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“Baldur,” Reya called out to one of the workstation technicians, who immediately began to issue the order. Reya turned back to Julian. “What about anything already out there?”

Julian considered only a moment. “Scramble three squads. We’ll do a field check of anything on its way up. If not satisfied, it gets de-orbited. Send that info to the ground, immediately.”

Julian started to move away, to check another workstation, when Reya said, “I can’t believe it’s come to this.”

Julian turned. “Afraid we don’t get the reality where they politely ask to invade.”

~

“Are they kidding?” Lem Carter goggled at his communications officer, who had pulled him aside and out of earshot of the passengers that were already aboard the passenger liner
Lincoln
. “Tell me they’re kidding. We’re supposed to leave in less than two hours, Ricky!”

“They’re not kidding, Captain,” Enrique Valentino shrugged. He handed the datapad over, with the message still on its display. “The order just came from CnC. Everything’s grounded, incoming and outgoing, until further notice.”

“Sweet Jesus,” Lem spat, but softly, so as not to alert any nearby passengers, and glanced around the blended-winged liner’s deck with a practiced air of calm. Some of them had come on board early, in order to settle into their coaches. A modern passenger liner coach could be as comfortable, though obviously not as large, as many of the simpler hotels and hostels on Verdant, and passengers often liked to come in early to beat the crowds, and take a nap, or break out some of their working or entertainment gear. Enrique had caught up to Lem on deck two, where he had been checking up on the final adjustments to a coach wallscreen that had been due for replacement, and had finally shown up the day before. A few of the passengers had also been watching the work on the screen, people often being fascinated by watching other people work, and Lem had been engaged in casual conversation with some of them when Enrique had arrived.

Now, in the corridor between coaches, Lem’s eyes searched the bulkheads, as if hoping to find an answer scrawled somewhere on the walls. Then he handed the datapad back to Enrique and put his hands on his hips. “Fine,” he sighed. “You call Global and inform them we’re locked down. After you’re done with Global, send out a general textcast to everyone on our passenger list. Inform them that our scheduled flight has been cancelled due to… uh… complications caused by the Yellowstone Caldera. While you’re doing that, I’ll inform the passengers that are here.”

“Yessir,” Enrique nodded, and headed back for the communications hub of the
Lincoln
.

Lem, in turn, headed back to the bridge, muttering, “Something tells me this day is not going to go well.”

~

Calvin was awakened about an hour earlier than usual, by his wife. Erin had poked her head into the master bedroom and awakened Maria, who in turn awoke Calvin.

“You guys have to hear the news,” Erin was saying. “There’s fighting and shooting on Fertile, and Qing forced an incoming ship full of refugees to return to Earth, where they crashed!”

“What!” Calvin was awake instantly. “Fighting…” He stumbled out of bed, almost tripping over the blanket and sprawling across the floor.

“Honey, slow down!” Maria cautioned him. Then, to Erin, “Have they said anything about Verdant?”

“Well, nothing about fighting,” Erin replied. “But they’ve suspended all air traffic until further notice. I guess so no ships full of refugees can get in.”

“What about Tranquil?” Calvin asked, grabbing a pair of trousers, and some fresh underwear, and heading for the bathroom.

“Same as Verdant, I think,” Erin replied.

“Good…” Calvin was thinking furiously as he dressed, half-considering the urge to shave, and dismissing it as quickly. The research and calculations he’d obtained regarding the laser-spiked defensive field (not quite a “force field,” even he had to admit, but as close as anyone was likely to get), with Valeria and Leon’s help, had gotten off to a good start, but still needed a lot of development. Unfortunately, now it sounded like they may be out of time, and Calvin did not want to have to approach Ceo Lenz when it was all over, only then to present him with what might turn out to be a defensive solution. Finished or not, he had to tell him now.

He realized at that moment that Maria had appeared in the bathroom doorway. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“Have to go to CnC,” Calvin told her. “And tell Lenz about the defensive field—”

“I don’t think you should go,” Maria said quickly. “What if people come aboard Verdant they way they did on Fertile? What if there’s fighting?”

“CnC has suspended traffic,” Calvin replied. “No one can get in.”

“Well… what if they force their way aboard? What if they’re armed?”

“Then we have bigger problems than I can handle,” Calvin said grimly. “Where’s my case?”

He charged out of the bedroom, past his wife and his wide-eyed daughter. Erin watched him as he darted into the study, then turned back to Maria. “Mom?”

“It’s okay, baby,” Maria said, just as Calvin came out of the study.

“Don’t worry… Verdant is still safe!” he called back to them. “I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

“Daddy—”

“Don’t worry! I’ll see you soon!” Calvin whipped the door open, and pulled it shut as he ran out. After a moment, Maria moved forward and locked the door.

Then she turned to her daughter. “Let’s see what else the news says.”

~

Hunter and Goldie were the third and fourth of the Wasps that dropped out of the Verdant’s bays, followed not long afterward by two more. The first two were already angling sunward, to take up their defensive positions along the trailing side of Verdant’s orbit. The last two would be moving to the leading side of Verdant’s orbit. Hunter and Goldie headed Earthward, to stand between the planet and Verdant.

“Judging by my scanners,” Goldie announced, “it looks like Tranquil has also deployed Wasps.”

“Good thing for them,” Hunter stated. “Probably the only thing that will keep us both from getting boarded so easily. But it won’t last.”

Goldie looked over her shoulder, as if she could see her partner in his Wasp. “You really think we’ll end up in a shooting match up here?”

“I can’t see how we won’t,” Hunter replied. “Sooner or later, they’re gonna decide that they want to be up here. And sooner or later, they’re gonna figure out that the only way to do it will be to take us out. That means fighter escorts. That means a shooting match.”

Goldie did not respond. She knew that, in a one-on-one match, the Wasp crews would have the distinct advantage of familiarity with orbital combat in orbit-optimized fighters that the ground-based pilots would lack. Still, that didn’t mean she expected they’d have no losses. And there was no reason to expect the ground to send only enough fighters for one-on-one matching.

Instead, she examined her scanners. “I read no incoming traffic,” she said.

Hunter nodded. “Let’s hope it stays that way, then.”

“Check that,” Goldie said suddenly, as she was resetting her scanners to view a wider area. “I have a Nautilus inbound for Verdant. It’s coming down from outer orbit, though.”

“Double-check their ID,” Hunter said, switching his scanners as well. “Tronic and verbal.” He saw the short-range ship on his monitors, too, and his data included a broadcast registry code that indicated it had come from Verdant. He got busy querying Verdant for flight data, while over the com Goldie challenged the ship verbally.

They both heard the response.
“This is Naut-vee-three-six, pilot Lexy Carras, ident UNAF-449437245 assigned to Verdant satellite. Our flight is on the schedule for this morning.”

“I confirm pilot identity,” Goldie said over the com.

“And I confirm the assignment,” Hunter stated. “Proceed straight to the bays, Naut-vee-three-six… do not stop for sightseeing. Confirm.”

“Confirmed,”
came the reply.
“Have a good shift.”

“If I don’t have to shoot at anybody,” Hunter commented drily.

As the Nautilus proceeded for the docking bays, Goldie examined its heading, and used her scanners to backtrack it. After a moment, she said, “Hunter, Lexy just took that tug out to the same heading we used to drop off and pick up that test-bed the other day.”

“Another test? What about it?”

“I just scanned back on Lexy’s projected return course. I don’t see any sign of a test-bed up there.”

“So she’s coming back with it,” Hunter suggested.

“Not according to my scans. They indicate the Naut wasn’t carrying.”

Hunter considered a moment. Then he changed his frequency. “Control: Wasp three requesting verbal confirmation of scheduled run of Naut-vee-three-six. What is its payload and mission?”

There was a perceptible delay before the response came in.
“Wasp three, Control: Naut-vee-three-six’s mission is classified com silence. Do not discuss over the air.”

“Control, Wasp three requests override, code two priority.” Code two was a suspicion of a military threat.

“Hunter—” Goldie started, but Control came back on the line.

“Request denied, Wasp three. Naut-vee-three-six is in sight of the bay, and systems are nominal.”

That was supposed to mean that someone at the bay could see the tug, and was declaring that there was nothing visually unusual about it. That would include a payload in its arms that wasn’t supposed to be there, or a missing payload where one was expected. Hunter imagined a number of possibilities: The Nautilus was returning with the right payload, and Goldie’s scanners hadn’t picked it up; it was returning with a dummy payload; or it had no payload, and somehow Goldie’s scanners couldn’t pick up the payload it had dropped off. It was a bit of a mystery… but Hunter wasn’t really getting the vibe that it was a threat. And after the last few days of reprimands and lousy assignments, he decided finally not to press his luck.

“It’s all yours, Control,” Hunter said finally. “Wasp three, out.”

“Okay,” Goldie came back online. “Even I have to admit, that was a bit weird.”

“Yeah,” Hunter agreed. “Let’s keep an eye on that track… just in case.”

“Just in case what?” Goldie asked. “You think something from Earth’s going to attack us from above?”

“No…” Hunter wasn’t sure what to say, as he couldn’t pin down what he thought. “Just keep an eye on it, that’s all.”

When Calvin reached CnC, he immediately saw Ceo Lenz in an earnest conversation with Kris Fawkes. He vaguely remembered her talking to him the other day, as he was coming out of the sciences section. But for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what the subject had been… he had been that tired at the time.

At the moment, however, their conversation sounded like it was related to the order to suspend flights. As he approached, he could hear more of the conversation between them.

“President Lambert’s office is being inundated with calls from citizens who were scheduled to go home today and tomorrow,” Kris was saying. “These people have loved ones and business contacts on Earth, depending on them, and they cannot afford to stay on Verdant longer than necessary!”

“I empathize with them,” Julian replied calmly. “However, the situation out there is escalating into dangerous territory. I’m sure those people wouldn’t rather leave now and be shot down in a misunderstanding, would they?”

“Obviously, no one wants that. But if something like that happened, the President is prepared to deal with the guilty parties.”

“Even if it turns out to be American citizens?”

“Who said Americans are going to attack Americans?”

“Kris, that’s exactly how dangerous the situation is. Anyone could end up shooting at anything! I’m trying to keep the peace, and that means keeping travelers out of harm’s way.”

“But for how long?”

“I wish I could tell you.”

“The President will not consider that a satisfactory answer.”

“He’ll just have to live with dissatisfaction.”

Despite the adversarial tone of the conversation, Calvin noticed that the two of them seemed to be able to discuss it without antagonizing each other, which he considered significant… although he wasn’t sure why. Finally, he cleared his throat for attention. Julian noticed him first, and Kris turned when Julian focused his attention on him.

“Ceo,” Calvin began, “I need to speak to you.” He decided to be discrete, with an American diplomat standing nearby. “It’s about the project you put me on.”

He’d hoped the Ceo would use his interruption to break off his conversation with Kris Fawkes and take him into his office. Instead, Julian said, “Stick around, Doctor,” and used the interruption to break off his confrontation with Kris and check on one of the workstations. Kris, taken by surprise by Julian’s abruptly breaking off their discussion, was left standing with Calvin as Julian moved away. She looked after Julian for an extended moment, then turned away, clearly not sure what to do next. Momentarily, her eyes came to rest on Calvin.

The moment their eyes connected, Calvin remembered their conversation in the hallway of the sciences section. She had asked him about a supposedly secretive freight project being handled by Dr. Silver under Aaron Hardy, which he’d known nothing about. She’d also asked what he’d been working on, himself, and he had evaded her question, downplaying his work and suggesting it was going nowhere (which, at the time, it was). He realized it might occur to Kris that he was waiting to talk to Ceo Lenz about the same project now… and given their tense situation, he wasn’t sure how much he should reveal to her about it before he spoke to the Ceo.

At that moment, Kris smiled. “It’s all right, Doctor: If it’s something you’d rather not discuss in front of an American diplomat, I understand.”

Calvin eyed her with barely-concealed shock.
What was this woman… clairvoyant?
He fought the urge to simply retreat from her, and found his voice. “Well… not until I speak to the Ceo first, at least.” Then he turned away and tried to casually move to a nearby workstation and pretend to be interested in the readings thereupon.