Harry let the group work as he poured over the slices of photos sent back by the

corvettes before they were destroyed. There were still different biomes on the planet,

but the water level seemed to have dropped around the continents. He spotted what

looked like what he called a temple buried at the foot of the primary mountains on

continent one. He found two more close by.

Those had to be taken apart if they wanted to stop the xenos for good. The two he had

destroyed on Wallens had kept rebuilding xenos to stop him. He had destroyed the

first one with help from the Stuarts and Guy. The second one had gone up under a

concentrated attack by his line of mobile artillery.

After they were blown down, the clearing of the xenos became easier.

The Chinese contractors were up in the mountains according to UNITE. So they were

above the temples and in the path of new forces patrolling through the valleys and

down the other side.

If they couldn’t land in those mountains, they would have to fight their way up to

where the contractors were holing up. The xenos would be coming down from high

ground.

He frowned at the paths he would have to lead his new squad down.

“Four of your new team are in transit,” said Nick. “They are getting to Earth, and then

using the gate to get here.”

“That’s good to know,” said Harry. He shut the photo file down. “Are they any

good?”

“They have been involved in heavy fighting on the rim,” said Nick. “Their agents

think this will be a break for them.”

“If they think they can handle it, I guess we can go ahead as soon as they get here,”

said Harry. “The locale where the Chinese contractors are is full of xenos and has

three temples on the other side of the pass from them.”

“So they are in the middle of a feeding frenzy,” said Nick. “How are they surviving

in the middle of that?”

“I don’t know,” said Harry. “You might have to talk to their agents and give us

more intelligence as we move up the mountain.”

“All right,” said Nick. “I’ll see if they can get us real time viewing of the area.”

“The others are working on the planning part of things,” said Harry. “How is the

battle station going?”

“John, Cat, and Delmar are still putting the list together,” said Nick. “It’s going to be

expensive. You are going to have to kill a lot of the enemy to get your points back.”

“That’s fine,” said Harry. “Once we’re on the ground, I will be rolling in the monster

money.”

“You will be rolling all right,” said Nick.

“This is going to be tough, but I think we can do it,” said Harry. “A lot depends on

the other contractors.”

“Better get some sleep,” said Nick. “The squad will be arriving here in the next day,

or two.”

“Sleep is for the weak,” said Harry. “I still have to check on the rest of this. I hope

Le Roi and Marques have some good landing zones for us. The closer we can get to

the target, the faster we can get people on site to bail us out.”

“I don’t know if a lot of agents want to risk their contractors on something like this,”

said Nick. “It does go with how you like to do things.”

“Offending is better than defending,” said Harry. “I need to get something to drink,

and eat. Then I need to check in with Le Roi and Marques. Hopefully they have

something I can use.”

“Vehicles?,” said Nick.

“We’re going to need at least one space to air craft to get close enough to drop to the

surface,” said Harry. He got up and headed for the cantina. The local food supply had

something stored for him to eat, and something to drink other than water. Once he got

through his meal, he would check on what the others had for him.

Harry grabbed a tray and ordered a dinner and a bottle from the supply machinery. He

had got the points back for that before it was properly installed. He took the tray to

a table and ate while he thought. That trio of temples demanded some of the heavier

weapons in his arsenal. Once he cleared them, any shot xeno would have to go to a

temple on the other side of the planet, or on another planet.

The other worry was control of the air space. If the xenos kept control, they could

shoot at the contractors from orbit. He didn’t see how Guy was going to beat a fleet

of star whales with anything less than a battleship.

Some of the heavier ships had been put together in the dock network he had put in

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orbit. They were due to hit Delgas in a couple of weeks. If he waited, he would have

air support against the orbital weapons while his squad went about their business.

Much smaller corvettes and frigates were also being built at the dock, but battleships

were what the dock was concentrating on and sending elsewhere to fight.

Every time they ran into a xeno force in space, points rolled in. Eventually the

Bernies would shut down this way to earn points. Sending someone to fight was their

way, but they didn’t trust the automation.

He wondered if the Bernies had automated everything when each agent handled

contractors all over the galaxy. Was that the reason for their thought rooms? He put

that aside for the problems that he needed solutions to fix.

He dumped the tray into the recycler and decided that he needed to talk to Le Roi and

Marques. Maybe they had something he could use.

He found the teenagers pouring over a floating model of the Delgas system in what

was essentially Fort Honey’s library. Nick had insisted on a room they could plan

in without worrying about xenos, or not having resources. So he paid the points

and others used it to map out where they wanted to go on Wallens, or if they wanted

to move into the active combat zones further out on the edge of the galaxy.

Harry had got the points back almost instantly when some of his bees hit a pocket of

xeno resistance and lit the aliens up.

“What do you two think?,” asked Harry when they noticed him.

“I’m glad I’m not going with you,” said Marques. “The xenos are everywhere

according to the real time mapping we got before the corvette blew up.”

“You can drop in the ocean, but that’s miles away from the Chinese,” said Le Roi.

“We’re thinking you need to drop into the plains and work your way up to where

they are. Then you can build a gate to send them home.”

“No way to drop into the mountains?,” said Harry.

“They control the air,” said Marques. “It’s bad enough to drop in the plains. Dropping

into the mountains would just be asking for it.”

Le Roi expanded the hologram of the mountains in question with a fingertip. He

pointed out what looked like cannons with legs. They were shooting at something on

a peak above them. Smaller grunts tried to rush up the hill but were repulsed.

“I guess that is where the Chinese contractors are,” said Harry.

“And more and more xenos are rolling up,” said Marques. “By the time you get there,

you’ll need more of your bees than usual.”

“There are three spawn points below that,” said Harry. He pointed at the three temples

at the base of the range. “If we can take those out, then we might be able to start

clearing the continent. If we don’t, any we kill will come back almost instantly.”

“The best place to land would be about here,” said Le Roi. He pointed at a spot on the

plain. “There are some ruins leading up to the mountains. I think there is also a train

system you can use if you get close enough. Air travel should be done in something

fast and low to the ground. Helis will be mobbed as soon as they get off the ground.”

“The problem is house to house,” said Marques. “Once you’re in the ruins, there will

be places for both sides to hide.”

Harry nodded. The xenos were masters of search and destroy. Being trapped in a

building with just one of them would not be good. And the bigger ones could knock

a building over.

“You guys thought about the landing part?,” asked Harry.

“A lot depends on where you enter the system from,” said Marques. He pulled the

projection back. “Garry wants to set up outside the system, and send you in on a fast

ship that will drop and then run out the other side of the area. He’s looking for places

with plenty of cover that the space guys won’t look at from the planet.”

Le Roi pointed to spaces with plenty of debris and energy floating beyond the last

planet’s orbit.

“I will get with him,” said Harry. “Save all this for the briefing. When the other

contractors show up, we’re going to have to show the reasoning for the long walk up

the mountains to where those other contractors are holding on.”

“We got it,” said Marques. “There’s another route if you have to use it. But I

wouldn’t.”

Le Roi brought the planet back into focus. He pointed at a tower in the mountains. He

traced his finger down through the chain to the objective. It looked like something

only contractors and goats could use.

“The main deal would be hitting that tower, and we don’t have an idea of what could

be in there,” said Marques. “And the mountains are covered with aliens.”

“Save that for an alternate route,” said Harry. “We might be able to set up to shoot

down on the xenos if we get lucky.”

“Or you get pinned in until they find some way to get in and kill you,” said Marques.

“That too,” said Harry.

“We have a couple of routes if you land on the other side of the planet,” said Le Roi.

“You would have to cross an ocean to get there. That’s a whole lot more fighting to

do.”

“Save those too,” said Harry. “We don’t know what we’re going to have to do until

we start doing it.”

“Have you ever done anything like this before?,” asked Marques. “Because it looks

hairy.”

“Uncle Sam used to drop us in places all the time,” said Harry. “It just wasn’t as clear

cut as this is. I’ll deal with it like I always did.”

“Setting things on fire?,” said Le Roi. He adjusted his Panthers hat.

“It’s the only way to be sure,” said Harry. “I’ll see you guys at the briefing. The other

contractors are on the way, so the mission is live as soon as we’re ready.”

“We’ll be ready,” said Marques.

Harry decided to look for Garry. He needed to figure out where they would set up

their forward base. That was where they would need to jump from.

And Marques and Le Roi couldn’t give him a clear shot at the landing slot without

that information.

They needed to take those temples more than they needed to rescue two guys from the

attacking xenos.

Harry frowned. How much would this change the war? How many incursions could

he stop if he took this planet? How many others could he save just from the chain

reaction? Two guys didn’t matter compared to a whole planet.

On the other hand, if he could pull this off, he would be the contractor others would

have to look up to.

“I’m Superman,” said Harry to himself.

“Not yet,” said Nick.

“How’s the meetings going?,” asked Harry. He walked toward the personal quarters

he had set up. Some people wanted their own spaces. He hadn’t seen Garry in the

library. He might be holed up in his room.

“Everybody is worried this might be a death run and no one wants that for their

guys,” said Nick.

“How do you feel about it?,” asked Harry.

“If anyone could survive something like this, it’s you,” said Nick. “It’s still a

thousand to one in the betting pool.”

“Give me some of that action,” said Harry.