Good. They’d been here for three days, and he’d been busy assessing the Woomera security, and working with Kaira’s security team. She’d briefed him on all the security procedures of the large complex, and taken all his upgrades on board.
So far, there’d been no sign of any Kantos assassins.
But it left Sabin twitchy. He’d prefer to face them head-on.
Finley had been locked in her lab most of that time. She was working harder than ever, and only ate and slept when he bullied her into it.
Yesterday, he’d found her asleep on her keyboard. She was pushing herself too hard. He frowned. He didn’t like it.
“I almost want the Kantos to try and attack.” Kaira’s smile was sharp. “I’d like to take a few down.”
Sabin detected something in the woman’s voice. “You’ve faced them before?”
She sucked in a breath. “No. My father is…was a Space Corps engineer. He was aboard a ship that the Kantos destroyed.”
So much death. “I’m sorry.”
She lifted her chin. “Thanks. It was almost a year ago.”
Her eyes glimmered, but she shed no tears. Suddenly, her dark eyes widened.
Then she rushed at him, arm raised. Sabin tensed. What the cren?
He was readying to defend himself when she swatted his shoulder.
“Got it,” she growled.
“Kaira?”
“Sorry.” She pulled her hand back.
He saw the squashed bug on her glove. It looked like it had been a spider.
“I saw it heading for your neck. Australia has some of Earth’s most poisonous insects. And snakes.”
He frowned at the spider’s remains. “It’s definitely a native species?”
Kaira stilled. “You think it might be Kantos?” She stared at the spider. “It looks normal.”
Maybe Sabin was just seeing Kantos everywhere. He pulled out his communicator and thumbed the screen. A security feed to Finley’s lab filled the screen. He saw her at her desk, tapping madly at her computer, and it made his chest loosen a little.
He’d upgraded the cameras over the last day and supervised the building of the small safe room in Finley’s lab. He’d drilled her on using it—which she hadn’t been thrilled about. Being locked in a small space was difficult for her. And anything that took her away from her work left her a little testy.
He smiled. Although, his little garva could be testy most of the time. Well, the StarStorm was important, but he’d make sure she didn’t overwork herself. She was pushing hard so they could do the test.
“I’d like to schedule some training sessions with your security team,” he said.
“Consider it done,” Kaira replied.
He liked Kaira Chand. She was very competent, with no grandstanding.
“I think you would make an excellent Eon warrior, Kaira.”
She smiled. “I think I’m a bit short.”
He returned her smile. “Perhaps slightly. How do you monitor the perimeter?” The Woomera Range Complex covered a huge area.
“It’s a large area, with rough, desolate terrain. It’s impossible to cover it all by ground. Like I mentioned before, we have sensors in place. We also have a fleet of surveillance drones.”
Sabin nodded.
“I won’t lie. If a stealthy, alien assassin wanted to sneak in, it would have plenty of opportunity. There’s a lot of native fauna out there and they regularly set off the sensors.”
He frowned. “Generally, being stealthy isn’t in the Kantos playbook. They prefer overwhelming, direct contact. But these assassins are bred for stealth. We have to be ready.”
On his communicator, he saw Finley stand. She looked excited, and was talking quickly to the scientists who were assisting her.
Something was going on.
A second later, his communicator pinged.
Finley’s face appeared. “Hi.”
“Hello,” he replied.
“We did it! The targeting system looks good in the simulations.” She grinned. “We’re ready for a ground test.”
“That’s great news.” He glanced at Kaira. “Finley’s ready for a ground test.”
The security commander nodded. “I’ll coordinate with Dr. Gregson. We should be able to get it set up for today.”
When Sabin returned to the lab, Finley was bouncing.
“I feel so good about this,” she said.
He touched her jaw and she stilled. Her gaze dropped to his lips and he drew in her scent. He wanted to gorge himself on her.
Thane’s words came back to him. Denying himself was as bad as overindulging.
Could he really risk touching her? Risk his control?
“Sabin?”
He blinked. Later. Right now, they had a test to carry out.
“Kaira said for you to come to the main observation room.”
Finley nodded.
“I am so excited,” Dr. Gemma Neely said, beaming. The young woman had her blonde hair in two tails that made her look even younger. Ian stood behind the woman, eyeing her with a besotted expression.
Their group headed through a tunnel, and up to the observation room. It was made of solid walls and had a narrow pane of thick glass that gave them a perfect view of the sparse terrain of the test area.
“The lasers have all been set up,” Dr. Gregson informed them.
The older woman was standing behind a bank of several computer screens. Some were showing controls for the weapons systems. Others were video feeds of the ground below. Sabin spotted some of the security team out in rugged vehicles near the laser installations.
“Clear the area and prepare for the test,” Dr. Gregson said into a small microphone.
Finley was tapping a foot on the floor. Sabin took her hand and she squeezed his fingers.
“Take a breath,” he said.
She did. “It’s just that this is so important. I want to get to orbital testing.”
“Prepare for StarStorm ground test,” Dr. Gregson announced.
A timer flashed on the screen. Ten. Nine. Eight…
“There are several laser installations. We get this right, they should form a laser net over the test area.” Finley smiled. “Then I just need to do it for the entire planet.”
…three. Two. One. Initialize.
A flash of bright light. Several of the lasers fired and two met. Then three. A dome-shaped net flowed upward.
“It’s working,” Finley breathed.
Sabin watched the other lasers fire. The net flowed like water through the air.
Then the next laser misfired.
The beam shot wide and cut into a tree, then a boulder. Rock exploded into the sky.
“Security Team Two, evacuate.” Kaira’s tense voice on the radio.
“No,” Finley whispered. Her fingers clenched on Sabin’s.
The lasers all started going wild. On another screen, he saw a security team vehicle racing down a track, a cloud of dust behind it.
Sabin stiffened. They were too close to the lasers.
Finley gasped.
A laser hit the back of the vehicle, cutting through the metal. It skidded to a stop and the doors of the vehicle flew open. Two security officers dove out and ran.
Finley’s face went white and she pressed a fist to her chest.
“Roberts?” Kaira barked. “Pascal?”