The business woman had absolutely no intention of staying at the Imperial, but knew better than to lay electronic tracks to her real destination. Whatever that would be.The bay area had escaped the sort of destruction visited on Los Angeles and looked reasonably normal except for the military presence on the streets. Major intersections were guarded by tanks, cyborgs, and armored personnel carriers. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was in control.Sophie considered her options. There weren't any. She could approach the government and allow them to throw her in prison, or go get some help. The law firm of Baracko, Allison, and Griin had served Doug Douglas Enterprises for a long time and would know what to do.With her decision made, the business woman decided to settle back and let the ride take care of itself. Traffic was lighter than usual, which shaved ten minutes off the trip. There was a whir as the autocab pulled into the drive, took the correct number

Jyro felt his heart thump against his chest. Were aliens waiting? How would they react? What should he say to them? Something moved. The dart thrower came up; his finger tightened on the trigger, and then came off again.Nano! A long silvery stream of the silvery stuff had entered the ship and oozed in his direction.The human watched the pseudopod split into three separate rivulets. Two turned and slithered down side passageways, while the third probed the main corridor.The nano were assessing how much damage the ship had suffered. That's the way it appeared, anyway, which suggested that they were external to the ship. Afterall, if the ship had the ability to repair itself, why wait until now?Thus encouraged, the prospector followed the pulsating stream back toward its source. He passed through one of the more damaged sections, saw light through a ragged hole, and was struck by how strange they were, like luminescent dandelion seeds floating on the wind.

Fort Camerone squatted on the dry, rocky plain, and, with the exception of the missile launchers, antenna arrays, and fly form landing pads that broke its hard, angular lines, looking a lot like the godforsaken outposts the Legion had occupied in North Africa, centuries before.General Maltese Kairo low-crawled forward, used his elbows for support, and brought the binoculars up to his eyes. A motor whirred, and the outskirts of the ever expanding slum known as Naa Town, swam into focus.The shanty town consisted of hundreds of makeshift earthen domes, each reinforced with whatever chunk of metal or plastic that the occupants could beg, borrow, or steal.The officer panned from left to right. Data rippled down from the right side of the screen. Range, albedo, and more. None of it mattered. What did matter was the fact that smoke dribbled out of only half the chimneys, very little laundry had been hung to dry, and the narrow, twisting streets were practically deserted.

There was no longer any doubt. Something terrible had happened. There were plenty of reasons to think so, not the least of which was a lack of meaningful radio contact with the fort.Oh, there were conversations all right, plenty of them, but none that mattered. The com technicians sounded legit but couldn't come up with any officers. Why? Because they were busy? Like the techs claimed? Or because of something a good deal more sinister? A full scale mutiny? Was that the answer? Had the scouts known that something would happen before they left the fort? That would explain how certain they were. But what about the men and women under his command? They seemed unaffected. Why? None of it made much sense.One thing was for sure: it was impossible for general Saul to keep his mouth shut for more than ten seconds. That being the case, Kairo would have heard from the asshole by now. Yes, something was very, very wrong when Saul remained silent, but what?The general had no mo

One of Elgiron's super short nights passed into day as a line of artillery shells marched down off a low-lying hill, exploded with the same ruthless efficiency as the computer that controlled them, and hurled fountains of dirt high into the air.Kairo waited for the barrage to end, strolled out of the CP, and nodded to a sentry. "How's it going', Hayes? Better keep your head down. Those idiots might get lucky".Hayes laughed, just as she was supposed to, and told Corporal Ataph. He told Sergeant Muntu, and the entire battalion had the story within the hour."Yup", everyone agreed, "there is nothing that bothers the old man, except cold tea, and stupid orders".None of which would have surprised Kairo, who knew that the troops took a considerable amount of comfort from such stories, and tried to keep them happy.Major Kitty Kitty frowned as her boss riggled up next to her, produced his binoculars, and scanned the distant fort. She considered Kairo's predilect