“Ninety-second warning,” Jolene said.
“Go to sleep,” I whispered to Jagger. “Everything is over. The Angels are all dead and you can rest. Rest. Sleep . . .”
Jagger stood in a faster-than-human move and nearly got shot for his speed, Gomez’s auto-dart system aimed at his right eye. But Jagger walked with purpose to my bed and shoved the cats to the side. The big guy fell into the sheets. The cat-purring nearly overpowered the human snores.
“Tuffs? Is the spy cat away from the invader vehicle?”
Tuffs leapt onto the table and lay down, the picture of unconcern. I figured that meant her great-great-great-granddaughter was safe.
“Mateo, you got the three invaders?”
“I haveone, Little Girl. The bleeder died before I got there, and the male died fighting. The female’s in bad shape but the med-bay should fix her right up.”
“Bring her in,” I said.
Sliding into the Command seat I said to the Bug AI, “Gomez. Initiate B/B Three array.”
“According to Jolene, there is a military satellite overhead,” Gomez said. “If you fire, they will see the energy signature.”
“Wait, you’re still talking to Jolene?”
“Communications were initiated forty-seven minutes and eleven seconds ago and are ongoing.”
“Great,” I breathed, lying, because it wasn’t a good thing at all. “Jolene, recommendations?”
“Darlin’, I been scanning Gomez’s available weapons and I think I may have to marry him. Iloooovebig guns.”
I laughed again, that odd, unfamiliar sensation and emotion.
Jolene said, “According to Gomez’s scanners, our attackers have indeed repaired their tires, track systems, and engines. Them boys are powering up for an imminent attack and you need your shields. Bug shields are less likely to be seen by recon satellites than Bug weapons. I recommend you bring up shields and let the invaders expend ammunition against them for a while. That gives you time to stabilize your power levels and question the CO’s prisoner. Plus, it gives the satellite time to descend below the horizon, which will allow you to use Gomez’s sexy weapons systems. From the time the first satellite descends below the horizon and the time that the next one rises, you will have four minutes, forty-eight seconds to fire all weapons and go dark.”
That was a tight timeline to destroy my attackers.
“Open up,” Mateo said into my earbud.
I slapped the airlock open and Mateo placed a woman inside. I closed the outer airlock and opened the med-bay, scooped out the mostly-healed cats, placing the felines on Jagger’s belly. Making sure the cats were out of the way, I opened the inner airlock. Dragged the woman inside. Her suit had instituted pneumatic anti-shock protocols. Mateo had not been kind to her. She stank of blood, urine, sweat, pain, and Devil Milk. I tossed the woman in the med-bay and closed the lid, setting the protocols for triage and advanced life support. I hit the office control for Level Five Decontamination. I mopped her blood from the office floor fast. She hadn’t been swarmed by bicolors and bitten by a queen, so she wasn’t a queen herself, like Clarisse Warhammer and me. She couldn’t spread her own nanobots, but I wasn’t taking chances. I’d figure out a way to use the Grabber in here as soon as I could, so I would never accidently infect another human.
“Estimated thirty-second warning until attack, Sweet Thang,” Jolene said.
I threw myself back into my Com seat. “Mateo, you clear?”
“Affirmative. I am at the Grabber, tossing twenty-seven Puffers under for deactivation. With your two, that makes twenty-nine for this burst. Your cats are handy herders.”
That was a lot. And . . . that meant Tuffs and the cats had understood they needed to herd the Puffers into one place. That was freaky. And kinda scary.
“Gomez, bring up shields,” I said.
But before Gomez could comply, the MS Angels hit me with everything they had. The ground shook. The noise was incredible. The vibrations clattered my teeth and rattled my bones. The shields went up sparking. The noise decreased, the Bug shields absorbing and deflecting everything. Orange light filled the office.
The cats purred. Jagger snored.
The Tac Vehicles, the mini-bot, and the Mammoth moved in, toward the office. I counted the minutes and seconds for the satellite to drop below the horizon. Hoping the shields held.
The enemy bombardment continued.
I lost a lot of scrap. I lost Tesla engines, copper wiring, the newly purchased AGR Tesla, and even a stack of old cast-iron bathtubs. The barrage cost me a lot of money. But the shields held. And Mateo’s suit sensors read stable. Wherever he was hiding it was in a safe location.
Over the noise, Jolene said, “Satellite declining below horizon. It will be safe to fire the B/B array in three, two, one.”
