Natalia was openly crying by then, but so was the whole room. I unashamedly wiped a few tears from my face alongside everyone else, knowing how much the two of them had been through. Mary squeezed my hand tight.
“Of course I will,” Nat said, letting him slip the ring on her hand. He got to his feet, picked her up, and spun her around in a hug.
“One more thing, baby,” he said. “How about tonight?”
Music started up again, and the partygoers rushed to line up their chairs on the empty dance floor. The priest stood at the front of the rows, smiling widely.
Natalia blushed but shrugged. “Let’s do it!”
Soon Magnus and I were at the front of the group, Mary opposite us as the maid of honor, and when the here-comes-the-bride music kicked on, Natalia was there looking resplendent on the arm of General Heart, who was walking her down the aisle.
The setting was beautiful, and I took it all in, knowing everything was about to change with them leaving us here and going on a crazy adventure to another world. It didn’t seem real.
They went through the process, quick but classic nuptials. Mary was dabbing her eyes as they kissed, and the whole room stood up and cheered them on.
It was official. Natalia and Magnus were married.
Before the noise died down, Mae came into the room, bleeding from the face and limping. Her clothing was torn, and when she was close enough, I saw her eye was swollen.
I ran to her, the crowd spreading apart. “What happened?”
Mae pointed toward the sky. “They got away. Terrance and Leslie escaped.”
__________
We sat in Dalhousie’s office, discussing what to do. Leslie and Terrance had somehow gotten free from their cells, stolen a ship we’d moved from the hangar, and gotten out the ceiling.
“How did this happen?” The president sat with her hands on her face. I’d never seen her so flustered. “They just happened to get out when we had the ships outside, and conveniently escaped as the hatch up top was opened for a nighttime test flight.”
Heart assured her the pilot was one of his best and wasn’t involved. They must have had secret information, and someone on the inside. That didn’t bode well for the base’s security.
“We need to go after them,” Mae said, repeating the same thing for the tenth time. No one seemed to be listening. She was right.
“If they left, as you say, and aren’t hanging out at Earth, hell-bent on blowing shit up, then we need to go after them before they get word to the Bhlat, or anyone else for that matter.” I would be the voice of reason and back Mae up on this. She looked at me, her eye covered with ice, and her smile quickly turned to a grimace as the pain of moving her mouth registered.
“You’re right.” Dalhousie looked over to me and Mary, and I got that almost-regular sinking feeling in my gut. “The colony ship must go now as planned. It’s even more imperative. As for the hybrids, we need to tail them, stop them at any cost. They’re in the original, unaltered model of ship. Ours will be able to track it anywhere, and they won’t even know you’re coming.”
“Wait. You’re coming? Who do you mean when you say ‘you’re’?” Mary asked.
“I need the best on this. We can’t take any chances. Mary, you’ve flown the ships before, and have experience in fighting on Earth in jets and out there in space. Plus, you’ve been practicing these last few weeks. You know that ship. And Dean has the kind of mind that will keep you guys on top of them, one step ahead.” Dalhousie sounded much more confident about our chances than I did.
“Don’t you guys have people for this kind of thing?” This from Magnus, who didn’t look very happy to have his wedding night interrupted.
Heart spoke up finally. “We do. That’s why Slate’s going with you, and Clare. Slate is as big as an ox and will be your feet on the street, should it come to that. Clare will be your engineer wizard, able to fix things, and adapt the ship’s needs to yours. The longer we talk about this, the farther they get from Earth. You’re Earth Defense now, so do your job. Defend Earth!” He was red-faced by the end of it, and so was Magnus. He looked like he wanted to punch the older man. Hell, so did I.
“Look, no one is questioning your integrity. We need you guys again. Earth needs you.” Patrice Dalhousie stood up now, looking Mary right in the eyes, then me.
“We better get going, then. Dean, you can stay back if you like,” Mary said, breaking my heart a bit.
“You don’t want me to go with you?” I asked.
“Of course I do! I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” she said, grabbing my hand.
“Nothing’s going to happen to either of us. We can go stop them and be back sooner than you thought possible.” I said the words but didn’t believe them even as they left my mouth.
“Then it’s settled. You guys leave now,” Dalhousie said, a tired look in her eyes.
It was midnight by the time we packed up our few belongings, and the crews at the base loaded the ship with enough supplies to last a long time. Heart never did tell us how much food they loaded on, but the storage area had a lot of crates in it. He told us Slate knew what it all was, and since we didn’t have time to go over the itinerary, we trusted they were prepared for this.
“I can’t believe you guys are leaving. And before us!” Magnus said, walking with us to the ship. He was still in his tuxedo, the tie conspicuously missing.
Carey followed alongside us, wagging his tail. I couldn’t believe that after all we’d been through, I had to leave him. I couldn’t bring him on the ship with us. It was a dangerous trip, not one for my new best friend to tag along on.
I had an idea. “Magnus, would you take Carey with you?” I hated to ask, but I had to.
He looked at me, his features softening. “Dean, are you sure? He could stay here. I’m sure you’ll be back in no time.”
“But what if we’re not? What if something happens to us out there?”
“It won’t. I know you guys.”
“But what if? We could be following them a long way. To God knows where. Just take him, please.” My heart was freezing up at having to pawn off the little guy. He meant so much to me.
“Of course I will, buddy. We love the little rascal too. When it’s all over, come to Proxima, and he’s all yours again.” Magnus clapped me on the shoulder. His words rang a finality over my mind, and I worried I’d never see Carey again. That I’d never see any of them again.
I took a knee and Carey rubbed his face into my stomach. He loved it when I got down to his level. He licked my face, and I laughed, giving him one last big hug before I left. At that moment, I told myself I would get back, stop the Bhlat threat, and make it to Proxima to see my friends again and get Carey.
Mary walked up, pack slung over her shoulder. She seemed to get the sense of what transpired, and she gave Carey a big hug, letting his sloppy tongue give her a lick before leaving.
“Nat, I also need you to watch over my sister. She was supposed to get here today for the party, but they were delayed. I still can’t believe my little sister is going with you guys. Take care of her. Please,” I said, wishing I could see her just one last time before leaving.
“Of course. If she’s anything like you, we’ll have a lot to pick on her about.” This from Magnus. “Dean, take these.” He passed me a small cloth bag covertly. I snuck a peek and saw some of the green gem jewelry used to counter the Kraski beams. “You never know when you’re going to need them.” I spotted my pendant in there and wondered how he’d managed to pilfer them.
“Goodbye, guys,” Mary said, and everyone got in for a last hug.
Mae approached, and I went in to give her a hug.
“What are you doing?” she asked. I shrugged, taken aback. “I’m going with you.”
“Did Dalhousie approve this?” Mary asked.
“I don’t give a damn. I’m coming with you. They’re hybrids, and that makes them my responsibility. I know them, can understand their motives. So
I’m going.”
It made sense, and to be honest, I was happy to have her along. Mae had proven herself invaluable many times over.
Clare was on board and called to us from the top of the ramp. It was time to go.
Dalhousie was nowhere in sight, and when I spotted Heart arriving on his cart, I pushed Mae forward onto the angled ramp. “Get on the ship,” I said through clenched teeth.
She didn’t argue or say anything, just ran up the length into the ship, limping on her left leg ever so slightly. I guessed it hurt more than she was letting on.
Magnus stood at the base of the ship, arms crossed, looking like a guard.
Heart’s cart stopped, the soldier staying in the driver’s seat.
“You have a monumental task ahead of you. Take heed in knowing we’ll do what we can to protect Earth, should anything go wrong on your mission. The colony vessel will be leaving tomorrow, and that brings new hope into our situation. Sorry for the speech.” He rubbed his temple with his hand. “This is all just so important. I couldn’t ask for better people to call on. And I mean that.”
His words touched me, but at the same time, I wished he were speaking to someone else.
“We’ll do what needs to be done, General,” Mary said.
“Joshua. Call me Josh,” he said before turning around and heading back to the cart. “Slate, take care of them for me. For all of us.” The big man emerged from the ship a few steps and saluted his general before heading back inside.
Dust was kicked up and the general was off, leaving a few people milling about, loading the last of the supplies.
“I guess this is goodbye. See you on the other side.” I scratched Carey behind the ear one last time, and when he started to follow me up the ramp, Natalia grabbed his collar, pulling him back and crouching down with him. His head turned sideways, wondering what was going on.
Mary was in front of me, and she patted me on the arm. We turned around, waving at our friends while the ramp lifted. Before it shut completely, I heard one last bark from Carey, and I wanted nothing more than to get back out and tell them to hunt the hybrids down themselves.
“We’ll be back soon,” Mary said, the ever-caring fiancée. If she was okay with it all, what use was there in me moping about?
“You’re right.” And just like that, we were loaded and in one of the new ships, heading back out to space on another impossible quest.
THIRTEEN
We were gathered on the bridge for pre-flight: Mary, me, Mae, Clare, and Slate, as well as Doctor Nick Ellis, whom none of us had met before, though I had seen him around the facility over the past month. We were sure to have enough space on board, especially since the ship slept a dozen.
Slate stood tall, intimidating as he silently seemed to assess each of us, his military-trained mind looking for value or weakness. He wore a black vest, holding what I could only assume were multiple dangerous and deadly devices on it, overtop of his Earth Defense uniform. We were all wearing the body suits, and it actually felt like we were a trained team about to head into space rather than a rag-tag group of survivors who’d just met, looking to stop escaped hybrids from camp.
I wondered who was in charge of the mission. After a few moments of dead air, all eyes ended up on me. They were looking to me to lead the charge? How was that even possible?
I cleared my throat, hoping someone else would speak, but when no one did, I began. “I don’t have any idea how I ended up here, on the bridge of a human altered Kraski ship, about to go back to space, the one place I truly have no desire to ever see again. But here we all are. Leslie and Terrance have left us no choice but to stop them. We can’t have the Bhlat know where we are. This is imperative at all costs.” I stopped, coming to accept the facts I was saying. “We’ll sacrifice ourselves, if necessary.”
The doctor fidgeted with his sleeve and kept his eyes to the floor as I spoke.
“Everyone good with that?” I asked.
One by one, everyone agreed. The last was Nick, who finally met my eyes, and I was happy to see resolve in them. He nodded once, firmly.
“Good. Mary, let them know we’re ready to go. Mae, on screen, please,” I said, sitting down in a chair. Not the one in the center, which I could only assume, from years of Star Trek watching, was meant to be the captain’s chair. I hadn’t earned that spot yet.
The curved viewscreen showed us the inside of the hangar.
“All clear. You’re ready for takeoff,” came through the speakers on Mary’s console, and she tapped the green glowing console tablet. The ship came to life, lights firing up around the bridge, giving us a green and blue glowing aura. It was spectacular.
Everything hummed lightly as we began to move, and moments later, we were in the field, directly under the open base ceiling. The viewscreen showed a line of base workers, all watching us depart. I picked Nat and Magnus out of the crowd, Carey at their feet. Godspeed, my friends.
Our black ship hovered and raised upward to the opening.
“Return to us, Heroes of Earth,” Dalhousie’s voice cut through the speaker.
“We will, ma’am,” Mary returned, and lifted us out of the secret base and into the night sky above New Mexico.
The stars were white and bright against the deep black backdrop. Here we went again. I remembered back to a year ago, when Mary had flown the smaller ship from Machu Picchu with Magnus and the Shield, a crazy elaborate and desperate plan to save the world. It had half-worked too. Better than the alternative.
A blip flashed on the 3D map on the bottom right side of the viewscreen: the same map that showed on my chair’s sidearm console tablet.
“That’s them. Setting course for intercept. They haven’t hit the high-velocity drive yet,” Mary said. They were more than a few thousand kilometers away, with a two-hour head start on their side.
“I’ve started to charge the drive. Should be operational for in-system FTL in two hours.” Clare stood at a console to the port side of the bridge, stood straight-backed, wearing her uniform with pride. She knew that ship inside and out, and I was sure she was going to be a great asset to the team. Not only that, but she was always a positive presence in the room, no matter where she was. It was hard to be in a bad mood with her energy lifting up the people around her.
We lifted through the atmosphere and shot into the massive expanse of space. I stood, seeing the moon ahead. It was such a different experience this time. This time, we knew what we had to do. Mary shifted the trajectory, pointing us away from the sun. The map showed the current position of the solar system’s planets, each on their own pattern of rotations around the system’s star, our sun. The blip of our target Kraski ship was on a line toward Mars.
“Slate, can you give me a tour of the supply room?” I asked the beast of a man. He’d just been standing, there watching space through still eyes.
“Sure thing, boss,” he said, and I thought it might be the first time I’d heard the guy speak. His voice was higher-pitched than I’d expected.
“I’ll be in the storeroom,” I said to Mary, who just nodded, focusing on her task at hand.
Slate led the way out of the bridge, down the hall, past the engineering room, and into the center of the ship. Crates were strapped to the walls. Upon closer inspection, I saw they were labeled. Food products on the left, from floor to ceiling.
“Boss, here are the clothing crates. We have medical supplies here,” he waved to the stack of crates on the right side of the room. “Toiletries here. And you saw the food supplies.”
“How about those?” I asked, nodding toward some large steel boxes in the middle of the floor.
He shook his head. “You don’t want to get into those yet. Armaments. Lots of them. Grenades, more pulse rifles than the few of us could ever use. Always better to be overprepared than underprepared. A few secrets, I’ll show you later.” Slate had a twinkle in his eyes, and I saw what turned this man’s crank.
Nick Ellis, the doctor, sauntered in, whistl
ing when he saw the crates piled up.
“How about we get some of this sorted and organized?” I asked them. “There’s a small medic room near engineering. How about you start there, Doc? Slate, let’s get this kitchen set up, and the beds while we’re at it.”
Nothing was ready in the ship. The president hadn’t expected a long-range venture with a crew, so nothing was set up for us. I didn’t mind, because it allowed us to bond by setting it up. Some sweat equity at the start of the journey.
“Sounds like a plan,” Nick said, grabbing a crate down with Slate’s help.
Soon we were organizing what we needed, Nick setting up the medical station, then adding linens and pillows to the bunks. Slate and I filled the shelves of the kitchen and I found a coffee maker, brewing some fresh-ground beans to keep everyone going. All in all, it took us just over two hours, and I brought coffee up to the bridge for the ladies on duty.
“Dean, I’ve been thinking,” Mary said, smiling at me as she took the coffee cup. “If we can’t catch them here, maybe we should follow them secretly. We might want to see where they go. It could teach us a lot. Maybe we can find where the Bhlat are and take the offense to them.”
I hated the idea but didn’t want to dismiss her right off the bat. Maybe she was right.
“Let’s see how this goes. Maybe we catch up today and stop them, even if it means I’ll never get to eat the dehydrated food I just lined the shelves with. Patrice and Heart wanted us to stop them right away. I’m not sure I’m up for breaking those orders. Especially with the huge guy in the store-room on their side,” I said.
“Just think about it,” Mary said quietly.
“Clare, how are we doing on the FTL drive?” I asked.
She smiled. “Under an hour left before we can fire it up. What’s the plan?”
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