Ace
Ace forgot to breathe as the massive colony ship rose from the depths of the lake. Through the viewscreen, he caught sight of the large sea creature, and he mentally waved at the animal, hoping it would be all right. Had it looked at the colony ship as a companion over the last two years, or would it be relieved to have the out-of-place ship gone from its home?
Everyone watched silently as they moved through the water, toward the surface.
“This had better work,” Ace heard Captain Hawk mutter. He liked the older woman. She was temperamental and dutiful, but had a softer edge to her than he’d expected.
“It’ll work,” one of her officers said. “It has to.”
Jarden would be lowering to Domum now, and Flint would be waiting for his ship, to take it back up. Ace had tried to volunteer for the job, but no one had taken him seriously.
A voice crackled over the communicator from the Eureka, its calm tones replaced by something else: a scared sound. “One of the Distractors is down.”
“Move us up, Lieutenant Bartlett, and make it snappy!” Hawk shouted, unable to contain her pent-up frustration.
Ace observed as the ship breached the lake water, entering into the air.
“Another Distractor is down!” Harry Tsang called over the communicator.
“Bartlett, take us up, and quickly!”
Ace noticed the small lander lowering to the ground, behind schedule. It should have been down already. He couldn’t let Flint get stuck down here. They needed him for what was coming.
Ace didn’t tell anyone as he raced off the bridge, sure no one would even notice that he’d vanished. His quick steps took him through the colony ship and toward a hangar, where ten EFF-15 fighters had sat powered down and unused for years.
Without a thought in the world, other than to make sure Flint made it back, Ace scrambled up the ladder and into one of the vessels. This was an old model, one like the simulator he’d trained on, but the concepts were all the same as the newer models. He slammed the cockpit door down, strapped a mask to his face, and powered up the fighter. The large metal hangar door creaked open at the tap of a button, and he urged the ship forward, through the containment field.
18
Flint
Flint and Bull waited at the cart, with Bree in the back. Her minor injuries had healed faster than Flint’s, whose gashes were still sore but mostly healed over. His stomach would forever bear the scars of that day fighting the Wendigo, but it was far better than the alternative.
“What’s taking them so long?” Flint asked, using his hand as a visor against the sun.
Howls erupted around them, setting his blood to ice. “Wendigos,” Bull whispered, reaching for his rifle. Flint saw Bree already held hers, and he accepted one of the guns from Bull. They weren’t supposed to have to worry about these things. The Wendigos were getting braver, perhaps feeling like they were at war with the humans. Flint was grateful he wasn’t staying behind for the future altercations.
That was, if the councilman ever made it back down as planned. “Come on, old man.” Flint finally heard the familiar whine of the ship’s engines and stepped back. The sound merged with the howls, temporarily creating a moment of harmonized music.
“There have to be at least a dozen of them.” This from Bull, who was standing between the treeline and the cart.
“Maybe we can avoid them,” Bree offered, but Flint doubted it. He cursed them as the lander came into sight.
It lowered in a hurry, hitting the ground with a thud. Jarden raced out, followed by a pilot Flint didn’t know. “Hurry! The Distractors are failing. The cloud of Suckers is heading for the Pilgrim, and might veer off to take the lander down.”
Flint’s stomach sank. He couldn’t be stuck down here. There was too much to do, and they needed his help to follow through with their plan.
He made for the ship, and that was the moment the Wendigos chose to show themselves. Flint smelled one before he saw it, and he planted his feet, skidding to a stop on the dirt landing pad. Dust kicked up around him as he took aim. The creature seemed to sense the danger, but instead of running away, it charged him. Flint took a breath, aimed, and fired. The shot hit the Wendigo in the shoulder, but it kept running toward him.
He fired again. This time, his shot went wide. The creature was ten feet ahead before Flint started to scramble backwards, trying to get a clean shot off. A rifle shot barked out behind him, and the Wendigo fell to the ground in a pile. The scene became chaos, and Flint knew he wasn’t going to make it. He spun, firing at another approaching attacker, the whole time wishing he was in the lander heading for orbit.
Ace
Ace flew the fighter to where the lander sat on the ground. He heard chatter on the radio. There were only two functional thermonuclear Distractors left, and there wasn’t much time. A cloud of Suckers had directed its attention toward the Pilgrim, but Ace thought the ship was going to make it out unscathed.
The lander and Flint were another story. He raced toward the surface and found a strange scene before him. There were a few humans banded together in a circle, facing outwards, and twenty or so of what could only be the Wendigos around them.
Ace rubbed the ace of clubs in his breast pocket with the tip of his finger and arced down, slowing his thrusters. He couldn’t get too close to them, but he had to help them escape. He unleashed a quick staccato of pulse fire twenty meters behind the Wendigos on his first pass through; shrapnel fell to the ground. “Get lost!” Ace called out to them as he fired behind the other side of them.
By the third time he’d passed over, they’d scrambled, running for the trees, trying to avoid the deadly blasts from the sky. The Wendigos would know what this kind of fire was, and as with any animal, it would be terrifying to witness.
The people were splitting up now, and Ace saw Flint’s tiny form racing toward the lander, another person running with him. Flint and the other person entered the lander, and Ace roared out in front of them as the boxier ship lifted off.
“Who do I have to thank for the rescue?” Flint’s voice carried into Ace’s earpiece.
“It’s me, Ace!” he called back, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
“I should have known. Lead the way, kid,” Flint said.
Ace did just that, staying ahead of the lander as they headed straight up toward the atmosphere.
“The last of the Distractors has failed!” Harry Tsang’s voice carried through Ace’s speakers. “Get out of there now, Pilgrim!”
Ace looked through the viewer and saw a cloud of black heading for the large colony ship. It was going to be close. “Flint, stay on track. I have something to do,” he said, heading away from the smaller lander.
“Good luck, kid,” came the reply.
Ace shot his pulse cannons at the air, keeping the fire away from the colony ship. “Come on, work!” he shouted to himself as he pressed back in his seat and changed trajectory, trying to lead the Suckers toward himself and away from the Pilgrim.
Ace kept shooting at nothing, using the energy as his own mini-Distractor. It wasn’t enough, but the colony ship was almost there. He just needed one big energy boost. The idea struck him like a slap, and he dropped the bomb without hesitation, only it didn’t release. He fumbled at the controls, realizing they weren’t all the same as the current model he was used to. He found the release after a tense half-minute and hit it. His ship looped around, and his pulses found their target as the bomb exploded in mid-air. The clouds of Suckers followed him as he did this three more times, leading them farther away from the Pilgrim.
“You did it! We’ve broken free from atmosphere. Thank you, whoever you are.” Captain Hawk’s voice was softer and lighter than Ace had ever heard it.
Flint’s voice hit his private line. “Ace, we’re almost there. Head upward and get out of Dodge, kid. I have nothing on this vessel to distract them for you.”
Ace grinned as he darted away from the incoming Suckers. Flint
was going to be okay, and the Pilgrim was safe. His short life had been full of pain, and things no kid should have to deal with, but at that moment, he wondered if this had been his purpose.
His ship was nearly there – he only needed another minute. The cloud was on him; a few fast Suckers were already darting around his viewer. He wasn’t going to make it.
Just as Ace resigned himself to the fact he wasn’t going to live, the ship rocked back and forth as he pushed the throttle to dangerous levels. Fire burned around his ship as he entered the atmosphere, freeing him from the clutches of the tiny insects.
Ace’s fighter lifted into space, and he let out a whoop, shaking his fist into the air of the cockpit. It wasn’t his time to die. He still had a lot of work to do.
Wren
Wren’s nerves were fried by the end of the escape. Leading up to this day had been stressful enough, but with the virus done and tested, and the carcass of the Watcher still on board, her time had been well-spent.
She still saw the dying alien when she closed her eyes, but its horrifying words about each of them being slain by the Faithful told her she’d done the right thing. Kill or be killed. It was such an old concept, but one biologists knew all too well. She’d had to adapt herself in the last two years.
The autopsy had gone well. Charles had assisted with an interested disposition, and once again, his keen curiosity inspired her. Most of the gathered data was already presumed from the scans and tools Wren had on hand, but there were a few tidbits that would assist her. She was even able to learn something about the Watcher’s lungs that would allow a slight tweak to the virus, to allow faster incubation and transference.
Now Wren was on Eureka’s bridge as the Pilgrim set on its escape. As each Distractor was destroyed in turn by the Suckers, she felt their chances get slimmer and slimmer. Whoever had jumped into the fighter to help save the day was going to get a big hug from her, and likely from everyone aboard both ships.
She’d listened to the play-by-play on the speakers and had nearly fallen out of her seat as the colony ship escaped by a hair. If not for the fighter’s quick reactions, they never would have made it. Wren felt foolish that no one had thought of that as a contingency plan, but Heather had been so sure of the Distractors’ effectiveness.
There was no point in bringing it up now, though. Everyone had made it safely, and they could move on to phase two.
Captain Barkley was trying to reach the ships. “This is Eureka. Are you well?” she asked, directing the question at the colony ship.
“Captain Hawk here. We’re better than all right. We’re great. We’ll meet you on the next pass in orbit, and use the beam to attach. I look forward to meeting you all.” The call ended, and Wren watched as a countdown appeared on the viewscreen. Two hours and thirty-three minutes until they arrived.
Harry Tsang motioned to the captain. “We’re receiving a transmission from the lander.”
“On the speakers,” Captain Barkley said.
“Eureka, requesting permission to board.” Wren felt a smile break over her face at the sound of Flint’s voice.
“Permission granted, Lieutenant Lancaster. Welcome home. Hangar Five awaits.” Heather glanced back at Wren and gave her a knowing grin.
Home. The connotations were strange to think about. This was their home, at least temporarily. Wren guessed it might be the last place any of them called home, with the upcoming battle.
Tsang put through another call on the communicator. “Ace, here, also requesting permission to board,” the voice said, and Wren’s eyes welled up. She’d known there was something special about the young man when they’d met, and Flint had sure taken a shine to him. Now he was already proving his value by saving well over a thousand people with his quick reactions.
“Tonight we dine in your honor, Ace,” Heather said, getting a cheer from the crowd. “Head to Hangar Five.”
Wren couldn’t help but rush to the hangar, after telling the crew she’d greet the pilots. Her legs forced her to run toward the hangar a few floors below them. By the time she arrived, she remembered they were still coming back around orbit, so the lander and fighter wouldn’t be there for a while.
She walked idly down the hall, happy to project some bundled-up energy. After walking around for thirty minutes, she made her way back down the corridors and waited outside the hangar, watching through a viewer in the door as a few crew members cleared space for the two incoming vessels.
The hangar wall lowered, quickly followed by the snout of the fighter. Ace settled the retro vessel down, and the lander was right behind him. Wren entered the room now, running for Ace as he stepped out and down from the fighter. He looked older than she remembered, even though they’d only been gone to the surface a few days.
She hugged him tightly, and for a second, he seemed in shock. Ace returned the embrace after a moment. “Ace, you were amazing!”
Ace shrugged before tossing his mask back into the cockpit. “I don’t know about all that. I only wanted to help,” he said shyly.
“The understatement of the year.” Flint’s voice echoed around the bay, and Wren saw him stalking toward them. His eyes were on fire, intense yet gleeful.
“Glad to be able to help, Flin…” Ace was cut off by Flint’s hug, which lifted the smaller man off his feet.
“You’re my hero. I owe you one, kid. On second thought, make it two. Otherwise, I’d be stuck down there fighting monsters from my nightmares. I already have enough to remember them by,” Flint said, his hand running over his stomach.
Wren had heard the rumors about these Wendigos but didn’t know much about the altercation. She’d be sure to grill Flint on it later.
“And who’s this?” Wren asked, nodding toward the large man standing a ways back. He was letting them have their moment, and she appreciated the gesture.
“This is my new friend Bull. He wasn’t supposed to come up, but the situation changed, and he made a last-second decision,” Flint answered.
Bull walked toward them and extended his hand, shaking Wren’s own and then Ace’s. “I never thought I’d leave, but being in that last fight made me want nothing more than to head into space. From what I hear, I’d have been a lot safer back down there, but keep that between us. I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’m afraid of anything.”
Wren laughed with the others, and she realized she hadn’t greeted Flint yet. She felt the urge to wrap her arms around him and give him a hero’s welcome. “What the hell. You only live once.” She stepped up to Flint, put her hand on his cheek, and kissed him, before breaking away seconds later.
He stood there, mouth gaping open, eyes blinking in disbelief. “If I would’ve known that’s all I needed to do, I’d have made several trips up and down by now.”
“Don’t press your luck. I only wanted you to know I’m glad you’re back. Let’s get you all settled and see about this dinner Heather was talking about,” Wren said. She wasn’t looking for anything serious, but if they were going into the blaze of glory soon, she wasn’t going to leave anything unsaid or undone.
19
Jarden
Jarden watched as the bombs went off in the distant sky: tiny explosions in the blue vastness of their atmosphere. He hoped they all made it out in one piece. Whoever had come to their rescue couldn’t have had better timing. Those creatures were nasty, and Jarden knew they’d need to deal with them eventually.
The rest of the trip back in the cart had gone without complication, though Jarden’s leg was throbbing in pain with each bump of the rocky road. The ship was gone, and this colony had to do everything on its own now. There would be no more reprieve from the ship’s features underwater. They’d set up all they could in the short time they’d had, but Jarden worried it wouldn’t be enough. A world with no modern technology allowed. It was going to be a new life indeed.
“Are you well, Councilman?” Bree asked, peering over her shoulder from the front seat, where she pedaled beside the pilot.
>
“Just Jarden. You’re no longer in my service, Bree. Please find your place in the colony, but you don’t have to concern yourself with my protection any longer,” Jarden said, and noticed a hint of sadness at his comment. “I appreciate all you’ve done, but we’re all nothing more than colonists now, and I don’t want anyone to look at me any differently than the others.”
Bree stammered for a moment before answering him. “It’s been a pleasure, sir… I mean, Jarden.”
Jarden had spent most of his life being doted on, and he was glad to be done with it. He only wanted to help out where he could, whether it was giving sought-after advice or anything else the colony needed. He was going to get to spend his remaining years with his family.
Jarden was sure the young woman would always be watching his back, but not formally; which, in truth, was what he’d wanted.
The gates opened as they headed back to the colony, and Karl greeted them with Kat by his side. “It went well?” the man asked.
“If getting jumped by twenty Wendigos is going well, then yes,” Jarden said, accepting a hand from Kat to step down off the cart.
Karl waved to the gatekeepers to shut the large wooden door. “Twenty! We haven’t seen that many together before.”
“Bull went with Flint,” Bree said.
This demanded a full recount of what had occurred, and they went over the details as they headed into camp. Smoke poured out of a chimney in one of the lodges, and as they neared the building, Jarden could smell a stew of some sort. His stomach growled at the scent, and he realized it had been nearly a day since he’d eaten. The stress of the looming day had been enough to keep him avoiding food.
Leona walked out of the building, rushing to his side. She hugged him, and he inhaled; the mix of her musk and the smoke from the fire might have been the most inviting smell of his life.
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