Coming from Nowhere

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The Selysi hovered in space just outside the reach of the planet's satellite system. From the cockpit, the planet was a large bright dot on the horizon. It didn't have a name, just coordinates. Buried among several asteroid fields and at the edge of an elliptical galaxy, the planet was in the perfect hiding place.

Kirllt and Raak confirmed that they were at the right place because they were close enough to pick up on the other Xyphons' thoughts. According to their mental scout of the planet, there were fifty Xyphons being held prisoner and twice as many guards. They confirmed that production of the army had not started, but they had been ordered to start putting together the equipment. The area was surrounded by about forty cariensis, and several deep space gun turrets were strategically placed around the planet. The crew knew that as soon as they came close, they would alert the guards and probably be taken out by the guns before they even broke through the atmosphere.

Their only other option was to attack the planet with the small scout ships. They figured that if Mason, Alex, Kirllt, and Raak each piloted a ship into the same area, they could confuse the gunners long enough to get on the surface. The scout ships had weapons, and if they were close enough, they could take out a deep space tower. They didn't come all this way to fail. They had to try something.

JD listened as they ran through the different scenarios and tried to figure out the best option. Even if they made it to the ground, they still had the cariensis to contend with. More than likely, the Martian soldiers wouldn't venture out of the lab to take care of the intruders, it would be left to the guard dogs, who were extremely efficient at doing their job. Mason cursed herself for not getting the electronic computers from Zane.

"There are other ways to make ourselves smell bad," JD interjected.

Mason glared at her. "How?"

"What about all the rotten food that's been sitting in the trash in the kitchen? What about the bathroom waste disposers? There's tons of grease dripping down in the cargo bay. The fuel from the ships isn't all that pleasant to inhale. We have options."

Both Alex and Mason turned their nose up in disgust.

"Anything we have to put on to deter the cariensis is going to alert the soldiers," Alex pointed out.

"True, but the majority of the soldiers are going to be on alert once we land anyway. They'll be trapped like fish in a barrel in the mound. They have no escape route."

Mason's face brightened, and she turned to Raak. "Do you think there's a way you can tell all the Xyphons to lock themselves in the lab?"

Of course. Why?

Mason turned back to Alex and JD. "What if we could get a few cariensis into the mound? Like JD said, the soldiers would be fish in a barrel, and the creatures could take care of our dirty work for us. If the Xyphons are locked in the lab, they'll be safe."

"How are we going to get a creature in the lab?"

"We just have to open the door."

"How are we going to get them back out?" Alex folded his arms across his chest.

"We don't have to, we can just shoot them in there."

Alex shook his head and averted his gaze to the floor. "I don't know. What if it doesn't work?"

Mason held her hands out to the side and shrugged. "If it doesn't work, we'll be dead. We've already sent the coordinates to McKinnon, so if we fail, he'll send a fleet of ships and blow the planet out of the sky. Either way, the lab will be taken care of."

Perhaps, Kirllt spoke, we should wait for backup. We could have ships from Cha'Oon here in three days. We wouldn't have to risk our lives and we could guarantee that everything was taken care of.