Alien Mine Ch. 15

In this case, the stick was Kiania and Sarge's team. He wanted to stir up the Om, see what they were up against. However, he wasn't ready for a full-scale assault, that would come later. He just needed to draw them out and see what numbers of Trangrods they were dealing with.

The Major and Captain were with him well back. Kiania and her team closer in where he hoped to draw a reaction from their probe. It was also a test of new tactics they had developed and weapons. "Ok, Captain, send in the drones," he ordered. Rhys wanted her familiar with their combat operations, training was good to a point, but actual combat was the best training ground there was, assuming you survived it. He watched as the aerial drones moved in at 1000 meters, and Thea's upgraded tiger drones moved in. There were twenty of them, half semi-autonomous, the other ten under direct control.

The aerial drones were the first to go, taken out by a small missile, then the Trangrods came boiling out of the ground. Perhaps fire ants were a good metaphor for the Om Rhys thought as at least fifty roach-like Trangrods came out firing. Rhys watched for a minute to see how the drones would do. Mediocre, he thought. "Kiania, start the attack, Sandy, stand by to provide support if they get in trouble."

Leslie and Amancia stood apart yet together. They closed their four eyes and let the sounds, smells, and the sensation of impending battle wash over them. Intense concentration was simpler when two visual fields did not have to be interlaced. They felt the familiar anticipation before a fight, but it was different when they were like this. The binary state brought calm; the mind was clear and hyper-focused. Amancia broke the interface when Rhys spoke to her. She could still sense the presence of Leslie, of course, but now it seemed the link was never totally broken, just weakened to the point where they could each operate independently. Rhys didn't know how deep the interlace went, Sandy probably guessed, but neither realized the depth of the connection. Neither Leslie nor Amancia knew what the final outcome would be. Would they eventually become one person with two bodies, or would they remain at least partially separate individuals? Razor-sharp focus snapped back into place, the Om were near, and the time for reflection was over.