"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," said Concepcion. "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 made of. It could be impervious to attack. It could be ten
meters thick."
"If that's the case, then nothing we do can stop them," said Concepcion. "But we won't know that until we at least try. And if the hull is impenetrable, then we've learned something valuable. That's intelligence that will help whoever fights them next."
"I'm assuming you have explosives," said Lem.
"I'm assuming all of us have explosives," said Concepcion. "Don't you occasionally use explosives to break up surface rock or open up a shaft?"
"I'll have to check with our quartermaster," said Lem.
"Aren't you outfitted?" asked Concepcion. "You very forcefully took our dig site. I assumed you wanted it for mining purposes. What were you going to do with it if not extract minerals?"
There was an awkward silence. Doashang looked back and forth between them.
"I'll check with our quartermaster," Lem repeated.
"You do that," said Concepcion. "Because the more explosives we plant, the more damage we'll obviously inflict."
"How would this work?" asked Doashang. "How do we safely get men onto the surface of the ship after we match its speed?"
"We make ziplines using mooring cables," said Concepcion. "Then we fire cables with magnetic anchors down to its surface. When the cables are secure, our miners clip onto the line and fly down to the surface with their propulsion packs. They can't be wearing lifelines because we can't fly that close to the Formic ship. But they could wear portable oxygen and batteries. They plant the explosives, crawl back to the mooring cable, then they either fly back up or we pull them up with the winch."
"That's a lot of moving parts," said Doashang. "A thousand things could go wrong. What if the magnetic anchor hitting the ship alerts them? Or what if the surface of the ship can detect movement?"
"Possibilities," said Concepcion. "But unlikely. When we attacked the pod, the Formics only surfaced after we had damaged their equipment. We literally crashed into the side of them and spent several minutes on their hull before they responded."
She was silent then, letting them mull it over.
Finally Doashang said, "I don't have a better idea. And I agree that stealth is best. We don't have a winch on our ship, though. So we'd be no help with the cables."
"Actually I was going to suggest that your ship stay out of the fight entirely," said Concepcion.
"Why?" asked Lem.
"One of us needs to stay behind," said Concepcion. "The intelligence we have is too important to die with us. We sent one of our crewmen to Luna with much of this intel, but we have no way of knowing if he'll arrive alive or if anyone will take him seriously. If this attack fails, someone needs to communicate everything we know with Earth. I suggest that be your ship, Captain Doashang. You can record everything from a distance. We can load all of the women and children from our ship onto yours prior to the attack in the event that something happens to us."
"I agree," said Lem. "Your ship is the smallest and least armored, Captain Doashang. If anyone stays back it should be you."
Doashang sighed. "I don't like being an observer. But I agree that everything we know must be relayed to Earth. If I'm to take on your noncombatants and children, we'll have to dock our ships in flight at high speed, which is dangerous. We can't decelerate to dock or we'll never catch the Formic ship."
"We'll have to trust our computers and pilots," said Concepcion. "I'll have our crew make preparations immediately."
*
Rena went to the docking hatch at the designated time, carrying a small bag with a single change of clothes. Segundo stood beside her, an arm around her shoulders. There was commotion all around them: infants crying, mothers shushing them, small children flying about despite their parents' stern commands to be quiet and still. A few of the women were crying too, particularly the younger mothers and brides, clinging to their husbands who were staying behind. Rena refused to cry. To cry was to acknowledge that something terrible might happen, that this parting between her and Segundo could be their last, and she refused to believe it.
The proximity alarm went off, startling her. It meant the WU-HU ship was close now, preparing to dock. Frightened children flew into their parents' arms, and everyone watched the docking hatch at the end of the corridor. The hatch was solid steel without windows, but Rena stared at it as if she could see the approaching ship on the other side.
Segundo's hand went to his handheld and turned off the alarm. Silence retuned to the corridor, then Segundo's voice was loud. "There may be a jolt when they dock. Everyone get close to a wall and hold on to something."
Parents immediately pulled their children in close and floated to one of the walls, clinging to a pipe or a handhold. Segundo and Rena moved to a corner and anchored themselves.
"Docking the ships like this is ridiculously dangerous," said Rena quietly, and not for the first time.