Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace

“I’m sorry,” Anlyn responded quickly. “We just learned what’s been going on ourselves. Another ship is still queued up to come through the rift. Your dad and Cole—” Anlyn paused. “It seems one of the ships went down on the other side.”

Molly gasped. Her heart pounded through her flightsuit. But still, she was just as much thrilled to hear someone relate their recent condition as she was dreading whatever had gone wrong. After keeping her thoughts and fears pushed into deep recesses for so long, she could feel them suddenly popping free, stirring and agitated and impatient.

“Reduce chatter, you two.” It was the other voice from the fleet.

“He’s right,” Parsona told Molly. “A constant stream is easier to stumble onto and hack.”

Molly looked at the mic in her hand, trying to sort out what was most important to say, what information she needed to best assist their combined efforts to defeat the Bern.

“How did the Underground infiltrate those ships in the first place?” Parsona asked, throwing one of her own queries onto Molly’s heap.

“My hunch is that the Bern are staging up here to protect their supply chain,” Cat told her. “You should probably tell them that.”

“Gimme a sec,” Molly told them. “I can’t think.”

She knew what she needed to say. She needed to speak to this other voice, to tell whoever was in charge up there that they were all in this together and that they needed to work that way. She tried a few phrasings in her head, then squeezed the transmit button.

“Command, we are with the Underground as well.” She looked over to Cat, who nodded, approving. “We are currently working on a plan to take out the large ship up there and possibly the rest of the fleet. It’s imperative that we talk.”

“Negative,” the voice said. “Any movement up here, and we’re sitting ducks. Maintain radio silence until the fleet moves out of this system. Nobody acts until then. Over and out.”

Molly cursed. Having friends so close and not being able to speak with them was going to drive her insane. She looked to Cat. “Any ideas?”

Cat shook her head.

“Molly, Anlyn here. We’re coming to you. I need coordinates for your cargo bay, and then I need you to clear out. Wait. Hold on—”

Molly heard voices conferring on the other side of Anlyn’s connection.

“Molly, make sure those coordinates are for a space one meter off the deck. And make them exact.”

Molly pulled up her nav screen to get her current position.

“How exact?” she asked.

“Edison exact.”

••••

Molly heard the air in Parsona’s cargo bay pop, and then a figure materialized a meter off the deck—it just blinked into existence. The person hit the ground in a ball and rolled out of the way. Molly couldn’t believe her eyes. She started to get up from the crew seat, but Anlyn ran her way, telling her to stay put.

A louder pop, and a bundle of fur wrapped in tunics crashed to the ground, sending a vibration through the hull. Edison stood up and lumbered her way as Anlyn threw herself into Molly’s arms.

Molly held her friend—tears coating her vision—as yet another man appeared in her cargo bay.

“How many are coming?” she asked Anlyn, pulling out of the embrace and wiping at her eyes.

“Just us,” Anlyn said, smiling at her. Edison came over and wrapped them both up and lifted them off the ground. Past his shoulder, Molly saw Cat run to the third person who had arrived, screaming his name and nearly tackling him.

“Edison, you’re smothering me!”

He dropped them back to the ground. “Sincerest apologies,” he said. “Irrationally, my exuberance overcame my ability to forgo immediate gratification, I—”

“I love you, too,” Molly said, leaning into his tunics and wrapping her arms partways around him.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked Anlyn. “I thought you were on Drenard.”

“Well, what in the galaxy is Cole doing in hyperspace?”

Walter popped out of his room. He hissed in alarm at the sight of Edison.

“Walter!” Edison said, stomping over to greet him.

Cat approached Molly from the opposite direction, pulling along a short, bald, bearded man. Molly felt dizzy from the amount of activity and the number of things she needed to ask Anlyn about. First, though, there was an outstretched hand waiting to be shaken.

“Ryke,” the man said. He accepted Molly’s grasp and pumped it warmly. “Lotsa folks call me Doctor Ryke, but I done nothing to deserve it.”

“I’m—”

“I know who you are,” Ryke said, smiling at her. He continued to hold her hand as he gazed around the cargo bay, appraising it as if he might a home he had once lived in, or helped to build.

“You know my father,” Molly whispered.

“Yup. Good man. And I wouldn’t worry none about him. He’s fond of grand entrances.”

“So he’s okay?” Molly turned to Anlyn. “How’s Cole?”

“I haven’t seen him,” Anlyn said. “I just recently found out where he was.”

“He set off to help Mortimor get out of hyperspace,” Ryke said. “What we need to be working on is getting that rift closed up as soon as he does. Before we get to that, though…” Ryke looked at Molly expectantly.

“I’m so sorry,” Molly said. “Do you guys need food or water? The bathroom? If you need to rest before —”

“Naw,” Ryke said, looking back over his shoulder. “You reckon I could sneak off to your engine room, just to see her?”

“See who?” Molly asked.

“The hyperdrive,” Ryke whispered.

Cat wrapped her arms around Ryke’s broad shoulders and leaned over to kiss the top of his bald head. “You haven’t changed a lick!” she said.

“Sure,” Molly said. “Help yourself.” She turned back to Anlyn, then realized how difficult it was going to be to explain the presence of all these people to the Navy climbers when they got back.

“Oh, Ryke? I’m gonna need you guys to stash away in the crew quarters in less than an hour. You’ll have to stay there while we fly back to this clearing we’ve set up camp in. I’m with some men in black.”

“Navy?” Ryke looked around like she’d warned him of snakes.

“They’re fine, I just don’t want to have to explain how you got here.”

Ryke scratched his beard and nodded, then hurried off toward the back of the ship.

Walter continued to gab with Edison near the door to his room. Molly flinched when she felt the Wadi scurry up her leg to her shoulder. Normally, the thing wouldn’t leave the back of her seat if she put her there. The animal twisted around her neck and jabbed its tongue out at Anlyn.

Anlyn’s eyes lit up at the sight of the colorful Wadi. She came close to Molly, reaching her hand out to it.

“By the lights of Hori,” she whispered.

“Another reason I’m glad you’re here,” Molly said. “I think there’s something wrong with her.” She removed the Wadi and held it out to Anlyn. “Gods, it feels like there’s so much I didn’t get to say before we left Drenard. I—” Molly watched the Wadi curl itself around Anlyn’s neck. “Exactly what happened after we left? I hear your people are pushing out into Terran space and attacking our planets.”

“She’s pregnant,” Anlyn said, rubbing the Wadi’s head with two fingers.

“She—Wait, what? The Wadi?”

Anlyn nodded.