Well, damn if that didn’t make her eyes well with tears.
Embarrassed, she sniffled and blinked them back. “You guys suck,” she muttered.
Masculine laughter filled the bridge, alleviating some of the tension.
Simone wished she could simply use her telepathy to comb through all of the minds down on that base and see if anyone was thinking in English, but it wouldn’t work from this great a distance.
Even if it did, a lack of “Earthling” thoughts wouldn’t necessarily mean none of her friends were down there. If the Gathendiens drugged them and rendered them unconscious, she wouldn’t hear any thoughts or dreams.
Searching the base was the only way to be sure.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked finally. “How do we sneak in?” With that many soldiers on the base, they couldn’t just rush in, guns blazing. As Janwar had heatedly pointed out, there were limits to her abilities as an Immortal Guardian.
Janwar looked at Elchan. “Map the base.”
Her eyebrows rose as she glanced at the Segonian. “You can do that?”
“To an extent.” His eyes remained on his screen as his fingers flew over his console. “I’ve found a way to combine ground penetrating radar with seismic waves and a scan for subtle changes in microgravity that can give us a somewhat accurate map. But the trick is doing all of that without the base noticing.”
Could he do all of that without the base noticing?
“He’s very good at what he does,” Janwar said. “If that place has a back door or escape tunnels—and most Gathendien facilities do—Elchan will find them.”
Simone just hoped he wouldn’t trigger any alarms in the process. Had this just been a little private viral research lab manned by scientists, she wouldn’t worry. But Janwar had admitted this base might contain weaponry and defense mechanisms he’d never encountered before.
Might some of those detect Elchan’s efforts?
Time passed. Simone fidgeted as her patience began to wane.
“This is the best I can do without arousing suspicion,” Elchan announced. A map appeared on the screen, superimposed over the base’s icy exterior. It wasn’t quite complete, as if Elchan had been interrupted while generating it. But it showed more than she’d hoped.
Janwar rose. “Send it to the war room.” He waited for Simone to stand, then strode toward a door she had never noticed before. Unlike the others on the Tangata, there was nothing to distinguish this one from the wall, allowing it to blend in perfectly until opened.
She glanced around as they entered. The war room reminded her of the conference rooms she’d seen in network headquarters back on Earth. A long table dominated the center of it. Made of gleaming wood, it boasted grain patterns that were so colorful it almost looked painted. Several consoles—as clear as glass until activated—were embedded in its surface while viewscreens adorned the walls like paintings. Images of the moon appeared on the latter as the others joined them.
Though only six men crewed the Tangata, she counted eight chairs.
Had Janwar added two for Taelon and Lisa during their stay?
None of the men seated themselves. Instead, they gathered around the table. Krigara joined her and Janwar on one side. Srok’a, Elchan, and Soval clustered together on the other. When Elchan tapped several commands into a console, the largest one in the center of the table lit up with the map he had created.
Simone studied it.
A series of boxy rooms and hallways lit up as he pointed to them. “On first look, the base only has one entrance: this one here in the front. I’m running into some weather interference and won’t have a clearer life-form scan until we approach it in the transport, but I’m sure it will be heavily guarded. These rooms here are large but have low ceilings. They’re also long and narrow, so they’re likely where the soldiers bunk. Based on their size, this room is probably a mess hall and this one used for training because the ceiling is a little higher. These two, though, have significantly higher ceilings.”
Janwar leaned forward. “That’s where they’ll be doing the weapons development and testing.”
“Agreed,” Elchan said. “I suggest we bring T-2 with us to see if he can hack their system and tell us what they’re working on in there.”
“I am a very efficient hacker,” T announced proudly. “If the Gathendiens we’re monitoring didn’t insist on remaining for their full shift, I would’ve already hacked this ship’s system.”
Simone smiled. “Hang in there, T.”
Elchan shook his head and continued. “The hangar is obvious. That’s where they store their craft, unload cargo deliveries, and build the new craft. Judging by the energy radiating from these two, they’re engineering. These rooms here, clustered together near the back, look like private quarters reserved for military officers. These are similar but smaller.”
“Likely the scientists’ quarters,” Janwar mumbled.
“That’s what I was thinking. These rooms over here are positioned farthest from the others, way in the back. I had difficulty mapping them, which can sometimes indicate thicker walls or added layers of protection.”
Janwar grunted. “Like the kind one might use to prevent potentially deadly bioengineered viruses from escaping and infiltrating the rest of the base.”
“Exactly. This is most likely the primary lab. There’s a long, vertical duct that extends from the ceiling to a hatch in the roof that I’m guessing only opens if they need to vent whatever bioweapons those idiots accidentally release. I also detected a second entrance to the base—much smaller than the one in front—that’s close enough to provide the scientists with an emergency exit. This room appears to be a smaller secondary lab with another ceiling hatch. There’s also something over here by the officers’ quarters that I think could be another emergency exit.”
Simone scowled. “So in the event of an attack or biological catastrophe, the officers can run away and leave the others to deal with it?”
Elchan nodded. “That would be my guess. It looks like a passage of some sort but is much narrower than the rest, with a ceiling so low that Soval would have to duck. It leads to this space here. I couldn’t get a clear reading of it. But it may be large enough to hold a single transport capable of getting the officers off-planet.”
She studied the fuzzy blob. “Is it connected to the hangar in any way?” If not, whatever craft waited inside must have been hidden there during the base’s construction because she didn’t see anything resembling a garage door.
“No. And though it’s near the outside wall of ice, there doesn’t appear to be a bay door.”
“Then how would they get it out?”
“If the transport is armed, they should be able to blow their way out.”
“Or we could melt our way in,” Janwar mused and glanced at the others. “Looks like we have our choice of entrances.”
Elchan pointed. “I think the one least likely to be manned by guards is the last one.”
“The one that leads to the officers’ quarters?” she asked.
He nodded. “I doubt the rest of the base knows about it. The exit by the primary lab will probably be heavily guarded, especially if they have lab subjects they worry might try to escape.”