Ancient Earth Trilogy: Books 1-3 of Series One

By David Edward

Reviews for Ancient:
"This would make an amazing movie", ★★★★★
"Breathtaking and visual", ★★★★★
"Reads like Isaac Asimov writing War Hammer 40k", ★★★★★
"Thrilling military science fiction", ★★★★★

Betrayal!

For the arrogant Truth-Tellers, guardians Logan and Odessa are an inconvenience. A problem with a simple brutal solution.

But not everything is as it seems; not every path leads to salvation.

Navigating a web of lies and with the odds squarely stacked against them, the guardian's survival depends on their ability to unravel an ancient mystery on the far away mining planet Alethia.

Thrust into a desperate gambit, Logan and Odessa must fight not for themselves, but to recover the ones they guard.

Set in a richly imaged military science fiction universe, this boxed set contains the first three books of the Earth 50,000 BC series, Ancient Earth!

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Edward
• Release date: Aug 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215441527

David Edward

D. Edward served as a Special Agent in the US Army in the 1980s and 1990s and is a veteran of multiple overseas combat tours. He was the Special Agent in Charge of the 1990 Panama Canal counter-terrorism threat assessment report to the US Congress. Edward is a graduate of the United States Army Intelligence School where he studied advanced HUMINT (Human Intelligence) and battlefield counterintelligence; also completing training at the Jungle Operations Training Center in Panama, Central America. He holds advanced degrees in engineering including a Ph.D. from NCU, three related M.Sc. degrees (MBA, MSIT, MSIM), and has an undergraduate degree in business (BSBA). His books typically reach the Amazon Kindle top 10 upon release in their genre. 'End of Reason' was his first work to reach #1 on Amazon in its category, on June 22, 2021. 'Unreasonable' reached #1 as a pre-order and held the spot for over a month upon release. You can follow his publication schedule here: d-edward.com or email him at his first name, the at sign, the first three letters of the word Florida, a dot, and the word cloud. He did have a Twitter account but then he thought it was stupid so he canceled it.

Book preview

Alethia

Spending time on one of the inner planets came with a price. It also offered worthwhile rewards.

Logan’s mind jumped to the structure of his small scout ship, the Thorik, as it entered the atmosphere when there was a small bump in its trajectory. The thought caught the attention of the ether. It inloaded that the ship functioned within specifications and predicted no problems based on what it knew about the mission parameters.

Odessa, Logan’s sister, and second-in-command looked over at him. They smiled after quickly crossloading the report from her internal message queue. See, I told you it would be a smooth trip, she said, knowing her brother often worried about the little issues.

That was one of the things that made him a good leader. That’s why she was comfortable with his advancement to the head of the clan even though she was his senior in age.

Everything about this inner planet was repulsive. It was the farthest in of the dominant circle. The common wisdom was that it should be recategorized as the farthest out of the lesser circle.

The giant monstrosity glowed blue at the edges, and its surface was over three-quarters unfrozen water.

A massive heavy behemoth lumbering through the dominant circle at a slow pace.

Logan rejected an inload from the ether providing the exact makeup of planet Alethia and the actual percentage covered in water.

Sometimes it seemed the system had an outload quota and would just not shut up. He had to reject a briefing on the geopolitical undercurrents and the political state of several proposals to reclassify the planet.

What a waste of time.

The ether reminded him that his sister had offered an interlocal audible speak contract as an attempt to calm her own nerves during planet entry. Any further delay in responding would violate the agreement with the result of a negative emotional outload by her.

Logan looked over at Odessa. The onboard agrees with you. I still like to watch close just in case.

He activated his heads-up display, which showed the small craft against the bright blue water and atmosphere of Alethia. Not anticipating anything of interest, minimal scans were being used as it moved quickly, its outer shell glowing from the friction with the air as it descended into the higher atmosphere.

Logan shared the display with Odessa so she could watch it also.

They sat in comfortable silence through the descent, letting the display fill the cycles.

Once the ship had decelerated, it switched over to its magnetic drives. This meant they were passed any planet entry danger.

Logan out-loaded a requisition for the mission's briefing to the ether.

Both he and Odessa were suddenly in a large room with a holographic map with one of the nondominant landmasses in front of them. Ever since the ritual of transition, they had grown used to quick changes brought about by the ether throughout their lives. Usually, when it had decided an immersive alterreal approach would allow for speedier inloading of data. They knew they were actually still seated in the command chamber of the craft.

A fat, tall, pregnant female truth-teller stood in the room with them.

She was an etherholo, one of the many forms the ether would assume in the alterreal. It was supposed to be a comforting sight. Still, since neither Logan nor Odessa aspired for ascension, they found it amusing instead.

Logan had failed the ascension once. Most failed the first time, which seemed to be part of the test. He refused a second trial. After learning what the test was about, he felt apathy—maybe even disdain—for those that succeeded at it.

Odessa had refused to even take the test.

The cogitate circle had tried several times to persuade her. The last attempt injured the emissary by falling down the same flight of stairs several times in succession.

They both smiled at each other as their thoughts crossloaded on their private frequency, safe from the ever-present eavesdropping of the ether.

The holographic display in the center of the room showed Alethia as it wobbled across its orbit.

Unlike other planets in the dominant circle, this one had drastic climate changes mainly due to it not having a stable rotation, making it even more repulsive.

The thing could not present a pure circle on its best day.

Alethia is rich in mineral resources, the fat etherholo said to them.

They each would feel they were being spoken to in their personal version of the alterreal briefing. She continued, As you know, your clan is behind in physical outloads to the cogitate circle. You risk downgrade if you cannot equalize economic production with the other clans.

Logan instantly felt irritation and argued, knowing it was pointless, We have been decimated. It is just my sister and me as guardians now. Both of us were forced out of professional careers to take up guiding our clan in mining outloads. We have a small group of diggers and a small cadre of etherreals. We cannot keep up with the larger clans. It’s not fair.

Odessa rolled her eyes at the further waste of time.

She knew the whole discussion was pointless.

She also respected her brother for taking the time to lodge the complaint. Pointless or not, this was yet another example of his willingness to speak for the clan—dealing with the little issues she found trite.

The etherholo responded with the teachings, To be equal, each clan must provide equally. Each circle stands with the others. No circle is more or less perfect than the next.

Compatch. Go live, Logan quickly commanded the etherholo.

Odessa had been waiting for the exchange to take its ordinary course.

She was caught off guard when Logan issued the statement and yelled, No! Logan! No! We do not need this! Let’s just serve our cycle like we agreed. She raced over to him in the hologram and put her hand over his mouth so he could not issue the authorization command.

Ether commands consisted of three parts: the recipient, the action, and the authorization. He had only issued the first two. There could, of course, be multiple actions, but only one recipient and one authorization source.

Logan made eye contact with Odessa and calmly waited for her to remove her hand.

The etherholo was on pause, waiting for the authority to go live or the command to cancel.

Promise we’ll talk about this before you do it, Odessa said very seriously.

Logan nodded his head in agreement. She cautiously removed her hand, ready to replace it if he broke their agreement.

When it was clear he was honoring it, she ordered, Compatch. Go dark. Thirty-cycle reset. Thought box. Authorize.

Before she had finished saying the last word, they were back in the small command center of the ship, the etherholo gone.

Along with going dark, the thought box command would give them thirty micro cycles to talk without an interface to the ether.

Logan smiled at his sister. We have to address this with them. It is ridiculous that what is left of us must pull the same weight as a five hundred unity clan. There are only a couple dozen of us left and a handful of etherreals.

An etherreal was a physical, electronic entity. It was programmable and could operate on a set of instructions or within a set of operating parameters. They looked just like guardians in shape and size but did not belong to a circle, just to the clan they worked for. Once bonded to a clan, they were part of that clan. Just as if they had been born into it.

Etherreals could operate attached to the ether, a localhub, or independently.

This ensured local control and limited interference by the cogitate circle when desired. Or unnecessary reporting when needed.

Odessa had purchased two of the newest models, 7s, to complement their thirty-one E2 units and existing X4 prime. The newer 7 model’s programming was outstanding and quite different from the other models.

The circle required these new 7 models to be reset every fifth major cycle. They tended to adopt viewpoints and analyze moral issues—that they were not capable of understanding—if they collected too many non-ether experiences. The current batch was just over four primary cycles old, so they would need to be recycled upon completing the Alethia mission.

Both Logan and Odessa noticed the disconnect from the ether.

They always enjoyed the freedom of free thought. Still, they felt anxiety with the loss of easy information access and the deep connection to the physical world around them that the ether brought.

Odessa did not want to call attention to themselves by complaining to the cogitate circle, primarily after she had worked so hard to get this permit in the first place.

She scolded Logan. "I do not disagree with you, but the time for that argument with the circle has passed. You know what I had to do to get approval for this mission. You know what it cost both of us. You know what it means if they pull the permit and recall us.

Arguing with an irrelevant etherholo while on assignment, about the assignment, is stupid and counterproductive! she was yelling.

Logan was calm in his response, knowing his sister respected him and that she had a better sense of strategy than he did when it came to the cogitate. She was one of only a few that had managed to altogether avoid the test of ascension, after all. He was particularly good at administrative work, a key to running a clan, but not everything was micro.

He answered, The only chance we have for a live connection is during our mission briefing. Once it concludes, I will not get another chance to lodge a complaint until we return—and only then if we exceed quota by a good amount.

Logan, if we can do a two hundred percent run, we will be caught back up on our quotas. That will buy us three more major cycles before the matter comes up again, Odessa said earnestly.

The system is broken. If we are contributing more per guardian, we should be allowed to keep more per guardian. It is not fair that we have to work harder and keep less. That is basic logic. Logan calmly laid out his case to her.

You don’t think that when we are attached, do you? Odessa was legitimately worried Logan could slip up and crossload a negative datagram that would tie them up in administration for the foreseeable future.

Don’t be ridiculous, he snorted back, showing just a hint of emotion for the first time. "I am not an uninitiated youngling. I know how to use my private frequency. And I am not stupid enough to think about the teachings, other than blind acceptance when attached.

However, we are allowed to bring up matters of fairness. It is not a challenge to the teaching to negotiate your load volumes. This was a loophole everyone was aware of, and internally, Odessa agreed he had a point if a dangerous one.

She responded calmly, I know that’s true. But I remain steadfast. Now is not the time. Even if your complaint is inloaded, the best outcome would be they recall us. We need this run.

The thirty cycles were nearly up.

Logan thought for a few moments. Okay, I accept. But we both agree we will bring this up when we return, correct?

Yes, Odessa said, meaning it. She concurred that the present situation was unfair. A small clan that was competent and could produce should not be forced to work harder than a large clan—even a unity clan—that took so much more from the circle.

Logan did not want to wait for the few remaining cycles. Compatch. End thought box. Brighten. Command.

They both felt the adrenaline rush of reattaching to the ether. They had to spend several microcycles clearing out their personal queues and rejecting a series of inloads that came in while they were in the thought box and dark.

Once that was taken care of, the briefing resumed just as it was the moment they had paused it.

The etherholo continued, finishing its prior statement from the teachings. The cogitate circle is the first of equals. As such, whatever quotas assigned by it are fair by definition.

Then moving on to its original briefing, the etherholo stated, As a benevolent gift to assist you in returning to economic equilibrium, you have been granted a three-one-four opportunity.

Odessa inhaled quickly, not expecting this.

A three-one-four was a chance to gain enough economic outload to take them beyond equilibrium.

It could potentially be the last mission they would ever need to undertake.

Her thoughts quickly flashed to why they would be given this opportunity. She tried to switch to her private frequency, but the thoughts crossloaded in the wrong order, and the fat etherholo quickly snapped its look over to her in both Odessa and Logan’s versions of the etherreal.

It was a quick move and was startling for both guardians, perhaps even a bit scary as they sensed rage underneath the movement.

Children do not doubt the wisdom of the cogitate circle! the etherholo spoke louder than needed. Each to the circle as you are able. Each by your needs. You have been given an opportunity. Follow it!

It seemed the pep talk was over, and the rest of the etherreal session was a relatively dull overview of their assigned mining site and the quantities expected to be delivered after their two full Machi cycles mission (a complete orbit of the Machi moon of TTayo).

The only other exciting moment was when they were told that the Machi circle had independently authorized Etherreal Armed Defense Status Level Two.

Machi was their home moon and one of five that orbited the giant, round ice planet TTayo, the prime of the dominant circle. TTayo had as moons all the original homes for each of the five races.

Since the great resolution was accepted to end all hostilities between the races, a central administrative circle for each moon controlled the ready state of all weapons in the entire luminary.

This was to make sure the peace agreements were honored.

While it was not unheard of to pre-authorize armaments, this was still a show of confidence from both ruling circles that sent a positive message to Logan and Odessa.

A positive message in regular times, anyway.

Odessa quickly switched to her private frequency and shared a crossload with Logan. We can have a little fun once we switch to the localhub. They just unlocked our entire arsenal. It was sent with a bright purple header indicating excitement and playfulness.

The fat etherholo had looked suspiciously at them during the exchange but was none the wiser given the private frequency protections.

They were also given a range of coordinates to work in that had been pre-scanned. In addition, given the second range of coordinates that were prohibited.

The prohibited range was geographically close to their worksite. So close they would have to adopt altered flight patterns to avoid the geography in the datagrams.

The higher three-one-four opportunity seemed to have been decided upon after Odessa secured the permit. The original license was for a low-yield and simple mining operation.

Still, on their private frequency, Odessa outloaded to Logan, Maybe your complaint worked? I think they just made this switch while we were in the thought box!

Logan frowned at Odessa, then addressed the etherholo. Thank the circle for their generosity. Is there any more information on the prohibited zone and the need for security?

They were told there was none and that the luminary would shine on them for fulfilling their mission.

Etherreals

X7 looked at his etherreals in the large cargo hold of the Thorik . There were thirty-four etherreals total, counting himself. E7 constantly asserted that X7 needed to reduce the number to thirty-one or increase it to thirty-seven.

E7 had many suggestions for X7, but X7 was prime.

The thirty-one E2s were highly competent but did not have advanced processing capabilities. This left only E7 and X4 as candidates for prime along with X7.

X4 had been prime etherreal on the Thorik for many cycles before Odessa had procured X7 and E7 four major cycles ago.

X7 outloaded to the ether to pause E7’s crossloading ability. He knew she would resent the move, but it was one of the advantages of being prime.

For good measure, he also paused X4’s crossloads simultaneously in case he needed to be able to claim bipartisanship later.

He had received the defensive posture upgrade before Logan or Odessa only micro cycles sooner, but that was a lot of time to an etherreal.

X7 was running scenarios and working to decide upon a strategy for deployment. The defensive permission from the Machi circle did not come with any information about why they were on the higher status or the potential threat they needed to prepare for.

The ship was still at high elevations using its magnetic drives.

As such, X7 could query the ether until the ship lowered into the stratosphere, where he would have to switch over to the local etherhub generated by the ship itself.

He crossloaded millions of datagrams but did not find anything helpful.

There were no known indigenous threats in their area.

Hostilities with other moons were nonexistent, given the great resolution.

His wetware had evolved sufficiently to avoid paradox loops. However, he was still doing a lot of recursive crossloading, just to be sure.

After a near eternity of processing (a few micro cycles in the physical world), X7 decided that the only course of action that could bring success in any situation was full loadout. He concluded that since there was no risk of unintended conflict with other races because of the great resolution, there was no negative variable in the equation.

He also surmised that they would not have been given permission to defend themselves lightly.

A real threat must exist.

Just because it was unknown did not reduce its chance of occurring.

He terminated his connection to the etherreal. This would be the last communication with it until the mission was over or the defense protocol lowered to one or zero from the current state of two.

To protect against electronic warfare, future orders could only come from one of the two onboard guardians.

The scout ship Thorik was designed as a peacetime excursion vessel. It had defensive-oriented light armaments and weapons—enough to dissuade a pirate or thief from attempting to board—but little more. While there was an agreed peace in the luminary circle, there were still dangers—illegal cartels and syndicates, for example—that could attempt to inflict violence on civilians or take their property.

While the ship's weapons were defensive in nature, its internal armory was well stocked with light and medium offensive-oriented single-user personnel equipment. That was largely because of pre-resolution dangers and partly because Odessa kept it well stocked for her own reasons. She liked to use the equipment and enjoyed being proficient with it.

X7 opened a private channel with Logan. "Sir, I have been monitoring traffic and, per orders, will be moving the E2 units to a defensive posture, Level Two. Also, noting Level Two dark command has been initiated.

Will we require the E2s to assist in camp setup while in this configuration?

Logan outloaded a red status letting X7 know he would be checking with Odessa and would return a response once that crossload was complete.

After a few moments, his voice filled the frequency. No, not initially. We are going to scout the area and make landfall. Once there, we will deploy a perimeter. If everything checks out, we can transition to a work schedule. There is no rush on this one, X7. By the teachings.

Yes, sir. X7 switched back to the primary frequency, irritated that Logan, as ship prime, did not decide by himself.

X7 knew what it meant to be prime.

He paired up the E2 models with the available ordinance, dividing the thirty-one units into four squads of seven units each. He then assigned two additional units to E7 as her personal escorts and one to X4 as his. Three of the seven-unit squads were under E7’s command, one under X4’s.

Each to themselves by their needs, he pondered from the teachings.

X7 crossloaded scenarios then changed his orders to two squads under E7 and two squads under X4. E7 would still have command appropriate to her rank but would be irritated that it was only by one unit

He watched as the E2s started to mobilize and procure the equipment from the arsenal.

It was a very orderly process.

Each unit attached a quick-flight magnetic belt to its waist. They took four quick-stun throwers, a hand shooter and attached additional plating to their more vulnerable areas. Half of the units procured heavy shooters, the other half hand-to-hand bracings.

X7 walked over to the immobile E7 and stood unnecessarily close to her, observing her deactivated form. He looked over to X4, then back to E7 again. He then turned and walked out of the cargo hold, heading to the command center.

Disconnected outline

The Thorik was two levels. The hallways were large and wide on the ship. X7 made his way past the digger living quarters on level one. It went up a level to the command bridge using the slowly sloping ramp that connected the two floors.

When he entered the command area, he saw the two guardians, Logan and Odessa. Logan was prime on the ship, but X7 felt he did not take advantage of his position. Logan would often waste valuable time consulting with Odessa on decisions. X7 felt that showed weakness, making it hard for him to treat Logan as ship prime sometimes.

The two guardians were engaged in a conversation with the female digger prime Adyamo.

Diggers were the working class of Machian society and made up the bulk of the small moon’s population. All Machians were born as diggers. A select few were offered the chance for ascension.

Ascension for a digger could be to either the warrior caste or the deliberative caste. If the warrior caste was chosen, the warrior was encouraged to attempt ascension to a deliberative body after serving one full term. Encouraged is the polite way to say the cogitate circle required it. It seemed a form of control, not to allow warriors to grow older and be wise, instead of initiating them into the upper class.

Diggers were sometimes called doers because they got the physical work done.

Diggers were slightly shorter and wider in size than the truth-tellers, similar in height, and somewhat smaller in stature than the guardians.

Adyamo was short even for a digger. But she was wider than most diggers, which gave her greater strength. Unlike Logan, she constantly took advantage of her position as digger prime. She never actually did any digging. Always ate first. Took the best of the accommodations and provisions for herself.

X7 respected her. Even though she was just a digger, she understood what it meant to be prime.

He paused at the entryway and outloaded a request to enter the command bridge on the general frequency. Both Logan and Odessa looked over at him. Odessa nodded and motioned for him to come in and join the conversation.

It was infuriating to X7 to be summoned by a second, not a prime. He would follow tradition even if the two guardians did not.

X7 outloaded in audible voice as he approached, I have configured the E2s and am awaiting your command to deploy, Captain.

Logan looked from Adyamo to X7. X7, Adyamo is suggesting that her diggers be used as the defense configuration and that your E2s establish the site and begin the mining work.

X7 was shocked. He almost paused a micro cycle to crossload calming datagrams but was able to reject the inload before it was actualized.

He stopped and looked down at Adyamo. He was standing just slightly too close to her, so his height was emphasized. He responded with the teachings, looking over at Logan, Each to the circle by their abilities, which would make this a waste of talents. It would further place diggers into a role they are not equipped for, sir. The last part said just quick enough to not appear as the afterthought it was.

Logan’s face remained calm and stoic. Odessa, though, started to laugh and reached over to pat X7 on the shoulder. That was a joke, X7. Always so serious!

X7 accepted the inload of calming datagrams. He crossloaded them three times in succession, then responded, Of course, ma’am. Humor. When a Machian outloads an ironic datagram that is counter to good facts in an obvious but shocking way.

X7 double-checked he was on his private frequency, then crossloaded several datagrams of himself attacking Odessa. In some datagrams, he crossloaded her decapitation. In others, he reached into her chest, pulling out her still-beating heart while she screamed and fell, helpless.

He outloaded to the general frequency a purple laugh datagram. The three Machians smiled at him, assuming he was in on their joke.

Snow

Alethia had vastly different climate zones that each changed as the planet wobbled around the luminary center.

The assigned mining location was at an elevation well above sea level and in a zone currently with a climate similar to Machi, just below the freezing point of water. The colder cycle had just started and would last two full Machi cycles, which was the length of the mission.

The off-limits area was higher, towards one of Alethia’s two poles and the center of the non-dominant landmass.

The Thorik descended through the troposphere, targeting a high, flat plateau.

The magnetic drives allowed a controlled descent and precise touchdown. The plateau was treeless and held an excellent view of the surrounding terrain in all directions.

There were mountains to one side of the plateau with a heavy forest on them, in the direction of the off-limits area. On the other three sides, at substantial distances, there were large drop-offs into ravines that had been cut by liquid water flowing in the off-seasons after it had melted.

A slight distortion was visible as the ship touched the ground from the magnetic drives. The drives pushed against gravity and could propel the craft at extraordinary speeds once inside a planet's atmosphere, even in high gravity.

Alethia had a high gravity.

Propulsion drives were needed outside and between worlds.

The back of the Thorik opened after touchdown, and X7 led his etherreals down the walkway. To his left was X4, and to his right was E7, each followed by their contingent of E2s.

The etherreals descended quickly and formed out left and right into a defensive formation around the craft's rear. E7 made a hand movement, and one of her squads of seven units activated their quick-flight belts. They shot up into the air in a vee formation and established a sightline to the front of the ship and beyond.

X7 continued to walk straight forward. The leader of the parade. Prime.

E7 and her second squad sprinted right. X4 dashed forward with a team in front of X7. His second squad deployed to the left.

These quick moves provided sightlines and fire zones in all directions. E7’s airborne group also had a view of the sky.

The deployments were quick and impressive.

Behind the etherreals walked Logan, Odessa, and Adyamo.

Logan and Odessa were in their combat loadouts: shining white armor with built-in quick-flight capability and large, impressive shooters. Odessa’s suit was equipped with hand-to-hand bracings. Logan carried a heavy shooter on his back.

Adyamo walked at the head of the sixty diggers. Driving massive machinery on a grand scale, some diggers rode on the machines carrying site flags. Several others walked alongside, carrying clan flags.

The flags waved, and the machines roared. The scene was a spectacle.

Adyamo did not carry anything; her hands were free. She gave directions here and there as the work teams deployed and started quickly setting up permanent structures and organizing the new site. The directions were more show than anything else. The diggers knew their jobs well.

If these activities were being observed, which they were, the impression was one of competence, experience, and grandeur.

The sky was a bright blue. The different brightly colored flags blew sideways in the strong wind.

It started to lightly snow crystallized water, a welcoming sight and something Logan knew was a good omen.

X4 and a squad of E2s established their far rear defensive position.

Logan, Odessa, and X7 continued to walk forward as the other crews eventually stopped and started their preparations. They walked past X4’s etherreals and paused several measures farther out, studying the vast landscape.

Viewed from above, the defensive deployment was symmetrical and well thought out. All positions were accounted for, given the size of the contingent.

X7 looked to Logan. Sir. I suggest we dedicate one etherreal squad to reconning the area.

Logan made an approving face with an affirmative nod of his head.

X7 outloaded the command to E7 then issued a pause command as Odessa spoke to him. X7, why don’t you split the squads into two-unit teams so you can send one group out in each direction.

It was an order. This blasted second. Who did she think she was? As prime, Logan had already approved X7’s plan.

E7 outloaded a mocking green datagram. X7 believed she knew he had just been overridden by a second and believed she knew he was infuriated by it. She sent a second datagram with the same green heading to see if she could get a rise out of him.

X7 responded to Odessa, Of course, ma’am. Excellent suggestion. I will need to pull one of E7’s personal escorts to add one to the seven etherreals in a squad to achieve the eight-count for this strategy.

Odessa looked over to Logan, who nodded the same affirmative nod of his head again—effectively changing his mind in X7’s eyes. More proof he was ineffective.

X7 outloaded the datagram to E7, instructing her to pair one of her escorts up with the other seven units in one of her squads. Then she was to send two etherreals in paired teams in each of the four cardinal directions.

He sent the datagram with a green header, even though it should have been red, as a way to mock her as a return for her earlier outload. He also knew she would be upset that her local command was now only half that of X4’s.

Logan looked at X7. Monitor the situation for the next set of micro cycles. Make sure the perimeter is secure. Recall the recon teams before dark and let me know if they find anything of interest.

X7 had a small flash of relief. The captain could apparently sound like a prime by accident from time to time. Yessir. He returned and activated his quick-fight belt, launching into the air and landing quickly back near the center of the new compound.

Logan and Odessa watched him land. E7 and X4 landed at the same place at the same time. X7 must have crossload commands