Chapter 1
They had hours, if they were lucky. But Doctor Kade would notice they were gone, eventually. Sooner if Bates or T couldn’t keep their mouths shut. Sooner if someone saw them enter the docking bay. Sooner if someone headed to the med building and noticed Alyssa was gone. Sooner if… well, sooner if a million things.
She took a deep breath. She couldn’t afford to panic, and there wasn’t any room for mistakes. They weren’t taught how to fly the older models in the academy, and while the controls weren’t too impossible, a mistake could cost them their lives. And she was a good pilot, but they’d trained her for command and for dealing with unorthodox situations, not flying Explorers.
She heard Ace coming up the ladder to the cockpit. His stomp always was distinctive. She kept her eyes on the display as he swung into the tiny room. She could feel his presence behind her- the corporal was a big man, and the cockpit was already crowded with supplies.
She heard him take a seat next to her, without looking. “Any idea where we’re going?” he asked gruffly.
“Not yet. Did Clem find anything on the scanners?” she replied.
“Dunno. I’ll send her up,” he pulled himself out of his seat and paused, “It’s just, don’t expect much. She’s still shaken up, and, well. None of us are really focused, not after…” Ace trailed off. She wondered how much it must have cost him, to admit that to her.
“I know,” Jane replied softly, “Trust me, I know.” She finally looked back as Ace headed to the passenger area of the Explorer. He didn’t look any better than she imagined she did- he hadn’t had time to change out of his uniform, and it was covered in dirt and blood. She refused to allow herself time to think about whose blood would be on Ace’s regs. He had a nasty scrape on his cheek, there wasn’t anyone to take care of that now. Maybe Alyssa could take up medic duties. She stopped him as he stepped down on the ladder, “ Ace, get that looked at. Think about how mad Rus’ll be…” she stopped herself, struck by grief, “would be if you got an infection,” she finished quietly.
Looking as numb as Jane felt, Ace nodded and left the cockpit. She used the time before he sent Clem up to recover her composure. There wasn’t time for grief. Rus deserved better, but it was the truth. She needed time to herself to process everything that she’d learned and that had happened in the past 24 hours.
As she waited, Jane navigated them out of Cere’s orbit. She was lucky the dwarf planet had largely cleared the area around itself, she had no desire to navigate through the debris present in most of the asteroid belt.
The belt presented another problem. The raiders who’d attacked Olympus must have been able to get through unscathed, but the route through was known only to the colony’s command and support branches. She didn’t want to follow that line of thought. Being told there might be a mole was one thing, but the people giving her orders being traitors was worse.
Jane was interrupted mid thought by Clem climbing into the cockpit. She'd hoped her tech expert could figure out where the raider had gone after the attack. There were few places they could hide nearby, and if her theory was right they'd be close enough to strike the colony again.
Jane fiddled with the controls and managed to find the auto pilot. It should be fine without her at the controls for a few minutes.
"Captain, I think I've found them! We've got something on the maps, a group of small bodies around one of the larger asteroids close to Ceres," Clem exclaimed. She looked as bedraggled as the other members of the squad, her beloved pink trucker hat missing from its customary position and burn marks along the front of her uniform.
"Where? Let's set a course to go get those bastards,"she responded.
But before Clem could tell her, Jane turned around to deal with an alarming beeping coming from the controls. "Oh s***. We're almost out of fuel," Jane swore. "I really hope that base is somewhere close by, because we don't have enough fuel for more than a few hours travel."
Eyes wide, Clem nodded, "It's only about a half hour away. They're hiding in plain sight.  Here, lemme put the coordinates in." She clamored into the pilot's seat as Jane stood.
"I'm going to get the gear ready. We have no idea what we're going to find, so be prepared," her warning fell on deaf ears as Clem focused on the controls.
Jane smiled sadly at her oblivious friend. Clem always dove into her work when things went wrong. Maybe it was just a coping method, but it was reassuring to see her acting a little like herself when everyone else was still so shook up. Jane headed down to talk to Ace and the doctor while Clem watched the controls.
The transport had plenty of room for them, since it was meant to hold dozens of people and all their supplies. She headed to the small med bay, figuring that both Ace and Alyssa would be down there. But when she arrived in the tiny room, she only found Alyssa.
"Did Ace stop down here to get his injuries looked at?" She was asked the doctor.
Startled, Alyssa looked up from where she was organizing medical supplies. Standing up, she replied, "No, I haven't seen him. I didn't even know he was injured."
Jane sighed, "Figures. If he dies from an infection I'm putting 'I told you so' on his grave.
"Yes, because that will teach him," she responded dryly. "Did you need something from me?"
"We've got a location for the group that attacked the colony. We'll be there within the hour, so be prepared. I need you to get the med bay ready in case anyone gets injured when we head down to the surface," Jane said.
She was prepared for a fight with Alyssa, even though arguing was the last thing she needed. Expectedly, the Doctor immediately snapped back, “You can’t honestly think you’re leaving me behind. I’m going with you.”
"You have no military training and there's no reason for you to come with. You'll do more good here," Jane returned.
The doctor slammed the bottle she was holding down on the table and responded tightly, "Rus was my friend too. You're not the only one who wants to get the bastards who killed him."
Jane tried to argue, "That’s not the point. I don’t want you hurt too."
Alyssa continued like she hadn’t heard her response, "And besides, you need me. If someone gets injured you won’t be able to get them to me. I need to be there. And I'm the only one who can identify the leader of the group - no one else saw his face," she finished smugly.
It was a weak excuse, but Jane didn't need much to convince her. Honestly, she didn't want to leave Alyssa behind. She didn't want to leave anyone behind. So she sighed out, "Fine," and turned to leave, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Jane, he wouldn't- it was his choice. It’s not your fault-he wouldn’t want you to blame yourself," she said softly.
Jane answered without turning around, "He was a member of my crew. I should have kept him safe." She walked away before Alyssa could say anything.
Shoving their discussion to the back of her mind, Jane went to look for Ace. There were only a few places where he could be hiding. Knowing Ace, he was probably checking and rechecking the weapons. He always did when he was upset.
So Jane headed to the back of the Explorer, where they'd stored most of their weapons and gear. She had to head there anyway, to decide what they'd be taking with them. The shuttle had room for all of them to carry weapons, but not for any heavy artillery or explosives. Clem wouldn’t be happy.
Ace was exactly where she expected him to be. He had out his guns and was cleaning them. "Did you speak to Clem?" She asked him, figuring he already knew she was there.
"Yep. We're closing in on the enemy. I think we'll want the pistols and assault rifles," he muttered.
Jane shook her head,"We don't have room for everyone to carry two guns. And we only taught Alyssa how to use the pistol."
Ace looked up at that, "We're taking the doc? Why?"
She sighed, "It wasn't worth the fight. You know how close she and Rus were. She deserves to come."
Rus didn't look convinced, but he knew better than to argue. "What are we going to do when we get to the base?", he asked.
Jane looked grim, "Kill the bastards who killed Rus. Figure out who betrayed us, and then go after them."
           "So simple. Are we so sure someone in command betrayed us?"
She shook her head again, "There's no other explanation. It's the only way they could have known when to attack and where the colony was. Someone gave us up."
"You know I'm always up for a fight. But going after command.... it's not the best idea we've ever had," he admitted.
Jane snorts, "If you want good ideas you're in the wrong squad. We're the 'reckless and brave ideas’ squad.  And we owe it to Rus."
He hesitates, "Revenge is ugly. Didn't you ever read Hamlet?"
Jane laughs, "This isn’t a Shakespeare play. No one’s going to get poisoned," but despite her light hearted reply, she wondered if he wasn't right.
She left him to set up the gear- he'd make sure they were ready to head in. It was Clem she was worried about. It wasn't that she was didn't think she could handle herself in a fight- Jane had seen plenty of evidence to the contrary. But she wasn't big on the idea of revenge, and she wouldn't be happy when she heard they were going in guns blazing.
So it was that Jane stepped into the cockpit with a heavy heart. She didn't want to do this mission without Clem, but if she was dead set against it....
"Boss. What's the plan?" Clem asked in an unusually sober tone.
Taking a deep breath, Jane explained, "We land as quietly as possible, and infiltrate the base. We know there's only a few ships on the asteroid, so we shouldn't come up against too much resistance. You and Alyssa  head off to look for any information about the mole and the group's plans. Ace and me will clear out any stragglers.  We take the info to command and hope they don't discharge us for going AWOL."
Clem stood still for a minute, looking deep in thought. "Okay, that's a plan that hopefully won’t get us all killed. But... are we really going to kill everyone in the base?" She questioned.
"They attacked Olympus. They killed our people, the people we were supposed to protect. They killed Rus. This is what we have to do," Jane responded steadily.
Clem still didn't look certain, but she nodded. "You know I'm with you. It's just that I'm not certain this is the," she hesitated for a moment, "the right thing."
"We're protecting our people. It's our job," Jane said, quietly.
Clem nodded again. "I know," she said, just as quietly. "We should send any data we find to T. Having a second copy would be safer," she changed the subject abruptly.
"Would it put him in danger? If Kade found it, I mean," Jane asked.
Clem shook her head, "No. At least, not any more than if he found the data he and Bates originally sent us. And Kade never checks the scientists' work, so they should be fine. They deserve to know what going on, considering they found out he was selling us out first."
Jane sighed, "I just wish they'd been able to find out who was working with Kade in command. It's good to know he's in it, but it'd be better if we knew more."
Clem shrugged,"If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride."
Jane made a face at her and then went to take over controls. They were approaching the asteroid and she needed to land the Explorer.

Chapter 2
Ten minutes later they all stood at the exit of the transport craft. Ace had made sure they had all the gear they would need. Clem had even managed to fit some of her beloved explosives into her pack.
Jane had pulled her blond hair into a ponytail and tucked it into her helmet.They were all wearing full suits, since they had no idea if the enemy base had artificial atmosphere or gravity.  At least it meant that they had changed out of their dirty clothes from the attack earlier. The suits also offered some protection from concussive blasts and any biological weapons. Jane wanted to have the squad as protected as possible. She wasn’t losing anyone else.
“Alright, Hawk squad, move out,” Jane ordered when the shuttle doors opened. They’d reduced their signature as much as possible, but they’d be picked up on the security system sooner or later. “We stay together until we’ve eliminated the majority of the guard. Then we split up and achieve our objectives,” Jane could feel her brain switch into combat mode and welcomed the focus that came with it. For the first time in the past 24 hours her mind was clear.
The four tramped through the airlock into the base proper. Jane took point, with Ace on her left and Clem on the right. Alyssa guarded their rear, the safest position.
The first guard came upon them as they turned a corner. He didn’t have a chance to do more than raise his gun before Jane shot him. She heard the doctor catch her breath at the death, but she was too busy moving forward to really register it. She barked out, “Ace, pull the body into one of these side rooms. Clem and I will check the rest. Doctor, watch our backs.” The squad nodded and begin their respective tasks.
Jane and Clem took turns sweeping each room, checking to make sure they were empty. All were- it looked like the base was largely abandoned. But it didn’t have the dust and smell of disuse to show that it’d been empty long.
“They’re cleaning up. They either got what they wanted when they attacked Olympus or they think their going to get it soon,” Clem said. Jane nodded agreement.
They both whirled when they heard gunfire break out. Taking cover on either side of the door, they peered around quickly to figure out what was going on. Ace and the doctor were pinned down, until Clem grabbed one of her creations and threw it down the hall. The explosion that followed was misleadingly quiet, and when the smoke cleared it was obvious the grenade had taken care of any enemies in the hall.
“Report,” Jane ordered.
“They must have heard the shots earlier. Full squad, but they were sloppy. Just like the ones who attacked the colony,” he reported briskly.
Jane looked at Alyssa, “Holding up okay, doc?”
She looked pale, but her gun stayed steady,“I’m good, Captain,” she replied quietly.
  Jane nodded. Alyssa would have to be okay. It wasn’t her first taste of battle-the raiders took care of that- and they couldn’t take the time to ease her into it. But with a full security squad gone, they had already taken care of nearly half of their force-they’d figured from the ships they had no more than 50 men at the base.
After that, Hawk squad moved quickly through the rest of the base. They swept the building in circles, moving closer to the center and hopefully to the information they needed. Meeting small groups along the way, they managed to take out all but a few guards.
Jane stopped the squad before they entered the last room. They hadn’t found the commander or the evidence yet, everything rested on what they were about to find. Whoever was in there knew they were coming. From their estimates, they should be about five people in this last room. Turning to look at her squad mates, Jane thought she should probably say something. A rousing speech about their losses and how they’d be heroes and avenge their friends. Something inspiring. Instead, she just nodded and turned back to the door.
Raising her hand and making a fist, she rushed into the room, throwing a smoke grenade ahead of her, gun at the ready. Immediately someone fired at her and Jane dove to her left. Managing to find cover she provided suppressing fire for Ace, Clem, and Alyssa. They’d confused the enemy and quickly took out three guards. When those were gone, there was only one man left.
“Jane, he’s the leader I saw during the attacks,” Alyssa yelled to her.
Almost at the same time, the man shouted a surrender. “Drop your weapons and kick them towards us,” she yelled from behind the table she’d overturned for cover.
After hearing the thump and scrape that showed he’d done as she asked, Jane stood up. The rest of her squad fell in behind her. She kept her gun pointed at him as she asked Alyssa, "This is him? You’re sure?”.
In a steady tone that made Jane proud, she responded, “I’m sure. It’s not really something I’d forget.”
Holstering her gun. Jane strode up to him and yanked his arm behind his back. Yelping, he fell to the ground. She grinned evilly, “Oh good. I’ve got some questions for you.”
It wasn’t that easy to get the information they needed. Jane and Ace were forced to use some creative measures, as he dubbed them. Jane had sent Clem and the doctor to look for evidence on any computers in the facility, partially because she thought it would be useful and partially because she didn’t want them to see the beating. Clem had hesitated on the way out, clearly aware of what would happen when she left the room and uncomfortable with it. But she followed Alyssa out after a moment.
When the two returned, Jane had managed to get all the information they needed. Both her and Ace were white and tight-lipped. Quickly, they explained what they had found out.
The reason there wasn’t any real security was because most of the force had left for a final attack on Olympus. They’d taken a new spaceship designed for war-the first of its kind. They were calling her the Nemesis.
Clem was able to explain how they’d gotten such an advanced piece of technology. “It’s worse than we thought. They’re operating under the orders of Admiral Mace.”
jane felt the blood drain out of her face. “An admiral? I’d never thought,” She shook her head and paced, incredulous, “ I’d never thought the corruption would be so high up.” She turned again to face Clem, “ Did you find out why? Nothing could excuse this, but..”
She nodded, “It’s like Bates thought. He knew it was weird Kade wanted him looking at the mineral makeup of Ceres. They found gold-well, Painite.”
Ace frowned, “What the hell is that?”
“According to Bates, its the rarest mineral in the world. Only its much more common here in the meteorite belt,” Clem explained, “If Kade and Mace get the colony shut down, they can start a mine and control the trade. They’d be rich.”
Furious, Ace exploded, “ Money? They killed Rus for money!” Suddenly, he pulled out his pistol and put it to the raider’s commander’s temple. He already had scrapes across his face, and blood dripped slowly from his nose.
“Ace, what the hell are you doing?” Jane said sharply.
“He helped them! Because of him, Rus is dead,” Ace said loudly. But his hand shook on the trigger, and the safety was still on.
Clem said, shocked, “ That’s not what we do, Ace. We can’t kill him.”
Jane interrupted, “Why shouldn’t we? Ace is right-he killed Rus. And they’d just execute him for treason if we turned him over.” The squad looked shocked that she’d agreed with Ace.
Alyssa looked shaken, but Clem argued, “Captain, you know that’s not right. It’s just your anger speaking. And,” here she hesitated, “ he wouldn’t want this. This is everything Rus fought against. And you know that, but you’re letting your desire for revenge control you.  Don't ruin his memory like this."
            For a moment, no one moved. Clem watched Jane closely, and there were long seconds where she was afraid she hadn’t swayed Jane. Then, closing her eyes, Jane slumped against the wall. Barely loud enough to be heard, she whispered,  "I know. I just... I let him down. I have to fix it somehow."
             Clem urged, "Not like this. He wouldn't want this."
            Standing up straight,  Jane nodded at Clem. Trying to keep her voice steady, she told Ace, "Tie him up. We'll leave him for the authorities to find.  We can skuttle the ships, but we need to take a small one with us."
            Ace looked relieved as he put his gun away, and he hoisted their prisoner up. " Come on doc, I saw some rope in one of the side rooms," he said as he pulled her along with him.
          When they'd left the room, an awkward silence filled the space between Jane and Clem. Slowly, the tension seemed to seep out of the captain and she smiled sadly. Softly, she told her friend, “I didn’t know you’d taken over as team conscience,” then, sobering, Jane said, “But really, thanks. I don’t… I don’t want to think what I would have done if you hadn’t stopped me.”
Clem smiled, "What are friends for?"
"I owe you, Clem," said Jane. Quickly she wiped at her eyes and stepped back.
"I take payment in shoes and weapons," she replied promptly. Both laughed, ending the emotional moment.
"Let’s go, we probably shouldn’t subject the doctor to being stuck with Ace too long,” Jane joked. “And we have to take care of the shuttles," she reminded.
Falling into step beside beside the captain, Clem asked curiously,  "Why do we need one of their shuttles?".
Grinning, Jane responded, "Trust me, you're going to love this plan."

Chapter 3
Missive from desk of Admiral Mace:
Hawk squad confirmed AWOL. The rogue squad executed an attack on a nearby facility.  I will be taking command of the retrieval mission. They are believed to be in the local area around Ceres.
Lethal force authorized. Targets considered extremely dangerous and are heavily armed. Shoot to kill on sight.

Jane was right. Clem loved the plan.  After they had taken care of the rest of the ships,  she'd started working on the one they 'liberated'. She'd need to be finished with it before they engaged the Nemesis.
They had also taken enough fuel to get them back to Olympus. Jane was pushing the Explorer to get back before the battle began. Without them the colony didn't stand stand a chance.
According to their leader, they’d taken about a hundred men with them. But they didn’t expect to need them, because of the Nemesis. They’d pound the colony with heavy fire from orbit, safe with the defense grid offline.
It was these facts that Jane based her plan on. Yes, they’d be safe from ground forces. But they wouldn’t think to expect an attack from supposedly empty space, and that’s where they’d hit them. The only hitch was how to get in-they would never be able to dock their explorer to their ship.
So they had to take out the Nemesis without boarding her. That’s where Clem and the stolen shuttle came in. She would wire it with autopilot, and then load it up with as many explosives as possible. It’d fly itself close to the enemy ship and then blow her to pieces. According to Clem, it was a “beautiful idea”. Ace had wondered how the pretty, petite girl could be so terrifying. Ignoring the banter, Jane had sent them all off to do their jobs.
She needn’t have worried-Clem finished the shuttle with enough time to add a new paint job and name. With the extra time she told Clem to update Bates and T on what was going on, and to give them access to the system so they could help too.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jane couldn’t help laughing at the newly christened, bright pink Persephone . They’d apparently reached Ace’s limit for the day, because he left to check on Alyssa in the med bay after getting a glance at it.
It was only a few minutes after that that Jane piloted the Explorer into the empty space around Ceres’ orbit.  It was clear they’d arrived just in time, the Nemesis was drifting into orbit around the dwarf planet. In a few minutes, they’d start battering the Olympus. They had to act fast, everyone surface side would be killed when the ship opened fire.
Jane pulled up a comm link to Clem in the loading dock. “Clem, send it out quick. We don’t have time to make it pretty,” she stated.
“Hey! The Persephone  is plenty pretty,” she protested.
“Clem…” Jane began.
“I got it, she’s on her way out for her playdate with Nemesis,” Jane could imagine the wicked grin on her face as she sent the shuttle on her way. Then her voice came back, panicked, “Captain, it’s not working. Something’s gone wrong with the autopilot.”
She could here Clem frantically hitting keys, trying to get the shuttle to work. “Clem, I need an update, you have to get it to work,” Jane responded, trying to keep her voice steady.
“There’s no way, its an older model and it’s not compatible with the software. I don’t know, it looked like it was going to work but it’s not,” Clem sounded like she was at the edge of tears.
“What about T? He’s a tech genius, maybe he can think of something,” Jane asked.
“I’m sorry, Captain. I already checked, there isn’t anything we can do,” Clem replied softly.
Jane thought rapidly. Not sending the shuttle wasn’t an option. If they didn’t deal with the Nemesis Olympus would be destroyed. Everyone there would die-people who were under her protection. It was her job to keep them safe.
Jane knew what she had to do. The rest of the squad would never agree, but there wasn’t another way. She was the only one who knew how to fly a shuttle. “Clem, I’m coming down. Prep the shuttle for manual control,” she ordered.
“What? But there isn’t anyone to… Jane! You can’t, you’ll die.”
“It’s got an escape pod. I can get the shuttle close and set off the explosives,” Jane ignored the fact that the escape pods weren’t meant for open space, and that even if it did work there wasn’t a chance she’d survive the explosion. “You told me earlier to honor Rus’s memory. Well, he died saving Olympus. I won’t let his sacrifice go to waste,” Jane continued fiercely.
When Jane strode into the loading bay, Clem was working on the shuttle. Turning to her, she wiped her eyes and saluted, “All ready, Captain.”
Jane was glad she wouldn’t have to fight with her over this. It was hard enough as it was. Smiling sadly, she saluted her friend back, “Keep an eye on Ace and the doctor for me. And tell them.. well, you can think of something.”
Clem shook her head, “I’ll let you tell them when you get back. Plenty of time to think of something witty when you’re piloting the Persephone .”
Swallowing, Jane could feel tears building behind her eyes. Quickly, before they could fall, she strode over to the shuttle. With one last look at her friend, she swung her tall frame inside. Clem backed into the control room and opened the bay doors for her. Taking a deep breath, she put her hands on the controls and piloted out the doors, into space.
It seemed to take forever to get close to the Nemesis. The enemy might be monitoring comm channels, so she was on her own. It would have been nice, to hear her squad’s voices before she ended this mission, but she used the silence to reflect. When she was little, she thought she’d be like a superhero when she joined the Air Force. Ending wars singlehandedly, fighting nameless evils, everything they did in the movies. It hadn’t been like that. Jane saved lives, but it was bloody and ugly and no one threw them her a parade. And she never did it alone. Always, her squad was at her back. None of them wore capes-but she liked to think they might be heroes anyway. Now she was in one of the situations her ten year old self had always imagined. But she wasn’t going to be a superhero, she was just going to be dead.
With that morbid thought, Jane realized she was just about to hit the hull of the Nemesis. For a moment, she let herself close her eyes and cry. But she had a job to do, so she pulled herself together and started the countdown with the tears still wet on her cheeks. Knowing it was pointless, she also punched out, hitting the eject button. In slow motion, she felt her seat being pulled into the escape pod. With a soft whoosh, the small metal sphere shot itself away from the Persephone .
Still watching time pass as if through honey, she felt the explosion a moment before she saw it. The red and orange that colored the darkness of space was sealed behind her eyelids as her pod shuttered and was slammed away. Jane cried out as she was flung into the ceiling. Bleeding from a nasty gash, her last sight before she fell into unconsciousness was a mix of debris and mangled bodies from the Nemesis. The corpse of one of the men floated past her small window, sightless eyes staring vacantly at her.

Chapter 4
Eventually, she felt the darkness start to recede. Groaning, she could feel every bruise on her body as she become aware of her surroundings again. “I thought being dead was supposed to be peaceful, not painful,” she managed to say. “How the hell did I survive?”
Relieved laughter broke out as she finally opened her eyes and saw the faces of her crew above her. Alyssa was closest, holding a nasty looking syringe and some bandages. Seeing her wake up, the doctor sat back on her heels and gave the injured woman some space. “Glad to see you back with us, Captain,” she said.
Clem was the first to answer her question, “The initial blast shoved your shuttle away from the shrapnel and bigger explosions. And you still wouldn’t have made it, except it put you right in our path. We were able to scoop you up before you ran out of air.”
Ace offered a hand to held her up, pulling her to her feet. Suddenly, he pulled Jane into a bone-crushing hug. Surprised, Jane teased him after he let her go, “Wow. I didn’t know you cared, Corporal.”
“I don’t have the patience to train another captain,” he replied.
Looking over at the other two women, she saw that Clem had been crying. “Hey, no tears. You’re supposed to cheer when I survive a suicide mission against all odds.”
Laughing, Clem gave a weak hurrah. “Can we never do this again, though? I think one suicide mission is all I can handle,” she replied.
Smiling, Jane saluted her. Ace rolled his eyes and said, “This is very touching, but you’re the only one who can fly the Explorer and I, for one, would like to get back to Olympus.”
Jane nodded and started back to the cockpit. The other three stayed behind in the med bay, laughing and talking together.
  It was another fifteen minutes before she began the landing process. Jane heard someone come up the ladder, but didn’t take her eyes of the controls. Walking over to her chair, Clem leaned against her shoulder, silently watching as Jane navigated the Explorer into one of the ship ports on the outskirts of Olympus. Settling back into her seat, Jane wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and sleep.
“Hey Captain, it’s not nap time,” Clem teased, “we have to go and finish this.”
“You think it’d be over after we blew up the bad guys. And I think I’ve earned a nap, considering,” she sighed. Standing, she set her shoulders and smiled at her friend. “Did you get through to T?”
Clem nodded, “He said he would talk to the security team that arrived earlier. He seemed pretty sure he could get them to help. But I don’t think they’ll find any survivors.”
“I made it,” Jane replied, pensive. Clem didn’t look convinced.
Together the two walked to the airlock. Meeting up with Ace and Alyssa at the doors, they walked through together. As they stepped onto Olympus, they were immediately greeted by an exuberant shout.
“I knew the shuttle had to be you!” cried Bates, as energetic and hyped on coffee as he’d been when they had left. The geologist had been the one to bring them the evidence of a leak after the attack, along with his best friend T. Their expertise, especially T’s technical and computer knowledge, had helped them on their renegade mission.
Smiling, Clem responded, “Bates! It’s so nice to see a friendly face for once.”
“I was really expecting guns and handcuffs,” Alyssa mused. As if on cue, the door across from them burst open and ten armed soldiers strode in.
“Oh, you just had to say something,” grumbled Ace. He and the others held up their hands as a burly woman leveled her gun at them.
Scrambling, Bates moved into between the two groups. Jane hissed at him, “Get out of the way before you get shot, idiot!”
Ignoring her, Bates implored the woman, “Sergeant Jael, you can’t. They just saved us.” Jane caught her breath as he even reached to push away her gun, hoping desperately that he didn’t get himself killed. “It’s just Captain Reed and the rest, they’re harmless, I swear,” he continued. Alyssa snorted softly at that.
The sergeant-my replacement, Jane thought-quickly holstered her gun and pulled Bates behind her. He stumbled, and one of the other soldiers caught him.
Her voice deep, the woman addressed Bates but looked at Jane, “Doctor Bates, I’m under strict orders to shoot Hawk squad on sight. The only reason I haven’t is because she just saved all of our asses with that little stunt.”
Unconsciously, Jane put her hand over her pistol. Clem, however, noticed and paled. “Captain, don’t. We don’t have to fight them,” she said as quietly as she could. Startled, Jane realized where her hand rested. Pulling it away from her gun, she considered her options. There was a part of her that wanted to ignore Clem. To get her revenge on everyone who played a part, no matter how small or unknowing, in the betrayal that had left a member of her squad dead. To give in to her anger.
But Clem had been right. Rus would never want that. And she didn’t get to give in to her anger. That wasn’t who she was, and she never wanted to become that kind of person. Jane knew that the faces of the raiders she had killed would soon appear behind her eyes whenever she tried to sleep, and that her dreams would be soaked red. She didn’t need more blood on her hands.
So she nodded, slowly. Quietly, she she told Clem, “I know. I think we might be done fighting, if the sergeant is willing.”
Meeting her eyes, Jael said just as quietly, “Sometimes ending the fight is the hardest part. But I think we can manage it.”
The tension in the room began to drain. But suddenly, once again, armed soldiers streamed into the room. At the head of this new group was a man Jane recognized from the data Clem had showed her-Admiral Mace. Snarling, she pulled out her pistol. Almost immediately, she had every other weapon in the room pointed at her. The rest of her squad also grabbed their guns.
For a moment, everyone in the room was frozen. The traitorous officer broke the silence with a barked order, “I want these fugitives shot! Sergeant Jael, you were ordered to kill Hawk squad on site.”
Glaring at the man, Ace growled, “He’s the one we should be killing. He sold us out to raiders so he could get his hands on some minerals. He orchestrated the attacks on Olympus. Rus and the others died because of him. The only reason any of us are alive to be arguing is because Jane risked her life for us.”
The soldiers looked shocked. Jane figured if a fight broke out, they’d be lucky to survive for longer than a few seconds. She just hoped it was enough time to take the admiral with them.
But it was Bates who brought the admiral down. Pushing to the front of the soldiers trying to hold him back, he was waving a interface pad in the air. “It’s true,” he told them soberly, for once in his life not fidgeting, “they sent me the evidence, from a base filled with the same people that attacked Olympus.”
Frowning, the sergeant snatched the tablet away from the scientist. Looking grim, she read it quickly. Glancing up, she spoke in a hard tone, “It’s true. Admiral, I suggest you give yourself up. I’m arresting you for treason. And I have a feeling they’ll be adding murder charges as well.” Her group of soldiers, who looked like they didn’t quite understand what was happening, stepped back with Jael to stand with Hawk squad.
“You cannot honestly believe this criminal over me! She went AWOL-I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the one behind all the attacks,” Admiral Mace argued wildly. Jane’s squad stepped forward in anger at his accusations, Clem shouting back, “She just almost blew herself up to save all of you! The captain’s a better person than you could ever dream of being.” He looked around in desperation as his troops began to understand what was going on and moved away from him.
Jane’s hands were steady on her gun, even as she felt anger build inside her. “You doesn’t deserve to live. You killed my people, the people under my protection, in cold blood. But maybe, maybe, watching you rot in jail will be enough,” she told Mace coldly.
Jane holstered her gun and turned away. Jael nodded to her and stepped forward to roughly grab her prisoner. They watched silently as he was led from the room, protesting wildly.

Chapter 5
“I can’t believe it’s over,” Alyssa said wonderingly. Ace shook his head.
“It’s not. He wasn’t the only corrupt official, I’ll bet. Right, captain?” he asked Jane.
She breathed out deeply, “We’ve still got a lot of work to do. If nothing else, you can bet command’s going to want to hear all about this.”
Bates piped up nervously, “Um, about that. See, when you had Clem contact us, we figured you might not come out alive, to, you know, clear your name, so me and T might have, um…”
“What did you two do now?” Clem groaned.
In a rush, he told them, “Wemighthavefhackedthecamerasandsentthefootagetocommand.”
“What?” Jane exclaimed in shock.
“Also maybe leaked it to the press,” he said, sounding ashamed. “Who might have played it live on tv.”
“Like, the whole thing? The attack and the shuttle and the confrontation with Admiral Mace?” Jane asked, still somewhat in shock.
Hanging his head, Bates mumbled yes. Jane suddenly sat on the floor, putting her head between her legs.
“Everyone saw the suicide mission? Even me in the Persephone?” she asked, her voice muffled. Bates nodded again.
“Jane? Are you okay?” Clem asked, concerned.
“Here, let me check you over. It might be shock or a reaction from not eating or sleeping enough. And god knows that blast couldn’t have been good for your health,” Alyssa said worried, kneeling next to the captain.
Jane pulled her head up and laughed, a little hysterical, “I can’t. I just don’t know how to react to that,” her eyes went wide and she whipped to her feet, “Bates, you aren’t still recording, are you?” she asked.
“What? Oh, no. I stopped it when they marched Mace away,” he reassured her.
“Small mercies,” Ace muttered. He walked over and pulled Alyssa to her feet. Jane began to walk to the door, followed by the other four. She hadn’t really processed everything yet. That their mission was over, that Rus had been avenged. That she’d almost died and the whole world had seen it.
But for now, she was set on finally eating something and sleeping in her own bed. There would be time for work, and for mourning their losses, soon enough. But Jane was determined to move forward, free from the weight of revenge on her shoulders.  She smiled as her squad closed around her, Clem leaning into her on one side and Ace bumping her shoulder on the other as he argued with Alyssa.