Earth Afire (The First Formic War 2)

"It was nine months ago, Lem. We weren't even sure if you were still alive. It was very valuable tech. We weren't going to sit around and hope you showed up. We took what we knew and we moved on."

"If you could've done all the testing here, why did my father send me to the Kuiper Belt in the first place?"

"Because the K Belt is still the ideal place to conduct field trials secretly," said Simona. "Your father wasn't trying to get rid of you, if that's what y

ou're thinking. The Deep is still our preferential testing ground. We only tested here because we had to. We didn't have the time or the communications capabilities to launch another crew."

Lem leaned on the table and stared at the holo. Two years in space, and Father could have just as easily done the tests here. Not as thoroughly perhaps, not as reliably, but that hadn't stopped Father from doing them. It made Lem feel as if all that time on the Makarhu had been an utter waste. "If it's a prospecting ship, then why is it outfitted with a glaser?"

"Because it's not a prospecting ship anymore," said Simona. "Now it's a warship."

Lem regarded her, an eyebrow raised. "You're joking."

"Ukko plans to attack the mothership," said Simona, "and he's going to use a fleet of drones to do it."

"A fleet? How many of these drones does he plan to make?"

"Fifty. And he's already made them. The glasers are produced as well. The only thing left to do is mount the glasers onto the drones. Our assembly lines are working around the clock on that as we speak. It's proving trickier than we thought, though. We're having to modify the drone's flight controls to accommodate the glaser."

"How extensive was your testing of the glaser?" Lem asked.

"Mostly lab work and computer models," said Simona. "We couldn't exactly go outside and blow up a few asteroids. There aren't any around here. That's why fields tests are best."

"You need to speak with Dr. Benyawe and Dr. Dublin, my chief engineer. All of our computer models for the glaser were wrong. When we hit a big asteroid in the Kuiper Belt, the resulting gravity field was far bigger than any of us expected. It almost consumed our ship. The Formic ship is much bigger than that rock, and its composition is unknown. Benyawe convinced me that it was too dangerous to hit it with the glaser. There's no telling what kind of gravity field would result. Hitting it with fifty glasers at once could be suicide."

Simona made a few notes on her holopad. "Anything else?"

"Yes. You still haven't explained why I need to pitch the glaser in interviews and what this has to do with the U.S."

Simona wiped her hand through the field, and the drone disappeared. After a few more gestures, the Formic ship appeared in its place. "Our sources inside the U.S. Joint Chiefs tell us that the Americans are planning a strike against the Formic mothership," said Simona.

"We have sources that high inside the U.S. military?"

"We have sources everywhere, dear. And these are particularly reliable ones. Although the strike isn't much of a secret, truth be told. Everyone expects it. The U.S. has been preparing for it out in space ever since word of the Formic ship was confirmed. And as you know, it's very hard to do anything in space without the whole world noticing. What isn't common knowledge is when and how the strike will happen, which is what our sources have told us."

"What's the U.S. planning?"

"They've weaponized about fifteen shuttles, and they've added these to their existing space fleet. Right now they have twenty-two ships. We caught wind this morning that the Russians, British, and Chinese are adding ships as well, bringing the total to fifty-three."

"I saw the Formics take on sixty ships at once in the Belt," said Lem. "It wasn't pretty."

"The U.S. is doing it anyway," said Simona. "Their military dismisses the Battle of the Belt as blue-collar scrubs acting like soldiers."

"Then the U.S. military are idiots," said Lem. "Asteroid miners are far better space pilots and far better prepared for space combat than soldiers and pilots brought up from the planet."

Simona shrugged. "I'm not a strategist. I just keep your father informed."

"Why doesn't the U.S. military just pound the mothership with nukes?"

"They have. Or rather they tried. Three days ago. It didn't work. The Formic guns picked off the missiles on their approach, long before they reached the Formic ship. The missiles detonated and emitted massive electromagnetic pulses that took out about three dozen satellites and created artificial radiation belts that will annoy everyone for years to come."

"If the nuke strike failed, then why is the U.S. going through with a manned strike? If the Formics can hit missiles, taking out shuttles and ships will be child's play."

"The U.S. doesn't think so. The Formic weapons systems are hidden inside the ship and only emerge when the ship is threatened. STASA footage of the Battle of the Belt and the footage of the Formics taking out the U.N. secretary showed us where those weapons are concealed."

"How? The surface is round. Every square inch of the ship looks identical."

"I don't know. They must have some way. Maybe the ship's close enough now to detect small discrepancies on the surface. All I know is they intend to target those places where the weapons are stored and cripple the guns before they can emerge. A second team of ships will be striking the Formics here, at the tip, where the shield-generation equipment is located. The U.S. is confident that with those two objectives achieved, they can easily push on with a full-scale assault."