The group boarded the bee. Some of them had bags like Yema. Harry said they should

wait on introductions until they boarded their transport and headed for Delgas. Guy

took them into orbit as gently as he could.

Once they were on board, Cat gave the Jordan the go command and they roared

toward their jump point and slid toward their goal.

The group met up in the briefing room below what Harry considered the bridge. He

looked around the sleek room as John gestured everybody to take a seat.

“All right,” said John. He put up a picture of the Jordan in the center of the briefing

room table. “The ship is still being constructed as we head toward our contact point.

We are going to have to be ready with life support at all times.”

“No guns?,” asked Har the wookie.

“Not yet,” said John. “Right now, what we have is the biggest engines the dry dock

could build, the automation and computer systems needed to fly, and enough armor

to jump to Delgas. Everything else is being put together while we fly. Drones are

going to be extending fabricated decks and start mounting weapons as we go. Try not

to get in their way.”

“Drydock fabricators?,” asked Harry.

“Stowed away below us,” said John. “As soon as we reach the targeted orbit, we drop

them off and let them build whatever they can to help us out. The problem is nothing

short of a battleship will be able to knock one of those star whales out and that will

take time for docks to build compared to fighters, frigates, and corvettes.”

“What positives can you tell us?,” said Howitz the moth.

“We have fired a scout to the system and we will be getting real time intelligence

until the scout is destroyed,” said John.

“So we’ll be able to see what’s going on before we get there?,” said Detrac the

wolverine. His mouth revealed too many teeth for Harry’s liking.

“Yep,” said Garry. “Right now, the Forward is almost halfway across our travel path

to the system. Mrs. Stuart might have to pull us out of hyperspace to course correct,

but we’re days behind it. The scout is fast as crap.”

Garry called up a set of diagrams to show where they were sliding between universes

compared to the Forward. The tiny fighter craft was pulling away from their bigger

cone of a machine.

“It’ll hit days ahead of us and look everything over before we come out here,” Garry

said. He pointed at a spot at the edge of the system. “We drop off the first dock and

start orbiting the system ourselves. Other docks will have to be dropped off as we

go.”

“We are hoping to build gun boats and send them into action as we go,” said John.

“The rate of construction will vary as far as we can tell.”

“We are going to need mana trackers,” said Harry. “We’ll need those to spot the

xenos once we start shooting.”

“We have a fabricator set up for that,” said Nick. “We talked about using a gunboat

to drop them off while trying to attract the enemy’s attention away from them.”

“What did you guys think about the insertion choices?,” asked Harry.

“We looked at things,” said Le Roi. “The original choice still looks good right now,

but we will know better when the Forward starts sending pictures back to us.”

He called up a three dimensional map on the table. He put his finger on the spot

where he and Marques had talked about sending Harry to start his invasion. A ruined

city sprung up with a train system. The mountains loomed in the distance.

He lit up a peak with a fingertip. A route ran from the peak to the landing zone.

“The problem is we don’t know what’s actually there on the ground,” said Le Roi.

“There might be a faster route that you guys will be able to spot when you show up

and start shooting.”

“Where is the antenna?,” asked Harry.

“The antenna is here,” said Le Roi. He lit it up. It was on another mountain miles

away. “If you land there, you will have to cross some valleys and then make a climb

on the back of the target mountain.”

He leaned back. He straightened his hat.

“What do you guys think?,” asked Harry.

“We will have more cover crossing the lowlands,” said Yema. He pointed at the route.

“We can speed up our travel time if we can get a train working.”

“We can use it as a platform,” said Howitz. “That will allow us to shoot more as we

go.”

“Protective walls can be put in place as we go,” said Har. “My equipment will allow

us to build a fort to use as a shield.”

“And if we can keep moving, we have a tank,” said Harry. He grinned. “And a tank

may take us further than we think right now.”

“If we can reach this spot, we can head up the mountain along these roads,” said

Detrac. The spot he indicated was the upper edge of the ruins. “If we have time, we

could try to build a sling to throw us up to the summit.”

“We need to keep this for as long as we can,” said Harry. “If we can get up there, I

can buy a gate to get us back to the Jordan. Those three temples, Le Roi. Is there a

place we can shot at them from our route?”

Le Roi marked out the targets. He traced the lit route. He pressed down to mark the

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spots that were closest to shoot from. It formed a narrow shooting cone.

“We’ll need heavy weapons to blow down the walls,” said Harry. “I used an anti-

matter explosive on the first one I destroyed. The walls were tough.”

“I might be able to do something with my weapon,” said Yema. “It uses matter

destruction.”

“You are our primary gunner,” said Harry. “Har will have to set up our cover so we

can hold the xenos off while we move. Detrac and Howitz, what do you two guys

use?”

“I use kinetic weapons,” said Howitz. “I don’t have a lot of points to use.”

“I have gate weapons,” said Detrac. “My favorite is a cannon.”

“All right,” said Harry. “I like to use smart drones. I gave our lost sheep the design

so they could use them to defend themselves until we get there.”

“Your drones are still on Delgas,” said Nick. “I’m spotting the kill feed as we talk.”

“Tell them we’re on the way,” said Harry. “How close are we to them?”

“The homing beacon is here,” said Nick. He marked out a spot south of where the

group planned to land. “They will have to fight their way to you. I’m going to say

they will be hard-pressed to do that.”

“Let them know we’re coming and I’ll be throwing down mobile artillery to see if that

will give them cover,” said Harry. “I want to allow them to expand and take out the

enemy while we’re heading up into the mountains.”

“I asked Lora and Steve about their contractors,” said Nick. “The drones are going

down as birds for Xin and Hei.”

“Do they have control of the mountain?,” asked Har.

“Not really,” said Nick. He put a splotch around the cave the Chinese were trapped

in. “This is as much as they have right now.”

“How many drones do they have right now?,” asked Harry.

“About twenty,” said Nick. “They are losing as many as they can build.”

“They have a chance and so do we,” said Yema. “I like it.”

“What can I bring to this?,” said Howitz. “I have not done anything like this and I

don’t have a lot of points.”

“When we drop, build the biggest thing you can,” said Detrac. “As many enemies as

we have in front of us, you are bound to get all your points back in a matter of

seconds.”

“You might be able to max out,” said Harry.

“Almost certainly,” said Yema.

Har nodded.

“Have you guys thought of how you are going to land?,” asked Guy. “I can bring in

a bee to drop you off and then fly out of there.”

“We’re going to do a HALO,” said Harry. “We’ll use the glider harnesses to jump and

land. We still might need air cover.”

“I did some practice,” said Guy. “I can bring you down to jump height and let you go

before boosting up to orbit. I can even do attack runs to help you guys get moving.”

“We might need precision airstrikes,” said Harry. “All right, guys. We need to think

about what we need to add to the Jordan while we are transit. How big a cannon do

we need to punch through one of those star whales? The only ones that I killed were

from the inside either by me, or the bees.”

“You killed a star whale?,” said Detrac.

“How?,” said Howitz.

“I shot it with my brain,” said Harry. “I have an enormous psychic power.”

“Don’t lie to the new guys,” said Delmar. “The only thing you have in your head is

a hamster on a wheel.”

“We killed one of those giant snakes with a missile down the throat,” said John. “And

Harry did the same thing with a star whale. He got inside and cut it up with his bees.”

“I like the enormous psychic power lie better,” said Detrac.

“It’s something to use for drinks at the bar,” said Yema.

“Until you have to use it to defend yourself from the drunks that will hate your

bragging,” said Har. He shook his bald head.

“That’s why I got Fred,” said Harry. “Let’s get started on getting guns for the Jordan.

I’ll pay for anything out of my points.”

“We already have fabricators set up so we can add things on section by section,” said

Cat. She indicated areas on a model of the ship. “We’re using fabricators for missiles

to be fired in swarms, and the magazines are fully loaded.”

“That will kill most of the smaller fighters,” said Yema. “Not the bigger fish.”

“When you shoot, you will have to aim for their mouths and try to send the missiles

down their gullets,” said Har. “That’s a hard shot to make in the middle of a

dogfight.”

“We have to make them smarter,” said Harry. “That’s the obvious solution.”

“Harry,” said Nick. “Our fifth contractor is requesting permission to board through

the gate.”

“Let him come on,” said Harry. “The more, the merrier.”

“I’ll get him,” said John. “Whatever we start working on first will start slowing

us down when our mass changes. Keep that in mind.”

He left the room.

“Write down everything you can think of and we’ll add it on as we go,” said Harry.

“Then we can talk to our last guy. I didn’t think he was going to show up. Maybe

we should have waited.”

“At least we know the gate works,” said Cat. “We’re lightyears from Wallens.”

“Yeah, that’s always good to know before you use it,” said Howitz.

“Who wants to be reduced to constituent atoms by accident?,” asked Detrac.

“Any suggestions for the plan?,” asked Harry. “I’m open to any change we might

have to add on to make things work.”

“If you didn’t have to look after our brothers, and we weren’t here, what would

you do?,” asked Yema.

“If I had to use a random gate to get there like Xin and Hei,” said Harry. “I would

try to make a moving camp to kill as many of them while building my own army up

like I did Wallens. The amount of points coming in from their deaths would allow

me to make smart weapons to expand my territory.”

“You would claim an area and keep working to expand it?,” asked Har.

“I feel it would take me years to overwhelm the planet’s defenses,” said Harry.

“Eventually I would be drawing the orbital defenses down to stop me. That would

give me a shot at them. I lucked out that Box set up one gate stage on Earth so other

contractors could set up on Wallens to help clear it out.”

“We could do that,” said Howitz. “Attracting more contractors would take the

pressure off of us.”

“We still have to make a landing,” said Harry.

“And there are no other forces coming as far as we know,” said Har. “It has to

be us, or we have to move a spaceborn fleet in to clear the system and drop a regular

army to hold the planet.”

“There are no fleets that can set up to bombard Delgas into submission,” said Nick.

“Everything available is trying to hold the rim from incursions by the enemy’s space

powers.”

“If we pull this off, I’ll clear that up for them,” said Harry.

“Don’t get so juiced up you get killed here,” said Delmar. “I still want my money.”

“I’m good, Delmar,” said Harry.

John came back into the briefing room. A small alien floated at his side, beating tiny

wings to stay in the air. They dropped on the briefing table.

“I am Warrior Milla,” said the tiny alien. Evolution had combined bird and insect

together into a feathery mix covered in a tiny cloak. “I am here to kill everything I

see.”

“Before you do that, we’re going to need you to check out the air vents and make

sure the ship is clean,” said Harry.

“I’m a warrior,” said Warrior Milla.

“And I am the captain,” said Harry. “You guys have what you want written down?”

“Yes, captain,” said Yema. His one normal green eye squinted at the human.

“Start putting things together,” said Harry. “Kids, go with them. Nick, I’ll okay

everything but I want enough points for a basic loadout and a sun gun.”

“Don’t forget your life support suits,” said Cat. She stood as the group broke up. “We

can’t stop if you fall off.”

“We’ll look after your young ones,” said Har. “They will all be here when we have

to break course.”

“Warrior Milla,” said Harry, gesturing for her to join him at his spot at the round

table. “I’m going to bring you up to speed. Then we’re going to get you started

on making sure everything is ready for us to drop into the combat zone.”

“I thought that we would be fighting immediately,” said Milla. They glared at the

towering human.

“How good are you at fighting?,” asked Harry.

“I am the demon of death,” said Milla. They crossed their tiny arms.

“I might have a job for you then,” said Harry.