“Yeah, I’m addicted now, and I blame you. But how can you be relaxed?”

  Patrick waved a hand dismissively. “This is all churn. Stuff sloshing back and forth. An occupation here, an arrest there, accusations and counteraccusations some other place. The Loranna have to get it under control, and I think it’s interesting to watch the waves of disinformation coming out, as they look for something that will stick. And they have to be worried that the Gen will show up, so it still has to look like human-level bullshit.”

  “I should issue a small correction, Patrick,” Sheldon chimed in. “The Gen are the most likely to instigate an investigatory mission, as the Opah Mal Gennan Foundation had the primary surveillance responsibility for the human species. However, a task force is going to be under Covenant authority and is likely to contain other Covenant member species as well, in order to properly categorize it as a police action.”

  Patrick nodded slowly. “Okay, so the Covenant task force or whatever will get here eventually, which will for all practical purposes put an end to this operation—”

  “So we hope. The Loranna may dig in and refuse to leave, perhaps claiming that they’ve already met the minimum requirements for trusteeship.”

  “And we’re not given a say in that?” I said.

  “If you mean the human species, I doubt the Loranna will ask for your opinion. The Covenant will of course consider your desires, but their actions will be dictated by Covenant laws. They might be forced to step back and let humanity and the Loranna duke it out. The Gen in particular are punctilious about proper procedure and the rule of law.”

  “This is crap!” Nat said. “We could end up doing exactly what the Loranna are trying for while we try to attract the Gen’s attention—obliterating ourselves so they can take over.”

  Sheldon replied, “As a method of communicating, I’ll grant that it is not ideal. Equivalent to passing notes in school. However, the system is—Oh, dear.”

  Patrick rolled his eyes. “Oh, dear? Oh, dear? That’s worse than uh-oh. Stop doing that!”

  “Noted. It appears the cavalry has arrived ahead of schedule. I’ve just received a system-wide broadcast from a Covenant task force. It’s in Gen. Here’s the translation.”

  Sheldon’s voice changed to one I’d never heard before. “Attention all Covenant member species. This is Commander Nond of the Covenant Emergency Enforcement Fleet. This star system is subject to special investigation effective immediately by Covenant Executive Authority. All foreign ships and extraterrestrial visitors will identify themselves without delay. Any vessels failing to comply will be contravening statutes covering High Piracy and are subject to sanctions up to and including destruction without warning. Individuals failing to comply are subject to penalties under the same statutes, up to and potentially including mind-wipe.”

  Sheldon continued in his own voice, “There’s much more, mostly quoting various statutes and the penalties for noncompliance that would make a lawyer fall over unconscious. Even I’m bored by them.”

  Patrick looked less relaxed and more befuddled. “What happened, Sheldon? You expected another couple of days, minimum.”

  “I have no immediate explanation, Patrick. I can only conjecture that they were already assembling a task force, or possibly even had one on the way. This seems impossible from a standing start. However, they may have been forced to move sooner than planned.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “The ships continue to warp in. I am reading multiple ongoing wormhole flashes at random intervals. They are not coordinated. Quite sloppy, actually. I imagine Commander Nond is having fits.”

  “Which means?”

  “I would guess that the fleet was still assembling in preparation for a coordinated departure when they received news of the explosions, forcing their hand.”

  Nat looked around the table. “So should we identify ourselves?”

  Sheldon replied before anyone else could. “How shall I phrase it? ‘Hi, this is the stolen ship that now has a functioning conscious A.I. We’ve broken every law in the book, but hey, here we are.’”

  “We’re still in control, right?” I said. “Blame anything and everything on us. Don’t comply with any orders unless you check with us. We’ll take the heat.”

  “Thank you, Jack. I will proceed.”

  “What can they do if the Loranna don’t comply? They could just stay invisible,” Patrick said.

  “The Covenant fleet will release tens of thousands of auto-drones that are little more than a drive system and a cloaking detector. They have one imperative—to find cloaked ships. Any detected targets will attract a swarm of drones, which will latch on like angry bees and broadcast an alarm signal. Escape is unlikely.”

  “Why didn’t the Loranna do that with us?” I asked.

  “They might not have had a few thousand auto-drones lying around. I don’t imagine those are available on Amazon.”

  Patrick laughed. “No kidding.”

  “The task force commander has ordered me to go into orbit, decloak, and prepare for boarding. Response?”

  We all replied at the same time.

  “No.”

  “Oh hell no.”

  “Fuck no.”

  “Which of those responses should I transmit?” Sheldon said.

  “Let’s start with a polite response,” I replied. “Tell them that your human crew doesn’t necessarily trust any E.T.s at this time. We may reevaluate in light of future events.”

  “Nice!” Patrick said.

  “Done. They have repeated their original demand.”

  “Uh-huh.” I grinned. “Now transmit our first responses. All of them.”

  “Done. No response forthcoming. They may be conferring.”

  Nat chuckled. “Or maybe shocked into silence. Do Gen have swearing?”

  “Either way, I guess we’re technically guilty of High Piracy now,” I said. “We have to hide the Halo, and our barn is the only place we have.”

  Patrick shook his head vehemently. “Whoa, whoa, remember what you said about them using our families as bait? They’ll be waiting for us.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t know any alternatives. The Covenant will find us if we stay out in the open.” I looked at my friends for a moment, inviting a counterargument. Neither responded. I sighed and gave a fatalistic shrug. “Sheldon, take us down to near our barn; then we’ll release a drone. We’ll need to check for ambush as best we can.”

  “Aye, captain. Arrrrr.”

  Nat groaned. “We need to work on your impressions.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine: It Hits the Fan

  Sheldon settled the Halo to hover just above the ground behind the barn. As soon as the airlock was lowered, Patrick and I rushed down the stairs to the ground. Before we’d even taken a step, the stairway retracted and vanished.

  I tossed the drone into the air and it disappeared with a whir. Patrick reached down and activated his cloaking device and was replaced by a white-tailed deer. A moment later, I did the same.

  “It does at least solve the problem of staying together while cloaked,” Patrick said.

  “Yup. Just don’t do anything a deer wouldn’t do.”

  We walked carefully around the barn, attempting to emulate the walk-and-freeze movement of real deer. I paused. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Sheldon?”

  “Nothing so far. No cloaking fields, except yours of course. I will buzz the house and peer creepily into windows.”

  Patrick and I slowly circled the property for another minute until Sheldon announced the all clear. “I am not one hundred percent certain, of course. But if there are Loranna here, they are—”

  A gunshot rang out and I staggered. “What the fuck? We’re being shot at!”

  “One moment. Repositioning the drone … ”

  One moment, my ass. I ran for the barn. I was surprised that I wasn’t in any pain. I had definitely felt the impact of the bullet, but more as a punch than anything else. I found my sprinting ability completely unimpeded, and maybe even enhanced from the experience. It seemed Sheldon had used intelligent cloth when making our garments.

  I noticed two deer bounding into the bush as I ran, and I looked down to realize I was invisible. Sheldon must have taken over the belt controls. Good thinking. Hopefully, the shooter didn’t have some version of infrared goggles for invisibility.

  “I think this is a deliberately low-tech surveillance effort, in order to avoid detection,” Sheldon said. “After the Arley kidnapping, they may have clued in that we have Covenant-level technology. Unfortunately, it is working exactly as planned. I cannot tell from a scan what is out there.”

  “Less talk, more help,” I said breathlessly, as I skidded to a near-stop in front of the small door.

  “That’s no random hunter. He is ignoring the deer and moving toward the barn at a run. I believe he knows where you are going.”

  Patrick pulled up behind me. “Shit. Why didn’t he zap us?”

  “He might not have a disruptor, on the assumption that we might be able to detect it. Or if he does have one, he’s out of range. He has a large area to cover. However, if he gets close enough to us, that’s a real danger.” I thought for a moment. “Sheldon, open the people door as a diversion. Patrick, head around the barn, on the house side. We need to get out of line of sight. Any chance he has a detector?”

  “The ones that would be useful in this situation for identifying you at a distance are large and heavy,” Sheldon replied. “With a portable, he’d have to get close to you first. There could be a series of stationary devices spaced around the property, although I haven’t detected them so they would have to be inactive at the moment.”

  “If he gets close enough, he just has to wave the disrupter like a garden hose in the right general direction,” Patrick said. “We have to stay out of range.”

  Sheldon replied, real anger in his voice for the first time. “This has to stop. I have had enough of being constantly on the run and having my friends threatened. It is time to bring the buttock-whooping.”

  There was a high-pitched zzzzip nearby, then a thump and a scream. I looked over my shoulder just in time to see someone fall over on their back, hands over their face. Even from this distance, I could see blood seeping between the person’s fingers. Nearby, the drone was on the ground, hopping around and doing cartwheels, half of its rotors smashed. Then there was a pop and the drone burst into flames.

  A door slammed and I heard my father’s voice, cursing and yelling threats. Dad was mad, to judge from the tone, and a mad Dad was a force to be reckoned with. I had only seen my father furious a couple of times in my life, and one of those events had ended with a belligerent customer being carted away in an ambulance. “Dad must have heard the shot,” I said.

  “I phoned him and requested help,” Sheldon said. “Nat is releasing more drones. I will try to locate any scanning devices.”

  “It won’t do us any good. We won’t have time to clear them.”

  “But your father will. I will inform him of their locations as I find them.”

  My father now stood over the gunman, pointing his pistol at the man while speaking into his phone. From what I could overhear, he was talking to the police.

  Dad lowered his phone and jabbed it with his thumb, presumably hanging up. Before he could pocket it, the phone rang. He put it to his ear, and then spent more than a minute just listening.

  “Sheldon, is that you talking to my dad?”

  “Yes. I am giving him the CliffsNotes version of our adventures. I will locate the detection devices on his property, and he will deactivate them. With a hammer, preferably. He asks if you are well.”

  I choked up for a moment. This couldn’t have been easy for my parents. Or Patrick’s. Or Nat’s father and aunt. I walked up beside my father as he pocketed his phone. “Hi, Dad.”

  He looked around wildly. “Jack?”

  “Right here. I’m invisible, and for now I should stay that way. I’m okay. We all are. But we need to get our ship back into the barn.”

  “Ship? What? You’re invis—” Dad shook his head before I could respond. “Never mind. You can explain later. Chief Rogers and his entire force are on their way. Mercenaries running around Dunnville attacking citizens isn’t going to sit well with Charlie.” He looked down at the sniper, who was still moaning. “This guy is probably not going to be processed quite as quickly as procedure would dictate. There’ll be some off-the-books questions first.”

  “Yeah, I get it,” I said. “Things are going to get a lot more interesting soon, and they’ll stay that way for a while. Better buckle up.”

  “They are getting interesting right now,” Sheldon said into my cling-on. “I sent one of the drones up for a high-level overview. There are a number of vehicles heading your way, moving fast.”

  “Black SUVs?” I asked.

  “Of course. I believe you mentioned that it’s a law.”

  I turned to my father. “More thugs coming. Black SUVs. Probably the same group as this guy. Time to hit the safe room, Dad.”

  “I don’t think so, Son. I just have to hold them off until Rogers gets here. Time to bring the pain.” He turned and double-timed back to the house, already dialing his phone. I watched him go and thought, It’s not going to go well for those SUV people.

  The Halo was hovering just out of line of sight but under the trees, in case anyone had a directional detector. Sheldon had parked several drones at strategic locations to keep an eye on the house. With the detectors not yet taken care of, we’d decided not to take a chance on bringing the Halo in to pick us up. Patrick and I settled for hiding behind a log in a slight depression on the property.

  “A large contingent of police vehicles is making its way toward your home,” Sheldon announced. “Still several minutes out. The SUVs will get here first and will have a couple of minutes of free play. Will your parents be okay?”

  “We have a safe room downstairs if it comes to that. But my father has a lot of combat training that’s probably going to be useful. And he’s pissed.” I grinned. “You should watch a movie called Rambo for reference.”

  The squad of black SUVs pulled up to the house and a whole lot of very tough-looking characters jumped out, carrying automatic weapons, followed by a half dozen business-suit types. Nat spoke over the cling-ons. “I recognize them from the third floor. Four of them, anyway.”

  Patrick pointed at one of the suits. “That’s the security office manager that was questioning Phil. It looks like the Loranna have decided to take a hands-on approach.”

  One of the mercenary types ran up to the front door and kicked it in, then died in a spray of blood as a shotgun blast hit him from a high angle. The six suits dove behind the nearest SUV, while the other mercs raised their weapons and started firing on the house.

  No one seemed to notice at first that the mercs were dropping one by one from sniper fire, from the back of the group forward. Then someone yelled an order and the whole squad dropped and rolled behind the nearest cover. But with no obvious target to shoot back at, it looked like things would degenerate into a standoff.

  Then the cavalry showed up, in the form of the entire Dunnville police department. Eight patrol cars, two SUVs, a Humvee, and an armored carrier charged onto the property, tires spinning and gravel flying.

  “Cooool … ” Patrick said. I gave him a sour look.

  The mercs, glad to finally have a target to take out their frustrations on, opened up on the police cars with small-arms fire. The vehicles skidded to a stop and cops started jumping out, weapons in hand.

  I’m sure I’ve mentioned that Chief Rogers, like my father, was ex-military. And apparently a believer in the military maxim of victory through overwhelming superiority. The Dunnville police department had a budget and an arsenal that would put many big cities to shame. And Chief Rogers had brought everything, including—my eyes actually bugged out as I registered this—a Humvee with a turret-mounted machine gun. Painted in Dunnville police department colors.

  “Holy shit,” Patrick exclaimed. “Is that even legal?”

  “Why don’t you ask Chief Rogers?” I replied. “I’ll wait here.”

  The Humvee skidded around the back of the cop cars, the turret came around, and the machine gun opened up on the mercenaries’ vehicles.

  Disappointingly, they didn’t blow up like in a Hollywood movie, flying into the air with a fireball erupting below them. However, they did immediately become nonfunctional. One actually fell over sideways as half the tires exploded and the suspension on the other side simply collapsed.

  The turret gunner held fire and waited. And slowly, hands went up and guns were tossed out onto the ground. The cops came out, weapons at the ready.

  “Shit,” Patrick said. “Where did the suits go?”

  “Into the barn,” Sheldon replied over the cling-ons. “Jack left the door open. They used cloaking fields and shields to get there uninjured and unchallenged. Most of my cloaking detectors are still complaining.”

  “Sheldon, can you watch for them? Make sure they don’t leave.”

  “Acknowledged. But it’s just another standoff. The detectors will only indicate their presence, not their location, so you can’t shoot them using firearms, and if they have disruptors they can shoot you first.”

  “If the door opens, I’ll zap the door,” Patrick said. “Otherwise, what?” He looked at me.

  “Sheldon, contact Commander Nond. Give him all our information on the Tate Industrial Park and Harris Institute. Also the GPS coordinates of the barn. Let’s see what he’s willing to do.”

  “And get the Halo out of the area,” Nat added over the common channel. “We don’t want you getting scooped up at the same time.”

  I glanced over the top of the log. The cops appeared to have all the mercs in custody. Dad had come out from the trees holding his Barrett M82 and was talking with Chief Rogers. I made a head gesture to Patrick and we headed over. Partway there, Sheldon announced to us, “Commander Nond is sending crews to both locations. They will wait until your local law enforcement has left. Try to hurry them on their way.”