Enemy Within (The Aternien Wars Book 2) by G J Ogden

Author:G J Ogden [Ogden, G J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ogden Media Ltd
Published: 2023-07-08T23:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

DIFFICULT FAREWELLS

Under cover of night, Carter and Carina stalked to a hedgerow alongside the road near the private spaceport. The air was still, and the sky was clear, which meant their approach had to be swift to avoid being seen by the guards. Carter also noted that there were security cameras covering every square inch of the grounds, but that was a problem he could easily mitigate. JACAB and TOBY were already hovering silently above the spaceport. TOBY was tasked with surveillance and relaying information back to Cai in the truck. At the same time, JACAB was poised to hijack the Aternien communication channels and blind the facility’s security system, so that he and Carina could approach unseen.

“From the moment JACAB hacks the tower and interferes with their channels, the Aterniens will be alerted, so this has to go like clockwork,” Carter said to his XO. “Let’s go over the plan one more time.”

“You’ve already drilled it into me a hundred times,” Carina grumbled. “Anymore and I might actually start to lose my mind.”

He scowled at his XO, and she backed down. “Fine, one more time. But then we do this. I hate sitting around.”

Carina’s right leg was shaking with nervous energy, like someone anxiously waiting to be called in for a job interview. She didn’t have the impulse blockers that allowed Carter to control his emotions, rather than let them control him. He sometimes wondered how regular human soldiers dealt with nerves, since he never felt nervous.

“Stop shaking your leg, you’re making the hedge rustle like a damned trash bag,” Carter said. His XO’s fidgeting was sorely testing his patience.

“It’ll stop when we stop sitting around,” Carina countered. “Now let’s go over this plan again, so I can put all this pent-up energy to good use.”

Carter pointed into the clear sky. “On my signal, JACAB will drop like a stone and latch onto the main comms array. It’ll happen so fast that the aging Union sensors in that spaceport won’t pick him up. From there, he’ll hack the array and turn it against them, to jam all Aternien communication frequencies.”

Carina nodded. “At that point, they won’t be able to call for backup, or even talk to each other.”

“Jamming their channels will put them on alert, which means the Immortals in the security office will be scouring the perimeter for anything out of the ordinary,” Carter continued. “We stay low and don’t make a sound while JACAB enters the security office and pops off a string of miniature EMPs. That will knock out the security system and stun the two Aterniens inside.”

Carina scowled. “Stun or knock out?”

“Only stun, I’m afraid,” Carter said. “Remember, Aterniens aren’t robots. They may be synthetic, but they’re as alive as you or me. To them, an EMP is like a flashbang; a temporary sensory overload.”

Carina nodded. “How long will they be out?”

Carter was glad they had taken the time to go over the plan again. He had wrongly assumed that Carina understood the mechanics of the Aternien neuromorphic brain, when in actuality there was no reason why she would know.

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