The flight from Earth to Jupiter was much as it had been, all those months ago, but at the same time it couldn't have been more different.

Instead of just sharing a transport with Ray and Rafe, it was Rafe, Evalyn, Briggs, Dorsa, Judy, and Jon aboard, as well as half a dozen others being reassigned to Houston. Diamond was not piloting, and that cut Parry more than just a little. Ray not being there cut her some as well.

But it was the view out the ports that really drove things home. On that first trip, there had not been much to see; a few transports, shuttles, and private craft now and again in Earth orbit. Ships lined up at the TCP Terrahoga just past Neptune to take the jump, and otherwise nothing but empty blackness. The radiation shield coating on the windows to block out the naked rays of the sun also served to block out the far weaker light from the stars.

Now, there were ships everywhere. Even just low Earth orbit was a mad-house of military and civilian vessels. The smallest of the Fleet platforms, the Seattle, had been moved into moon orbit from its normal position out in the Kuiper Belt. A twelfth the size of Houston, the Seattle still looked monstrous and out of place with the moon behind it. It would be coordinating with Earth to control all the traffic moving throughout the system.

As Parry watched both the moon and TCP Seattle slide slowly away behind them, she thought of Jaime and Jonas. She had seen neither since the bar on graduation night. Jamie had been assigned to a colony in the Beta sector. That colony had been overrun by the Kilrathi, and much as the First Fleet had, the Confed had fled through their jump and scuttled their gate to prevent the Kilrathi from using it to show up in an instant in the Sol system. If Jaime had survived or not, Parry didn't know.

As for Jonas, she didn't even know where he'd been assigned. He, as well, could be dead out there somewhere. So many people, Confed and civilian alike, were dead out there somewhere.

And Death is on its way here. The human race ends not with the four Horsemen, but an empire of Cats.

This war had taken so much already. As much as Parry didn't want to believe that it could very well end here in the next few days- that she and everyone else could be dead and Earth wiped away. One could not look out there and remain lost in the delusion that mankind was too strong, too superior, to meet such an end.

Merlin was the strongest of us, and look what happened to him? It hardly cost them an effort.

The hubris of mankind. That was what had brought them here. Nothing more than the sheer puffed up, ignorant, foolish hubris of mankind.

There was a soft rustle at her side, and she heard Rafe whispering something to the man that was seated next to her. A moment later, and that man had vacated his seat, Rafe dropping into it in his stead.

"Hey, Princess," he said, reaching over and taking her hand as he looked over her shoulder out the window. "Quite a view, huh?"

"I seem to remember someone threatening to make me suffer if I didn't sit next to a girl I liked on a flight very similar to this," Parry said, not bothering to look at him. "Do I need to pull the same card, Rafe?"

"I don't get you."

"You don't?" she looked at him in surprise, then as she saw his face, that surprise vanished. "You're so full of crap, Rafe."

He grinned at her, then half-glanced over his shoulder to where Blade was chatting with Tinkerbell. "I'm also transparent as fuck, aren't I?"

"You really are. I think it's great though. If you found someone that can put up with all of…this," she gestured broadly at his entire body, "then you had better hold on to her tight, because you're never finding someone else that will."

"Ha, ha," he said, and gave her hand a squeeze. "Speaking of people weird enough to find bugs like you and me suitable for romantic partnership…what's going on with Ray? Why isn't she coming with us back to Rho? Or hell, with you to Alpha?"

"The Confed needs her elsewhere."

"I just don't get it," he said. "Why? Right now, they need pilots more than anything. We're testimony to that. And Ray's a damned good pilot. What could be more important?"

"I can't tell you."

"You don't know?"

"Classified."

"Classified like 'how the hell did the Confed magically snap us out of those prisons' classified?"

When she said nothing, he nodded. "Ok, ok. I get it. I won't press. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. What happened to us was bad, but when they took you and Jon and Rochester away, we were sure that was it. I can't imagine how you three got out of it. And how did…ok. Don't answer. That look says it all. Also classified, am I right?"

"I'm sorry, Rafe. If I could tell you everything I would."

"Can you tell me if you're ok? Can you give me that much?"

She looked at the earnest expression on his face and then shook her head. "I can't tell you that, because I'm not. We're witnessing the end of human life as we know it, one way or the other. The only way we're going to be able to survive is if one of the enemy does as he claims to want to do. Even if this turns out well, I may never see Ripley again. I may never see you again. Or Jon, or Tink, or any of you. I don't know what universe exists where all this could be happening and I would be ok, but it isn't this one."

He nodded. "Yeah, I get that. I get that all right. Still…Alpha Wing. That's gotta spin your head at least a little."

"A little, I suppose," she said. "Truth be told though; I'd rather be back in Rho Wing with all of you. If this is going to be the last gasp of humanity, I'd rather die fighting with all of you than in a pit in Alpha Wing. If we're going to be dead either way, I mean."

He nodded, then made that face he always made when he was thinking really hard, or struggling with something overly emotional. Parry thought right now it may be a case of both. The scars on his face and head wrinkled dramatically with it.

"I don't think the human race is going to end. At least, not here, not like this," he said at last. "And I don't think you're going to die."

"And why is that?" she asked tiredly.

"I mean, look at what the human race has endured. Weather, disease, poverty, wars upon wars upon wars, famines, dictators, genocides and the like. And look at what you've endured. What all of us on this transport have endured. Torture, starvation, imprisonment; we've been beaten, spat on, belittled, had all our power stripped from us, and now here we are. On a transport, back to Houston, to do the one thing we've always done really well both individually and as a species. Fight."

"You think fighting is going to be enough this time?" Parry asked.

"Fuck yes," he said with granite hard surety. "That, and a little bit of magic."

"Magic?" she said with an incredulous laugh.

"Well, until you tell me differently, that's all I have to go on," he said seriously. "I mean, we were in that prison, a thousand light years from home. They were going to kill Abru in the morning. Ev was in the stocks. Ray- they bunged her in a solitary cell and then literally forgot about her before some weird psycho Cat pulls her out. I know. I saw her when they carried her past. She was all but dead. We thought she was dead after that. Just like we thought you guys were dead. And the next thing I know, what happens? Fucking magic. Suddenly, just like magic, you and Jon were alive and safe. Like magic, the whole goddamn marines were there pulling us out and right back onto Earth soil. Like fucking magic, Ray was there too. The chance to get back into pits and fight, something that had been irrevocably stolen from us, was handed right back to us in a single snap of the fingers. You tell me what that was, if not fucking magic?"

Then Judy spoke, and Parry realized she was leaning on the back of Rafe's seat, listening to them. So was Evalyn, and Jon, and Abru. She had completely missed them getting out of their seats and clustering around.

"It was pixie dust," Judy said, with a false air of long-suffering importance. "We pixies are always underrated, but you couldn't fly without us."

Rafe grinned and even Parry let out a soft laugh. "I will keep that in mind for the future, Tink," she said. "Maybe we'll shake some of your pixie dust over us before we go out to fight the Cats, what do you think? We couldn't lose."

"All you'd get is covered in dandruff," Evalyn said and Judy took a playful swipe at her with an indignant 'hey!'

"My point is, so far when it comes to beating the fuck out of the Cats and living to tell the tale, our personal record is undefeated," Rafe told them. "I see no reason that record needs to change now."

"Ahroo brother," Judy said, bussing a hand over his short bristles.

"Ahroo," Jon agreed, reaching down and taking Parry's other hand as she smiled at them all.

"Ahroo!"


When they finally landed on Houston, the docking bay was as jam-packed as it had been before, and fully half the people disembarking looked like fresh kids right out of boot. As they were waved through the crowd, Parry noticed more than a few of the younger crowd were staring at them and whispering.

She stared right back, heartbreak wanting to return. Some of them didn't even look old enough quite yet to have hit graduation, and she wondered if the Confed wasn't pulling in half-trained pilots and personnel from all their Academies, and not just graduates.

Of course they are, she thought sadly. Bastille said they were even putting civilians in private vessels to lend a hand in this fight. Anyone who can pick up a gun or jockey a stick is going to be putting blood into this last battle, and why not? Don't they have the same reason to fight as the rest of us?

A year. That's all it had been. Just about a year from that night in the pub to this moment right now. It was insane to her. So much had happened in just a single year. She felt wrung out, aged.

As before, one of Alpha was at the end of the launch bay, waiting to greet them. Malibu, her height giving her a bit of an advantage when looking over the crowd, spotted Jon and did not hesitate. Pushing through, she had enveloped him in a crushing bear hug almost before he knew she was there.

Parry had no time to process this, for right on Malibu's heels were several familiar faces, also rushing in to greet them.

"Angel!" Siren was the first to reach them, grabbing Parry in a hug almost as crushing as Malibu's was for Jon. Hobby, Rabbit, Pagan, and Gameshow were only a breath behind, and in a moment she was lost in the middle of a ball of happy shouts, back-slapping hands, and endless arms.

Parry could only laugh and cry and cling to them, until Malibu let loose of Jon. Then the ball of Rho migrated over a little, drawing him in and enveloping him as well.

It was so good to see them again, to see those of their Wing who had made it through the jump. They had become her family- more important to her than any actual blood family that she'd ever had. Seeing them safe again almost made everything else worth it.

Questions came like a flood of course, with both Parry and Jon having to shake their heads more than once, before Malibu finally lifted her voice.

"We need to move out of the bay," she said. "We're clogging up traffic. Jon, I wish there were more time right now but as you know, time is not on our side. There are orders in your briefing room."

"Understood. Rho Wing, with me to our briefing room. I have new Wing assignments as well; Crazy Jane and Blade are joining our Wing for the foreseeable future."

A dozen questions came out again then, most asking about Ray or why Parry was not joining them, but Jon silenced them as quickly as he could. "I'll answer what I can in the briefing room, but we have to move."

Turning to Parry he took her hand. "Angel, it was an honor having you on our Wing, and I hope someday very soon you can be there again."

She pulled him in and hugged him. "Jon, thank you. Thank you for everything. Stay safe, and keep them safe, and we'll be the real Rho Wing once again soon."

He nodded and clapped her back, before releasing her. As he started to usher Rho Wing out, questions still flying, Malibu put her hand on Parry's shoulder.

"Come on, Shadowkiller," she said with a bittersweet smile. "We've got our own orders to get to."


Alpha Wing's briefing room was more or less identical to the one for Rho, and it would have been, save for one key difference.

As she and Malibu entered, the others got to their feet and saluted. While Parry had met a couple of them during training, it had been Malibu and Shadow that had overseen most of it. This was the first time she'd seen everyone in the fabled Wing together in one place.

Not everyone. Shadow is still gone, and Merlin-…

Her eyes drifted to the briefing room wall a moment, where a plaque had been hung. It bore Zarold Killdare's name and callsign, his distinguishments and medals, and the dates of his birth and death. She'd seen his body, there on that small planet, but somehow seeing the plaque really drove it home. Merlin Killdare was gone, and he was never coming back. He wasn't going to come in on a white charger to save the day.

This fight was theirs now.

Malibu saluted back to the Wing fairly casually, but they didn't drop their arms. Their eyes were now fixed to Parry, who paused.

Each and every one of them was at least a Colonel, Confed vets with hundreds of confirmed kills, hundreds of successful missions under their belts. Why were they saluting her?

"Angel," Malibu said, noticing her confusion. "General Bastille should have told you. Your ranking has changed to acting Colonel during your deployment with us, and as you are going to be my second-…she didn't tell you that, either, did she?"

Parry had blanched, and quietly shook her head. Wiping her palm off on her hip she lifted her hand and saluted them back. Only then did they drop into their seats. Still moving as if in a dream, Parry found hers and slowly sat down.

This chair isn't mine. It belongs to Shadow.

But that wasn't true, was it? If Shadow returned alive, if she were brought back to Alpha Wing, this would be Malibu's chair, because Shadow would be the new Wing Commander.

Though it was no different in size than any other chair in any other briefing room, Angel felt swallowed up in it.

Just so long as the seat in the tourney felt the right size, she could deal with it. A pit was a pit, and even with all that had happened, she had no doubt that she had been born to be in the pit.

Born in the pit, and happy to die there, she thought, and some relief actually filled her. At least now, she wouldn't have to worry about dying in front of some vicious emperor's throne, or being executed in front of crowds, or even just being shot to lay in the dirt and bleed out.

If this war was destined to claim her life, at least now she could die the way she wanted to- in the pit, and fighting for Earth.

As Rita started to speak, Parry sat back and comforted herself with that thought.

That, and the hope that maybe Rafe was right. Maybe when people were willing to hang on, to not give up, to die for their friends; just maybe there was a little magic in the universe, and it was on their side.

Just maybe.