"All set."
Phillip nodded and he and Gabe pushed a button. I saw a countdown timer, then it faded away and the normal information was up there.
"We are done here."
I nodded and led the way to the hanger.
"They won't be able to stop it, will they?"
"It will keep going until the alien planet, or a collision with something bigger than this ship, stops it."
I nodded. If Phillip said it was unhackable, it was.
When we arrived at the jets, Gabe automatically jumped into the back of one. I went to climb aboard, but Phillip grabbed me. He pulled me close, kissing me. It made me - for a single moment - forget everything going on right now.
"Be careful. I am serious about taking you on vacation to Paris."
I smiled and gave him a quick kiss back.
"When am I not careful?"
He looked unconvinced. Likely because I was always so careless, uncaring if I lived or died; it was why I was an effective killing machine.
"Hey, don't worry. I will have you to watch my back, and there is no one better."
He nodded and silently slid into the driver's seat of the jet. This would not be a pretty ride. The jets could handle it, but once out of warp speed they would be on their last legs, and we were likely going into a battle with spacecraft big enough to blow up a planet with no backup.
"Input the coordinates I send to you. If something goes wrong, drop out of hyperspace. Do not try to push the jet if it says it won't make it."
"We will meet you there, Helen. You and I both know Phillip isn't pulling out, knowing that you are on the other side."
Gabe wasn’t wrong, but I was hoping Phillip would value his and his brother's lives enough to know better.
"Blowing up on the way will do me no good. Stop, do repairs, come rescue my ass. If something goes wrong, that's your job."
I heard no response. Well, there was no arguing from Phillip, and given the topic, that really was the best that I could hope for.
"Let's go, boys." This was going to be both the longest and shortest ride I had ever taken.
I pulled out of hyperspace first. There were explosions everywhere. The earth fleet was mobilized… how the hell had that happened? It didn’t matter, that was not important right now. I flew directly into the fray. The damn jet had almost no dampeners anymore. This was going to be rocky. Good thing I didn’t get motion sick.
I had limited weapons, so rather than firing, I flew around like bait, separating fighter jets from the pack and leading them into ambushes. The other side caught on after the second time that I pulled a couple enemies into our space territory. I kept getting communication requests, but my COM was broken, so I was shit out of luck. Hopefully they could just keep this up.
It worked, for about twenty minutes. Then I fell into a trap. My seatbelt straps caught fire and I had to cut them off while trying to keep my steering straight. I needed to emergency land onto a spaceship. That last bastard had blown off one of my wings. This jet would be history in a few seconds. I exhaled. This was going to be chancy. I ejected, into open space; the cruiser was near, I was hoping they would pick me up.
I was grabbed and pulled inside. A little late though, I was seeing stars and black, not because I was in space.
"Helen, wake your ass up, I don’t want to deal with Phillip being depressed forever!"
Water splashed on me and I opened my eyes.
"Gabe? How the hell?"
"We came out and our jet was falling apart. We docked and picked up on what you were doing with the traps. Philip has the most experience on the ship with your tactics, so he's been commanding the group that was working with you, since no one could get a hold of you on your COM."
"Well, bless Phillip. I was wondering how they caught on so quickly and knew exactly where to be and when."
"We saw your first maneuver coming as soon we came out of hyperspace, and he knew. We docked and instantly started barking orders."
Phillip, the loner leading. Who knew he had it in him?!
"This will sound cliché, but take me to your leader."
Gabe laughed and pulled me up. He held my shoulder until I could walk unaided. The oxygen was helping. Who knew?
I was a bit shocked; Phillip didn’t rush me before I was even off the floor. He was taking this seriously. Then again, he would kick anyone's ass who said that Paris sucked, and the alien menace was trying to blow it up. Hell hath no fury, is all I can say.
"After the battle, Phillip has a very important folder to give you."
"So before the 'ya we are all alive' celebration, he and I need to talk. Roger that."
"So, this little girl here is the reason we got advanced warning?"
The general in charge, I was assuming. Not the galaxy general, I noticed. You would think he would be in charge of saving the planet.
"She's the reason my brother bothered to send warning via space-net, yes."
That explained them being mobilized before the attack started.
"Phillip is in charge of this battle strategy?"
"Since he boarded, yes."
"It’s fine, but we need to make some changes. We can talk about pardons and forgetting I exist later. Where is he?"
The general looked unwilling to let me loose on his ship. After that speech, I would expect no less. Gabe ignored him and led me away. I had expected that as well. Gabe didn’t give two shits about the military and what they thought; in fact, he thought less of me for joining. Though I was rogue now, so I doubted he would hold it against me.
"Helen, good, we couldn’t reach your COM and I need some advice. This place was a mess before and I have seen enough action to know how the aliens work in battle, but you are the only one to survive space fights against them so far."
I nodded to Phillip, grabbed a headset, and started barking orders. I went through report after report and scene after scene. Phillip followed my lead, picking up where I left on when I had to move on to something more urgent. The great thing about him was we worked together enough that he knew my tactics, so I could start something and he could finish. It was like being everywhere at once. Our reunion would have to wait. We had a war to win.
"Their main battle cruiser is the issue. The little ones are getting wiped out easily as they come out, but we do not have any idea of how many little ships there are in there."
That one had to be a first year sign up. Kid didn’t even know the terms. That’s okay, I didn’t care about terminology I just wanted them to do as I said.
"Everyone, go to the escape pods."
"Why? Our ship shield is still at eighty eight percent."
"Exactly."
"Helen, I know you like blowing stuff up, but this is the pride of the galaxy fleet. You can't mean to use the same trick as we just did back on the last cruiser."
Silly Gabe.
"Of course. They got word we blew up their home world with our battle cruiser. You can tell at exactly what point they found out. We were flooded with their fighters. They were pissed and went all in. Lost their rational thought process. Also, they turned their attention from the planet to us, so we stopped defending the planet and started defending ourselves. Because they need our planet now. We have completely pulled away from protecting it. So, we are going to drive behind Earth and slingshot around into their battle cruiser. They are losing shield and we are not. As that one there said", I pointed to the one delivering reports to me, as I had no idea of his name, "we have no issues with their fighters, just that damn cruiser holding a large number of them. So let's take it out, problem solved."
"You want to destroy my most powerful ship?"
Pissy General.
"We don’t need it. Without their cargo cruiser in the way, it’s a guaranteed win. The only way to lose would be put down our weapons and lose on purpose. Even then, I know Phillip has installed some kind of virus to keep everything that’s automated, or can be, going."
I felt bad for turning
the glare to Phillip, but the general needed to know that we were doing this, and could, with or without his okay. We didn’t come here just to draw out a battle and lose more men. This would mean minimal casualties and we had the opportunity to do it. Phillip shrugged and smiled.
"The second I got to a computer, I made sure I could take over the system. Force of habit. I'm in the surviving against all odds business."
"And, I did all the physical legwork needed while getting my tour."
This was why Gabe and Phillip were an unstoppable force.
"So, General, I am giving you a ten minute warning. Have everyone ready to jettison when we reach the other side of earth. Everyone will make it safely to the surface while the aliens cannot see us making our ship almost empty, to slam into theirs. Like a battering ram into a wall. But only one hit will do it. They won't expect us to do this. Likely they will think we realized they want the planet, and will expect we are hiding behind it, which means that they will power down shields to power up guns, then come in blazing to kill us off and, bam, collision."
"That would never work."
"You are not an alien race bent on domination, whose home planet just got blown. No offense, General, but of everyone here, I have had the most exposure to these bastards. You and the rest of the military have had battle after battle to get this right. You failed. Now we are doing it my way."
That shut him up.
"Everyone, set everything to automated and get to your assigned escape pods. We will be right near the earth's surface, so if there are extras on board, take them. You won't use up the oxygen in those pods, even if they’re so full that you have to stand. It'll be an hour tops that you are in there. I am sling shooting you all in full throttle."
No one waited for the general to give the okay. They hopped to and got shit done. I walked off to the control room, leaving the general to decide which escape pod he wanted to join.
"Helen…"
"Phillip, you and Gabe evac with the others."
"No."
He tried to grab me and I turned, smacking him. "Phillip, get your ass on that evac pod now. You said so yourself, you survive. Go or I will never forgive you."
He was so shocked he just stood there. Gabe grabbed him and steered him away. Two officers took him into custody and escorted him to the nearest pod. He had saved their asses they would make sure he made it out. Gabe stood there glaring.
"He will be impossible."
"He is a killer Gabe, we both are, and he will compartmentalize and be fine."
"It's not that simple when the heart is involved. You better than anyone knows that."
I sighed. I did. "Yes but I also know humans are capable of pulling themselves out of everything. I survived rape, and torture, and training that no one should go through. I had my heart broken and it made me stronger. I was all alone and did it. Phillip won't be alone. He will have you. Now, tell me where that file I need to read is."
"It's on Friend. But what are you going to do with it?"
"Friend is just an AI that Phillip keeps on a network of his own creation. I am going over the file and I am putting in a plan for Phillip to execute once you two are somewhere safe. He will need a project, and you both know better than anyone vengeance goes a long way towards keeping your sanity."
"I guess we do. Good luck, Helen."
"Good luck, Gabe."
He started to walk off and I felt tears choking me up. Just my luck to find a possible happy ending and not be able to enjoy it.
"Gabe. Tell him…"
"I will."
I nodded and walked off, not looking back. If I did, I wouldn’t do what had to be done.
Three months later (Phillip)
I opened the rest of the packages. It was the last of the stuff I needed. Helen had left me the information I needed to succeed at this mission on my personal network, but I didn’t have the experience with this type of mission. I had had to spend the last three months getting ready. Taking on smaller, similar jobs until I was sure I could pull this one off.
"That’s the last of what we need."
"You don’t have to do this, Gabe. It's my job. You gather information, I pull the hit."
"I may not have been in love with her, but I cared about Helen too. This is not just your job. Besides you are too arrogant to pull off military. Someone has to get inside to let you in."
"Oh, please boys, I could do this job alone and blinded."
I looked over to see Helen. My security hadn't gone off. She could get through anyone's security. Nothing could keep her out. That, more than anything, had me believing it was really her. She looked different. Tired. Her hair was short and uneven, she looked a little too skinny, and bruises covered what I could see of her.
"Nice to see you. Late as usual for the party."
"I am only ever late to your parties, Gabe."
He snorted and went over, hugging her tight for longer than I would normally be comfortable with.
"Gabe, I am not a ghost, meaning I need to breathe."
He let her go and smiled, punching her lightly on the shoulder.
"Nice to have you back, kiddo."
He left the room, rolling his eyes at me and my stupor.
"Hey, I'm not really too late for the party, am I?"
I ran over, grabbing her tight and squeezing her to me. She was real. She was really here.
"How?"
"The general had a special escape pod."
"He didn’t survive; I followed the cleaning up of the space wreckage."
"He didn’t use it. I did. I couldn’t let you do this alone. You are great at hits Phillip, but you have the subtly of a bomb."
That was true, but for her I would have done this. Even if I died in the process. Gabe hadn't expected either of us to live. He had made contingencies for our stuff and to keep our sister’s grave up. He was likely calling people, canceling plans as we spoke.
"I am so glad you are alive."
She laughed, kissed me, and then smiled up at me.
"Shockingly, me too. We just have a few things left to take care of, and then I want my vacation."
I laughed and hugged her tight. I was never letting her go again.
Epilogue (Helen)
He stood in the near dark, gazing out at the stars. The mark. The one I had to kill so that the world could start to heal. The one Phillip and I had discovered had started the war with the aliens. It was not them that attacked first; it was not Hooker who had decided Earth was expendable. This one man, the Galaxy General, had decided everyone's fate, just so he could stay in charge. I was taking it back. The world would belong to the people now.
"Hello, brother."
"Celeste. I never expected to see you here."
"Sorry to spoil your evening, Galaxy General."
He turned and smiled, pointing a gun at me.
"No trouble at all."
"You think you are good enough to shoot me? Really? Didn’t Hooker give you my file before he died?"
"Before you killed him, yes he did. But you don't know much about me, kiddo."
"I stopped being a kiddo a long time ago, General."
He laughed and cocked the gun at the same time. He loved that gun. It had been in our family back before the colonies. It had been passed down from one man to the next generation of men in my family. He never let it out of his sight. I didn’t wait for him to finish. I threw my hidden knife, laced with poison, into his heart.
He stopped laughing, looked down, and looked at me, shock covering his face.
"I didn’t think you had it in you, kiddo."
"You don’t me; you haven't for a long time."
"Guess not."
He pulled it out and pressed his hand over the bleeding hole.
"That won't help. It’s poison. In a couple of minutes, your body will fail. Enjoy hell. It's where so many innocent people live now because of you. Your hell will be different. You won't have a chance to ruin anymore lives."
"You've done just as many terrible things as I have."
"I never tried to destroy a planet of people, I never started a galactic war, and I never used children as expendable weapons."
"But you will stand by and watch family die."
"You are mistaken. We are not family. Celeste is dead. My name is Helen."
No Life, Only Death Page 29