Earth United

Jake sat the fighter down behind a rock outcropping between Craton City and the military complex, making sure it was hidden from the complex. He and Cal made their way up the same path they had before, climbing toward the building that housed the weapon. Once there, they quickly found an outer door.

Cal took a decoder from his belt and used it to pop the lock like the last time they were there.

Jake kept a lookout while Cal worked. He knew it was only two or three minutes, but it felt like fifteen, before he heard the lock pop. Cal stood back. Jake slowly opened the door just enough to peek inside. He saw twenty to thirty guards working at the computer console surrounding the weapon.

Cal peeked in as well. “They’re programming it to fire,” he whispered.

Jake pulled an amplifier from his belt and stuck it in his ear. He could hear one of the guards working on the programming. “Our tracking system has been following Earth’s orbital pattern, and should have all variances calculated by now. Give me the coordinates for Earth. Once they are input, we should be ready to power up the weapon system.”

Another guard turned to the first. “Are you sure we should be doing this? We haven’t completed all the tests on the weapon. We could blow up our own planet.”

The first guard replied, “You go tell that to the general, and see if you return.”

“Any ideas?” Cal whispered. “There are too many of them for us to take on alone.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jake replied. “But with all the guards out in fighters, and that many with the weapon, the rest of the complex can’t be very heavily guarded. Let’s find Diane. She’s probably in the same holding block where they kept us.”

Jake was right. The complex was close to deserted. He peered around each corner before he and Cal turned down a new hall. If there were guards patrolling, he and Cal waited for them to move on.

At the end of one final long, dimly lit hall was a single solid door with its own keypad locking it.

“That’s the entrance to the holding block,” Cal said. He pulled the decoder from his belt again and quickly had the door open.

They passed through the door into another long hall with a row of doors on each side and one large door at the end facing them. Jake remembered this hall very well. It was where their holding cell had been. Red lights on a door’s keypad meant it was occupied. Green meant it was empty. Most lights were green. They looked in the small square windows of the doors with red lights. Jake took one side and Cal the other. Jake saw nothing but Cratonites and a couple of species he didn’t recognize.

“Nothing but Cratonites,” Cal said. “Come on, let’s try this door.” He again used the decoder on the door at the very end.

Jake barely opened the door, peering through a crack. It was a smaller, but more brightly lit hall with a few doors on each side. Only one with a red light, and with two guards standing on either side of it. He closed the door gently. “That must be it,” Jake whispered to Cal.

Jake didn’t want to risk being heard, so he didn’t want to fire sepders. Jake pulled a knife from his belt. He was glad Frank had taught him knife throwing along with the bow and arrow shooting. His ‘old west’ training would come in handy. “I’ll make some noise. You take whichever guard comes to investigate. I have the other.” They pressed their backs against the wall on either side of the closed door. Jake tapped on the door. He immediately heard footsteps—just one guard. Jake held up one finger to Cal and then pointed to Cal. The guard slowly pulled open the door. Jake nodded and Cal kicked the door open hard. Cal instantly struck the guard in the temple with the pommel of his sepder. The other guard turned and started to pull his plasma gun. Jake stepped into the open doorway and let his knife fly. It stuck in the guard’s neck. The guard grabbed for the knife with both hands, grimacing, but he quickly fell to the floor without making a sound.

They both ran to the door. Jake looked in and saw Diane lying on the bed. Cal decoded the door and opened it.

Diane looked up, her eyes wide, her face expressionless. “Cal, Jake.” She paused for a moment. “Is that really you two?” She smiled, jumped up and ran to them. “Oh, I thought you both were dead. I can’t believe it!”

She met Cal first and they embraced. Jake watched. He had never seen two people hug so hard. He felt warm, comforted. Less than an hour ago he had given up all hope and braced himself for death, as well as the deaths of Cal, Diane, and Frank. Deaths that he blamed himself for, at least in part. Now there was hope. Still a long way to go, but hope nonetheless.

Cal pulled back, still holding onto Diane’s arms and looking at her face. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again. Are you all right?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Diane said, smiling into Cal’s face.

Jake could see Diane’s eyes move from Cal to him. Her smile softened, and her eyes filled with tears. Jake smiled and nodded his head. Diane closed her eyes and nodded back. Jake wanted to hug her, embrace like she and Cal had. But did she feel the same way? He thought the smile and nod was her way of saying that she did. But now wasn’t the time, anyway. They were far from out of danger, and time was running out. How long could the Legion hold off the Cratonite fighters? How long until the weapon was ready to fire? How long until Cratonite guards found them? They had to get going. They had a job to do.

Diane stepped back from Cal. “How did you two ever get here? Where’s the rest of the Legion?”

Cal shook his head. “It’s a long story, but suffice it to say that we’re it. You’re looking at your rescue party.”

Jake was refocused, and he wanted Cal and Diane to do so as well. “We need to find a way to draw the guards away from the weapon and give us time to disable it.”

“There must be a central grid with schematics of the complex,” Cal said. “That would tell us how the lockdown mechanisms work and where to trigger them from.”

“What do you mean?” Jake asked. “What lockdown mechanisms?”

“The guards have to have the ability to lock down this holding block in the event of an attack or attempted escape,” Cal replied. “They don’t want prisoners running around the complex in such an event. If we could lure the guards to the holding block, then lock it down, we could trap them in their own system. We already know there aren’t many guards here besides those in the weapon room. If they think there’s a rescue attempt, most of those guards will have to come. But we’ll already be out. We lock them down, and go to the weapon room.”

“Okay,” Jake said. “Sounds good. This schematic, where would it be?”

“In some type of control room,” Cal replied. “Probably near Romalor’s central command center.”

“I saw a room like that one time when they were bringing me down here,” Diane said. “Come on. I can show you where it is.”

Jake and Cal dragged the two dead guards into Diane’s room and locked the door. Then they made their way to the room Diane had seen, using the same caution as before. It was just below Romalor’s central command center. Cal decoded the door and the three of them quickly stepped inside. The room was filled with electronic equipment, computer terminals, tabletop computers, and computer screens. Cal slowly walked around the room, inspecting each item.

“Don’t touch anything,” Cal said. “It’s all probably alarmed.” Cal looked some more. “Here it is.” He opened a rectangular panel. Jake looked over Cal’s shoulder. Inside was a diagram and three rows of various colored touch screen controls, each separately numbered. “That’s it. This is exactly what I was looking for. The only problem is that it looks like locking down the holding block from here will set off an alarm.” Cal paused and looked at the panel closer. “However, it looks like the holding block can also be locked down from the central command center. That won’t set off any alarms.”

“That’s likely where Romalor is right now,” Jake said. “He seems to be directing the battle at the moment.”

“Yeah, I know,” Cal replied, “and the problem is, the lockdown must be activated from inside the room. Looking at this diagram, it’s probably a switch at the bottom of the inside door keypad. So this isn’t an option. One of us would have to activate the lockdown while the other two disabled the weapon. It’s suicide for whoever goes into the central command center. Romalor and who knows how many guards will be there.”

Jake stared at the floor for a moment with one hand pressed against the wall. He quickly raised his head and pointed at Cal. “No. It’ll just be Romalor. You’ve seen how thin his ranks are here. He won’t be wasting any guards in the central command center with him. I’m going.”

“But Jake…” Diane started to say before Jake cut her off.

“You two set this explosive on the keypad of the room they had Diane in,” Jake said. He handed Cal a small device from his belt. “How long do you estimate it’ll take the guards to get from the weapon building to the holding block?”

Cal paused for a moment, then replied, “With an alarm going off, and the guards fearing a break-in and escape attempt, but yet being cautious, I would estimate about four minutes. But that’s an offhand guess.”

Jake chuckled and shook his head. He knew that Cal’s ‘offhand guesses’ were more accurate than most technicians’ computerized calculations. “Perfect,” Jake said. “When I hear the alarm, I’ll wait five minutes. That’ll give them time to get well inside the holding block and down the hall toward Diane’s room. Then I’ll blast into the command center and activate the lockdown. You two will have to take out any remaining guards in the weapon building, disable the weapon, grab the hilaetite crystal, and get to the fighter. By the time you do all of that, if I’m not at the fighter, you have to go without me. Our priority has to be to get that crystal off the planet.”

Diane looked at Jake. “But Jake, what about Romalor? I’ve been here a while now. I’ve seen what he’s capable of. There has to be another way.”

“Yes,” Cal said. “Give me some time. Let me think of another way.”

“There is no more time,” Jake yelled. “Now go. Get moving!”

Jake wasn’t sure why he was yelling at them. They were his friends. They were trying to protect him. Maybe he was yelling to make it easier for them to deal with losing him. Whatever the reason, he knew what they were thinking. That there was no way he could defeat Romalor alone. The moment he had been anticipating for over eight years was finally here. But now that it was here, he, himself, didn’t know if he could succeed. He too had seen what Romalor was capable of. Could he really beat Romalor? He had no time to ponder it. He had to remain confident. And besides, there was more at stake now than simple revenge. He had to buy time for Cal and Diane to get the crystal and escape. That had to be his main goal now. And if he was lucky, he would be leaving with them.

“All right,” Cal said, “let’s get going.”

Diane looked at Jake. “Jake, please be careful.”

“I just got you back,” Jake replied. “You be careful.” He walked up to Diane and handed her a small plasma gun from his belt. “Here, I know you know how to use this.” He paused and looked into her eyes, those eyes that he so dearly loved. “Don’t worry about me. I told Frank we would be back. I plan on keeping my word.”

* * * *

Jake waited outside the main door to Romalor’s central command center, atop the military complex. He didn’t need to enter quietly. He planned on blasting the keypad with his sepder. He readied the timepiece on his belt to mark when Cal would detonate the explosive in the holding block. Cal would do it remotely, probably from a spot near the weapon building. He would mark off five minutes, and then enter. He remembered what Romalor said about guns not working inside the central command center. That meant he wouldn’t be able to take Romalor by surprise as he entered. But it also meant that Romalor wouldn’t be able to take him out before he had a chance to activate the lockdown. According to Cal, the lockdown switch was right inside the door underneath the keypad. Romalor would probably be over near the operations area by his desk, and there shouldn’t be any guards. At least all of that was what he hoped. After the lockdown was activated, it would all be up to Cal and Diane. All he would need to do then would be to stay alive long enough to allow Cal and Diane to get to the fighter with the crystal before Romalor could release the lockdown. It would be hand to hand combat, the sepder versus the goliath. In all the commotion, the need to get the crystal off the planet, trying to free Diane, trying to save Cal’s and his life, he’d almost forgotten the scene eight years ago, his Uncle Ben’s death, and the person directly responsible for it all, Romalor. But standing there waiting, it all came back. He could see his uncle’s dying face and Romalor’s grin as if it were yesterday. This was what he had been waiting eight years for. The time had come. He wanted Romalor.

Jake heard the alarm. He marked his timepiece, then pulled out his sepder, gripping it with both hands. He readied it, cocking it behind his head, in case Romalor came out the door. He figured Romalor would let his guards deal with the alarm, but Jake remained at the ready just in case. He watched his timepiece and waited. It seemed like forever. What if the guards were in the holding block already? Maybe he had better enter and activate the lockdown now so they wouldn’t get out, he thought. No, it just seemed like a long time to him, standing there. He had to trust Cal’s estimation. If he activated the lockdown too quickly, the guards wouldn’t be in the holding block yet. He waited. He looked at his timepiece. Four minutes. He felt his muscles tightening, his armpits getting damp. What was this? He was nervous. Why? He’d never felt like this prior to a fight before. But he’d never had to wait and think like this before either. Or was it that he had never fought anyone like Romalor before? He looked at his timepiece again. Four minutes, fifty seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven. He counted in his head as he watched the timepiece. Four, three, two, one. It was time. He blasted the keypad with a sepder shot, kicked open the door and stepped through the doorway. The lockdown switch was right where Cal had said. No guards were in the room. Just one Cratonite sitting behind the desk, his back to the door. Jake flipped the lockdown switch quickly and then looked up. At the same time, Romalor turned in his chair. Jake was face to face with Romalor Leximer. This time, they were all alone.

* * * *

Cal and Diane stayed out of sight, hiding in the corridor that led from the main complex of buildings to the one-room building that housed the weapon. Diane watched as the guards left the weapon building. Hopefully, they’re heading toward the holding block, Diane thought. If so, the plan was working. She looked at Cal. She knew that from his vantage point, he could see into the weapon building as the guards fled. He held up two fingers. Great, she thought. Only two guards remained. Cal stepped out into the corridor by the interior door to the weapon building and disabled the door keypad. Ever so slowly he cracked open the door just enough to see inside. He signaled to Diane again that there were two guards, both with their backs to the door. Cal had his sepder ready. Diane pulled out the plasma gun Jake had given her. Her hand shook slightly. She focused on it, gripping the gun harder, but she couldn’t stop the shaking. She certainly knew how to use a gun, and she knew she was an excellent shot. She had practiced quite a lot with her dad. But she was not battle trained. She had never killed anyone before. But she had to do this. Cal needed her. Earth needed her. She saw Cal look at her hand and then her face. She gave him a nod. She was ready. At least as ready as she would ever be. Diane watched as Cal counted on his fingers. One, two, three. On three, he kicked the door open. Both guards turned toward them and reached for their plasma guns holstered in their belts. Cal swung into the open doorway on his knees from the left and fired his sepder. One blast took out the guard on the left. At the same time, Diane jumped into the doorway from the right, feet spread, both hands on the plasma gun, arms outstretched, and elbows locked. She fired. She hit the second guard square in the chest. He dropped without making a sound.

Cal closed the door and they ran up to the main control terminal.

“How long do we have?” Diane asked.

“I’m not sure, exactly,” Cal said. “Jake must have gotten the guards locked down, or they would be back here by now. And once activated from the central command center, the lockdown can be deactivated only from that room. So as long as Jake can keep Romalor occupied, or better yet, dead, we have time.”

They stared at each other. Diane knew what Cal was thinking. She was thinking the same thing. How long could Jake really keep Romalor occupied? Did Jake stand a chance? She wanted so much to run to the central command center and help him. She thought she had lost him once and that was horrible enough. Now that he was back, she couldn’t stand the thought of losing him again. But Jake didn’t know that. Maybe she should have told him. Would he fight better knowing he had someone waiting for him? No, she had to stop thinking about it. She was needed here, with Cal. If they couldn’t get the crystal off the planet, nothing else would matter anyway. There would be no more Earth.

Diane turned toward the massive weapon system. She looked at it closely. It had been dark the last time she was in that room. Now, in the light, she could make out the details. She looked up. There, located on top of all the components, still enclosed in its housing, was the hilaetite crystal.

Cal pointed to a part of the computer system right in front of them, where the two guards had been working. “This looks like the main control terminal.”

Diane looked at the terminal. She could see changing numbers, in Craton’s language. “That clock is counting down,” Diane said.

Then a voice sounded from the computer. “Weapon activation in ten minutes.” The numbers continued to count down and the roof of the building opened.

Cal’s eyes grew large. “They’ve already set the weapon to fire!”

“At what?” Diane asked.

“From what Jake and I overheard,” Cal answered, “Earth!”

Were they too late? Was all of this for nothing? Diane didn’t know what to think. “What do we do now?”

“I’m not sure. We need to figure out how to shut it down before that clock hits zero,” Cal said.

“Can’t we just climb up there and unhook the crystal?” Diane asked.

“No,” Cal replied. “I’m sure it has a failsafe. Since it’s already armed to fire, if we try to disconnect the crystal without first shutting the system down, it’ll most likely fire immediately. We have to shut it down, but the language on here is all Craton.” Cal looked over the computer screen. “This looks like the main terminal at EarthNX, built right into the computer table with touch screen commands. I think it’s the same design. EarthNX probably made it. This is good. You can read Craton, right? There should be a control labeled ‘source module’ or ‘main power’ or something like that. Can you find it?”

Diane looked at the computer closely. “Yes, I can read Craton. But this isn’t Craton.” She wasn’t sure what it was. She had never seen any language like it before. She looked closer. “It looks familiar, though.” Then it dawned on her. “It’s Craton letters, but they’re coded somehow. The letters aren’t in any order that makes words.”

The computer sounded again. “Weapon activation in seven minutes.”

* * * *

Romalor stood up. To Jake, he didn’t look a bit surprised. There was no way Romalor could have known they were in his complex, but Romalor seemed as if he was expecting Jake.

Romalor smiled. “Jake Saunders, you are a stubborn one. You have returned. Why, might I ask?”

“To stop you from using the crystal, and to expose the truth,” Jake said, slowly raising his sepder.

Romalor drew his goliath and held it in both hands. He stepped toward Jake. “The truth about what? About how Earth is so full of corruption that it sold me the crystal? Or how Earth used you to cover it up and left you for dead? Why would you defend such people? The planet is prideful, ignorant, and greedy. All your people want is money. And when they get it, they just want more.”

Romalor started walking slowly to the side, still facing Jake, his goliath at the ready.

Jake held his sepder in both hands, his arms fully extended, pointing it at Romalor. He also moved slowly in a sideways motion, the two of them circling each other. “Earth is not corrupt. Only certain people are. And those few will answer for what they’ve done.” Jake could feel the anger start to boil. That old familiar anger. The same anger that he used over and over in his mind to kill Romalor. And the same anger he often heard his superiors tell him he needed to let go of.

“Answer to whom?” Romalor replied. “You’re just one person. It’s too big for you. You can’t fight everyone. How can you stop me, my guards, your Legion, and your so-called government? You’ve been abandoned. Go. Leave now while you can. You and your friend. You can find some remote planet to spend your remaining days on in peace. Why risk your life for Earth? Why should you care what happens between Craton and Earth anymore? Neither planet wants you. I’m giving you a chance to live.”

“Just like you gave me a chance in the Pit? I care because there are a lot of good people on Earth that I care about. A lot of innocent people. Innocent people that you’ll continue to murder, like…” Jake stopped.

“Like your Uncle Ben,” Romalor finished the sentence. “That was eight years ago. Let it go.”

Jake didn’t respond. The comment made him angrier. An anger he didn’t try to hold back. This was what he had wanted for eight years. What he had lived for for eight years, a chance to do to Romalor what Romalor had done to his Uncle Ben. Anger had fueled him all this time. He didn’t want it to stop now. He blocked out all the words from his Uncle Ben, from Captain Gorski, and from others who had tried to teach him to fight without anger, telling him that his thirst for revenge would be his undoing. Jake didn’t want to hear those words now.

“Do you really want to fight me? You’re just a boy. I will destroy you.” Romalor chuckled.

Jake’s eyes narrowed. The muscles in his face tightened. “Go for it.”

* * * *

Cal slapped the computer table. “Wait, I have an idea!” He reached to the back of his belt and pulled off a small transponder.

“What’s that for?” Diane asked.

“It’s a portable transponder,” Cal replied. He punched a couple of buttons. “It can be used as a multitude of things, like a triangular locator, a coordinate locator, sensor detector, portable video com, and to play games, which is what I’m setting it for right now.”

“Do you really think we have time for you to practice Quantum Flight Attack or whatever games you have on there?” Diane asked. She knew Cal was planning something more than playing a video game, but she had to say it anyway.

“Here it is,” Cal said. “Remember that game I was telling you about, Intergalactic Combat? The one that uses real military codes?”

Diane nodded. “Yes, yes. Do you think it’ll work?” She knew where Cal was going with this now.

“Well,” Cal said, “part of the game requires you to decode the military signals of Craton. If the maker did use the real codes, I may be able to connect the transponder to the computer system and use it to decode the language on the computer controls. If it works, it’ll unscramble the letters so you can read them.”

The computer sounded. “Weapon activation in five minutes.”

* * * *

Romalor made the first move, lunging toward Jake with four basic swipes of his goliath. Jake recognized them. Two straight down and two on each side of Jake. Jake blocked each swing easily.

Romalor, with a smirk on his face, came at Jake again. This time with more advanced moves. An overhand roundhouse followed by an underhand roundhouse, and then two more swings, one to Jake’s left and one to his right. Again, each swing was successfully blocked by Jake.

Romalor snickered. “I see you have had some training. So let’s do away with these childish moves and get on to the real stuff.” Romalor charged again at Jake, this time switching hands with his goliath in mid-swing, making a lower swing which Jake blocked with a backhand move. Romalor then made a 360 degree spin, followed by three more thrusts of the goliath.

Jake blocked each, and then went on the offensive himself, swinging his sepder from side to side, roundhouse swings, back swings, all of which Romalor countered and blocked.

Romalor then came at Jake with an above the head swing. Blocked by Jake. Underhand swing. Blocked by Jake. Then Romalor spun around and caught Jake on his left forearm. Jake felt an instant sting followed by a slight numbness in his arm. A trickle of blood oozed from the wound. The sting made him even angrier. He lunged at Romalor twice, swinging hard each time. Romalor didn’t even try to block the swings. He just lowered his goliath to his side and jumped backwards each time.

Romalor stood there, his goliath still at his side. “Come on, Jake. Is that all you have? Your uncle fought better than that with a bad leg. I don’t think he would be too proud of his little nephew, now would he.”

Jake couldn’t think of anything except running his sepder through Romalor. He just felt rage. He raised his sepder again and yelled, “Romalor!” He charged Romalor and swung back and forth repeatedly. Romalor, with his goliath at his side, ducked and jumped back and to the side, then to the side again, all the while with a smirk on his face.

Romalor raised his goliath and charged again. He let go with three lightning fast swings, the third one striking Jake on his right shoulder. Another sting, more blood, a deeper gash.

Jake immediately went after Romalor again, swinging furiously. Romalor used his goliath this time, blocking each one, seemingly effortlessly, all the time still grinning.

Jake stepped back and hunched over. He breathed heavily. He tried not to show his fatigue, but he needed to gasp for air. His lungs burned.

Before he could catch his breath, Romalor was on him again, with swing after swing of his own. Jake blocked the first, second, third, and fourth, but by the fifth his arm moved more slowly, his sepder felt like a lead weight. He couldn’t get it down to his side in time. Romalor’s goliath slashed into his side, opening a small wound below the rib cage. Jake winced. This time there was no numbness, just a sting and a deep pain. He doubled over and stumbled backward. He breathed hard and deep. He was angrier than ever at Romalor, and now angry that his sepder, his skill, his body, were failing him. He had waited eight years for this moment. He could taste revenge. It was so close, yet it was out of reach. Romalor was defeating him. Romalor was slowly killing him.

Romalor laughed. “Had enough yet? Too bad your Uncle Ben didn’t stick around long enough to teach you to fight better.”

That was it. He felt pain all over. But was it from the wounds, or from his hatred of Romalor? Or perhaps both. He wanted to take Romalor down so badly. But his breathing came heavy and his wounds ached. He could feel the adrenaline leaving him. No! He needed the anger, the adrenaline, the motivation, but he was losing, badly.

* * * *

Cal pulled up the game on the transponder, found the docking port on the computer, and connected the transponder. He hit ‘play’ on the game.

Diane looked at the computer. All the computer symbols started changing simultaneously, faster and faster until they were a blur. They kept changing and changing, even the numbers on the timer.

“It isn’t working,” Cal said, shaking his head. “The game is sending a signal, but it’s not decoding the computer system. The system must be too complex.”

“Weapon activation in three minutes,” Diane heard.

Cal shook his head again and looked at Diane. “It’s no use.”

Suddenly, every symbol, every word on the computer table stopped changing.

“It worked!” Diane shouted. “I can read them!” She pointed to one of the touch screen pads. “This is Craton for ‘power source.’”

“Weapon activation in one minute,” the computer voice sounded again. “Fifty-nine, fifty-eight…” The voice continued to count down the numbers.

Cal quickly worked the pad that Diane had pointed to and those nearby. “Tell me when this says ‘power source accessed.’” He pointed to another area on the table screen, then he continued to work the touch pads. “This system was designed by EarthNX, and now that we’ve located the power source pad, I know where the other relevant pads are in relation to it. EarthNX designs all its weapons with the same power source configuration. Thank you, Mr. Ramirez.”

“Twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty-one…” Diane heard.

“There!” she said. “It says, ‘power source accessed.’” She could feel herself tensing up. Her stomach started to churn. She knew Cal was working as fast as he possibly could, but she wanted him to go even faster.

Cal continued to work. “Now tell me when it says something like, ‘weapon activation in progress.’”

“Ten, nine…” she heard.

“There! Now!” Diane shouted.

“Okay, here it goes,” Cal said. He typed frantically. His fingers were flying on the touch pads.

The voice continued, “Five, four, three, two, one…” The voice stopped. The timer froze at the Craton number for one. Cal and Diane leaned heavily on the table and hung their heads. Neither spoke. Diane closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm her nerves.

She opened her eyes, looked at Cal and smiled. “You did it, little brother. You did it.”

Cal smiled back. “No, we did it.” Cal put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. “Now we can disconnect the crystal and get out of here.”

Diane didn’t move. “I know Jake said to leave if he wasn’t here in time, but do you think we can go get him?”

Cal smiled. “I never intended to leave him behind. Take my sepder. It’s armed. Leave me the little plasma gun. You go now. I’ll disconnect the crystal. Maybe you can get there in time before Romalor…” Cal stopped there. Diane knew what he was thinking. She was thinking the same thing.

* * * *

Jake started to raise his sepder for yet another charge. He just wanted Romalor dead. No matter how he did it. He was going to go at him swinging harder than ever this time. Then something stopped him. He lowered his sepder. He could see himself practicing with his toy sepder with Uncle Ben. He was just a boy. He heard Ben’s voice. ‘Jake, you have to think when you fight. Use your head.’ Then he could see himself training in Sector Four headquarters. He could hear Captain Gorski. ‘You always let the taunting get to you. Then you fight with anger, not with intelligence. If you keep letting your enemies get to you, you’re going to get yourself killed one day.’

“What’s the matter? You give up?” Romalor asked, tapping the back of his goliath on the palm of his hand. “You’re as weak as your uncle. He at least fought to his death, even if it was a useless effort.”

Jake ignored the words. Uncle Ben and Captain Gorski were right. He was playing right into Romalor’s hands. Romalor was taunting him. Making him angry. That way he wouldn’t fight with intelligence. No more anger, he told himself. He needed to focus on what he was doing. He needed to focus on his opponent. Learn his opponent’s weaknesses, then use those weaknesses to gain an advantage.

Jake held up his sepder in attack position. “No, I don’t give up.”

“Excellent,” Romalor said.

Romalor came at him. Romalor swung, Jake blocked. Romalor swung again. Jake blocked. Again and again Romalor swung. Jake could feel each swing increase in strength. But Jake blocked each one. Romalor spun and swung. Jake blocked down as Romalor came up with his foot and planted it in Jake’s chest. As Jake went over backwards, he tucked his chin and formed a ball, rolling into a reverse somersault and coming up on his feet, his sepder at the ready. He looked at Romalor. That was it. Romalor always attacked with his goliath held high. If he could come up under the goliath, there would be an opening to Romalor’s chest.

Jake gripped his sepder in both hands. His eyes narrowed and his face tightened. He wasn’t angry. He was determined. He extended both arms straight out in front of him so that his sepder was pointing straight at Romalor. His eyes followed his sepder from the handle to the tip, then straight across the floor to Romalor’s chest.

Romalor’s grin disappeared. He raised his goliath to attack. Jake watched Romalor’s eyes. They met Jake’s.

“It’s time to end this,” Romalor said. “Now I will kill you.”

Jake spoke slowly and deeply. “You will try.”

Jake charged, still focused on Romalor’s chest. As he met Romalor, Romalor swung. Jake went under the swing by falling to his knees. Without stopping he went right into a somersault. As Jake’s head popped up out of the somersault, his sepder was directly in front of his face, outstretched, still gripped in both hands. It was pointing directly at Romalor’s chest, unobstructed. In one continuous motion Jake continued to come up out of his somersault. He thrust his sepder forward, plunging it deep into Romalor’s chest. As quickly as he stuck it in, he yanked it out.

Romalor stood motionless, his eyes wide. He looked down at his chest, now oozing blood, then up at Jake’s face. His arms fell limp at his sides and his goliath fell to the floor with a clang. He dropped to his knees, then fell over on his back. His eyes still open, Romalor breathed his last.

Jake had thought about this moment almost every day for the last eight years, but he didn’t feel anything like he’d thought he would. He expected to feel the triumph of revenge finally complete, or the thrill of a great victory in battle. Instead, he felt sorrow. He wasn’t sad that Romalor was dead, or that he had killed him. It was different. It was a sorrow that the events he had seen when he was only twelve had consumed his life, and led him to this moment. A sorrow that he had lost eight years of his life obsessing over Romalor, living to get his revenge, putting everyone he loved in danger. What a waste. How many people had he ignored? How many people had he abandoned and hurt?

Jake stepped closer to Romalor’s body. Reaching down, he grasped Ben’s medallion. With a quick jerk, he snapped the chain from Romalor’s neck. Holding the medallion, he read it out loud: “To Uncle Ben. I love you. Your Little Buddy, Jake.” Tears filled his eyes. All these years, he had never mourned the loss of his uncle. He was too preoccupied with hatred. Whether he had done that subconsciously, or whether he did it to avoid the pain of Ben’s loss, or whether he had been using that pent-up sorrow to fuel his anger, his motivation, it didn’t matter. It was over now. Now, he only felt his love for his Uncle Ben and a void from losing him. All the pain he had been avoiding, holding back, for eight years was coming out. Jake dropped his sepder and clutched the medallion even harder. He felt a tear trickle down his cheek. He whispered, “I miss you, Uncle Ben.”

“Are you okay, Jake?” came a soft, familiar voice from behind him.

Jake turned and saw Diane. He slowly nodded. “I am now.”

Diane walked to him. Putting her arms around him, she pulled his head to her shoulder and squeezed. Jake put his arms around her and held her tight. How he had longed for this moment. Holding Diane in his arms. He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t. He just clenched his eyes tight and pulled her closer. So, too, the realization of all the lost years with Diane hit him. Lost time. Time he could never get back. Another loss that he could chalk up to his selfish quest to find and destroy Romalor.

Jake pulled his head back and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Diane. I’m so sorry for everything I’ve put you through. Everything you’ve been through these past few days. Everything I have put you through the past eight years. You, Cal, Frank, everyone. I’ve only thought of myself.”

“Oh, Jake,” Diane replied, “no, don’t be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for. You did what you had to do. What you always do. Make right that which is wrong. You couldn’t live with yourself if you didn’t. That’s what makes you, you.” She paused for a moment, then continued, “That’s what makes me love you.”

The words hit Jake hard. A good hard, very unexpected. And he’d had no idea how beautiful they would sound until now. He’d thought he would never hear Diane say those words to him. He was silent, trying to think of what to say. He said the first thing that popped into his mind. “You love me?”

“Jake,” Diane paused for a moment, “I have always loved you.”

Jake cupped her face in his hands and looked directly into her eyes. “I love you too, Diane Danielson. I love you too.” Hearing himself say those words, he knew that he should have said them long ago.

They both smiled and stood there, staring at each other.

“I guess the old man was right,” Jake said with a smile.

“What old man?” Diane asked.

“The old man in the pub when we first arrived on Craton looking for the weapon,” Jake answered. “He told me to be careful seeking what my mind desires. For the heart is much wiser than the mind. I should have listened to my heart a long time ago.”

Cal stepped into the room. “This is a beautiful moment. Really it is. And I’ve been waiting for it for years. But there’s a couple of hundred warships out there trying to kill our Legion soldiers and a death ray pointed straight at Earth. Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you think we ought to lend our guys a hand?”

Jake looked at Cal and then back at Diane, and nodded. He felt good. He felt energized. He wanted to go into battle, not in anger and not for revenge, but to protect his friends, his comrades, his planet. And above all, he had a new motivation. Diane. “Let’s finish this once and for all.”