“We are under attack!” a Changeling soldier said into his radio. “I repeat, we are under attack!”
I kicked him in the stomach, sending him sprawling, unconscious, across the floor.
I ran to Alice’s pod and tore the lid off, shortcircuiting the system. I picked her up and placed her gently on the floor.
“What’s… What’s happening?” Alice said, peering around at the ship. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Just a few minutes,” I said.
Her eyes caught on the black circles on my flesh where the soldiers had jabbed their rods. They were already healing.
“You’re healing so fast…” she said.
“I’m a Titan,” I said, and pressed my lips to hers. “And I have found my one true love.”
I kissed her, and I swear to God, she tasted even better than I remembered. I knew deep in my heart there was no way I could ever part from her again.
A siren wailed as a squadron of soldiers raced in cars toward us.
“They’re chasing us?” Alice said.
“I attacked their commander,” I said. “And I couldn’t free you from your pod after we took off, so I had to take action now.”
“What about your dreams?” Alice said. “What about the farm on Arcturon Prime?”
I smiled at her. “I have a better dream now.” I picked her up. “Come on. We’re going to take this colony down. And I’m going to need your help to do it.”
“We won’t have long,” I said, hustling onto the flight deck. “These colonies are built like miniature fortresses. If they figure out what we’re about to do, they’ll shoot us down.”
Alice nodded but didn’t appear concerned. “What can I do?”
I set her on her feet. “Get to that terminal over there. Those are the weapons systems. I need you to target the holographic bubble generator. It’s what makes the colony look like a regular town.”
Alice stared at the console. “I don’t understand. It’s so complicated.”
“Give your translator strip a moment to translate everything,” I said.
“My translator strip…” Alice said.
She reached into her pocket, unfolded the strip, and placed it on her neck. “Okay. I see it.”
“Open fire,” I said, taking my position behind the pilot station.
I took off as the Changeling soldiers fired at us with their plasma pistols. I drifted between the other smuggler ships to avoid the worst of the gunfire.
More human females were being loaded on the other ships. I shook my head in disgust. “This has gone on for far too long.”
It needed to end. Now.
“Message received,” Computer said.
“Discard,” I said. The last thing I needed was to hear angry words from the Changeling command.
Alice charged up the weapons systems and opened fire, striking those firing on us.
I made a bee-line for the generator, still concealed behind the main hangar buildings.
Heavy-duty cannons unfurled along the embankments, locking on to us and opening fire.
Our ship shuddered as it took heavy fire. I swerved the worst of it but one round in ten was enough to down us within minutes.
A round blew through the screen and melted the metal over my shoulder, searing red-hot holes in the hull.
I ground my teeth and shifted direction before turning a corner.
Finally, we had a visual of it. The holographic bubble generator. It had the appearance of a small local library. The one place no one in a party town would ever want to visit.
“The library!” I said. “Fire at the library!”
“What about the cannons?” Alice bellowed.
“We’ll never take them all down!” I yelled. “The library! That’s our goal!”
Once destroyed, all the illusions around the town would fail. The humans would see the town for what it really was.
A trap.
Alice aimed every available weapon at the holographic bubble generator.
I strafed left to right to avoid the worst of the alien gunfire but it was only a short term strategy. Their plasma bolts burned through my ship like a hot knife through butter.
The console flashed red with warning signals. I slapped it off. I didn’t need to know about something I couldn’t do anything about.
“Come on, baby,” I muttered to the ship. “You can do this. Just a little further.”
The ship shuddered hard. The left wing engine exploded as it took a direct hit from one of the pulse cannons. It burst into flames.
Silent Shadow dropped on that side. We leaned over, lopsided, and continued barreling forward, shooting at the generator.
Were we having any effect? It was hard to tell. It was only when—
And then it happened.
The library’s fake front shifted, turning pixelated, like a corrupt file on a computer hard drive.
“What’s happening?” Alice said. “What’s going on?”
“It’s working!” I yelled. “Just keep firing!”
Right now, the same thing would be happening all over town. Storefronts would warp, revealing the hard grey shells beneath. A flatpack town mass-produced in a distant factory.
We took another shot—this time to the engine on the opposite wing. We dropped, barely able to clear the ground. But we kept going, kept floating forward, drawing nearer to the colony’s defense turrets.
The Changelings always won. It was a universal rule of the galaxy. They always got their way.
But maybe not today. Maybe today, it would be a small victory for the peace-loving species.
Barreling toward the flicking library front, our engines gave up the ghost and we drifted forward under our momentum.
“Computer!” I bellowed. “Release the pods! All of them!”
“Pods released,” Computer said.
The alien creatures would skim across the ground and awaken in what would look like a warzone.
The fake library rushed up fast until it filled the entire screen.
“Brace for impact!” I yelled.
I grabbed the console with both hands. Alice did the same with her own.
We smashed into the holographic bubble generator and I had no idea if we would ever open our eyes again.
Sparks hissed in blossoming flowers from the computer terminals. Acrid smoke issued from singed wires and burning consoles.
I climbed to my feet. My balance was off and I slipped, falling to the floor. I waited for a moment on my hands and knees before regaining my balance.
“Computer,” I said, my voice heavy with
