Earth Unaware (First Formic War)

while or we would have noticed the problem sooner.”
    “Now you know what we know,” said Lem. “How do we respond to El Cavador? I’ve already gotten Chubs’s opinion. Now I want yours.”
    Benyawe looked surprised by the question. “We tell them we’ll fight, of course. We tell them we’ll be at their side, giving them everything we’ve got. We have to stop that ship, Lem. Destroy it if we can, though I suspect their captain is correct. Crippling it is the best we can hope for. But as for our answer, it must be a resounding and absolute yes. The Makarhu will join the fight.”
    Lem nodded gravely. “That’s what I thought you would say.”
    “You disagree?” asked Benyawe. “It’s my vote against both of yours?”
    “No,” said Lem. “The decision’s unanimous. We attack these bastards.”

 
    CHAPTER 18
    Formics
    Two heads floated in the holospace in front of Concepción: Lem Jukes and Captain Doashang of the WU-HU Corporation. Their ships were still several days away from intercepting the Formic ship, but they were now close enough to each other that a three-way conference was possible without much interference. Concepción, despite feeling exhausted and suffering through a flare-up of arthritis in more places than she cared to count, put her best face forward in the holospace. Let them see my eyes and know that we as a family will not fail them.
    There were introductions. Doashang seemed a most capable captain. Lem Jukes had an air of his father about him, which was to say confident in a way that was both alluring and off-putting at the same time. He was in his mid-thirties if Concepción had to guess. A child, really. Less than half her age. Goodness she was old. She had still been on Earth when she was that age, working in her father’s bodega in Barinitas, Venezuela, convinced that she would be stuck there in the heat and dust for the rest of her life, selling cold bottles of malta to the banana farmers as they came down from the fields.
    How wrong she had been.
    After the introductions, Lem wasted no time getting into tactics. He had surprised Concepción by accepting the call to help so readily, and Concepción had assumed that it was Lem’s conquering spirit—his need to subdue and bully—that had motivated him. But now, as he offered up ideas and showed concern for the safety of the other ships as well as his own, it occurred to Concepción that perhaps Lem’s compulsion to help might be driven by a genuine desire to protect Earth. That put Concepción’s mind at ease. Selfish motivations led to abandonment and betrayal in a fight, and if any of them hoped to survive, they would have to trust each other implicitly.
    “If the pod took direct hits from the Italians and suffered no visible damage,” Lem said, “we can only assume that the main ship has the same shielding.”
    “We won’t win this with lasers,” said Concepción. “The moment we open fire, the Formics will know we’re there. The instant they’re aware of us, we’re in trouble. They could vent their weapons like they did near Weigh Station Four, and we wouldn’t know what hit us.”
    “Then how will we attack them?” asked Doashang.
    “The Italians couldn’t damage the pod with laser fire,” said Concepción, “but a few of my men were able to land on the pod and cripple its sensors and equipment with tools.”
    “There are no sensors or equipment on the surface of the Formic ship,” said Lem. “It’s smooth. There’s nothing to attack. Besides, it’s moving at a hundred and ten thousand kilometers per hour. Are you suggesting we put men on the surface of that ship at that speed?”
    “That’s exactly what I’m suggesting,” said Concepción. “The only way we know of to penetrate their shielding is to be on the surface, right there on the hull. We know the surface of the pod was magnetic, so there is a high probability that the surface of the main ship will be as well. If our men are equipped with magnets, they could crawl on the surface of the ship and plant explosives. We could set these on a timer with enough of a delay to get our men back to our ships and to move the ships a safe distance away. If we’re lucky, we can get in and out without the Formics even knowing we were there.”
    “That avoids a firefight,” said Doashang. “I like that aspect.”
    “What if the hull is so strong that explosives don’t damage it?” asked Lem. “We don’t know what material the ship is