Hawtness - Hawtness - Volume 2 - Chapter 14

“I don’t know how I’m going to
write this up in the report I send back to the STAR wars Cult.” Gabriel sighed,
scratching the back of his neck. “I’ll probably say something about Jane
thwarting us. That’ll probably hold up to scrutiny.”

“What do you mean by hold up to
scrutiny?!” I frowned.

“I’m just relieved things ended
so peacefully,” Andrew said, turning to
Gabriel. “Could you… um… talk to me about what’s going on? I haven’t spoken to father
since he abandoned me on Earth a few years ago. I was just getting to the age
where I was starting to learn by his leadership and suddenly he sent me away.”

Gabriel grimaced. “I’m not sure…
I’ll tell you what I can, but do me a favor and keep away from heaven for a
while?”

“Huh? Why?”

Gabriel shook his shoulders. “I
can’t say specifically. Just a feeling.”

“Where did Allan go?” Ryan asked
me as I realized I’d been eavesdropping
on the two Angels.

“Ah! That’s right, the planet
cracker!”

Gabriel immediately turned to me.
“What did you say, girl? A planet cracker?”

His intensity caused me to take a
step back. “That’s right, um… Skyf had a
planet cracker installed on the moon. My friends were heading there to stop it.
I imagine it’s all settled by now; they’re very skil-“

“Sir! We’re receiving a distress
call located near the moon.” My voice dropped off and my heart skipped a beat.

“Play it!” Gabriel insisted.

“Jane! This is Alla… we… trouble…
can’t stop… firing… run.” The words were garbled
in static, but the message was clear.

“Scans?” Gabriel looked at
another guy on a nearby terminal.

“There is a large power surge
building on the moon. At the current rate, the
discharge will occur in five minutes.”

“Five minutes?! No!” I let out a
cry, moving up. “He’s going to blow up Earth. Damn it, we have to stop him!”

Gabriel put a hand out and dropped it on my shoulder.
Instantly, I seemed to calm down. At heart, Gabriel had a cool and calm demeanor not unlike Andrew. His intense blue eyes and attractive masculine face that
hinted at the man Andrew would one day be instantly calmed me down.

“We can stop this.” He said and, in
that moment, I believed him.

“Just tell me what to do.”

“Good, good. I’ll need all of you
for this. I have several fighter-class bombers on this ship. I’ll need you to
take them to the moon. Bomb Skyf off the face of the moon. Can you guys do that
for me?”

“But, Uncle, there isn’t enough
time.”

Gabriel smiled and lifted his
hands. “Don’t worry, I’ll buy you the time. Just head to the moon. Once you get
there, I’ll send you the target we scanned out. I can delay the power surge. I
feel guilty, but I’ll be leaving the heavy lifting up to you.”

We ran down the hallways at a
lightning pace and soon I found myself facing two fighter jet-looking
spaceships.

“Uh, I can’t drive.” I threw up
my hands.

“I believe I have downloaded
sufficient information to drive this vehicle,” Ryan spoke up. “You’ll just need
to be my copilot.”

“I should be able to figure
something out on the other ship.” Andrew nodded.

“Well, that’s back to the same
problem as before; there are four seats and five people.”

“It’s fine, I’ll go with Jane and
she can just sit on my lap again,” Rune
stated.

“Actually, this time, you and
Daniel are coming with me,” Andrew said.
“And you can sit in Daniel’s lap.”

“What? Hey! That’s… I’m not
sitting on that sweaty wolf’s lap. Don’t grab me… hey! Damn it! Stop!”

Andrew and Daniel had each
grabbed one of Rune’s arms and were now dragging him into the second ship. As
he watched this, Gabriel chuckled before looking up at me as I climbed into the
cockpit and took the copilot seat behind Ryan.

“Andrew seems to be making some
good friends on Earth. Please, take care of him, won’t you?”

“Huh? Yeah, I guess… what do you-“

Gabriel had a sad look in his
eyes for a brief second before he looked away. “Just keep heading for that
moon. It’ll all work out.”

The cockpit door slammed shut,
cutting me off from the outside world. “What was that about?”

“He lied,” Ryan stated simply as he glanced back. “I detected the
vibrations in his voice. He lied when he said they could stop it.”

“Wait… he’s going to let Earth be
blown up! Ryan, stop this, we need to-“

However, the ship launched a
moment later and after a two-second
barrel down a hallway, we dropped out into the starry sky of space. We were
still above Earth and, looking down, I could see it was night now; the lights
of a million buildings dotting the landscape.

“Andrew.” Gabriel’s voice came on
over the speaker. “I’d spent a large portion of my life only thinking of myself
or the angels as a whole. I lost sight of the real picture. I’m sorry.”

“Uncle? It’s fine. We can talk
about this later,” he added.

Andrew was on a ship just like mine, although I couldn’t
see him easily outside the window.

“I should have… I should have
thought more about my family. Maybe, if I had been closer to your father, none
of this would have ever happened.”

“U-uncle, you’re confusing me.”

“You’re doing good things,
Andrew. I want you to know, I’m proud of you. Your father, the man that I knew,
he’d be proud of you as well. Just keep on that course. That Jane girl is
something special. Keep her safe. You’ll need each other in the future. I feel
it.

“What are you… no! Uncle, No!”
Andrew seemed to have finally realized what was happening.

“The charge cycle is complete,
sir…” A muffled voice occurred in the background.

“All power to the forward
shields, intercepting course.”

“No, Uncle, don’t! You don’t have
to do this!” I could hear the desperation in Andrew’s voice, and I couldn’t
help but cry along with him.

“Goodbye, Andrew.”

“Nooooo!”

A large beam exploded from the
surface of the moon and a moment later it struck a glowing surface around the STAR
Wars ship. The shields seemed to resist for a few moments, then explosions
started to rock the ship. Still, it held the beam continuing to pound into it. For
a second, it looked like the ship would survive as the beam started to grow
fainter, but just at the end the shields gave way and the beam struck the ship.
A massive fireball exploded, filling the night sky with a silent reddish glow.

“Andrew…” I said, wiping the
tears from my eyes, “I’m so sorry.”

Even though he couldn’t hear me,
I said the words anyway. Uncle Gabriel had just given his life to save the
planet. Earth was safe now.

“Jane! Jane! Please, Jane, tell
me that wasn’t you!” The voice suddenly broke over the intercom, demanding more
than asking.

“Ryan
put me on.” After I heard a click, I continued to speak. “Hey, Victor. I’m
safe. We’re on two bombers. All of us; even Ryan.”

“Oh, thank God, when I saw that
explosion, I was about ready to tear their throats out; every one of them.”

“What’s your situation?” I asked
worriedly.

“We’re… okay. The damn energy
surge we tracked was a trick. The relay was set up in a different place. We
immediately were attacked by drones and now we’re pinned down in a bunker.
Stephan was torn to pieces and my powers don’t work on anything without a
heartbeat.”

“Mine either!” Alex’s voice came
from a slight distance away. “How do you seduce a drone?”

“Well, from what I understand, our
ships are loaded. Should we bomb them and get you guys out of there?”

There was some rustling and
Allan’s voice came on. “Jane, they’ve fired the weapon and missed their target,
but they can just recharge it and try again.”

“You mean it’s not a onetime-use weapon?!” I shouted.

“No. In fact, once they start
recharging it, you’ll only have about 30 minutes before they can shoot again.”

“Thirty minutes! What are we
going to do?”

“Fortunately, there is a
weakness. Kind of.”

“Huh?”

“There is a trench. At the end of
the trench is a power core that runs the weapon. Destroy it and the planet
cracker will literally fall apart under its own weight.”

“Why does this sound more
difficult than you’re letting on?”

“Naturally, the power core is
protected and the trench is lined with auto-cannons.”

“Naturally…” The blood started to
drain from my face once again.

“However, I’m constructing a
massive EMP. That stand for an el-”

“An electromagnetic pulse, yes,
everyone knows that already!” I snapped.

“I didn’t know that…” Alex’s
voice comes from the back of the speakers.

“Well, everyone else clearly
knows what an EMP is.” I responded. “Go on.”

“Right, well, we’ll use the EMP
and-“

“Well, what does it do?” Alex’s
voice interrupts him.

“Alex! We do not have time for
this!”

“I was just asking because I
thought others might want to know. I’m sorry for wanting everyone to be on the
same wavelength.”

“An EMP takes out electronics. Okay?
Now… continue Allan.”

“Is that the only thing it does?”

“Oh, my God, Alex, will you just
let him continue!” Rune’s voice popped over the radio.

“Well, if he’s going to set off
this EMP I want to know if it’s going to have side effects.”

“It’s an EMP!”

“I don’t know what that is!”

“Allan, ignore, her. Please
continue.”

“Actually… I kind of want to know
if this is going to have side effects too.” Daniel’s voice cracks in.

“Seriously?” I shouted just as I
heard moaning from various others over the radio.

“Enough. All you guys need to
know is that if I calculated things properly, and I always do, it’ll knock out
their defensive network. When I launch it, it’ll give you a five-minute window
to destroy that power core.”

“Alright, we’ll do it!” I stated,
grasping at anything that would work, and then I noticed Andrew’s silence. “Uh,
Andrew…”

The static broke into his voice.
“Yeah… we heard.”

“Are you… going to…”

“I’ll be fine, Jane. We have to
handle this right now.”

“Okay… but just remember, I’m
here for you.”

“… Thank you… I’ll remember
that.”

“We’re here for you too!” another
voice broke through; Alex’s voice.

“Shut up, Alex!” I yelled at the
same time as Rune’s voice came through saying the same thing.

“There is one more problem,” Ryan spoke up, turning back to me.
“This EMP is likely to damage me as well. Therefore, I’ll need to shut myself
down before it goes.”

“So, you’re saying that I’ll…” I
gulped.

Ryan nodded. “Yes, you’ll need to
pilot this ship through the trench.”

“Just wonderful.” I sighed. “I
guess you’ll have to teach me on the way to the moon.”

“Of course. The weapon has
already started charging, though. We only have about twenty minutes. I’ll
provide you with a crash course on all the important parts.”

“If I can’t do this, the Earth is
gone.” I grimaced. “Teach me.”