“I will always love and cherish you. No matter what happens.”
I snuggled against him, then fell asleep, hearing that thought in my head over and over.
Chapter Thirteen (Helen)
“Well, well, well. I think this must be the most embarrassing reason to over sleep in the history of mankind.”
I sat up quickly, wiping the sleep from my eyes, only to remember that I had slept naked last night, and had to pull the sheet over my upper half as Phillip smiled at me from the doorway.
“Is there a reason you are in my doorway?”
He laughed and pointed. “I think the better question is, is there a reason he is in your bed?”
I almost jumped as I looked over to find Nick in my bed. I was still a bit fuzzy, but it slowly came back to me. See what happens when I get real sleep? It messes me all up, I am all fuzzy in the morning.
“I don’t see that as any of your business, Phillip.”
“Maybe not Romeo, but if it wasn’t with her consent, I’ll have to kill you.”
Phillip was enjoying this teasing thing way too much. I would have smacked him, but I was naked. He must have read something on my face because he started laughing and pointed at me, clutching the sheet.
“I have seen you naked before.”
Nick sat up and hugged me against him possessively. Oh, great, today we would destroy the alien menace and they would bicker over this. We were all doomed.
“Okay, I need to think. How long before we start?”
“An hour and a half.”
“Who’s my partner?”
“Well, your mechanic will be here on standby with the others, so if anyone comes in, they and the med units will be prepared to go to work quickly.”
Nick cleared his throat and glared at Phillip.
“That didn’t exactly answer her question, you know.”
Phillip smiled. Oh no, I knew what was coming.
“Well, they wanted to pair up the people who worked best together, so I am. I will be watching her back and saving her life all day. I just didn’t want to say anything, because I figured you might pop her with how hard you’d squeeze her when hearing you’ll be here on board all day, while I spend it kicking ass with her.”
In that instance, Phillip was right. He did squeeze harder. This was getting awkward. We were not a couple. He needed to remember that. I dropped the sheet - Phillip had seen me naked multiple times and I him - then got out of bed. I went to the shower, but turned before getting in. “Get me a big breakfast; I am not stopping for lunch.”
Phillip smiled and saluted. I rolled my eyes and closed the bathroom door behind me. I did not lock it, it did not occur to me that I would need to, until I was under the hot steamy water - it felt so good - and I felt someone enter the shower with me. I yelped, and turned to see Nick grinning from ear to ear.
“What the hell is so funny? You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“You should have seen the look on Phillip’s face when I got up and came in here.”
I shook my head and threw some shampoo in my hair. “You two and this damn competition, it’s ridiculous.”
“No, it isn’t. We are both fighting for you. That makes it worth it.”
I shook my head. “You both are going to be disappointed.”
“I wasn’t last night. It didn’t sound like you were either.”
I blushed for what had to be the first time in years. Many, many years. Even in my past life, I was not a big blusher. That got one from me. My whole face felt hotter than the steamy water pouring over my hair. I rinsed out the shampoo and Nick laughed at my blush. Fine, let him.
When I was done rinsing my hair, he pulled me into his arms and kissed the tip of my nose. He had always done that, and it still annoyed me as much now as it ever had. Some things did not change. “Stop that and shower. We have work to do.”
He chuckled and released me. “All right, but only because when you come back victorious, I will be waiting to celebrate with you until we get to the home world.”
“Shows what you know. That was a one-time thing. You are lucky it even happened last night.”
“Oh, I count myself very lucky. I also think that you could not be so foolish as to think that I am giving up after scoring so major a victory with you.”
I shook my head. It never occurred to me to boot him out of the shower, though it should have. “I told you, I don’t feel that way for you anymore.”
His face grew serious, but not angry. “Helen, you cannot look back at what we shared last night and tell me that all your feelings for me are gone; buried maybe, but not gone.”
I thought about it. Okay, I actually thought about how I did not want to get into this before going into a situation which I might not come back from.
“You’re right. I still find you as annoying as ever.”
He laughed, and kissed me swiftly on the mouth before I could stop him.
“I’ll take what I can get. You used to find my annoyingness cute, so I think I’m on the right track.”
I rolled my eyes and finished my shower, hopping out to change before he was done. How had I gotten myself into this situation?
When I was done changing, I left before he even had the chance to come out of the bathroom. He would need to go back to his room to change into fresh clothes. However, I was not going to be out here waiting for him. I had a job to do and I would do it.
I ate breakfast quickly and returned to my room to brush my teeth. Nick was gone, thank God, and I hurried to the meeting room. I was not the last to arrive, so I stood with the others, all of us silent for a while.
“Ah Nick, there you are. You are the last controller to arrive.”
I looked from the general to Nick and back. “Sir, isn’t that an important job? I mean, shouldn’t that be left to someone with more experience?”
Nick laughed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“I am a soldier, not your friend in here and for the duration of this mission. I just think that such an important job should go to someone who has the experience.”
“He has been working with our controllers since we met up with the fleet after leaving Paris. He knows what he needs to for now to be more of a help than a hindrance. He’s smart and a fast learner. but if you would prefer, I can remove him from duty.”
I shook my head. “No sir, if you say he can do the job, I’ll take your word for it. Let’s move on, if everyone is here.”
“Are you always this uptight?”
Phillip swallowed a laugh and the general tried to hide his mustache which was twitching into a smile. I did not smile or laugh. I turned to Nick and gave him the look that says, ‘I am in charge’, people did not question this face. “No, soldier, I prefer to fool around and let aliens take over the world. Rape, pillage, and destroy. I figure we have two options. We can sit here, joke around, and give up our only chance at survival, or we can get the job done. Which would you prefer?”
No one said anything. Everyone stopped smiling and sat down at the conference table, opening their folders of information. All pilots and co-pilots were here. So were the general and the controllers.
“On the note of berating the soldier, I have a question for him.”
I nodded at the general and sat down, opening my folder.
“Where were you this morning? I had a meeting with all the controllers. You were not in bed and I could not find you outside. Luckily for you, someone offered to take notes for you and brief you later.”
Phillip’s hidden laughter was turning into choking now. I glared at him and he swallowed it. Nick said nothing, except an apology. The general knew something was funny with this situation and looked between the three of us.
“Let’s get started, shall we?”
I never loved Gabe more than in that moment. I nodded; everyone - who had not already – sat, then opened their folders as we went over last minute details and any change in plans.
By midmorning, w
e were loading up. Nick was assigned controller for Phillip and me, as well as for three other jets. They were trying to spread them out as much as possible so that information or changes could be reported then dealt with as quickly and as efficiently as possible. I think the general gave us to Nick to prove to me that he could do the job. I did not care, as long as we got the job done. Kicking alien butt and all.
“So, you two got back together, huh?”
I sighed; Phillip could not give me just a day, could he? The horrible part was I was sure Nick was listening. Well, you know what they say about two birds and one stone. “No.” Quick, simple, efficient.
“When did you become such a slut, Helen?”
I laughed. “Aren’t you always saying I need to get laid? I listened to you for once. You should be happy, me listening to someone else’s ideas means I’m coming around.”
“So, my room tonight? Because that is always my way of thinking when you are around.”
I laughed some more, mostly because if I did not, I would most likely throw a fit, lose control, and burst into tears before dying. “I’ll think about it.”
“Mind if I tell our controller you said that?”
I shook my head. This would never end. “Go ahead. I told him it was a one-time thing, so he knows not to expect anything.”
Phillip snorted.
“Knowing and doing are very different, especially when it comes to you, Helen. I mean, do you think either of us will give up before you have a ring on your finger?”
I sighed. No, my life was not that simple. The fates hated me, punishment for disobeying my parents as a child and things like that. You know, sneaking out of the house to watch the stars with the boy of my dreams that they hated, yeah, I knew it would come back to bite me in the ass.
“I wish, but I doubt it. Nevertheless, you are right. I wonder if General Hoocker is available. I mean, it would be a bonus to both of our careers, and I hear men really like younger women once they reach a certain age, and then there is the understanding each other’s careers come first. It’s a match made in heaven.”
I smiled as I heard two, not one, but two, chokes on my headset. Nick was listening. He was supposed to be switching between all the jets, but I had a feeling he was only listening to us.
“Helen, the man is over fifty; that is grotesque!”
I laughed at Phillip’s obvious shock until Nick spoke up.
“Don’t worry Phillip, after last night she will never be satisfied by the old general. It won’t be long before they get divorced and she agrees to marry me.”
I started laughing as I pictured Phillip’s face to Nick’s ultimate reaction. “Bravo. Quick thinking. We may make a respectable soldier out of you yet.”
“Thank you.”
I laughed again and saw our first target. “Time to do your job. Check in on everyone else and don’t call us, we’ll let you know how we do when we are done.”
“Roger that.”
He sounded nervous as I heard him flick his station to the next jet in line. I could focus with someone in my ear, I had worked with Jane after all, but I did not want him to hear the shooting, to be freaked out, and be unable to perform his job.
“Time to ass kick.”
I snorted. “Not much ass kicking. We only shoot the base to hell. But it’s still ass kicking in a way, so let’s do it.”
“They gave us all the small ones, hunting camps and such.”
“What?!” I would have spun around in my seat if I were not strapped in. Which would have likely gotten us killed, see, seatbelts could save lives.
“Yup, they wanted to make sure we didn’t run into anything like last time, apparently we are too important to the final battle to risk losing this early on.”
“We are the best damn killers on this God forsaken planet! How the hell can they justify that?”
He laughed. Asshole thought this was funny. However, victory in general depended largely upon how we did today.
“I already told you…”
“I heard what you said, Phillip. But I mean, if anyone is guaranteed to come back alive, then it is us. I mean, why not just suspend us from any missions until we get to the main battle?”
I was angry and the ground forces could tell. I was sure I needed to return for more missiles, and this was only our first mission. The ground would be nothing but a crater when I was done.
“Did you empty our missiles?”
“I was just wondering the same thing.”
Phillip laughed. Our radio connected.
“We have you shooting off five missiles at once. Did you come across anything bigger than the information provided?”
Our controller, if he was responsible for this, I would seriously consider killing him.
“No, our pilot just got a little trigger happy when she heard we wouldn’t have any of the bigger kills. I think there will be hell to pay when we return. You wouldn’t have anything to do with the decision, would you Nick?”
I was glad Phillip asked, because in all likelihood anything I managed to say would be a threat.
“No, the general gave me the orders this morning while you geared up to give you these missions. I wondered at it, since Helen is our best pilot and you two are our best soldiers, but I don’t question orders I follow them.”
“Good, then follow this order. I want you to punch that asshole of a general and tell him to give me some real missions, and leave the game trails to the rookies!”
“He said you would say that. He told me to tell you he outranks you and this is his mission.”
I could do nothing but be silent for a moment, because I was speechless. This was my mission. I planned it, I prepared for it. They had only come along because Nick had not kept his mouth shut. Phillip could claim partial ownership - that I could deal with - but not the general. “I’ll kill him.”
“Helen, set us down.”
“No.” I was calm, the eye of the storm. Ready to wreak horrible vengeance. It was not about the credit, I did not care about that. No, it was the disrespect he was showing me by taking it from me.
“I think you should either give us some real missions or tell Hoocker he had better get a jet and be able to out fly Helen. Which I tell you, isn’t likely.”
“I have orders, Phillip, and he outranks her. I cannot question his orders unless I think they are not up to my moral standards. This has nothing to do with my morals and me.”
I said nothing. Nick was right; he could not unless he wanted to ruin his military career for disobeying a direct order. “That’s all right, Phillip. I’ll ask him face to face what the hell is going on when we go back.”
“If you say so.”
I could hear Philip’s agreement, and I knew he was agreeing to calm me down.
“Where is the next sight of destruction?”
Nick told me and promised to tell the general to be ready to meet with me, that much he could do. So I flew onto the next site, ready to wreak more havoc and death upon our enemies.
We did go back once to replenish our missiles, even the regular gunfire would have done it, but we wanted nothing left behind to be experimented on or studied. The general was missing, a real shocker there. It was then when I was seething mad, about ready to go looking for him, when a pilot and his partner called in trouble. They had been shot down and were being perused. Phillip caught the transmission while I was yelling at someone about finding the general.
“Helen, we have work to do. Someone was just shot down in sector four. They were met with heavy fire and need help if they are going to survive until the next battle.”
I was in the driver’s seat and Phillip was uploading information from the computers on the ship to Friend, so we would know exactly where to go. They tried to block us, we were not the rescue ship, but Friend was smarter than their computers; he ought to be, having a brain and all, so we easily hacked the system, then got off the ground before they could stop us.
There was heavy fire as t
hey had fighter ships. I was glad I was an experienced pilot and I reminded myself to kick the general’s ass for putting rookies in this position.
“Send the rookies to the cliff nearby to await help after we have the bastards distracted.”
Phillip nodded and relayed our message, making sure the rookies knew to wait until the enemy was distracted. They agreed to run around and hide if possible, until the right time. I nodded, hoping they would so the rescue mission would not be screwed as well.
“Ready for a hell of a ride?”
“Let’s kick some alien ass.”
I nodded and smiled. This is what I did. I fired a missile and blew up a jet that was chasing our boys. That got their attention; I smiled as we flipped and flew. We were turning, swerving in and out of the cliffs, trying to avoid their return fire. I dove straight down until Phillip was yelling to pull up and we had almost hit bottom. At the very last second, I turned our nose up and two of the jets behind us were not so lucky as to avoid the canyon floor. The blast hit us and our plane rattled and swerved, almost hitting the wall of the canyon before I regained control, stopping us from becoming mush.
“That was close.”
“Which time? When we almost kissed the ground or when we almost got flattened against the canyon wall?”
“Oh, come now Phillip, the more I almost crash the more they actually crash.”
I chose that moment to fly straight up and back, almost touching the top of the plane behind us. I flipped us over and ended up behind them. I shot a missile, knowing as close as we were we would feel it, it was a direct hit. Unfortunately, the blast shook us up a bit and we ended up crash landing. The others were a bit behind, but it would not take long for them to catch up.
“Um, any time now would be good.”
“She won’t start. Guess plan B is in order.”
“Plan B?”
I smiled. “I’m surprised at you, Phillip. No plan B.”
“I cannot fit a rocket launcher in here comfortably.”
I laughed and pulled out my gun. “Nope, you can’t. However, they have a small piece of engine exposed. One hit and kaboom.”
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