Oh No, Aliens

Jack had never considered joining the military or anything like it, but he had to admit he was having fun with the tech team. Sure, they were a handful of nerds, but at least they seemed eager to accept Jack into their circle. Unlike some other macho beefcakes he knew. On the day of the attack, they had managed to use the chip to amplify the tech disabling function of one of their small drones. While the guys with the big guns took down the physical aliens, it was up to them to disable the entire ship and break the signal.

Jack hung back while Jerry took the controls and Catherine stayed in contact with the pilots. Then the screen started flickering, and Jerry cursed under his breath. Katherine pushed him out of the way to try and get the signal back.

"Get it back before that drone hits the ground," someone said through the radio.

"Easy for them to say," Jerry grumbled. "They think we play Club Penguin all day."

"Now is not the time," Katherine snapped. "We got control, but if we go to that altitude again we might lose signal again."

"We needed more time," Jerry sighed. "It was too risky."

"What if we take it outside?" Jack suggested. "Can the signal connect if it's outside?"

"Yeah," Katherine said. "But then you'd have to worry about a whole lot of other things killing you."

"If we're dead, the whole plan goes to shit," Jerry added.

"Then don't die," Jack said simply.

Katherine stared at him for a few moments, then exchanged a look with Jerry. He seemed reluctant, but nodded and started packing up their little control center. Katherine and Jack grabbed a few guns to watch his back as they ran out into the danger zone. Jerry dove to the ground and started setting up again. Sure enough, their signal was back. Katherine and Jack kept watch, every now and again shooting at some threats coming their way.

"Five minutes," Jerry shouted over all the noise. "Watch my back for five minutes and I've got it!"

"Five minutes might be a stretch," Katherine told him. "You have three minutes, tops."

Jack looked out at the chaos with wide eyes. With everything happening, he could only wonder where Hadley was. If she was safe. He snapped back into reality when a prowler got dangerously close, whipping around and shooting it right between its beady little eyes. Katherine looked over at him.

"Your aim is amazing," she exclaimed.

"It's not," he admitted. "That was just lucky. The angels are on my side today."

"I got it!" Jerry shouted.

They all looked up at the ships above them. At first, nothing happened. Their faces fell.

"I knew we weren't ready," Jerry said grimly.

Then, the lights on the ships began to flicker as there seemed to be some kind of interference within them.

"We did it," Katherine said breathlessly.

Then the prowlers started going insane.

"Get back inside," Jerry told them. "The pilots can get the rest of them. They have the high ground."

They just barely made it back inside when there was a loud explosion just outside. Jack's heart fell, knowing it was a bomb. It was absolute madness out there, and Hadley was in the middle of it. He started to go back out, but Katherine held him back.

"You're bigger help here with us," she told him. "She'll be fine."

He wasn't sure how she knew that Hadley was on his mind, but he knew she was probably right. The fight didn't last much longer after the ships were deactivated. The prowlers went apeshit and eventually started to turn on each other. Some people got caught in the crossfire, but in the end they won. The prowlers were dead, and the ships in the sky were dark and silent.

Everyone began to hug each other and celebrate, and Jack got pulled into a group hug of the rest of the engineering team. As the soldiers and pilots returned, it started to look like they were all celebrating the explosion of the Death Star. Still, he hadn't seen Hadley yet.

When everyone started retreating back to their rooms, Jack caught Katherine's arm. She was on the phone, but looked up at him.

"Sorry," he said. "Do you know where Hadley is? She's your bunkie, right?"

"I haven't seen her yet," she said softly. "Let me finish up this call so my husband knows I'm okay. Then I'll tell her you're looking for her."

Jack nodded with a sigh. He wasn't about to wait around. He managed to find Tommy next, who was in a rush to go somewhere. When he saw Jack he grinned, patting him on the shoulder.

"You had a big part of this win," he said. "You should be proud."

"Yeah," Jack said. "Sure. Uh, how's your sister? Have you seen her yet? I've been looking for an hour."

"Oh," Tommy frowned. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"She got knocked out when the bomb went off," he said. "She threw a grenade into a dogpile of prowlers and got thrown back by the blast. But don't worry, the medics say she'll be just fine. I already did all the worrying for you. She'll wake up soon. I have some people to talk to, but I was going to check back in around lunchtime."

"Good," Jack said with a relieved exhale. "Where is she?"

Tommy gave him a look he couldn't really read, but it wasn't one of anger or annoyance. He directed him to the infirmary and Jack gave him a grateful smile, rushing over there. Sure enough she was being tended to by one of the medics, peacefully sleeping in one of the cots as a medic cleaned a cut on her forehead. Jack waited until he was done before kneeling down by her side and brushing her hair out of her face gently.

"We did it," he mumbled to her. "Now wake up. It's time to go home and let the professionals do the rest."

She stirred slightly and he looked over at the table beside her, seeing that the drinking glass was empty. He picked it up and went to get her some cool water for when she woke up. When he came back, she was awake. And someone else was sitting by her side.

Brand really did have some great timing, didn't he? He helped prop her up with a pillow, and like Jack he brushed her hair out of her face again. She seemed dazed and confused, but was listening to him. After all of this, maybe this was what she wanted. Action, adventure. Maybe she didn't want to go home to a calm life.

Jack finally worked up the nerve to approach them. She seemed happy and relieved to see him, but Brand just seemed annoyed. Jack opened up the bottled water and poured some into her glass, handing it to her.

"Glad to see you're awake," Jack said. "How do you feel?"

"A little dizzy," she said. "But I'm alright. You?"

"I'm just fine," he said.

Brand gave Jack a bright movie star smile.

"That's so great," he said. "We couldn't have done it without you, kid. You and your buddies. There's so much you can do while staying far out of harms way, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked, furrowing his brow.

"Nothing," Brand said. "Just congratulating you."

"Right."

"Now," he said. "I have some field stuff to go over with Hadley. If you don't mind giving us a few moments?"

Hadley seemed confused by this, but didn't say anything. She wasn't in any position to be thinking too hard about this right now. Jack didn't blame her. He and Brand stared each other down, but eventually Jack backed off.

"Sure," he said bitterly. "I'll catch you later."

He set down the rest of the bottled water on the table and walked away with his hands stuffed in his pockets.