Harry listened to the bee moving around him. There were some jerks in the flight, but he could hear Nick coaching Cat on how to fly as he stood by the airlock door. Guy stood on the other side. Their job was going to be the most dangerous and could get them killed if the xenos decided to attack.

Throwing scanners in orbit could be a tremendous help. It was like how Hubble had revolutionized astronomy before the Bernies had shown up. They had asked for volunteers but had kept most of their technology away from the Earth.

Harry understood that after learning some of the societies taken in by the Bernies had blown themselves up. That’s why the Watchers were only supposed to watch, and why the Federation didn’t take primitives and give them phasers.

He was not of the opinion his world would do better with some of the things he could just mass produce with the fabricators he had access to through his menu. He agreed completely with Agent K.

“Coming up on the first orbital point,” said Nick. “She’s got a handle on the controls and savvies how things should work.”

“Thanks, Nick,” said Harry. “Anything close we should worry about?”

“Not really,” said Nick. “My guess is the enemy took control of the planet and moved out of the system to other planets they could control.”

“That’s good,” said Harry. “That means we can do this without worry of xenos

coming after us.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” said Nick. “They might be on the other side of the planet, and just can’t see us yet. Savvy?”

“We’ll deal with it if that’s the case,” said Harry. “Ready, Guy?”

“Yep,” said Guy. “When did you start talking to yourself?”

“When you get contracted, they put in a direct line to your boss,” said Harry. “It can be a pain sometimes.”

“I can imagine,” said Guy. “It’s like having your boss live with you.”

“No vacations, no time off, no reasonable demands,” said Harry. “It’s like having someone you don’t want to talk to talking to you all the time.”

“It’s like being married,” said Guy.

“Exactly,” said Harry. “Let’s cycle through the lock so we can get started.”

He pressed the button and opened the lock’s outer door. They stepped inside. The outer door shut, the inner door opened. They stepped out into the small bay in the back of the ship. The air was pulled from the room so the bay door could be safely opened.

“How’s it look, Cat?,” said Harry. His voice came out of the helm.

“We’re almost there,” said Cat. “I love this thing. Can I get one?”

“I guess,” said Harry. “I don’t know how you would get it back to Earth from here.”

“I’ll think of a way,” said Cat.

“I can’t wait to see John try to talk her out of this,” said Guy.

“Who knew she liked to fly?,” said Harry. He commanded the fabricator to build the first satellite. The machine came together on a set of rails. “Open bay door.”

The back wall of the bee opened up. Space formed part of the picture. The rest was taken up by a red planet.

“It’s like looking at Mars,” said Guy.

“I know,” said Harry. “Grab your side and let’s see if we can slide this out the back.”

“I’m with you,” said Guy.

They pushed the satellite out the back of the bee. Jets pushed it into position so it could orbit without having to use much power in course correction. It handshook with the bee and started marking positions for them.

“Harry, I have a lot of red blips popping up,” said John.

“Are they up here with us, or down on the ground?,” asked Harry. “Close door.”

“It looks like they are down on the ground,” said John.

“Don’t worry about it unless they start shooting at us,” said Harry. “Also be aware that the star whales can reach orbit, so you might have to keep an eye out for that.”

“It’s a lot of targets,” said John. “And growing.”

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“That’s to be expected since the scanner is orbiting along and giving us what it sees,” said Harry. “Later we’ll be able to put up com sats to enable phones to work.”

“How many of these targets are near Box?,” asked Guy. “He might want to know.”

“Good call on that,” said Harry. “We want to give him time to withdraw if he wants to do that.”

“I’m relaying the information to Bubba,” said Nick. “He’ll be able to tell Box in real time.”

“Ask him if he needs help,” said Harry. “We can drop missiles on the horde for him.”

“He says he can handle it,” said Nick.

“Better call the contractor agents on Earth and let them know in case he can’t,” said Harry. “This will be their chance to get some points if Box screws up.”

“Tell me about it,” said Nick.

“Cat, take us to the next spot,” said Harry. “We need to drop the rest of the satellites.”

“Got it,” said Cat. “Here we go.”

The next few minutes were spent dropping the satellites and developing a picture of the entire planet. One huge marker stood out on the other side of the planet, with numerous markers forming patrol lines away from the center mass. Constant movement didn’t stop the machinery from counting the number of adversaries waiting for the group to come at them.

“It must be millions down there,” said John. “The pinger won’t stop lighting up.”

“Don’t shoot unless they come up here after us,” said Harry. “I’ll think of a way to deal with them after you guys are gone. Thanks for the help dropping the scanners. That’s given me a clearer picture of what we’re dealing with at the moment.”

“I think some of them are trying to reach your fort,” said John.

“That will be a bad idea for them,” said Harry. “The guns and bees will chew them up.”

“What is that giant thing?,” asked Guy. “Could it be a star whale?”

“It’s beached if it is,” said Harry. “Maybe it hit the ground at some point.”

“That makes sense,” said Guy. “What if it’s something else? We should look at it.”

“What if it’s something we can’t handle?,” asked John. “How fast can you build a bigger ship capable of bombing the planet?”

“I have no idea,” said Harry. “I put this one together fast enough. Maybe I could put together something more combat capable in a few minutes. I still have a ton of points I could use up.”

“Could you really build a Death Star?,” asked Guy. “We have plenty of room out here.”

He waved his arms to indicate orbital space.

“No,” said Harry. “Maybe. I was thinking of something smaller and easier to build.”

“I’m game,” said Guy. “What bee-shaped monstrosity were you thinking of now.”

“I have to do some consulting with Nick,” said Harry. “Cat, can you get us over that

large marker. We can look at it at least.”

“Are you going to do something about it?,” asked John.

“I don’t see what I can do with this,” said Harry. “So we’re going to look at it, and relay the coordinates to Box to make sure he doesn’t try anything. Once Nick and I are done talking, I might go down and look around. It should be okay.”

“If it isn’t?,” asked John.

“Then I expect you three to rescue me in some dashing Errol Flynn way and then haze me about it for the rest of my life,” said Harry.

“We were going to haze you anyway,” said Guy.

“Let me consult with Nick, and then we’ll drop down and look around,” said Harry.

“Can you pull us into that thought room so we can talk?,” asked Harry.

“Sure,” said Nick. He appeared in his black suit, straightening his tie. “What is going on?”

“You look like Raymond Burr as Perry Mason,” said Nick. “Do you do that on

purpose?”

“What do you want, Harry?,” asked Nick. “Let’s stick with that.”

“Do you have any gate capable spacecraft, or faster than light craft at all?,” asked Harry. “And if you do, how long would it be for them to reach a combat zone from here?”

“I think there are things in the catalogues that you can summon,” said Nick. “The closest combat zone you could transverse to is the Btilla-Scrales sector.”

“What about the other planet lined up with the Earth?,” asked Harry.

“From here with a major drive system?,” said Nick. “I think three weeks is the fastest, but we’re talking about something on the line of a corvette with light guns. They won’t punch through a star whale’s outer skin.”

“How long would it take something capable of taking on a star whale?,” said Harry.

“A month, maybe,” said Nick. “What are you planning to do?”

“I plan to kill the enemy,” said Harry. “And I have an idea on how to do that. The first step is to take back that other planet. And then start working the way back up the chain. Maybe resettle this planet and that one with people who will contract and take up the fight after we’re gone. Maybe expand back into that other galaxy.”

“That’s a big undertaking,” said Nick. “It would take centuries for you to do

something like that.”

“Let’s start with setting up the system for sending help to other planets,” said Harry. “It won’t be as fast as what you have down on the planet linking Earth to here but something has to be done.”

“You’re the first contractor who has thought of leaving their home planet,” said Nick.

“I don’t defend,” said Harry. “I offend. Let’s do what we got to do with setting up a dock. Then I can use that to build ships without costing me points. How do I do that out here?”

“We can set up the dock in orbit between here and one of the moons,” said Nick. “How big are we talking about?”

“The maximum should be battleship size, and lowest corvette,” said Harry. “The works for full automation until they get a crew to help them out.”

“Berserkers, Harry?,” said Nick. “Because this is how we get Berserkers?”

“If it’s good enough for Voyager, it’s good enough for me,” said Harry. “Savvy?”

“Janeway was still better,” said Nick.

“Janeway had to come back in time to save herself,” said Harry. “Kirk did it with his bare hands across ten generations. He was always the better captain with less prime directive violations than Picard or Sisko put together. So give Cat the coordinates for the dock founding. We’ll put one up and start things moving.”

“You’re going to need fuel,” said Nick. “Something to change into what you need.”

“I’ll plan in a resource ship first,” said Harry. “Then the dock can sustain itself.”

“All right,” said Nick. “Coordinates are sent. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“You wouldn’t have hired me if I did,” said Harry.

“That is true enough,” said Nick. “Is there anything else you need?”

“A harem of beauties and week to enjoy it,” said Harry.

“Sorry,” said Nick. “I’m not Cupid.”

Harry looked at the contractors operating on their planets, going about their lives, fighting for their people in the bubbles floating around the room. He nodded. It was time to go back to work.

“Let’s see what we can do about what we can do,” Harry said.

Harry brushed off the confusion he felt and looked around. The screen showed them moving toward a spot higher from the gravity well. He nodded. He had to get ready.