"Put him on."
Shenzu replaced the controller in the holofield. "We have a situation, Captain Rackham. Return to the base immediately."
"The landers are headed for us," said Mazer. "They'll make landfall in southeast China. I'm almost certain of it."
"Landers?"
"The giant discs in the sky. Descending to Earth. Are you watching the feeds?"
"We have a broadcast, yes."
"Vector them. Track them. They'll make landfall here."
"How can you know this?"
"We did the math with our AI. You've got less than seventeen minutes."
"Captain, bring the HERC back to base immediately."
"You're going to need us in this, Captain. We can help. Your HERC teams aren't ready. You know that as well as I do."
"You have violated our trust and stolen government property, Captain Rackham. Return to base."
From the backseat, Patu said, "I've got the NZSAS switchboard."
"I'll call you back," Mazer said to Shenzu, then he waved his hand through the holo to make Shenzu disappear. "Patch the switchboard to the holofield," he shouted back to Patu.
The same frazzled buck private from hours earlier appeared in the holofield.
"Switchboard. It's Captain Mazer Rackham. Connect me with Colonel Napatu."
"He's inaccessible, sir."
"Then get me Sergeant Major Manaware. Anybody. Now!"
"One moment." The tech busied himself, then disappeared. Manaware appeared.
"Captain Rackham--"
Mazer cut him off. "Listen to me. The landers, the discs, they're headed to southeast China. I can't be certain, but I think they're coming to us."
"We've calculated a huge landfall radius," said Manaware. "They could be going to anywhere in Southeast Asia. Hell, they could stop in the middle of the sky and switch directions. There's no telling, Captain. We can't be sure where they're going."
Mazer didn't have time to argue. "Fine. Contact Colonel Napatu. I need permission to engage the landers if they do land here and prove hostile."
Manaware looked at someone off screen and said, "Colonel, he's asking permission to engage."
"Is Napatu there?" said Mazer, incredulous. "Then put him on the line!"
Manaware stepped away and Colonel Napatu appeared. "Captain Rackham, what the hell is going on? I got China on the other line saying you've run off with two billion credits worth of tech."
"Colonel, they cut off all the feeds. We were without any contact to--"
"You are on a diplomatic training mission, Captain Rackham. You are representing your country. And in case you didn't know, our government and most of the free world is trying desperately to convince China to trust us and join a coalition against this alien ship. We need the Chinese, Captain. We need their shuttles and we need their firepower. Stealing their property and angering Chinese brass is not helping our cause. We are in the middle of a global security crisis. This is bigger than you and your team. Now fly that HERC back to base and kiss the feet of their commander. That is an order."
Napatu winked out.
They were silent inside the HERC for a moment. Finally Reinhardt said, "So what do we do?"