"It's also a tenet of Earth's hackers, or it used to be anyway."
"I would like to learn more about this order, Jake. What do they hack?"
I was about to launch into an explanation when Brick interrupted us.
"Jake, the outpost sensors registered an active sensor pulse. Signature unknown, not Union standard."
"Non-Union? A Feral signature? Elder AI?" Regar demanded.
"Unknown. It is not in my database of known signatures."
"What does that mean, a sensor pulse? Someone's looking for us?" I asked.
"No," Regar said. "That means someone's found us."
Chapter Thirty-Two: Defending the Base
"WHAT?"
"This outpost of Matty's has no stealth systems that I've seen. Without that, whoever sent that pulse knows you're here," Regar said.
"The First is correct, Jake. With the strength of the pulse this outpost will have registered on their sensors."
"Shit. That's not good," I replied. "Get Marty back here. We might have company sometime soon. Get those defenses ready, Brick."
"With your permission, Jake, I'll take these Artifacts through the gate to Pax for safekeeping. I will return to help defend this outpost and ask Kiril to accompany me."
"Thanks, Regar."
Regar snatched up the other Artifact and dashed out of the hangar.
I looked at the Redemption and grimaced. The light shipyard's arms were still working away.
"How long until she's done, Brick?"
"Thirty-two minutes."
Marty pelted into the hangar a moment later at a dead run. He was wearing a basic Union pressure suit with the helmet retracted and clattered to a stop in front of me.
"I'm here! What's going on?"
"Good. Get ready to fly the Redemption out of here in a hurry, if needed."
"What? She's not ready!"
"I know. Do what you can."
Marty scrambled up the ramp and sat in the pilot's chair, hands flying over invisible interfaces as he took in Redemption's unfinished state.
"Brick, reprioritize the construction to speed up departure if you can."
"Yes, Jake."
I looked around the hangar. Brick had taken the Union materials from the pile of scrap and all that was left were the “unknown” pieces, a much smaller pile.
"Multiple sensor pulses detected, stronger than before," Brick reported.
"Shit."
I reached out with my Drone Control Augment, through the open gate and into Pax. I activated three drones, two armed with particle beams and a scout drone, and ordered them to me. I felt them acknowledge the order. They'd be with me in seconds.
"I'm going to go outside. How long until Redemption is ready to go, Brick?"
"Sensors, shield, and the minimal required set of propulsion units will be ready in four minutes. The particle beam turret is already fully installed."
"Get everything important out of here and into Pax. If we lose this base, let's make it not hurt as much."
"Yes, Jake," Brick acknowledged.
Looking around one last time I ran for the exit. My drones joined me before I got there, taking up formation in the corridor around me.
I reached the surface in time to see the first visitor arrive overhead.
One moment the sky was empty, wispy grey clouds blocking out swathes of the brilliant stars of the Milky Way. The next moment it was there, and it was only the augmented sensors I had from my link with the scout drone that told me it hadn't just teleported there. Instead it had simply moved so fast through the air it might as well have. It stopped dead in the air above the treeline to the south, completely silent. A flying saucer.
Roughly two hundred feet across, the silvery-metal disk rotated slowly. A large dome topped the dish, and a smaller one about half its size was on the bottom. It was eerily like the saucers we'd faked for our distraction at the military base. So much so that I suspected I was being faked out, but my scout drone's sensors were telling me that something was really there, unlike our projections. Brick confirmed it.
"Unknown vessel in proximity. Shields activated, deploying turret. Awaiting command to open fire."
I ordered my drones to fan out and unstuck the Gazer. The familiar weight felt great in my hands. I heard the crunch of displaced snow and the snap of breaking branches in the young trees off to my right. My scout drone automatically tagged the outpost's turret as it rose out of the ground.
The saucer and I had a staring contest for a few long seconds and I was just about to try to initiate some kind of communication with it when things kicked off. Three more of them appeared all around the cabin in the same abrupt way, seeming to teleport in from nowhere.
Bright white light swelled around all four of the saucers' lower domes. Each of those amorphous clouds of light flew off and splashed against the ground, dissipating and leaving behind four armed and armored figures. They were the size of children, with silver-grey skin and oversized heads with immense black eyes. Strangely, they were wearing what looked like modern armored tactical rigs festooned with magazines and held black M4 rifles.
I looked at them in awe. Despite my recent experiences, seeing in real life the flying saucers and aliens from so many movies and books took my breath away. How much of the conspiracy theories were real? Were the lizard people going to be showing up next? I smiled and opened my mouth to call out a greeting, or a question. Then the Greys raised their rifles, and that was enough for me.
"Brick, open fire!"
Trees exploded to my right as a solid blue beam of laser light scythed through the concealing woods to hit the first saucer dead center. A square, translucent yellow field of energy popped into existence directly in the beam's path, shimmering and crackling under the stress.
I didn't have time to see any more of that as the Little Grey Men began filling the air with noise and bullets. Fully automatic weapons fire sleeted into my armor, making a terrible racket. For a second I was bemused, thinking this might be a replay of
