Wanted to tell him no, that he needed to stay here and stay safe and protect people, my family in particular. But that was what my team was doing—protecting everyone. And I couldn’t ask him to be less or risk less than the rest of us. “Works for me.”
My phone beeped. A text from Tevvik. The beaming situation was solved due to a suggestion from one of the Q’vox scientists who’d been called in. At least in a way. But it was something that could be done quickly. Shared that it needed to be done for thirteen of us, including two androids, and was thankfully told that wouldn’t be an issue. If they could get the core of the devices to work, which wasn’t yet a given. Chose not to share this last part.
“The Faradawn have come through in a pinch, so we can assume that we’ll have beaming capability by the time the weapons are done. So, Colonel Butler, what’s our plan?”
He looked like he was trying not to laugh, which was kind of cool to see—it meant his human side was really still there, because machines didn’t usually have a sense of humor. V.A.R.I.S., for example, was a particularly dry Operating System. Maurer looked amused, too. Go Team Android and Android Repair. We had this.
“After reviewing all of three different races’ military histories,” Butler said, very clearly trying not to laugh, “and regardless of anything else and paramount to every rule, idea, or suggestion, the bottom line is this: Follow the leader who always wins and do what they say regardless of whether or not you feel their plan is correct or will work. So, Kitty, what’s your plan?”
Everyone stared at me. I had nothin’, because without the beaming tech confirmed, any idea of mine wouldn’t work.
A Poof appeared before me. Mous-Mous, Jamie’s Poof. It mewed at me, then coughed something up. A Z’porrah power cube. Picked the cube and Mous-Mous up. “Oh, I like where your head’s at.” Snuggled the Poof and got a mighty purr in return.
Mous-Mous then mewed again, this time angrily. Got the distinct impression that, even though Harlie was the Head Poof, Mous-Mous was one of the Top Poofs in Charge, because twenty other Poofs appeared, Harlie and Poofikins included. And each one of them barfed up a power cube.
My music chose this moment to start up again—Panic! At the Disco’s “Victorious.” I’d heard that on repeat long enough during the endgame of Operation Madhouse to know exactly what Algar meant. This time on the very first try. I could be taught.
Smiled brightly. “Well then, we’re going to do what’s always worked. We’re going with the crazy.”
CHAPTER 95
“I HATE THIS PLAN,” Jeff grumbled. “Seriously, I hate it.”
The strike team was in the helicarrier, with the flyboys at the controls. We’d left Drax on Earth, because we were going to need his ship to save people, in case my plan didn’t work.
So we were all suited up in the excellent battle gear the helicarrier possessed. Maybe we were going to our deaths, but we were going to look totally badass while doing it.
“Stop complaining, Donnie Downer. I’d like morale to be high, spirits up, everyone focused on success sort of thing.”
“Just sharing. And sharing that if these new pieces of tech don’t work, we’re dead before we start.”
Jeff wasn’t wrong to be worried. The Q’vox scientist’s suggestion had been personal beaming tech. It was smaller, faster to create, and had the added advantage of being something the wearer, as well as the main controller in the helicarrier, could utilize. The Q’vox, being big, lumbering beings, used similar on their home planet to go long distances without killing themselves or it taking forever.
The issue had been that the Faradawn’s beaming tech didn’t “divide up,” so to speak, and they’d been trying to figure out how to replicate it in time. The Z’porrah power cubes solved that issue.
Chuckie had had to spend some time explaining how the power cubes worked, since he was the one of us who understood them best. Due to a variety of factors, he’d ended up on the helicarrier with the rest of the team, just in case he had to use one of the spare power cubes to beam over to save someone. He was also running the main beaming control. Thankfully, we were all adaptable and he still had all his brain.
So the rest of us were wearing serious bling, since the power cubes glowed various shades of gold and bright white, and they were encased in the personal beaming contraption that made us all look like we were Flavor Flav wannabes.
No one liked the idea that the only thing allowing us to get to safety was, essentially, a target hanging right in the middle of our chests. But we had no time for better options.
Our guns, on the other hand, we were all jazzed about. They were the typical Drax design of totally badass cool, and they had three settings—devolve, clone, and dust. No one had had time to fiddle with the original design to remove either the cloning or devolving features. That was okay—we’d all just flipped the switch on our guns to dust and called it good.
We’d gotten prepped while the helicarrier rose up out through the Earth’s atmosphere. Now we were all at the main operations area, hanging with Chuckie and the flyboys, watching our world fall away from us. Chuckie and the flyboys were also in battle gear, and the flyboys were wearing the funky helmets that allowed them to use this ship essentially as if they were Vata.
“We have clearance,” Hughes said calmly. “Passengers and crew, brace for escape velocity.”
“Seatbacks and tray tables up,” Jerry said cheerfully.
“You may feel a slight pulling sensation,” Walker added.
Joe and Randy had Lorraine and Claudia standing right by them, and they indicated that their wives should hold onto the restraints keeping the guys in their seats, which the girls did. Quickly.
The command area was circular and there were metal poles around and within it. White took hold of one and indicated the rest of us should follow suit. Jeff grabbed one and me just in time, as Hughes hit the gas or whatever the helicarrier’s equivalent was.
I was too busy trying to get my feet back on the floor to care.
The “slight pulling sensation” was more like being sucked at by the biggest vacuum cleaner in the world and just as pleasant as that sounds. It was over relatively quickly, and none of us were hurt, but that was only because Gower had managed to grab Abigail and Rahmi caught Rhee.
“Really?” I asked once we were all back on our feet and steady again. “That’s your idea of a warning?”
Joe grinned at me. “If we can’t have fun with our jobs, why would we want to do them?”
“Other than that whole saving the galaxy thing,” Randy added.
Walker nodded. “We just enjoy keeping things light and all of you on your toes.”
“We weren’t on our toes,” Abigail pointed out. “In case you missed that.”