Storm Force: Book Three of the Last Legion Series by Chris Bunch Page B

build. Assuming, as is likely, this and Kura’s other three planets are Redruth’s rice bowl, as the intelligence indicated.”
    “Or,” Mahim said, “a little radioactive dust here and there.”
    “That would work as well,” Froude said, undisturbed. “If we have no postwar plans for occupying the planet.”
    “Back to the operation at hand,” Garvin said. “For extraction we’ll pull back into the mountains, and holler for help. I’d guesstimate operation time at, oh, five to seven E-days. But it could run double that, so don’t pack yourselves on the thin side.”
    Garvin saw Alikhan looking at him, raised a questioning eyebrow.
    “A private word, Garvin?”
    Garvin started to say there weren’t any secrets on something like this, stopped himself, and went out of the compartment with the Musth.
    “I am still not that familiar with your fighting rules,” Alikhan said. “Was there a reason you did not mention those … I do not have a word for it … presences we saw in the display from time to time?”
    “Presences?”
    “They appeared to me like thin, small clouds, but moved in several directions, so they could not be clouds, unless the winds over those mountains are stranger than any I’ve known.”
    “I think,” Garvin said, “we better go back inside and tell the troops what you think you saw.”
    Alikhan followed him back. The soldiers were studying the projection, muttering about “steep bastard to be humping,” “figure max travel no more’n three klicks a day,” “wonder if there’s villagers in the jungle we’ll have to worry about,” and such.
    “Crew, listen up,” Garvin said. “We might have problems. Would you rerun the sweep over the rivers?”
    The tech obeyed.
    Alikhan pointed, his head moving back and forth rapidly. “There is one. Another. Two there. That one.”
    The humans looked perplexed.
    “Did anyone see any of what Alikhan was pointing at?”
    There was a chorus of “no,” nossir,” “nah,” and such.
    “Very interesting,” Dr. Froude said. “One of the many things we appear to have overlooked was whether the Musth sense beyond human ranges.”
    “None of you saw what I did?” Alikhan said, wonderingly.
    There was a long silence.
    “Technician,” Garvin asked, “does your record show anything above/below human perception?”
    The technician touched keys on the holo box, read the screen, frowned, hit more keys.
    “No, sir. Nothing like
he
says he’s seeing … and there isn’t any way somebody could sight something that the instruments say isn’t there.”
    Alikhan surveyed the woman, ears cocking, eyes reddening in anger. But he said nothing.
    “I don’t like things to get strange,” Deb Irthing said.
    “Who does?” Garvin said. “When we send the drone in again, we’ll see if Alikhan picks up anything. Maybe,” he said hopefully, but not very convincingly, “we’ve just got some flaws on the recorder.”
    • • •
    Another, closer pass over the area gave more details. There were small villages here and there. Just below the first, smaller dam, was a military-looking camp, and there were buildings on either side of the dam’s parapet.
    Alikhan also saw half a dozen more of the “clouds.”
    “I do not like this, Garvin,” he said. “This time, as they are seen by the drone, they move quickly to one side or another, as if they do not wish to be pictured.”
    “So now, in addition to everything else,” Garvin said, “we’ve got invisible thingieboppers that can sense drones. Whyinhell doesn’t that frigging Yoshitaro report in with some good skinny to explain all?”
    “What’s the prog, boss?” Lir said.
    “Screw it,” Garvin said. “We’re going in.”
    “Bless Ahriman and his putty dildo,” Lir said fervently. “I was sure this’d end up another goddamned dry run.”
    • • •
    The
Parnell
made a fast swoop, dropping off a relay satellite in a geosynchronous orbit over the target area that would bounce any