Cynetic Wolf

My SmartCore woke me at 4:00 a.m. to get ready and I snuck out, snatching a glimpse of Zedda’s sleeping form as I did. She was beautiful and caring, even in sleep. A vibrant energy and vitality emanated from her, an infectious optimism and go-get-it attitude I loved. Irresistible. Smiling to myself, I slid out the door.

“Finally up?” Paer asked.

What? I stopped dead. “What are you doing?”

“Come on, kid. I may be old but I’m not that old. I can recognize love, especially the young, crazy kind.”

Crap. “Don’t tell the others.”

“Your secret is safe with me, but I’d be surprised if most didn’t know. Enough about your love life, we have more important things to discuss. The teams are in position, ready to attack on our signal. Backup’s ten kilometers out in case they fail. Do you have the announcement ready?”

Um... “The what?”

“Lars thought it would be good for people to hear it from you that we’d destroyed the brain-field backups. Explain why it mattered and why we did it.”

This was the first I was hearing about it. “Did he now?”

“Well, you had a busy night, didn’t you?” she added with a smirk. “Find him, get that done.”

I blushed. “What about local militias?”

“You were right. We doubled, and in some cases tripled, support in the major regions thanks to the calls. It’s huge. Is it enough though, that’s the question.”

Lars called.

‘On my way.’ I hung up before he could reply. “Gotta go,” I apologized, running for the stairs.

“Where have you been?” Lars snapped as I flung open the door. “We need to get this done.” He was pacing, screens arrayed around the room, bags under his hypercaffeinated red eyes.

“Sorry.” I looked away. “Fell asleep early.”

He rolled his eyes but rather than pry, talked about what he had in mind. Fifteen minutes later, we had our recording. “This will have to do,” he said. “We don’t have time to try again.”

Five minutes later, the Council room. “Attacks start in twenty-five minutes,” Paer said. “Anything else, folks?”

Wow, twenty-five minutes.

We shook our heads.

Paer flipped a switch on the table, and four separate holograms appeared, two men and two women, all in fatigues.

‘Can you hear me?’ Paer asked.

’Yes.’‘Roger that.’ ‘Loud and clear.’ ‘Yes ma’am.’ They responded in a blur of voices.

‘You have the green light. Start the assault. Permission to use any force necessary. Provide updates every ten minutes when possible. We need to know where we stand.’

‘Affirmative,’ they answered in unison before signing off. One by one they disappeared, leaving us on the edge of our seats.

“And so it begins,” Lars murmured.

“We need to go.” I stood, nervous adrenaline coursing through me.

Zedda rose. “I’m going with you!”

I fought to keep my face a mask. “Don’t they need you here?” It was too dangerous.

“Not a chance.” She gave me a don’t even think about it scorcher. “I’ll be there watching your back.”

So freaking stubborn. Damn, I loved that about her.

“Holos all set, Lars?” I asked.

He nodded. “Ania has everything. She’ll help Agtha upload when the time comes.”

“Are we missing anything?” I looked around. There was always something.

Obowe shook his head. “It is time we play our cards. Go, we will be here. Good luck and give them hell.”

“We will,” I promised.