***
This time the rumble of the Machaera’s combustion engine gave Jayson no comfort. He didn’t wait for permission to leave, and fired up the jets. The hangar was deserted apart from a small group of students filing into Val’s ship further down the line. His ship seemed to have been forgotten. No one tried to jump on board as he pulled up to the retracting exit where Joshua, Richard and Sarah had just flown the Nyctalopia out from, on their desperate mission.
Can’t think about them now, Jayson scolded himself. These kids are playing out of their league.
Jayson flew up the tunnel to the surface and emerged into a portentous evening sky. Joshua had led his team into the sunset, toward the Confederate base for a first strike. He chose the danger. Jayson leaned forward and peered out the windscreen to the island below. He could make out the figures of students loyal to Casey, hundreds of them, arranging themselves into defensive positions. Some were digging out foxholes, others erecting hasty palisades. Those who were lucky enough to have a jumpsuit were disappearing like ghosts into the foliage, laying in wait to put their skills to the test.
They’re all going to die, just like Matt and Zoe.
Dying for a cause, or dying for their friends, you were no help to anyone dead. Better to live. Even if it meant running away. His reasoning didn’t offer any comfort.
Jayson spun the Machaera around and flew at top speed away from the sun. He flicked the ship’s controls over to autopilot, sat back in the chair and let out a sigh. He closed his eyes, and sleep came in fitful bursts.
The scrape of boot on metal jerked him out of his reverie. He spun around to stare into a young girl’s face. Jess... Jen, no Julie, yes that was it.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked. Her voice trembled.
She’s so young. What the hell was I thinking? ‘I’m going home,’ Jayson said. ‘How long have you been here? I thought I was alone.’
Julie sat in the copilot’s chair. ‘You were dreaming, I didn’t want to disturb you. Where is your home?’ she said, tucking her legs up on the chair.
Jayson let out another long breath. ‘I was born in Korinthos. That’s in Greece.’
‘I know.’
Jayson checked his instruments. ‘I must have slept for a few hours at least. We’re not far off. That huge island is Cyprus.’
‘I know. Tell me about Korinthos.’
Jayson smiled. ‘Well, it had a small Confederate presence for the size of the population. We had an easy, simple life; they didn’t bother us much. I loved it there. We grew our own food, played football with my cousins, or out boating all day,’ he paused. ‘Not like the people in Athens…’ Jayson hesitated and brought himself back on topic.
‘Anyway one day my father was riding his motorbike to the broadcasting station where he’d been assigned work. He hit a soldier who was on patrol. The soldier was fine. Just a few cuts and bruises. But they accused my father of treason and took him to the Athens processing centre. My mother, she bribed a few guards and found out he had passed their tests and was taken to America. A larger facility on the east coast, that was all they knew. Desperate, we took our little yacht over the Atlantic, but were hit by a storm on the crossing, throwing us far off course. It took months to reach shore again. My mother died of dehydration.’ Jayson choked on the memory.
‘After I arrived they threw me into another processing centre,’ he continued. ‘I now know that they were training me to become a Fletcher like them. I showed a talent for aircraft so they let me practise, with supervision. But I think most people who survived became Confederate guards. There were thousands of people in that camp, and that’s the only other one that I know of… are you sure you want to hear all this?’
Julie nodded, staring at Jayson as if she had never met him before.
‘It was gruelling,’ Jayson said. ‘But there was a certain logic to it as well. Every day we trained to shoot, to fly, and to fight. I was well fed and it was the safest I’d felt in years. I was almost enjoying it, until one day there was a riot in the suburbs. They sent us to reinforce their veterans. I watched them slaughter dozens of people. When I couldn’t do it, they turned on me, so I took this ship and fled. Before I escaped I’d heard rumours that my father had been through there as well, but I never found him.’
‘Is it possible he became one of those assassins… Fletcher’s assassins?’ Julie asked.
Jayson just nodded to hide his guilt. He was abandoning the Academy to join these people for a second time. The Academy students would be as good as dead when the Fletchers attack. Why shouldn’t I want to be on the winning side when it happens? ‘Any one of them could be him,’ he said. ‘Unless he is dead. There is no way to be sure.’
‘I’m sorry Jayson,’ Julie said, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘We’ve all- Watch out!’
A plunging fireball streaked past the view. The ship rattled from the wave of heat as it blasted down to the ocean.
‘What the hell?’
Julie pointed up at the sky. Dozens more fiery streaks surged toward them from on high. ‘Hell seems like a fitting word to describe it.’
Jayson grabbed the controls and switched over to manual. He made a sharp left as a fireball grazed the edge of the starboard wing, buffeting the ship. Jayson fought the yoke as the ship tried to spin out of control. An updraft of warm air from a fireball’s impact on the water lifted the ship, and the pressure eased off.
‘What were those things?’ Jayson said, relaxing the tension from his arms. ‘Meteorites?
Julie shook her head. ‘I would have noticed any incoming anomalies. We’ve got access to several orbital telescopes from the ATC building.’
‘You work there?’
‘How do you think you got clearance for your little joyrides these last few months?’
Jayson didn’t know what to say. So Julie hadn’t wanted him, she just loved aircraft. ‘Are you a pilot too?’
Julie gave a sly, embarrassed smile. ‘Oh I’m known to dabble.’
‘Great, take over here then will you?’ Jayson hopped up and headed for the cockpit door. ‘Stay on this heading. Watch out for any more meteorites. I don’t want to leave it on automatic, just in case.’ Julie’s eyes widened in awe and happiness as she shifted over to the pilot’s chair.
‘I’m going to the head,’ Jayson said. ‘I’m dying for a-’
‘Wait, why are we going to Korinthos?’ Julie spun around. ‘Sure you were born there, but you just said it was a Confederate controlled area.’
Jayson held the doorframe as he let his forehead fall onto it. He closed his eyes. ‘I’m going to rejoin the Fletchers,’ he said.
‘You son of a bitch,’ Julie breathed. She let the yoke go and hit him over the eye. The ship nose-dived along with Jayson’s last shred of morality. Julie snatched the controls back and pulled up the ship to a safe pitch. She glared over her shoulder at him. ‘Turn this thing around,’ she demanded. ‘Or tell me how to do it at least.’
Jayson turned his back on her and left the cockpit. He rounded the cockpit door and came up short.
In front of him were at least fifty scrawny wide-eyed children. They looked mean. Hardened by training, despite less than a decade of experience in each of them. Most were half his height, and Jayson guessed they ranged from five to twelve years old.
‘Where are you taking us? Manila?’ one of them asked in a high-pitched voice. There was no fear. Jayson felt a sudden surge of respect for them. These were kids he had helped to recruit. They thought they were ready for a fight. Jayson knew otherwise. They needed the help of the senior students, and if what had happened to Matt and Zoe was any guide, they would be killed when they landed in Korinthos. I guess the Fletchers only need pilots, Jayson thought.
‘We passed the Philippines ages ago,’ another child said.
‘How about Australia? It’s safe there.’
‘I heard there’s another of those assassin strongholds in one of Sydney’s southern harbours…’
/>
Jayson put up his hands. ‘Quiet down all of you.’ They did. The children automatically deferred to the adult in the room. Jayson was so surprised that when he opened his mouth to speak nothing came out. He’d never thought of himself as the responsible one. He stood there gasping like a fish until someone in the crowd murmured.
‘Can you get Matt on your next trip?’
‘How... how do you know Matt?’ Jayson said. He couldn’t see where the voice had come from.
‘He’s my brother. He’s always volunteering for things, and never spends any time with me. Will you bring him back?’
Jayson set his jaw in a grimace and made a decision. He yelled to Julie over his shoulder, ‘What’s our location now?’
‘We just passed Mikonos.’
‘So close to home... damn. Okay Julie, turn us around. We’re going to back to defend the Academy.’
The children cheered, but not all of them. The youngest were no more than five or six years old, and they cast their eyes to their friends in fear. There’s not much fight in the little ones, Jayson thought. They need a job.
‘Hey kids, did you know there’s a hologram system in the crew quarters?’ he said. The children squealed in delight and a few of them ran down the passageway. Jayson could see them boot up a map of Chicago and pretend to be one of the senior students on a recruiting mission. Jayson couldn’t help but grin at the sight.
The ship shuddered under his feet. That can’t be good.
Julie’s voice came around the cockpit door, her pitch raised in alarm. ‘Jayson! We’ve got incoming from Athens. They’re bigger than drones-’ The ship buckled under fire, and the children bounced off the walls and each other. Jayson grabbed the doorframe to steady himself.
‘Hull breach in engineering!’ Julie was frantic now. ‘We’ve been boarded!’