With the jolt from the link, I bolted upright in the bunk. Almost slammed my head on the bulkhead. Frig! Hadn’t gotten back to the Magellan until late on threeday. Universe-dragging late—and now Morgan was blind-linking, and that meant urgent.
Checked the time. Zero five hundred. Took care of a few quick necessities, scrambled into skintights and vest, splashed water on my face, brushed back my hair, and headed out. Did take the lift up to the launch deck.
Morgan was waiting in the ready room. Bad as I felt, he looked worse. “There’s a flotilla out there. It’s Covenanter, or I miss my guess.”
“Do they really want to take on the Comity?”
“If we don’t get back,” Morgan pointed out, “how will anyone know? We don’t have a fast courier at the moment. The Owens left early this morning with the information about the artifact and the initial data, and the Bannister hasn’t returned yet. I need you to take shuttle two down to landing zone beta. You’ll pick up one of the fusactors, and transfer it and some equipment to an unmarked landing zone. The coordinates are in the nav system. Call it up as gamma. Lerrys already made a transfer to delta zone with shuttle one. You’ll have two techs. Once you unload at gamma, you’ll hop back to beta and pick up the last of the planetside techs and scientists. Lerrys is about to lift now.”
“We’re leaving fusactors?” Didn’t make sense to me.
“We need to keep the Covenanters busy once they get here. They need to think we have at least three sites active down there, and that we’ve got defenses. Each of the three fusactors we’re leaving will power a shield once we’re clear.”
“Diversionary tactic?”
“What else can we do if we’re outnumbered?”
“We could run?”
“They could move in at any time. We don’t have everyone clear yet Henjsen had some of the scientists out in the field.”
Morgan was lying about some of that. Didn’t want to call him. “We could still run, just head out angular…”
“No, we can’t,” he said. “Dust density’s too low for the photon nets to gather enough mass. We’ve got limits, even with full tanks. We also don’t know what else is there.”
“You think some other systems in the human Galaxy sent ships?”
“I wouldn’t bet against it. We caught another saboteur last night Probably a Covenanter.”
Raised my eyebrows. “Suicider?”
“We don’t know. We stunned him before he could react. He had something that could have taken out the entire ship. He’d almost finished building it on board. That really would have made it easy for them. Doc DeLisle has him under sedation. Later, if DeLisle is successful, we might find out more.” Morgan took a deep breath. “You need to get going. There’s a mug of coffee by the maintenance console.”
“Thanks.” Coffee would help, even the weak reformulated stuff from the mess.
“Oh… watch Henjsen. She wanted another run. She said she had more samples that were critical. I told her no. She still pressed. She’ll press you to overload. Don’t.”
“Appreciate the heads-up.”
He was gone almost before I could finish the words.
Went to the maintenance console and checked out shuttle two’s status. We were still running without the emergency support packs, stripped for max cargo load, except we had twelve troop seats. Not even real couches.
Ysario met me at the shuttle. She was tech chief on the run. Like everyone else, dark circles under her eyes. “Another heavy load, sir?”
“A three-fer. Down to beta zone, out to gamma, then a full load to orbit.”
“Gamma, sir?”
“A new zone where we’re dropping a fusactor. We have to pick it up at beta first. How do things look?”
“Beat-up.” Ysario laughed. “All those crates. Good thing the Magellan’s got lots of hold space. Patel said he was here until zero two hundred getting the big cargo sliders out of the bay.”
Nodded and continued with the preflight walk-around. When I finished, I headed forward. Racked my armor helmet, then slipped into the couch and began the systems checks. They came up green, and I started the prelaunch checklist.
After I finished, I linked. Control, Sherpa Tigress, ready to uncradle and launch.
Tigress, null grav in bay, locks opening this time.
Stet, Control. My stomach lurched more than usual with the loss of grav. Too frigging early and too little sleep. Also wasn’t as young as I used to be.
Once we were clear of the Magellan, I scanned the farscreens and detectors, but only got noise at max range. Slightly reassuring. Covenanters shouldn’t be anywhere close before the time we finished. Did note that the Alwyn had moved well out from Danann.
Descent was smooth. No glitches. I did catch a point source of energy out to the “east.” Also, picked up the faint energy emanations, the kind that had come up under alpha and beta, except they seemed to be coming from all the frozen lakes. Didn’t like that at all, but past experience said it took a while for them to get really hot.
Danann Base, this is Sherpa Tigress, touchdown. I managed to set the shuttle without a hitch. Harder than you’d think without atmosphere. No wind, but no ground cushion either.
Sherpa Tigress, this is Danann Base, your in-load is standing by.
“We’re unsealing. Then we’ll brace the ramps, Lieutenant,” Ysario announced.
“Let me know when you start loading.” Put everything on standby and eased out of the couch and stood. Debated watching the load-in and decided against it. I’d have to don the helmet and lock out. Besides, Ysario knew more than I ever would.
Stood for several minutes, then settled back before the controls until Ysario reported.
“Cargo’s in, and we’re sealed aft, sir.”
Danann Base, Navigator Control, Sherpa Tigress lifting this time for zone gamma.
Stet, Tigress. Report touchdown. That was Morgan. Didn’t get any acknowledgment from Danann Base.
Control, will report.
Gamma zone was barely a hop in the shuttle. Just an empty ice lake. Right before setdown, picked up some of the diffuse Danannian energy emissions. Could be a good thing we were getting off Danann before long. Made another smooth touchdown.
Navigator Control, Sherpa Tigress, touchdown at zone gamma. Will report liftoff.
Took almost a stan to unload the fusactor and set up whatever equipment was necessary for the shields and diversion that Morgan had planned.
Finally, Ysario let me know. “Load’s clear, and the automatics are set. We’re sealed.”
“Thanks, chief.” I began the liftoff checklist for the return to beta zone.
Liftoff and return to Danann Base were smooth and quick. Touchdown was no problem, but the energy levels below the surface were the highest I’d seen. Wanted to get clear as soon as we could. Checked the monitors. Couldn’t believe how much shit was lined up on sliders for us.
“Chief… you see what’s out there? We can’t take all that.”
“No, sir. I’ll run a mass check as we load. Stop short of point-seven.”
“Sounds good.”
I watched the monitors as the sliders edged closer to the shuttle.
“We’re beginning load-in, sir. We’ll be at max, with cargo and eleven passengers.”
“Keep track of that mass.” Didn’t need to tell Ysario, but Morgan had warned me.
Ten minutes passed, then half a stan. I could feel the vibrations as crates were stowed.