20

The quartz kept the pressure for two minutes, like slowly squeezing their fingers around my neck.

I couldn’t get these bastards off my back. Either north or west, it pursued me as a wolf would chase a rabbit, struggling to get out of its line of sight. My speed and smaller vessel were still to my advantage, maintaining a three-hundred-foot gap between us, but it was getting tiring. My hands were getting numb from gripping the wheel for a long time. Amelia and Freddie let out a volley from the turrets every time the quartz came too close.

I kept Ben and Nick on standby on the star-fighters. I didn’t think it was a good idea to let them loose just yet, afraid they couldn’t keep up. The best thing to do was to get the quartz off the populated areas. I would ring them up to the carnage when I needed more friendlies in the sky.

“Shield integrity at sixty-five percent,” Prime said. I seriously doubted we’d last very long. They were bleeding us fast.

“So, do you still think being direct and aggressive was a good idea?” Amelia shouted. “Not that I’m complaining.”

I chuckled nervously. “I doubt they were suing for peace! They wanted me dead from the beginning.”

“They were stalling for the other ship.” Amelia checked on her console. “It’s approaching from the south, by the way. Going on intercept.”

“Ah, figures. This is gonna get rough.” Whatever they came here for, I didn’t care anymore. From now on, a raging fire in my belly wanted to see these fuckers explode.

Another shot hit the stern, rattling the vessel. “Shield integrity at fifty-nine percent.”

Just a small burst, I thought reassuringly. I realized that the quartz fired different charge levels on their armaments. The longer they held the shot, the more powerful the blast. It gave me a six-second gap to react. I told Prime to watch out for those things. If it hit me again, it would drop a third of my shields in a snap.

We flew past valleys and deserts, past towns and smaller cities in seconds to minutes. Whenever I tried to get into orbit and lose them there, the atmosphere hindered me. The quartz almost got me by hovering below and aimed upward at my tail. Never again.

It was time to take this fight up in space. I started pulling the stick upward.

“Tony, we’re approaching a populated area,” Amelia said. “San Francisco’s up ahead.”

“Alright, thanks!” I steered the ship northbound, but then a flashing light from the dashboard warned me that we were gaining considerable distance between me and the quartz.

Twelve hundred feet…

Three thousand feet…

Five thousand feet…

Two-point-two miles…

I pulled the vessel to a crawl.

“Why are we stopping?” Freddie asked.

“Something’s wrong,” I said. I no longer saw them on the exterior cameras. “Prime, can you find out where they are? Freddie? Amelia?”

“No, nothing on my end. They just turned back,” Amelia said.

“Turned back? Then, where are they heading?”

“They are heading west,” Prime answered promptly.

West? “Calculate their trajectory.”

“Done,” Prime said after a few seconds. “The quartz vessel is inbound to San Francisco.”

Something about it made me grow cold, but I didn’t wait to think. I knew exactly what they were doing. Shifting the ship back, I flew toward the city, hoping it was not what I feared. I looked at Amelia and could tell from her face that she thought of the same thing. However, they already had a head start of about a minute.

“We’re closing in on the city, Tony,” Freddie warned.

I saw the large smoke rising from downtown and the quartz vessel hovering above it all. My heart jumped as I watched more than two dozen smaller vessels the size of my star-fighters hop off the quartz ship, descending and firing upon the city. Within seconds, buildings were engulfed in flames. I couldn’t imagine witnessing this horror from the ground.

“He’s using the city as bait!” Amelia said.

“I can see that! They’ve sent out their attack fighters at us!” I shouted to Amelia, pointing at six of the quartz strike team coming our way. I hailed Ben and Nick on the comms. “You’re time to shine, gents.”

Loud klaxons rang from below the decks, warning anyone that the star-fighters were about to be launched. The ship shuddered as the star-fighters leaped off like jumping grasshoppers off the ship’s belly.

“We’ll keep these bastards off your back, staff sergeant,” Ben said.

“Give them hell.” I turned to Prime. “Is the second vessel ready from Station One?” I asked. It was only for emergencies in case I lost this ship I was currently manning, but it wasn’t as customized. It would be like the bare, empty ship I rode on three days ago. I wished the frigates were completed already.

“The second ship is in Dock Two. Minister Hennig has been alerted by the quartz attack and has gathered the others. They will arrive here in thirty-two minutes.” I blanched. That was not enough time. “Shall I authorize the other pilots to fly the star-fighters?”

“Yes!” I said. “Let them know Ben and Nick are currently engaged with the hostiles.”

“Affirmative, forerunner.”

Ben swooped up from under me and went straight ahead toward the approaching quartz, coordinating with Nick on how to proceed. They were in their element, completely in control as if they’d flown these brand new star-fighters for many, many years. Yellow beams of light streaked out from them and slammed against the leading quartz. It didn’t take them down.

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In return, the quartz fired smaller projectiles that slammed against their shields and mine. I saw one passing by the window, about fifteen feet long, looking like glittering roughly-cut jewels, big enough to hold a person. The turrets managed to gun one down, falling in a blaze toward the bay near Alcatraz, but the others shot at me. I was too wide open, and the quartz had used my advantage against me. They were smaller and far too fast, like struggling to swat a fly out of my living room.

Two circled for another barrage on my broadside, but Nick swept from behind, firing at their exposed hide. One swerved left as sparks exploded from its back. It didn’t take long before it dove down into the waters below.

I caught Nick hooting and hollering from his kill over the comms. “Two more to go!” He shouted.

The second quartz abandoned his initial attack and gave chase. Nick let him. They flew under the Golden Gate Bridge as hundreds of people abandoned their cars stuck in a massive traffic jam and escaped the bridge. Ben wrapped around my vessel like a lasso, fired, and shot out the last quartz attack fighter hiding behind my tail.

“Clear for now, sir,” Ben said. “But more are coming.”

I gritted my teeth, anger boiling inside.

The quartz had used my weakness: people. I shouldn’t have opened my mouth when I was talking to them. But as much as it’s tactically advantageous to retreat now and perhaps even let them have San Francisco, it didn’t sit well with me to leave these people on the ground defenseless. At the same time, I was safe in the stations, waiting for several days of this attack to pass while my frigates finished construction.

Prime, Freddie, and Amelia shot down two more with the turrets as I hurtled toward the quartz ship, firing a salvo along its broadside, opening a wide gash. A few figures got blown out of the hull, falling to the city below, but I couldn’t get a good look at these aliens just yet. However, their cannons were still focused on bombarding downtown.

Why aren’t they fighting back? I tried to get their attention, risking a flyby over the bow, throwing another few shots here and there while Amelia and Prime attempted to keep the attack crafts off us. My shields were already down at forty percent.

“Enemy vessel approaching southwest. Intercept in eighteen seconds,” Prime said.

“Ah, fuck!” They were waiting for backup, sacrificing their damaged vessel for one intact and unbroken. I was focusing on the wrong ship!

“Surrender now or be destroyed, Tony Segerstrom of Earth,” The first quartz captain said, and was that amusement in his voice? “You no longer have the power here.”

For the last time, I pushed the red button again. “Well, try me, motherfucker.” I closed the comms and barred them from ever contacting me again. “Alright, Prime, let’s—!”

An explosion violently shocked my starboard side as multiple shots hit me simultaneously. The second quartz vessel was the same size as the first, passing overhead, where multiple attack aircraft jumped out and dive-bombed us. Other shots rocked the ship, bringing my shield down to thirty percent. I shouldn’t have brought my family up here, but I didn’t expect to be attacked. There was no use in dwelling on it now. I needed to destroy them fast.

But before I could react and reorient my cannons, the second vessel was already turning back for one more flyby. On my periphery, Ben and Nick were flipped around to meet it. Prime warned me they were charging their shot for a big one. Then, multiple bright yellow lights erupted from its port side, engulfing it in flames. Their shields stuttered to fight off the bombardment from below to the fleet of about ten US warships near Fisherman’s Wharf.

“It’s Fleet Week!” Amelia cried out with joy. “How can I forget?”

I cheered. Good timing. “Well, they better hurry up and join in!” With all my cannons already aimed at the second vessel, I fired on the starboard side, hitting it point blank with the help of the US Navy. Fortunately, three of the shots got through their shields, and the second vessel had no choice but to flee east, trying to avoid their line of fire through the skyscrapers.

“Prime! Get me in contact with the fleet below now.”

“Patching communications.”

I swiftly passed beyond the first quartz’s blindside, hoping it would give me enough room for a conversation with either the first captain or, better yet, an admiral of the fleet. Active military ships deployed overseas usually docked together for a one-week event to celebrate their service members—an excuse to party and explore the city’s tourist attractions. This meant it was San Francisco’s Fleet Week, and there were a shit ton of sailors and Marines across the city.

Over the holo-feed, the second quartz ship was going to intercept me again in thirty-seven seconds, but then multiple fighter jets flew past us decked in the familiar golden yellow and deep blue, and my smile turned into a wide grin.

“It’s the Blue Angels!” I whooped. Freddie and Amelia cheered with me.

They veered right, joining Nick and Ben. With enough seconds to spare, they exchanged coded words over the comms that only pilots could understand. I realized Nick and Ben let the Blue Angels’ pilots know who they were by their call sign. Nick was “Talon,” and Ben was “Siren.”

When the second quartz ship was two hundred feet away, Nick, Ben, and the Blue Angels dove for the smaller quartz vessels into a dogfight soaring and gliding between skyscrapers and littering the skies in blood and fire. Warning lights on the holo-feed notified me of another squadron approaching from the sea; no doubt an aircraft carrier had parked off the coast, but I welcomed the newcomers. I saw them in a wide V-shape formation out the windows, rushing toward the damaged first vessel and letting loose a barrage of missiles. Multiple impacts, and I didn’t notice any stuttering shields, realizing theirs had already failed, leaving them open to all attacks.

“Transmission linked,” Prime said.

“This is Rear Admiral James Kaatz of the United States Pacific Fleet,” an older-sounding man’s voice reverberated across the cockpit. “Who is this?”

“The man flying the friendly alien ship, admiral,” I said.

“Yes, I’ve heard about you,” he said calmly. I briefly admired his composure, but what he said gave me pause. What did he hear about me? I shook those thoughts away. “Young man, on behalf of the—”

I cut him off. “Hey, listen. I don’t have time to talk, admiral, but you must focus all your bombardment on the damaged vessel above the city! Their shields are down!”

A long pause. I thought something must be wrong on my end when the admiral spoke again. “Very well.” I could tell he was annoyed by how I addressed him, but I had no time for formalities. Hopefully, he saw it that way. “We’re ready.”

“Hold that off and fire on my signal.”

Aiming the cannons forward, I flew toward the sky and abruptly flipped, pointing my nose down at the quartz’s topside. “Fire!” I shouted over the comms as I let loose the cannons at the same time as the warships.

Black smoke and fire engulfed the quartz, raining down the loose crystalline debris across the city. They tried to escape, climbing into orbit, but it was too heavy and too damaged to have enough thrust just as another salvo from me and the warships cleaved apart its aft. The vessel groaned and roared as gravity pulled it back to earth from four thousand feet. Most of the hull plummeted in a fiery blaze over Oracle Park, obliterating the stadium, while the other crashed into the adjacent pier. Debris fell like meteorites across Union Square, taking out city streets, scraping through buildings, and lighting the parks on fire.

In a last-ditch effort, the surviving smaller quartz abandoned their skirmish with the fighter jets and launched a suicide attack at the fleet by the bay, swarming and ripping apart three destroyers in one flyby. In seconds, a quarter of the fleet was sinking and on fire. The quartz flew past the headlands, using the rocky terrain as cover, while Nick, Ben, and the fighter jets gave chase.

“Tony, we need to get rid of that second quartz ship now!” Amelia exclaimed.

The klaxons blared again. “What is it now?” I yelled out of frustration. The holo-feed told me it was coming from the cargo hold.

“There has been a breach, forerunner,” Prime said, unruffled.

The holo-feed changed the screens to the exterior cameras. A quartz attack fighter had latched on my ship, breaking a gap through my shields so that its “nose” had completely embedded through the hull. The holo-feed changed to another camera, this time inside the cargo hold. People were running from something. I caught a glimpse of Sheriff Goodwin, Agent Finley, and Agent Phan getting out their guns and started firing at something beyond the camera. The other agents joined them. I could hear the gunshots down the hall. And the screaming.

Then, a huge dark shadow filled the frame just as it marched toward the FBI agents.

I got out of my seat and opened the weapons locker. My hands were shaking, but I swallowed that fear down. People depended on me. The people’s lives on this ship were my responsibility. I need to act on that now.

“What is it?” Freddie asked. He didn’t get to see what it was.

I slid the bolt of the M4 partway back to check the round in the chamber and handed it to Freddie. He took it without hesitation. “We’ve got an intruder,” I said, snapping the sights and lights on another SOPMOD M4 assault rifle and handing that to Amelia. “A quartz got inside, and we’re gonna kick them off my fucking ship.”