Earth Afire (The First Formic War)

point?” said Imala.
    “My point is, it doesn’t make tactical sense. Humans would defend themselves differently. We would target those ships that pose the biggest, most immediate threat, right? The ships that were firing. But the Formics don’t. They target the ships that are moving the fastest.”
    “They wiped out every ship,” said Imala. “Does it matter what order they did it in?”
    “It absolutely matters,” said Victor. “Look.” He sped up the vid to the end of the battle. “Watch. The ships that were destroyed last were the ships that were moving the slowest. And yet some of these ships are scorching the surface of the Formic ship with laser fire. So in some instances, the Formics took out ships that weren’t firing before they took out ships that were .”
    “Meaning what?” asked Imala.
    “Meaning their defense is somehow built on motion detection,” said Victor. “They identified all the ships and destroyed them in the order of how fast they were moving. Which means if a ship was moving slow enough and inconspicuously enough, it might be able to reach the Formic ship.”
    “That doesn’t make sense,” said Imala. “If it’s moving toward the ship, it’s in motion. That would set off the Formic sensors.”
    “Not if it’s moving very, very slowly,” said Victor. “Here, look at the debris around the Formic ship. Most of the debris from the destroyed ships is gone, blasted off and moving away at a constant speed. But you still have hundreds of pieces of debris surrounding the mothership. Now, none of these pieces is completely inert. They’re all spinning or drifting slightly, so they have some motion. And yet the Formics don’t blast them. Why?”
    “Because they’re not ships,” said Imala. “They’re debris. They’re not a threat anymore.”
    “Exactly,” said Victor. “They have some motion but they’re being ignored because they’re debris.”
    “If you’re making another point, Vico,” said Imala, “we’re not seeing it.”
    “This is the answer,” said Victor. “This is how I can reach the Formic ship.”
    “How?” said Imala.
    “By camouflaging a tiny shuttle to look like debris and then piloting it very slowly, as if it were drifting, right up to the surface of the ship. It would blend in with all of the other drifting debris. The Formics would completely ignore it. And if the motion was slow enough, their sensors wouldn’t detect it.”
    “Theoretically,” said Imala. “You don’t know how sensitive their sensors are.”
    “Actually,” said Victor, “we have a pretty good idea. My father and all the men from El Cavador, along with Lem’s men, reached the surface of the ship. How? By having their ships match the Formics’ speed, which meant their ships looked stationary to the Formics. And more importantly, for whatever reason, the men passed through the shield. I can get on that ship, Imala.”
    “And do what exactly?” asked Imala. “Blow it up? Your family already tried that, Vico. It didn’t work.”
    “My family tried damaging it from the outside. They didn’t go inside.”
    “So you’ll go in the ship? How?”
    “I don’t know yet. I just came up with the idea. I’ll figure something out.”
    “I know you’re upset about not being able to enlist, Vico,” said Imala, “but let’s think rationally here. What you’re suggesting is suicide. We don’t have any of the supplies you’d need. We don’t have a shuttle. We don’t have camouflage for a shuttle. And we certainly don’t have weapons for doing any damage inside the Formic ship even if you were, by some miracle, able to get inside.”
    “What is it with you planet people?” said Victor. “All anyone ever does around here is say something can’t be done. We don’t have this. We can’t do that. That’s against the rules. Well guess what? This is how we live, Imala. This is how free miners think. When there’s a problem, we don’t sit around and take note of everything that can’t be done, we do something. We find a way, and we fix it.”
    Imala folded her arms. “You and I are on the same team, Vico. I’ve made sacrifices for you, and getting snippy with me doesn’t help. Everything I’ve said is true. You may not like it, but those are the facts. We don’t have those supplies. Just because I question your idea doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Are you telling me that every free-miner idea is a good one?”
    “No. Of course not.”
    “Then let’s