This chapter is a bit shorter than they've normally been, but I just decided to finish it so I could start on the next chapter.
I returned to Hometree late at night, but technically early morning, and met with the others.
"What are we up against, John?" May asked.
"They have lots of weapons. I grabbed this as an example for the Omaticaya, but they have lots of suits similar to the ones used in the beginning of the war against the Mundars. ARC downloaded all the information on the ship and I flipped through a schedule, but I think they will have a large compound in three months and more ships will arrive soon, probably with more troops and material, " I said, pulling off the machine gun I'd taken from the ship.
"What do you think they'll do?"
"I don't know, but I hope they at least listen. "
"Is Hope going to be alright?"
"Hope is cloaked and on a different orbit than their ship, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem or in any danger. "
"What should we do now, John?"
"Right now we need to sleep. Tomorrow we will tell the Omaticaya. "
In the morning we went down to the base of Hometree and met with Ole'eyktan and told him about the humans. I showed him the gun, but didn't fire it inside Hometree.
"How long until they are a threat?" He asked.
"They already have a decent sized army, but are a little low on air units. If you were to attack them now you could kill them all, but I don't know if they mean harm to you yet. "
"Do you speak their language?"
"Yes, and we can teach your people if you want that. "
"No, but we may need an intermediary to speak to them. I want you to take three scouts to keep tabs on them. Every day I want one of your people to go to the site and get a report from the scouts and return. "
"Yes Ole'eyktan. Should I return the weapon to them?"
"Tonight, but don't get seen. I want you to show me what the weapon does before you return it. "
"Follow me then. I don't want to use it inside of Hometree. " We left the inside of Hometree and went a quarter mile into the forest. I set up an ice target that mimicked the structure of an Omaticaya and went back a hundred feet or so. I took aim at the target and fired three rounds. When we returned to the target, it was shattered and the bullets were embedded in the tree behind it. Ole'eyktan nodded.
"Return the weapon so they don't suspect anything, but maybe sabotage something while you are there. Good luck. "
"Yes sir. " An hour later I was taking three scouts to the landing site. Once we got there, I let them down and waited until it was dark. I noticed that they were moving a lot faster than I had thought they would. They had finished the barbed wire fence and were beginning to build a concrete wall around the compound and had temporary buildings up already.
Once it was dark, I snuck in and replaced the machine gun where I found it. On the way out I disconnected a few connectors on several of the construction vehicles, and then left the camp without being seen. I made sure the scouts knew to stay out of sight and returned to Hometree before morning. When I arrived, Catherine was still awake.
"What did I miss while I was gone?" I asked.
"Nothing, really. Ole'eyktan set up a scout rotation and Ben set up our travel rotation to the scouts, " she replied.
"That's good. Tomorrow we will move to the camp a few miles away. Ole'eyktan wants us to be a secret weapon if it comes to war. "
"I heard about that. Will we still come over during the day?"
"Most of the time, yes. If humans are seen close to Hometree we'll steer clear for at least the rest of the day. "
"Okay. Sounds good. See you in the morning. "