"It's good of you to make it," Director Shapley said, bowing his head as they entered the conference room.
"I've told Rose everything I know, but I'm curious what's been transpiring on the Ectutai ship," Sandage said as he entered, Rose following on his heels.
Dignitaries and other high officials mostly filled the conference room. Even General Kuiper was there, his seat next to the director's. But what caught Rose's attention was the unmasked Ectutai standing with an entourage of guards, watching a viewscreen of reports. The newcomer had the air of a man who'd seen plenty of battle and hardship. It reminded Rose of her uncle after he'd returned from the Iraq War when she was a child. This was a man forged through combat.
"Lord Hallfar, it is a pleasure to meet you," Sandage said, bowing. "My name is Joseph Sandage."
"Uh, Rosemary Brahe, but my friends call me Rose," Rose said somewhat awkwardly. She hated this dignitary stuff. She cringed as the prince continued to say nothing and instead focused his intense gaze on her. His attention lingered on her singular red eye.
Finally, he spoke. "Well met. There's much to discuss."
"What's the situation on the Vargas?" Sandage asked.
"The situation is clear. The Altair are no longer on our ship. They fled the system on a shuttle. We pursued them, but they escaped. Their current location is unknown," Hallfar said. "From our projections, they are heading toward the Ectutai system."
"We must warn them!" Rose said, eyes wide.
"Already done. Ships are already out hunting them. We won't let them escape so easily, but their craft is quick and maneuverable. If they are smart, it might not be easy to catch them," Prince Hallfar replied.
"And your brother?" Rose had noticed the prince hadn't mentioned Imrele yet, and Hallfar's pensive expression spoke volumes.
"Missing. We believe the Altair took him after Miss Burbidge entered the escape pod. We presume he's been killed and replaced." The prince's hand tightened, trembling with pent-up emotion. His face, however, remained calm despite his turmoil.
"Oh, no. I'm so sorry!" Rose replied. Poor Cecilia—this news would crush her. They'd underestimated the Altair. This was a disaster.
"My condolences," Sandage said, inclining his head. "He was a brave lad. Taken too soon."
"Yes, he was." Behind Prince Hallfar's words, Rose heard the anguish hidden behind the surface. Because of his position, however, he refused to show any outward expression of his grief. "I should have listened to him. He warned me about their danger, but I took them too lightly, and we paid for it."
"How did the Altair end up on your ship?" the Director asked.
"One disguised itself as a rat and snuck onto a shuttle," Hallfar said. Rose had seen plenty of them bringing materials and staff to Earth; it wouldn't be hard for a rat to go unnoticed.
"We weren't diligent enough. We assumed scanning everyone who came on board would be enough," Hallfar said.
"Um." Rose just realized something.
"Don't worry. When the prince arrived, he and his staff did a blood test before we let them inside. He insisted, actually," Director Shapley said.
"I'm not trying to be mean, but…" Rose trailed off. "Cecilia mentioned you went radio silent after the Altair attacked." In horror movies, this usually meant they were dead, eaten by the monster and replaced.
"No, it's a fair point." Hallfar shook his head. "I've never faced a creature like it. It devastated my men. Our weapons weren't strong enough to hurt it. My suit got badly damaged, though thankfully it never got pierced through. I escaped through a garbage chute. Since my comms got smashed in the attack, it took hours for them to find me."
"That's a relief." Cecilia had made it seem much worse. Of course, her friend usually made the most pessimistic assumptions.
"We're doubling our efforts, so this doesn't happen again," Hallfar said. "There's some residue, but the Vargas is clean of Altair. Casualties were light, actually. They took my brother and left as quickly as possible."
"It fits their MO. The Altair are cautious by nature," Sandage said, nodding. "They could have done more damage, but they instead focused only on their objective."
"They could have taken the whole ship," Rose mused.
"No, we would have shot it down before then," Hallfar stated, his voice firm. "I still had my flagship nearby. It had already gotten the distress call and was moving in to help."
"For a hive mind that can convert others, the Altair sure avoid taking risks," Rose said. Usually, you'd expect that type of bad guy to swarm their enemy, heedless of the lives lost if it meant victory.
"That is unusual," Prince Hallfar said, nodding. "It's a weakness we might exploit."
"Agreed. We theorize that the Altair hive mind sustains damage whenever one of their kind is hurt. It's a pain they avoid if they can help it. It's one reason they are softening up Earth before their invasion," Director Shapley said.
"I've read my brother's report that the Altair are using hit-and-run tactics to weaken your morale," Prince Hallfar said.
"Yeah," Rose said sourly. "I come to help, but they vanish before I get there."
"But we have something they want." The prince's voice turned nasty. "They got careless."
"We do?" Rose said, blinking. When did that happen? Much to her surprise, this comment made Sandage uncomfortable.
"A week ago, Earth time, your agents picked up an Altair disguised as a human girl," Prince Hallfar said. "She's currently locked up in a shuttle pod orbiting Earth."
"A human-disguised Altair?" Rose furrowed her brow.
"Rose, I…" Sandage said, but Rose interrupted him as a sneaking suspicion crept up on her.
"Are you talking about Vera?" It all clicked into place. It would explain her odd disappearance. And hadn't she been acting strangely? She'd flipped out when she'd seen Rose's red eye, like she'd seen her greatest fear. Rose glared at Sandage. "I'm right, aren't I?"
Sandage took in a breath. "You are. Your sister caught her trying to plant a bomb in your room. That's why we stayed a day longer at my house."
"And you didn't think to tell me?" Hot tears stung Rose's eyes.
"Rose, I…"
"Forget it." Rose didn't fight the tears as she stormed out of the room. Stupid Sandage. She'd never forgive him for this, ever!
///
"Poor girl." Sandage sighed. He'd planned to tell Rose at the perfect, opportune moment, but life rarely happened as planned. As his grandmother often said, women always find out. He gave the Ectutai a weak smile. "Vera is Rose's best friend. We haven't told her until now."
"Should we go after her? Try to explain?" Director Shapley asked.
"No, give her some space to cool down." Sandage knew how temperamental Rose could be. The others in the room appeared sympathetic to Rose's plight. Many of them had children, too.
"This is why I don't want a child involved in our war." Hallfar gave Sandage a pointed look. "Can we get her under control? You know the stakes."
"Yes, I can." He owed Rose one heck of an apology later. "Don't worry about her. Rose has an excellent head on her shoulders." It still amazed him how well she was doing already. She'd battled against literal monsters and emerged victorious.
The alien prince's expression hardened. "My biggest question is why she's the Luyten V's pilot in the first place. You've been rather vague about that point. Is she a spliced?"
"Huh? A what?" Sandage had expected to be pressed about Rose's existence, but this question surprised him.
"Like Cecilia. Was she designed to be Luyten V's pilot?" Hallfar clarified.
"Oh, that." Understanding dawned on Sandage. To convince them about her visions, Cecilia must have told the Ectutai princes about her unique circumstances. Hallfar thought they had created Rose as a weapon? "Heavens, no. Rose is a normal girl from a normal family."
"Somehow, I don't believe that," Hallfar said, voice hard. "If we're expected to be allies, there must be understanding between our people. My brother gave his life to protect your planet. I expect to be honored in return."
"Sir?" Sandage gave LUVOLT's director a questioning look. He supposed the prince wasn't being unreasonable, but this wasn't his call.
"It's fine," Shapley replied. "If we want trust, we must give it in return."
"Okay, I suppose it hasn't escaped your notice how advanced Luyten V is? It should be something beyond our current technological capabilities. That's because it is." Sandage took in a steadying breath. This would take some explaining. "The Luyten V is from the future."
"Sorry?" Of all the explanations Hallfar had expected, this hadn't been it.
"It's from twenty years in the future. Rose's future self helped design it. Before she sent it back, she created a safeguard so that it would only respond to her." Sandage considered this prudent on her part, though it created unexpected complications.
"But somehow an Altair hitched a ride back into the past with it. Before the Luyten V destroyed it, it sent a message through the hive mind and told them about Earth. Sending back Luyten V altered history. The Altair invasion was supposed to happen over a decade from now." Heck, Sandage wasn't even sure humanity met the Ectutai in this alternate future.
"So, Rose pilots the Luyten V because you haven't discovered a way for someone else to pilot it yet?" Hallfar didn't sound remotely convinced, but he was listening.
"That's about the size of it." And they'd tried, too, but the Luyten V wasn't keen on anyone messing with its systems, often violently so.
"I…" Hallfar opened his mouth and closed it. He became silent for several long minutes. "I suppose if you were lying, you'd come up with a more convincing tale."
Sandage laughed. "Can't say I blame you. It's a crazy story, but it's the truth."
The Ectutai prince took a deep breath. "Did anything else come from the future?"
"As far as we know? Nothing," Director Shapley replied. "From all accounts, the Earth was completely ruined in that future. We doubt there's anything else coming back. The Luyten V was their best attempt to save the planet."
"And Rose helped build it?" Hallfar asked.
"Quite a girl, isn't she?" While not as outwardly smart as her sister Sophia, Rose hid a quiet, practical intelligence. Pity the Altair came before she was old enough to have designed anything. Still, Director Shapley wanted to give her the best education, regardless.
"The next question should be what's our next move?" Prince Hallfar, though not entirely convinced by the time travel narrative,he set aside his doubts for the moment. "What should we do about their hit-and-run campaign against you?"
"Yes. Altair Duo. The second Altair general," Director Shapley said, nodding. "He attacks so quickly we can't respond in time to stop him. He refuses to engage the Luyten V in combat."
"That is a problem. Duo is weakening Earth with each attack," Prince Hallfar said, speaking the problem out loud. That wasn't half of it. It was heavily discouraging Rose, too.
"This can't continue forever," General Kuiper said, finally speaking up. "We need to lure Duo into the open."
"The cities Duo attacks are random. We'll need one heck of a trap to keep him in one place," Sandage said.
"Then we'll give him a reason to come out," Hallfar said, wearing a wicked smile. "The Altair protect their own, right? We have something it'll want."
"You're saying we should use Vera." Sandage wasn't happy with this idea. Even if she was a monster, Vera still wore a child's appearance. Rose also won't be keen on the idea. So far, they were holding the Altair imposter for interrogation. Thanks to Macauley's help, they'd stolen some secrets from her, but only a few scant details.
"This would be risky," Director Shapley said. "She's our only bargaining chip."
"I understand your reservations, Louis, but the situation can't stand as it is," General Kuiper replied.
"We can't afford to hesitate," Prince Hallfar said, his voice hard. "Too many have already died."
"Okay." After Prince Imrele's death, Sandage found he didn't have the heart to protest. "You have something in mind, Your Majesty?"
"I do." Prince Hallfar's smile turned nasty. "I have just the idea to lure out Altair Duo and eliminate him. Justice will be ours."
///
"That was close," Denebokab said, sighing in relief. He had to give the Ectutai this: they were persistent. Somehow, they'd been ready as soon as they'd left the distortion bubble. Only some quick maneuvers from their pilot had saved them from evaporation. They were now drifting far off course from the usual travel lanes.
"It's the ship's ID," the pilot's red face turned toward Denebokab. He bore Prince Imrele's likeness, but he wasn't the Ectutai prince. He was one of them. "Prince Hallfar must have signaled ahead about what happened on the Velgr."
"So much for Lord Tarazed's plan to catch them off guard," Denebokab said, grumbling as he lowered himself into his seat. "They'll be tracking us across the system."
"No matter. A small obstacle. You accomplished the prime objective as planned," Lord Tarazed said across the hivemind. While they were many light-years apart, but to the Altair hivemind, this meant nothing. "Excellent work."
"I live to serve," Denebokab said, preening. They had the prince, so the Altair had all his memories and experiences. They knew basically everything about their new alien foe.
The not-Prince Imrele made a thoughtful expression. "Before we spread across the system, we need to ditch his ship. A skilled hacker could remove its ID, but that's not me. I believe there's a refueling station close to here."
"Good idea, Tianfu," Lord Tarazed replied. "Steal a ship, but don't draw too much attention. In fact, it'd be wise to disappear for a couple of months."
"Understood, Lord Tarazed," Denebokab said. While waiting would be annoying, it'd lure the Ectutai into a false sense of security. Altair was eternal. They could outwait the heat death of the universe if necessary.
"One final thing, Lord Tarazed." Tianfu wore a hard frown. "What are we to do about Cecilia? Her ability is dangerous. She almost ruined our assimilation of Prince Imrele."
"Yes, I've been pondering that," Lord Tarazed said. "These humans keep surprising us. The Luyten V's origins remain a complete mystery."
Just the mention of the Red Devil made Denebokab shudder. Still, Cecilia's supposed ability to see the entirety of human consciousness seemed outrageous. But Denebokab couldn't deny the evidence of his own eyes. Somehow, she'd seen his attack coming.
"This Akashic Record is a powerful weapon—one I intend to make our own. How fitting to use humanity's greatest store of knowledge against them." Through their connection, Denebokab heard the Altair general's cruel smile. "Infiltrate and destroy the Kristra Republic. I will bring Cecilia into our fold myself. Her great power will become ours."