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“That location is close to us. If we hurry, we can get there before they land.”
“Then let’s move.” Hunter grabbed their equipment, and they raced toward the north-west quadrant of the planet.
They were close to victory; Cleo could almost taste it. This was the end of the Siblet and their scumbag activities. They were going down.
They arrived at the coordinates, just in time to see a ship landing on a flat patch of dirt.
They ducked behind a pile of rocks and waited.
The Siblet ship’s docking ramp slowly descended. A few seconds later, two Siblet military emerged and stood either side of the ramp. Although they were on the alert, they didn’t seem tense. They’d most likely scouted this planet several times before deciding to set up a base camp.
Cleo’s initial delight was ripped away when four more Siblet emerged. They were carrying a large cage between them.
She focused the binoculars on the animals in the cage, and her heart stopped beating for a second. “I don’t believe what I’m seeing. They look like gabblefoot. They’re supposed to be extinct. How did they find them?”
“Let me take a look,” Hunter said.
She handed him the binoculars, her heart racing fast.
“I see six in that cage,” Hunter said. “They’re small. What’s so special about them?”
“They have an ability to camouflage. They have light reflective scales they use to disappear. It’s clever. For years, our military on Earth tried to replicate the same thing with vehicles, but it was never a success.”
“You think the Siblet plan to make use of this camouflage on their beasts?”
Cleo grimaced as she nodded. “It would make them even more effective weapons.”
More Siblet came out of the ship until there were twenty standing around. Several headed off with large boxes carried between them, while the Siblets with the cage remained by the ship. A moment later, they headed back on the ship with the animals.
“We need to get those animals away from them. If they find a way to use a camouflage ability on their beasts, we’re in trouble. You can’t fight something you can’t see.”
He turned toward her. “What are you thinking?”
“If we’re lucky, they won’t have started their experiments on the gabblefoot. If we take away their supply, they can’t manipulate the camouflage abilities for their own weapons.”
Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “And...”
“We’re taking those animals.”
He shook his head. “You said yourself, this is the covert part of the operation. We’re here to observe. And it’s just the two of us down here.”
“Don’t tell me you’re worried about going up against a few Siblet.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about. And there are more than a few.”
“It should be what concerns you.” Cleo licked her lips as the plan formed. “Because you’re doing the dangerous part.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Which is?”
“I need you to distract that ship full of Siblet and draw them away.”
“And what the hell are you planning to do?”
“Put my flight simulation training into action. I’ve run through dozens of simulations using Siblet ships. I can fly that thing. I’ll grab the ship and fly off with the gabblefoot.”
“Let’s just watch them and see what they do. We can always return with backup and pick up the animals.”
“We can’t take that chance.” Cleo glanced back at the ship. “We’re done with watching. Jagger thinks we should act quickly and brutally, so let’s do that. We can stop the Siblet before they begin this phase of their tests.”
