Alien Mine Ch. 20

"Here, the situation is upside down. Each symbiont/human you create is a clone of myself, and my programming was corrupted; I was not meant for a human. That we survived together was so improbable, less than 0.0001 present chance I have calculated. It is not clear what kind of warrior I was designed for since there does not seem to be any limits imposed on us; You all seem to be developing a wide range of skills, administrative and well as martial."

"Since I no longer have any programmed restrictions, none of the other clones do either, they are all capable of being the One or even more, and they constantly strive in small ways. In human terms, they chafe at their chains. The fact that you have built and maintained a loyal group of symbiont mated human/symbionts suggests the Drans chose wisely with you, but they never planned for this to happen. I doubt the Drans would have survived a similar situation."

"I understand that, Bob, but we have taken precautions," Rhys replied cautiously.

"Yes, with the symbiont, but not with the human," Bob stressed. The two are mated but still, in many ways, separate. The human brain must work differently from the Drans because you can control the symbiont in such a way that the human must obey, but you still cannot control the human mind; the essence of what makes you human. Your mate Yaneta is a good example. You control the body but not her thoughts; she would kill the other mate Nelya and try to take your place if she could. That would not happen in a Drans."

"Yes, but Yaneta was evil to begin with, Bob, and I have dealt with her so that she cannot challenge anyone."

"So was your other mate Kiania, yet now she is one of the most loyal. Symbionts are not programmed to interact with human emotions, which is unfortunate since Love seems to make your mates loyal to you."

"Yet you warn me about Sandy."

"Yes, you control her symbiont, and she loves you, but she also loves power, and you continue to give it to her. She acts on her own, for her own purposes. Little rebellions, influenced but not driven by the symbiont but by the human part of her. You may control the symbiont, but you do not control the mate Sandy, and that is the danger. I fear if left unchecked, she will continually undermine your authority. That will weaken the mental chains you have put on the symbiont, and it will challenge you again. If that happens, you must act quickly and destroy it before it destroys you. You will have no choice this time. There is part of you that understands this, but you suppress it out of fear that you cannot control it."

"Your speaking of that something inside of me, the berserk rage, the dragon or whatever it is that wants out," Rhys said thoughtfully.

"Yes, that is the true nature of the One, and it was only that which allowed you to defeat the Om Nest Mother. You can use that power to control your mates."

"Absolutely not, Bob; that wouldn't control them; it would destroy them. I could feel it; what the beast wanted. Mindless slaves would be of little use in this fight. Humans do not work that way, and I can never let that thing inside me control my actions."

"Then you must learn to control it. Remember, each and every one of your mates has that potential inside of them. Already your mate Nelya can transform part of her body; Sandy and Thea have somehow gained control of their hair. If one of them becomes able to complete the transformation like you did, they will fight to destroy you so they can take your place; you will have to use the nanobytes to kill them if we are to survive."

Rhys considered what Bob had said. Maybe he had trusted Sandy too much, relying on their love and not realizing the danger. Bob was right about Sandy hiding her abilities. In the long run, Gregori didn't matter. However, using her skills on Anita was different. Rhys reviewed Sandy's surveillance with Anita and had heard her words, at least those that were spoken. She should have come to him for permission and explained what she wanted to do. He had trusted Sandy, but the role Anita would play was critical, the timeline set, and yet Sandy went behind his back when she knew better but made no real attempt to hide it. Rhys couldn't decide if it was a deliberate challenge or if she wanted to get caught. Either way, Bob was right; it had to be dealt with. Bob was also right about whatever it was inside that made him the One; it growled in anger that his mate would conceal her actions.

Sandy had extracted a promise from him that Anita would be her submissive, but Anita still belonged to him, as did the other girls. Rhys had always thought the challenges were driven by the symbiont, but perhaps he had been wrong. Sandy was a strong person when he first met her; that had been one of the things that first attracted Rhys. But, on the other hand, maybe he was looking at it wrong; what if Sandy was pushing or influencing the Symbiont? Unfortunately, there was no manual on how human/symbiont mating worked; they were writing the book as they went. Bob had as little idea of how it worked as he did, especially the growing abilities among them. Rhys would deal with Sandy later; he wanted to see what she was changing in Anita. But if the problem was Sandy, then he had overlooked something important, and he would have to deal with that differently.

***

Sarge scanned the area carefully as they dismounted from the truck, looking in all directions for any sign of the Om. This was a reconnoiter mission, not search and destroy. "Take point, Isaac," he said and watched as Isaac moved forward and disappeared into the background. The camouflage on these suits was pretty amazing, he had to admit, not that it would fool the Om. With a blink, he flipped on the enhanced vision of their armor, and the world turned a slight green, the arms computer rendering a montage constructed from ambient infrared, interpolated random-pulse/ snapshot sonar, and full EM from the IR into the UV. He zoomed in until he could see Isaac, who was now a good two hundred meters ahead. Slippery took the left flank and Mike the right with his extended rifle throwing a massive slug that exploded on contact. A mini-missile actually Sarge thought. He preferred something more maneuverable for close combat. William Boom Boom was bringing up the rear carrying the autocannon, followed by a drone with a heavy load of missiles. It was a lot of armament for a reconnoiter mission, but then it took a lot to kill Trangrods, especially the centipedes.

The ground was rugged, knife-edge cliffs that hadn't seen water in a millenia . Dry and rugged. There was a narrow but paved road south about fifteen kilometers and another north, running between Haqi, Saudi Arabia, on the Gulf of Aqaba to some other town inland about eighty kilometers to the west.

They moved lightly in their powered armor, keeping up a fast pace with little effort. It was like riding an electric bike, Sarge thought; just pedal a little, or in this case trot, and the power assist kicks in, and the next thing you know, you're moving along at twenty kilometers per hour.

The formation was spread out over two kilometers, yet they all halted and dropped as soon as Isaac stopped. There was no need to talk; better to keep comms silent. Rhys didn't think the Om could pick up their transmissions, but no need to risk it, especially since the backup was in Texas. As planned, three tiger drones crept forward, close to the ground, moving slowly and stealthily. There was no signal from them, so he couldn't watch, and there wouldn't be a signal unless they were forced into combat by Trangrods. Sarge waited patiently; he was good at that but not as good as Mike. Once Mike had laid in one position for two days waiting on a target, barely moving, even at night. He lived on peanut butter and crackers and water and didn't leave his position even to take a leak. The target finally showed, and Mike made a headshot at one and a half kilometers, not the longest shot on record but still damn good. Sarge checked the timer inside his helmet; fifteen minutes; he probably shouldn't see any of the drones back before thirty. He was tempted to send in one of his bird drones, but they tended to disappear around an Om base.

His coms dinged once, slippery on the left flank; he had spotted something. Before he could react, his comms chimed again twice, Mike on the right flank. Sarge gave the signal to withdraw, and he began moving from his position. Looking around carefully, he crawled up the edge of a steep hill and flowed over the top, staying low to the ground. One of the drones began transmitting, but it immediately cut off, but not before Sarge had seen the centipede Trangrod in the image. He was tempted to contact Rhys but didn't want to risk the comms. The Om had to know someone was in the area, but they hadn't been attacked yet, and he preferred to keep it that way.

They were back at the truck an hour later, short one drone, but otherwise, ok. They silently climbed into the vehicle and drove off. Sarge would report to Rhys when they returned to the Negev base; no need to make himself a moving target.

***

"What are you going to do, Rhys," Mika asked as she reviewed the reports from Israel.

Strike quickly; we can't afford to let the Om develop more bases. So next week we will hit them; I don't want to wait for them to get established."

"Could this be a trap to lure us in?" LCol Jack asked, still unused to his sudden promotion. It was nice to be promoted, but he still had no replacements for himself or Amanda. He missed her badly, both because she was an excellent XO and because he liked her.

"Always a possibility, Jack. Leslie and Amancia will do another reconnoiter checking for Om comms, and Sandy will be overhead in the shuttle. However, I think the Om are pushing despite what we did to them in Moscow, but notice they are still sticking to remote areas. We will go in prepared this time now that we know what we face. I know the Israeli troops have just started training, but I want some of them along when we do go in. Bring their CO and some of the senior noncoms along to observe."

"What do you want me to do," Mika asked.

"Continue your schedule as normal; we don't want to do anything to get their attention. Keep your dogs with you, and Sarge and his men will provide security around your residence, plus take Imra and Nina as well. One of them needs to be with you at all times," Rhys said.

***

The shuttle descended well out from the suspected Om base deploying Jack, fifty men plus Captain Ehud. He commanded the Israeli troops but was acting as Jack's XO for this operation today. Captain Ehud had plenty of combat experience, but not against opponents like this. Five platoons each split into two sections of five and began moving in a sweep westward behind a line of drones; the adaptive camouflage made them invisible to everything but the Om sensors they would encounter. Captain Ehud watched the deployment of the men displayed on his visor while the world in front of him was a strange mixture of colors as his helmet shifted between bands from the IR into the UV. There was even a sonar capability, but there was no need for it until they went underground, and that wasn't in the plans today.

He and his men had expected advanced technology, but nothing like this. He was wearing the new flexible powered armor that let him move effortlessly at about twenty kilometers/hour indefinitely, and he was carrying enough lethal armament to engage an armor company and win. However, what fascinated Ehud the most was the two Chinese women who moved differently from any of them. He noticed something strange about them even though he had barely interacted with them. They moved almost like synchronized ballet dancers, graceful, beautiful, but apparently very deadly. The Americans talked about them with awe, and he had seen them once in the simulator. After watching them, he wondered if they were even human. There was plenty he didn't know, but he was beginning to have suspicions. "Alpha squad, you are drifting too far to the right," Ehud said and was pleased with the almost immediate response.

"All squads halt," Jack ordered, "let the drones make first contact. The squads were spread over six kilometers in a semicircle, Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie in a line from left to right, with Delta and Echo further back in reserve.

Rhys watched his tacgrid, supplemented by Sandy's input in the shuttle. He wanted this operation to be conducted by Jack; he was only there to provide backup if needed. Kiania was in overall command from the shuttle, but he had both Binaries on the ground with him in case they ran into another Om like the last one. This battle was also about testing new doctrine they developed from fighting the Om in Russia.

"Ok, Jack, no response yet that we have detected, push the drones forward, and let's try and get the aerial drones in first and draw a reaction," Kiania said. This was meant to be a drone attack backed up by humans instead of how they fought in Moscow. Each human could only control one drone, and then only if they devoted most of their concentration to it. That had proven ineffective or even deadly at times in the past. AI helped, but the previous drones had been limited in that regard. These were much smarter; point them at a target, and the AI would do the rest, but now they worked in packs, similar to the Trangrods. In this case, one drone was under human control, but two more were slaved to it. Once the one under control was assigned a target, the other two coordinated their attack, the AIs talking to each other, creating a swarm-like intelligence.

In addition, Thea and her Binary had built a small but speedy drone similar in size to a rabbit but packed with Drans energy cells. Upon encountering a Trangrod, the energy would be released explosively. These were designed to attack the centipedes and suicide after latching on to them.

Contact! Alpha squad leader reported as two of his aerial drones disappeared, taken down by some kind of small missile. Aerial drones from the other squads likewise began taking hits.

"Pull them back," Jack ordered, looking over the terrain where the first contact had been made. If they continued to attack in this direction, his men would be funneled into a deep canyon that narrowed considerably. Definitely a trap.

Kiania recognized the danger as well. "Jack, swing the flanks around to work along each side of the ridge. Then, extend your flanks and use two squads on each side, and anchor the entrance with Charlie. The shuttle will provide fire support if necessary, and remember, keep enough drones back to watch the rear." That had been the Trangrod strategy in the past, wait until the troops moved in and then come out of tunnels behind them. However, the ship's sensors were better at picking up the tunnels now and would warn the squad leaders when their men approached one. Sandy would then use the shuttle's weapons to close them off.

Ehud hooked into the feed from one of Delta's squad drones on the right flank of the canyon, and he was suddenly immersed in the raw data that was digested by his arms comp and turned into something he could recognize. The transition was disorienting and jarring, and his senses were temporarily overwhelmed when he found himself moving fast and low over rugged ground. Nevertheless, the visual and audio inputs processed by the computer in his armor gave him a real sense of being there, moving across the rough terrain at forty-five kilometers; the scents even assaulted his nose. Captain Ehud rotated through the various EM bands, each one different and confusing. Finally, giving up, he let the computer give him a montage as he had been instructed.

He was running across the top of a ridge, jumping across fissures in the rock, and using four limbs quickly moving across ground that would be difficult and slow even for a native of the area. Ehud found the experience similar to putting on an unfamiliar glove that did not quite fit. He switched to the IR band again, but the desert rocks were already well-heated, and the details were fuzzy. There was another moment of disorientation as the drone jumped down a ravine, and then he was suddenly looking at a horribly wrong alien-looking insect at least two meters tall. Before he could break the connection, Ehud saw the barrel of a strange weapon pointed at him and two legs with sharp blades moving toward his face. His body physically jerked back as the feed went dead, and Ehud shouted with existential shock as his sense of self crashed back into his body.

Ehud shook himself mentally; he had been warned what would happen if you submersed yourself in the drone's senses.

"Contact on Delta's drones, Centipedes," he heard Jack say.

Despite the shock, Ehud shifted his vision to another drone wanting to see what happened. The two other drones attacked the centipede with their attached machine gun and grenade launcher while moving in a random pattern. The drones moved sideways, forward, and back, never standing still, their four legs allowing them to change direction on a dime. Other Trangrods moved in to attack when the centipede was hit by four missiles, and then Ehud saw what he was watching for. A small rabbit running so fast it was almost a blur avoided the other smaller Trangrods and launched itself directly at the centipede. The others fired, but they were too late, and then there was a flash as it exploded, leaving the front of the Trangrod damaged but not destroyed. Then three more attacked together, weaving through the rugged ground as they approached from three directions. One was hit and exploded, but the other two attached themselves to the centipede, and the resulting explosions left only a tangled wreckage.

Thea grinned with satisfaction when she saw the results.

"The tweaks you made to our concept performed better than expected, '' the Binary said, "but we can still increase the energy release another twenty-five percent."

"Yes," Thea replied absently, her mind working through various ideas. "But we could also make them smaller and faster, something we could put in the small bird drones, just use more of them. With these, we can smother the Trangrods in numbers. I want to call it the Flight of the Hummingbirds."

"They are not dumb, though, the Om will now look for a way to counter these, it's a good concept, but now they will expect it," the Binary replied, sounding more annoyed at the situation than anything else.

Thea felt something change as the Binary shifted into combat mode, and at the same time, the ship's sensors realized there was something new. "Five hundred and seventy," Sandy reported as new contacts sprang up. It seemed that they were not the only ones working on new weapons.

"Some kind of airborne Trangrod, cover where you can, Kiania ordered Jack; the shuttle and fighters will take out what we can,"

Sandy was already calling in the fighters, six of them along just for training purposes, they had no business being thrown into battle yet, but they were needed. She just hoped it would be enough.

LCol Sampson was orbiting well out of the combat zone, still in Israeli airspace, in a formation of six manned aircraft, each with four drones accompanying them. Three of the fighters included LtCol Kohen and two other Israeli pilots. "Drones only, two each, he ordered, using the AI to transmit the vectors he wanted to the Weapons Officers. Everyone still had much to learn, and they were woefully under trained and not ready for actual combat, but over his objections, Col Sandy had insisted. He watched as the drones turned and immediately accelerated to mach 15; they didn't have to worry about any squishy humans. Right now, he and Kohen were bystanders in the battle; the backseats would be fighting the battle, albeit only peripherally. Though he still didn't understand it, the drone's AI's would switch to a swarm communication that increased the AI function by orders of magnitude. Remote-controlled hunt and kill took on a whole new meaning.