I was a little con artist as a kid, always looking for ways to fool adults and impress the pretty girls with my exploits. It was all harmless fun back then. It got a lot more serious during The War. The Shang. The Chinese. Charles’ family. Even the American military if you look at it the wrong way. Or the right way. I conned them all in the end. I had to. They gave me no choice you see. None of them liked the Cowboys. And the Cowboys were my people. My family. Nobody messes with my family.

Intrigue

Jack woke up alone, the echoes of dreams still fluttering in the back of his mind. Some were not much fun at all. Like the one involving him, Katy, and Olivia running through dark allies. Others were amazing. He particularly liked the fragments of one that involved him, Julie, and Alex not running away from anything. He looked around to see torn sheets, feathers spilled out all over the bed and floor, and even some blood. He looked down and saw the bandages were long gone, strewn all over the floor and bed. It looked a lot more like a running away night than he wanted to think about.

Jack closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. At least part of the dreams had been real. He must have been flailing around a lot to do this much damage. He opened his eyes again to see the broken lamp on the floor. He glanced up to see the empty nightstand it had been on and sighed. The girls were going to kill him.

He heard the uniform begin to hum and looked up to see Betty standing in the middle of the room. She made a show of looking around at the devastation before giving him a broad smile. “Good morning.”

Jack grunted in response. “What’s good about it?”

“You’re alive,” Betty said.

“Good point. That is better than the alternative,” Jack said and rolled off the demolished bed. He eyed his uniform where it lay, a cord running from it to a power outlet in the wall, but Betty cleared her throat.

“The bathroom is over there,” she said with a wrinkled nose. “Might I suggest a shower?”

Jack glanced at her for a moment, and she gave him a meaningful look. He bent his head down and sniffed. Yup, that odor was one hundred percent Jack on the run. He sighed and followed her suggestion. It only took a moment to switch the shower from sonic to water mode, and one more moment for him to realize that hot water hurt when it hit his still healing wounds. He actually let out a yelp of pain on first contact, and spent the rest of the shower scrubbing himself very gingerly.

He stepped out of the shower once that chore was done and examined himself in the mirror. He was noticeably thinner than before, his eyes sunken into his head and his jawbone visible under loose skin like he’d been on a starvation diet for weeks. His wounds were still bright red and puckered, but they were closed enough to keep stray infections from getting into his body. It was sobering to count them up. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been shot that many times. He looked like death warmed over.

“Are you coming or just admiring yourself?” Betty asked from the bedroom.

Jack blinked and shook his head. “Coming,” he answered and left the bathroom to make his way to where his uniform lay. He pulled the cord from the wall and it retracted into the fabric automatically. He picked the uniform up and shook it, nodding in approval at the solid folds of pure white dress uniform. The smart cloth had done its job over night, knitting itself back together and bleaching all the blood and other stuff out. He doubted even his old drill instructor would have seen anything wrong with this. Which of course meant the old man would have just invented something to find.

Jack smiled and started pulling the pants on. Then he swung the shirt around and promptly pulled a muscle. Jack sat down on the bed, his eyes full of tears, and waited for the pain to lessen enough that he could make a coherent thought. His first thought was to wonder who was keening in pain. It sounded like a little kid whining about stubbing his toe. His second thought was the realization that he was the only one in the room.

He silenced himself with supreme effort, gave Betty a wan smile, and pulled the shirt on far more carefully. The cowboy boots were harder. He had to reach down, slip his fingers into the loops, and pull each one onto his feet. That hurt. A lot. He blinked the stars out of his eyes before slipping the jacket on, and then looked around for his cowboy hat. It was on the floor. Far away from the bed. Oh joy. He was not looking forward to bending over to pick that up.

Betty smiled and stepped over to the hat. She looked down at it and Jack felt his uniform’s holoemitters click into higher gear. They began to vibrate and the background sound that was usually just at the edge of hearing intensified. Then Betty bent her knees and swooped down in a single smooth motion to lift the hat off the floor. She straitened back up, walked over to him, and placed the hat on his head with a smile.

“There you go,” she said as the holoemitters dropped back to their normal power output.

“Thanks,” Jack said with far more feeling than he probably should have. It wouldn’t due to admit that he was some helpless invalid. Then he came to his feet in a smooth motion. Usually it would have been to look shiny and debonair. Today he just didn’t want to pull anything. He nodded, took a deep breath, and turned towards the door. “Shall we?”

“Lead the way,” Betty answered with a smile.

Jack pursed his lips. “Actually, do you think you could?” Betty cocked her head to the side in confusion. “I don’t know the way.” His stomach growled and he looked down. And that was when the different kind of pain in the pit of his stomach registered. “I think I know where I need to go though.”

Betty laughed and stepped towards the door. It opened and Jack followed her out into the hall. They stepped into a small cafeteria a minute later and Jack looked around. Olivia sat at a table alone, looking more tired than Jack felt. But her eyes widened in shock and he knew what she was seeing. Death warmed over.

“Ma’am,” Jack said with a nod. “How are you?”

“I’m alive. And that’s Olivia to you,” she finished with a smile.

“You’re looking good,” Jack said in what he hoped was a deft sidestep.

Olivia rolled her eyes. “I look like death warmed over.”

“No, that’s what I look like,” Jack corrected. “You just look a little chilled.”

Olivia snorted and shook her head slowly. “It feels like I should look a lot worse. I mean they only got me a couple times. And my uniform took most of the damage. But I feel like they were hammering on me all night.”

“We’re not really meant to fight in these uniforms,” Jack said as he pulled on his. “They’re just emergency measures in case things go ti…belly up.”

Olivia raised one eyebrow at him before sighing. “I think they saved our lives.”

“I think you’re right.” Jack shrugged.

“Thank you, Jack,” Olivia said with a pointed look.

And that was that. Jack smiled. “My pleasure, Olivia.”

She nodded in approval and then turned as a noise sounded to her left.

A door opened and Katy walked through with a smile. It was a wan smile and he could see the loose skin hanging from a normally much rounder face. Her body was burning every reserve it had to repair her damage too. But at least she was smiling.

Then he frowned as he realized he’d left her behind. But now she was here. Just her though. “Where are the others?”

Betty smiled at the question. “Jasmine and Natalie are in the workshop right now. Their bodies took a lot of damage.” Then she shrugged. “And the girls weren’t nearly as prepared on that front as they thought they were. They’re having to do a lot of scrounging to get bits working again.” She smiled at Jack’s worried look. “But don’t worry. They’re mostly good. Combat effective if we need them. It’s just the fiddly bits they’re trying to get right now.”

Jack cocked his head to the side, wondering what the fiddly bits might be. Then he shook his head. He really didn’t need to know that. As long as the girls were combat effective, that was good enough for him.

“And Ken?”

Betty shrugged. “He’ll be coming along shortly. He’s good.”

Another door opened and they looked to see Julie and Alex walk into the room with large serving plates full of steaming food that made Jack’s mouth water. They placed them on the table and Jack’s eyes devoured the heaps of scrambled eggs, diced ham, cheese, peppers, onions, and other stuff he didn’t know the names of.

“Eat all you want,” Julie and Alex said with a smile and stepped back.

Their stomachs growled at the food and Jack and Katy shared a wry look. “Challenge accepted,” they said in unison and sat down to begin scooping massive spoonfuls of the food onto their plates.

Julie, Alex, and Olivia watched with wide eyes as they began devouring the food at lightning speed. The food exploded into his stomach and Jack felt his body eagerly go to work on the new nutrients. He stopped for a moment to drink down a glass of water and then proceeded to shovel more eggs and meat into his mouth. They finished their first plates at the same time and filled them back up again.

Alex shook her head in amazement. “He told us you’d need a lot of food, but this is ridiculous. How do you afford to eat?”

Katy paused with one spoon in front of her lips and smiled. “Why do you think I joined the Space Force? I let Uncle Sam pay the bills.” Then she returned to eating like she was afraid it would disappear if she didn’t shovel it down fast enough.

Julie, Alex, and Olivia turned their attention to Jack and he paused. “What?” he asked through a mouthful of food. Then he swallowed in response to their upraised eyebrows. “I just make it a policy not to get shot every other day,” he added with a shrug and then shoveled another spoonful of meat and eggs into his mouth.

The girls served themselves after that, but they only ate a small fraction of the heaping pile of food before Jack and Katy finished polishing it off. Jack found himself looking at the plate and wondering if he should lick it off for any stray protein that might still be lingering on it. Then he looked up to see the same idea in Katy’s eyes. And then he felt a gas bubble come up from his stomach and belched. It was long and loud and made him feel much better as he relaxed back in his chair to see three sets of eyes staring at him. Which was when Katy echoed his belch and smiled as she relaxed too.

“That was good,” she whispered and leaned back against her chair. “Got any more where that came from?”

Jack chuckled as the three sets of eyes opened wider.

“She’s joking,” he said with a smile. “We’re actually kinda full right now.”

“Speak for yourself,” Katy groused. “I could eat a cow right now.”

“Mostly full,” Jack corrected and patted his stomach. He could feel it asking for more food already, but they needed to give their bodies time to digest this food first. “Give us an hour though and we’ll be needing another round.”

“An hour?” Julie asked in amazement.

“Maybe half an hour,” Katy said with another look at the empty plates.

“An hour,” Jack said with emphasis. It wasn’t healthy to eat too much food too quick and they’d already pushed that line just in this meal.

She sighed and gave him the point.

Then he turned back to Julie and frowned. Somebody knew exactly what they needed and had made certain the girls were prepared. “Who told you what we’d need?”

“Malcolm,” Julie said quickly.

“He’s the man that helped you last night,” Alex added.

“The man in the suit,” Jack said and nodded in understanding. “Where is he?”

“Wondering when you were going to ask,” another voice said from behind the door Katy had come in from. Then it opened to reveal a tall, thin man with a long, angular jaw. Short, black hair topped his head, and hard, black eyes met Jack’s gaze. He wore a black suit with matching black tie that looked cut from exactly the same pattern as what he’d worn the night before. It might even be the same one, depending on how smart the cloth was. “I’m Malcolm McDonnell, and I’m very pleased to meet you two.” He looked over to Katy and nodded, and then turned to Olivia. “And especially you.”

Ken followed the other man into the room and Jack barely recognized the sagging skin and sunken eyes that looked at him from a face that wasn’t much better than a deaths head. Ken had been hurt more than any of them, and it was going to take time for his body to recover. Jack and Ken exchanged nods of greeting and encouragement. Jack’s said it was good to see him again. Ken’s said that he’d spent enough time with the man to know he was good people.

“You look good,” Jack lied.

“You look like Hell,” Ken returned with a smile.

Jack snorted and turned his attention back to Malcolm. The other man grabbed the open chair next to Olivia and deposited his lanky frame into it as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Jack knew the act well. He’d used it enough times. He leaned back again to study the other man.

“Jack?” Julie said with one raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Alex added.

“What? I’m sure he already knows who I am,” he said and looked to see Malcolm smiling at him.

“Jack.” Julie wasn’t asking this time.

Jack sighed and gave in. “Jack Hart. Cowboy,” He said and reached up to tip the brim of his hat towards the man.

Malcolm nodded in acceptance of the name.

“Jonathan Michael Christensen,” Julie said in a hard voice. “You be nice to the man that saved your life.”

“I am!” Jack protested back at her. “I told him my name! What more do you want me to say?”

“Thank you might be a good start,” Alex supplied.

Jack looked at her for moment and she jerked her head in Malcolm’s direction. Jack sighed and turned back to the other man. “Thank you,” he said.

Julie and Alex sighed as if he was hopeless. Malcolm did not smile. Jack could see the smile pulling at the edge of his lips, but the man kept it down and managed to keep his expression calm. But the twinkle in the man’s eyes was just unable to hide the amusement the man was feeling at Jack’s predicament.

“You’re T&J,” Ken said in a surprised tone.

Julie and Alex nodded back at him. “Our friends call us Julie and Alex,” Julie said. “And who are you?”

“Ken Banno,” Ken said with a smile and a small bow. “Cowboy. At your service.”

Jack placed a hand on Julie’s shoulder. “Julianne Taylor Hansen.” He placed his other hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Alexandra Jennifer Thompson.” And then he smiled. “Otherwise known as T&J.”

Julie aimed a dirty look at him.

“You can call us Julie and Alex,” Alex said and removed his hand from her shoulder.

Ken sat down across from them, glanced at the empty serving platter, and began to shake his head.

“What?” Julie asked.

Ken chuckled. “You’re in love with a Cowboy.”

“Mmmm.” That was Alex. Short and to the point. She didn’t need to say which song that came from. It had topped the charts a year ago.

Ken looked at Jack and sighed. “You’ve been holding out on us.”

“A gentleman does not kiss and tell,” Jack intoned in a grave voice as he shook his head.

“And when did you become a gentleman?” Katy asked.

“When I became an officer, of course,” Jack answered with an innocent smile. “Haven’t you heard that they go together?”

Katy gave him a doubtful look before turning to Malcolm. “I’m Katy Reynolds. Cowboy. Thank you for helping us last night.”

“It was my pleasure,” Malcolm answered her.

“Olivia Wyatt,” Olivia added in a cool tone to the man sitting next to her. “What do you want?”

Malcolm smiled. “Straight to the point. Charles was right.”

“About what?” Olivia asked with a cocked head.

“He said I’d like you.”

Olivia pursed her lips and studied him for several seconds. “And how do you know him?”

“We grew up together. Rather to the disappointment of his father I might add,” Malcolm said in a way that Jack instantly recognized. This was an old time rascal dressed up in a nice suit. “And he told me to look out for you when you arrived. Charles. Not the father. Which was a very good thing, because you seem to have developed some enemies.”

“They will regret that,” Olivia said.

“Of that I have no doubt,” Malcolm answered with a nod. “But in the meantime, we have some strategizing to do.”

“No disrespect,” Jack started with a wave of his hand, “but why should we trust you? You haven’t even given me the secret handshake yet.”

“Jack!” Julie reprimanded.

“There is no secret handshake,” Malcolm returned with a wink. “Though that was a nice try.”

Jack pursed his lips and nodded. The green outline surrounding Malcolm’s body pulsed twice on his contacts to remind Jack that Betty had already vetted Malcolm. Still, one could never be too careful.

“Maybe I didn’t tell Charles about it,” Jack said and held his hand out.

Malcolm looked at the hand and then back up to Jack’s eyes. Then he stuck his hand out and placed it in Jack’s.

Jack squeezed. He wasn’t a knuckle cruncher and never had been. But he’d grown up in farming, fishing, and hunting country, where real men shook hands and meant it. He felt the citified little limp hand in his and forced himself not to grimace. Then the hand stiffened, shifted just a bit, and squeezed back. It wasn’t a knuckle cruncher grip either, but Jack had felt that handshake from city boys who grew up on the wrong side of the airfields. It was a strong handshake, one that dared the other man to squeeze back if he really wanted to try anything.

Jack didn’t. He nodded at Malcolm and released his hold on the man’s hand with a smile. “So. What’s our first order of business?”

Malcolm smiled. “Well, for one I suggest that we go to a little place I know that has amazingly good food before you three gluttons start gnawing on the table legs.”

Jack frowned. “I don’t know. I’m not really up to another fight right now.”

Malcolm laughed. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about another fight right now. Trust me. Every gang on New Earth has heard about yesterday by now. Not a one of them wants to even look at the contract that is out on your heads.”

“And what if they send someone who knows what they’re doing next?” Katy asked.

Malcolm smiled and steepled his fingers together. “Well, in that very unlikely event, I happen to know the…upstanding and completely law abiding businessman who happens to…protect this neighborhood and the restaurant I am thinking of. Nothing happens in his neighborhood that he is not aware of. You will be…quite safe as long as you remain in this area of…expertise.”

“We weren’t very safe last night,” Jack said.

Malcolm shrugged. “The neighborhood you were in was not under his watch last night.”

Jack frowned. “Last night? What about now?”

Malcolm smiled. “There has been some…management turnover in some of the…local business organizations in the last few hours. I can assure you that there will not be a repeat of last night’s performance.”

“I don’t know if a certain family will like that,” Jack said very carefully.

Malcolm chuckled. “An organization that can remain unnamed for now paid a lot of money to kill you all. And they lost a lot more than money when you failed to accommodate their wishes. Trust me. You just did more damage to their influence on Alpha Centauri than anyone has done since the first colonization ship arrived.”

“Well, they did a lot of damage to us too,” Jack said with a wince.

Malcolm shrugged. “Yeah, we’re not going to be admitting that. Can’t let anybody think we Ageless can be taken down by random street hoods, can we?”

“They had automatic rifles and rocket launchers. They were not random street hoods.”

“Oh Jack.” Malcolm affected a wounded expression. “I assure you that there is no mention at all of such heavy weapons used in the police reports. Just like there are no indications that any fictional interstellar conspiracies of ancient and powerful families were trying to take over Alpha Centauri and eliminate their rivals.”

Jack watched Malcolm waggle his eyebrows and then they shared a snort.

“I suppose we wouldn’t want the people to worry would we?”

“Of course not.” Malcolm smiled at everybody in turn. “And that is why all of us are going to make a point of going out there and showing off for the cameras. Myself, a businessman of some repute. You are of course Cowboys, famous for breaking the Chinese and Shang at a hundred worlds.”

“Less than that actually,” Jack corrected.

“Allow me to wax poetic, will you?”

“Of course,” Jack said with a sigh.

“As I said, a hundred worlds. And the hero of Serenity, come to relax after her selfless defense of our sister world.”

“I thought the official story was less flattering,” Jack said.

“Sure, GNN’s got the story they run with.” Malcolm chuckled. “But they don’t have the viewership they once did. FNT thinks it smells like cover up and they got one of their head reporters on the case. I think you might remember her. She used to be a religion correspondent.”

“Faith,” Jack whispered as he remembered their first interview. She’d held back from hitting him with the question her superiors had wanted her to hit him with, and he’d refrained from destroying her goody-goody gumdrops reputation in return. And then GNN had dumped her for not stringing him up like a dead fish on air. “She’s a good girl.”

“That she is,” Malcolm said with a smile. “And she came to bat for you on this. She’s been drumming the Serenity story since the first reports came in. And you should see the tear she’s been on since she found out you were involved in last night’s shoot out. She’s throwing around words like ‘conspiracy,’ and the fact that Cowboys got targeted too…well…let’s just say you are the number one trending news story on New Earth this morning. Everybody wants to talk to you, and no one will dare try to hurt any of you for the foreseeable future for fear of proving the conspiracy.”

“So all we need to do to avoid getting killed is…dodge the first attempt?”

Malcolm gave a harsh laugh. “Pretty much. Life sucks sometimes, huh?”

“Tell me about it.” Jack shook his head. “So which story do we go with? Random street hoods or conspiracy?”

Malcolm chuckled and his smile could have melted butter. “Neither. We don’t know. And it would be presumptive of us to say anything before the investigation is completed.”

Jack laughed. “That’s a good one. I like it.”

“It has the advantage of being mostly true,” Malcolm said with a wink.

“Fine,” Jack said and brought a hand up to cover his mouth. The yawn came almost without warning, powerful enough it brought tears to his eyes and felt like it would snap his head off at the jaw bone. And that was when he realized he was starting to slow down again. His body had all the food it needed and now it demanded more healing sleep. “I think I need to take a rain check on that restaurant though. My body just made me another appointment with a bed.”

Malcolm frowned and looked back and forth between the three Cowboys. Then he shrugged and waved towards the bedrooms. “Fine. You’d never fool them right now anyways. But we need to get out and on this before the newsies realize you’ve been down for too long. And you need to make a statement.”

“I know.” Jack let out a long breath and stood up carefully. He really didn’t want to pull another muscle. “This getting shot business is no kind of fun, though.”

“Tell me about it,” Katy chimed in with a groan as she came to her feet as well.

“Can we avoid it in the future please?” Ken asked with a groan.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jack said and they walked back towards the bedrooms. Dressing rooms. Whatever they were. Jack really didn’t care. They had a bed and a bathroom. That was really all he needed. And he needed the bed badly enough that he fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Some conflicts start small and slowly get worse until they boil over. Others simply explode into existence without warning. Some simmer forever and never turn violent. Sometimes you have warnings. Sometimes you don’t. Some people have great experience with conflict and know when the time is right. Others are rank amateurs. I was an amateur. By many measurements I still am, but I learn quickly. I learned a lot during The War. I had many teachers. And I paid for the lessons with blood.

Escalation

Jack and Ken leaned back in their chairs in what seemed like the fiftieth store of the day. The chairs were large and comfortable and a screen showed two teams of men running back and force across the field of battle. A white ball passed between the arms of one of the players and the announcers shouted out a long “goal!” as it slammed into a net. The two Cowboys shared an amused smile. European football was certainly nothing like the real thing. But it was better than watching paint dry. Or shopping.

Jack had to admit that there were some mighty fine actors in the bunch though. They could take a miss as clear as day to Ageless eyes and make it look like an Earth-shattering collision had left them bawling on the ground while holding injured limbs. Those boys belonged in Hollywood. Or wherever they were making films now. Some of them could make millions on that talent, and they were pretty handsome too. At least that is what the cybers said.

The clock displayed fifteen minutes when several packages floated away on the delivery drones that would take them back to the base. Jack and Ken looked up as the girls finally walked over to stand in front of the two men with beaming smiles. Ken and Jack exchanged quick looks before coming to their feet and making their way to the front door of the fine establishment that had been happy to take so much money from visiting servicewomen.

Jack was thinking about how much money they must make off his kind of people as he stepped out onto the sidewalk and scanned for any threats. People walked up and down the sidewalks, but none of them looked like threats. He began to turn when a subconscious shiver ran through his body. Something wasn’t right. He looked at Ken and a confused gaze met his. They both swiveled to Katy who had stopped entirely and was scanning the area, tense as a cat at a dog show. Something was wrong. Jack looked around in hopes he could identify it.

On his right stood a furniture shop main entrance selling high-end leather couches and chairs, while to his left a posh women’s clothing store promised more odds and ends to purchase. Too late Jack realized what his hindbrain was trying to tell him. They were being watched.

“Betty,” was all he had time to say before the missiles shot down the alley towards them. Natalie and Jasmine barely had time to twitch before the missiles streaked into their flanks with eye-blinding force. Explosions sent the two robotic avatars flying through the air and slammed them into the shop windows. The windows had obviously been designed to stop stray vehicles because the two cybers bounced off with bone-breaking force and fell to the ground, limp as puppets with their strings cut.

Jack didn’t waste any time trying to find their attackers. He just turned, grabbed twin handfuls of Olivia’s uniform, and threw her back through the shop doors. Those at least opened for her and let her through.

“We’re being jammed!” Betty shouted in his ear as bullets passed through precisely where Olivia had stood a half second earlier.

“Cut through it!” Jack ordered and ran back into the shop, flinging the door open so hard it nearly came off at the hinges. “We need backup!”

“I’m trying!” Betty shouted back

Jack reached down, grabbed Olivia by the scruff of her uniform neck, and pulled her off the floor as he ran like his life depended on it. The enemy quickly proved that it did. Bullets screamed by his head, but most caught on shelves or exploded expensive vases around him. Katy and Ken thundered after him into the disintegrating china shop and Jack scanned the main counter. The girl that had checked the purchases was hiding behind it and Jack hoped it could protect her. But he had more important concerns.

“Back door!” Jack shouted at the frightened store clerk. She just pointed towards the back and Jack ran as fast as he could, carrying Olivia with one arm while he leaned into his run. The door appeared as he turned around another shattering display and he leaned forward with one shoulder as he put all his weight and strength into making sure that door opened. It resisted him for no more than a split second, and then the bolts tore through the wall and the hinges snapped. The door flew into the alley behind the store and Jack followed, eyes instantly scanning for threats.

They came to a stop in the middle of the narrow alley between two large buildings. To the left stood the furniture shop’s loading dock, and to the right was a dainty door to the fashion store. Nothing looked suspicious.

But Jack’s instincts flared again and he pulled Olivia straight down onto the pavement. He landed on top of her, shielding her with his body as weapons fire erupted. Bullets scythed through the air they’d just vacated.

Katy and Ken moved around them, knives and throwing stars appearing in their hands as they spun for cover. Jack figured that was a good idea and forcibly rolled himself and Olivia behind a convenient dumpster. Bullets stitched through the air and clanged off the heavy metal of the dumpster loud enough to destroy his sensitive hearing.

But Betty had seen the enemy now and the contacts he wore showed him red outlines where they stood. Five of them armed with automatic rifles on full rock and roll. That told him they were dealing with amateurs. Pulling the triggers back and spraying out a steady stream of lead looked good in the movies, but in real life it was a good way to miss with everything until your magazine was empty. Which should happen…right…about…

“Jack!” Betty shouted, a warning light flashed, and Jack turned around to see five more men stepping into the other end of the alley. He jerked his arms once, felt the knives slide down from his sleeves, and grasped them with his fingers. He flicked them once, sent the knives flying through the air, and turned to latch onto Olivia once more.

Her eyes were wide open in surprise, her brain still trying to catch up with the fact that they were under attack. Jack couldn’t give her time to process that though, and he shoved her into the nearest wall barely in time to avoid three streams of bullets that instead bounced off the side of the dumpster. Screaming echoed off the walls of the alley, and then more screams joined them and the streams of bullets jerked up into the air before cutting off entirely. Jack had time to glance to the other side of the alley where Katy gave him a brief nod. And then two more knives dropped into her hands.

Then the last stream of bullets began marching towards Jack and he pulled Olivia back down to the pavement as quickly as he could. He had to keep moving, had to stay ahead of the last gunman’s ability to react, but he was running out of maneuvering room. He dropped down on top of Olivia again as the gunman walked his fire into the alley wall, sending stone chips flying across the alley. Then Jack rolled both himself and Olivia back out into the middle of the alley to give them room to move.

He had barely enough time to glance in the direction they’d been walking three seconds ago. Three of Ken’s opponents were down with throwing stars in their chests and he’d closed the range with the other two already. It looked like they’d gotten some shots in and Jack could see the beginnings of red stains on his dress whites, but Ken had them. The small man struck out with some quick ninja moves and his last two gunmen died before they even knew it. Jack spun his attention around to see Katy’s knives drop the last gunman in that direction, and the last rifle’s last fully automatic salvo sprayed up into the air to the sound of a gurgling scream.

Bullets tinkled off walls, stone chips fell like rain, and the sound of whimpering humans took over. People were hurt. People were dying. Jack blinked. They’d been alone in the alley. So it was gunmen hurt and dying. And Ken, but he wasn’t whimpering. Jack blinked again and realized he hurt too. How bad? He didn’t know. The adrenalin was pumping and he couldn’t feel much, but he knew he was going to start hurting once that stopped. One of Katy’s arms hung limp, her shoulder a mass of blood. So they were all hurt. Then he looked down and saw Olivia’s mouth clenched against pain of her own. He couldn’t tell how injured she was without moving, so he pushed himself up.

Only one arm pushed. He fell back to the pavement as he finally connected the dots. The shoulder hurt a lot and stars filled his eyes. So he hadn’t been fast enough after all.

“Jack!” Betty shouted and his contacts flashed again to show a map of the area. Two larger groups were moving towards the end of the alley. They couldn’t get out that way.

“Status check!” Jack shouted and looked for Jasmine and Natalie. They were nowhere to be seen, probably still lying on the sidewalk. That wasn’t good. He lifted Olivia off the ground and saw her wince in pain. Blood colored her uniform, and based on the holes and tears he didn’t think it was all his.

“Armed and ready,” Ken said as he walked past the dumpster to look at Jack and Katy. Blood poured from at least a dozen wounds and his uniform jacket was nearly torn off. He walked with a limp but carried three rifles and extra magazines bulged out of his pockets. Now that Jack finally got a good clear look at them, he recognized the QBZ-18, standard battle rifle of the People’s Republic of China. Wasn’t that just shiny. Ken tossed one of the rifles towards Katy with a nod.

“Better now,” Katy said and grabbed the rifle with her one good hand. “So what do we do?”

“Run,” Jack said and looked towards a closed door marred by a dent from the door he’d sent flying across the alley. The door in question lay next to it, warped and bullet-ridden. But not penetrated. These were strong doors. Good. He could use that. “Betty, open it.”

“Got it,” Betty answered and he saw the electronic lock go from red to green before the door opened to reveal a stockroom full of shelves.

“Come on!” Jack shouted and pulled Wyatt into the back of the clothing store. Katy and Ken followed, and all four of them stumbled into the public parts of the store. Customers gasped or cried out in shock at the sight of four injured people dripping blood invading their safe and comfortable lives. The door clanged shut behind them and Jack figured that would hold the bad guys for a few seconds at least. They had to move fast though. Jack maneuvered his way through the shocked shoppers and stepped out onto the front sidewalk after only taking a second to scan the street for safety.

They were clear, and he ran across the street with the others on his heels. The map still filled a part of his vision and he could see the other gunmen following them. Jack scowled and ran through the front door of a shoe store. The woman running the counter started to ask how she could help them, and then stopped as their wounds registered. That was when she screamed. Jack ran into the back room and saw the rear exit unlock in front of him. Way to go, Betty.

He stepped out into the alley and froze for a second. A pack of dogs looked at him like he was intruding on their territory, glistening fangs revealed by lips pulled way back. The largest Doberman was nearly the size of a man and Jack really didn’t want to deal with them.

“Sorry, just running from some bad guys,” Jack explained and scanned up and down the alley in desperation. It was still clear except for the dogs. The front door to the shoe shop exploded open and the store employee screamed again. The dogs perked up and growled towards the store. Then a man in a black suit stepped around the corner and took in the sight of the dogs and fleeing Cowboys.

Ken and Katy spun to aim their rifles at the man, but the man just smiled at them. That was all Jack could tell though. The man’s privacy screens were on maximum. No name appeared on Jack’s contacts and even the man’s face looked blurry. But a green outline appeared around the man, declaring him a friendly. That meant Betty and his AI or cyber had just had a conversation and verified each other as good guys. Well wasn’t that just shiny.

The man grunted once and cocked his head down the alley. “One block down. Third door on the left. Go.”

Jack frowned and glanced down at the dogs as they began forming a defensive perimeter around the back door. They had no idea what they were getting into. Even if the men had been amateurs, the plan had been very professional. Missiles backed up by four groups of rifleman to finish the job. If the first two had been any better it would have succeeded. “The bad guys are good.”

“So are we, ” the Doberman growled and flexed his massive neck back and forth like he was getting ready to rip a man’s face off. Maybe several. The other dogs echoed his statement with a mix of yips and yelps that left no doubt about their confidence.

The man in the suit just reached inside his suit and pulled out two pistols with extended magazines. Once again, that was all Jack could see. Even the model of the weapons was concealed by the privacy screen. “Go. Before they catch up.”

“How did you know?” Jack asked.

The man shrugged. “A mutual friend thought you might get into trouble. Told me to keep an eye out for you. Now go.”

“I’ll stay,” Ken said and moved to take a position near the door. Then he shrugged. “You three go on ahead.”

Jack nodded in understanding. Ken wanted to keep an eye on the man in the suit. Jack wrapped an arm around Olivia and began guiding her down the alley with Katy walking on ahead to cover them. Gunfire erupted behind them, dogs snarled their challenges, and men screamed in pain. Jack and Katy kept on walking, eyes scanning for any threats to Captain Wyatt.

“Where are the police?” Olivia asked in a voice colored by labored breathing.

“Good question,” Katy returned, head swiveling back and forth.

“If this is the Hursts, they probably bought off the cops,” Jack said between gritted teeth. It was starting to really hurt when he moved. And when he didn’t.

“That’s fine…for a quick ambush…but this is…spread out now…they should be…coming…” Olivia whispered laboriously and Jack looked over at her in concern. Blood ran down her white uniform, staining it with a metallic-smelling red. She was losing too much of it. They had to get her somewhere safe. Fast.

Katy caught his eye and cocked her head. “She’s got a point. They should be coming.”

Jack nodded in agreement. “They should.”

They reached the end of the block and Katy stuck her rifle around the corner to search for enemies. Jack’s contacts filled with red outlines of armed people and Jack shook his head.

“They’re trying to cut us off.”

“Allow me,” Katy said with a wink and pulled the trigger. A single shot rang out, and then another and another and red outlines fell with each pull. Others dropped behind cover and within two seconds the street looked completely clear. Then Katy nodded towards Jack and Olivia. “Go on ahead, Boss. I’ll keep their heads down. Catch up with you later.”

“Don’t dawdle too long,” Jack returned with a smile and lifted Olivia up again to cross the street at a full run.

“We…can’t leave her…behind,” Olivia protested in a weak voice.

Jack snorted. “She’s safer away from us.”

He felt Olivia tense as everything finally clicked into place in her mind. “Oh. It’s me they want.”

“Right in one,” Jack said and dragged her into the next alley without having to dodge a single bullet. And considered how much he hurt right now, he really didn’t want to try dodging bullets right now. It looked so much better in the movies when they could edit out the mistakes.

“I’m…sorry,” Olivia whispered as he dragged her past the first door.

“Don’t be,” Jack returned and kept a look out for the second door. He had to blink to get something red out of his left eye and clear his contacts. It just turned into a red smear so he shook his head. That hurt. A lot. And then he said something he hoped he would never have to say again in his life. “Besides, it was my idea to go shopping.”

He wasn’t certain, but he thought he felt her giggle at that. And then she whispered, “Ow. Don’t make me do that.”

“Sorry, Ma’am.”

“You know…you could just leave me.”

Jack dragged her past the second door. She wasn’t moving very well. Not that he was a picture of health either. His adrenalin was masking the pain but he knew he was moving slower than normal. A glance behind showed a blood trail a blind man could follow. But gunfire in the background told him the bad guys were still being stopped.

“No offense, Ma’am, but Aneerin asked me to take care of you. And the last thing I want to do is tell that man I walked away when you needed help.”

He came to a stumbling stop as he saw the third door on the left. Jack licked his lips and looked at it for a long moment. It was strong. Better than the others he’d seen. Maybe it would hold. He wondered what was on the other side and then let out a long breath.

“Betty?”

“I don’t know, Jack,” her voice returned from thin air. “Are you sure you trust him?”

“You greenlighted him,” Jack said with a snort. Then the sound of police sirens came to his ears and he frowned.

“The police are coming,” Betty as her form shimmered into existence in front of him.

“They should have been here earlier,” Olivia whispered so quietly that Jack nearly missed it. She was getting weaker.

“She’s right,” Jack said with a meaningful look at Betty. “I don’t think I trust them right now.”

Betty nodded and turned to face the door with a suitably dramatic. She spread her legs wise, extended one hand towards it, and spoke with a commanding voice.

“Open sesame.” Betty loved looking dramatic when she opened doors for him. The lock turned green and the door swung open.

Jack smiled and took one last look down the alley towards where Katy fought to give him time to get away. To run away. Part of him wanted to go back and help her. He hated leaving his people behind in combat. But the best way to protect them was to get off the streets so they could run away. He let out a long breath and dragged Olivia into the building.

The door shut behind them and he slid down to the floor in pained relief.

Olivia groaned next to him as she hit the floor.

“How bad is it?” Jack asked and ran his eyes over her body, looking for the wounds. Her white naval uniform was covered in blood, but there were relatively few actual holes in it.

“Not bad I think,” Olivia whispered in response. “Thanks.”

“Jack, we shouldn’t be here,” Betty interrupted, her holoform flickering into existence in the darkened room to look around.

“What?” Jack snapped back. “The man in the suit said to come here, so I came here. Where else should we be?”

Betty turned to Jack and licked her lips. “Anywhere. You want to be anywhere but here.“

“Are you saying he’s not trustworthy?” Jack asked and slowly pulled himself back up onto to his feet.

“No. He’s good. But you won’t want to fight here.” Betty looked towards the door they’d entered with a wistful look. “We need to go, but we have to wait until it clears up out there.”

Jack looked down at Olivia. “No offense, but I’m not sure how much longer she can move.”

“We can leave her here,” Betty told him. “She’ll be safe here. But if we leave quick enough, we can draw the enemy off her.”

Jack pulled in a long breath and felt the wounds catch in his chest. He’d been shot more times than he wanted to admit. And it hurt more than he wanted to think. But if Betty said they had to go, he would go without question.

“Don’t…be an idiot,” Olivia whispered from the floor. “You’ll just…get yourself killed.”

“I take a lot of killing,” Jack answered with the best debonair smile he could manage at the moment.

“And they have…a lot of bullets,” Olivia returned.

That was when a door opened into the back room from behind and Jack spun to see who it was. But he knew before he finished turning. He knew who it was from the strawberry smell on the air. He knew from the sound of a single word escaping breathless lips.

“Jack?”

Jack froze as his mind finally caught up to Betty. The voice that uttered that one word told him everything he needed to know. He turned towards it and his heart stopped in his chest as he saw the woman standing in a door. Curly blonde hair framed a face he would never forget and bright, intelligent blue eyes met his.

“Julie,” he whispered and licked lips suddenly dry.

“What’s going on?” Julie asked

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be here.”

Julie’s eyes scanned over to where Olivia sat against the wall. “What happened?” she asked and shouldered past Jack.

Jack winced in pain as she hit him and leaned the wall to stay on his feet. It hurt so much it brought tears to his eyes. But he wouldn’t stay here. He wouldn’t risk them. “I need to go,” he said through clenched teeth and turned back to the door they’d stumbled through. Julie was down on her knees, hands opening Olivia’s tunic to see how bad her wounds were. And that was when the other shoe fell.

“Jack!” another voice said, and he let out a long breath. He didn’t turn towards it. It hurt too much to turn, and besides he didn’t have to. He knew that voice as well as Julie’s. He felt Alex step up behind him and her arms wrapped around him. They squeezed and he couldn’t stop a grunt of pain escaping his lips. The arms sprang away. “I’m sorry!” Alex said and he felt himself fall against the wall again. It was getting harder to stand. “You’re hurt!”

“What?” Julie asked and turned away from her inspection of Olivia. Then she saw Jack’s stance and her face fell. “What happened out there?”

“Just a disagreement,” Jack began and paused to take another breath. It hurt so much to breath, but he would not lead the people who had done it to him to this place. These people. “I need to go now.”

“Bullshit!” Julie and Alex said in unison.

“You need help!” Julie added.

“You tell us what happened,” Alex demanded.

Jack didn’t answer. He had to conserve his strength. He had to leave.

“We…were attacked,” Olivia whispered.

“Don’t…tell them,” Jack ordered and Wyatt’s eyes opened wide. Then Jack pushed himself away from the wall and began putting one foot in front of the other in the long trek back to the door. “We’re leaving.”

“Like Hell,” Alex shouted and stepped in front of him. She planted a hand on his chest and pushed so hard the pain took his breath away.

“She’ll die without medical attention,” Julie added from Wyatt’s side.

“And so will you,” Alex said and pushed harder. “Now sit down and stop hurting yourself.”

Jack gritted his teeth against the pain and focused on the one thing he could think of. Julie and Alex. He looked into Alex’s eyes and smiled. “There are bad men out there, and I won’t lead them to you. I’m…leaving.”

He moved his eyes from their protesting faces to Olivia and the starship captain surprised him. She had to be holding onto consciousness through sheer willpower, but she had a lot of that. “You don’t…need to go,” she whispered and Jack shook his head at her.

That was when Alex pushed against him harder and the pain of it forced him to take a step back. “You’ll die out there,” she said without a shadow of doubt.

Jack smiled through the pain. She was so beautiful when she was angry. And if he had anything to do with it, she would stay that way. Whatever the cost. “I can…live with that.”

Alex’s eyes opened wide again as his meaning hit home.

Julie just stared at him for a moment, and then shook her head. “Isn’t he sweet?” she said to Olivia as if bringing the captain into a private joke. “He thinks he’ll make things more dangerous for us if he stays.” She chuckled at that and shook her head. “Like he’s really the source of all danger in the world.”

“Or maybe he just thinks he should protect us,” Alex added and poked him with one finger hard enough to push him against the wall. The pain almost made him feint. “Should we feel insulted by that?”

Jack tried to think of something to say, but the pain hurt too much. And his mind was having trouble keeping up with the way they were talking. The words didn’t make sense. They were singers.

“No.” Olivia’s single word cut through the argument like a knife. It was breathless and ragged, driven out by her seemingly limitless force of will. “Not insulted.” Julie and Alex met her gaze and then smiled.

“Good point,” Julie whispered and Jack wondered what they’d said to each other. He hadn’t heard anything. Had he blacked out? He didn’t know. It was getting harder to stay standing…or whatever he was doing.

“Come on,” Alex said and turned Jack around. He tried to struggle, to break away and make for the door, but Alex’s farm girl muscles held him like a vice. He’d been running on adrenalin for minutes, but that was gone now. His body was betraying him. He never had a chance. She lifted his left arm and wrapped it around her shoulders so she could carry him deeper into the building.

It hurt. It hurt a lot. It hurt so much that his eyes rolled back into his head and Jack lost all consciousness. The only thing he remembered was the smell of peppermint as she dragged him away from the alley.

There are few things as amazing as coming home after too long away from it. Seeing again what you know and love, what you left to protect, can be the most fulfilling thing in all the worlds. But home rarely stays the same while we are away. Sometimes we see it and wonder if what we lost is worth what we won. And sometimes home does not welcome us as much as we hoped it would while we were away.

Homecoming

Jack liked his dreams. He’d had enough of them over the years to almost learn how to control them. He could certainly influence them, and could generally do what he wanted. Though the other people in his dreams didn’t always react the way he wanted them to. He could never figure that one out. If they were dreams, and were in his head, shouldn’t they react the way he wanted them to? But too often the pretty girls just smiled and told him to take a hike. It was bloody unfair.

On the plus side, he usually knew he was dreaming. There was just a feel to his dreams that marked them different from his waking life. He couldn’t define the difference but it was there. He smiled at the amazing redhead. Or was she a blonde? Jack sighed. He was waking up. Life was just so unfair. He tried to hold onto the dream, but it splintered out of his mental grasp as he became conscious of the real world. He’d been so happy too. Jack frowned as he remembered sorrow too. And warning. Had she been a brunette? What had the warning been about? Jack couldn’t remember.

He blinked and his eyes focused on the white naval uniform in front of him. It wrapped around a very nice looking young lady and he stared as his mind began to wake up. Odd facts came to mind. Long red hair spilled over narrow shoulders. Striking grey eyes peered at him. She was far too young for him. But she was a cyber so that was okay.

Those were all fleeting facts that flitted through his mind as his brain crawled its way into full wakefulness. His first true conscious thought was to realize that he’d been staring at her very shapely chest for a long time. Several seconds at least. Way, way too long. He pulled in a deep breath and rotated his eyes up to meet the gaze of the brain of the heavy cruiser Los Angeles.

Gabrielle smiled back at him. “Pleasant dreams?” she asked in a tone of complete innocence.

Jack scanned left and scanned right. He was in the main observation lounge. The chairs looking out over hyperspace were comfortable enough to fall asleep in. He looked out and saw the river of multicolored gravity whipping back and forth in front of the cruiser as it tried to stay on course for the nearest star.

Jack had traveled enough in the last two years to recognize a few systems by sight. He’d heard of spacers who could name every major colonized system by feel. Jack couldn’t, but he’d been in and out of this little run enough times to recognize it in a heart beat. The rapids between Alpha Centauri C and the Alpha Centauri binary system flowed around them, a lightyear of corkscrewing gravitic twists that pulled ships down quicker and quicker the nearer they got.

It took him a second to realize how close they were. “We’re here,” he croaked through a throat that had been asleep for far too long. It came out as an intelligible creak of vocal chords and he coughed and cleared his throat. “We’re here,” he repeated towards Gabrielle’s confused face.

She smiled in understanding and nodded. “We just passed the first buoy. Twelve hours before we expected it.”

Jack blinked. Twelve hours. That wasn’t too bad. They’d crossed two dozen lightyears in just over a week as Einstein’s universe told time, probably. Last night had been four days on board ship, which felt about right. Twelve hours early was pretty good considering they were surfing a rogue gravitic wave swirling through the depths of hyperspace linking the Alpha Centauri trinary star system with the single distant star humanity had named Serenity. Twelve hours off was a bullseye.

The first buoy. Jack frowned as that registered. They were…maybe half an hour out. Probably less. Maybe fifteen minutes depending on how far the buoy had drifted since the system traffic cops launched it. He needed to get into space.

“Guess I should go,” Jack whispered.

“Guess you should,” Gabrielle returned with a smile.

“I don’t want to go.” Jack frowned at the view of hyperspace ahead of them and tried to make sense of his feelings.

“Do you ever?” Gabrielle gave him an amused look.

Jack shrugged. “Sometimes. But is this going to be one of those times?”

Gabrielle shook her head. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

Jack sighed and wondered once again what kind of welcome they were going to receive. It should be a heroes welcome, after the Battle of Serenity. But did Charles’ family truly have enough pull to change that? Jack hoped he was wrong. Jack hoped they didn’t. But the warning knell of his dream still rang and Jack didn’t think he was going to enjoy this day.

“I suppose we should get going and see what we find then,” Jack said and let out a long breath as he unfolded his long and lanky limbs from the chair. He came to his feet in a smooth motion and Gabrielle stepped back.

“May it be better than we fear,” she said with a smile.

“From your lips to God’s ears,” Jack whispered and squeezed past her to make for the hatch.

“And here I thought you didn’t like asking for help from on high?” Gabrielle returned.

Jack stopped at the hatch and pulled in a long breath. Sometimes he almost wished he could believe. But it had been a long time since he had. And he wasn’t about to ask for help from someone he hadn’t prayed to in years. “I don’t,” Jack said with a shake of his head. “But if you have any inroads on that market, Olivia could use all the help she can get.”

“And you think He would listen to me over you?” Gabrielle asked as he stepped out of the observation lounge.

Jack shrugged and strode down the corridor to the nearest lift. “If I were Him, I would every time,” Jack said with a flirtatious wink.

“I’m not sure that’s how it works,” Gabrielle said as the doors opened before him to reveal an empty lift.

Jack stepped in, the doors closed, and he wondered at the situation. He flew through hyperspace in a starship powered by alien technologies, named after angels who served a God who may or may not have created humanity, with a cybernetic mind that most certainly had been created by that humanity. And here they were, calmly discussing the existence of that God like there was nothing better to do.

“I don’t know how it’s supposed to work,” Jack said as the lift shot him down through the center of the starship. His parents had. But they were dead and he lived on. “And honestly, I’m not sure it does.”

“You wouldn’t be the first to ask that question,” Gabrielle said from a speaker in the wall and the lift came to a stop a moment before the doors opened.

“Thanks for the talk, Gabbie,” Jack said and stepped out into the massive hangar bay.

“Anytime,” Gabrielle whispered and the doors shut behind him.

The hangar bay stretched out before him, large enough to play football in. The American game, not the European crap. Well, he supposed one could play it, but why? A single Hellcat fighter, his Avenger, and numerous Marine shuttles filled the bay in all three dimensions. They hung from the overhead, off the bulkheads, and filled the deck as people scurried around them. It was time to fly and he watched them performing last second work to make everything ready.

Jack strode across the deck, maneuvering around a Marine tank, to find the man directing a fair part of the work. He was built short and stocky and looked like a brick would lose a contest of stubbornness with him. A thick beard that would have been decidedly non-regulation had Los Angeles still been flying the American flag above that of Texas covered a dark expression. Jack fervently hoped it was not aimed at him in any way.

“Major Thompson,” he said and saw the man’s expression lighten as his voice registered.

“Major Hart,” Marine Captain Damon Thompson returned with a smile, giving him the same honorary promotion. There could only ever be one captain aboard ship after all. The Navy was real particular about that little ritual. Something about getting confused about who was who in the middle of an emergency. Jack doubted anyone would ever mistake a Marine captain for a Navy captain, but he was willing to take the courtesy promotion. He doubted he’d ever get the promotion for real after all.

Jack turned to the other man and smiled. Hunter Roberts wore old aviator shades and a matching sheepskin jacket. A square jaw and muscular shoulders made him look like a recruiting poster for the navy’s Top Gun program. “Roberts.”

“Hart,” Roberts returned with a nod.

Jack made a show of looking around as Los Angeles’ Marines continued to scramble around them. “Are we ready?”

“We’re the only fighters left on deck,” Roberts reported with a smile.

Thompson added his own smile to the discussion. “All Marines prepared for HALO drop.”

“Doors?” Jack asked into the open air.

“Opening now,” Gabrielle’s voice said and the massive armored hatches covering each flank of the hangar bay began to retract. Hyperspace’s madly roiling colors appeared, stretching as far as the eyes could see out of each side of the starship, and Jack smiled at the sight. It was one of the most beautiful things in all the worlds, and he never tired of watching it. “We are approaching the Red Line,” Gabrielle announced. “Prepare for surface action in ten…”

She continued to count down as the three shared smiles. Thompson grabbed the side of a tank and shouted over the klaxons that accompanied the countdown. “I love watching this!”

“Me too!” Jack shouted back and latched onto a shuttle. Roberts just nodded and echoed his action.

Gabrielle’s countdown reached zero and Jack felt time come to a stop. Hyperspace disappeared and he gazed out on nothing for an eternity that was over faster than he could blink. Then stars appeared in the darkness and an explosion of rainbow light washed out in every direction as the heavy cruiser Los Angeles rose out of hyperspace and arrived in the Alpha Centauri star system. More explosions betrayed the arrival of other starships and escorting fighters, bathing normalspace in more rainbow light.

It was odd, watching this from inside the hangar bay. Jack rarely got a chance to do that. He was usually out there, securing the flanks of the fleet, watching for enemies. But there would be no enemies in Alpha Centauri. The Alliance had seen to that. They’d taught everyone the cost of challenging them here. So he got to watch from the security of a hangar bay and just enjoy the sights while talking to people who’d been born just like him. It was odd, but Jack thought he liked it.

He shook his head and smiled as Los Angeles began to vibrate beneath him. Her main engines were powering up and they would be approaching New Earth soon. And then he had a feeling that Olivia would be playing the part of a Christian facing lions in the Roman Coliseum. Well. Not quite. There’d been no Devil Dogs to protect their flanks in the old days. That thought made Jack snort in wry amusement. Which forced him to explain his amusement to Thompson and Roberts. And they laughed out loud at the absurdity of Devils protecting Christians from Romans.

“Let’s rock and roll,” Jack said into the tail end of the laughter and they exchanged a final nod before turning to their respective craft. Jack strode towards his Avenger with a smile and looked up at it. “You ready, Betty?”

“Always,” her voice said in his ear and he chuckled.

Then he jumped and her gravity generators lifted him up to the opening cockpit. He stepped down off the hull and sat in the pilot’s seat. It only took moments to lock the five-point harness in place around him as the canopy closed and came to life with information-filled displays. The fleet was out there, spreading out to protect the heavy cruisers from any threat. Fighters swarmed around the starships, linked into their combat networks with laser turrets searching for incoming missiles.

Further out he could see that there was no threat for them to fight, but he smiled in approval at just how well the fleet deployed. Of course he would expect nothing less of a force that sailed with Aneerin. That man had a tendency to get into fights that nobody had any business getting into, and those who kept up with him learned the hard way to be cautious and alert at all times. Hollywood’s little fleet had obviously learned their lessons in how to survive Peloran-style warfare. Then he frowned. Given the information they were bringing back about that new Shang weapon, that particular style of warfare might just be ending though. If they couldn’t use hyperspace to dive in and out of battle things were going to seriously change.

Jack shook his head to clear it and sighed. That was a matter for the future. Right now they had to survive their first homecoming dance.

Jack turned to look at the displays showing the Marine landing craft and saw them ready to launch. That was good. He finally turned his attention to where Betty’s twenty-centimeter holoform sat atop the fighter’s main console. She nodded to tell him they were ready too and he let out a long breath.

“Let’s get out of here,” he ordered and she nodded.

“Getting us out of here,” she reported and the Avenger rose off Los Angeles’ deck with a silent smoothness Jack loved. He enjoyed a good loud sports car when he was having fun, but this was business. And the Avenger slipped out of the hangar bay on puffs of maneuvering jets with only the slightest vibration of the gravitic generators reaching his senses.

The black, star-filled sky of Alpha Centauri quickly surrounded him and Los Angeles drifted further away with each passing second. Hollywood floated a few kilometers beyond her and Jack smiled at their identical lines. Those two starships were true sisters and he hoped they would get to fight together in the future.

A display blinked and he saw twelve Marine craft launch out of the bay to take up station off Los Angeles’ starboard bow. Captain Thompson was ready. Good.

“Olivia’s not going to approve,” Betty said in a low voice.

“I’ll be happy to hear that disapproval after she lands in one piece,” Jack returned.

Betty frowned. “You really think she’s in danger here?”

“Aneerin thought so.” Then he shook his head. “And I don’t know. Maybe I really do too.”

Betty cocked her head to the side. “Bad feeling about this?”

“Bad feeling,” he acknowledged and chewed his lip. Then he looked to the display that showed the Pennsylvania Star Fleet squadron. “They haven’t been shadowing us all the way home because they love her.”

“Surely you don’t think they are a physical threat though?” Betty asked.

Jack took a moment to study them and shook his head. He felt no threat from them. But they were connected to the threat. He felt that in the back of his mind like an itch that didn’t want to go away. They weren’t a threat, but they knew somebody who was. Maybe. If he was getting any kind of a handle on whatever roamed around in his subconscious and told him to get out of the way of something that was about to kill him. Jack let out a long breath. “Maybe it’s just a bad dream, but I’ve felt like a shoe was about to drop since I woke up.”

“I see.” Betty frowned and made a show of looking around. “I have warned the fleet of your misgivings.”

Jack brought a hand up to rub his temple. He hadn’t told her how much that meant to him. She never questioned his feelings. She just accepted them, even when he had no evidence of any kind to back them up. That more than anything else, even being right more times than he wanted to be, kept him from thinking he was going insane.

“Bad juju?” a voice said and he turned to see Katy on one of the displays.

“Yeah,” Jack whispered and she nodded in agreement.

“Ditto over here,” Ken said from another display with a slow nod.

Jack frowned. They were all in agreement. He didn’t like that. He really wanted an uneventful homecoming. He looked at New Earth as it grew before him and just didn’t want to go down there. But he didn’t have much choice. Olivia had to go down, so he had to go down. Aneerin had asked him to protect her and he wasn’t about to let the old man down.

“I guess we’re just going to have be ready for anything then,” Jack said in a tone that betrayed his reluctance.

“Yes you will,” another voice said and Jack turned to see Gabrielle’s holoform sitting next to Betty. A display showed a shuttle leaving the bay and Gabrielle pursed his lips. “Take care of my captain,” she ordered.

“I’ll bring her back alive,” Jack promised and then hid a wince. He hated making promises he might not be able to fulfill.

“Thank you,” Los Angeles’ mind said with a smile and faded back out.

Jack saw the shuttle turn and begin approaching New Earth. He gauged the display for a second, nodded and ran his fingers over it. He charted escort paths with three quick flicks of his wrist, nodded towards Betty, and she moved them to cover the shuttle. Katy and Ken accelerated towards the flanks, drones moved into position around them, and within seconds a dedicated point defense network of twenty-one Avenger starfighters surrounded the shuttle. Thompson’s Marine battalion slipped into the formation next to complete the job of making that one boat the best-protected craft in the entire Alpha Centauri star system.

“Commence HALO drop,” Jack ordered. They dove into the atmosphere and Jack saw the heat of reentry consume the formation with long tails of fire. Thirty-four flames in all, they shot down towards Landing City and Jack smiled. It was time. “Engage the fireworks.”

“Engaging fireworks,” Betty acknowledged and every Avenger began spitting flash-bangs and confetti designed to confuse sensors. Heat reactive panels exploded away from the Marine craft and fluttered away in random trajectories. Marine jeeps and bikes ejected next, filling the air around the falling Navy shuttle with more targets, and the Marine craft dove straight down as they spewed more sensor-disrupting debris. Marines bailed out last, their combat armor designed to protect them from the riggers of High Altitude Low Orbit drops. The sky above Landing City filled with fireworks that had to be an amazing sight for the citizenry. They had no idea it was deadly serious.

“Landing in five…four…three,” Betty began to count and Jack saw the craft pull up and slow down. Shuttles and tanks deployed wings to catch New Earth’s thick air and mechs sprouted arms and legs as they approached the ground. The Marines came out of the aerodynamic poses with rifles in their hands and the sensor-thrashing debris of a combat drop fell all around them.

“Two.” The Avengers pulled up, their wings deployed for maximum drag, and Jack felt the gravitic generators vibrating as they fought the full freefall of the largest fighter ever built.

“One.” Jack felt the gee forces pushing him into his seat and relaxed as his old trainers had taught him.

“Now.”

Silence ruled the cockpit and Jack hitched himself back up to look around. All twenty-one Avengers hovered above the tarmac, pointing in seemingly random directions as their turrets spun back and forth looking for targets. Every other Marine craft was on the ground while the landing shuttle hulls transformed before his eyes into something more like miniature fortifications to surround the Navy shuttle. Weapons turrets aimed in every direction, looking for something to kill. The tanks and mechs held the tarmac around the ring of shuttle-forts, while the Marines deployed gravchutes that arrested their fall at the last moment. They stepped lightly onto the tarmac and swung their weapons with practiced ease.

It was as perfect a HALO drop as Jack could remember being a part of.

“Open up,” Jack ordered and hit the release on his five-point harness.

“Opening up,” Betty acknowledged and the canopy raised up to give him his first breath of fresh planetary air in a week. He wrinkled his nose. Alpha Centauri’s smell was a warm, thick, and very acquired taste that Jack had never acquired. And it was hot. Oppressively hot to a man who’d grown up in Northern Minnesota and then spent the last two years on climate-controlled starships. It was thick with moisture like it wanted to rain, but he knew from previous experience that the planet was just teasing him. And when it did get around to raining it would be a real doozy of a storm. Hopefully he could get out before the weather hit.

Well, time to do the whole planetary meet and greet and act like he loved the place. Jack smiled at Betty, pulled himself up onto the Avenger’s hull, and looked down. They floated a few meters above the ground. Good. Jack stepped off the fighter and fell to the ground. Grav generators grabbed him on the way down and he landed as gently as the Marines had. Then New Earth’s heavy gravity made itself known and Jack groaned as the extra kilos weighed him down. He could have gone without that feeling forever.

He grunted, reminded himself that he loved the planet, and turned to see Captain Olivia Wyatt step out of her shuttle with a frown on her face.

She aimed a doubtful look at Jack. “I don’t remember authorizing an assault on a friendly military installation.”

Jack gave her his best disarming smile as he watched more pilots dropping out of their Avengers. “Just some friendly practice, Ma’am.”

She scanned the tarmac with one upraised eyebrow.

Jeeps and bikes accelerated away from her shuttle, some with Marines on them and others in autonomous mode. Tank turrets spun and mechs stomped around with weapons fully deployed and operational. Avengers floated overhead, laser turrets spinning in search of targets. Marines held weapons at the ready, though a quick look from Jack’s eyes verified that their safeties were on. Captain Thompson approached from one angle with his rifle at the ready, while Katy and Ken came with revolvers on their hips. Jasmine and Natalie’s robotic avatars stepped lightly with far heavier rail guns hanging from their shoulders. Jack smiled and turned his gaze back to the subject of all this work.

To any outside observer, American Marines had just conquered Leif Erikson Spacebase’s tarmac without a single shot fired. It was a very unsubtle statement of their stance when it came to one Captain Olivia Wyatt.

“Friendly?” Wyatt asked and gave him a very pointed look.

“Absolutely,” Jack said with his best Cheshire smile.

“Very friendly,” another voice said and they turned to see a man walking through the perimeter of Marines.

Jack’s contacts tagged a name over the man. Rear Admiral Davion Lashley, commander of Leif Erikson Spacebase. So the base rated a rear admiral now. That was good. He brought his hand up to salute the man and suppressed an approving smile as the other Cowboys echoed him. Captain Wyatt held her salute until the admiral returned it and everybody relaxed just a bit.

Lashley gave Wyatt a smile. “Any military maneuver that does not result in weapons fire is by definition a friendly maneuver. Though I would have appreciated more warning.”

Jack affected an innocent look and turned to where Betty’s holoform stood. “I was sure I asked you to inform them the moment we left hyperspace.”

Betty smiled back. “And I did. Leif Erikson Spacebase was fully aware of our plans long before we launched.”

Admiral Lashley frowned at the two and then shook his head. “Freya?”

The base’s cybernetic intelligence flickered into existence next to the man with a smile. “Would you like the report on the planned practice session now or later?” she asked with an innocence that was all but impossible to ignore.

Lashley rubbed his temple and sighed. Then he looked up to Wyatt again. “Do you ever have the feeling that our subordinates think it better to ask forgiveness than permission?”

“They ask forgiveness?” Wyatt returned without pause.

“Good point.” Lashley gave Wyatt a smile and then turned a doubtful look towards Jack. “I understand this is not the first ‘training maneuver’ you have performed at Leif Erikson Spacebase.”

Wyatt turned to Jack with a raised eyebrow. “Something you would like to tell me?”

Jack shrugged as if to say it was nothing important. “Not especially, Ma’am.”

Wyatt gave him “the look” and he sighed.

“The first time I was here this was a sleepy little base housing a single fighter squadron and filled with many empty buildings.” Jack shrugged again. “I would have been shirking my duties if I hadn’t found some use for them,” he finished with an innocent smile.

Wyatt rolled her eyes and sighed. And if she whispered “Marines” under her breath, Jack could at least pretend that he didn’t hear it. Then she opened her mouth to say, “Thank you for meeting us, Admiral Lashley.”

“My pleasure, Captain Wyatt,” Lashley answered with a crisp nod and turned to wave a hand back towards the headquarters building. “If you will follow me please?”

“Of course,” Wyatt answered and began following him back through the ring of Marines.

Jack strode after them without any hesitation and whispered, “I’ve got this,” just loud enough for Betty to pass his message on to the others.

Lashley stopped and turned back to Jack. “I appreciate what you are doing here, captain.”

“Then please appreciate that Aneerin is concerned,” Jack said before the man could continue.

Lashley frowned and looked back at the Marines. “Aneerin is not in my chain of command,” he said very slowly.

“But he is in mine,” Jack returned. “And his instructions to me were very clear.”

Lashley scanned the Marines again before nodding. Then he turned once more and walked all the way to the headquarters building without another interruption. Jack and Wyatt followed the admiral past several rings of local Marine guards without being so much as looked at twice. Jack approved of their security, but felt more naked with each ring they passed. He squashed that paranoia though. They were all one big happy Marine family. Right? They wouldn’t have to shoot themselves out. Probably.

They finally entered Admiral Lashley’s office and the older man sat down behind a desk with a wave of his hand towards the single chair across from him. Jack noticed the pointed suggestion that there should only be one person here and waved Wyatt towards it with a smile. She nodded her thanks and took it as Jack scanned the office walls. Pictures of family and friends filled one entire wall. Young children on stage playing ridiculous vegetables, older children playing Pilgrims and Indians, and two very nice looking young ladies wearing graduation gowns. Another wall proudly displayed awards for everything from being a good litter picker upper to meritorious conduct during the Battle of Fort Wichita. That got Jack’s attention. That’d been a bad one, and this man had been there. Jack turned away from the office walls to examine the man and caught an appraising gaze looking back at him.

“Did you learn what you expected?” the admiral asked.

Jack scanned the walls once more and shrugged to hide the feeling he got from them. This was an ambitious man who had risen to two-star rank in the United States Navy on merit. And he very much valued the political connections that would help him rise to three-star rank. Jack didn’t know what that meant for the man’s future actions, but it helped to get a feel for the man. Still, it wouldn’t do to say that out loud. “I try not to judge a person’s character until I’ve seen them act on it.”

Lashley smiled in approval. “Good man.” Then he turned to Captain Wyatt, steepled his fingers, and got to the business everybody knew he had to get to. “You have made some powerful enemies, Captain Wyatt.”

And that told Jack that he’d been right to worry. He felt the other shoe hovering in the air, ready to drop. This was not going to be the happy go lucky homecoming he’d wanted.