Beltan surveyed the assembled Ha'arans. He gestured to the map of the Bekan Basin. "We've marked where thermal imaging indicates there is a human presence. Only ones and twos, and all in places probably chosen to be difficult for the Besa'alans to access. Landing the flyers will be dificult, for us as well. I think your teams are going to have to go in on foot from wherever you can land, and bring the Bekan people out the same way."
"Have you determined how many there are?" said Gerlan.
"As far as we can tell, about forty altogether."
"It always was a sparsely populated area, probably why the Alkonians chose it for their landing site in the first place, but if we're going to bring the Alkonian lander down we want our people out from under," said Gerlan. "Our people will get the search teams as close as possible but the final approaches will have to be made on foot." He turned to Alna and Porl Vellik. "Are your teams ready?"
"They are," said Vellik, and Alna nodded agreement. Gerlan turned to the others, seeing nothing but assent. He nodded. "Very well. The flyers will leave an hour after full dark. Until then, get some rest."
An hour after full dark, and Ardan eased the Terran flier into the night sky and turned the nose towards the Bekan basin. Beside him in the co-pilot's seat, Leara cradled a Terran energy weapon. Behind them were Sana and Peri Ban, also with energy weapons. All four were wearing night vision goggles.
There was a chuckle from Sana. "It's weird seeing everything in green and black."
"You'll get used to it," said Leara. "Without the goggles we wouldn't be able to see a thing."
"How are we doing for positioning?" said Ardan.
Leara looked at the tablet clipped to the bulkhead in front of her. A map of the area was displayed, and the position of the flier was indicated, plotted from
Sirius
and transmitted to the tablet. There was also a marker for where they were to look for Ha'arans.
"Come left ten degrees," said Leara. "There's a river about a klick ahead. Come left and follow it for another klick, then look for somewhere to land the flier."
A task soon accomplished and Ardan set the flier down on a tiny meadow beside the river. He turned to his sister and Ban.
"You two ready?"
They nodded, and Sana gave Ardan a wry smile. "Yep."
"Okay, then. You know what to do, and the approximate location. Go and bring our people to safety."
"May the Goddess guide you," said Leara.
As Sana and Peri moved off into the darkness, Leara turned to Ardan. "I hope everything goes well, not only for Sana and Peri, but the other teams as well."
"As do I, my love, but all we can do at the moment is wait, and hope all
does
go well. We shouldn't have to wait too long, I think our people are only about a klick away. For the moment, though, let's take turns looking out for anyone and whoever is not on lookout takes off the night-vision goggles and rests their eyes. I'll take first watch, you tilt your seat back and rest. I'll do an hour, then you take over."
"Okay, sweetheart," said Leara, easing the goggles off and tilting her seat back. Surprisingly comfortable, she thought, but I'll never sleep, then was startled awake by Ardan's touch on her arm.
"Someone's coming," he said in a low tone. "Be ready."
Quickly she reset her seat and took up her energy weapon and goggles, settling the goggles over her eyes, cradling the weapon in her arms. Soon, figures appeared through the trees and she relaxed a little as she recognised Sana, leading the small procession. She counted. Sana, Peri and seven -- no, eight - other figures.
"Any problems?" said Ardan. Sana grinned, shaking her head.
"Only convincing our friends here that being under an exploding Alkonian lander is not advisable>"
"We can come back when it's over?" The speaker was a woman, youngish, lean, short-cropped hair.
"You certainly can," said Ardan, "and we can bring you back in daylight so that you can enjoy the flight."
The woman laughed. "I'll look forward to that, and being free of these invaders as well."
"For now, if you'd all care to climb aboard, we'll take you back to base, check if the other teams have succeeded."
Back at base, there was a buzz of activity. Of the eight fliers they'd had available, six were back, with a total of thirty-five people, and as their passengers disembarked the other two fliers returned, with a further seven Bekan Basin people, for a total of forty-two.
"Observation from orbit shows no other human life forms in the area, only the remaining Besa'alans making their way back," said Beltan. "One group, the furthest out, seems to have some wounded as they're moving very slowly, but even they should be at the landing site by late afternoon day after tomorrow."
"So we have a day, possibly two, to site the missile launchers in places where there are no Besa'alans?" said Gerlan.
Beltan nodded. "Indeed. Possibly best tomorrow night, and camouflage them so that the Alkonians don't spot them from orbit. We'll use four missiles and synchronise the controllers for simultaneous launch, but the optical sights on the controllers will each need to be focussed on the lander."
"So, four to keep their sights on the lander, but only one of them fires the missiles?" said Gerlan.
Beltan nodded. "Exactly."
"Any particular part of the lander to aim at?"
Beltan nodded. "If it was stationary on the ground I'd ask you to aim at the lift engines, on the lower part of the lander. As we're planning on taking it out in flight, we'll be aiming basically at the bottom, the best target area. No need for finesse in aiming, just hit the lander."
Gerlan grinned. "We can do that."
There was an air of cautious optimism in the Ha'arans now, belief in themselves after the initial setbacks in the invasion but none of those in the inner circles doubted that, without the Terran weapons and now, their Terran allies, things would have been much different. They settled for what they expected to be their last night under occupation in a cheerful state of mind. Ardan and Leara, initially planning to find a quiet corner to themselves, settled down with the others, and Sana settled herself next to them.
"I never did ask," she said, "but how did you two get together?"
Ardan laughed. "I stopped a thief from running off with Leara's mother's purse, but the first time we actually met was when I went for my Initiation."
"I was there for testing," said Leara. "That first time we just basically said hello, then a day or so later a thief tried to steal Mama's purse, but Ardan stopped him. Mama invited Ardan to sup with us, and a day or so later we rode out to the Grey Tower together. That was the first time I ever saw the keeta."
"Where are the keeta, they always used to be with you," said Sana.
"We left them on the upper plateau. Nowhere for the invaders to land a flyer, and plenty of small game for them to hunt. When this is over, we'll take you there to meet them. It will be interesting to know if they communicate with you."
"I'll look forward to that," said Sana, "but for now, I for one am going to try to get some sleep. Goodnight to both of you." And she settled herself in her bedroll -- one of the Terran lightweights, Ardan noted -- and closed her eyes.
Ardan leaned across and kissed Lea. "Goodnight, my love."
"Goodnight. Hopefully tomorrow sees the end of this invasion, then at last we can set up our home together."
"Something else to look forward to."
* * * * *
It was dusk the next day when the four missiles were set up ready for launch, spaced equidistantly around the calculated expected debris perimeter, with two Ha'arans attending each launcher. One with the aiming controller, the other ready to arm the launcher when the signal was given. The observers on the
Sirius
had confirmed that the last of the Besa'alans had reached the landing site, and the Alkonian lander had begun its descent from the Alkonian vessel in orbit.
"Look! There it comes," said Leara, pointing and Ardan could see the Alkonian vessel as it descended slowly to the landing site where the remaining Besa'alan invaders were waiting. Similar to the Terran shuttle in shape, but four or five times as big, it made an impressive sight as it descended slowly, almost noiselessly to the landing site. Anti-gravity technology, Beltan had told the Ha'arans, and armed, so the Ha'arans were careful to stay concealed.
As it approached the ground, landing struts were extended and the vessel settled to the ground. Immediately, hatchways opened and the Besa'alans began to stream aboard. Thirty minutes later, the hatches closed again and there was a deepening hum, felt as much as heard, as the lander prepared to lift off.
Beltan nodded and Gerlan lifted his comunicator to his mouth.
"Missile teams? Arm your launchers. Team one? Stand by for fire command."
Slowly the lander ascended and all eyes on the ground followed it, until it had reached about a klick from the ground and Beltan nodded again.
"Fire!" said Gerlan, and the four ground-to-air missiles left their launching cradles and made a fiery ascent into the sky, quickly reaching their target, almost simultaneously, so that to the watchers on the ground it seemed like one long explosion, and they watched, enthralled, as the lander disintegrated.
"Surely nothing will survive that?" said Ardan.
"We check, when all of the debris has fallen," said Gerlan. "Take no chances."
"The Alkonian ship is preparing to leave orbit," said Beltan. "
Sirius
is moving to intercept."
Automatically Ardan looked to the sky, not really expecting to see anything but there was a flash in the darkening sky, and Beltan nodded.
"I think, gentlemen, that the unwanted invasion of your planet is over. You can go back to living your lives in peace again," he said, "while we Terrans pay a little visit to the Alkonian home world and rap some knuckles."
Leara had been watching towards where the lander had exploded and touched Ardan's arm. "Look, you can see the debris falling, pretty much where estimated so no-one should get hit."
"We wait until tomorrow before we go and look," said Gerlan. "Tonight, we celebrate."
* * * * *
It took them three days to check all the debris for survivors, but there were none. None of the Ha'arans shed any tears, as their world had been invaded without warning and sympathy for the invaders was non-existent.
Ardan and Leara were sitting with Alna and Gerlan, and Sana, discussing their future.
"Had you remained un-married, Lea, on my death leadership of the Hinazi would have fallen to you, but as you have married out of the clan, as things stand leadership will pass to your cousin, Ellora," said Alna.
"Who will make a far better job of it than I ever could," said Leara, laughing.
"Perhaps, but we'll never know. So, what plans do you have, the two of you?"
"First, to see Fenn Barden, at Polldo Ford, and see about arranging a celebration of our marriage for our families and friends. He promised us that. In the temple at Vilna Station, I think, as that's home territory for us," said Ardan, and Leara nodded cheerfully, turning to Sana.
