A/N – Okay. Deep breath. I'm going to let this story take its twist very soon. I've been planning it from the beginning, but I have the feeling that it's not going to be received well with my much loved and appreciated reviewers. Gotta do it though. I think K.A. would be proud of me for it. Now that I've filled you with a sense of foreboding, I'll make you a couple of promises. I promise that if you stick with this story to the end, none of you will be disappointed. Well, that's my devout hope anyway, and I'm pretty sure I'm not telling you a lie. I also promise you I will not leave this story open-ended, or a 'cliffhanger.' It's hard for me not to just rush through this story so I can get to my great, wonderful, well thought-out ending which I am 99 certain everyone will just adore. Just stick with me, folks – things are about to get a little crazy. Peace. Out.

Chapter 18

Marco

I was tired. I was irritable. I hadn't had a decent bit of sleep in three days. But I felt accomplished, and I knew I wouldn't have been able to sleep well anyway if I weren't confident in the abilities of the friends who were trusting their lives to me.

I'd never been in charge of anything before. I'd never really felt the need to tell people what to do, especially in life or death situations. I like to think of myself as someone who didn't let stardom get to my head. When people started throwing money at me and groveling at my feet, I'm proud of the fact that I didn't become some stuck-up jerk who was too self-important to talk to my parents or whatever. I enjoyed some pretty luxurious pleasures back on Earth, but hey, what was the point of living if it wasn't fun, right?

I'd spent the last seventy-two hours trying to mold Rachel, Toby, and Lok into the best fighter pilots I could make them. I hadn't been flying for that long myself, but I just so happened to have a knack for it. I guess that's why I had always stomped all over poor Jake at video games. It was an unfair advantage borne of my superior intellect and supernatural talent.

Surprisingly, Lok was the hardest one to train up to the standards I'd unconsciously set for the three of them. Rachel had good reflexes and instincts, even if she did have an itchy trigger-finger. I was trying to break her of the habit of wasting energy on long-range pot shots, something I'd learned years ago in X-wing vs. TIE Fighter. Toby, with her natural technical inclination and her amazing, computer-like analysis and interpretation of unforseen situations, swiftly gained my unwavering confidence. Lok, however, was a terrible pilot under the standards that I wanted my pilots to have.

He had spent all of his life on the most extreme end of the crazy Taruff honor spectrum. After seeing his tactics in the simulations, I was astounded that he was still alive. As Jake had put it, Lok was the poster boy for the phrase 'honor-or-death.' He kept his word to me and tried his best to do what I told him, but his habits were dying hard.

First of all, his tactics when engaging enemies were pretty much non-existant. He'd jet straight for the target that destroying would bring him the most honor. It was a tooth-grinding exercise in patience trying to get him to abide by the wingman theory. Having someone always watching your back and always watching theirs was the best way to stay alive, but Taruffs didn't have them. They didn't understand the concept…but Lok accepted it, albeit reluctantly, and tried his best to retrain himself.

Teaching him threat analysis, astronavigation, and safety procedures was coming along slowly at best. By the time our fighters were spaceworthy, he was to the point of restraining himself when targets presented themselves and waiting for my command. That was pretty much all I could ask for on such a short timeline – when he followed my lead, his skill was nothing brilliant, but his kill/loss ratio was climbing up in the neighborhood of Rachel's, the third-best pilot among us by my opinion. Toby was easily second, and of course, I was by far the best.

As we said our goodbyes to Jake, Cassie, Tobias, Amni'bel, Ax, and even Hali, who turned out to be Lok's sister, a couple of emotional things happened. Rachel and Tobias went into the Messenger to say goodbye in private. I didn't know exactly what they were doing, but to be honest, I was a little jealous. Not of Tobias, per se – Rachel was about the hottest girl I'd ever seen, but she was just insane. Smart, too, which I would never admit to feeling about her. It's not that I had anything against smart chicks, but I liked my girls…well, there's no way to say it without looking like an ass. I liked bimbos. I'm sure growing up in California had everything to do with that and it was no fault of my own, but hey – I like what I like.

I guess it was just the fact that I had no one of my own. Jake had Cassie, even if they didn't want to admit it to anyone. Tobias had Rachel. I guess Toby and Ax probably felt aloof sometimes, but they had an excuse. There wasn't a member of the same species, much less the opposite sex, within parsecs of them. Well, maybe with Ax there was an Andalite female around, but in all likelihood she was evil and vindictive. I'm pretty sure Ax wouldn't find those traits endearing. The fact that there was an Andalite working with the Yeerks made him look like he'd just caught somebody peeing on his feeding grass. I think the main reason he was so reluctant to personally carry the message Jake had prepared for his people was because he felt like it was his responsibility to find and deal with the traitorous Andalite.

Jake gestured to me and started walking, and I fell into step. "So, pretty big mission you're going on, man," he said to me. I know he liked to strike the 'infallable leader' pose in front of the others, but I was still his old bud. I looked back and saw Lok following us at a discreet distance, staying true to his word to protect me.

"Yep. Of course, I'll handle it with my customary skill and efficiency and be back here to keep you out of trouble before you know it," I joked.

He turned serious, but didn't want me to see it. He bent to pick up a stone and skipped it across the loose sand. "You think you can keep everybody in one piece?" he asked.

I wanted to hiss, because he'd hit the nail on the head – I was confident in myself and my abilities, but like I said, I'd never led anyone before. "Rachel and Toby are going to make a good wingpair as long as Rachel follows Toby's lead. I'm pretty sure I've got Lok where I need him to be. I know -"

'Stop it. Tell me what you're really thinking.'

'I don't know." I sighed. "Jake, there's a good chance that some or all of us might die. It's my job to make sure we don't. I don't know how you did it all those years. It's hard enough just to fight. I can't imagine making split-second decisions the way you always have."

Jake nodded. "I won't lie to you – it's not easy. It's just something that has to be done."

We walked in silence for a couple of minutes. "How is everybody coming along in the fighters?" Jake asked to break the ice.

"Oh, well you already know I'm the best. That's why I get to lead this crazy trip. Rachel's good, but she's got some habits to break before I can call her proficient. Toby's picked it up really quick. I chose Lok as my wingman so hopefully I'll be able to protect him in spite of himself." We turned around and headed back before we could totally get out of sight of the group, but I walked slowly on purpose. "What do you think?"

"Hmm? Of what?" he asked, even though I was pretty sure he knew what I meant.

"I mean, come on. You've known me forever. Do you really think I can pull this off?" I asked, hating every syllable. I wasn't always sure of myself, but that didn't mean others had to know that.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's not you I'm worried about," he said, chewing his lip. "You'd think that dying once would inspire Rachel to be a little more careful, but she's crazier than ever. I haven't even forgiven myself for letting her go once. If it happened again…I don't know what I'd do."

I punched him in the arm. Hard. He gave me a dirty look and grumbled, but he didn't hit me back. "You're a real asshole, you know that?" I told him as I glared at him.

"What?" he asked, openly surprised.

"You're supposed to be making me feel better. How do you think I'd feel if anyone ate it while I was in charge?"

"Well, that's true. I guess you'll just have to get everyone back in spite of themselves."

"Yeah. If somebody didn't come back, I'd have to go on TV and explain it to everybody. That's what we call negative publicity."

Jake snickered. "Reasonable. We wouldn't want your ratings to suffer."

"Oh, man," I groaned. "Speaking of ratings, my show is going to be dead in the water without me. It's going to take a miracle to start it up again. I'm sure I'm going to have to get some new funding, my director's probably moved on to something else, I don't even want to think about what the supporting cast is doing…" Jake burst out laughing and I glared again.

"You're so…respectable now," he said.

"Well, I guess I could just live off of my reputation for the rest of my life. I like new cars too much to just scrape by, though." I scratched my head. "You know, you're actually pretty fun when we're not in the middle of a fight of when nobody's dead."

He sighed. "Yeah. That's why I'm reluctant to let you guys take off like you're doing. I mean, as dangerous as being here is, it's probably the safest place. I just want all of us to be able to go back to Earth and pretend like this never happened. Me, you, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias could all hang out together like old times. Not a care in the world."

"Since when are you happy when genocide isn't threatening some remote corner of the galaxy?"

"Since my cousin came back from the dead. Since I realized that life sucks if you can't kick back and enjoy it," he said seriously. We were almost back to everybody, and Rachel and Tobias were back with the group. "Take care of them, okay?" he asked me, not a hint of joking in his voice.

"Yeah. Take care of things here. I'll be back soon," I said, slapping his hand. He caught it and held it a second longer than usual, and I saw the worry in his eyes. "Jake, I'll die before I let anything happen to her," I said quietly so only he heard. He knew who I was talking about and he nodded.

Rachel gave Tobias a quick kiss on the cheek and scampered up the wing of one of the gleaming new fighters the Taruffs had modified. It was smaller than one of their standard fighters and looked suspiciously like an F-16 with oversized engines. She pulled a helmet over her mane of blond hair and said, "If you two are done, I'd like to get this overwith," she said. I couldn't tell if she was serious or joking or a mix of the two.

Lok bounced his three-fingered fist off of his chest twice. "We go now," he said, but I could tell it was more a question than a statement. I nodded and hit my chest in an echo of the gesture he'd made. "For honor," he grunted, and fired his huge legs. He landed neatly in the open cockpit of his own fighter and closed the canopy. Toby was already sealed in her own cockpit, trying to stay out of the toxic atmosphere as much as possible.

Ax was about to board the Messenger for his own mission, but he nodded graciously to me. (I imagine that your skills will keep everyone safe,) he said to me stiffly. I knew he often got formal when he was emotional.

I grinned. "You going to be able to handle that hunk of trash without me to protect you?"

He loosened a little and did his Andalite smile. (You remind me of Elfangor's friend Verenor. He was a fighter pilot, very cocky, very good. I would not mind having you command my fighters aboard the Intrepid.)

I kind of faltered a little at the comment. Ax, who was very touchy about his belief that Andalites were superior to humans in every way, had just told me he'd rather have me command his fighter squadron than an Andalite. The funny thing was that I probably didn't totally understand the extend of his compliment. "Thanks, Ax-man. I might help train some of your pilots up to my standards after we get done with this milk run." He did his Andalite salute and favored me with another alien smile before wordlessly boarding his ship.

"Bring her back, Marco," Tobias said as I was climbing the ladder to my cockpit. "You get her back here. Promise me." He sounded more pleading than mad. Looking into the eyes of that boy, I wondered, not for the first time, how much pain he'd known in his life.

I grinned, but it was all teeth. "If she doesn't come back, neither will I. I promise you that," I told him. He nodded, knowing that was the best I could reasonably offer. I dogged the canopy closed and powered up my systems. "Call 'em out in order, Makos," I said, feeling nerdy and excited at the same time.

"Mako Two, ready to burn," Lok said.

"Mako Three, all systems nominal," Toby said, still a little subdued sounding.

"Are you going to make it, Three?" I asked her, concerned.

"I'll be fine. I feel better already," she comforted me.

"Four? Status?" I asked. Rachel's voice returned, but a lot of cussing and negative comments in general were all that I heard. "Rachel?"

"Yeah, I'm here. The Taruffs put the damn throttle control on the roof of my canopy. I took off my helmet to fix my hair and slammed my head on it," Rachel complained, and I smiled.

"It's not a beauty contest, Four. You set for space?"

"Yeah. Let's get the hell off this rock," she said.

I keyed a different switch on my communications board and said, "This is Mako leader to control, requesting permission to launch."

Amni'bel's voice answered me. "Permission granted, Marco. Be safe and return victorious," she told me.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Princess," I said. I lifted my fighter up on it's anti-gravity field and noted that everyone else followed my maneuver smoothly. There was nothing to worry about. "Full burn in fifteen seconds, Makos," I said, and inverted my fighter to wave at Jake, Cassie, and Tobias. Ax joined us in the air, but rocketed off in a different direction than the four of us. "Full burn," I said, and we all blazed out of the atmosphere towards the last planet we might ever see.