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Twelve images of black finger tattoos were displayed beside Powlus Zetus on the main viewscreen.
“That’s it.” She pointed to the one situated three images from the right. “It looked like that one.”
“According to the databases, that’s a marking used exclusively by the inhabitants of the Tsicariuk Plains region of Powlus Zetus.” Her cyborg informed her. “Those beings are dedicated to the art of war, and they have only one base. It’s situated here.”
The image of the planet rotated dizzyingly quickly to the left.
It stopped. A green dot appeared in the middle of a land mass.
“A battle was being waged on the Tsicariuk Plains when the peace agreement was finalized.” She remembered hearing about that. Countless Powluks had died during the confrontation. “The residents didn’t want to stop the fighting. But my mom recalled all our robots and weapons, leaving them with no one to target.” Kesser chewed on her bottom lip. “They were angry about that, my Strike. And now those angry warriors have Talley, and—” Her voice broke.
She didn’t want to think about what her peace-loving, harmless-to-anyone friend and her chosen male could be facing on Powlus Zetus.
“We’ll rescue them, my female.” Strike hugged her to his big form.
The physical contact and the confidence in his deep tones soothed her. “Tell me you’ve done something like this, that this isn’t your first rescue mission.”
“Cyborgs can’t lie. That isn’t in our programming.” He pressed his lips against her forehead. A sexy fizzing spread over her skin. That sensation had also occurred after they’d kissed. “I haven’t performed a rescue mission.”
“Oh.” Fates. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“I have fought 251,688 battles over thousands of human lifespans.” He gently stroked her hair back from her face. “I survived training that killed many other warriors. My brethren and I used the skills we honed to escape our cruel manufacturer’s control.” He paused. “I landed without hardship on your planet. If the security on Powlus Zetus is equivalent, we’ll land on that planet’s surface without hardship also.”
“The security on Powlus Zetus isn’t as sophisticated.” Her hope revived. “They don’t trust technology as much as my kind does. They don’t use it to track beings." She chewed on her bottom lip. “We’ll need authorization to land. I could ask my mom to arrange that, but…”
She still preferred not to involve her. Her mom would order her to return home, and she wasn’t as rebellious as Talley was. She didn’t want to disobey her much-beloved parent.
“There’s no need to ask your mom to gain authorization to land.” Strike sounded certain about that also. “I’ll access their systems and give us authorization.”
“Can you access their systems?” She frowned. “There would be security levels, and…” She didn’t know what else there would be.
“I’m half machine.” He said that as though it explained everything.
She gazed at him. “And?”
“I’m accessing Syndiculous 5’s core systems remotely as we chatter.” He shared that disturbing revelation. “Some of your leaders have open links to the Powluk systems. Ahhh…” He tilted his head to the side. “They require a text-based communication from a Powluk of influence for visitors from Syndiculous 5 to be entered into the database. I’m duplicating the one issued to your Minister of Defense by Powlus Zetus’s First Zetus.”
“The First Zetus is Tsadok’s father.” She felt uneasy about forging the communication. But she suspected they would be doing a lot of things that weren’t exactly protocol.
Fates. They had to sneak onto the surface of a planet controlled by a former enemy.
“We’ll require identities.” Strike presented the next challenge. “I’m perusing the programming for their life-form scanners.” His abilities wowed her. “The life-form scans detect the number of organic beings on board a ship, and that’s the extent of it.” His lips twisted. Her cyborg didn’t appear to be impressed with that level of detail. “The life-form scans don’t distinguish between human, humanoid, or cyborg—male, female or other.”
“They must uncover those details some other way.” Her mom had said the Powluks were strict about who landed on their planet.
“They require visuals upon approach.” He had that information also. “I’ll wear a garment that blocks the life-form scans.” She didn’t know garments like that existed. “Some more-advanced systems can identify beings as cyborgs.”
“That would raise questions.” Cyborgs were rare in their sector. She’d never seen one.
Before Strike. She gazed up at him. The male was gorgeous.
“It’s preferable if no questions are raised.” He agreed with her. “You’ll be viewed as the sole occupant of the modified freighter. To reduce the probability of detection, you should assume an identity of a high-ranking human female.”
Kesser thought about the beings working with her mom. “If we’re duplicating the communication used for Talley’s dad, the Minister of Defense, I should likely be someone in his group. That way, the wording might also apply to her.”
“That’s logical.” The approval in Strike’s voice warmed her chest.
“There’s Vera Inada. She’s the defense procurement agent, but she doesn’t look anything like me.” She was pale and thin and had twice Kesser’s solar cycles.
