Relief at the response made me almost giddy. I’d been in space such a short time, and yet I was ready to return to Arturri. To my new home. With Alex… who had a lot of explaining to do. The weight of his responsibilities had been so heavy, ones he’d carried alone or with Nave and Trax. It must have been so hard with that pressure upon his broad shoulders.
I respected him… loved him even more.
A red indicator light flashed. The one for a ballistic missile that appeared on our grid array. “Missile alert,” I said, my eyes fixed to the display.
“It’s not incoming,” Alex said, watching as well.
“Fired from Syrax,” I commented. “It’s not even headed toward Arturri. Or Velerion.”
“It’s moving fast. It’s one of their IPBMs.”
“Oh shit,” I whispered. “I didn’t think those were real.” An IPBM was an interplanetary ballistic missile. It was like an atomic bomb that could travel across space. It was big enough to destroy a planet in one go. The Starfighter Training Academy referenced it, but it wasn’t ever part of battle because there was no battle with one. It was fired and destroyed the enemy with one strike. An entire planet, an entire species, their civilization, gone. The war would be over.
“They’re real. This one’s headed toward grid sixty-seven. That’s… oh fuck.”
I looked to Alex, suddenly panicked. We’d gotten off Syrax without sweat dotting his brow. But now… this couldn’t be good.
“What?”
“It’s headed to Earth.”
“What?” I shouted.
“An IPBM headed to your home world?” Trax asked. “Queen Raya’s revenge.”
“We have to stop it!”
“Another one just fired,” Alex said, pointing.
“Incoming… incoming, Velerion under fire. IPBM in three minutes.” The voice through the comm spoke with haste.
“Can we shoot them out of the sky?” I asked.
Alex shook his head at my statement. “Yes, but we can only go after one.”
“What?” My heart was practically beating out of my chest.
“We only have one missile that can destroy the IPBM. Even if we could fly fast enough, we can’t take out both.”
“We can ram the second one with the Valor,” I insisted. Not that I wanted to go on a suicide run, but we were talking billions of lives here.
Trax sighed behind me. “It’s big, Jamie. This ship would bounce off like a toy ball, and the IPBM wouldn’t even slow down.”
“We have to choose?” How did I choose between Earth and Velerion? “How the hell do I decide which home planet to save?”
Silence filled the ship for a count of two; then the comm exploded with activity.
“Valor, this is the Triton. Just took off from Arturri. We have a lock on the IPBM headed for Velerion. The Lanix is thirty seconds behind and ready as backup. Valor, we’re too far away to be able to reach the one headed for Earth.”
“Copy, Triton,” Alex replied, then looked to me. “We’re not alone. You might be the first Starfighter, but you’re not the only one.”
I nodded. Somehow I’d forgotten that. “Yes, you’re right. Thank God.”
“Get that fucking IPBM,” Nave said. “I want to be matched to a human like you. If your planet is blown up, so are my chances.”
I had to laugh, even though there was a big-ass missile headed for Earth to blow it up.
“Booster in three, two, one.” I didn’t wait a second longer, turned the Valor toward the IPBM and hit the throttle, fast as the Valor could go.