“And when the sun comes up?” Sawyer raised a brow.
“It buys us some time,” the hollow acceptance in Wil’s tone was reflected in his eyes, but it quickly faded as he jumped up and moved toward the opened door of the hangar. “But, that may be all we need!”
“What are you talking about?” Sawyer shook his head and blinked at Wil’s surge of optimism, noting Maverick and Carl seemed to share his confusion.
“I have an idea,” Wil grinned.
“Is it a good idea?” Sawyer squinted at the man, knowing his infamy of bad decisions.
“I have an idea,” His smile dimmed slightly as he ignored the question in favor of repeating the positive. Wil pointed to the top of the ship where her primary cannon was mounted. “See that cannon? We still have charges for that.”
“It’s ancient,” Sawyer shook his head. “It hasn’t fired in decades. What makes you think it would work even with charges?”
“I can make it fire. I just need a few parts,” Wil looked up at the cannon, his hands moving to his hips before he looked back to Sawyer. “If we get that cannon working, we have a method of attack no faction on the planet can defend. Think about it; no hand-to-hand combat, no small arms fire, no civil war, no massacre.”
Sawyer looked at the men around him, each staring at him with anxious, excited eyes as they waited for his answer. “We take the information to Lieutenant Pierce.”
“Agreed,” Wil nodded once and turned toward the door. “Right after I fix it.”
“Where are you going?”
“The armory in the training facility,” Wil answered, peeking out the door toward the still smoldering domiciles. “I need those charges and tools.”
“Whoa! Five minutes ago, you didn’t want to leave this building and now you want to cross to the other side of the compound?” Maverick’s disbelief was clear. “What’s changed?”
“Purpose,” Carl answered in Wil’s place, his head nodding in approval of the younger man’s plan.
“You want to steal from the training facility.” Sawyer stated Wil’s intent, but his friend regarded it as a question.
“Well, yeah. They aren’t just going to give us what we need without an explanation.” Wil’s expression questioned Sawyer’s intelligence. “We don’t have time for that.”
“And what makes you think they’re just going to let us walk in and take what we want?” Sawyer asked incredulously.
“Everything is chaos because of the firebomb; they aren’t going to notice two people out of place.” Wil waved off Sawyer’s concern. “They aren’t using them for anything. Besides, once we get her up and running they won’t care how we did it.”
“We’re not stealing anything.” Sawyer insisted. “I think this family has stolen enough for one day. We should go to Lieutenant Pierce.”
“Two more fuel cells,” Carl added to Wil’s list as he rifled through the papers on his table.
“Got it,” Wil nodded absently at the older man’s request as he cracked open the door to look outside.
Sawyer growled in frustration; “Didn’t you just hear me? We take this to the Lieutenant.”
Wil look back at Sawyer. “I heard you; I get it. You want to go to Lieutenant Pierce – fine – but there is someone with firebombs out there aiming at large buildings in our Sect. I’m not willing to risk our best shot at defending ourselves because of bureaucratic red tape.” Sawyer opened his mouth to add argument, but Wil didn’t allow him the chance. “Sawyer, think about this. You saw those photos; you know what Beta Sect is planning. As much as I hate admitting the turd ever gets anything right…”
“Hey!” Maverick protested.
“This time, he’s right.” Wil waved off Maverick’s indignant crossing of his arms. “Without that cannon, it doesn’t matter how many men Alpha throws at this war or how prepared the Lieutenant is; a lot of people are going to die.”
“We go to Lieutenant Pierce as soon as it’s working,” Sawyer ceded to Wil’s logic as he recognized the look of determination on his friend’s face – once Wil had an idea in his head, there was no stopping him.
“No! You can’t go out there!” Maverick shouted as Sawyer moved toward the door. His brother’s hand was cold and shaking where it gripped desperately at his forearm.
Sawyer turned and addressed his brother. The fear in the young man’s eyes like nothing he’d ever seen in Maverick before. “What is it?”
“What is it? Have you looked outside?” Maverick’s voice shook.
“Yes, I have.” Sawyer kept his tone just above a whisper.
“People are dying out there!” a tear slipped his control and was quickly wiped away. “Wait for Carl to get the ship rolling, then we can all go in the Anastasis.”
“That could take hours. People are hurt and scared. We can’t wait hours to do something. If we’re about to be at war, we need to defend ourselves.” Maverick’s face broke, tears slipping unchecked from his eyes. Sawyer placed his hands on his brother’s shoulders and faced him square. “Mav, I can’t let him go alone and we won’t be near the larger buildings; the training facility is on the other side of the agriculture areas. Whoever is firing at us would be stupid to destroy our crops. Right now, this is our best option.”
“Our best option is one of Wil’s ideas,” Maverick’s ugly laugh hiccupped and reverberated off the aluminum walls.
“Hey!” Wil balked at the insult, but his voice lacked malice.
“There has to be another way that doesn’t involve you going out there!”
“I’m open to suggestions,” Sawyer’s calm offer was met with silence as he knew it would be. “We will contact Lieutenant Pierce, get the supplies we need, and help those we can before the flats get worse.”
“And the longer we wait,
