All’s fair in love and war. I grew up hearing that. In school. We were talking about girls of course. We had no idea what real war would be like. I learned a new definition of it during The War. War is not fair. War is not a game. And it is our duty to do everything it takes to come back alive so we can keep fighting another day. To use every trick we can think of to kill the enemy. Because they will do the same thing to us. They will always seek to deceive us. It is only proper that we return the courtesy.

Deception

Jack scanned the displays showing his Avenger surrounded by dozens of other spaceships. Ken and Katy held his flanks as they passed up through the stations and forts in the lower orbitals and starfighters waiting for them joined their formation on tongues of blue fusion fire. Three dozen Avengers in all clawed their way into New Earth’s upper orbitals and Jack smiled as Jasmine and Natalie flickered into being around Betty’s small holoform.

“Are you two good?” he asked.

“Absolutely,” Jasmine answered from atop her grey tank top, gaining a smile from Jack. “Ready to kick some Shang ass to the other side of the galaxy.”

“Yes,” Natalie said in a more reserved tone that matched her floral blouse. “Once more into the breach?”

Jack suppressed a wince at the reminder that she was leaving. But he was happy to fight with her whenever she was willing. He placed a hand over his heart and smiled at her. “It would be my honor.”

Then he turned back to scanning the displays and saw the Shang ships in the distance firing on the Alliance defenses. The outer forts burned while the mobile starships fell back towards New Earth where a steady stream of fighters and smaller warships flew out to reinforce the defense fleet. They were holding formation well, though he could see that the Shang were pressing hard all around them. It was only a matter of time before the superior alien weapons would overwhelm the defenders.

Well, he’d just have to see about denying them that time. Jack turned his gaze towards the Peloran yard with a determined grunt. It was built out of old Shang warships captured in earlier battles around Alpha Centauri, and Jack heartily approved of turning those weapons of war against their masters. He was sure they did good work rebuilding damaged Alliance warships.

Los Angeles and the old carrier hung close to each other just outside the yard, their maneuvering thrusters still spinning them to face the enemy. Jack focused on the carrier and information began to pop up all around it. She was an old Republic-class carrier all right, constructed not long after Contact. She looked like old Pre-Contact rocket ships with a long cylindrical hull surrounded by massive rocket engines. Two larger pods hung off each side and Jack saw the individual hatches designed to flip open to launch the Blackhawk fighters the Republics had been designed to carry. The name Normandy appeared over her and Jack nodded in approval. That was a good name for a warship.

Two longhaired redheads wearing long white angelic dresses flickered onto the console and the name Los Angeles and Normandy floated above them for a moment. Jack nodded in approval. So it really had been Oliva’s plan to put Gabrielle in front of both ships. He could think of worse ideas. He’d thought of worse ideas himself actually.

“Hey, Jack,” they said in unison and Jack realized he had a problem.

They were too identical. One cyber. Two ships. Same look. That was going to be awful confusing. He looked at the one flying Normandy.

“Can’t you…like…wear something different?” Jack asked, hoping he wasn’t crossing a line somewhere. “I don’t know…maybe black or something so I can tell you two apart?”

The two Gabrielles looked at each other for a moment, and then Normandy’s version chuckled as her white dress faded out of existence. The replacement made Jack’s eyes open wide in surprise. The black leather jacket wasn’t precisely military. It was far too fashion runway for that, but it had vague military styling. The black pants ran down to a pair of black leather boots that were just as fashion runway military chic as the jacket was. He had to admit the whole outfit looked good on her, so gave her two thumbs up.

She smiled back in response and said, “I like it.”

“It’s shiny,” Jack returned with a waggle of his eyebrows before getting onto business. “So…how’s Normandy?”

Normandy’s Gabrielle shrugged. “She’s been in mothballs for years so she’s got a lot of work to do. She’s still got lots of decks that I wouldn’t want to trust people on. But her engines test out, she’s got real deflection grids, and they even managed to add a gravitic cannon to her nose.” Gabrielle smiled in approval. “I think she can fight.”

“Shiny,” Jack said and turned to the other Gabrielle. “How about you?”

That Gabrielle gave him a more positive smile. “No problems at all. They hadn’t even tried to scrub me from the system yet. It feels good to have people walking my decks again.” Then she frowned. “But I’m a little light on crew. I’m hoping you don’t plan on this being a long fight, Jack.”

“Don’t worry,” Jack answered with a smile. “If this comes off the way it should, it won’t be much of a fight.”

“My favorite kind,” the two Gabrielles said in perfect harmony, and then looked at each other in amusement.

Jack rubbed his temple and hoped to God it wasn’t going to be a long fight. Then he glanced to the displays again to see a large squadron of ships still above them in a higher orbital, barely moving against the background stars. He focused on them and data codes began to appear next to the force.

There were five old Sumner-class frigates and three newer Tuckers. A single old Hamilton-class destroyer had probably been upgraded to be able to fly with the two newer Austins. At his focusing on the older ship, new data codes appeared to tell him that she had been. That deflection grid and gravitic cannon were much stronger than anything a Pre-War Hamilton had ever dreamed of carrying. That was good. They were going to need the firepower. Three Hellcat squadrons and a single squadron of Avengers held formation around the reinforced squadron and the single massive heavy cruiser at the heart of it all.

She was the USS Hollywood, sister ship to Los Angeles, and one very tough ship. He’d not flown off her yet, but she’d faced down those three Shang cruisers over Pacifica the year before. That had been a fun fight. For varying definitions of the term fun.

Holly’s holoform appeared on the console with an actual bounce. “Hi, Jack!”

“Hey, Holly,” Jack answered with a smile. “How you doing?”

“Ready to kick some Shang ass,” she said with a pointed look. “All I need to know is the plan.”

“Patience, young grasshopper,” Jack said with a wink and glanced to the displays showing where the fleets were. The defense fleet was still falling back. And…yes…the Shang were following. They could smell blood in the water.

“Jack?” Holly said with more insistence.

Jack met her gaze and realized she wasn’t going to let him get away without telling her. So he let his breath out and laid it out for her. It was a rough plan. Very rough. But it was audacious enough that the Shang would never expect it. He hoped. When he was done, the cybers looked back and forth between each other for several seconds before nodding in approval.

“We agree,” the three ship cybers said in harmony. “Tell us when and we will execute.”

Jack nodded and turned to examine the displays once more. The defense fleet was taking losses. The escapes pods from several frigates and corvettes accelerated towards New Earth and safety. The Shang weren’t targeting them. Good. That was one worry off Jack’s mind. A couple destroyers vented air through ravaged armor and the cruiser screen reported heavy deflection grid and armor damage.

He examined the command battleship with a careful eye. She was a British ship keeping her nose to the enemy as she fell back towards New Earth while lancing out with much smaller but more numerous gravitic cannons the British used. A name popped up in response to his attention. HMS Thunderer. He remembered her. She was a good ship. A Shang cruiser quivered under her attack, and then Thunderer jerked as he watched, taking the full attention of a missile swarm that managed to sneak through the cruisers and light up at the last second. Jack winced as damage codes bloomed all around her. None were critical, but she couldn’t keep taking that punishment forever. He looked again at the Shang following them deeper inside the Red Line and smiled. They were stepping into the trap nicely. Even if it was a bit hard on the bait. And it was time. He could feel it.

Jack opened his mouth and said, “Now.”

A comm. panel came to life instantly and he glanced on it to see Olivia there. She nodded and he was about to say something when she cut him off. “This is the flag.”

Jack blinked in surprise once more. They’d given her command instead of Hollywood? When Hollywood had a reinforced squadron under her command. That said something important, but Jack didn’t have time to think about it.

“All ships, rig for silent running,” Olivia ordered in a tone of iron.

Jack glanced to his displays as he saw the fleet reacting. Gravitic generators made modern combat possible, but they required fusion reactors with more output than anything Pre-Contact Earth had ever put on any of her starships. And nuclear fusion reactions were just a little bit hot compared to the near absolute zero of space. It made it rather difficult to hide a starship. Fighters were easier to hide because they tended to have large battery or capacitor systems and only spooled up their main reactors for hyperspace travel. Or when they felt like opening up with gravitics. And if a fighter was close enough to do that, she had no excuse to still be hiding. But starships relied on their reactors much more than fighters.

He watched the reactors power down, the gravitic displacement of an entire squadron fade away, and their point defense radars go quiet. The main sensors began to lose lock on every single ship he had and he chuckled. They were making like perfect little holes in space. Only the passive cameras kept the plots accurate, but those would be vulnerable to other kinds of interference.

“Launch countermeasures,” Olivia ordered and the squadron began spewing tiny electronic sensors, jammers, and emitters into space all around them. They lashed the enemy with active sensors, and holographic imitations of their ships appeared around every single one. “And go dark…now.”

The color shifting smart paint of an entire squadron of warships and multiple starfighter squadrons turned as black as the depths of space, and every ship faded out of existence. Only the holograms and sensor buoys remained, making it look to the Shang like the squadron remained in orbit.

“Commence acceleration…now,” Olivia ordered.

Jack gasped as he felt the Avengers engines mash him into the back of his seat. An elephant sat on his chest and he realized that his injuries still hurt. A lot. He closed his eyes hard against the pain as bones and muscles alike screamed. It built to an agony that radiated out to every tip of his being and he clenched his jaw tight to keep from crying. Teeth ground, toes quivered in his boots, and his hands clenched into white-knuckled fists as his universe became an eternity of pain. And then the elephant walked away.

“Acceleration ended,” a voice said.

Jack’s eyes fluttered open and he pulled in a ragged breath. A stabbing pain assaulted his temples and every bone in his body ached. Those he’d broken on Serenity told him they were still unhappy with him, all the bullet wounds from yesterday joined in to give him an extra chorus of pain. This hurt a lot more than he’d planned on. Not that he’d really planned on any pain at all while in the safety of his cockpit. He’d forgotten how nice gravitic compensators were.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jack said. At least he tried to. It came out more as a pained wheeze than an understandable word though. He cleared his throat, pulled in a long breath, and aimed the steadiest gaze he could muster at Betty. “Yeah.”

The cybers aimed doubtful glances at each other.

“Jack?”

The voice came from one of the displays. He looked down to see a pained expression on Katy’s face. “Yeah?”

“Let’s not…do that again,” Katy said and her voice betrayed how much that had just hurt. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” Jack whispered and tried to come up with something witty to say. He failed.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah,” Jack repeated and licked his lips. Then he put them around his flight suit’s straw and sucked in a long draw of nutrients and energy his body needed. Maybe he could trick it into working a little bit longer. He sucked another long draw and hoped it would be enough. It needed to be.

“Are you sure?” Betty asked.

Jack blinked and tried to remember her question. Then he smiled and pulled in another careful breath. The smile was probably closer to a grimace than he wanted, but he’d take what he could get. “Yeah.”

Betty raised an eyebrow at him.

So he’d repeated that word a few too many times lately. He let out his breath and tried to give her a wry smile. He was pretty sure he’d managed it. “Do you think you could…crank up the compensators…when we go live again?”

Betty crossed her arm at his first semi-complete sentence since the acceleration began. “Yeah. I think I can do that.”

“Thanks,” Jack said and began scanning the displays again, his eyes checking their projected course. The entire squadron drifted towards the Shang advance like holes in space while the countermeasures broadcast the fake position of their ships for everybody to see. Jack checked the course and time and smiled. They would make it right on time as long as Thunderer kept sucking the Shang in.

Jack let out a long breath and shut his eyes again. The stabbing pain in his temples diminished but didn’t go away. This was going to be a long day. “I really hate this.”

“Getting hurt?” Betty asked.

“That’s not much fun,” Jack agreed and shook his head. “I just hate how it keeps hurting.”

Betty sighed. ”Most people do. Pain killers?”

Jack grimaced. They would be a relief but he needed a clear head for this. “No.”

“Just lean back and relax then,” Betty ordered.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Jack said with a smile and let out a long breath. He shut his eyes and breathed in. He breathed out and willed the pain to go away. It didn’t really work, but he imagined the pain leaving. He breathed in. He breathed out and imagined the pain going again. Then he opened his eyes just enough to scan the displays through his eyelashes. His temples throbbed again, but not as bad as before. His body still hurt, but he held that pain at a distance and focused on the Shang.

There they were. Further inside the Red Line than before. Deep enough into New Earth’s gravity well that it would take significant time to pull back out. A minute maybe? Two? Could he hit them now? How long would it take them to turn around? He suppressed a shrug that would have said he knew the answer to that question too well. These were Shang ships. They didn’t need to turn to change course. One second they were moving one direction, and the next they would be accelerating along a completely different vector. Bloody alien tech. It just wasn’t fair.

Thought the person flying a fighter full of alien tech. Jack kept himself from laughing. It would hurt too much. Then he looked back to the Shang.

He needed them deeper into the gravity well or they would get away. And then all of this would be for nothing. He relaxed, breathed in once more, and willed the tension and pain away again. The pain didn’t, but the tension did exactly as it was told. Jack watched the plots through his veiled eyes and waited for the Shang to fall into his trap. He checked the space behind him to see the fake ships in orbit still broadcasting their presence for all to see. And the real ships all around him still showed as holes in space that even his Avenger could not have seen more than a few thousand kilometers away.

They were getting closer. Jack knew what that called for. “Cue the music, please.”

Jack shut his eyes as T&J began to sing about love never ending and a traveling soldier. He let his mind follow the intertwining guitar and fiddle, pulled along by the wailing vocals of discordant grief. Jack lost himself in the song until it faded to an end.

Then Jack opened his eyes to scan the displays. The defenders were almost where they needed to be. And the Shang had charged in farther than he’d expected. They had blood in their eye and were closing the range faster than he expected. But his course would still bring them close enough for a good deflection salvo.

“All ships, break and attack in three…two…one…now,” Jack counted down and felt his Avenger’s systems come alive around him. T&J shifted into the drumbeats of war, and he slammed the throttle forward to send them accelerating towards the Shang. Avengers, Hellcats, and Blackhawks accelerated all around him, diving towards the Shang en masse. The warships came to life behind him, destroyers and frigates accelerating with the two heavy cruisers and the single light carrier.

The combined cybernetic intelligences of an entire small fleet went to work and he watched the plot come alive with targeting plans refined by lashing the Shang with full-powered sensor sweeps. A blind man could have felt them coming in his teeth, and the Shang were not blind at all.

They recognized the trap they’d flown into in an instant and reacted the only way they could. They turned from Thunderer and her battlegroup and began accelerating straight towards Jack’s tiny fleet. Betty brought their new path up on the plot and Jack recognized the slingshot maneuver that would spin them out the other side of New Earth’s Red Line long before his force could come around and chase them down. They had exactly one good shot at this.

Thunderer and her ships spun to fire full salvos into the Shang’s flanks. Deflection grids flickered and armor buckled, but the Shang had far too much acceleration for the British battleship to keep them in range for long. Of course that same acceleration was bringing them directly into his best firing range.

“Oh Lord, for what we are about to receive may we be eternally grateful,” Jack whispered and flexed his fingers.

“Amen,” a chorus of voices said from the communications display.

Jack snorted and glanced at the range again. It was almost time to begin kissing the enemy. He blinked as a thought came to mind. He cocked his head to the side as he considered it and then smiled. It might work.

“Cowboys. Do not fire nose cannons, laser turrets, or missiles. Let’s make like B variants and see if we can fake them out.”

“Roger that,” the Cowboys answered

Jack turned to glance at the Hellcats and Blackhawks. The screens expanded to show what they carried and Jack nodded again. “Hellcats and Blackhawks, do not fire gravitic cannons until we close the range.”

The responses were more mixed from the scattered fighters of half-a-dozen warships. But Roberts of Los Angeles broke into the confusion with a solid “I’ve got you. We’ll hold the gravitics until you say.”

The other pilots stopped complaining and Roberts nodded towards Jack from his screen. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Jack chuckled. “Trust me. The Shang are never going to see this coming. Normandy?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the black-clad Gabrielle on his console said in an annoyed tone. “No grav cannon. I got it.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you your chance,” Jack said with a smirk and took another look at the sensors. The Shang were still just a bit out of range, but everybody had full ammunition bays and it wasn’t like this battle was going to last very long at the speeds everybody was going. It wouldn’t hurt to let the Shang think he was a little trigger-happy. “Betty, start shooting our gravitics now.”

Betty frowned at the order. He was mixing things up too much at the last second and she just wasn’t tracking them all.

“Just us! Now” Jack ordered.

Betty went ramrod straight and two gravitic beams shot out from Jack’s fighter and lanced through space towards the oncoming Shang fleet.

“Jasmine.” Jasmine jerked at his voice and Jack nodded. “Now!”

Jasmine blinked in confusion but her ten fighters of his squadron opened fire.

“Avengers! Make it ragged. Fire!” The other Avengers opened up, filling space with gravitic turbulence but never really have a real shot of hitting the Shang at this range. Then a squadron of Hellcats began firing missiles and Jack smiled. It was Roberts. He was catching on to Jack’s plan. “Roberts! Stop firing!”

The Hellcats stopped firing on his command and Jack chuckled. The Shang were probably wondering who the idiot in charge of fighter operations was right about now. Which meant it was time to add to the chaos. “Blackhawks! Missiles! Ragged! Now!”

Jack watched the Blackhawks begin firing one by one. They looked exactly like four dozen different pilots starting to spray and pray as they just couldn’t resist being left out of a good fight. Jack smiled and turned to Roberts. “Make it rain.”

“Roger that,” Roberts acknowledged and the Hellcats began firing one by one until every fighter in the fleet was slinging missiles or gravitic beams at a Shang fleet too far away to hit with any degree of accuracy.

Jack grunted as one gravitic cannon actually managed one on a Shang destroyer, but its deflection grid took the hit with barely a flicker. No fighter’s gravitic cannon could take down a capital grid alone.

The Shang spun some of their point defense to deal with the missiles though, and Jack nodded appreciatively as Thunderer managed to sneak a few last missiles through the weakened defenses facing them. A Shang frigate spewed air and wreckage and fell out of formation as her engines failed. They tried to spin their point defense back, but then Los Angeles and her sisters opened up with missiles and gravitic cannons. They lanced through space, making the fighter weapons look weak by comparison, and a Shang destroyer’s deflection grid failed when a gravitic beam designed to break battleships tore through the entire ship. The destroyer lost power and acceleration and the Shang formation pulled away without remorse for their fallen comrade.

The Shang brought the rest of their point defense around in time to meet the American missiles and they shot down the few with final target lock. But the Shang were closing the range and now all of their missile turrets faced the Americans. Salvo after salvo of coordinated fire headed their way and Jack winced as point defense lasers and missiles engaged each one as it came. An American frigate lurched to the side as a missile tore her flank open. She held formation though as two more missiles exploded against a destroyer’s armored forward wedge. The larger ship shrugged the assault off and continued charging forward with the rest of the fleet. Now a steady stream of missiles and gravitic beams linked the two fleets and Jack knew it would only get more deadly as the range closed.

Jack scanned a map of New Earth’s orbitals, glanced at the Shang’s projected course, and tapped the display with one finger. He considered it for a moment, wondering if that was the right place. Yes, it felt right. That just might be the place. “Right there. We need to synchronize fire and open up with everything right there.”

He turned his gaze towards Gabrielle, the one in white, and willed her to agree with him. Her eyes went out of focus as she talked to her captain, and then she shared a questioning look from her black-clad double and Holly. All three nodded and turned towards Jack.

“Our captains agree,” Gabrielle said with a smile. “Expect orders from the flag at the appropriate time.”

Jack smiled at how quickly they were willing to change their plans, even if just a little. Betty gave him an approving nod. Everyone was finally up to speed on what he wanted and they were on board. Shiny.

But he had to get back to the fight now. Jack flexed his fingers, put them back on the controls, and pulled in a long breath. He let the breath out and pushed his worries away. All that mattered was right now. And right now was safe.

Jack smiled and waited for it to feel unsafe, resting just his fingers on the controls to keep his hands loose. The worst thing he could do was cramp up in the middle of combat because he’d been trying to choke his stick. Then he felt it. Something…bad. He pushed the stick forward and the Avenger dove down towards Los Angeles. He pulled back and the fighter’s nose rose back to the starry sky as a missile passed by overhead in search of whatever might cross its path. But the American counter measures had made it lose its target and it passed on through where Jack had once been and continued on out the other side of the formation without finding another target.

Jack looked forward again in time to see the point defense batteries reach out and fill the sky with the exploding remains of other Shang missiles. Then space cleared and Jack saw the Shang fleet before them. The view was zoomed in of course, and it was a least half-a-second old by the time the light reached him, but it was the closest he’d yet gotten to these particular ships. The largest of them were a half-kilometer across, short flying saucers that spun to keep any single weapon from burning through their armor. Missile and point defense turrets above and below the main disc spun to maintain their target locks of his warships, and he watched them fire again and again without remorse.

An explosion rocked his fighter and Jack blinked. That Shang missile had gotten way too close for his comfort. That wasn’t good. Then Olivia appeared on the comm. panel again.

“All ships, fire for effect in five…” Olivia ordered and every ship stopped firing. Jack felt his missile launchers twitching and the hum of suppressed energy raised the hair on his arms.

“Four…”

Every panel flashed messages about positive target locks generated by cybernetic minds far more accurate than any human trigger finger.

“Three…”

Maneuvering thrusters fired to keep the American warships on target.

“Two…”

His Avenger’s laser turret dropped out of the nose and deployed lasers.

“One…”

The Shang targets hung in the distance like tiny ornaments on a Christmas tree.

“Fire, fire, fire!”

Jack’s fighter shuddered with the launch of both missile packages and all three gravitic cannons opened up. Double the previous number of lasers pulsed out towards the attacking missiles and Jack smiled as they died further out. And then he saw what the rest of the fleet did.

Every missile launcher fired, and hundreds of gravitic beams from every fighter and warship plowed through the scattered chaos of random missiles from previous salvos. They smashed into the Shang and a dozen different deflection grids writhed under the assault. Even Normandy’s single cannon stabbed out and Jack saw a Shang cruiser rock in agony. Then the missiles arrived in a single coordinated wave, and point defenses that had become used to the chaos utterly failed to stop the organized shot. They stopped many of the missiles, but it was nowhere near enough as the missiles swept into the Shang formation and exploded all over it.

Deflection grids collapsed and gravitic cannons tore deflection grids and armor apart like tinfoil. Laser cannons opened up with enough power to melt cities and fires burned deep into the ships, but the spinning Shang discs quickly brought new armor under the impact points as puffs of atmosphere and fire belch into space. Missiles exploded all over the Shang ships and Jack watched them burn.

Then the last Shang missile salvo entered range and Jack almost froze. Another full salvo pulled out of its shadow and he swore as he realized he wasn’t the only one who had planned a trap today. The Shang missiles washed over the American formation and point defense barely stopped half of them. The rest exploded all around Jack as he madly tried to maneuver out of the deathtrap. Multiple Avengers ate missiles around him and exploded, Blackhawks came apart, and Hellcats spun into pieces after taking near hits.

Warships writhed as explosions scorched their armored wedges and tore into their lightly armored flanks. Three frigates just disappeared from the sensor screen, and a destroyer fell out of formation with all four engines torn off and burning atmosphere venting from every side. Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Normandy stayed on target, slinging missiles and gravitic beams back in the face of the Shang even as exploding missiles rained down on their armored noses and flanks.

Engines exploded, jamming and direct strikes shattered their sensors, wreckage blocked line of sight, and one by one the Shang ships pulled away again and disappeared from Jack’s displays.

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.