Last Chance

by Victoria Zagar

A Culture Wars Story

To Jason, with all my love.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons,

living or dead, is purely coincidental.

LAST CHANCE Copyright

2012

Victoria Zagar. All rights reserved. No part of this

book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For more
information, write to

[e-mail]

Cover art image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Visit Infinite Love for gay and lesbian short stories and novels:

http://victoriazagar.com

If you like this story, check out the novel WRITTEN IN THE STARS, set in the same

universe:

The year is 2243. Mankind has reached for the stars, creating colonies on Titan and the
cold, distant Nereid. Where man goes, war follows, and now two factions warring on
Earth have taken their cultural and religious war into space in hopes of dominating
Earth’s global government, the Assembly.

On one side stands the Moral League, a loose grouping of religious nations and social
conservatives whose aim is to destroy the Freedom Alliance, a group of progressive
nations who they claim are leading the human race towards destruction. Rejected by his
family for his homosexuality, Samuel Walden finds himself joining the Alliance’s Space
Force. Posted to the fleet’s flagship, the Northampton, Sam meets the ship’s crew
officer, Major Tom Averay, and the two embark on a relationship that will change their
lives. Love, war, humanity, friendship, sacrifice and death weave through this action-
packed romantic novel. Will Sam and Tom work out their feelings in the midst of
darkness and uncertainty? Will the Alliance survive against crushing odds to preserve
the human rights it stands for?

Paperback version is available now at Amazon.com and CreateSpace. The digital

edition is out now on Kindle and will be released on All Romance E-Books and
Smashwords on September 12th, 2012.

Last Chance

Anton felt his stomach clench as he heard the words “suicide mission”. He looked

over at his closest friend Julian sitting two seats down and their eyes met, a thousand
words exchanged in one glance. We’re running out of time. This dance must end, one
way or another.

“You will suit up and be ready by fifteen-hundred hours. Good luck, everyone. I’ll see

you on the other side.” Major Tom stepped down from the podium, a sad expression
flashing in his eyes for a brief second. Of course he’s sad, Anton thought. Most of these
faces he’ll never see again. The Khartoum is the deadliest warship in the League’s fleet.
There’s no way we’re all making it through this.

Anton stood, his legs stiff with fear. This is war. This is what we signed up for, isn’t it?

I never used to be this scared. What changed?

Julian looked back through the throng of pilots making their way to the briefing room

exit and caught Anton’s eyes with his sparkling blue ones. I met him. That’s what has
changed, Anton realized. He fought through the crowd to reach his friend, the only
person he wanted to see at that moment.

“Walk with me,” Anton whispered into Julian’s ear. They slipped out of the briefing

room and down the hallway in the opposite direction to the other recruits, who were
already preparing for their final mission.

“Where are you taking me?” Julian asked. “I have to record a video log for my mom.

She’ll want to know what happened...”

Anton stopped and turned to Julian, a look of horror on his face. “Don’t talk like

you’re going to die. That’s not going to--”

“Come on, Anton,” Julian said. “You and I both know that I’m not a very good pilot,

but this is what I signed up for. I’ll complete my duty as promised. Earth’s future is
counting on us.” One of his dirty blonde bangs fell in front of his face and he let it shield
his sad expression.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Anton whispered. His long fingers touched

Julian’s face and gently eased the hair out of his eyes, tucking it back behind his ear
with a tender gesture. “You’re my friend. I’ll keep you safe.”

“Anton...” Julian looked down at his shoes. “Don’t take risks for me. I refuse to be the

reason you get killed! I know I’m not a great pilot. I’m not taking you down with me.”

“That’s not your decision to make,” Anton whispered, as a group of cadets walked

past.

“Anton, I joined up to protect the world and everyone I care about,” Julian said. “You

did, too. You know how important this mission is to the Alliance. You need to keep your
eye on protecting the Northampton, not me.”

“Julian, no more arguing. We don’t have much time left,” Anton said. “There’s less

than two hours until the mission. If these are our last two hours in the universe, how
should we spend them?”

“Anton, there’s something I--”
“I know,” Anton whispered. He took Julian’s hand and led him to a door, pressing a

button. The door slid open to reveal a storeroom, filled with various food items. He

closed the door behind him and keyed in a locking code. “Guess it’s good job I’m on
inventory duty this month,” he smirked, but his eyes were two dark pools of seriousness.

“This has been a beautiful dance,” Anton said. “I’ve watched you move gracefully

through it, my perfect partner in this undignified universe. We’ve stepped around each
other, always avoiding the moment we’ve been afraid of...” He leaned in and pressed
Julian against the wall, their lips meeting in a tentative whisper of a touch so light it
could barely be called a kiss.

Julian gasped, an involuntary sound that suggested the need for more kisses like the

need for air. He pulled Anton into another kiss, tasting his lips like they were the
sweetest honey. Julian’s hands found Anton’s short spiky black hair and ran his fingers
over it, down his face, memorizing the shape of him for eternity.

Their breaths became more husky and uncontrolled as Anton’s hand slipped

between them, feeling the shape of Julian’s desire through his uniform pants.

“Ah.” Julian’s breathless gasp spoke a million volumes as Anton unzipped his pants.

Julian bit his lip as he felt Anton’s warm hand encircle his cock, taking it in experienced
hands and stroking it with husky, labored breaths. He knew he would come if he just let
Anton continue, yet he put his hand on Anton’s wrist, a silent plea to stop for a moment.

Anton froze, uncertain for a second and Julian smiled, feeling the transfer of power.

He reached for Anton’s pants and unzipped them, pulling them down with awkward
motions and then pulling Anton’s hips towards him. Flesh met flesh and they both
gasped, grinding together, their hips and mouths locked in a dance, a battle for love and
control.

It was almost accidental as Julian slipped over the edge, his head thrown back

against the wall, Anton’s lips on his neck as he came with a cry. Anton followed, his
head resting on Julian’s shoulder as pleasure coursed through him and his seed spilled
on Julian’s chest.

Julian had those sparkling tears in his eyes again and Anton leaned in for a tender

kiss. “Don’t look so sad,” he whispered.

“There was so much more that I--”
“We’ll do it when we get back.” Anton’s words were spoken with so much authority

that Julian let himself believe them for a moment before once again understanding the
predicament that they were in. The odds of both of us surviving a mission that even the
crew officer calls “suicide” are... He let his thoughts slip away as Anton kissed him
again.

“Come on.” Anton smiled and rifled through the shelves of supplies until he found a

box of kitchen towels. They cleaned up wordlessly and made themselves presentable
before Anton unlocked the door. They slipped out into the hallway and back to their
dorm, where pilots were hastily scrawling their final letters and recording video logs in
case they didn’t make it back.

“I don’t want to watch this,” Julian said.
Anton grabbed a fresh uniform. “Come on, let’s go shower,” he said. Julian found his

uniform and they left. The showers were empty and they stripped down. The warm
water seemed to soothe Julian and he wrapped his arms around Anton, rubbing the
soap down his body.

“Thank you for today,” Julian whispered. “I don’t think I ever would have worked up

the courage to tell you how I felt.”

“Some day you would have,” Anton said, touching Julian’s hand and holding it on his

chest. He held it there for a good minute before letting go. He stepped out of the
shower, grabbing his towel and drying off. He leaned back to kiss Julian before dressing
and they walked out together, hands finding one another and clasping together, fingers
entwined in a way that told the world that they were one.

* * *

Julian paced the hangar bay. Anton was talking to the engineer about his fighter. He

spotted Julian’s nervous wandering and walked over to him, putting his hands on his
shoulders.

“You’re going to be fine,” Anton said. “I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” He leaned in to

kiss Julian, not giving a damn about the other pilots on the deck.

“See you later,” he said, walking away.
“Anton, wait!” Julian said. Anton turned to see Julian taking off his dog tags.
“A lot of pilots swap their dog tags when they go on dangerous missions,” Julian

said. “I mean, it’s not like they matter. If we go down, we’ll just be space dust anyway.”

“Okay,” Anton said, taking the tags. He took his own off and handed them to Julian,

then put Julian’s on. “I want those back, though. They’re my good luck charm.” He
smiled, breaking the seriousness of the moment before walking away.

Julian felt Anton’s dog tags over his heart as he climbed into the cockpit of his

fighter. Here goes, he thought. See you on the other side, Anton. Stay safe. The glass
was lowered and he took a deep breath from his mask as the alarms rang to clear the
deck. He looked to the side of him as his engines fired up to see Anton beating at his
cockpit controls. Something’s wrong, he realized, as they fired off into space. He felt his
stomach twist into a pretzel as he looked around for Anton’s ship. He saw it firing on one
thruster, the other one spluttering. He opened a private comms channel to Anton’s ship.

“Go home, Anton. Turn the ship around and get home safely.”
“I promised I’d protect you!” Anton yelled. “I won’t go back now!”
“Yes, you will,” Julian said. “Please.”
Anton fired up the main comms channel. “This is Ship B-23, Pilot Songstar.

Requesting emergency landing clearance.”

“I love you,” Julian whispered down the comms channel, before cutting it off and

firing his afterburners. His ship shot ahead to join the rest of the squad, leaving Anton to
slowly turn around and hobble back to base.

Anton landed his ship safely. Once the bay doors had closed, he jumped out of his

ship, tearing his helmet off. “Get this thing fixed!” He rounded on the chief engineer.
“Isn’t there another fighter I can use?”

“Sorry, buddy. All the fighters are out. There’s nothing I can do for you.” The engineer

pulled a panel off the side of the ship and peered inside, contemplating the complex
maze of wiring as he spoke to Anton.

“I can’t just watch,” Anton said. “My boyfriend is out there alone!”
“He’s got his squad,” the engineer pointed out. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”
Anton pointed to an old ship still on the deck. It was half-covered with a tarp that was

slipping off. It looked dusty, but serviceable. “What about that?”

“That’s an old Dragon fighter. I can’t let you take that.” The engineer sighed, fiddling

at wires and making Anton feel like he was an insect on the man’s shoulder.

“Is it still operational?” Anton stuck his head into the panel and looked at the

engineer.

“Sure, but you don’t even know how to fly it. You haven’t had the training.” The

engineer moved his head to see around Anton.

“I’ll figure it out,” Anton said. “Ready her for launch.”
“You can’t order me about,” the engineer protested.
“Look,” Anton said, grabbing the engineer by his overalls and pulling him out of the

ship’s underbelly. “Everything I care about is out there. Ready the fighter or I’ll do it
myself.” He looked into the engineer’s eyes with a steel gaze until the man backed
down.

“You got it,” the engineer sighed. “I don’t want to hear a thing about how it handles,

though.”

Anton realized what he meant as he fought with the controls, shakily flying the

Dragon out of the hangar bay. Damn, he thought. Perhaps I made a mistake. Maybe I
can’t fly this thing after all. He could see fighting in the distance, the flashes of laser fire
and the orange glow of explosions. I have to get used to it. Julian is out there. He needs
me.

He pulled the fighter into a loop and tested out the weapons systems. The laser fire

was weak compared to the new fighters, a single burst instead of double, but he liked
the accuracy of it. Satisfied with his five-minute training session, he found the
afterburner control and raced ahead to meet his squad.

* * *

Julian saw a strange ship swoop past him. He turned to fire on it before seeing the

Alliance markings on the side. What kind of a ship is that? Is it some experimental
fighter?

His comm unit sprang to life. “This is Songstar,” Anton said. “I managed to get myself

a replacement fighter. It’s not shiny, but it’ll have to do. I’m with you.” He fired on an
enemy fighter and it exploded.

“Jules, on your tail!” Anton yelled. It took Julian a second to react to his real name

instead of his callsign, a second too long as the laser burst hit him from behind and
disabled his engines.

“Damn it, you’re a sitting duck!” Anton said, chasing down the enemy fighter and

taking it out. “You have to eject!”

“I can’t!” Julian cried. “The ejection system was damaged.”
“Then I’ll stay and protect you,” Anton said, swooping around and taking out another

fighter. “I won’t let anything so much as scratch your ship.”

“You can’t leave the unit,” Julian said. “You must protect the Northampton!”
“I’m not leaving you!” Anton said.
“You’re a soldier!” Julian said. “Listen, Anton. We both knew back there that it would

be our last chance. I don’t regret any of it. Now go on. Live your life. Destroy the League
and take our world back.”

“Not happening, Zero,” a female voice chimed in, the voice of their wing commander

Jenny. “We’re a team and we won’t leave a man behind. Unit, form up and protect Zero.
Songstar, the Dragon fighter has a laser leash that can be used to pull and tow objects.
It’s why they still keep that old rust-bucket around. Attach it to Zero’s ship and tow him
in. We’ll cover you!” The fighters swooped around them in a protective formation as
Anton found the controls for the laser leash. He attached it to Julian’s ship and carefully
moved forward, towing the crippled ship behind him as the rest of the unit provided
cover.

We might make it through this, Anton thought. We might actually live to see another

day. Hope rose in his heart as they made it to the hangar bay and carefully set down.

“We’re going back out there,” Jenny said. “Stay home for the rest, would ya?” She

turned her ship and led the unit back to the battle as the hangar bay doors closed and
the bay pressurized.

“Thank you,” Anton whispered. “You’re a real hero, Jen.” He pulled his helmet off as

his comm unit sprang to life once more.

“Mayday! I’m hit! They’re all over us! ” Jen yelled. “Mayda--” The comm unit threw off

a long stream of static and Anton knew she was gone.

“Raven? Eagle? Come in!” Anton yelled, hitting the comm unit. “Anybody? Anyone?”

The only thing that came back was static and he felt a deep void of despair open up
inside of him. He slumped on the control panel until Julian climbed up to his ship and
released the cockpit controls. The glass rose up and Julian put his hand on Anton’s
shoulder.

“It’s not your fault,” Julian said. “It’s mine. It was my mistake that caused my ship to

be damaged. My whole unit’s gone because of me.”

“Not your whole unit.” Anton sat up and took Julian’s hand, looking into his eyes.

They were filled with tears and his face was covered in red blotches. He pulled Julian
into the cockpit and kissed him, needing the warmth and the closeness of him for
comfort. “It’s not your fault,” he whispered. “Not your fault at all.”

“The battle’s over!” The engineer called up to them. “The Khartoum’s retreating!

Major Tom’s unit took out their solar array!” Julian jumped down from the cockpit and
Anton followed, running to the observation window where they could see the Khartoum
limping away, fires burning all over it as its fighters backed off and tried to defend it.

“They actually did it,” Julian said, a look of awe in his eyes. The hangar bay alarm

went off and Anton grabbed Julian’s hand, pulling him away and they ran across the
deck and through the doors to safety. Anton pressed Julian up against the wall and
kissed him deeply.

Julian broke off the kiss. “No,” he whispered. “Not now. Not after...”
Anton looked away, shamed. “We don’t know how long we’ll have,” he said.

“Tomorrow, there will be another battle. The League won’t let up on us. I don’t want to
waste any of the time Jenny bought for us.”

“It’ll always be our last chance,” Julian said. “Today, tomorrow... Who knows when

this will end? That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan for the future. I don’t just want this to
be a quick thing at the end of our lives. I want it to be the beginning of a new life for us.”

Anton’s eyes were wide and filled with warmth as he leaned in for another kiss.

“Okay,” he whispered. “But just in case it’s our last chance, can we start our new life
today?”

“Sure,” Julian whispered, a smile on his lips. “Just in case.”