Chapter Eleven
His desk communicator beeped and he swore softly. He’d told them not to bother him. “What,” he barked. John’s glare turned to a smile when he saw Anatu staring back at him. “Why are you angry my human?”
“I was angry when I thought some idiot was bothering me, but now that I see it is you, I am your happy human. Why didn’t you use our private line?”
“I did not think of it.” As was her way, she came right to the point. “The general said he is coming to visit you.” She scowled. “I told him you are an important man and he should make an appointment with your assistant, but he said telling me was making an appointment.”
That damn cyborg did that on purpose. He liked to arrive moments after he’d told Anatu he was coming down to earth. “It is fine Anatu. I am ready for him.” He stroked her cheek on the screen. “I will see you tonight.”
She frowned and then touched the screen as well, stroking where she saw his cheek. His cyborg was still learning to show affection, but she was making great strides. They disconnected and John sat back and glared at the cyborg walking out of the flaming triangle. He’d never admit it, but he was jealous of Aurora for being able to step into that triangle. He would love to get his hands on that technology.
“Make yourself at home,” he said, but as usual his sarcasm went right over the cyborg’s head.
“I will.” Balthazar sat down. He came straight to the point. “We need to send a team to go to the clones.”
“Why?” He agreed with Balthazar. They had to take the fight to the clones. He didn’t fool himself that the last stance wouldn’t be on earth. But if they could whittle down some of the enemy ships, maybe they could win this coming war.
“You know that our ships can enslave each other?” At John’s nod Balthazar continued, “we need to test your cloaking technology. The cloak we are developing might allow us to enslave one of their ships. At the very least we could access their databases.” Balthazar said.
John grimaced. “It might, if it showed any signs of working.” They have been working on it for months and no success. They tested it in the lab and it worked. Install it into a ship and nothing.
“We have a natural onboard who might be able to make it work.”
He straightened. “Why haven’t you told me this before? Wait, what is a natural.”
“It is a Tunrian that is not a clone.” Balthazar showed no reaction to John’s displeasure at the information withheld from him.
John waited, but no further explanation was forthcoming. “Why do you think this natural can do what none of my people could manage?”
“The clones do not allow any naturals near their systems. Because she is so intelligent and have an aptitude for all the sciences, they educated her and brought her in to work on the ships.”
John nodded. “I will send some of my people to brief her.” Whenever he had the opportunity, he sent his people to the Rising Sun. If they managed to defeat the clones, who knew what the cyborgs will do?
He sighed. “Why do you want to do this now?”
“The Rising Sun has showed a strong resistance to being enslaved. It threw off every attack from the clones without any assistance from us. If we build a Tunrian and earth hybrid ship with a cloaking device, maybe we have a weapon.”
Not for the first time, John thought that with a little battle experience, Balthazar will become a formidable leader. An unbeatable soldier.
“I agree, that still doesn’t tell me why you want this mission to happen now.”
“The clone ships disappeared into a black hole and we thought they’d reappeared from another one much closer to earth. But they emerged from the same black hole and there are signs that the ships were in a war. They had fifty ships, now they have thirty-two.”
John held up his hand. “Come again.”
Balthazar blinked, that nictitating action that looked cute on Anatu and creepy on Balthazar. John sighed, and said, “the ships can enter a black hole and come out of it without being crushed into small pieces?”
“Yes.”
“Jesus.”
For now, he would ignore that disturbing little detail. “That is good news for us.” He didn’t like the look on Balthazar’s face. “That’s good news for us, right?”
“The Tunrians don’t just clone themselves,” Balthazar said with a pointed look.
John stared at him. Slowly, agonisingly slow, icicles formed in his veins. “Fuck, they clone their ships. How long until replacements reach them?” How do you win a war with an enemy that returned from the dead?
“The ships must be done on Tunria. Cloning the ship and doing the final adjustments take less than a human month. They will reach earth after the other ships.”
“Meaning we will get wave after wave of ships coming at us. Thus, the need for the mission,” John said softly. With fresh ships and clones coming at them wave after wave, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“We need ten of the human pilots we’ve trained to go with Amelagar and the natural.”
John frowned at him. “I thought Amelagar was regenerating after his severe injuries?” It greatly disturbed him that they could recover from such a serious injury. It begged the question, what would kill them. Were they regenerating the cyborg whose bones those idiots had used to make a wind charm? And could earth technology catch up to do the same with trained soldiers?
“He is almost healed. By the time we have the team together he will be ready.”
If they won this war with the clones, they’d either have to get a firm friendship in place with the cyborgs, or he’d have to find a way to kill all of them and keep them dead. That was his original plan. But that would break Anatu’s heart. “The small hybrid ship we have been working on will work well for this, if our engineers can get that cloak to work.”
“Agrippa can make it work with Anatu’s help,” Balthazar said.
“We cannot test it in space. Not without alerting the clones.” They had to find a way to launch it without alerting the clones to what they had in their arsenal. “If we take up the ship in parts, do you have space for it to be rebuilt on the Rising Sun?”
Balthazar’s eyes gleamed. “There is a hangar on the Rising Sun that is big enough to take the ship.”
“The team we will send on the mission should help assemble the ship. The more they know about the ship, the better their chances are of success.”
“That is a good idea, human.”
John thought about the marines he’d send. The cyborgs that will have to work with them. “I will choose the marines that will go and send them to you. It will be better if you isolate the group going on the mission, together.”
“Why?” Yes, Balthazar showed signs of brilliance. But his lack of experience was also showing.
“They will have to work together. The sooner they become a team the better their chances of success.”
“I see.” Balthazar stood and without a word left through the triangle that suddenly glowed behind him.
“Good day to you to,” John said to the empty office.