If All Else Fails

by N. D. Roberts

  Only for a minute? Alexis replied. I almost lost myself forever.

  She increased her mass to normal levels and came down to land beside Gabriel. “We belong together. Let’s not do the separation thing again too soon, yeah?”

  Gabriel’s eyes shone. He threw his arms around Alexis, and they stood that way for a long moment without saying a word.

  Trey cleared his throat. “If we’re all done with the reunion? They’re getting away.”

  Alexis wondered what he meant since she’d made certain that the ship wasn’t taking anyone anywhere. Then she saw the second, much smaller ship breaking the planet’s atmosphere. “Gemini!”

  I’m here, the AI replied as she brought the ship down to the ground and dropped the ramp. Get aboard quickly.

  Gabriel paused to pick up Pootie’s unnaturally still form in one arm and slung the other around Jentek, while Trey and Sibil supported Gorrak. Boden limped up the ramp behind Alexis with K’aia’s assistance, and Sibil made it under her own power.

  Gabriel took one look at the sorry bunch once the ramp had lifted and sent the injured to the infirmary for Pod-doc treatment.

  “I’ll take Pootie,” Sibil offered.

  “It’s too late for her,” Gabriel told her sadly.

  Sibil nodded, her eyes shining. “Yeah, but she went out with a bang, protecting people who couldn’t take care of themselves.”

  Gabriel handed Pootie over reluctantly. “You’re right.”

  Alexis put her hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “That’s all any of us can hope for.”

  The twins parted from the rest of the unit and headed for the bridge at a run as the Gemini broke the atmosphere.

  Gemini was waiting for them when they arrived. “Strap yourselves in. This is going to get a little bumpy.”

  Alexis took her chair with an incredulous look. “Really?”

  Gemini winked at her. “No, not really. It just sounded better than ‘We’re going to have perfectly smooth transit, so seatbelts are unnecessary.’”

  Gabriel looked askance at the AI. “Riiight. Where did they go?”

  Gemini split the viewscreen so they retained the view of beyond the ship while still having a map of the system. “They, who? If you are referring to your crew, they are in the infirmary receiving treatment for their injuries. If you meant the Kurtherian ship, it shot off toward the outer limits. They have a head start, but we are going to catch them in thirty-nine min— Oh. You have an incoming call.”

  “Onscreen, please,” Gabriel instructed.

  The map was replaced by the face of an apoplectic Yollin. “What is this?” SI Torrence demanded. “Where in the galaxy did you get that ship, and why is your unit heading straight for the front line without orders?”

  Alexis disengaged from the Gemini’s navigation system and offered him a small smile. “I’m sorry. We appreciate everything you’ve done for us, but we’ve decided to part ways with the military. We can end this war if we’re not bound by procedure.”

  We did? Gabriel asked.

  Alexis lifted a shoulder. Sure. Unless you want to go line up and be shot down with the other ships?

  Fair point, Gabriel conceded. He gave SI Torrence the same determined smile. “We’re going to get to the heart of this.”

  “You’re going to get yourselves killed!” SI Torrence exclaimed hotly.

  “It’s a very real possibility,” Alexis agreed calmly. “But we’ll be taking out Kurtherian command at the same time, so…” She shrugged, leaving the rest unspoken and giving their former instructor a moment to put the pieces together.

  “You’re going to be the death of me,” Torrence grumbled. “And I don’t mean figuratively. But if anyone can back up such preposterous claims, it’s you two.” He bent at the console he was using, and the twins received a deluge of data. “I just gave you all the classified information about Kurtherian command I could access. Good luck, and please make it worth the punishment I’m going to get for assisting you in your mutiny.”

  The twins felt for their Yollin guide. They both knew the penalty for mutiny was death. “We’ll make it so your name goes down as the Yollin who turned the tide against the Kurtherians,” Alexis promised.

  “Yeah,” Gabriel agreed. “But there won’t be any Kurtherians left to tell the tale. We’ll make sure Gemini gets the video to Command.”

  Gemini signed Torrence off at a wave from Alexis, leaving her and Gabriel to make their plans.

  “Do you really think going rogue is the best idea?” Gabriel asked.

  “Do you doubt we can beat this game?” Alexis asked in return.

  “Honestly? I’m not thinking of it as a game. I haven’t been for a while now, but it’s my place to think of the consequences when you tear off on one of your ideas, no matter which world we’re living in.” Gabriel opened the first of the files they’d been sent. “There’s a lot of information here.”

  “That’s why you have me,” Gemini told him. “Give me a minute to sort through it for relevance.”

  She came back fifty-one seconds later with a wide, almost predatory grin. “I believe I have located the Seven's base of operations.”

  “Show us,” Alexis told her.

  Gemini returned the map to the viewscreen and zeroed in on the not-so-empty-space between two, no, three star systems, set back from the battle zones.

  “This system has nothing that should have attracted their attention,” Gemini informed them. “Yet there are significant defenses around the battlestation.”

  Alexis tilted her head. “We know it’s a battlestation because?”

  “I helped myself to the database of the ship you dematerialized,” Gemini replied airily. “Well, what I could get to before you destroyed it.”

  Alexis didn’t need an invitation to dig into the goodies Gemini had procured. Her eyes flickered as she scanned the information. “Good work. Now tell me…”

  Gabriel did his best not to zone out as Alexis questioned Gemini in rapid yet excruciating detail and formulated their plan of attack on the battlestation’s outer defenses. He got the part about phishing to get access to the system but lost her when she started throwing around words like “Heartbleed” and “Stuxnet.” It was one thing to know this stuff, which he did in theory, but it was another entirely to understand it like Alexis did.

  Gabriel studied the schematic of the battlestation. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing he’d done more than retain information so he could pass tests and get out onto the training field. Maybe if he’d had put as much effort into understanding what he’d been taught as he had into soaking up tactical knowledge, he wouldn’t be sitting by while Alexis did all the mental heavy-lifting on the technical side of things.

  Then again…

  Gabriel let go of his doubts. Teamwork meant everyone contributed their talents and skills. Nobody ever won by wishing they were someone else. He spotted something that struck him as anomalous until he applied the context of his knowledge. How many times had TOM told them he’d been humbled by their mother’s course of action while recounting stories of the years before he and Alexis were born? He’d always suspected there was a certain arrogance to Kurtherians in general, but this proved it without a doubt.

  “I don’t know,” Alexis told Gemini. “It could be that it’s so out of date we could sneak it in.” She felt Gabriel’s attention wander and read the distracted look he wore for what it was. “What are you seeing?” she asked him.

  “Wait, go back a bit,” he told her, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he sat back from his console. “You lost me just after you and Gemini started talking about phishing attacks.”

  Alexis waved a hand. “Forget that. We were rehashing ancient history. Figuring out how to get past the defense systems is my job. Yours is to identify the weak spots in the battlestation. How do we take it down when we get in?”

  Gabriel studied the schematic closely. This he got. “Okay, so we have two options. Both mean us going aboard and g
etting to the center of the station without getting caught.”

  “Doesn’t sound like there’s much of a choice,” Alexis countered.

  “Course there is,” Gabriel told her. “Inner security is almost nonexistent,” he told her. “It’s like they don’t believe anyone could get past the outer defenses.”

  Alexis snorted. “Seriously?”

  Gabriel shrugged. “I’m sure there are guards, but tech? Nothing like what we’re used to.” He highlighted the reactor core chamber. “See?”

  Alexis pressed her lips together. “So all we have to do is make it there and we’re golden?”

  Gabriel hesitated to confirm without having a visual. “All I’m saying is that there are no generators for nanocurtain tech. No inner Gates. I don’t think any of the measures we were expecting exist in this timeline. Anything else we’ve got, right?”

  He waited for Alexis to reply but continued when she just waved. “Okay, so say you do your thing and get us inside. My thinking is that we make our way to the reactor room and set off an explosion that can be seen from the Empire.”

  Alexis liked the idea. “Just one thing. How do you expect to blow it up?”

  Gabriel grinned. “I was kinda listening when you and Gemini were talking. How difficult would it be to launch a digital attack on them as a distraction for the physical one?”

  Alexis matched her brother’s smile. “I see where you’re going with this. I have something in mind that would work, providing I can rewrite it. While the Kurtherians and their minions are running around trying to stop their computer systems from tearing themselves to pieces, we plant explosives as the icing on the exploding cake.”

  “You’ve got it,” Gabriel enthused, twisting in his seat to face Alexis. “Option one, we blow the reactor with timed charges. Option two, we set remote-activated charges.”

  Alexis folded her arms, seeing a flaw in his plan. “What if we don’t get off the station in time? Or the Kurtherians find a way to block the detonation signal? I don’t think we should risk either of those.” She shuddered. “Ugh. Why am I the voice of reason all of a sudden?”

  Gabriel fixed Alexis with a knowing look. He didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that his sister had come down with a severe case of nobility. “How is what you’re about to suggest in any way reasonable?”

  “It’s just a game,” she reminded him. “It’s not like we’re going to die for real if we tear just a small rift.”

  Gabriel stood firm. “That’s where you’re wrong. I get that you want to take the easy way out now, but how will that affect us one day in the future?” He furrowed his brow as his thought came to him fully-formed. “We could learn something here that will save us in the future. Sure, it’s a game, but it’s also our testing ground.”

  Alexis opened her mouth to speak, but Gabriel wasn’t done.

  He spread his arms to encompass the entire gameworld. “How much of our lives have we lived in this safety net? Living without consequences? You realize that net will be taken away forever once we leave here?” He met Alexis’ dark gaze. “We’ll never have the luxury of it being ‘just a game’ again.”

  Alexis lowered her eyes. “That was what you meant when you said you hadn’t been thinking of this as a game.”

  “Finally.” Gabriel closed his eyes and shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to pay his sister back for all the times she’d ragged on him for being slower to reach a conclusion. That was childhood, and they weren’t children anymore. He took Alexis’ face in his hands and touched his forehead to hers. “I know it’s scary. We have to run a real risk, and we just lost our explosives expert. Would you open a rift in the real world?”

  Alexis pulled free and crossed her arms, tilting her chin to an obstinate angle. “In the right circumstance? Yeah.”

  Gabriel was taken aback. “For real? After what the rift did to Qu’Baka?”

  Alexis nodded. “Because of what the rift did to Qu’Baka, and because of what we lost. Aunt Addix would be the first to tell me to be true to myself. Well, I’m going to find the Kurtherian who opened that rift, and before I throw them into a rift I made, I’m going to enjoy every minute of destroying whatever it is they hold dear. To do that, I need to be in control.”

  “I miss Aunt Addix, too,” Gabriel murmured. He sat back and folded his hands in his lap. “I’m all for your plan. It goes beyond my instinct to protect you from harm. I had an epiphany when we were separated. Wait, I can share it.” He closed his eyes and thought back to the inexplicable moment.

  Alexis gasped. “Yes! That’s exactly it!” She leaned forward and grabbed Gabriel’s hands. “Just get me to the core. I can do this. A rift the size of my pinkie nail, and bye-bye battlestation.”

  “You can keep it contained until we’re back on the Gemini?” he asked.

  Alexis let go and lifted her hands. “We’ll do it together, or we’ll keep trying until we get it. You’re right; we aren’t playing anymore. We might not be able to really die here, but that’s an advantage we can use. If we fluff it, we keep trying until we succeed. We should tell K’aia and Trey what we’re planning to do.”

  Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Do we have to? You know K’aia’s not going to like it.”

  Alexis giggled, slapped Gabriel’s arm, and turned back to her console. “Ass. I have a multilayered attack to write. You just volunteered to tell the others what’s going down.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Open Space, QBS Gemini, Bridge

  K’aia wished that she’d gone with the twins to the bridge when they boarded the ship instead of assisting the rest of the unit to the infirmary. Perhaps if she had, she would have been there to intercede when the twins lost their damned minds. “No. Just no. I categorically forbid it, and no.”

  She stamped her back feet, looking at Trey for support. “For a start, opening a rift is impossible. B, you could be killed attempting it. Three, I don’t think any of us wants to get stuck repeating the last few months.”

  Trey shrugged. “I can see it working, as long as Gemini and Alexis can get us in.”

  “There’s no way we’re in the same scenario,” Gabriel replied. “You know how it works. We complete an event and move on to the next. If we reset—which is so not going to happen—we’ll reset to the decision to chase the Kurtherian ship. If I’m wrong and we get set back to Zenith Station, Alexis will do every bit of your coursework.”

  “Hey!” Alexis called.

  “It’s your theory, “Gabriel reminded her.

  Alexis lifted a shoulder, continuing to type without breaking her flow. “Whatever. It’s not like I’m going to have to do it.”

  K’aia huffed. “You’re going to go ahead no matter what I say, aren’t you?”

  Alexis looked up momentarily from her keyboard to flash a grin at K’aia. “Anyone would think you know us.”

  K’aia tipped her head back and sighed, then walked to her station and sat heavily with another drawn-out sigh. “Fine. Tell us what craziness you’re dragging us into this time.”

  Gabriel broke it down for them. “The short version is that Alexis and Gemini are going to trick the battlestation the Kurtherians are using as their command center into thinking we’re actually the ship we’re chasing, and vice-versa. They’ll blow up their own ship, thinking that’s the invader. Then the four of us sneak in, make our way to the reactor room, do our thing, and get the hell out of there before the place goes boom. Sound good to you?”

  “What about the rest of the unit?” K’aia asked.

  “Are any of them fit to fight if we run into trouble?” Gabriel countered.

  “Well, no,” K’aia told him.

  “Then it’s just us and the Kurtherians,” Gabriel told her. “Get ready for a rough transfer. It’s not going to be a picnic getting your armor through the Etheric.”

  Trey cracked his knuckles and headed for the weapons locker where he’d left his staff. “Bring on the madness.”

  Gemini reappeared, in
terrupting K’aia’s groan. “The Kurtherian ship has slowed considerably, and I have finished copying myself to the intercept drone.”

  Alexis emitted a squeak and doubled over her keyboard. “No time for talking. I’m up.”

  Her world shrank to the keyboard and Gemini’s voice in her mind. She released the drone she’d had Gemini copy the relevant parts of herself to and watched with her teeth pressing grooves into her bottom lip as it sped across the void to intercept the ship’s communication with the battlestation.

  The Gemini in the drone reported back to the whole Gemini that her task was complete. Gemini passed the link to Alexis, who got to work identifying the blocks of alien symbols that had been used as permissions and feeding them to the AI.

  Gabriel vowed to do better at learning Kurtherian programming languages when this was over. He ignored the muttered curses from his sister as he watched over her shoulder. That was his clue that she was entirely immersed in her task. Normally his interest would be met with a complaint that she couldn’t think to type when he was watching and the demand that he go watch on his own screen.

  Gemini had thoughtfully provided a view of the battlestation. Gabriel resisted the urge to celebrate when a bright beam came from the battlestation and disintegrated the Kurtherian ship instead of theirs. “We good?”

  “We’re in,” Alexis announced, pausing to wipe the sweat from her forehead. “Now for the tricky part.”

  “She’s going to take control of their systems and have them all freak out,” Gabriel explained for K’aia’s and Trey’s benefit.

  “Not if you’re not quiet!” Alexis snapped. “Gemini, keep messing with their sensors and cloak before someone looks out and sees us. It would be just our luck. I don’t want them getting a visual and figuring out we’re not who we say we are before we get aboard.”

  Silence reigned over the bridge, broken only by the sharp clicking of Alexis’ keyboard suffering horrific abuse at her fingertips.

  Everyone jumped nearly out of their skin—or carapace, in K’aia’s case—when she suddenly thrust her chair back and leapt to her feet.