“This is cool,” Ace told Wren, and she had to agree. “You should have seen the recruiting place in Old Chicago. It was nothing like this.”
Wren nodded, assuming most of their low-income recruiting centers had little by way of funding. The outside of the structure had rounded flower beds, and lilies and tulips stretched upwards, reaching toward the sky. Wren hadn’t seen a flower in so long. She used to buy them once a month for her kitchen table in another life. She stopped to smell an orange lily before being dragged inside by Ace.
“We need a good seat,” he urged.
Wren followed him, seeing the theatre seating was nearly full. Serina caught her eye and pointed to the second row from the front, where a section of seats sat empty. Wren waved her appreciation and directed the others down.
Then she looked around and realized she wouldn’t know anyone here. She wasn’t part of the Fleet, and even if she had been, most of those people would be dead by now. The room was a hubbub of chatter, but it all ceased to a hush. Wren craned her neck toward the entrance and saw Shadow and his guards enter the room.
“Who is this?” a brash old man asked, his voice rising through the silence.
“Admiral Pollock, this is Shadow, our new ally,” Serina said with a slight smirk. This statement brought the room from quiet to boisterous in a matter of seconds. Everyone was asking questions, and Serina had to raise her hand from her spot at the lectern in the center of the stage. The Fleet’s top admirals were sitting in chairs beside her, as well as Earth’s president, Grant Grierson. He looked like a fish out of water sitting there, pale and heavy-set, sweat dripping down his forehead.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this?” Admiral Pollock asked, just loudly enough for Wren to hear from her position.
Serina motioned for Shadow to have a seat in the lone empty chair on the stage, and his guards took position behind him. He was wearing the hood and scarf again, adding to his mystery. She’d likely decided to not tell them the man was her brother. It would cause more issues than solutions, and Wren had to agree with that.
“It happened a day ago, and that’s why we’re here today. If you’ve had your fill of interruptions, let’s begin.” Serina was composed, her braid hung over a shoulder, and Wren could tell she’d let someone else apply her makeup today. Gone were the perpetual dark bags under her eyes.
“Today, we have a new alliance. The Shadow and his group have been hiding for years, waiting for the right time to reach out, when they could trust us,” Serina started.
Someone shouted from the crowd, “They waited thirty years, all the while stealing from our Fleet and people, and now they want to work with us? To hell with them!”
More people chimed in, most of them agreeing with the sentiments that working with Shadow was a mistake. Wren noticed the fashion hadn’t changed much; the uniforms looked the same as they had before, but she did see a few unusual hairstyles popping up among the varied crowd.
“We have no choice. Things are dire. We lost too many ships keeping them holed up on Europa during the Rift opening. Then we lost more when the Invaders decided to Shift to us on Mars. We don’t have enough fight left in us to wait any longer. We need Shadow, and they need us. Together we can mount a force strong enough to make a difference in this war.” Serina was frowning, obviously annoyed at the dissention among the others. She needed buy-in. Wren knew she wasn’t in this to make friends, though.
“We attack in two days,” Serina continued. “Europa will see our main Fleet, and Titan the rest. Each Fleet will be comprised of both Shadow’s people and ours. We hit them where they wait for us to dwindle, and we hit them hard. We give them all we have, and we’ll be victorious.”
Pollack was the one to retaliate again. “What if it’s not enough?” He asked the question most of the room had to be thinking, Wren included.
“Then we lose. It’s either this or we wait for them to make a move. They already want to take Mars, and I suspect that’s their next course of action. Then they’ll come for Earth. We won’t have a way out. We’re too weak, and we’re out of manufacturing supplies.” Serina stood tall, looking every bit the leader she was. “This is it, ladies and gentlemen. The final curtain call.
“The Earth Fleet rises to the task every time, and I’m so proud to have led you this far. We’re a strong people, and I know that when we extinguish every one of the Invaders from our system, we’ll be better than ever. Earth will stand strong. Humans will be safe, and we can rebuild our civilization into something every one of us can be proud of.” Serina kept her sights on Shadow, and Wren thought she could see his eyes dancing from her vantage point.
The room fell silent before they all started cheering, starting with Pollack’s big meaty hands clapping. When it was quiet enough, he stood and shook her hand. “Fine. You have our support, Grand Admiral. Let’s go over the plans in private.”
Wren remained still, watching the energy of the crowd go from stressed and concerned to full of nervous excitement. They were the top-ranked Fleet officers, and they’d been twiddling their thumbs for too long. Wren could tell they were looking forward to trying to end the war.
“What do you think, Ace?” she asked the young man when most of the room had cleared out.
His eyes crinkled at the corners as he laughed. “I think it’ll be good to be back in a cockpit.”
16
Ace
“I wish they’d have let us take a fighter across the ocean,” Oliv said as she stared out the window of the suborbital jet.
“They don’t allow them to make trips like that, plus they don’t really have any to spare down here. This is pretty cool, though. New London to New Chicago in an hour. Not too bad. I’m just glad they let us have the time to ourselves.” Ace knew the others were crammed into boardrooms, going over maps and strategies, but he wasn’t a leader. He was a worker bee, and he’d fly like one, pointing at the enemy when the time came. For now, he had a free day to visit his old home and show Oliv around.
It had been her idea, surprisingly. She’d told him she wanted to see where the great Ace had hatched from his primordial ooze. He didn’t know what that meant, but it didn’t sound like a compliment.
The jet had a capacity for forty people, but they were alone, as most suborbital travel was controlled by the Fleet during the war. It wasn’t safe to fly, in case of invasion. Ace had the feeling everyone on Earth lived in a state of constant fear. Oliv sat beside him, and she strung her arm through his, leaning her head on his shoulder as they headed for the Midwestern United States.
By the time the jet was landing, Oliv was breathing deeply, dozed off while resting against him. It was a comfortable feeling, and one Ace would take to the grave with him if the upcoming battle decided his time was up. The pilot came to let them know the ship had landed, and ushered them off the jet and onto the runway.
“This way, sir,” a woman said, directing them to a small lander. “For your private use. Please follow the instructions and only use authorized landing areas, as marked on the console. Thank you.”
“How cool is this?” Ace asked Oliv as they walked over to the lander. He took a breath of air and stared into the cloudy sky. Fat raindrops began to fall, and Ace stood there with Oliv beside him as the rain went from a drizzle to a downpour. Finally, Oliv dragged him by the arm toward the lander, laughing along the way.
Ace hadn’t felt this free for ages and was having a hard time with the fact that he was so close to the streets he’d grown up on. He didn’t feel like the same skinny, scared little boy any longer, and wished he could go back on one of his worst nights, to let himself know it would get better.
Even if he died and all was lost tomorrow, he still felt this… this being with Oliv, this being part of something bigger than himself was all worth it. It was all better than what he’d had, and he felt it with every ounce of himself.
“Are you going to start it, or do you want me to?” Oliv asked. Her eyes were big; wet hair fell in stra
nds sticking to her cheeks. Ace, caught up in the moment, kissed her. He felt her hand behind his neck, pulling him closer.
Things were better. Much better.
__________
The lander lowered to the Earth Fleet recruitment base, and they got out, activating the locks. They wore Fleet uniforms, and each had a stunner on them in case of any trouble. Ace instantly felt glad for it as he stepped toward the decrepit Fleet office. The windows were boarded up, wood slanted at a forty-five-degree angle, half-covering broken panes of glass. It appeared this office hadn’t been used in some time.
For Ace, it had been just over a year since he’d been in a line at this place, where he’d met Serina and started his journey to end where he was now. It had been quite the ride, but he didn’t feel like his story was quite over yet.
He spotted the men beside the structure, casually leaning against the brick walls.
“Let’s go this way,” he suggested, taking Oliv’s hand.
The men shouted at them but didn’t make a move. When Ace glanced back to see if anyone followed, they were gone, vanished into the afternoon air.
Old Chicago was worse than he’d expected. It had been a dump before, but now it was in an escalated state of disrepair. Bricks exteriors crumbled everywhere; evidence of this covered the sidewalks and streets. As he walked toward the areas he used to frequent, sadness enveloped him. People sat in alleys, their threadbare clothing hanging from withered frames.
Oliv gripped his hand tighter the farther in they walked. “Was it like this for you?” she asked quietly.
“It was.” He pointed to the side exit of a church. “I used to sleep there most nights.”
“You slept outside a church?” Oliv asked, visibly perplexed. “I knew you said you were poor, but…”
Ace hadn’t told her the full truth. No one needed his sad story to burden them. It didn’t even feel like his any longer. He could look at the stoop outside the building and not be dragged down by the feeling of despair.
“I’m glad we came back. I needed to see this. To know that I’m okay now,” he said.
“If you’ve had enough, how about we get back?” she prompted.
Ace nodded, knowing he’d had enough, and the sun was beginning to go down. He was happy to fly into enemy fire in space, but he didn’t want to be walking the desperate streets of Old Chicago at night.
They turned, heading down the cracked street they’d come from, when four forms emerged from an alley.
Charles
Charles scanned the files again. There had to be something here that would assist Flint’s rescue. Serina had granted him access to the Fleet’s private database, under the guise of him using the information to assist formation strategy. Instead, he was trying to find records of the Earth Fleet base on Europa. He’d managed to find many maps and other obvious details, but he was still on the search for one specific file.
Wren was with the Fleet admirals, discussing her virus and other options, though they all seemed to agree that the virus was a backup plan. They doubted there was any way to sneak onto Titan or Europa, and to release the virus, they needed to be inside the domes.
Ace was with Oliv in Old Chicago, and from what Charles had found on the current Interface, it wasn’t a place he thought the young humans should visit. It was dangerous at the best of times.
The files trickled over the screen faster than the human eye could catch them, but one stuck out as a possible positive hit. Charles stopped, scrolled back, and opened the file.
“Eureka!” he shouted, standing up in his seat and raising his arms.
A woman glared at him from a few stations over, and he apologized, returning to his seat to dig into the blueprints. They were old, from the original colony plans. He saw five different layers, each with additions and revisions from the first draft.
He flipped through them and settled on the fifth and seemingly final draft of the colony blueprint. The Earth Fleet section took up six percent of the dome, and from what he could tell, there was a hidden entrance there. He did some further mining on the file but found there was no proof it existed. It was in the plans, though, and that could mean something.
Charles had an idea. What if there was a list of the procured supplies used to create the Fleet base on Europa? He started the long process of searching for those, and two hours later, he’d done it. Two Fleet-authorized construction companies had submitted tenders for the job of building the base. Each of them listed the products needed to build a containment field large enough for a private hangar. This was it! It was enough for him to follow the trail. He needed to discuss this with Wren.
If there was a secret hangar on the base that no one seemed to know about now, then it was possible the aliens weren’t aware of its existence either. Charles thought about contacting Wren now but didn’t want to interrupt her and draw attention to himself, so he stayed seated, continuing his investigation.
Ace
“We’re Earth Fleet, let us pass,” Oliv said with authority.
A woman with dark tribal tattoos on her neck stood between them and their destination. Another woman was behind them; two thugs on either side of Ace and Oliv rounded out the gang.
“Earth Fleet. What a joke. What are you doing here if you’re supposed to be out there defending us against an imaginary enemy?” the woman said.
“Imaginary?” Ace asked, curious as to what the people of Earth really thought about the war.
“You know, the stupid creatures the Fleet made up to take all our money, resources, and food to fight. We’re down here struggling for table scraps, and they’re up there getting fat and lazy on our dime. It ain’t right,” one of the men said.
“Is that really what you all think?” Ace asked softly. He wasn’t surprised. He probably wouldn’t have believed it if he were in their shoes either, and he’d been in their shoes at one point not so long ago.
“You telling us you trust that bullshit they spout at us?” the lead woman asked, brandishing a shiny knife in her grip.
Oliv backed up, bumping into Ace, and he stepped between her and the thug. “I do, because I’ve seen the monsters with my own two eyes. I’ve seen them kill my friends, and I’ve seen the contempt in their beady black eyes as they repeated that we were all going to die. I’ve seen what they’re capable of, and it’s far worse than anything you four can do.” Ace slowly walked forward as he spoke, his voice rising in volume with each step.
“Are you crazy, man?” one of the guys asked.
Ace turned to him with calm motions. “No. I’m telling you the truth. You guys are probably hungry.” He pulled a device from his pocket and found the closest receiver signal, sending a few credits their way. “Here’s a hundred credits. Get something to eat, on the Earth Fleet.” He’d almost forgotten about the credits he’d received with Edgar Smith’s ID chip. They were coming in extra handy now.
They looked at one another, unsure of what to do next. The woman with the knife still stood in their way, ready to attack.
“Thanks,” one of the male thugs said. “He’s legit. I got the credits.”
The knife slipped away, and Ace directed Oliv to step past the group.
“If you’re serious about these aliens, what are you going to do?” the tattooed woman asked.
Oliv took this one. “We’re going to destroy them. Every last one.”
The group each nodded, and before Ace knew it, they were walking in the alley they’d emerged from, talking excitedly amongst themselves.
They found their way to the lander just as the sun was below the skyline.
“Good work back there, Ace,” Oliv said. “I was ready to kill them if we needed to.”
Ace had been too. “Sometimes a little kindness works wonders.”
They lifted off from the abandoned Fleet landing pad and made their way to New Chicago, where the suborbital jet awaited their return.
Ace was glad he’d returned, even if it was short-lived. He could finally cl
ose that chapter of his life once and for all.
“Tomorrow’s the day,” he said as they crossed the ocean in the jet.
“I can’t wait for it to be over,” Oliv said, and Ace silently agreed.
Flint
“I thought we’d been over this already?” Flint asked, cracking his knuckles under the tabletop. He absent-mindedly felt his fingers, happy they were all still there.
“Tell me again. What happened across the Rift?” she asked.
It had been the same thing for four days now. The same incessant questions, under the threat of dismemberment. Flint had initially decided to give her what they were after in order to keep himself safe. Of course, what they wanted was different from the truth. He could just play dumb about the big things and discuss minor events as if they were life-threatening.
“We were stranded there, our engines damaged. Half of our crew died before we fixed the life support system. It was ugly. Can I get some water?” he asked, and she stared at him across the table as if doing so could allow her to see if he spoke the truth.
“Fine.” She motioned to a guard in the corner, who abruptly left the room, returning a few minutes later with an actual glass with almost-clear water inside. She passed it to him, stopping in the center of the table. Flint reached for it slowly and sniffed it, checking for any trace of drugs. It smelled normal, but that didn’t mean anything. He swallowed all the liquid in three large gulps, and set the glass down.
“How did you return?” she asked. Always the same questions.
“Through the Rift. I know you want a lot of answers and seem to be looking for something I can’t give you, but if you’d just let me go, I can provide the Fleet with a list of demands…”
She raised a thick arm, stopping him. A sick noise emanated from her throat, one he now understood to be laughter. “Demands. We have only one demand, and it is from Ober above, that you all die. We do not need you to relay this message. Your people know it already.”
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