They rarely saw any of the ships that regularly transported goods to and from Xeno-11, although it wasn’t unusual to hear one at least a few times a year. That was why she barely paused when she heard the engines she’d dreaded in the first couple of years that they’d spent on the planet. By the time it registered that it was coming far closer than any had before, the ship was nearly overhead.
Fortunately, none of the cyborgs in their little village were as complacent as the humans among them. They’d collected their weapons and were waiting and watching tensely as the shadow of the craft slid across the ground beneath their treetop village.
Galvanized, finally, by the possibility of threat, Danika began snatching down the wet laundry she’d just finished hanging to dry in the breeze. Balling it into a wad, she cursed under her breath because she knew with absolute certainty that if eyes had been trained on the terrain below the ship, the telltale flutter would’ve already been seen. The ship had already glided past by the time she’d gathered the laundry. Dropping it to the walkway, she dashed to the hut she shared with her men and grabbed her weapons.
It flickered through her mind that, such as they were, they would be pretty much useless if there was a firefight. They’d long since used up the little ammunition they’d been left with when the cyborgs had abandoned the planet. Now they had nothing but the crude, primitive weapons they’d fashioned themselves and those would be pathetically inadequate against an attack by the technologically superior Confederation … or the Andorians, for that matter. Memories flooded her mind of their own ‘war’ with the primitives when they’d first arrived and her heart sank.
They were up shit creek!
She shook the thought. She had something precious to protect.
She was almost certain she did, anyway.
A knot formed in her throat. She hadn’t told any of the guys what she suspected. She hadn’t wanted to get their hopes up if she was wrong.
Now, she might not get the chance.
She pushed it from her mind in the next moment. It was just as well she hadn’t told them. They wouldn’t want her to join the fight, and, despite the fact that the cyborgs were a formidable force—armed or not—they were going to be heavily outnumbered and outgunned.
Everyone would need to fight.
She saw the same white faced fear and determination on the faces of the other women as she left her hut. Without a word, they moved to the vines used to descend to the ground and joined the men below.
Seth’s expression was hard when she met his gaze. “They have landed.”
Danika nodded a little jerkily. She didn’t bother to question his assessment. “Do you think they spotted the village?”
He shook his head. “I think we must assume that they were using infrared and will know we are here. Take the other women and move to the caves. They will not be able to detect your heat signature there. Dane, Niles and I will go to see if we can determine what their business is here. The others will form a perimeter around the cave and wait.”
Basil scowled at being excluded from the scouting party until it apparently occurred to him that Danika was to be left in his care. He nodded then and the entire group began to move as quickly and quietly as possible into the jungle, using the thick foliage to hide themselves and stepping carefully on the thick carpet of leaves on the ground to camouflage their tracks.
Danika had lost most of her fear long before they reached the cave. In point of fact she was so irritated that Seth had told her to hide with the other women that little else occupied her mind beyond the focus on moving swiftly and quietly.
Still, she knew it was the right thing to do. There was no option for them, really.
Well, they could’ve simply abandoned the village and fled, but that wouldn’t have bought them a lot of time. If the intruders had detected the village, they’d surely check it, and if they did they would find enough there to convince them it wasn’t primitives who’d been living there.
And then they would follow.
This way, they’d at least know what they were up against … before they went on the run.
Anger flickered through her. She didn’t want to give up the damned village! It wasn’t the most comfortable place she’d ever lived but it beat the hell out of living on the trail!
And if she was right and she was pregnant ….
Before she had time to think of any really awful possibilities, the scouts returned without any attempt whatsoever of stealth.
Danika had already stepped into the mouth of the cave, in clear view, before she spotted the troop of men behind hers. She froze, feeling adrenaline shoot through her.
“It is safe to come out,” Seth said, although he was frowning.
No doubt because she’d given her position away! Stupid! She had gotten way too complacent and forgotten way too much about soldiering!
Fortunately, she realized that the men following her squad were cyborgs.
Dane grinned. “Reuel sent them to get us!”
“They have found a world for the Cyborg Nation!” Niles said, grinning as broadly as Dane.
