G2M: Chapter 4

Chapter 41

“Everything alright?” asked El, as Myrtha started to go in. 2

“What happened?” asked Logan, coming out with Knox and Rylan. 3

“Nothing it’s fine,” she replied, not wanting to blab in front of the two Lieutenants. 4

“Come on, Monarch’s not tolerant to start with, even if he…” Logan jabbed Knox before he could finish, “I mean, even if he had taken his happy pill.” Myrtha decided not to ask.5

“I got suspended and confined to quarters. That’s all.” 6

“For how long?” asked Logan.7

“He said ‘until further notice.’ “8

“Geez, not that’s harsh,” said Knox looking down the hallway as El and Kat charged away. “But don’t worry, he’ll blow over soon.” Myrtha smiled slightly and nervously, running a hand through her shaggy black hair. 9

“Hey, we’ll see you later,” said Logan, practically dragging Knox away. 10

Rylan started to shiver slightly as the cold water started to drip its last drops from his hair, “I’m sorry,” he said finally as they headed towards the barracks.11

“It’s fine, Knox probably has enough marks on his record.” 12

“You do realize that this means you’ll never fly,” said Rylan, as Myrtha grabbed a towel and rubbed his head furiously. 13

“If he wanted to discharge me, he would have,” she cleared her throat as a screechy sound wriggled into her head as if to say ‘hey you!’ She pushed it back. 14

“But that’s not the point.” 15

“Then what is?” she asked, a little harsher then she had meant to, but to be honest she was more focused on keeping the voice from ripping her apart.16

“Don’t you think it’s scary how easily he can push you around?” 17

[Hey! You should hear this you know!] it screamed. 18

“Okay!” shouted Myrtha, hurling the towel to the ground. 19

“No I’m just saying that…”20

“Not you!” she said impatiently. She held up a finger then focused her thoughts on the voice, “Where are you?” 21

[Briefing room, and boy, have you caused a stir.]22

“Can you relay it or something?” 23

[Are you sure you’re ready?]24

“If I wasn’t ready, you wouldn’t be telling me about it would you?” The voice resigned to her valid point and the room slowly melted away. In its place Myrtha could see the briefing room. Somehow, it was different: slightly fuzzy and more like silhouettes then the outlined people she was used to. However, it was clear that she wasn’t actually in the room because when she walked forward she bumped into a sink. 25

[You’re a little late but I think you’ll still get the point.] 26

“…it’s always the same thing! We’re all in mourning and we’re all sad and we all miss her, but this is not the way to handle it!” Myrtha thought she recognize Kat’s voice as the room started to become more accurate. 27

“That’s not what this is about: she attacked a fellow crewmember!” declared the Captain.28

“Attacked?” asked El, “Lewis it was a harmless prank!” 29

“She incapacitated him didn’t she? Purposefully and with conscious planning!” 30

“That’s like saying a Deck Hand who decided to let a simple repair wait awhile, killed the pilot when the plane malfunctioned.” 31

“Maybe he did,” replied Captain Monarch, refusing to back down. 32

“So you somehow think that all this is going to bring her back?”33

“Maybe not, but it’ll keep her from dying.” Said the Captain defiantly. 34

“Lewis, she’s gone, you have to let her go.” Said Kat. The Captain didn’t hesitate before hurling his fist into Kat’s face. She took a slight step back before shifting her weight forward and propelling her own fist to return the hit. Lewis got knocked across the room, but at least he had the forethought to let his body pass through the chairs and podium before slamming against the hull. The pair would have continued fighting it out, but El shot her wings out to keep them apart. 35

“Stop it, both of you!” she said fiercely. Lewis and Kat settled for just clenching their fists.36

“I’ve seen enough,” said Myrtha, pulling out of the images. “Who were they talking about?” she asked. 37

[How should I know? I just got here. Air filters don’t get to hang around too long…] She could feel the voice receding and fading from her mind until all she heard was the normal chit chat. 38

“Do I want to know?” asked Rylan, standing up and rubbing his head. 39

“Are you alright?” 40

“Remind me never to do that again,” he said. “When you started talking with yourself, you fell backwards. I went to catch you, but when I touched you my head started reeling. Things started to ripple through my head; it was like I was back on the vodka. How are you?”41

“I’m fine.” 42

“You were talking with them?”43

She nodded, “They showed me some things. Did you see it too?” 44

“Bits and pieces, I think.” He replied, massaging his temples. “Did Kat…” 45

Myrtha nodded, “Someone died, a woman, and she’s the one who used to sit at the table with them in the Lounge, but the air filter I was talking to couldn’t tell me anything else.” 46

Rylan raised an eyebrow, “An air filter?” Suddenly an alarm went off both in the ship and in Myrtha’s mind. She put her hands to her ears as an announcement echoed over the loudspeaker.47

“All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill. Repeat: all hands to battle stations. This is no a drill.” 48

Rylan looked up at the speakers and then reluctantly at Myrtha, “I’ll see you later,” he said. Their eyes met for a brief moment before he sprinted off to his station. She started to step out of the barracks, but Captain Monarch stopped her. 49

“You have your orders, Ensign,” he said, before cramming on his helmet and running off. 50

“What’s going on?” she asked the voices in her head. 51

[An attack.] said a wary voice. 52

Myrtha swallowed hard: an actual attack, “But we’ll get them right?” she asked. She felt the ship rumble like grinding machine before there were several pops. 53

[The fighters are away…] they replied, clearly dodging her question. She sat nervously on her bunk, wringing her useless, powerless hands. She felt the ship as it shook and grabbed the bunk to make sure she didn’t fall.54

“What’s going on out there?” she asked loudly. But the voices were too frightened to respond, to focused on surviving to acknowledge her question. “Show me,” she said sternly. Suddenly her thoughts went reeling through the hull, and she surveyed the battle through the ship’s hull. 55

There were several dozen ships from the Godspeed flying around, along with other ships, which Myrtha didn’t recognize. The planes from the Godspeed looked similar to the Pre-Migration jets on Earth except they were silvery white that cut through the dark space like a knife. The other ships, were shaped almost like teardrops: blobs stretched out slightly with a point at the end. She watched as the pilots tried to dodge enemy fire, some succeeded but others were shot down. One of the planes came closer to the hull, but the enemy wouldn’t let the pilot get away and he died in a blast of fire which pushed Myrtha’s mind back to her body. Her eyes were wide ad her hands gripped the edge of the bed. She took a few breaths, letting air rush into her lungs as a smoky smell reached her nose. She swallowed hard, trying to calm herself down. After a few moments, she stood up and marched determinedly to the locker room. It only took a few seconds for her to pull on her flight suit, grab her helmet and then run down to the flight deck. 56

The first thing she saw was Knox, helping Logan hop over to the side. She ran forward and helped him to get out of the way. 57

“Thank you, but shouldn’t you be in the air?” asked Logan, sticking to procedure even as blood slithered down the side of his face. 58

Rylan came up to her, “Myrtha, what are you doing here?” he asked. 59

“I need a plane,” she replied. 60

“But… you’re grounded…” said Logan. 61

“I know, but I have seen what’s going on outside and I am not going to just sit here,” she paused, “If we go down today I’m going down swinging. All I need is for you to point me to a plane that will fly.”62

Logan and Knox exchanged a glance, which Rylan didn’t catch as he pointed to a plane sitting in a distant corner, covered with a drop cloth, “She’ll fly,” he said. “I fixed her myself.” 63

“Thanks,” she said, pulling her helmet on and hiding her face behind the black glass pane which served as a mask. 64

[She looks like a freakin’ Power Ranger.] thought Rylan as she ran off. 65

“Hi. I’m Myrtha,” she said, climbing up on the wing and into the cockpit. 66

[So you’re the Speaker.] replied the plane, [I’m Lucha.] As soon as Myrtha took a look around at the controls she realized there was going to be a slight problem: the controls were completely different. There wasn’t a wheel, or steering column, not even a joystick. But on the sides of the cockpit were small handles. Myrtha placed her arms in the slots provided, and when she yanked them away saw that there were small plates of metal that started on the back of her hand and went up her forearms. Her feet locked into footrests, which reminded Myrtha of ski bindings as they clicked into place.67

“I can’t fly you…” said Myrtha, trying to keep her heart from leaping out of her throat while Lucha strapped her arms in with leather straps and sealed the cockpit.68

[I’ll help. Just Speak and it’ll all be fine. Most of it is pretty instinctual anyhow.] Myrtha didn’t have an opportunity to try and figure it out before she was launched out into the battle. The engines engaged with a push of her feet and the intercom came alive. 69

“Take them down!” shouted another voice, Captain Monarch’s no doubt. Myrtha saw an enemy pilot fly past and she wheeled around to follow him. 70

“How do I shoot?” she asked, once she started to tail the enemy. 71

[The trigger is in the palm of your hand.] Myrtha clenched her fists slightly and a strem of bullets shot the other ship into pieces. [You’re a little far out,] commented Lucha. She spun around, looking for the rest of the Fleet. She saw them a few hundred yards away. At first she was happy to have seen them, and then she realized that the enemy fighters surrounded them. 72

“Oh no you don’t,” said Myrtha, flying as fast as she could. She went above the circle of pilots, sitting in the center and wiggling her fingers, “I hope this works.” She said. Before Lucha could as what was going on, Myrtha tilted downwards and spun crazily around and around while firing a shower of bullets at the enemy. She hit several of them, at least long enough for the Godspeed pilots to break away. She broke away from the formation too, flying upwards before diving back down into the fight.73

[We’ve got one on our tail.] said Lucha. 74

“How far?” 75

[Few hundred feet.] 76

“Perfect.” Myrtha scooped her hands upwards, and pulled the foot bindings closer to her. The ship flipped backwards and as soon as she had a clear shot, Myrtha fired. The opponent went down and Myrtha twisted around so she was right side up again. The next thing she knew, a huge ship appeared in front of her plane. This one was larger then the Godspeed and looked like a starfish. 77

“What is that?!” asked someone over the intercom. Myrtha had to pull hard on the controls to avoid running straight into the ship as a new voice ripped into her head. It screeched and bubbled, sending a myriad of images pounding through like a herd of buffalo. Finally one of them settled down long enough for her to recognize it, and to realize that it was nothing good. 78

Her eyes widened as she screamed into the intercom: “They’ve got nukes on board! Get back to the Godspeed stat!” She flipped her ship over and was surprised when the other pilots followed her example. 79

The C.I.C. consisted of a circle of chairs and computers, each with its own set of data, which surrounded the O.A.S.I.S. screens that were suspended from the ceiling. Commander Carthos was standing over one of the smaller screens, which showed the exact movements of his ships, “Lieutenant why are my planes disengaging?” he demanded as the flurry of battle stations continued. 80

“Godspeed to all fighters, resume engagement. Repeat: reengage,” said the Communications Officer. The pilots received the message about three seconds before an alarm sounded. 81

Another officer turned around in his swivel chair, “Radiological alarm! They’ve got hot nukes on board!”82

“Prep the FTL drives and get my pilots back home!” 83

“Godspeed to all pilots, get back home A.F.A.P.” 84

The planes were already halfway back to the ship when the order came through and the few stragglers who had doubted the warning now turned around too. Myrtha was a bit behind the others, having been farther away from the Godspeed then the others. As she approached the landing pods, she got another thought from Lucha. 85

[Another missile… but it’s not chasing us…] Myrtha ignored her, focusing on trying not to crash during her landing. She screeched halfway across the pod before she finally stopped, facing the way she had come. As the pods started to retract, Myrtha could see the nuclear warheads coming closer and closer: plumes of smoke that were surprisingly white and innocent considering they spelt doom. Her breaths quickened as if she was trying to cram as many in as she could, but instead of blowing up, the ship jumped away to safety. 86