I took Jeff's hand. Time for last words. Or something. As I watched the Z'porrah ship head toward us, I felt compelled to say something. "I really wish we had a protective shield around us right now, and, barring that, I wish we'd gotten to say good-bye to Jamie."

And as soon as the words were out of my mouth, there she was.

CHAPTER 101.

MY BABY WAS RIGHT THERE, on the ground at my feet. She was standing and had her hands up in the air, as if she wanted me to pick her up.

I let go of Jeff, dropped to the ground, grabbed Jamie, and pulled her to me, while I did the wrap and cover every mother's ever done to put herself between her child and something horrible.

While I did this, my mind shared that it had a few questions. Was this really Jamie or another Peregrine? If it was Jamie, how did she get here? And how in the world was she standing up on her own?

Jeff stepped in front of us, Christopher blocked us from the rear. I cringed. And Jamie pulled away from me a little, so that she could look up at the sky. And she kept her hands up.

After a second or two, I realized that we were all still alive and unsmooshed. Looked up to see the flying saucer just hanging in the air above us. Everything and everyone around us was still fighting, but they were avoiding us, as if our little area was repelling them. Other than the Peregrines, who, to a bird, gathered around us, cooing.

Thought about all the times Jamie had done something she'd heard me say and chose my words carefully.

"It would be nice if the big, round, metal space ship were to be put down, very carefully, so that it didn't hurt anyone or anything on the ground."

Sure enough, the flying saucer sailed slowly and landed, bottom side down, balanced on the reflecting pool.

"What a good girl you are." I hugged her. "Mommy loves you so much. And look at my big girl, standing up all by herself!" And so early, too. She'd be walking sooner than average, but then she wasn't an average baby. I snuggled her, and she giggled at me.

"Ah, Kitty? Could we maybe be sure we're going to survive this before you go into full on Mommy Mode?"

"Uncle Christopher's just a little jumpy, Jamie-Kat. Let's make him feel better. Why don't you, Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Christopher, and all our wonderful Peregrine birdies all get away from where we are right now and go where it's a little safer?"

The Power Cube had moved us faster and more smoothly than a gate ever had. We moved the same way now. One moment, we were in the middle of Fighting Fugly Stew, the next we were on the top of the Lincoln Memorial steps.

I stood up, holding Jamie in my arms. She reached for Jeff, who took her and cuddled her. "My Jamie-Kat is such a good girl," he said as he gave her lots of Daddy Kisses, and she giggled happily.

"How is she doing all this?" Christopher asked me quietly. He sounded a little freaked out.

"No idea. Just glad she can."

Supersoldiers surrounded the downed Z'porrah ship, but no one came out of it. Which was probably good, seeing as there were still superbeings loose, and the rest of the supersoldiers, assisted by the androids, were fighting them and/or taking the hits the Z'porrah were still sending toward us.

"We're going to need to bring in artillery to get rid of the superbeings," Jeff said. "Before they destroy all the supersoldiers and we have even more superbeings."

"We could call Stryker's team and tell them to have the supersoldiers stand down," Christopher said. "But I'm not sure that we want them stopping, because some of the supersoldiers are destroying the superbeings."

"I think we need to stop the Z'porrah ships from blowing us all up first."

The Lincoln Memorial was set up so that you could, from the top, see everything across the Mall. So we had a good view of what happened next.

More spaceships appeared.

It was another armada. Only these ships weren't flying saucers. Some looked like big cat's paws, some like big dog heads, some like giant lizards with wings. These were accompanied by three ships that screamed "I'm an Imperial Battle Cruiser from Star Wars" only with extra bells and whistles.

Our friends were here, and Earth wasn't standing alone any more.

The Z'porrah ships were a little slow to react to the new arrivals, which gave our allies a chance to blast some of them out of the air without trying too hard.

However, that didn't last long. All the Z'porrah ships stopped firing at targets on the ground and focused on those in the air. The Feliniad, Canus Majorian, and Reptilian ships fired back.

The sun was beginning to set, but you couldn't tell because there was so much light in the sky. The Z'porrah ships could fire from various points around their saucer. The Feliniad, Canus Majorian, and Reptilian ships couldn't, but apparently they made up for this inability with stronger firepower. Both sides seemed equally matched in terms of flying agility, other than the Alpha Four Battle Cruisers, which were just as unwieldy as you'd expect a huge battle cruiser to be.

The Z'porrah obviously realized this too, as they started focusing much of their attack on the cruisers.

Jets appeared again and reengaged with the battle. They'd learned from my flyboys and were focusing their firepower on the tops of the Z'porrah ships. Some of the Feliniad and Canus Majorian ships caught on and followed our fighters, firing where they were.

A handful of the Z'porrah ships decided to start firing at the ground again. Or, rather, at the supersoldiers. Couldn't guess whether they'd realized that once a supersoldier was destroyed, a weapon that worked against us was released, or if they just wanted to get rid of our backup, but they were sending a lot of firepower at our sort of living weapons.

Over a dozen supersoldiers went down, and over a dozen superbeings came out. They started the usual superbeing attacks, flailing at anything near them. Other than two. Two of them noticed us. And headed for us.

"Time to run?" Christopher asked.

Three jets disengaged from the big battle and flew low. Their shots were carefully placed, focused solely on the superbeings. "Wait." I recognized the flying signatures again. "It's the rest of the flyboys."

"What do you mean, the rest?" Jeff asked.

"Hughes and Walker are . . . down. It . . . doesn't look good. But Tito's with them."

Jeff took my hand. "They'll pull through, baby. But I think Christopher's right, we need to get out of here." He had a point-one of the superbeings was at the stairs.

No sooner said than one of the flyboys drilled the superbeing. It exploded. Body parts just missed us. "Awesome! Of course, now we have the lovely smell of fried fugly to add to the rest of the day's fun sights and sounds."

"We also still have a superbeing after us," Christopher shared. "And more being created every minute."

This was true, but the flyboys were the best, and they were undoubtedly upset about Hughes and Walker. My guys didn't let their friends get shot down and not retaliate to the fullest measure.

Of course, better safe than sorry. I was about to agree that running away from the next superbeing heading up the stairs was the right choice when something big exploded in the sky.

Looked up to see a Reptilian ship breaking apart, just like the three Z'porrah ships it had collided with. All of which were directly overhead. Over our heads.

CHAPTER 102.

I CRINGED AGAINST JEFF as he pulled me and Jamie both closer in to him, and the debris plummeted out of the sky. But it never reached us.

The debris floated in the air, a good way above the tops of the buildings. "Is, ah, Jamie doing that?" Christopher asked.

Tore my eyes away from the sky and looked at my daughter. She didn't seem to be concentrating. "Not sure, but I don't think so."

Noticed something. The sounds of battle were far, far less. Took a better look at the sky. No one was firing any more.

Well, no one up high was. There were still fighter jets flying around, but they were focusing on the superbeings.

"What's going on?" Jeff asked.

"No idea. We need to get our guys out of the sky. Once all the superbeings are down." Tried not to think about the Reptilians on board their downed ship. What if Jareen and Neeraj, my Reptilian Soul Sister and her hubby, had been on board?

"Already handling," Chuckie said.

"Where did you come from this time?"

"The ground. I walked up the steps while you all were focused on the sky."

"Well, can you blame us? Um, what happened?"

"The Reptilian Sacrifice is what it's called."

I steeled myself. "How many of them died?"

"None."

"Excuse me? Their ship rammed three others and broke apart."

"Right, but we're talking about beings that routinely create spatiotemporal warps as part of their marriage rituals. The Reptilians get into position, sacrifice their ship while taking out several others, then warp over to other enemy ships. It's amazingly effective, especially on beings they don't routinely tangle with."

"Well, who expects the other guy to sacrifice his entire spaceship?"

"No one." Chuckie grinned. "Most races aren't willing to lose a ship, but the Reptilians make new ships quickly and easily, so it's a very worthwhile tactic."

"So, the fight's over?" Jeff didn't sound like he believed it. Couldn't blame him.

"Pretty much. The Reptilians have control of all the rest of the Z'porrah ships."

"That's great, but I'm still worried about what we're going to do with the supersoldiers," Christopher said. "I'm not the only one who's noticed that the minute they're broken we get an extra-resilient superbeing, right?"

"No, you're not the only one," Chuckie said. He had something in his ear.

"Did you just join The Matrix, or are you on a weird headset?" It certainly wasn't a Bluetooth from Hacker International.

He grinned. "Weird headset. I'm talking to the Alpha Four command ship. They're aware of all of our various problems. Just handling them in order of need."

One of the Alpha Four battle cruisers hovered over the debris, and another hovered over the parasites. Both drew their targets inside the ships' bellies.

"Wow, I hope they have some sort of antiparasite lining inside there."

"We do."

Turned to see Alexander standing there. Correction-King Alexander. He looked much less like the unsure kid we'd befriended and much more like a ruler.

Chuckie bowed his head. "Your Highness."

"Good to see you . . . Your Highness." I followed suit and did the head bow. Jeff and Christopher did as well.

Alexander smiled at me. "Our apologies for being late."

"Yeah, we know, you had to be sure all the crap with Ronaldo and LaRue wasn't just a really elaborate ruse on Earth's part to bring the Z'porrah to conquer your system."

"True enough."

"Took you long enough to figure it out and get here," Jeff said. Then he handed Jamie to me, grabbed Alexander and hugged him, and it was back to informal. Christopher and Alexander also hugged, Chuckie shook his hand, and Jamie and I got a joint hug. Then Alexander took Jamie from me and did all the goo-goo stuff people do with babies.

"Thanks for the Peregrines, they rock. We were a little slow on the warning messages, though."

Alexander shrugged as he patted Bruno's head. "It happens."

"By the way, why did Christopher and I wake up before the Peregrines arrived?"

Alexander looked surprised. "Because of your talents. And because Christopher is the Primary, and therefore the overall protection of the principality rests with him."

Christopher and I exchanged an "oh really?" glance. "Great, good to know. Just checking and all that."

Jeff took Jamie back as the last superbeing on the ground was destroyed. "What are you going to do with the Z'porrah ships?"

"We've destroyed at least half of the fleet they sent," Alexander said. "We could destroy them all. But we'll show them mercy, and they'll be clear that we've so done. We will also ensure they understand that should they try this again, we will destroy them all."

Chuckie was having a quiet conversation with no one, so I assumed he was talking to the Command Ship again. "Yes, thank you." He turned back to us. "The Z'porrah have officially surrendered. The ones in the air are being sent back to their solar system. Their command ship is the one on Earth, and we will be taking the crew as political prisoners."

"Is their ruler here?"

"Hardly," Alexander said. "Their ruler is back on their home world."

"Where most rulers tend to hang out. Why are you here?"

"Because my family and principality were being threatened, and we needed to show the Z'porrah we are not cowardly. My mother and Councilor Leonidas, as well as the rest of the Planetary Council, are still on Alpha Four. And this way, I got to get out of the palace and do something exciting."

"Oh. So Jareen isn't here? Or Queen Renata, Felicia, or Wahoa?" Now that I knew we'd see tomorrow, it would have been nice to see the rest of my friends, too.

Alexander grinned. "The others wanted to come with me. However, Jareen is expecting, and warp space travel is not recommended for pregnant women of any race. The rest needed to remain to ensure our solar system was protected in case we were not successful in protecting Earth. Everyone sends their good wishes to you and suggests you visit our solar system for once."

The Feliniad and Canus Majorian ships encircled the Z'porrah ships and herded them toward the remaining Reptilian ships. The sky between the Reptilian ships had a weird, wavering sheen to it. "Have they created a spatiotemporal warp net thing?"

"Yes," Chuckie replied. "It's got a more official name, but I know better than to waste breath telling you what it is. It'll send the Z'porrah back to their part of the galaxy."