Feebee briefed the squad. “Five drop ships and a hundred Drexari came. There are now eighty. Agreed?”

  The cats looked at each other, each thinking the same thing. Eighty to seven wasn’t good.

  Tom Tom and Bikky looked at each other, smiled and spoke. “I like the odds.”

  Feebee smiled and continued, “The drone is working with the QI to tag the Drexari on our terrain map. Anything you think we should salvage from the drop ship?”

  Tom Tom spoke up, “We should tag it for Chen to pick up later.”

  “Yes; I like that.”

  ‘Tag it and send Chen a message.’

  The QI had already actioned the request. ‘Done.’

  Bikky was next to speak up, “What about that?” He pointed to the Drexari tied to a tree.

  “That is a prisoner of war and there are rules,” was Feebee’s immediate response.

  Vex got up, padded over to the pilot and sniffed. “Smells different,” then added, “not bad.”

  Grim and Anchor joined Vex, surrounding the Drexari who was pulling at their restraints, clearly freaked out by the close attention of three cats. They leaned in and sniffed, their noses touching the pilot.

  “Not eat,” was all Feebee said, almost as a joke. She sensed no threat from the Drexari. She sensed… neutrality and spoke directly to the pilot. “Be still. They’re cats; curious.”

  “Thank you.” It was a hesitant response.

  But the Drexari pilot settled, became still. Its translator was learning and understood that its life hung by a thread. A thread that Feebee held. And while that meant nothing to the clave, it meant a lot to zher.

  Meanwhile, somewhen else… The Long Quiet completed its projection.

  OUTCOME: Certain Death; unacceptable.

  Parameters adjusted.

  Projection Re-run.

  OUTCOME: Death; unacceptable.

  Action required.

  Back when…

  Time glitched. A new fork was established.

  The Drexari mother ship released another two drop ships. Five in total, more than enough. Even with three humans present, the outcome should be decisive.

  As the pair entered the atmosphere something failed. A plate on one came away. It was critical to re-entry. There was nothing they could do. The first ship broke up, debris spiralled away, into the path of the second. They never made it to the ground.

  There was a distant boom as another drop ship punched into the atmosphere.

  Bikky pointed, “That makes three that have survived re-entry.”

  “Yeh, we got lucky.” She paused, doing the numbers. “So, worst case, if the twenty Drexari we killed were in one drop ship...”

  Bikky finished it. “… there’ll be sixty or so coming our way”

  “Yep. That’s what I reckon too.”

  And now…

  The squad closed in. The drone flew overhead, able to plot the location of the Drexari below. They were mostly huddled within a triangle formed by their drop ships, each side around two hundred meters long.

  The QI had tried different ways to tag the Drexari; too many, too cluttered. In the end it just showed them as crosses on a flat map. There were maybe a dozen moving outside the triangle, scouting the jungle perimeter.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The squad’s approach put the Drexari between them and a stream. One ship sat at the tip of the triangle and was close to the jungle. So close, foliage rested on its blackened plating. The other two were near the stream. Water flowed under one, the struts of its landing gear had sunk into the mud.

  Feebee was worried, it looked like an easy target, but it also looked easy to defend. Another trap: it seemed their way.

  ‘Could the drop ships have active weapons?’ she asked the QI.

  ‘Possible, given their current deployment. If this were the siege of a castle, we’d focus on the corners but that’s most likely where their fire power is.’

  Feebee added. ‘Suggestions?’

  ‘Tricky,’ responded the QI. ‘Rely on your training.’

  ‘That’s helpful.’

  Feebee made a nervous clicking sound with her tongue. The captive Drexari perked up, “What? Question?” it asked.

  “Nothing,” Feebee said. “Do you have a name.”

  The pilot shrank back. The human talks rubbish, then asks for my name. What will it do with me if it knows I am not named?

  She didn’t answer. Instead, she quietly asked, “Do I have value?”

  Feebee frowned, “Yeh,” then without thinking she added, “I’m going to call you Calm.”

  The human has named me. How could it know?

  When zhe’d been nothing but a bug; alone, untested and quiet, one of the brood mothers had often whispered ‘never bet against the calm and silent one’.

  The human had spoken it into being, without knowing why.

  Zhe trembled, I am named.

  I am now whole.

  Calm remained quiet, didn’t respond.

  Feebee called to Vex, “How long do you think it’d take you to get to the far bank, behind the triangle, and back.”

  She chuffed, “Ten, maybe fifteen minutes.”

  “That’s quick.”

  “I quick.” Her response was accompanied by a chuff. The other cats chuffed too, a feline in joke?

  Feebee briefed Vex. As she left, Vex turned and made Diri. Feebee echoed it back, “Stay safe.” The cats chuffed as one and watched Vex disappear into the jungle. She tracked her on a separate map in her overlays.

  “Ok. We’ve got fifteen minutes max.”

  They worked their way down to the jungle’s edge and set up where there were ten meters of clear ground between the Drexari perimeter and the jungle.

  Kestrel climbed a tree, providing overwatch.

  “Click-click”; Wait.

  Anchor waited. A squad of three Drexari walked past, their shadows bent where nothing should have been.

  “Click”; All clear.

  She crept forward and carefully setup three scavenged Drexari cloaks on canes, a few meters in the open. They moved in the wind. Between them, she placed a fourth, clearly marked. Their configuration had been hacked by the QI, something it enjoyed far too much. She made a note to address that later.

  Vex was back, “That was quick.”

  “I quick.” Again, all the cats chuffed.

  “Ok. We all ready?” She looked up at Kestrel and got a thumbs up.

  ‘Do it.’

  The QI activated the cloaks.

  What looked like three Drexari, heavily cloaked, appeared to be moving at the water’s edge. They were clustered together with a fourth figure at their centre. From the bank, it looked like Drexari controlling a human prisoner just below the waterline.

  Drexari within the triangle turned, others pointed, some walked towards the water and started to cross to the group. Many more were distracted, their focus clearly on the stream.

  Next, the QI turned on the cloaks at the jungle’s edge. They were also suspended on canes and configured the same way. But this time Feebee made the same clicking she’d made when nervous. The short clicks carried on the wind. Drexari heads turned. She made a second series of clicks, slightly longer, louder.

  It wasn’t a language any of them would know, could know. But the cadence was one of command, one Feebee felt from within.

  It called out to them and said without language, here is the Silent One.

  Two Drexari detached from the group standing near the drop ship at the triangle’s apex. They began to cross the open space, their weapons were held low, casual, pointing at the ground. A third followed, lagging behind, its weapon held ready.

  Feebee sent a short sharp burst of clicks. They contained a friendly, passive vibe. Hearing this, the third Drexari relaxed and hurried to catch up.

  As they get near, they become confused. There was no movement, the cloaks were still. The sound didn’t repeat. There was only silence, all sound lost in the jungle.

  The first Drexari stopped, sensing something was wrong. Too late, it fell to the ground without a sound. The second never finished turning. Seeing this the third pulled back, lifting its weapon. But it’s knocked from its hands before a shot is fired. It turns to run but is sliced open by invisible Panthera claws.

  The bodies were quietly pulled into the jungle.

  Feebee gave two clicks; the squad waited, tense. The trick with the cloaks had only yielded three Drexari bodies. Disappointing, she’d hoped for an opening; a surge across the stream or a reckless charge at their position in the jungle.

  But no, these Drexari were disciplined.

  She sent the team “Click-click”. It stilled them.

  Feebee stepped into the open, she carried Hissy with her. Glyphs and icons flashed along her length and the dull gold of her body caught the sun.

  Uncloaked, Feebee walked forward. Visible for all to see.

  Calm walked with them. Also uncloaked.

  No one fired.

  Feebee then lowered herself to the ground, cross-legged and pulled Hissy upright into position. Calm stood at her side.

  The serpent let out a confident note, more a chime that was felt in one’s bones rather than heard.

  Feebee cycled her breath, preparing Hissy.

  Then she played.

  The tones rolled out and across the field washing over the Drexari who stood, motionless; still. They knew this atonal and discordant sound; its strong cadence resonated with time itself.

  Not from teaching, but from shared memories. Passed down through generations. Older than the clades.

  They recognised it as a moment of Stillness; reinforced.

  One Drexari broke ranks.

  It walked forward, picked up its pace, then ran. It drew a weapon, a knife which it raised in fury.

  Feebee projected inner stillness; didn’t look up.

  Calm moved.

  Zhe stepped forward as the strike fell. The attacker collapsed. Calm fell too; mortally wounded.

  The tone did not falter.

  The sound continued and a single green mote rose from within Feebee, tracing a slow circular path around her.

  The Drexari dropped to their knees as one.

  Not in surrender.

  In acknowledgement.

  Without words, they withdrew. The drop ships powered up, lifted off and vanished into the clouds, leaving silence behind.

  Only then did Feebee’s breath still.

  Only then did her hands stop.

  She looked down and put one hand gently on Calm’s head.

  Meanwhile, somewhen else… The Long Quiet was still.

  OUTCOME: The Silent Flame persists; acceptable.

  STATUS: WATCHFUL

  No further correction required.

  Restraint maintained.

  Chen, sorry; MAJ Chen was furious. Feebee wasn’t 100% sure about what or why. She’d stopped an invasion, avoided a war and brought back her squad intact. Job done.

  He said he was rewarding her, and her squad. Go to ‘The Hospital’, get checked out and then go get some R&R. The place is “beautiful, lovely.”