“What thing?” Omi asked suspiciously.
“I have no idea,” Marten said. “But I think we’ll find out soon enough.”
“I hope there not thinking we’re going to tackle cyborgs for them.”
“Who else would we tackle, the Praetor?”
“I’m not sure I care for that, either.”
Marten kicked the corselet with his armored boot. It had a nice metallic ring, and it proved that the armor-suit was heavy. It was too bad it lacked exoskeleton power. On whatever surface they fought, they’d have to utilize their own muscled power. “These are nothing compared to battleoids,” Marten said.
“When did that stop anyone from feeding canon-fodder into the shredder?” Omi asked in a bitter tone.
“Never.”
Omi glanced at Marten. “So what are we going to do?”
Marten shrugged moodily.
“We still have Osadar,” Omi said.
Marten frowned as he counted crates. There were a lot, and plenty of new ship-guardians had boarded. They reminded him of the guardians who had helped them kill Octagon’s two myrmidons. What they needed were more of those genetic killers. But maybe myrmidons were too elemental to fight well in spacesuits.
“Can these Jovians beat the cyborgs?” Omi asked.
“The time for running is over,” Marten said quietly.
A hard frown appeared on Omi’s normally expressionless face. “I don’t think you heard me before. We still have Osadar.”
“Yeah, I heard you. But I don’t like the idea of killing Yakov’s crew just so we can run away again.”
“I don’t like certain death either,” Omi said. “You’ve watched the videos from Callisto. I don’t think even Highborn could face cyborgs one-on-one, let alone us.”
Marten took a deep breath. “We don’t know that’s what the higher-ups are planning.”
“Come-on,” Omi said. “We know it here.” He tapped his heart. “Before, everyone figured they could use us. Why would these Jovians be any different?”
“The Jovians are our friends.”
“Balls,” said Omi. “They’re people in a tight spot who will grab anything they can to stay alive. What I want to know is how come it’s always you and me that have to do the dirty fighting?”
“Maybe because we always win,” Marten said.
“You think we won on the
“We didn’t lose.”
Omi shook his head, and he turned, giving the suit a kick. “This is crap, whatever they have planned for us. We’ve done our time. Now it’s someone else’s turn.”
“No,” Marten said. “Now we’re going to teach others how to do it.”
“Like we did on Mars?” asked Omi.
“Better than we did there.”
Omi studied Marten. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Marten took another deep breath. Then, in a quiet voice, he told Omi his thoughts about standing for once and fighting or dying instead of just endlessly running away.
“Dying is easy,” Omi said. “Running keeps us alive.”
“Dying isn’t easy for us two,” Marten said. “Let’s find Yakov. He’ll tell us what’s going on.”
They found Yakov in his wardroom. The silver-haired Jovian was grim-faced. His elbows were on his computer desk as he massaged his temples. He stared at Marten before looking away.
“Why all the armored spacesuits?” asked Marten.
“Close the door,” Yakov said.
Marten and Omi piled into the tiny room. Yakov motioned them nearer. The two of them sat as the Force- Leader straightened. There was a tightness around his mouth, bunched up muscles like little hard balls. He adjusted the desk controls.
“Chief Strategist Tan personally sent me this,” Yakov said. “The leaders on Ganymede are still debating what it means.”
Marten watched the video-feed from the
“This is Carme,” Yakov said. “It’s at the outer limit of Jovian space. This is what I want you to notice.”
A pointer appeared on-screen, showing a large and lighted circular area on the otherwise dark surface.
“What are we looking at?” Marten asked.
“Tan’s people have been running an analysis on the readings,” Yakov said. “The best estimate is a massive exhaust-port, crater-sized, in fact. The indications are that someone has bored vast tunnels into Carme to massive engines inside.”
Marten frowned at the Force-Leader. “That would take years to do.”
“It doesn’t seem to make sense, I know,” Yakov said. “It would indicate the cyborgs slipped into our system long ago and began secret construction there. Maybe they’ve lived like ants down there, hollowing it out, waiting for this moment. The question is why. Then one of Tan’s technicians recalled an intercepted message from the cyborgs.”
Omi muttered obscenities.
Yakov raised an eyebrow, but Omi said nothing more. Yakov readjusted the controls. On the vidscreen, the dark surface leaped closer as the picture became grainy. The pointer now showed what looked like low metal domes, but it was difficult to be definite.
“Tan’s people are of two minds on these,” Yakov said. “Some believe it is the upper part of a vast power-plant. The others think this is where the missiles came from.”
“Tell me about the intercepted message,” Marten said.
Yakov stared at the images. “It took several days to decode. It spoke about a planet-wrecker.”
“Planet, not a moon?” asked Marten.
Yakov looked up as his dark gaze bored into Marten. “That’s a shrewd comment. Do you understand what it means?”
Marten and Omi traded glances.
“I’m beginning to think I do,” Marten said.
Yakov put his hands on the vidscreen as he studied both ex-shock troopers. “Tan’s experts believe the cyborgs plan to move Carme. It would be extremely unwieldy as a warship, but if the experts are right, it will become something much worse.”
“Are you going to tell us what that is?” Omi asked.
“The intercepted message said it all,” Yakov whispered. “A planet-wrecker.”
“Yeah?” asked Omi. “What does that mean?”
The muscles at the corners of Yakov’s mouth tightened even more. “If Tan is right, the cyborgs plan to accelerate Carme and drive it into a moon or a planet.”
Omi shook his bullet-shaped head. “Why would cyborgs crash Carme into Jupiter? That doesn’t make sense.”
“I doubt Jupiter is their goal,” Yakov said. “Tan thinks this is a clever way to attack Mars, Earth or possibly Ganymede.”
“Huh?” asked Omi.
“It would explain why the cyborgs came here,” Yakov said. “The Mars Campaign would indicate they’re at war with the Highborn and that they turned traitor against Social Unity. I’ve had trouble understanding why they would dissipate military strength by sending cyborgs to Jupiter. With two such militarily powerful foes, why add to the number of their enemies? The answer may be because they believe this is the perfect way to attack their primary foes.”
