Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

take on the universe!
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THREE
     
    “And that is what we face,” Jack said as his allies finished watching his neutrino chats with Benaxis and Hilok. He looked aside to the crewwoman dressed in Mars red who stood beside an AutoChef device in the Admiral’s Mess. “You got any booze? I got a feeling we’ll all need some before we eat dinner.”
    The trim Asian woman, who showed the shoulder patch of a chief warrant officer, gave him an easy smile. “We do, Fleet Captain Jack. I will return with beer, wine and some of your Johnny Walker Black Label scotch.” The woman exited through the slidedoor into the larger Mess Hall of the Bismarck .
    He looked back to the eighteen people gathered at the oval table in the middle of the room. At the far end was the large wallscreen which they had been watching. It now showed the busy interior of the Dock Cavern. Nikola sat to his left while Maureen sat to his right. At the far end of the table was Admiral Hideyoshi Minamoto, leader of the Mars fleet. Between them and on the left side of the black granite table were Elaine, Ignacio, Denise, Max, Blodwen, Archibald, Cassie, Captain Zhāng Dingbang of the Nimitz and, coming up the right side of the table, were Belter ship captains Minna Kekkonen, Akemi Hagiwara, Júlia Araujo, Aashman Dasgupta, Kasun Guardiya, Helena Antonov, Vigdis Sturludottir and Gareth Davies, the Welshman who was romancing Maureen. Or being romanced by her. It was hard to tell, given the woman’s ‘take-charge’ manner for all things in life. Jack fixed on the elderly admiral.
    “Hideyoshi, while I am a skeptic when it comes to second-hand information, I am worried by the threat posed by this Arbitor. Your thoughts?”
    The Japanese native rubbed his clean-shaven chin, then showed his trademark stern look. “We resist, of course. But with subtlety and much advance planning. As Sun Tzu said, ‘Secret operations are essential in war, upon them the army relies to make its every move’.” The veteran of the First Belter War scanned the table, then fixed back on Jack. “I like your idea of meeting this Arbitor with ships from our Alien allies. Seeing other species involved may cause this Alien to be more restrained.”
    Jack nodded, then fixed on Maureen. The woman’s expression would have scared a pit viper. “Yes, Combat Commander?”
    “Kill the dino bastards,” she said in Gaelic-accented English. She pushed up the sleeves of her black leotard and clenched both fists. The hair fine wrinkles on her rad-tanned face grew deeper as she frowned. She gestured at the wallscreen. “We go to Tau Ceti. We meet and make talk-talk with this reptile abomination. We lie to it, as you, young man, have suggested. Then we kill it with an antimatter beam. Or with Archibald’s Higgs Disruptor beam. The belly nodule that the Mathilde engineers added to the Uhuru gives us the Higgs option.”
    Nikola leaned forward. “But what if the Arbitor ship really does have a field able to resist lasers and beams? What then?”
    Maureen shrugged. “The shield can’t stay up forever. My guess is that so long as we can see starlight reflecting from its hull, then its shield is not up. Photons going out mean photons and other stuff can go in . So, while young Jack here makes talk-talk, I put on my vacsuit, load up with contact explosives, and then launch myself through space to the Arbitor ship. I plant the charges and blow a hole in its hull. Let the bastards suck vacuum!”
    “But Maureen!” cried Elaine. “You could die from the explosion! Or from this shield if it activates.”
    “Let me do this!” cried Akemi of the Orca . “My ancestors understood the need for one person to sometimes perform hara-kiri for the benefit of all.”
    Jack did not like the way things were going. “Maureen! You have grown kids and grandkids who need you here on Mathilde. Anyway, the Uhuru would be toothless without you in the Combat Module. And Akemi,