Hailey coughed dust out of her face. She and Caleb had been rushing over to the makeshift command center they had set up. Caleb stood in the wreckage of the city, staring up at the screen demanding their surrender. "I'll go." He said.

It took Hailey a second before she understood. "Hell no."

"We're not arguing about this, I'm going."

"We are arguing about this! You're not going to sacrifice yourself for me. You can go die alone in the wilderness exploring the world but I won't have you sacrifice yourself for me!"

"You can barely walk sis," Caleb said. "And I can't let you push yourself any harder."

Hailey tried to stand and realized her ankle was twisted. She winced as she put pressure on it. Caleb nodded, "See? So I'll go."

Hailey kept trying to stand as her brother walked away. "Dammit, Caleb you can't leave too!" She cried. Tears started to run down her face.

"It won't be forever sis. They can't kill me. So I'll find some way to escape." Caleb waved behind him, forcing himself to walk forward and not look back.

Hailey grabbed a piece of rubble and threw it at Caleb. It smacked into his back and fell to the ground. He still didn't turn. She cried into the dirt.

Gobo appeared at her side, poking her with a finger. She turned to him, glaring as tears fell. "What?"

The goblin backed away, looking between her and Caleb. Understanding crossed Hailey's face. "Go," She said, waving him towards her brother.

Gobo looked between the two again before darting off to follow Caleb. Hailey sat in the dirt and wept some more.

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Caleb walked out of the city, his face set in grim determination. In the distance, he saw the Varnoss. They had set up a small table and some chairs on the plains. The commander was sitting in a chair surrounded by a small honor guard. One of the guards pointed to Caleb and the commander stood to meet him.

Caleb looked around for either John or Athena but couldn't see them. He hoped they were okay, Hailey needed them to get the whole city back on track. He stomped up to the commander.

"Hello," The commander said, sticking out a hand. "I've been told this is the custom used to greet others."

Caleb's fist bumped the offered hand. "Nice to meet ya. Call me Caleb."

"Hello Caleb, I am commander Delarossa of the Varnoss empire. I am here to discuss terms of surrender."

"Alright, I accept."

"Excuse me?"

"Your surrender? I accept."

Delarossa furrowed his brow in a very human gesture. "I think something was lost in translation. You are here to surrender to me."

"Only on Wednesdays," Caleb answered.

"I'm… sorry?"

"You should be, we only talk about terms of surrender on Wednesdays. Ever since the great general Wednesday Surrender defeated Alotta Bupkis at the battle of Nunya."

The commander and his guards stared at the man, unsure if he was telling the truth or not. Caleb was banking that the aliens didn't bother to study history before coming down.

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"I see," Delarossa said, confirming Caleb's thoughts. "Well, then you will be held prisoner until Wednesday arrives at which point we will discuss surrender terms."

"You know what," Caleb said. "Screw tradition. Let's hear what you have to say."

Caleb pulled out one of the chairs and sat down at the table. "Are those scones?" He asked, pointing to a pastry in front of him.

"It is our custom to offer some refreshments at any table," Delarossa answered.

"Sweet," Caleb said as he popped one into his mouth.

The two ate in silence for a while, Caleb scarfing the scones and Delarossa calmly nibbling one. Once there were no more scones on the table Delarossa spoke.

"The terms of your surrender are the same as what the Exaltor offered. We will allow you some autonomy but send a governer to manage the area. You must also swear fealty to the Varnoss empire and be willing to send a detachment of your army to fight our enemies."

Caleb licked the tips of his fingers clean. "Seems like a lot of work to make us accept these oh so favorable terms. What's the catch?"

Delarossa stood. "The 'catch' is that the Varnoss is not the only empire in the Allworld. If we did not find and uplift the new entrees, then others would. And they are not as nice."

"From where I'm sitting you're not much better," Caleb said.

"Trust me, there's much worse in the universe than our petty weaponry," Delarossa said as he paced around. "For instance, the Jora."

"Sounds like a pop-idol band."

"They're a race of savages bent on destroying all other life in the galaxy. The Varnoss have been at war with them since they entered into the universe. We've held them at bay but the toll it takes is immense."

"So you need us to fill numbers."

Delarossa turned to Caleb, trying to read him. He realized he couldn't. "You're the one aren't you?" He said. "The one that broke our lines the first time."

"What's it to ya?" Caleb said.

"I should have known you were in a position of power." Delarossa murmured. "Your strength would be an immense help in fighting back the enemy."

Caleb sat facing the commander, thoughts running through his head. "I don't know about that chief."

"You don't understand," Delarossa continued. "The fights with the Jora are wars of perfect information. At any time we can deduce exactly what the Jora will do and in turn, they do the same. The war has devolved into a stalemate because of our abilities. But I can't read you. And if I can't, neither can they. You're the wild card. The randomness we need to tip the scale in our favor."

The commander ended his small speech by sitting down across from Caleb. The two looked at each other. Caleb saw a military man, one who desperately wanted power. Delarossa saw his ticket to success.

"I have a sister," Caleb finally said. "Now I don't like her much," He lied. "But I don't want to see her get involved in all this more than she has to. So if I go with you leave the others alone. I'll be your wild card, your golden ticket, whatever."

Delarossa pondered for a second, more to give the impression he was thinking. In truth, he already made his decision. Caleb was going to come with him and fight the Jora. "I accept," Delarossa answered.

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June watched as the ships took off, breathing a sigh of relief she didn't know she had in her. The commander on the screen had announced that Caleb had surrendered himself in return for the freedom of the rest of them. They found Hailey crying in the broken command center.

"That idiot," She said, over and over.

"It'll be okay," Alex said, walking up to the woman and hugging her. June didn't agree. John had been found under a pile of rubble, barely hanging on. Athena had lost an arm to a collapsing turret. Not to mention all the others lost in the fight. Mr. Copper was apparently in the engine rooms when the laser hit them.

Hailey was currently the only one healthy enough to run the city. But she was currently crying her eyes out at losing her last family member. It didn't look good. "We can't sit here all day."

Alex shot June a look. "We can't," June continued. "Because if we do then what Caleb did won't matter."

That stopped Hailey's muttering. She looked up at June, eyes puffy. "What do we do then?" She asked.

"Rebuild," Nathan chimed in. "We can get the city running again at least."

Hailey wiped snot onto her sleeve. "Fine. You do it."

June finally saw how young Hailey actually was. Her position as councilmember always made her seem older than her age. In fact, she was barely out of her teens. Younger than June by a bit.

"No one knows the city like you do Hailey," Nathan pressed.

"They can learn. I did." Hailey countered.

June watched as Nathan and Hailey argued in circles. Nathan trying to convince her to run the city while she pushed him towards doing it instead. Personally, she agreed with Nathan. Hailey had run the city well and she knew everyone. Throwing someone new into the deep end wouldn't work.

June needed to get Hailey back in action. "We'll go after him," She said.

"What?" Hailey said, stopping her argument to look at June.

"We'll go after Caleb." She said again.

Hailey snorted. "And fight a whole empire?"

"I remember a certain someone decided to do just that earlier on."

"And look where it got me!" Hailey cried. She sagged in defeat.

"That's because we weren't ready for them," June said calmly. "The plans made were solid, we just underestimated how much force they would bring to subdue us. Besides, wouldn't it be great to rescue that idiot after his oh so noble sacrifice?"

Hailey laughed, it came out as more of a choked snort. "He would hate it." She fell into a fit of giggles. "Oh god, he would hate it so much. 'Why'd you come to save me you idiot I did this for you!'" She mimicked Caleb's voice.

June waited for Hailey to calm down a bit. "So? What do you say?"

"I need a crutch," Hailey replied. "We've got some rebuilding to do."