Part 15: Skeletons Coming Out of the Closet

“Brimstone Squadron?!” Alex shouted. He looked back at the twelve ships settling into the garage. There were deep red stripes running across their wings and fuselages. Each one had a flame and sword insignia stamped on them. It was a logo that he knew too well.

Jade stormed over to Byron, grabbing him on by the shoulder. “Are you kidding me? Really? These guys? You brought in these guys?”

“Hold on a minute, I understand why you’re upset,” Byron said, trying to calm her down.

“I’ve worked with a lot of shady characters in my time, but this… this is too far,” Alex said.

“I think that you might change your mind if you knew what I knew,” Byron replied, turning to face Kwame, “Isn’t that right?”

Kwame remained silent, crossing his arms. He looked at Byron, then at the ships, and grimaced.

Alex stared at Kwame for a moment. Before he could say anything, Michael asked a question.

“I’m sorry what, exactly, is the problem?”

John answered, “This Brimstone Squadron, yeah, they’re a part of the terrorist group Sons of Abraham.”

“So? One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” Michael said.

Alex quickly responded. “That group is responsible for the most destructive terrorist attack in human history. In the chaos afterwards, millions died, the government of Earth was overthrown, and the Kilon Federation put the Terran Republic under martial, confiscating and destroying our entire space fleet in the process. And these guys…” Alex pointed toward the fights, oblivious to the pilots emerging, “these were the instrument of destruction.”

Alex turned back towards Byron. “No, this is too far. I refuse to work with anyone associated with the Sons of Abraham. Take the Bucephalus, if you have too.”

“Alex! No!” Jade shouted.

Alex put up a hand. “No, no. Jade, this is too much I won’t be a part of it. You shouldn’t be either. We both served in the fleet. I lost everything I’d spent my life working for when the Kilons came in to ‘save us from ourselves’. I know you did to. None of that would have happened without the damage caused by these people.”

Byron remained quiet, a small, smug smile spreading across his face. “Alex, would you truly refuse to work with any member of the Sons of Abraham?”

“Absolutely.”

“What if I told you that you have been working with one already?”

“Judging from current events, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if you were one, Byron.”  

“You still don’t know?” Byron said. He turned to Kwame. “Should I tell them, or should I let you?”

Kwame remained silent, glaring at Byron.

“Ok, I’ll do it,” Byron said. “Alex, Kwame here, he was involved in the Venusian attack.”

“Bull. I don’t believe it.” Alex said, shaking his head.

“It’s true,” came a reply from behind. They all turned around to see the pilots of Brimstone Squadron. The apparent leader of the squadron gestured to the others, who went to stow their gear and begin maintaining their ships. He then nodded at Byron.

“Youssef! So glad you could make it,” Byron said.

“You did not tell them before, about our coming?” Youssef asked.

“No, he sure as hell didn’t,” Jade replied. She turned to Kwame, who still had said nothing. “Did you really help these guys?”

“I did,” he said.

“What the…” she responded, shaking her head. “How could you?”

“You do not understand,” Kwame said.

“Why don’t you make us understand?” Alex asked.

Youssef walked over to the table and placed his helmet down. “Allow me. Please.”

“Go ahead,” Jade said, barely concealing her rage.

“We were, eh, manipulated. The attack was not our idea. We have needed a chance to make amends.”

“I wanted to give them that opportunity,” Byron said. “I’ve been looking into this for quite some time. There is a greater villain out there. The Sons of Abraham were twisted into doing their bidding.”

“Does that really change what they’ve done?” Jade asked.

“No. Nothing can change what we’ve done.” Kwame said. “But Youssef is right, we do want to atone for the wrong that we’ve done.”

“Kwame, man, why didn’t you ever tell me?” Alex asked, his anger receding, a note of sadness replacing it in his voice.

“I have tried, but you have always told us you do not care about what we did before we came aboard your ship. You know me, Alex, you know who I am.”

“I thought I knew.” Alex sighed. He looked at Byron. “What’s the plan from here?”

“No! That’s it?” Jade asked. “These people just say, ‘oops, it wasn’t our fault’, then we just welcome them aboard? Unbelievable!”

She turned to Youssef. “Do you know what you did? How you wrecked Earth? How what you did left it under the control of an alien master?”

“Yes, I know all too well what we’ve done,” he answered.

“Hey, we can sit here and bicker all day,” Byron interrupted, “or we can start making some plans. I’m giving these guys the chance to undo the wrong that they’ve done. Jade?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re just going to have to trust me on this.”

“I’m sorry Byron, but I don’t think I can. I’m done.” She said, beginning to walk away.

“Jade!” Alex called after her.

Kwame put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Do you still trust me?” he asked.

“I’m not thrilled aout it right now, but you and I have been through too much together. Of course I trust you.”

“Good. Let me go after her.”

“Fine, but later, we need to have a serious chat.”

“I understand,” Kwame said, jogging after Jade.

******

When he caught up to her, she was already starting the ignition sequence on Alex’s shuttle. “Jade,” he said, “let me explain.”

“Not much you can explain to me, really,” she said. “You and your pals back there ruined my life, you know?”

“Honestly, I do not know. Can you tell me?”

Jade let out a long sigh. She stopped working the controls on the shuttle, and turned her full attention to Kwame.

“I was in the fleet. I barely got a chance to fly during the Kilon war, but I’d become a wing commander by the time of the Venusian Crisis. I flew over Venus that day, too late to prevent the destruction you and your friends caused. But that was the least of things.”

“My family lived in Hong Kong, back on Earth. That was where the first riots began. It was brutal, people torn limb from limb just to get the last scraps of food. When the Kilons finally restored order, my family was just another list of names on the official casualty list. I never even had the chance to bury them, to care for them.”  Jade was fighting back tears, her hands shaking.

“The fleet was the last thing I had left, but the Kilons, they came and took that from us. The fleet commanders, they were just trying to restore order. Something got out of hand…. I still don’t understand why they destroyed the civilian leadership. But the Kilon ‘solution’, to disband the military… that took all I had left. That the people of Earth supported it all… that was the final insult.”

Kwame took her hands in his. “Jade, I am truly sorry. We too were manipulated, like the military commanders. I have hidden out here in shame for many years. With Byron now, I am having my opportunity, a chance to right my wrongs.”

“I cannot have that opportunity without you. I have fought beside you, bled with you. You are like a sister to me. Please, do not go.”

Jade pulled her hands from Kwame’s, and set them on the shuttle’s controls. She sighed, then shut down the engines. “Just give me a little time to cool off.”

“I will let Alex and Byron know. Jade?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”