Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) (12 page)

“Visible in the organic spectrum?” the AI asked.

What the? Jack had noticed the AI program had been getting more and more . . . innovative of late. As if it sought to ‘chat’ in the people mode. Rather than stay with the literal orders it knew from prior commands. “Yes, Anonymous, expand and continue displaying the scope imagery in the spectrum normal to humans.”

“Complying. Done.”

The functional, dry tone of the AI did not prepare them for the feeling of falling down faster than fast.

“Anonymous!” cried Nikola from behind him. “Slow the enlargement! You know this is disorienting to organics.”

The front screen image expansion slowed from what felt like a thousand klicks per second to something his eyes felt comfortable with. Jack had no doubt Nikola was even more sensitive due to her morning nausea.

“This program is learning faster the limitations of organic beings,” the AI said.

Blodwen laughed, as did Elaine, Cassie, Denise, Max and Archibald. Jack didn’t. He thought the AI’s reply sounded a bit too, too . . . arrogant? Impossible. “Well, now we know what a Nasen family compound looks like.”

Filling the front screen was a complex of pale brown buildings arranged in several levels, with each building having several floors, judging by the angle of their view. A Lander arrival pad glowed in ultraviolet atop the highest roomblock. Three plazas broke up the cluster of buildings. The ovals of aircars showed in two of the plazas. The third, which flanked the edge of the gorge, showed the green of trees and a blue ribbon of water cascading down from the arrival pad. A waterfall that ran down the side of a building!

“Quite so,” Elaine said, tapping her Sensor panel. A split screen showed to the right of the compound image. Nearby orbital space filled it. Beyond the silvery sparkles of the fleet ships lay globes that resembled tiny worlds. “The globes are the weapons platforms. Five of them within a hundred klicks of us. Damn. These Nasen must have built thousands of them to have a defense web this dense!”

“Agreed.” He unlocked his restraint straps and stood up, looking at the motion-eye. “Fellow captains, prepare to board our Lander once we arrive. In our absence, set your weapons panels on Auto-Track and Defend, but with a human link before any weapon fires!” A second split-screen from Elaine’s Sensor panel showed there were twelve grav-pull ships orbiting above, ahead, behind and below the fleet. Those ships had clearly been awaiting their arrival. “If something goes badly wrong, make an Alcubierre jump to outside the system and wait for contact by me or other survivors.”

Acknowledgments sounded from the executive officers of each ship. Jack turned and caught the attention of Nikola and Blodwen. “Shall we three join Maureen in the Lander hold? Our combat outfits and weapons will be in airlock ready room.”

“Follow
us
, my love,” Nikola said, her tone sweet as she left her seat and headed for the Spine hallway hatch. “Women have always led the way for our species.”

“So true!” chuckled Blodwen as she fell in behind Nikola.

Which left last place for him. Passing by Max, he thought he detected a gleam of amusement in the man’s gray eyes. “Hey! You’re spoiling Blodwen!”

“And you are not doing the same with your Nikola?” his buddy called after him.

Jack ignored the jibe and followed after the women. Anyway, the tight fit of the leotards gave him a pleasant view of both ladies.

♦   ♦   ♦

Jack brought the
Anneli Korhonen
down on its chemfuel thrusters, setting the boxy contraption down in the middle of the arrival pad on top of the waterfall building. One gee gravity grabbed at him as he let go the flight controls panel.

“
Shogun
Jack, we are all ready,” said Akemi from behind, where she like the others sat on benches that ran along both sides of the Lander interior. She peered at him through her clear bubble helmet. “Your orders?”

“We move together,” he said over his vacsuit comlink. “Like a pack of hungry wolves.”

“Exactly right,” growled Maureen as she stood up from her Navigator seat next to Jack. She stomped back to the cargo hold of the Lander.

Jack tapped the NavTrack panel to engine shutdown and ecofield-maintenance. The control module’s display screens shut off, leaving only a few manual buttons and switches to say the metal block did anything. The Lander videye and uplink function he left on for uploading real-time imagery to his crewmates and the other fleet ships. Through the cabin’s window of optical quartz he saw a small dome with a dark door opening in it. That was the only feature on the otherwise empty arrival pad. He looked back at his fellow captains and Maureen as they stood, still wearing vacsuits and helmets. He scanned the faces of everyone present. “Maureen, Nikola, Blodwen, Hideyoshi, Gareth, Minna, Ignacio, Akemi, Júlia, Aashman and Kasun,
we
are a wolf pack visiting a new Hunt territory. We move as a unit. We act as a unit. And Maureen and I are the alpha female and male leaders of this pack. Every moment we are here, we are Hunters on the Hunt!”

Petite Akemi bowed to him. “My
shogun
, when you give orders, we obey. Though I do look forward to meeting this Nasen mother.”

Jack appreciated Akemi’s simple statement. “Captain Akemi, you bring honor to your clan. And I’m sure Hilok’s mate is eager to meet other females.” He gestured. “Before we head out, do a buddy check on each other. Help your neighbor remove their vacsuit and helmet. Make sure your weapons are tight, food and water are in carrybags, comlink tabs active. Nikola?”

His lifemate looked to him from where she stood among the others. “Yes?”

He unzipped the front of his vacsuit and twisted off his helmet. After stepping out of the suit, he put both on a nearby bench. “Uh, please check my weapons harness and supply bag.”

She grinned. “We did this up in our airlock. When we put on our vacsuits. But extra checks don’t hurt.” Jack pulled his attention away from the woman he loved. Looking around he inventoried the combat outfits and weapons carried by each of them.

Jack noticed that Gareth, while dressed in a brown shipsuit with Kevlar vest fitted to his wide chest, had a slim steel sword hanging from his hip. He recalled the man saying it was modeled after the
Dyrnwyn
, the magical flaming sword of the Welsh hero Rhydderch Hael. He looked beyond the native of Wales, fixing on his other battlemates.

Hideyoshi, short, pudgy and barrel-chested, also wore a Kevlar vest over the bullet-resistant pad that fronted his red bodysuit. Unlike other captains he wore shoulder pads, knee pads and shin guards, but none of them resembled football gear. These were painted black and shone steel bright. Jack recalled ancient Japanese wood block prints that portrayed
daimyo
lords dressed similarly.

Akemi had on a black
ninja
-style bodystocking. Like him and everyone else she wore a Kevlar vest to protect against claws and knives. Her
katana
sword hung at her left side, secured by a cotton belt that supported a dozen throwing stars.

Ignacio wore short pants and a red wool shirt under his Kevlar vest. A Roman short sword hung from his revolver gun belt. The man now donned his
boina
. His clan brother grinned as he saw Jack’s own
boina
on his head. The man gave him a thumbs-up. Jack returned the gesture, even as Nikola ducked to check out his fanny pack.

Aashman’s lanky frame was covered in a short
dhoti
and a black Kevlar vest over his white cotton overshirt. The Hindu wore spike-gloves on both hands. The steel spikes reached out a good five centimeters. Like Ignacio, he also wore a gun belt with a Teflon-coated revolver.

Júlia, dressed in loose pants and a brown wool overshirt under her Kevlar vest, wore soft capybara skin boots. She carried a scythe-sword. She seemed preoccupied with inspecting the insides of her backpack.

Kasun wore a black Kevlar vest over his classical Sinhala clothing of a white cotton long shirt with a
sarong
below his waist. Open-toed slippers buffered his feet from the cold of the metal floor. His personal weapon was a stave with a curved steel blade on the upper end. The man smiled at Jack.

“Do you think we will need to use our personal weapons? Against these Nasen?”

Jack shook his head. “I doubt it. But you’re a Belter. You’re just being prepared. Like the rest of us.” He looked to Minna.

The woman’s two blond braids were pulled to the back of her head. Petite and pale despite her rad-tan, she wore a fluffy blouse embroidered with Spring flowers. Her Kevlar vest covered most of the embroidery. Her long pants were of brown cotton with lacing at the shins. At her waist hung her long steel sword with wide blood runnel, both edges sharpened, a curved crossbar and a round pommel. It resembled some of the early Viking swords that Jack had researched.

An elbow jabbed his ribs. He turned to see Nikola pulling her long brown hair into a pony tail. She gave him an innocent look. “Yes?” he said.

She frowned. “Dammit! Are all men such one track-minded types? Smell anything?”

Oh. He had noticed a minty odor but had not expected her to wear perfume. “Yes, I do. And you do smell delicious my dear!” He scanned her combat outfit, noting the Kevlar vest, laser handgun on her left hip and Roman short sword on her right hip. “That sword does look nice on you. Why, you could scare any Alien into the ninth dimension!”

Nikola rolled her eyes up, then looked past him at Blodwen. “Hey girl, hope you’ve had better luck training Max to look beyond his Alcubierre drive module!”

The Welsh girl wore a green leotard with a Kevlar vest on top. At her waist hung a slim steel sword of Roman design. Her leotard showed the image of a bright red dragon. Her eyes lit up when she noticed his look. “Captain Jack, you saw this last time we met the Nasen. It’s the Welsh battle dragon, or the
Y Ddraig Goch
. It is the symbol of we
Cymry
.”

Black-bearded Gareth, standing beside Blodwen, smiled at her comments. “She is a true lass of the rocky lands. I was sorry to lose her from my crew.”

Jack nodded to the captain of the
Dragon
. “Your loss was our great gain. And Max’s delight.”

“You gonna check me out, youngling?”

He turned to face his elder and mentor, mistress Maureen O’Dowd of
Éire
. Jack grinned.

“Yup, you look hot! Plan to have a good time with someone I know?”

“Watch it!” Then the woman, who always looked twenty years younger than her 78 chrono-age, gave him a grin. “My private life is private!” She nodded to Nikola. “But you’re doing well on the compliment training. Good luck on training him to bribe you with jewels and perfume!”

Nikola laughed. His ship captains and Blodwen joined that laughter.

In truth Maureen looked murderous. She wore a Kevlar vest over her green wool bodystocking, and carried two Smith and Wesson revolvers on her gun belt, one on each hip. Plus she carried a Viking sword on her back. A steel-pointed javelin spear crossed the sword and was snugged into its own scabbard. Hunting knives adorned each thigh, brown leather straps holding them in place. She looked the part of an alpha female who would always cover his back.

Jack shrugged, feeling his backpack and how Old Roy rode in the scabbard across his back. As Nikola had confirmed, he too wore a Kevlar vest over his chest, with a .45 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver hanging from his right hip. Speedloader clips of bullets hung from his left hip. Steel throwing knives were strapped to each shin. After checking out Nikola’s outfit and weapons, he tapped on his shoulder comlink. “Elaine, you picking us up? You seeing what we see? Over our vidcam tabs?”

A second passed. “Got you!” came his sister’s relieved voice. “Yes, I’m seeing and hearing everything. Got twelve image icons up on the front screen. Plus the ship is on Combat Alert, thanks to Max.” She paused and Jack heard the bonging of a ship alert tone. “Uh, two Nasen ships have moved closer to us. The fleet is gathered in our Pinwheel formation, facing outward with our beam weapons.”

“Good,” Jack said. “We’re ready to meet these folks. But you and Max, stay alert!”

“Will do. Stay safe, brother!”

“Thanks. I will. Off comlink.” He scanned his friends. “Onward.” Jack stepped forward and tapped the Lander’s inner airlock hatch. It opened with a hiss. They entered in two groups, with Ignacio and Kasun carrying the cold locker full of elk and bison steaks. He stepped through the outer hatch.

Below him lay the extruded ramp. At the bottom stood Hilok and ten other Nasen. All of them looked predator alert. He had a feel for what might happen during the upcoming Trade meeting. While First Contact was always dangerous, Hilok seemed in control of his people.

Maureen elbowed him aside. “Me first you young twit!”

Jack watched as his Combat Commander pulled out her sword and her javelin spear, held both in front of her and descended the ramp. She did so leaning forward, as if ready to pounce.

He pulled Old Roy out of his back scabbard and followed her. At the bottom he stood at her left side. Footsteps sounded behind him with the arrival of the rest of his team. Jack fixed on the largest wolf-giraffe.