"The device you brought back. Hobart Evans'? It turns out they'd done some work on the ship after all."
Electricity shot down her spine. "You've got its tech."
He glanced up at the roof dome with a sigh. "Unfortunately, no. That appears to be lost for good. But Evans' team found a written message. A copy of it is on his device. Get this—it's from one of the Swimmers."
"In Swimmer? So what? We've had a millennium to try to decode their language and no one's come close. There's hardly anything to work with."
He swung his head side to side. "It's not just in Swimmer. The alien made a copy in English, too. Old, archaic—from the era of the Panhandler Virus—but this is our Rosetta Stone. We've already translated it."
"Why would it leave it in English?" Rada said, but she already knew the answer. "Because it wanted us to hear. What does it say?"
He handed her the device. "Read it out loud, will you? I want to hear it told to me. Like its author intended."
She stood in the artificial sunlight and read. It wasn't a long message, but its contents were dense. The ship—the vessel they'd found—was from the time of the invasion. It had been left in reserve to orbit Neptune. After the invasion had come to a stunning, shocking defeat, its crew had decided to nuke Earth. To finish the few scraps of humanity that had survived first the virus and then the war.
One alien had fought to stop them, but it had been beaten down by a rival, left for dead.
"He moved to the controls and gave the command to launch the missiles," Rada read. "But there was nothing to be launched, because when I had woken the ship's defenses, I launched the nukes into the system's star.
"Confused, Tton tried again. With his back turned, I picked up the laser and I shot him until he was dead.
"Somehow, I dragged myself to medical. I did not think it could save me, but I wanted time to leave a record. One that might someday be found by those who would understand. To preserve it, I asked the ship to land on a nearby moon. It will be my tomb.
"Some will say I betrayed my people. That I am a rebel. A traitor. Fit to die on a wasteland of ice. Forsaken. Alone.
"But I know different. I know that I have followed the Way."
Rada looked up from the device, blinking at Toman. "You're sure this is real?"
"I've had the LOTR working on it nonstop." He grinned like a schoolboy. "The paper it's written on—it's not human. And it's ancient. A millennium old, give or take. Do you see, Rada? We lost the ship. The tech. But we got something worth far more."
"A story?" She frowned. "Don't get me wrong. It was a hero. Its story deserves to be told. But you really think that's worth more than what the ship could have taught us?"
"Its story tells us much more than the rebellion." Toman grabbed her by the shoulders, beaming. "It tells us that the Swimmers don't think and march in lockstep. They're individuals. Not all of them agreed with the decision to exterminate us." He tipped back his head to the stars burning endlessly from the darkness. "And on the day we meet again, we may not have to go to war after all."
~
After that, she didn't see him for a while. Against the counsel of his advisors, he had insisted on making the story public. It sent ripples across the system. Many politicians and CEOs denounced it as fraudulent, a forged apologia from a known bug-lover. Toman sent the message to a dozen different institutes to verify it for themselves, then spent a week touring Earth speaking to citizens and leaders.
Rada continued to train. As soon as she had the fundamentals down, Val started to throw new challenges at her. Docking attempts with the thrusters disabled. Drone attacks. And then pirate assaults, with the enemy ships controlled by some of the Hive's other pilots. Most of the time, Rada got her ass kicked, but she always went back for more.
Because she loved it. Even the defeats. She'd finally found what she'd been born to do.
A few weeks after her arrival on the Hive, she exited the simulation room and found Simm waiting outside.
"Toman's back." He smiled, Sphinx-like. "And he brought you a present."
They hopped on a cart. Rada pumped him with questions, but Simm refused to answer a single one. As they took the lift to the habitation ring, he got out a blindfold, refusing to go on until she agreed to put it on.
A few minutes later, the cart rocked to a stop.
"Okay," Simm said. "You can take it off."
She ripped the blindfold from her eyes. Toman stood in front of her, grinning foxily. They were in a private wing of the Hive's main port. Outside the plate windows, the Tine waited on the pad, restored and repainted.
She eyed Toman. "Where's my present?"
He nodded out the window. "You're staring right at it."
Rada drifted forward. "You're kidding. You're not giving me the Tine."
"Not exactly. It's my favorite ship in the galaxy. But it is in need of a new pilot. After what you've done for me, I think you deserve first dibs."
"Me? I barely know what I'm doing!"
"That's not what Val says." Toman socked her on the shoulder. "Come on. Take us out for a spin."
Mind reeling, she suited up. The three of them walked out the airlock. It was only then that she saw what they'd painted on the nose: leering shark jaws.
"What the hell is that?" she said.
Toman shrugged. "Simm's suggestion."
"It's like they said on Jindo," Simm said. "A ship should match what's inside it."
"I'm not sure if I'm flattered," Rada said. "But I am sure this is awesome."
They crossed the Tine's airlock and made way to the cockpit. Rada had been there before, but tingles rushed up and down her arms and legs. At Lonnie's seat, she paused and looked at Simm.
He swept out his hand. "All yours."
She buckled in. Checked the systems. Counted down. And launched. She took off from the Hive as slowly as an old man putting himself to bed, but it was and always would be the most exciting flight of her life.
~
For a long time after that, life on the Hive was quiet. Quiet was good, but sometimes, when Rada was between missions, sitting around in the grass of Toman's micro-world, she looked back on those frantic days with something close to nostalgia.
Not that she had any desire to relive the violence and heartache surrounding the discovery of the Rebel, as Toman had christened the now-famous ship. And flying the Tine remained an unquenchable thrill. She and Simm had become a thing, too, and though he was sedate to the point of being boring, she appreciated the stability he brought to her life. She had no doubt that she was happy.
Sometimes, though, she missed the excitement of the old days.
Three years later, she got her wish. It started with a message from a woman named Jain Kayle. The message was a request to meet, nothing more.
Within days, it would change Rada's life. Within months, it would change the balance of the Solar System.
And not long after that, it would change everything.
FROM THE AUTHOR
REBEL is done, but the REBEL STARS series is far from over. If you haven't already read OUTLAW, grab it here. Oh, and please consider leaving REBEL a review. Reviews are the best way to help other readers decide if a book is right for them.
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The REBEL STARS series is set in the future of a great apocalypse. If you'd like to read about the apocalypse itself, you can find the first books here.
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*Nightmare*
Table of Contents
SHIP'S LOG: 1
1
2
3
4
5
SHIP'S LOG: 2
6
7
8
SHIP'S L
OG: 3
9
10
11
12
SHIP'S LOG: 4
13
14
Rebel (Rebel Stars Book 0) Page 16