metal. That only jammed her shin.
She stalked back to the fallen tree, picked up the res chamber and brought John Farragut close up to see the thing stuck in the Beauty .
Farragut spoke the obvious. “That’s not a meteorite.”
The metal was an oily shade of black, clearly manufactured, fashioned in a curve, bearing an artificial design shallowly etched into it, almost like a talon of a clawfoot from a piece of antique furniture.
“Local make?” Farragut asked.
“No. There’s no manufacturing here. No industry on this world at all. No commerce. Honest to God, John, ‘Edenesque’ is the word that comes to mind. Except for these.” She swatted something small and pincered on her arm. “The native sapience is primitive. I was thinking the orbs were someone’s mock aliens. But who would do that?”
Farragut dismissed anyone’s first thought, “Rome can do better than that.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“The League will say it’s ours.”
“No doubt,” said Glenn, then, just to be sure, “It’s not the CIA, is it?”
Farragut’s immediate expression of reassurance turned suddenly hesitant. He’d been about to dismiss the idea of U.S. involvement. Didn’t.
“I’ll see if I can get someone to talk to me,” Farragut said. “I don’t think that’s one of ours. You probably have a first contact on your hands.”
First contact used to sound exciting. Glenn gave a sorry smile. “Those never go well for us.”
“Whose flag is on the ground?”
“No one’s. Kiwi drones were the first explorers on world. They turned up a sapient native species. The planet’s been flags’ off ever since. The only feet on the dirt are international scientists. And one scientist’s wife.”
“Is anyone in orbit getting this treatment?”
“There’s no one in Zoe’s orbit. This is the back of beyond. The LEN puts their ships on the ground. There are only six of them. The Beauty makes seven.”
“And none of them noticed these things on their way in?”
“No. This is the first time anyone was attacked coming or going.”
“What hit you could be the vanguard for something bigger,” said Admiral Farragut.
“Nothing followed us down,” Glenn said. “I don’t know how to read that. They’re hostile, they can get between stars, but they can’t shoot and they can’t land? All they could do was ram. I’m afraid they’ll try to ram us on the ground next.”
Farragut told her, “I’m sending someone.”
Flight Leader Ranza Espinoza reported to the ship’s hospital for a physical. Her leave had been cut short. She sat on the exam table, cooling her bare heels and twiddling her toes, waiting for permission to get dressed and return to duty.
It could not take that long for the medics to figure out she was healthy.
Ranza was built like a line backer. Big shoulders. No hips. Gap teeth. Bushy hair. Silver-gray eyes.
She crossed and uncrossed her bare toes. Listened to the ship around her. The metal partitions were thin. Sounds carried easily, and Mack was never actually quiet. Now she was all kinds of loud. And it wasn’t just the shouting on all decks. Supply barges clunked against the wings. The ship’s displacement chamber cracked away like a thunderstorm.
Dock doors clattered as transports arrived and two companies of the 89 th Fleet Marine Battalion stormed aboard like they were taking a beach.
Ranza could hear the Mack ’s new XO from the land of Oz calling out in his best American Old West voice: “Stampede!”
Real smartass, that one.
Since the war, the Marines had been deployed in the U.S. Pacific Northwest on reconstruction detail. Finally they were coming home.
The 89 th Battalion’s home base in Kansas was never home like the space battleship Merrimack was.
Merrimack was bound for the edge of the galaxy. Best speed. Unless you wanted to get reassigned, you got your ass back on her today. You miss the boat this time, you can kiss Mack good-bye for the rest of your
She stalked back to the fallen tree, picked up the res chamber and brought John Farragut close up to see the thing stuck in the Beauty .
Farragut spoke the obvious. “That’s not a meteorite.”
The metal was an oily shade of black, clearly manufactured, fashioned in a curve, bearing an artificial design shallowly etched into it, almost like a talon of a clawfoot from a piece of antique furniture.
“Local make?” Farragut asked.
“No. There’s no manufacturing here. No industry on this world at all. No commerce. Honest to God, John, ‘Edenesque’ is the word that comes to mind. Except for these.” She swatted something small and pincered on her arm. “The native sapience is primitive. I was thinking the orbs were someone’s mock aliens. But who would do that?”
Farragut dismissed anyone’s first thought, “Rome can do better than that.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“The League will say it’s ours.”
“No doubt,” said Glenn, then, just to be sure, “It’s not the CIA, is it?”
Farragut’s immediate expression of reassurance turned suddenly hesitant. He’d been about to dismiss the idea of U.S. involvement. Didn’t.
“I’ll see if I can get someone to talk to me,” Farragut said. “I don’t think that’s one of ours. You probably have a first contact on your hands.”
First contact used to sound exciting. Glenn gave a sorry smile. “Those never go well for us.”
“Whose flag is on the ground?”
“No one’s. Kiwi drones were the first explorers on world. They turned up a sapient native species. The planet’s been flags’ off ever since. The only feet on the dirt are international scientists. And one scientist’s wife.”
“Is anyone in orbit getting this treatment?”
“There’s no one in Zoe’s orbit. This is the back of beyond. The LEN puts their ships on the ground. There are only six of them. The Beauty makes seven.”
“And none of them noticed these things on their way in?”
“No. This is the first time anyone was attacked coming or going.”
“What hit you could be the vanguard for something bigger,” said Admiral Farragut.
“Nothing followed us down,” Glenn said. “I don’t know how to read that. They’re hostile, they can get between stars, but they can’t shoot and they can’t land? All they could do was ram. I’m afraid they’ll try to ram us on the ground next.”
Farragut told her, “I’m sending someone.”
Flight Leader Ranza Espinoza reported to the ship’s hospital for a physical. Her leave had been cut short. She sat on the exam table, cooling her bare heels and twiddling her toes, waiting for permission to get dressed and return to duty.
It could not take that long for the medics to figure out she was healthy.
Ranza was built like a line backer. Big shoulders. No hips. Gap teeth. Bushy hair. Silver-gray eyes.
She crossed and uncrossed her bare toes. Listened to the ship around her. The metal partitions were thin. Sounds carried easily, and Mack was never actually quiet. Now she was all kinds of loud. And it wasn’t just the shouting on all decks. Supply barges clunked against the wings. The ship’s displacement chamber cracked away like a thunderstorm.
Dock doors clattered as transports arrived and two companies of the 89 th Fleet Marine Battalion stormed aboard like they were taking a beach.
Ranza could hear the Mack ’s new XO from the land of Oz calling out in his best American Old West voice: “Stampede!”
Real smartass, that one.
Since the war, the Marines had been deployed in the U.S. Pacific Northwest on reconstruction detail. Finally they were coming home.
The 89 th Battalion’s home base in Kansas was never home like the space battleship Merrimack was.
Merrimack was bound for the edge of the galaxy. Best speed. Unless you wanted to get reassigned, you got your ass back on her today. You miss the boat this time, you can kiss Mack good-bye for the rest of your
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