Amber
Taking back Nellis Air Force Base had been a textbook mission, by all accounts, but it was a huge loss for me. We’d lost a few more soldiers than expected, worst of all our fearless leader, because extra Baelese personnel happened to be at the encampment for a punishment. We hadn’t been expecting that. It was good that we’d gotten there when we did, though. Remy’s account of what had been about to happen gave me chills.
There would be no rest that night. At sun up, we immediately took stock of the base and what was left, making sure no straggler aliens remained. Unfortunately, a good portion of the amazing Baelese communications equipment had been in the obnoxious palace they’d built. But Matt and the other tech guys were busy in the older buildings getting us back online to communicate with our people in Alaska, and other allies around the world.
It was strange not to have Top in control. Colonel Latham was good at planning the overall picture, but it felt a little like we were flailing as we tried to prepare the small details. Thankfully, Officer Sean rose to the occasion and had natural, even-keeled leadership qualities. I stuck close to Rylen, not wanting him out of my sight. He hadn’t had to battle anyone in the Nellis takeover, but what was to come was a mystery. We had no idea if the Baelese ships would just be traveling vessels, or if they would have firing capabilities.
“Look at this,” Sean said, leaning over an area map. I wasn’t good at reading maps, but it looked like he was pointing at a place outside of the base lines.
“Area 51,” said Rylen. He squinted and leaned in. “They’ve got it marked as an underground weapons silo.”
“For years they’ve said there’s nothing out there,” Sean said. “That they use it for weapon testing and nothing else.”
Matt crossed his arms. “Well, let’s check it out.”
I was shocked when they let me pile into the vehicle with them. The drive through the dusty desert should have felt peaceful, but we were all edgy. Maybe we always would be, even after whatever was to come was over. No peace for our generation.
We slowed when we got to the middle of nowhere, and noticed the glimmering shine of a manmade surface on the ground, painted the same color as the dirt. A massive square. Was it a landing area?
Matt found a cellar door at the corner and opened it, whispering when he peered in. “Holy shit.”
Sean and Devon followed him down, followed by Rylen and me. We went down about three flights of stairs in the darkness until Matt found light switches. What I saw made me grasp Rylen’s hand hard enough to cut off his circulation.
A spaceship. It was rounded with a domelike top, just like pictures often depicted of UFOs. The whole thing was sleek. It looked light and airy, not heavy like one of our spaceships. I was frozen to the spot and freaked out.
“Just like the one at Dugway,” Rylen murmured. He gently tugged me forward, mesmerized.
“Let’s get inside it,” Sean said.
My fight-or-flight instinct was screaming for me to take flight, as in, run. I didn’t want to be near this creepy thing.
“It’s all right, Pepper,” Rylen said, urging me to come with him. He knew exactly what place to touch on the bottom of the vessel to make a set of steps whoosh down.
“What if aliens are in it?” I hissed.
Everyone took out their guns to appease me. I took mine out, too, and followed them up the stupid steps. When we got inside, it was like something at Epcot center. For a second, I went slack and just stared around.
“How old is this thing?” I whispered.
“Roswell era,” Rylen said.
“Been on Earth eighty to a hundred years,” Sean whispered.
Matt stared at a wall panel of buttons and screens in awe. “Who knows how long it was made before that, and how long it traveled to get here.”
So freaking weird. This ship was practically ancient, and it looked like futuristic technology.
“Okay, this is cool and all,” I said. “But does this thing have weapons? And does anyone know how to work it? Otherwise, I feel like we’re wasting our time.”
“Amber,” Rylen said from what appeared to be the pilot seat. “This thing is their equivalent of a comfort fighter jet. And yes . . .” He looked at me and my heart dropped. “In theory, I know how to fly it.”
In theory.
I crossed my arms and grumbled the entire way back to base. The Baelese mother ships were coming tomorrow and my husband was like a kid with a big, dangerous, unknown toy. It was going to be hard enough with him in a fighter jet with missiles and high powered guns. To think of him on an alien ship that he kinda sorta maybe knew how to operate made me want to vomit.
Remy found me the second we got back, and the two of us walked off together to find something to eat.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
I told her, and the look of dismay on her face told me I wasn’t being crazy in my worry. We sat in a corner of the mess hall with two bowls of canned chicken and rice soup.
“I barely escaped Linette,” Remy said, taking a sip. “It’s so weird. She legit wants to hang with me, and I keep waiting for her to make fun of me. It’s hard to take her friendliness seriously.”
“Who knew,” I said. “That the way to win her over was to kill for her?”
Remy laughed and rolled her eyes. “It was a lucky shot in the dark.”
“Doesn’t matter. And you shouldn’t underestimate yourself.”
She swirled her spoon around in the soup. “I’m glad she’s alive. The friendship thing is just going to take some getting used to.”
As I ate, she kept staring down at her soup, stirring, lost in thought. I wondered what all she’d been through in that camp. She definitely seemed . . . off. Not herself. She told me she’d been a teacher to the alien children, and I knew Remy. I knew her heart always got involved.
I braced myself to ask her. “Do you miss the, uh, Baelese kids?”
She sucked her bottom lip in and set down the spoon, holding her hands in her lap and staring away. My heart ached. I rubbed her back, and Remy flinched.
I dropped my hand. “I’m sorry.”
“No.” Her voice shook. “I’m sorry. We weren’t allowed to touch. Ever.”
“What else happened in there?” Remy wouldn’t look at me. “I won’t tell anyone.”
She looked at me now, and the remorse in her eyes gutted me. “Senator Navis made me his liaison to the humans.”
“Okay,” I said.
Remy looked down again, and realization smacked me with an open hand.
“He liked you, didn’t he?” I shuddered with a gasp. “And you . . .” She hunched, and I couldn’t help myself. I put a hand on her back again, and she let me. “It’s okay, Remy.”
“No, it’s not.” She shook her head. “I’m, like, a traitor. Linette told me to get out of there, so I knew something was about to happen, and I wanted to save him and the kids. I wanted to get them to safety. I tried, and then—” She choked up, bringing her fingertips to her lips.
Remy’s heart had always been big and soft. She saw gray, malleable space where other people saw rigid black and white.
“You’re not a traitor,” I said in a firm voice. “Don’t ever say that again, and don’t think it for a second longer. You’re a good person with a tender heart, and you got to see a side of the enemy that nobody else did.”
Her shoulders remained slumped, jaw quivering, and I knew there was more to the story than she was letting on. Remy usually told me everything, so if she was holding back, it had to be huge. Maybe she’d confide in me someday, but I wouldn’t press her. Instead, I twined my fingers with hers and made her look at me.
“Eat, okay?”
She nodded and picked up her spoon. At that moment, Tater and New York Josh walked into the room. Something electric seemed to stretch across the space as my brother and Remy made eye contact. Tater stopped mid-step to stare at her, making Josh go around him.
For too long there had been games between Remy and Tater. Things left unsaid. I’d come to expect it. So imagine my surprise when Remy stood without looking back and went straight to him, sliding her arms around his neck. His went around her waist and his eyes closed as he pulled her close. And right there in front of everyone, they held each other.