The Grey Serpent, Tundran Space, Standard year 404

  Alanna walked onto the oddly familiar ship, once again wearing her Tundran military uniform. And it wasn’t a joke anymore. People nodded to her as she came on board, Commander Tony Sicaro walking beside her. A few sent silent salutes in her direction. And then came Gregory, ship Captain Tanya Arden’s second in command. And to her shock, he leaned down and hugged her. “I’m sorry.” He said, nothing but sympathy in his eyes. “We’ll do everything we can.”

  Alanna nodded, for the briefest moment overwhelmed by the completely unexpected sympathy and support. “Thanks.” She said quietly.

  “Come on.” Tony said, his eyes serious as he scanned the ship. “The president sent special forces. You need to meet them and we need to prepare. Gregroy…”

  “We’re already on our way.” Gregory interrupted. “From the moment you set foot on the ship. You were the last ones to arrive. We’re going as fast as we can.”

  Tony nodded, his face grim as he walked ahead. “Where are the others?”

  “I’ll take you.” Gregory offered immediately.

  There were six of them, three men and three women, each sitting in that way that special forces had, occupying their space with complete confidence and self assurance. Tony sat that way. Alanna, did not.

  “My name’s Prescott.” One of the group said, looking over at Alanna and Tony. “You want to tell us why we’re all here?” He was a large, dark skinned man with muscular arms as thick as Alanna’s waist. And the look on his face was not at all friendly. Alanna could not, for the life of her, think of anyone who looked less like a Prescott than the hulking man with a very large rifle leaning against a wall by his shoulder.

  “We’re here to rescue James Hawk.” Alanna said, sitting down with the group so that they formed a loose circle. “That’s all I can tell you right now. I’ll try to answer any questions you have but the details of the mission need to stay confidential.” It was a somewhat unusual approach for Alanna, who tended to prefer transparency with her people. But the message her brother sent her did not go unheeded. James was captured in what her bother called the manhunt of the decade. Only James Hawk would have warranted spending those kinds of resources. And the Sarayans should not have known that James Hawk was on the planet at all. Yet clearly, they did. Which meant somewhere, somehow, the Tundrans had a security breach.

  “I have a question.” Prescott said, stretching out as he raised his hand.

  “Yes?” Alanna said. She had a bad feeling about that next question.

  “Can you do a pull-up?” The hulk of a man allegedly named Prescott asked.

  “Um. What?”

  “Can you. Do a pull-up?” Prescott annunciated.

  “No.” Alanna said, looking over at Tony, who winced noticeably just as she turned in his direction. “What?” She asked.

  “It’s a requirement.” Prescott answered her question on Tony’s behalf. “To serve in the Tundran navy, it’s a requirement. In Tundran gravity.” He added pointedly, the dig on Alanna’s Sarayan origins made with the typical subtlety of a special forces marine.

  “Is it?” Alanna asked uncertainly, turning to Tony.

  “Yeah. It technically is.” Tony agreed.

  “Aren’t there different requirements for wo…” Alanan paused, seeing noticeable cringe on Tony’s face and the less than friendly looks the female marines were shooting her way.

  “They’re the same requirements for women.” One of the female marines said.

  “You’re not actually eligible to serve.” Prescott pointed out.

  “Ok well.” Alanna shrugged. “Tough shit. Too late. Like it or not I am serving. I’ll work on the pull ups.”

  “One more question.” Prescott said pointedly. “Who’s the mission commander?”

  “Ah.” Alanna nodded. “Commander Sicaro is.” She said without hesitation, turning to Tony, who looked back at her with his perfectly blank poker face. “My role is… well my role is something else.” She sighed in relief, noting the general air of relaxation around the room. Apparently, none of them were looking forward to the Sarayan weakling with questionable loyalties being the mission commander. Alanna shrugged. That was the least of her problems.

  “That’s good.” Prescott said, looking at her with cold, narrowed eyes. “Because we’re all thinking about what the hell you’re gonna do when the videos come. And if the Sarayans have James Hawk, the videos will come. And it’s gonna be ugly.”

  “I’m Sarayan I…” Alanna paused, as Tony cleared his throat pointedly, right in her ear.

  “Was” she corrected herself. “I was Sarayan. Look my point is, I know about the damn videos. I’ll be fine. I’ll get the job done. And I’ll do my best to get you all home alive. It’s what I do. And I’ll work on the pull ups, all right? Next on my list.”

  “I heard you scored a hundred.” One of the other marines said, seeming to relent slightly. “On the shooting sim.”

  “No one scores a hundred.” Someone else said.

  “I heard she did. That true?”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Yes.” Alanna nodded.

  “Let’s see it.”

  Tony raised an eyebrow at her. Because he knew perfectly well that Alanna scored a hundred by cheating.

  “Fine.” Alanna stood up. “Done deal. Let’s go.”

  “I’ll walk you in.” Tony offered diplomatically as they approached the training room where the shooting simulations took place.

  “Are you going to help her shoot the targets too?” Someone called out as others laughed.

  “Tough crowd.” Alanna said with a shrug.

  “What do you need?” Tony asked as they walked in.

  The room was mostly empty, with three thick posts in a triangular formation. The posts were intended to offer potential cover from the ghostly three dimensional figures of Sarayan troops that would be coming off the walls. In this simulation, the targets shot back. And during the infamous swarm, too many came for any single person to take them all out at once, making it absolutely impossible to score above a ninety nine. The last time Alanna cheated her way to a hundred, she had brought a chair into the training room to climb to the top of one of the three posts and take out her targets from above. This time she had no chair, but she had Tony Sicaro. “I need to get to the top of the center post.” She admitted. The mystery would be gone but she recognized that the special forces marines needed to see her do something useful before she had a chance of gaining their confidence.

  Tony hesitated. “You just had surgery.” He pointed out.

  “I’ll be fine.” Alanna said without hesitation. “They need to see this, Tony. I’ll be fine.”

  Tony grunted in obvious dismay, but he didn’t disagree. He held out his hands, creating a foothold. “I’ll lift.” He said firmly. “Don’t do anything until you’re all the way near the top. And Fiona is on ship if you ever need anything.”

  “Wait, what?” Alanna paused, puzzled.

  “Dr Fiona Wolton came with us.” Tony repeated. “We think… we think advanced medical help may be needed.”

  “Just… just help me get up.” Alanna said, forcing her mind to focus and scrambling up very carefully, until she was balanced on the narrow surface of one of the posts. The space between the top of the post and the ceiling was tight and no one larger than her would have been likely to fit. “I got it.” She said somewhat tensely. “Go.”

  “Ok.” Tony nodded. “Wait for me to come back and help you back down when you’re done. Don’t do it on your own.”

  Alanna waved him away, her mind already focused on the task ahead.

  Walking back out, Tony watched somewhat nervously as the score added up. Getting to the top of the post was clever but it was no guarantee of success. And Alanna was unquestionably rattled by everything that happened that day. A somewhat respectable score of sixty three glowed in large red numbers outside the training room when everyone’s news alerts went off. Tony turned on the hologram function on his wrist comm and silence reigned as they all listened to James Hawk renouncing his loyalty to Tundra, her people, and the Tundran navy.

  ---

  Alanna frowned. The simulation was over and her position on top of the narrow post was getting more uncomfortable by the second. Tony had said he would come the minute it was done. Why wasn’t he coming? And that was when her wrist comm buzzed. With a deep wince, Alanna put up her wrist comm to read the message, reaching up to the ceiling to stabilize herself with her other hand just before she fell.

  Jonno: The video is a complete disaster. But I have a plan to save nepo boy’s worthless ass. That is, assuming he exhibited the absolute bare minimum degree of competence. I’m working on it but Alanna, this Tundran asylum thing better be for real. Because I’m taking the kinds of risks people don’t survive on Saraya. I have a few days left, max.

  “What video?” Alanna said out loud, puzzled.

  “So you heard.” Tony’s voice said from behind her. He helped her down silently, his face grim.

  “Did I get the hundred?” Alanna asked, puzzled by the shifting priorities. The whole damn point of the exercise was for her to get a hundred and win some bonus points with the troops. Who cared about some stupid video?

  “What? Yeah.” Tony nodded. “Yeah you got the hundred. Well done.” He added, his mind clearly on other matters.

  “What’s this video?” Alanna asked, following Tony out of the training room. Walking out, she was met with an eerie, dead silence. “What?” She asked in exasperation before taking a moment to reply to Jonno.

  Alanna: You will have asylum. I’m sure. Help James.

  “James renounced.” Tony said quietly.

  Alanna glanced over at the numbers in front of the training room, which glowed a deeply satisfying one hundred, before turning back to everyone camped out in the hallway. “Renounced what?” She asked in annoyance. She was still stiff from huddling up at the top of the relatively narrow post, and she expected a certain amount of recognition for her efforts, dammit.

  “He renounced Tundra.” Tony said.

  “He renounced us.” Prescott added.

  Alanna frowned. “So? He’s in an interrogation room in Phoenix Penn, what the hell did you all expect?”

  Her statement was met with silence.

  “Those words are everything.” Prescott said. “You of all people, know that. You renounced, and now you’re here. Fighting for the other side.”

  “Yeah. Because I actually meant it. There’s just the slightest possibility that James wasn’t being sincere.” Alanna shook her head. “What is this? What’s happening here? Tony, do I need to do this on my own?”

  “No.” Tony shook his head. “No, of course not. We’re with you.”

  “We’re here to rescue James Hawk.” Prescott echoed Tony’s words with equal certainty. “We are with you. If there’s a way to do it, we won’t leave our own behind. It just… it matters. The words matter. That’s all.”

  This is the stupidest thing I ever heard, Alanna thought privately. Out loud she said “James did what he had to do. And probably not just to protect himself, but to protect others. Because that’s how we” she cleared her throat “that’s how they do it on Saraya. That’s how they get you. He’s not actually renouncing you. He’s James Hawk. No one is more loyal to his people than James. And…” She paused, looking down at her wrist comm. Her smile widened. “And my friend is going to save nepo boy’s ass. Watch.” And then she put the video her brother and best friend in the world sent her. The original, unedited video.

  “Woohoo?” One of the other marines repeated.

  Tony threw back his head and laughed.

  “Woohoo.” One of the female marines clutched her stomach, laughing harder. “That was… that was… oh man. That was an instant classic if ever I heard it.”

  “Wait, wait.” Prescott held up a hand, turning to Alanna. “What did you just call James Hawk?”

  “What?” Alanna asked absentmindedly.

  “Yeah you did.” Tony refocused, the relief from seeing the unedited video leaving him slightly lightheaded. “What did you say? Nepo something?”

  “Oh. I said nepo boy. That’s just something my…”

  “That pretty boy said it, didn’t he?” Tony said, shaking his head. “You’re repeating what he said.”

  “What pretty boy?” Prescott asked.

  “Hey.” Alanna snapped. “Hey. Did anyone see the one hundred?” She pointed her thumb towards the glowing red numbers. “Yeah. I scored the one hundred, and now I’m going to go save nepo boy. And I’ll do the damn pull ups, all right? At some point.”

  “In Tundran gravity.” Prescott reminded her. But his heart wasn’t in it. Prescott Monnihan, one of the best special forces marines in the Tundran navy, was impressed.

  “And now” Alanna crossed her arms “I’m going to go take a nap. Because I have not slept in I don’t remember how long. Tony, wake me if anything.”

  “Listen up people.” Tony said with a broad grin as he watched Alanna walk off. “We have to all come back alive, just to see pretty boy call James Hawk a nepo baby… to his face.”

  “I would pay sooo many credits to see that.” Prescott said with an equally broad grin.