by Gini Koch
Hoped Jamie wasn’t hearing this, because this was definitely a song that made me think about Jeff in the total sexy times way. But apparently what was going to keep the rest of the solar system at bay was my sex drive and a tempo-changing rocking beat.
One of the positives was that when my energy field bobbed out to the beat it literally expanded, pushing the other energy fields away. Started singing along, both the Fergie and the will.i.am parts, because why not?
Had no idea how long this went on, or how many times the song played. I just relaxed and enjoyed my cosmic pop concert of one song.
And then, suddenly, it was all over.
CHAPTER 90
THE MUSIC WAS still playing, and I was still singing along, only I realized I wasn’t seeing the entire solar system’s minds and energy fields. I was seeing Tito’s face. Said face was trying really hard not to laugh.
“You can stop now, Kitty,” he said, as he turned off my iPod and pulled the earbuds out of my ears. “Everything’s okay.”
“By everything do you mean that the war is over, we’ve won, and we’ve also repelled the Z’porrah invasion fleet that’s on its way?”
“Ah, no. I mean that Jeff’s okay, Chuck’s okay, and the rest of us are okay, Bruno included.”
“Ah. Okay. I’ll take it.” Realized I was lying down and sat up. “Whoa. Head rush.”
“I’m not surprised,” Chuckie said. He was on my left, sitting and looking reasonably good, all things considered. “I can’t believe the song you picked to listen to over and over again.” He laughed, then his expression turned serious. “Thank you.”
Took his hand in mine and squeezed. “You’re welcome.” Decided I’d worry about what Jamie had heard later. Like after we rescued her, Gower, and ACE later. Looked to my right, expecting to see Jeff there. Only he wasn’t. Looked around the room. No Jeff. No Christopher, either. “Um, where are my husband and his cousin?”
“I had to give Christopher adrenaline,” Tito said. “Chuck, too.” Realized Chuckie was shaking a bit, which made sense. “Glad you had plenty in your purse. Once you went into your trance, we got you lying down, and Tim and Kevin figured out how to unlock the metal box they had Chuck in. Once we got him out of it, we destroyed that thing they’d stuck on his head.”
“That’s all great, but not explaining where Jeff and Christopher are.” Bruno came over and settled himself in my lap. Gave him lots of pets and scritchy-scratches between his wings.
“Once Chuck was out and in control of himself again, the emotional onslaught he was unintentionally and uncontrollably sending at Jeff stopped. You gave Jeff three giant doses of adrenaline. Christopher’s not used to the adrenaline and that was a hell of a lot even for Jeff. They’re both so wound up that they couldn’t stay in this room.”
“So they went off to knock Rapacian heads and take over the ship,” Tim said. “Which means that Airborne needs to head to the cockpit of this thing and take over the controls. Probably in about two minutes, give or take.”
“Go team. You’re sure Jeff’s okay?”
“I think he’ll be a lot better after he kicks some alien bird ass,” Brian said. “Those bastards said they wanted to mate with Serene, Lorraine, and Claudia, pardon my French.”
As I concentrated, did think I heard the sounds of someone roaring. Yep, that was Jeff’s Lion Takes Over the Veldt roar. He was fine and probably even enjoying himself a little.
“No worries, the girls are in charge of one of the Rapacian ships and James is in charge of the other. No forced interspecies matings will be happening. But seriously, should Jeff be fighting right now?”
Tito nodded. “He needs it, emotionally and psychologically as well as physically. They were hard on him, and I want to get him to isolation, but since the only option for that in this solar system is Alpha Four, we’ll wait until we’re home. You had enough adrenaline in your purse that I think we can keep him going without hurting him.”
“Where do you want to go, Kitty?” Kevin asked me. “We know the other ships have left the planet’s airspace.”
“We need to follow them. If Chuckie and I can walk, I’ll fill you guys in on all the excitement while we go to the command section.”
Kevin and Tim helped Chuckie up, Hughes and Walker helped me. Bruno stayed right by me. “What do we do with the prisoners?” Joe asked.
“Where are they?”
“We put them where they’d had Christopher,” Randy said, walking over to the alcove. Sure enough, all the Rapacians who’d surrendered were standing there, looking confused and apprehensive.
The remote was on the ground. Indicated it should be picked up, which Jerry did. “Point it at them and push a white button. Just be sure you remember which white button you push.”
Jerry stared at the remote then handed it to me. “I have no idea which way is front.”
Looked at it. I didn’t really, either. Remembered the remote Serene had had. This one looked turned around from that. It hadn’t mattered when I’d rescued Christopher because turning things off wasn’t nearly as worrisome as turning them on.
“If I imprison myself, it’s the blue buttons that turn the electric cage off. Don’t hit the red button because that’s the Fry Everyone Inside The Cage Button.” Turned the remote around, aimed it, and pushed the button down.
Successfully didn’t entrap myself and did trap all the prisoners. Handed the remote back to Jerry. “The buttons are a little closer to the front than the back.”
“Got it.” He grinned. “Nice to have the band back together again, Fergie.”
“You’re hilarious.” We left and made our way to the command deck. This room had been at the very back, somewhat ironically right next to the ship’s garbage chute. We had to step around a lot of Rapacian bodies. Because everyone with me was human, decided we’d just leave them there and hope that they didn’t all wake up soon. I did have the guys destroy every circlet as we came to them, an action Chuckie wholeheartedly supported. While we did this I filled them in on everything that had happened since they’d been captured, the situations with 2.0 and The Clarence Clone included.
We finally reached the command area. Jeff had this ship’s pilot’s and copilot’s heads in his hands. They were still alive and flying the ship, but it was clear he was going to squeeze really hard if they didn’t obey. It was also clear they’d had a demonstration of said head squeezing, because there was a Rapacian body lying close by that had been the example. Was fairly sure it was Otari. Had no complaints.
Looked around. “Where is Kares?”
“She was killed in battle,” the pilot said.
“Works for me.” This meant the only Rapacian in charge was on Serene’s ship, and already adjusting to a more intelligent viewpoint. Took the circlets off the pilot and copilot and put them onto Hughes and Walker. “You should be able to figure out how to fly this. And before you whine, as I told James, just channel Will Smith and do it.”
“Independence Day for the win,” Hughes said with a grin as he took the pilot’s seat.
“I got to get me one of these!” Walker said as he took the copilot’s spot.
Gave Christopher the remote. “You need to get the circlets off all the Rapacians you knocked out, then group them together. There are two more electric cages in this.” Pointed to the buttons I hadn’t used. “They can hold a lot. Let’s get them all contained.”
He nodded. “Jeff, kiss your wife and then come with me. This is a two-man job.”
Jeff knocked the pilot and copilot’s head together, dropped them on the ground, and stepped over to me. He still didn’t have a shirt on. I found this totally acceptable.
He gathered me up into his arms and lifted me up as he kissed me. Wrapped my legs around his waist as his tongue twined around my tongue strongly and his lips owned mine. Managed not to grind against him, but only because we had a hu
ge audience.
Jeff finally ended our kiss and let me slide back down. Was ready to forego saving the world to have sex in one of the empty rooms in the ship, but knew someone would tell us not to.
He grinned as I managed to only nuzzle the hair between his pecs a little bit. “Later, baby. But not too much later.” He nodded to Christopher and they zipped off.
“No one needs to strap in, apparently,” Hughes said. “James found the gravity controls so we’re all set. You might want to hang on, though, just in case.”
We took off. The velocity made those of us who were standing stagger a little, but we all kept our feet and the ride was smooth. “This is my first trip into space in an actual spaceship.”
“Mine, too,” Kevin said.
“This is a lot better than however we got dragged over here,” Tim agreed.
“Not my first time, but I have to say this thing can move.” Brian sighed. “I miss Michael a lot right now. He’d be loving this.”
“I miss him, too. Speaking of whom, though, we need to find his older brother and my daughter. I don’t know where they are, but they’re somewhere that’s not good for them, I think.”
We reached escape velocity and broke through the planet’s atmosphere. Everyone gasped. Some because of the splendor and amazement that was the experience of space.
But mostly it was because we were in what looked like a spaceship parking lot. And the lot was full.
CHAPTER 91
THE LOT WAS ALSO circular. There were a lot of ships inside the circle, the two other Rapacian vessels included. We reduced power and headed for this group.
“I’m just going to point out that the ships on the perimeter are all focused in.”
“And all the ships in the middle are facing out,” Tim said quietly.
“Yeah. I have a feeling that the ships we’re joining are on the side that’s presumed to be losing.” There were a lot of ships I recognized in this group. But there were the same in the perimeter group. This was truly a civil war, on the planets and in the system. And we were now right in the center of it. Then again, we’d been in the center since we’d gotten here.
“Hailing frequencies open,” Hughes said, with no sign of humor. “This is the third commandeered Rapacian vessel, formerly under the control of Commander Trevik, now under the control of Commander Martini, representing Earth and Beta Eight.”
The sound system crackled. “Former Rapacian Vessel, this is the command ship for Alpha Five. You are broadcasting to all ships in this solar space. We have only been waiting for you.”
Well, we now knew which side was winning. Naturally it wasn’t ours. Frankly, wouldn’t have known how to handle it if our side was actually winning at this time. Perhaps by going home. Pulled myself back into the now.
Walker looked at me over his shoulder. “Kitty, you should take this,” he said softly.
Stepped up to stand between Walker and Hughes. “Waiting to call for the official cease-fire, Alpha Five Command?”
There was a pause. “Ah, no. We are awaiting the surrender of the Imperial Monarchists and then will claim Beta Eight as an Alpha Five colony.” This voice was different than the first one; this voice was female. Like us, the Alpha Five command ship had put their leader or mouthpiece on the com. The voice was also vaguely familiar. Very vaguely, though. Needed to pull it up from the memory banks, though, and quickly.
My memory did me a solid and shared what little I knew about Alpha Five. “Interesting. If memory serves, Alpha Five claimed only a few years ago to not want to leave their planet. What changed?”
“Circumstances. Who is speaking?” Who did I know from Alpha Five? Only one person. Hadn’t heard her talk a lot, even when she’d been on Earth. If this was who I thought it was—and ACE had certainly insinuated that was the case—then we’d ignored her because she’d been mousy and quiet. Uma had appeared to be the leader of those Planetary Council members who were traitors. But she was also the only traitor who’d survived Operation Invasion.
“Commander Martini. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”
Another pause. “Was that a joke?” She didn’t sound mousy, but if what ACE had said was true, and I had no reason to doubt him, then the mousy part had been an act. We’d figured she’d used some sort of emotional blocker to keep Jeff from reading her way back when, so what she was really like had been a mystery none of us had thought to consider solving. Because she wasn’t in our solar system and we’d thought Alexander and the Planetary Council would have solved that mystery.
“Nope, that was me being overly polite since we’re in what looks like a really bizarre Mexican Standoff to the Stars. This is a joke. Knock, knock.”
“Excuse me?”
“Earth protocol says that you’re required to say ‘who’s there’ when an Earthling says ‘knock, knock.’ And then you repeat whatever the Earthling says but add the word ‘who’ to the end, so it’s a question. So, we begin again. Knock, knock.”
“Ah. Er . . . who’s there?”
“Screw.”
“Er . . . screw who?”
“Screw you if you think you’re taking over Beta Eight or any other part of this solar system, Lenore.”
Despite the situation, all the men with me cracked up. Which was audible to whoever was on the other line, which, per the Alpha Five command ship, was everyone else in every other ship out here. Oh well, it was always nice to have a large, captive audience.
“How dare you! I am the Leader of the Resistance!”
“You’re the leader of the Z’porrah Invasion Fleet is what you are.”
“True enough.” This was a voice I knew well—Queen Renata. “You told us you had reformed, Lenore. And we chose to believe the best about you. Then you played a double game, pretending to be a positive part of the Planetary Council and the Imperial Monarchy when you were actually leading the rebellion. You are a liar and a traitor both.”
Heard a slap. “You will not speak to me that way again. You are conquered. By your own people.” And now I knew where Renata was, too. Hoped Rahmi and Rhee were keeping it together.
“Only by those who listened to your lies,” Renata replied. “And you can hit me all you want. You hit like a man.” From a Free Woman this was a cutting insult.
“So you found some Free Women who were disgruntled and turned them,” I said, to distract Lenore from hitting Renata again. “That’s the old playbook, isn’t it? You’ve also managed to convince the Rapacians to be your muscle and your patsies. You started a civil war so this solar system would be in chaos when the Z’porrah fleet arrived. The dino-birds sweep in, kill off everyone who hasn’t kowtowed to them, give the planets to their loyal supporters, then they come take over Earth. Have I missed any part of the new playbook?”
“The part where I give your child to the Z’porrah,” Lenore said nastily.
Well, ACE had said they weren’t where they should be. Shoved the fear and rage to the side. Needed a clear head right now.
Felt a nudging in my mind. Boz had a suggestion. Liked it and told her so. “There’s a gigantic telescope on Beta Eight. No one knows how it got there. But it’s huge, and amazingly powerful. You can see what feels like forever through it. I’d like to have everyone take a look at what the telescope is picking up.”
“How can we do that?” This wasn’t Lenore, it was Alexander.
“King Alexander, how are you, my friend?”
“I’ve been better, Commander Martini.”
“I’m sure. And I’m glad you asked. Since, ha ha ha, we can’t all go down to Beta Eight and take a gander, can we? Based on the number of ships out here, that would take us an easy Beta Eight year. However, we have some amazingly smart people with us. They’ve rigged the telescope so that the images it’s seeing can be beamed into your viewing screens or whatever you’re all looking at. Commander Dwy
er, to you.” Sincerely hoped I’d understood Boz correctly, or else I was handing off to someone completely unprepared.
“Thank you, Commander Martini.” Serene’s voice was cool, calm, and totally in charge. I could feel her troubadour talent radiating out through the airwaves, telling everyone that what she was showing them was of vital importance. “Please observe your screens, beaming live data to you in three . . . two . . . one . . .”
The windshield of our ship turned into a TV screen. And we saw the fleet in all its Space Standoff glory.
“As you can see, the telescope is clearly live and aimed at all of us,” Serene said. “Enlarging view, now. Please be prepared, the view will be expanding past this solar system, aimed for the galactic core.”
Sure enough, just as Reader and I had seen it do, the ship’s screen showed the far reaches of the Alpha Centauri solar system, then it enlarged three more times. To show the Z’porrah fleet. It contained easily ten times the number of ships we were hanging out with.
There were a lot of gasps on the com.
“I’m sure many of you fought with King Alexander and Earth Forces when the Z’porrah tried to claim Earth a few years ago,” I said. “The Z’porrah weren’t happy about that defeat. And despite this system showing them mercy, they’ve littered it with spies and instigators, sowing the seeds of hatred and rebellion.”
“But,” Serene said, “as you know, the Z’porrah want no creatures they didn’t create in their own image.”
“They will support the Reptilians,” someone said.
“Hardly,” another voice said. This voice I definitely recognized. “My husband and I keep on telling you that Alpha Four and Earth are our allies. Anyone who’s ever dealt in a positive way with those planets will be destroyed by the Z’porrah, be they Reptilian, Rapacian, or any other. And denouncing them now won’t be good enough. The Z’porrah’s bitterest enemies helped all of our planets’ evolutions—to the Z’porrah we’re all tainted. Even those on Alpha Five.”