snakes,” said John. “Get us out of here, Cat.”

“Going,” said Cat. She spun the ship around and set course.

Guy raised his rifle when he saw the snake faced him as the humans fled. The reptile opened its mouth to reveal flames building up. The infantryman knew that if the attack launched the back of the bug would be full of fire. He would go up like dry hay. He shifted grips and pulled the trigger on the grenade launcher.

The grenade fell down inside the open mouth of the snake. It exploded on contact with the flames. That was enough for the snake to rear up higher out of the sand. The flame had gone with its attack mode breaking.

Guy reloaded from his supplies and fired again. He dropped that one in the snake and reloaded again. The grenade exploded somewhere in the long esophagus of the thing without killing it.

“The grenades hurt it but they aren’t doing enough,” said Guy.

“Let’s see what missiles do,” said John. “Spin us around, hon, so I can have a

clear shot.”

The bee spun in the air. John ordered the missiles to lock on the snake’s face. He told the machine to fire when ready. A few of the projectiles exploded uselessly against the giant body, barely knocking off scales. One hit inside the mouth and punched a hole through to the brain. The reptile fell over.

“That worked better than I thought,” he said.

“We still have problems,” said Guy.

“And we’ll handle them,” said Cat. “Let’s circle back to see if we have to do

something to the building Harry was breaking into.”