“All right, guys,” said John. “Marques and Garry came up with this plan. It looks like

it’s the best shot we have. We’re going to drop a rock on the two temples as a cover

for a landing. We’re bringing the Jordan in to pick you up.”

“All right,” said Harry. He looked at his group of contractors. Everyone knew if the

Jordan went down, they would have to use their points to gate back to Wallens if they

survived for the few minutes that would take. “What do you need from us?”

“We’re going to need you to clear a landing zone and keep it clear until pick up,” said

John. “Guy says he can grab you guys with the bee and make it back before there’s

too much trouble.”

“Mark the Ell Zee,” said Harry. A spot on a the map he was using had a check.

“We’re going to need you to get to that spot and hold it until the Jordan lands,” said

John.

“We’re ready to go,” said Harry. “Plus we have a mech on our side.”

“We’re sending in the rocks,” said John. “You’ll see them in the sky in a minute. If

you have some type of shield, or heavy armor, you might need to apply it before

impact.”

“I thought your application of antimatter was reckless,” said Har. “This is in the same

vein.”

“Howitz,” said Harry. “Get in front of us. Har, set up a force wall powered by the

mech. Give it as much external power as you need. Yema and Detrac, watch the sides.

Make sure none of the xenos can come after us. We have to get Milla and the Chinese

out of their cave so we can get it together.”

Harry ran up the hill. He needed time. He shouldn’t have been surprised that John

would decide to use something that killed dinosaurs on the planet. He was always the

most ruthless of the three of them.

“Milla, I’m coming,” said Harry, glancing at the markers being used by his people.

“Get ready.”

The force door shut down and a huge blast of white shot into the sky. Birds, marked

red and black, boiled out of the cave and began cutting through anything that looked

out of place.

Harry touched his quartermaster. He noticed a lot of his weapon options were blacked

out. He supposed the review board were not happy with him. He could deal with that

later. Now he had to complete the first part of the plan.

He still had access to simple structures. He created a staircase bridge to cover the gap

between his mountainside and the cave in the cliff on the other side. He made sure the

ends would hook up so the Chinese contractors could cross at a dead run.

“Let’s go,” said Harry. “We’re leaving. The bees will give you cover so you can hook

up with the others.”

He pointed down the hill as his group started blasting into the trees to keep the xenos

from charging. It wasn’t working that great, which was why he was glad that his bees

were on the job.

“John, we’re getting everyone together,” said Harry. “We can build a gate to board

the Jordan.”

“Better hurry,” said John. “The hammer is coming down.”

Milla pointed her arm at a group of trees. A white beam of light set all of them on

fire. She could have smiled, but it was hard to tell.

“I should have bought that before they blocked my quartermaster,” said Harry. He

smiled. “At least someone brought the biggest gun ever.”

“I am the demon of death,” said Milla. “Respect that, hoo-mon.”

“I concede,” said Harry. “Who has the gate to the Jordan?”

“I don’t want to leave my mech,” said Howitz. He blasted multiple beams of

downrange with his floating orbs and gun arms. “It’s my offspring.”

“Can someone bring a gate big enough for Howitz’s toy?,” asked Harry.

“I have it, Harry,” said Detrac. He toggled his menu and a box appeared at his feet.

He tapped the box and a platform expanded from the wrapping. “There you go.”

“We’re going to need a bigger gate on the Jordan,” said Harry. “Everybody who isn’t

me and Howitz, get on the platform and go. Detrac, we’re going to need that gate on

the Jordan, maybe on deck, or in the bee cargo space. We’ll hold here until you let us

know.”

“I will get it done,” said Detrac. The group stood on the platform. The gate opened

for a second. They vanished.

“It’s just us,” said Harry. “I hope that thing will stand up to a meteor strike.”

“You’re the one who will be turned into paste when it hits,” said Howitz. “My baby

will be able to take it.”

“That’s what you think,” said Harry. He checked his menu. He frowned that he

couldn’t buy ammo for his Ripper. He was in trouble when he ran through his box.

“Harry, it is time for you to go,” said Detrac. “The gate is ready for the both of you

to use.”

“Go Howitz,” said Harry. “Let’s go, boys! We’re retreating.”

Howitz stepped on the platform. He vanished, taking his mech with him.

Harry fired bursts of fire at the closing hoard of xenos. When he was done, he threw

the rifle at the crowd. He frowned. He had just replaced that weapon.

He stepped on the platform. His bees surrounded him. He gestured for them to stop

shooting. He didn’t need to shoot up the landing zone when he arrived.

He stepped off the platform and pulled off his helmet as he looked around. His crew

was there. Howitz had dropped from his kneeling mech. He petted a metal leg.

“Thank you for helping us, Beekeeper,” said Xin. “I thought we were going to die.

You did what you said you would do.”

“It was my pleasure,” said Harry. He smiled. “We might pull back so we can send you

back to Wallens so you can be checked out by a medic, and can relax. The band might

break up now that we’ve got the first objective done.”

“I hope not,” said Xin. “It would be my pleasure to help you if I can in the future.”

“Go ahead,” said Harry. “We’ll talk when we have a plan for the next step.”

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“Thank you,” said Hei. He was younger like Harry thought. “I thought you were a

braggart. I am glad that I was wrong.”

“No, you weren’t,” said Harry. He grinned. “Go ahead. I have to get ready to airdrop

back down to the planet.”

“Why would you do that?,” asked Hei.

“I need to make a firebase to get my money,” said Harry. “I need to make that happen,

and I need to do it before I get court-martialed.”

“Harry,” called John from the deck door. “I need to talk to you. The rest of you can

head down to the sick bay. Cat will look at you if you need it. Your quarters are still

where you left them when we dropped you. Garry will show our new guests to the

quarters we set aside for you.”

“Thank you, Captain Stuart,” said Xin. “It will be our pleasure.”

“What is it, John?,” said Harry. He placed the helmet on a hook.

“We took out the temples,” said John. “The star whales are chasing us. Come up to

the bridge. We need something to throw them off.”

“Have you tried shooting them?,” asked Harry.

“We punched some holes in them, but they keep coming,” said John. “We need

something outlandish to get them off of our butts.”

John led the way to the control room at the stern of the ship. He looked at the multiple

screens lining the walls. The helm was empty since Cat was in the sick bay looking

the team of contractors over. Four star whales chased after the Jordan. Smaller

creatures trailed behind the bigger xenos.

The multiple guns on the upper decks of the battleship fired into the mob as the

craft fled from Delgas. The star whales ate up the blasts, taking stripes across their

skins. Any smaller flier vaporized on impact.

“Turn us around,” said Harry. “Junior?”

“Present,” said a radio call.

“Ready all weapons,” said Harry. “We’re going to bring in more and bigger targets

to you. We’re going to need you to shoot minimal distance with full power at these

targets. Can do?”

“Ready,” said Junior.

“Jordan, maintain fire, turn to head back toward ground-based ally,” said John. The

screens shifted to follow the ship’s turn. “We want to lead them into a fusillade.”

The Jordan turned and fired, traveling sideways toward Delgas. Other fliers rushed

to meet the ship and keeping it off the planet. The battleship didn’t know who to

shoot at first.

“Concentrate on the ones in front of us,” ordered John. “We want to give Junior a

clear shot at the ones following us.”

The battleship turned its main guns to point at the planet. They began to fire in time,

slowing the fall of the ship against the gravity of Delgas. It let the missiles fire on

their own at whatever targets were in range. The xenos caught in the blasts were

ripped apart.

“I’m glad no one else can see this,” said John. “There would be a riot.”

“You can load the footage on Youtube,” said Harry. “It will get millions of views.”

“We have to live through this,” said John.

“Ready, Junior?,” asked Harry.

“Ready,” said Junior. “Tracking targets. Minimal distance is here.”

A marker lit up on one of the screens with a distance in meters/feet counting down.

A zero floated at the bottom of the scale.

“Jordan, pull out of fall and move out of the way at the marker,” said John.

“Concentrate fire on the lead star whale.”

The battleship turned its guns to face back upwards. Missiles cleared part of the air

around the ship as it brought itself under control. When it reached the circle, its

engines kicked out and threw itself out of the way of Junior’s line of fire.

The screens went black as Junior opened up with everything it had from its spot

behind the force walls created by Har. Another flood of kill notices twitched at the

corner of Harry’s eye. He was glad he had turned the full notifications off.

“How you doing, Junior?,” said Harry.

“Optimal,” said Junior. “Killing targets.”

“Can you give us a link?,” said Harry. “We’re blind up here.”

One of the screens lit up with a point of view from the ground. The Jordan postulated

a position from the feed. Part of the hull smoked from the near impact.

“Jordan,” said John. “Fire whatever you can with Junior.”

“Damage control,” said Harry. “Work on the hull. We need to be spaceworthy.”

“What’s going on?,” asked Guy.

“We’re in the middle of a firefight,” said John. “I need you to look at damage

amidships. Damage control should be working down there. If you have to launch, be

careful because we are in the middle of a bunch of xenos.”

“There’s a chance that we could be boarded?,” said Guy.

“Yeah,” said Harry. “You might have to give the kids guns.”

“I hope not,” said Guy. “We’ll handle things.”

“We have to climb out of this mess,” said John. “We’re not going to make it fighting

in this sky.”

“You’re right,” said Harry. “Maybe I can get Howitz to add his mech’s firepower to

everything we are throwing.”

“We need to clear the top deck,” said John. “And we need to be able to see. I don’t

like flying like this.”

“Can you hear me, Howitz?,” asked Harry.

“Yes, Harry,” said the moth man.

“I need you to get in your baby and start shooting anything that moves,” said Harry.

“See if you can get a force wall as a shield from Har so you don’t die while doing the

job.”

“I can do that,” said Howitz. “Where should I set up?”

“Upper deck,” said John. “We’re flying on instruments and part of the sensors are

gone. We need to give Damage Control a chance to put things back together.”

“I’m ready,” said Howitz. “We will turn the tide.”

“Don’t fall off,” said Harry. “We’re not landing to pick you back up.”

“I have enough to buy my own gate,” said Howitz. He made a noise that Harry took

as cackling. “I could set up for contractors to reach here from my own planet. This

could be a world of mechs.”

“You’ll have to get permission from Junior first,” said Harry. “Do what you can about

saving the boat, then I will talk to the boy about letting you work under his shadow.”

“Say that you lie,” said Howitz.

“I am the real demon of death,” said Harry. “Let us know if we need to do things

to help you.”

“Jordan, be ready to use the mech’s sensors to augment instrument controls,” said

John.

Several screens came back online, two of them echoing the targeting schema from

Howitz’s armor. The weapons began to fire as soon as the view cleared for targets.

Tiny liquid metal spiders were in view as Damage Control worked to make things

right.

A star whale fell to one side as the mech began shooting targets. It slowly came apart

as it headed for the ground.

“I’m rich, bitch,” said Harry. He looked at the unraveling body. “Those things are

all we run things until they run into my baby boy.”

“You’re a great dad,” said John. He made a twitch of his eyes. More of the screens

came back online. “All right. We can see again.”

“How’s it look, Howitz?,” asked Harry.

“I’m clearing everything I can,” said Howitz. “Your Junior is clearing the sky. I don’t

think they realized what kind of machine you were getting ready for them.”

“A Bolo is the greatest weapon in human imagination,” said Harry. “But they aren’t

known for keeping the neighborhood intact. As soon as the fires die out, come in.”

“Guy?,” asked John. “Sitrep?”

“The kids, Yema, Detrac, and I are holding cover for Har while he helps Damage

Control rebuild sections of the hull,” said Guy. “The xenos are trying to get in the

openings, but we’re keeping them out.”

“Don’t get killed down there, and don’t let anyone else get killed either,” said John.

“We’re doing the best we can,” said Guy. “Everybody is armored up and holding

small cannons. Yema is holding the point position.”

“Where is Milla and the Chinese?,” asked Harry.

“We left them at Sick Bay to get checked out,” said Guy. “They were with Cat.”

“Milla?,” asked Harry. “What’s going on down there?”

“We are waiting for xenos to get through the others to try to kill us,” said the small

alien.

“And?,” asked Harry.

“Xin has unleashed some of the bird drones to deal with anything trying to board and

getting behind Howitz,” said Milla. “Everything is in working order. I have my eye

on things.”

“Does she have her eye on things, Cat?,” asked John.

“Yes,” said Cat. “We’ve killed a few of the xenos. We don’t know how they got on

board.”

“They got on in the middle of the pickup and run,” said Harry. “My helmet with my

mana tracker is down in the bay. I have to get it back if I want to help clear this out.”

“Can’t you make another one?,” asked John.

“My quartermaster is off,” said Harry. “I’m under review, and I walked out of the

review when you said you needed me. Looks like I’ll have to turn in my legs too.

Either way, I have to get my helmet and we’re going to have to look through the

ship and hope they don’t suddenly get smart and wreck something important.”

“This is bad,” said John. “I’m sorry, Harry.”

“It was great while it lasted,” said Harry. “Not many people can say they cleared two

planets of an existential threat.”

“We’ll handle it,” said John. “First, we have to make sure we don’t have any more of

those monsters on the ship trying to eat us. Jordan, we might have an internal threat.

We need to know where all non-crew and guests are.”

A screen lit up and various sections were highlighted. John frowned at the

information.

“Most of them seem to be near the engine room,” said John. “If they crash the

engines, we’re wrecked.”

“Let’s do what we can,” said Harry.