USD: A Day later

Location: Nu Crateris, 92 Pegasi jump point, Tears of Fire

Alex tapped the arm of her seat and bit her lip.

“We will have the support of the ground-based point defenses. The lasers can reach orbit. The platforms the colonists have built also have close range defenses and should be capable of avoiding long range kinetic strikes.”

Thraker shook his head, a grim look on his face.

“Captain, we’ve been over this already. I have every desire to do what is in my power to help the colonists. But I do not see how we could save the colony. Even if the Iron Horse was in as good a shape as your ship, which it isn’t, the tonnage is entirely in their favor.”

Alex shook her head. “We have to do something. We can’t just leave and let them kill everyone.”

Thraker let out an exasperated breath. “Alex. Sometimes there is nothing you can do. I have a responsibility to pick the company’s battles carefully and not get my men killed needlessly. The most likely outcome would be that we all die while achieving nothing.”

Alex felt defeat in her chest gnaw at her. She could not think of a time when she had not been able to convince someone to her point. To fail now when it was most important…

“Captain-Major, please…”

“No. I’m sorry, but I cannot help. The IHMC appreciates your help with repairs. We’ll do our best to repay the favor when we are able, but we will not be going back with you.”

Thraker let out a breath. “I would suggest you discuss your course with the rest of your crew. A decision such as this shouldn’t be made alone, even as small as your ‘crew’ is.”

Alex nodded. She hadn’t talked to Elis about it yet, either.

USD: The Same Day

Location: Nu Crateris, IFRB-Post Packet Boat RT-33, breaking from PF-131

Fallon settled into his station on the bridge of the small packet ship. He had replaced the original crew with his own hand-picked men and a few that had followed him since leaving Ackman Station.

He had gained permission from the Commodore to commandeer the vessel. That had been easy because the man had decided to rely on him to propel his new narrative that would justify the glassing of a planet and cover-up of his own failures. Not that the Commodore was terrible in a strategic sense, but he had filled his roster of commanders perhaps too heavily with those who had more money than talent.

It was one of the major failings of the system, in Fallon’s opinion. Not that there would be a lack of men and women to fill the void. And a future void there would be, Fallon was sure of it.

He had rankled at the continuation of the operation after the task force’s failure to restrain and take the Strogiy and secure the 13 Centauri jump point before the confrontation in 90 Pegasi. That failure should have been the end of it, but the Commodore had been determined to press on and secure a success.

Never throw good money after bad, was the ancient saying. It was just as likely that the Commodore had overreached and thrown more than he could stomach losing.

It was almost certain the Solarians would have a fleet moving to intercept already. Whether they were in 90 Pegasi or Theta Corvi right now, it didn’t matter. They might even be cut off by another Corporate task force themselves, but PF-131 would still have to find a way past them.

And they had known how many ships the task force had, as well as detailed telemetry from the escaped Grazhdanin class.

The only bright point was that he himself was likely to make it out safely now. The packet boat was distinctly prepared for long voyages and quite stealthy when rigged for silent running. The fool of a Captain that had obeyed Walker’s orders should have reversed course and went dark until the conflict passed long enough to let them through.

The package of information he had compiled would likely be enough to keep any of his own failings from the last months from biting him as well. Especially if things were about to play out as he suspected.

The sudden arrival of the mysterious FedTech ship and its captain…

Just one more confirmation that those who played by the rules would be eaten up and spit out by the system.

USD: A few hours later

Location: Nu Crateris, 92 Pegasi jump point, Tears of Fire

Elis watched Alex working with a half dozen repair bots to manually weld the last hull plate needed to restore the outer armor integrity to 100%. The last day Elis hadn’t seen the girl sleep once. Instead, Alex had been bouncing off the bulkheads, running from one project to another.

She had even chased down one of the wrecked destroyers and cut off a half dozen 8kg railguns and somehow welded the turret mounts and all onto the shrike’s outer skin.

Not that a few weapons would make a difference in the battle she had chosen.

Elis had made Alex detail her plan, although it had not changed her mind about the probable outcomes. Elis was mostly in Thraker’s camp of thought, for one difference. Watching Alex working her heart out made Elis think for a moment that the girl might just be capable of pulling it off.

She just didn’t think they’d survive to see the results.

A battlecruiser, five cruisers, four destroyers, seven frigates, and a questionable capital ship was… long odds with only four of the magical smart munition shells.

They’d be pinned against the planet. If things went wrong, they probably would have enough thrust to escape, but then what? When your goal was to protect the life on an already wounded world, running away wasn’t exactly an option.

What struck Elis the most was that Nameless hadn’t even objected. It had just done its best to assist with the analysis—and enabling Alex to take the long shot.

“Nameless, what do you think our odds of saving the planet are?”

[Informative: This unit ascribes a 99.99% certainty that the planet will avoid destruction given current parameters.]

Elis rolled her eyes. “I mean saving the people and, well, the Rexxor.”

[Informative: A higher likelihood of Rexxor is ascribed to the presence of unit H32 in direct contact with a native entity. The likelihood of preventing a local bombardment and destruction of Dedia Prime of humans on the planet is considered low.]

“Then why are you helping her? Enabling her, really. Shouldn’t you be trying to convince Alex to go back to 92 Pegasi?”

[Informative: This unit exists to assist Avatar achieve its goals and plans. It has experienced significant damage and historical data loss and Avatar has been assigned primary authority.]

“Even if doing what Alex wants gets us all killed?”

[Informative: This unit has confirmed Avatar has processed the risks of this course of action and confirmed its comprehension of potential outcomes and their likelihoods.]

Elis stared back out the window to watch Alex and the drones finish up their repairs. The girl happened to look over towards her and raised a hand and gave her a thumbs up. Elis waved back, but her heart wasn’t in it.

Why didn’t she put her foot down and make them leave? Objectively, it was the smart thing to do. H32 would probably survive with the Rexxor. They hadn’t detected them pulling any asteroid out of orbit to smash into the planet. That would have taken time and be much easier to deal with if the Corpo fleet was in a hurry to return to their side of space.

Which, considering their alacrity in heading toward Dedia, they were.

She wanted Alex to succeed. Shouldn’t she find a way to prevent Alex from getting herself killed?

Elis wanted to save the people on Dedia, too. Not because she cared about them, really. Not because of Daniel, either.

No, it was because deep down, the feeling of having failed everyone, of her team having died for nothing, gnawed at her. There had been countless more people die under the remnant navy’s watch. They had retreated when they might have been able to stop the massacre of several planets.

But they had not tried.

They had fled so they could strike at The Entity itself.

Her heart raced as she faced her memories.

The population on Dedia was not even a drop in the sea compared to the ones they had abandoned. But if they could try, she wanted to.

She felt like she was broken inside, somehow.

[Interrogative: Why is Elis unit not attempting to stop Avatar from possible destructive course?]

The sudden question from the NAI surprised her, and she spilled her previous thoughts almost without thinking.

“I think I might be damaged, too.”

[Notice: This unit has detected no damage to Elis unit.]

“Not that kind of damage. The emotional kind that isn’t visible.”

[Informative: This unit lacks proper human-psycho analyzation capabilities. It will, however, attempt to make repairs with the consent of Elis unit when such capabilities become available.]

"Thanks… I think.”

USD: The next day

Location: Nu Crateris, en route Dedia IV, Tears of Fire

Alex watched the relief on the Governor’s face as she agreed to assist the colony.

“I will require full operational command of all the colony’s military assets. If we are going to have a chance of success, we need full coordination and cooperation.”

Brigadier Taverson spoke up. “That is a mistake. If anything, you should be under our command. This is our plane—”

Governor Tyler cut him off. “Shut up.”

The looks shared between the two men could have been setting off sparks in Alex’s opinion, but ultimately, the Brigadier looked away first.

The vid conference remained silent for a few seconds more before the Governor looked back to Alex.

“We will cooperate and place all our ground defenses and orbital platforms under your command, Captain Myers.”

Alex nodded. “Thank you. The Tears is over twelve hours out from the planet, and we will have approximately fourteen hours to prepare. I have already made plans with H32 on what we need to do.”

One of the colony’s military officers that Alex didn’t recognize voiced the question, “H32?”

“The Commander for SR’s ground base defending the Tifara Hive. It is preparing a large number of launch platforms, but if we can use the space elevator, we can speed up the process of…”

Alex paused and leaned back in her seat, the attention of the entire virtual conference squarely on her.

“Let me start from the beginning with my plan. We don’t have much time.”