“You never answered my question. Why are you here? On the Resolution, I mean.”
Jamie looked up at Alex. “We completed our shift on IPBM watch, and we heard through comms about the new Starfighter MCS.”
I took her hand, gave it a squeeze. “It’s good to see you. To meet you. Here. God, this is insane,” I said, my heart pounding. It was exhilarating. I was able to share this with one of my best friends.
“How’s Lily?” she asked. “I’m sure she will win soon and join us.”
“Yes, but she’s worried about you. And now me probably as well.”
“But you said you texted her. What did you say?”
“I told her to beat the game, that Velerion was real, that you were already here, and I was leaving Earth with Kass.” My smile grew. “And I told her Darius was going to come for her.”
“The sooner she finishes, the sooner—”
“We can have another Starfighter Titan team on the ground. We need Titan units to protect our infantry and pound the enemy into dust,” Jennix finished, coming into the room. I turned at her voice. “Just like we need more Starfighter MCS teams and Starfighter Pilots. Welcome to Velerion, Starfighter Becker.”
I was pretty darn sure that wasn’t exactly where Jamie was going with her statement, but we shared a grin. We both knew what happened when a smoking-hot fighter from Velerion showed up on a girl’s doorstep.
Jamie stood. I mimicked her. Kass was at my side, and Alex moved to flank Jamie.
The general glanced between us. “I am pleased that you have had a reunion,” she commented, walked around her desk, and sat. I only sat once the others did, unsure of protocol. “But that’s going to have to wait. I’m sure Starfighter Miller told you about how they intercepted the latest IPBM aimed at Velerion.”
Kass nodded and so did I. We didn’t have details, but I knew enough.
“Starfighters, please catch the others up on what’s happened lately.”
Alex began. “During our escape from Queen Raya’s base on Syrax, the queen deployed a new weapon. We discovered she has IPBMs, interplanetary ballistic missiles, powerful enough to blow up Velerion.”
“Or Earth,” Jamie added. The grim look on her face told me there was more to this story.
Alex continued. “The two IPBM launches that day were destroyed. Since then we’ve had Starfighters in the air around the clock to ensure when the queen uses another, we destroy them before they reach their target.”
“Has she?” I asked.
“Three,” the general added.
We turned to face her. “Starfighters Jamie and Alex will return to Arturri for their standard sleep requirement. In the meantime you two will head to a heavily traveled trading route, in stealth mode. We have multiple reports of Dark Fleet ships moving from outside the system to Xandrax.”
I must have looked confused, because the general clarified.
“The Dark Fleet and its most powerful members are not from our system. Queen Raya’s involvement with them is relatively new, as is their support for her attempt to conquer Velerion. They would love to have this system under their control and Queen Raya is playing a very dangerous game in choosing to deal with them. The IPBM technology was banned by the Galactic Alliance treaties centuries ago and should the Alliance systems decide to get involved, our war could expand to include multiple galaxies and hundreds of star systems. The Galactic Alliance does not want that to happen.”
Wait, what? That wasn’t in the game. “So how did Queen Raya get her hands on the IPSMs?”
“We know she is in league with the Dark Fleet. But as to how the weapons actually arrived in our system and where she is hiding them? That’s what we need to know. The Dark Fleet is quick to send ships and spies, but they do not normally risk war with the Galactic Alliance. We could be dealing with an independent party, or the Dark Fleet could be testing the Alliance’s willingness to go to war over two small planets.”
So, arms dealers in space. Pissing contests. Politics. Posturing. Sheesh. People were people and war was war and there were asshole bad guys in space, too. Hopefully I could do my job right this time and not get anyone else killed. Or an entire planet of anyones.
I was going to vomit on my nice, new boots right here in the general’s office. Damn it.
“You will attach yourselves to one of the Dark Fleet ships and hack into the ship’s comm and data networks to discover the location of the IPBM stockpile and, if possible, the location of their production facility. If we can destroy those locations, we can put the Starfighters back onto regular mission rotations. We’ve been playing defense these past weeks. It’s time to turn the tables.”
Jamie yawned. I was about to crawl out of my skin, and Jamie was drooping, leaning into Alex like it was nap time and he was her favorite pillow. I could relate.
“Dismissed, Starfighters. Excellent work today.”
Jamie stood, then gave me a brilliant smile. I raised my hand for a high five. It was something we were able to do in the game to congratulate each other, and it was the first time we’d been able to do it in real life.