The Rain: The End by Marietta Standlee (good summer reads TXT) 📕

whole hand. "And hear me out on this one, okay?" He waits for all of us to acknowledge his request. He not only has our loyalties and trust, but we believe in his leadership. None of us would be here if we didn't.

"The Presidents are politicians; what do politicians do?" Colin's question is rhetorical.

"They make deals," Dimitrov says quietly.

Colin nods, "Exactly. We already saw that they traded land for certain things, like those medical chambers, spaceships, and so on. They create committees."

"They are willing to concede in the name of peace." Colin ads. He looks at Dimitrov, the only wild card in the room. Everybody else here with us would rather fight and die than to give up one more square mile of land to the aliens.

Dimitrov nods, "I see your point, you want to grow an emergency militia in case our politicians get too carried away in their negotiating with the Gorongiath."

"Yes, but it also goes back to deniability. Militia doesn't have to follow the President's orders and both our Presidents understand that as well. Possessing those spaceships and not knowing about them could be their greatest asset."

"I like it." Dimitrov agrees with a wide grin on his face, any kind of conspiracy is right up his alley.

"But so what?" I ask. "We'll have what, fifty spaceships? Big whoop, they have how many?" I ask Briggs.

"Thousands," she answers undaunted.

Colin puts his arm around my shoulder. "Heard the expression steady drop hollows the rock?"

I hate it when he acts condescending with me, and I free myself from his embrace. "Of course, what's your point?"

Briggs is the one answering, grinning widely and making me question myself. Am I the only one here who doesn't get it? Am I that dense? And then the more troubling question. Do I really belong in this room?

"We already established our pilots are not the brightest. So, what if one spaceship, here or there crashes? Pretty soon, we'll have a hundred or more." She explains, patiently.

"They'll get suspicious." I warn.

"Probably," she agrees, "but until that happens, we can take what we can and built our own, international resistance, and who knows what kind of allies we might pick up along the way."

"Double-crossing the double-crossers." I agree with a grin.

Colin nods and pulls me back into his embrace. This time I don't resist, feeling childish for my earlier thoughts. Of course, I belong here, I'm still learning, but I earned my spot, with my blood and pain, I paid for it. Sometimes my own insecurities just get the better of me.

"I still don't like it." Vandyke states his objections. "Too many unknowns. That Gorongiath, what's his name? Parm? Could be playing us. He could be working with the Phinaruhs or the Council to add more credit to the war with the Phinaruhs. Hell, he could be working for Quill, the entire operation could be a ginormous setup."

Colin agrees, "All very possible scenarios. But I think we have to give it a shot. Even if one of those scenarios is true, we still gain fifty or so spaceships."

Vandyke has no response to that. Just like the rest of us, he knows that Colin is right; this is our best shot.

Chapter 6

After everybody is gone, Colin and I have just about enough time to take a quick shower and get ready for our next meeting with Parm. I'm not a big fan of meetings and this one is not any different. All the talk makes me sleepy, especially when I'm not involved and assigned a more passive role, which is the case here.

This is more about Parm and Briggs hashing things out. Parm's plan sounds already flawless, as long as all the pieces fall into place. Most elements depend on timing.

Parm introduces us to Captain Lorant, who will have the responsibility of the perfect timing. He's a very tense person, who looks like he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and who knows, perhaps he is, the entire mission depends on him calling the first shot.

Parm will not be with us. As a member of the Ethical Committee, he isn't even supposed to know about this mission. As soon as introductions are made, he excuses himself, wishing us luck. I watch his back as he leaves the room, doubt settling in the pit of my stomach.

But we made our decision and won't turn back now. We'll just have to stay vigilant. I listen with half an ear as Briggs and Lorant assign numbers to each spaceship and their targets. I feel myself drifting off with open eyes and shake my head. Coffee would be nice, I muse, but we haven't had any since we arrived.

A few hours later, we load into the spaceships flown by our own pilots, filling me with a sense of pride and comradery. Whatever happens, we're in this together and have each other's backs.

Each spaceship is a lot like Ka's, allowing our battalion of a hundred to spread out comfortably. It's a nice change of pace compared to the confined space on the Black Hawks we usually use for transportation.

Colin and I stand by the huge window, just like we did on Ka's ship on the way to the tribunal. His arm is lazily slung over my shoulder, and I lean my head against his chest as we watch a strange planet come into view.

It looks small, at most the size of our moon. Oaron, I think, the name sounding strange to me. Even from this distance, I notice a large body of water, seemingly taking over almost three quarters of the planet. What's left, is just one massive landmass.

As we get closer, I can distinguish mountains and forests, even some lakes. Apparently the Phinaruhs are oxygen breathers like us and the Gorongiaths, making me wonder if all species in the universe have that in common.

Briggs's voice comes over the speaker. "Five minutes 'til landfall".

Colin pulls me closer and kisses me; I cling to him for a moment. We had our