Our boat floated silent as owls' wings and settled softly as an autumn snowflake. There was no doubt that the enemy had spotted us-the stealth could only minimize signs of our presence. We'd done everything we could to reduce detectability: hardened plastics, ceramics, charged ice, and hardly any metal. All that did was create doubt, and, possibly, delay. Or so we hoped.
We tumbled quickly from the boat as grounding automatically discharged the ship charge, without which the boat's ice frame would quickly melt. In a matter of minutes, the only remaining trace of our craft would be a puddle of impure water and the gossamer-thin spider-web of the stealth shield--and that would dissipate at the first hint of a breeze.
We deployed in pincer and arrowhead formation, sending two troops to the north to parallel our advance, two likewise to the south, and two to the point. Hunter and I followed in column.
We moved quickly, carefully, ever wary. That the Shardies would eventually find us was not in doubt, neither was the certainty of our death when they did so. They did not use humans well; however, I doubted they'd find much use for us.
Tactical estimates gave us an hour to save the recalcitrant settlers' souls. They were some sort of colony-religious or otherwise, it made no difference-only that they had foolishly chosen to remain where others fled.
There was a slight probability we'd have less than an hour and an even smaller possibility of having more, so we moved quickly. I'd estimated twenty minutes to reach their position and ten to twenty to ensure we'd located everyone. That left us five minutes for action and ten as margin for contingencies.
I knew we'd fail if we used more than fifty-five minutes.
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