Standing on the deck of the Jessica, her fuel cells full, shields and armament ready at his command, the mountain chain to the east drifting away as the light of day from the star they called La Taiyo sending a pink glow on the horizon, Jolo was at peace. He was not much for backstabbing politicians and manipulation. All he needed was direction, a target, something to destroy. At his core he knew that he was a fighter, and that’s what he did best. He felt it in his bones--the 52% at least that were his, the other 48 along for the ride. And the closest target he had was the jewel of the black worms. He was going to destroy the alacyte production facility, or die trying.
An hour into his journey to the other side of the planet the light of morning grew stronger and the orange sand stretched out forever. The nav console said 3.8 hours to destination. That would give him plenty of time to pull up the alacyte facility layout on his computer and sketch out a plan of attack. He turned to sit down in the captain’s chair, and there, leaning against the logic array that Koba had worked on earlier was the synth, George. His arms were folded and he had a half smile on his face. He stood so still that Jolo might have missed him were it not for his blue eyes and his blonde hair. He had a very slight plastic quality about him which made him blend well standing next to the logic array. Though when he moved he was very much human-like.
"They're going to kill you," he said, smiling.
"Yeah, probably."
"Anger. That's a good sign. Especially for a human. It means you're moving past that difficult piece of news earlier. Or maybe I should say moving through it. But being dead won't help you, or anyone else."
"I'm not dead yet."
"Yes, but if you attack the alacyte production facility half-cocked like you're about to do, then indeed, you will die before you even get to fire a single blast from one of your beloved ion cannons. And so the Federation wins and the man claiming to be Jolo was nothing more than a synth after all, and now he is dead and the BG will continue doing their evil, nefarious deeds, etc. etc., ad nauseum."
"I've got a plan. Take out the guard force first, then blow the whole thing up."
"Not gonna work," said George, tilting his head, then going statue again.
"Well maybe the real Jolo Vargas may have had a great plan, but the new, alien version is just plain winging it."
"Does the alien version really want to die?" But this time it was Katy's voice. Jolo turned to face her and she was joined by Hurley, Koba, and the Greeley brothers.
"Answer my question," said Katy.
"Of course I don't want to die," said Jolo.
“I don’t believe you,” said Katy. “Look me in the eye.” And she put her hands on either side of his face and stared at him for a moment.
“I don’t want to die,” said Jolo again.
"Well then let us help you," said the older Greeley. "You saved all of us. And I don't care who you were before, or what you are now, all I know is, you were the guy who saved us and who cared about us so we're not leaving you."
"Not to mention the fact that you're trying to leave us right when there's gonna be a little gun play. Now that’s enough to piss me off. I'm ready to suit up and go worm hunting," said the younger Greeley, smiling.
"How did you know?" said Jolo.
"Your father predicted it," said Katy. "This is how you react to difficult news. He said you tend to fly off and do something stupid. When your mother died you stole a Fed transport ship and your father was convinced you were going to be a pirate."
Jolo looked down at his boots. They were old Jolo's boots, but they fit perfect. They knew his toes better than he did.
"I guess I did fly off a little half-cocked. But I don't want to put any of you in danger."
"We are here because we want to be here," said Katy. "Even Koba." Koba smiled and waved his bandaged hand trying not to say anything, but then he couldn't resist,
"Yes, I'm happy to be here. But I really would like a better plan of attack."
"I agree," said Jolo.
……
"Do you think it's gonna work?" said Katy, handing Jolo the binoculars. They were both lying behind a sand dune watching George speed off on the hover bike. As he got further away all they could see was a tiny trail of dust heading straight for the BG communication tower.
George had insisted he be the one to take the tower out. If he failed, then the ground force would put the call in to the battleship in orbit above Duval and they'd all be dead. The typical BG Destroyer held four cruisers, a full platoon of warriors, and hundreds of recon bots that could locate a rat in a 100 square kilometer area in hours.
George was right, thought Jolo. He was quite happy to report that he was stronger than any human by a factor of 3.4 and at least twice as fast on foot, but nonetheless Jolo felt like he should be the one on the hover bike.
Jolo handed the binoculars back to Katy. "Yeah, he's fine. And besides, if the plan doesn't work, there won't be a lot of time to fret over it." He smiled at her and they jogged back to the Jessica.
……
The closer George got to the communication tower, the larger it became. He wondered if he had enough charges. The bike couldn't carry any more explosives anyway, so he’d find out soon enough. He smiled to
