Chapter 10

~ Hel ~

Sitting on the bridge, flanked by Penny and Alexis, Hel sat on the edge of her seat gripping the arm rests. Kabelda’s shuttles slowly came into view. They were in tight formation surrounding the former queen’s shuttle.

“Scan them for control devices.”

“I’m scanning eleven shuttles. I’m seeing sixteen drones and sixteen devices.”

“She’s culled the herd since our last interaction. There were close to twenty ships and almost thirty drones when we hit her with the sonic wave.”

“Scan her shuttle. I want know how many of my drones are on board with her.”

“I’m showing a contingent of five drones.”

“Interesting. She has one drone on each shuttle and the five remaining at her side. She’s scared of me.”

Vraden spoke from his perch at an observation screen. “As well she should. You are proving to be a formidable adversary, my queen.”

Ignoring his warm compliment, she asked, “Can we send another sonic blast to disable their navigation?”

“I can increase the strength of the pulse if you like. It might result in their systems being off line for a few minutes.”

“I need to stun everyone on her shuttle. Then we need to board and grab our guys before forcing her shuttle to the surface and disabling it.”

“Inadvisable, my queen. I know you wish to rescue the drones, but your plan carries much risk.”

“I will go myself, if I must.”

“No need for you to risk yourself. We can attach a grappling hook and pull them into our cargo bay.”

“No. That just puts us back where we started. I’ll not risk her getting loose on my ship. I have injured and infants onboard this ship.”

“Might I suggest we have another shuttle dock with hers, carrying an escape pod? We can remove any equipment that could be retrofitted for communications and fill it with supplies to get her started on her new home world.”

“I thought we lost all our shuttles.”

“Hardly, my queen. We house them on both the aft and the port sides of the ship.”

“That sounds like a great plan. You are turning out to be a brilliant strategist in your own right, Vraden.”

Smiling slightly he spoke softly into his com. She overheard him ordering Raec to select drones for the mission and issuing very specific directions.

Suddenly the mission took on an additional layer of danger. Certain that Raec wouldn’t like having his assignment pulled out from under him simply because she didn’t want to risk the man she was quickly falling in love with, she stretched her neck and kept her mouth shut.

One of the drones at another display spoke. “Her shuttle will be in optimal position to facilitate her trajectory to the planet in approximately twenty microns.”

Vraden announced, “Our drones will be ready to deploy in less than ten microns. They are loading the survival pod as we speak and will strip it while en route.”

“We have a very efficient crew,” Hel murmured nervously as she resisted the impulse to fidget anxiously in her seat.

“This is true. You should consider keeping us.”

Searching the older man’s eyes, she responded, “I have honestly been considering it. I find your son difficult to walk away from.” Two feminine heads swiveled around from opposite sides to look at her. Shrugging, she murmured softly, “We’ll talk later.”

Armon dropped down behind Penny. “Yes, do talk later.”

The navigator turned to look at them. “I never thought we’d get one good queen, much less three.”

“You deserve a queen for each drone.”

Shocked sounds of astonishment sounded from around the room.

Hel laughed. “I almost forgot to tell you, the human queen on your sister ship has reordered their society. The drones now function in family units of four or five drones to one queen. At last count, they had nearly twenty queens among the seventy-five warriors. More are coming every day.”

“I find that hard to credit, my queen.”

“When we’re finished with this mess, we’ll pay them a little visit and you can see for yourselves.”

A light began flashing and Vraden commented, “Kabelda is breaking apart from her drones.”

“Let me guess. She’s coming straight for us?”

“Yes. She is falling right into your carefully planned trap.”

“Release the shuttle with the escape pod. The moment they are within scanning range of her shuttle, send the sonic pulse. Timing is everything. I won’t risk that shuttle crew any more than I have to.”

“Understood, my queen.”

They anxiously watched the images grow larger on the view screen. “She is coming into range.”

“Hit her shuttle now.”

Watching the screen they couldn’t see the sonic pulse but they watched the shuttle’s lights blink out and then it began to drift. The other shuttles picked up speed.

Jumping to her feet, Hel shouted, “Stop them from docking with the shuttle. Something’s very wrong.”

“You have exactly no time to change your mind.”

“If the queen’s shuttle is down, why did the other drones increase speed? They’re wearing the devices and only respond to commands, right?”

“Yes. You are correct. If we successfully knocked out their systems, she should not still be able to communicate with them.”

“Bring us right up beside their shuttle and get the grappler ready.”

It took only seconds for the powerful Maruvian mother ship to close the distance.

“Grab one of the other shuttles and throw it in our cargo bay. I want to know if the drone inside is wearing protective armor.”

“It is standard operating procedure for going into battle.”

“Great. Use the grappling hooks to pull her shuttle apart. Pick the bitch up and cram her into the escape pod kicking and screaming if you have to.”

“Your will be done.”

Vraden jumped from his seat and went over to stand behind the drone tasked with operating the grappling hooks. Most were more like large hands that could do minor ship’s repairs on the outer hull and the Maruvian ship was no different. They got ahold of her shuttle just as the other shuttles came into weapons range.

“Can you narrow the sonic pulse and tag the shuttles individually?”

“I can try.”

She watched nervously as they tore a hole in the queen’s shuttle and plucked her out. She was fully armored and attempted to shoot her plasma weapon at the grappling hooks. It was like trying to shoot a person with a wad of paper: totally ineffective.

“Wow, this feels like playing dolls.” Penny’s dry sense of humor was par for the course.

“Don’t make light of a situation that could cost us the lives of drones. I’m still praying the ones on her ship were wearing their protective armor.”

Vraden began stunning the other shuttles. The exterior scanners panned left just in time to see a huge grappling arm toss the escape pod towards the planet. It immediately reached over and grabbed her shuttle and stuffed it into their cargo bay.

“Send healers to the med bay and remind the drones I want their weapons on stun.”

As she got the last of the words out, the huge arm came back out of the bay, holding something that was blinking. The man operating the arm was concentrating quietly on his work. Spinning the arms around, he tossed whatever he was carrying in the direction of the escape pod.

“Tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

When the bomb exploded it accelerated the escape pod towards the surface of the planet.

Hel spoke somberly. “Monitor the pod. This won’t be over until she lands.”

Vraden explained quietly, “The accelerated decent is wreaking havoc on the escape pod, but it was designed for such abuse.”

Waiting with bated breath, Vraden finally announced, “It hit the ground and she’s out. Her vitals look stable from what I can tell.”

“Great. Pull in the rest of my drones and get her hardware off their necks. Then we make for the new Maruvian home world.”

“Your will be done, my queen.”