by Mark Tufo
“Didn’t enjoy that at all,” Cedar said beside me.
I nodded in agreement; not sure if she saw me.
“Start the buckle again,” Brigend ordered.
“Sir, that’s not advisable.”
“Neither is getting destroyed by an alien ship.”
There was a loud thumping as if the machinery was protesting to the stresses it was being put under, and once again, we were underway. Brigend undid his restraints and stood. “Let’s hope that did the trick.”
“Um, sir,” Major Rettings started.
“You have got to be kidding me?”
“I wish I was. It gets worse. They got much closer with our stoppage.”
“How much time do we have?”
“Five days.”
“I don’t understand,” Cedar said. “New buckling technology is so much faster than it used to be; how can they possibly capitalize on that and move closer?”
“If we ever had any doubts that the Others were more Stryver than Human, this puts that to rest. It is not all necessarily about the speed. The Stryvers have advanced technology that we have never been able to get a hold of that allows them to use the stream and inertia of the ship they chase as a means to increase their own speed. Some of our greatest minds have attempted to puzzle this out; when they could not, they assumed wrongly that adding more speed would somehow shake our pursuers loose.”
“How far to Bootes?” Brigend asked.
“Eight days,” the major said.
At some point, it became evident we were going to have to turn and fight.
“Get my fighter squad leaders to the war room,” Brigend said before leaving the bridge.
Like all the other pilots, we had to wait until that meeting was over. The cafeteria was a hotbed of talk; everyone had theories about who was chasing us and what would happen when we were caught. Not much of it was good, though many pretended to relish the idea of standing and fighting. Even in the crowd, it would have been difficult to miss Lendor; he was somehow sitting at a table by himself, in fact, with an even larger cushion of emptiness around him. He’d created his own starless void.
“He looks surly,” Cedar said as she smacked my arm and we headed over. “How’s it going?” she asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. At first, it appeared as if he might bite her, then there was something more…anguish, perhaps? Was Lendor longing for Cedar? It was something to keep an eye on.
“I am angry,” he said, swiftly moving past the brief, questioning look I caught.
“Can’t imagine how we would be able to tell,” Cedar said. “Could be the way your eyebrows are drawn tight or the scowl on your lips. Possibly the way you sit; I mean, it speaks violence. This room is shoulder-to-shoulder and you have all this space to yourself.” She made sure to sidle right up next to him, extinguishing any hope he had of retaining that buffer between himself and…everyone else. I think that irked him further; Cedar couldn’t be this clueless. Could she?
I sat across from him.
“I’m your second in command, Winter. It is impossible for me to protect you while you are in that confounded contraption.” He was downright sullen.
“That’s all right! I’ll watch out for her.” Cedar was now tracing his eyebrows, which were nearly touching.
“It is not the same. And stop that.” He went as if to move her hand away but did not. “I am sworn to protect her, yet whether I had stayed back at the base or sit at this table makes no difference. There is nothing I can do.”
I reached across and grabbed his hand. “Knowing you’re here Lendor, gives me peace. It makes me stronger when I’m out there.”
“Truly?” he asked, looking to me.
“Look, sis, you made him so happy!”
“I sometimes feel as if I have rubbed up against devil’s root when you are around,” he said to her.
I stifled a laugh.
“I make you itchy and break out into a rash?”
“Something like that,” he answered her. I had to once again stifle a smile as he blushed ever so slightly.
“Cedar, give him his space.”
“I kind of like that I irritate him. He always seems so unflappable; this is a different look for him.”
“Hey!” Tallow waved from halfway across the room. Frost and Ferryn were with him. “Thank you,” he said to the female Rhodeeshian. “Wouldn’t have been able to find you without their help.” He sat.
Ferryn sat on the floor, his head level with the tabletop. Frost climbed up and sat on the bench.
“I’m glad I’m here,” Tallow had said. “I’ve been on enough ships to know how this works. Never know where you’re going to end up, and no way I’m staying back wondering what’s going on.” His words reverberated with all of those sitting with us.
“Do you know what is happening?” Lendor asked me.
I had an attentive audience, but I wasn’t sure what I was or was not supposed to say. “We’re still being followed.” Didn’t think I’d given away anything everybody didn’t already know; beyond that, I didn’t know much.
“Brigend’s in the war room now,” Cedar said, grabbing some of Lendor’s food off his tray. “What? He’s not eating it.”
“Another space battle which I will take no part in? I cannot wait,” Lendor somehow looked even more morose.
“Yeah, the view from where I sit isn’t so great either,” Tallow said, referring to the control tower.
I watched as a look passed between Frost and Ferryn; the large male quickly trotted off and was gone. I wondered what that was about, but if they’d wanted me to know they would have told me. We talked for a while longer after the crowd had thinned; Lendor settled into his perpetual scowl, seemed more himself. Ferryn came back at this point. It was easy enough to tell he and Frost were having a tense and in-depth conversation. Whatever they were speaking about, they kept secret.
“We will need to talk later,” Frost said as they departed, the words only spoken to Cedar and myself. I was unclear how she was able to do that. Cedar looked over to me as I shrugged.
“Looks like my lunch is over. I’d better head back. My sergeant is notoriously hard-nosed.” Tallow leaned over and gave me a kiss before he left. Again it was just Lendor, Cedar and me; the rest of the room was completely empty.
“My fortune is tied with yours, Winter, and I would not change that. I just wish I could do something to hold up my end of the agreement.”
“You’re a good man.” Those words felt strange on my tongue. Yes, he was a man, in deeds and actions, if barely in age, as he was only slightly older than me and there were times I didn’t yet consider myself old enough to be a woman. Maybe it was because I wanted to once again be that kid that ran in the Dystance fields, hunting for berries—a difficult life, to be sure—but so much simpler-seeming. “This war has just started, Lendor. I think you will have plenty of time to fulfill a debt I do not believe you to owe.”
He smiled at that.
“Now, as your commander, I am ordering you to go and get some sleep.”
He rose and bid us goodbye. Before leaving, he spent a few extra seconds looking at Cedar. I thought he was going to say something; instead, he turned abruptly and left.
“Was he acting weird?” Cedar asked as she played with her hair.
“How can you be so smart and so dense?”
“Huh?” was all I got. “What do you think Frost wants?” She moved on.
“Don’t know, but when Ferryn came back, it seemed urgent.”
“Ferryn left?”
“How could you not know?”
“Did you not see me flirting with Lendor? Do you think he likes me?”
“You cannot be that thick. Come on, let’s go find Frost.”
“What? Thick? Why?” She was hurriedly following me.
Finding Frost was not a problem, as she’d sent Ferryn to gather us and bring us back to a maintenance room. Wasn’t much bigger than a closet. In the cramped quarters, I was face to face
with everyone present.
“Couldn’t find somewhere a little bigger? No one’s in the mess hall; we could have had this meeting there.”
“I would rather we were in close proximity so you can feel the full weight of my words,” Frost said. “And also, there are no monitoring devices in here. I do not wish for anyone to suspect us; there is little going on aboard this ship that we do not know about.”
“Spill it,” Cedar fairly demanded.
“The fighter commanders and Brigend are planning a diversionary battle to the enemy that follows.”
“Okay, that’s to be expected,” I said, wondering what had them so concerned.
“The fighters assigned will all be voluntary,” Frost finished.
Cedar’s features got hard; there was a set to her jaw. “A one-way mission.”
Now I was the lost one. “Huh?” I asked.
“We pull out of the buckle, launch fighters, and as we’re about to engage, the Talbot buckles again. The fighters will be left behind with the mission of keeping the enemy busy long enough that the trail goes cold.”
“Then they’ll come back to pick us up?”
Cedar looked at me with concern. “I wonder if our mother dropped you on your head as a child. I mean, maybe not onto a hard floor, something soft, like thawing ground in March, but dropped nonetheless.”
“I get it, I get it. They’re not coming back. What happens to us?”
“Nothing good. We get destroyed out there, or the enemy leaves us to chase after them. Eventually, we run out of food, fuel, water…in terms of ways to go, can’t imagine it’s too good of one.”
“Neither of you can go,” Frost hissed. “Do not let your pride be your undoing.”
“Frost, if we don’t, that’s two other people taking our spot. I would feel directly responsible for their deaths,” I said.
“What she said. There’s hardly a choice in the matter.”
“There is always a choice!” Frost spun on her quickly. “There are more important things that need to be done and none of them involve your deaths. Promise me neither of you will volunteer for this.”
Cedar and I were silent.
“I will have Ferryn keep you company in here until this foolishness is done.”
“Prisoners? You’re going to make us prisoners?” Now I knew why she’d picked a closet.
“If that is what it takes to be reformed from your errant thoughts, yes. That is exactly what I will do. And if that is not enough incentive, I will go and get Lendor and Tallow and tell them of your plans.”
I took note that Frost was between us and the door. How long could she really keep us captive? And if push came to shove, what would she do?
“I promise we will not be doing anything rash.” That was all I could give her.
I’m not sure if she was appeased by my words. She turned to look at Cedar.
“Rash, nothing rash,” my sister said with her hands in the air.
“All pilots please report to the control room.” This came through the ship’s comm system. Frost’s tail was swishing back and forth in an agitated manner.
“We have to go,” I told her.
She chuffed, her lips blowing what sounded like a raspberry. She was not happy about it, but she was going to let us go. I sidled past Frost to open the door and we all exited.
“What do you think she would have done?” Cedar asked as we hurried away and down the hallway.
“Not sure I want to find out,” I replied honestly.
“That’s the truth.” She turned. “They’re still watching.”
“Move faster.”
15
War Council
“I know it’s crowded in here; I won’t make this long,” Brigend said. He was at the front of the room, looking over at all the pilots. “As I’m sure all of you know, we are being followed by an enemy and we’re not entirely sure of their capabilities, though they have origins rooted in an ancient opponent of ours. Not only are they following, but they have the technology to gain on us. We have five days.” That caused quite a bit of murmuring among the crowd. Brigend held his hands up. “We cannot allow them that opportunity, I have been discussing strategy with my senior officers and we have come up with a plan that we believe will give us an opportunity to break away from them.”
Cedar and I looked at each other; we already knew where this was going. She grabbed my hand, which I willingly took. He began to speak of the specifics of the diversion and attack; my heart was pounding in my chest when he finally got to the part that mattered.
“Make no mistake; this is a one-way journey for those that will be out there. We cannot come back for any that may survive. We cannot jeopardize the main mission. It is imperative that this ship, that this ultimate outcome, is achieved. That is why it can only be by volunteer that this mission is undertaken. I will not order any of you.”
I felt myself being gently guided to the front. We ducked under or pushed people out of the way.
Cedar raised her hand. “I volunteer.”
“As do I,” I said.
Brigend’s lips pursed. I got the distinct impression he was not happy with that turn of events. Within ten seconds, nearly all had raised their hands.
“I have never been more proud to call you women and men part of my Earth Corps. I will get back to the fifteen I need by tomorrow with more details. Dismissed. You two, stay here,” he said as the rest filed out of the room. “You two are among my finest fighter pilots; are you sure about this?”
“We’re fighting for Earth,” Cedar said. “I’m not sure you have two other people with more at stake than us.”
I tapped Cedar on the shoulder; she turned, and we were both looking at Frost, who was peering through the door.
“Uh oh,” she said.
“Listen, I appreciate your willingness to do this. I do. But you both are the face of this rebellion, the symbol of everything we stand for.”
“You yourself just said this ship is the most important thing, not any individuals,” I said.
“This could go wrong in a hundred different ways. It’s possible they don’t even take the bait, that as soon as we buckle again, they follow and leave you stranded.”
“Then it would probably behoove you to make sure they cannot,” Cedar said. “You hold up that part, and we’ll make sure they’re stuck for the time you need.”
The weight of command appeared heavy to him at the moment, as his head dropped a bit. “I’ll get back to you. Dismissed.”
“Behooved?” I asked Cedar as we headed to the door. “Did you make that word up?”
“It’s a good word. What do we tell Frost?”
“Maybe worry more about Tallow.” Cedar pointed to where Tallow and Ferryn were running toward us.
“That’s not cool,” I told Frost.
“Tell me it isn’t true!” Tallow demanded, nearly running past us when he couldn’t quite stop himself.
“Nothing’s finalized,” Cedar told him.
The look he gave her was pure anger wrapped in a healthy dose of hurt.
“You volunteered? Both of you?” His gaze swept back and forth between the two of us. “How could you? How could you be so selfish?” he demanded.
“Selfish? It’s self-less,” Cedar defended.
“What about me, Lendor, Johnjon…all of us you plan on leaving?”
“Tallow, we’re not the only ones with friends and families. It’s not right to expect others to sacrifice if we’re not willing,” I said.
“It is that Talbot blood that makes you speak so,” Frost said.
“The same blood that has kept us linked for time untold?” Cedar asked.
“I wish I could argue against your words,” Frost replied.
“We don’t know anything yet. Everybody there volunteered; no sense in worrying about it before it happens.” I said the words, but my stomach and brain thought otherwise. I was nervous and telling myself it would probably be fine wasn’t having a calming ef
fect.
“If you go, I’m going,” Tallow said.
“There’s no room in the fighters,” I said.
He tucked his tongue in his cheek as he thought. “Maybe you’re right. Sir.” He motioned to Brigend, who had not left the room yet. He walked past us and shut the door.
“Well, that was rude,” Cedar said.
“No worse than telling him we’re leaving and not coming back.”
“This is about me right now, Winter.”
“It’s always about you, Cedar.”
“As it should be. I’m going to go read. That way I won’t have to think about what we just did.”
“Got a book for me?” I asked.
16
Decision Day
It was two days later, and we were back in the war room. It was a lot less crowded. There were twenty of us.
“What is Ludlow doing here? She’s a shuttle pilot,” Cedar said.
“So’s Grennin.” I nodded over.
“Before we get started, I want to ask those I have brought here if you still wish to volunteer. No one will think any less of you, especially me, if you decide to withdraw your offer.” There were glances all around, but no one reneged. At that point, I figured it would have been more difficult to step back than stay the course.
“Well then, let’s proceed,” Brigend said. “As I’m sure most of you have noticed, it is not all fighter pilots in here; some changes were made after conferring with my senior staff…and some others.” He looked over to Cedar and me. “Some insisted if you were going, so were they, if only to bring you back. You will be accompanied by shuttles.”
“Tallow,” I fairly hissed. “What has he done.” Dread settled over me like a wet blanket.
When the meeting was over, I didn’t know if I wanted to punch Tallow or hug him.
“Who knew he was brilliant?” Cedar said. “I just figured he was a pretty face.”
“I’m going to kill him.” I was huffing and puffing as I did all in my power not to break out into a run. I was heading for the hangar area, where the assault teams were training. I’d no sooner walked in when Lendor sped by.
