Earth Afire (The First Formic War 2)

"That's comforting," said Imala.

"How did you figure this out?" asked Victor.

Yanyu pulled a holopad from her bag. "It's the only explanation I could think of for this." She tapped a command and extended two thin poles from opposite corners on the holopad's surface. A moment later, a holo consisting of hundreds of tiny, random dots of light flickered to life above the pad. At first Victor thought he was looking at a star cluster, but as he leaned forward and got a closer look, a sickening feeling tugged at the pit of his stomach. He had seen such a cluster before. Deep in the Kuiper Belt.

"What is it?" asked Imala.

"Wreckage," said Victor.

Yanyu nodded, grave. "I'm still running scans because the readings from the scopes aren't particularly clear, but I think Victor's right. These objects appear to be moving away from each other at a constant speed from a center point. Like ship debris from an explosion."

"How many ships?" said Victor.

Yanyu shrugged. "No way to be certain, but probably dozens. If you trace the movement of all of the debris, the point of origin is here in the Asteroid Belt, near an asteroid named Kleopatra. Juke has facilities on the asteroid's surface, so there's a

lways a lot of traffic there. If a burst of radiation from the alien ship took out the mining ships in that vicinity, then we have to assume that it took out all the facilities on Kleopatra as well."

"How many people are stationed there?" asked Imala.

"Between seven and eight thousand," said Yanyu.

Imala swore under her breath.

"And who knows how many people were on those ships," said Yanyu. "Maybe double that. We have no way of knowing."

"How old is this data?" said Victor.

"I got the first scans back this morning," said Yanyu.

"Who else knows about this?" said Victor.

"I shared it with my supervisor. He's reviewing the data now. He made me come find you and bring you back to the lab."

"We need to contact the media," said Imala. "Your supervisor needs to hold a press conference."

Yanyu frowned and shook her head. "No. I am sorry. That will not happen. We are not independent researchers. We work for Juke Limited. If anyone holds a press conference it has to be corporate."

"Corporates?" said Victor. "You want to bring in a lying snake like Ukko Jukes? He'll twist this somehow, he'll use it for his own gain. That's the last thing we need."

"I can't stand the man either, Victor," said Imala. "But these are his employees. He's responsible for these people. Their families on Luna or Earth deserve to know what has happened to them."

"We don't know what's happened to them, Imala," said Victor. "We're speculating."

"Ukko can help us, Victor. He has connections throughout the world. He's the most powerful man alive. If he knows the truth, the whole world will know."

Victor sat back. Ukko Jukes, father of Lem Jukes, the man who had crippled Victor's family's ship and killed his uncle. What had Father said at the time? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree? If Victor couldn't work with Lem, how could he possibly work with the father?

Yet what choice did Victor have? He was a fugitive, with nowhere to run and no other leads. It was only a matter of time before the LTD found him and Imala and sent them both packing.

"If we do this, I want to talk to Ukko Jukes myself," said Victor. "I want to tell him to his face that his son is a murdering bastard."

"Don't bother," said Imala. "Knowing Ukko, he might take that as a compliment."

CHAPTER 3

Lem

Lem Jukes stood before the crew of his asteroid-mining ship with his hands clasped reverently in front of him. He watched as the last people to arrive floated through the entrance and made their way to the back of the room where the rest of the crew was gathered. Each of them wore a blue jumpsuit with the Juke Limited corporate logo embroidered over the left breast. The magnetic greaves on their shins and vambraces on their forearms anchored them to the floor once they were in position. Other than the quiet rustle of fabric as everyone took their places, the helm was completely silent.