THE STAR TRADERS

THE
STAR TRADERS
(A SC-FI SHORT STORY)
BY
SIMON MURPHY

The young man squinted as he glanced up into the azure sky, bringing
his hand up he shielded his green eyes from the suns glare as he
followed a flock of birds as they past overhead.
'How easy it is for them,' he thought as he watched as the birds
darted and dived around.
"Heh, Zack you awake buddy? I've been looking for you everywhere," a
young voice said as the owners shadow fell across the daydreaming young
man.
"Yeah, I'm awake Pip," Zack replied as he brought his hand down from
his eyes and stared up into the smiling face of trainee nav-com cadet
Pip Norgon. He smiled and offered his hand to Pip who grabbed hold of
it and pulled; once standing Zack brushed his blue flight suit
down.
"Come on bud we haven't got all day, the S.L is expecting us over at
the main hanger in..." Pip paused as he glanced at his multi-chron.
"Whoops," he said as he depressed a button on the side of the device
making the image of his mother disappear and be replaced by three
dimensional figures. "In ten minutes, come on or we are going to miss
the start of the exam!" Pip shouted as he stared at the slowly moving
3D image.
"You go, there's no point in me going," Zack muttered quietly.
"What! Oh don't start this I can't do it rubbish," Pip snapped as he
twirled towards his friend the 3D image on his wrist vanished as he
waved his arm around.
"Well what's the point, without me passing the first part there is no
way in hell that I can get enough points from the practical to pass,"
Zack said sorrowfully, he wished that he had been a bit more diligent
in the written and theory side than in the flying side; without both
passes you had no chance of getting your gold flying cluster.
"You're the best pilot that's come through for years, even the S.L has
said that," Pip stated as he watched as Zack shuffled in front of him.
"Besides If you don't go I'm screwed, nav-com's can't fly we need
pilots remember," he said softly.
"Yeah, ok bud lets go," Zack, said and smiled at his friend warmly as
they headed off towards the hanger, the smile was not how he felt
inside he knew that even if he pulled out all the stops and made this
flight the best he had ever done he wouldn't get enough marks to
pass.
Squadron Leader Marcus Richards looked at the group of cadets in front
of him and smiled, they had done well, a good group of young men and
woman with the odd exception. And that exception was walking into the
hanger as he started to walk around the group and hand out the com-pads
with the flight data on to the navcoms. He stopped in front of Zack and
Pip and handed Pip a flight plan. Zack Brogen was the best pilot he had
seen in a long time and with the training he had got even better, it
was just a problem that the boy didn't like the class work that went
with it.
"Listen cadet Brogen, I have something important to tell you, I have
been speaking with the base Chief and he has told me to tell you," he
paused as a gangly youth walked up to him and saluted. "Yes cadet
Rishworth?" Marcus asked irritably, he knew that the boy was going to
say something stupid; he always did.
"Sir, are we going to perform the low level attack and recon
scenarios?" the youth said in a nasally tone. 'By the stars give me
strength' thought Marcus as he looked down at the boy.
"What does it say on the flight plan?" he snapped as the youth looked
down at the com-pad in his hand.
"Err, no, he replied meekly.
"That's right, no, today is part-a of the exam: zero g, zero atmos
flying so what does that mean?" the squadron leader was getting close
to wanting to grab the annoying cadet and place him into the
g-centrifuge and crank it up to full power. He smiled as he thought of
the image as the young man slowly turned inside out.
"Space flight sir," the youth said sheepishly.
"Right space flight," Marcus muttered and dismissed the cadet with a
wave of his hand. He shook his head and then looked at Zack.
"Where was I, right, yes, the base Chief has said that If you do well
today and again on the part-b atmos exam he will grant you another
crack at the written exam," he stared at the young man and tried to
read the young man's thoughts.
"Thank you sir, I will try my best sir," Zack said stiffly and
saluted.
"By Jupiter's moons don't give me that I'll do my best!" Marcus
erupted. "You are the best pilot I've seen come through here in along
time, you have a gift...a real talent, but without the written part you
won't even be able to fly your own earth to orbit taxi!" he bellowed as
the rest of the group went quiet and watched in silence.
Zack looked away and stared at the floor, he knew that the S.L was
right he had to keep focused if he wanted to fly and apart from the
birds he had seen the next best thing to him for flying was the:
WALTHER &; BENNING-B401, also known as the: STARHAWK.
"Thank you sir, I really will do my very best sir, all I ever wanted
to do is to fly Stream-Jets, I'll try not to let you down sir," Zack
replied then he straightened and saluted. Marcus regarded the young man
for a few moments then realised that this time, just maybe the lad was
telling the truth.
"Your not letting me down son, you're letting yourself down," he
answered and with that he whirled and walked away.
"You know Pip this time I am really going to give it my best shot,
listen will you help me through the written parts?" Zack said as he
turned to Pip.
"Yeah I'll help you, but you know that I can't take the exam for you
right?" Pip replied as he took hold of Zack's shoulder.
"Yeah, I know," Zack said then he grinned at his friend.
"Right listen up, move over to the desks and sit down then we'll go
through the briefing, ok," the S.L said as he switched on the
holo-table, he waited impatiently as the youths made their way over to
the desks and sat down. "Come on it's skids up in thirty minutes,
settle down," he snapped to the excitable cadets who chatted and
shuffled in their seats. Marcus raised a hand and waited for the group
to become silent.
"Right listen up, it's going to be a simple earth to orbit then earth
to moon orbit," he said as he turned to the holo-projection of the
flight. "From moon orbit we shall be flying back to do a re-fuel at..."
he paused and looked at the eager young faces that stared back waiting
for his next line, he savoured the moment for another few seconds. "The
U.P.E.D.S Valliant," he smiled as the faces before him split into
smiles and grins.
"That means that both pilots and nav-coms will have to be more
vigilant, this is a major score on our part, we don't normally have a
'united peoples earth defence ship' letting us take on fuel," Marcus
finished talking and then raised his hand again to hush the room.
"There is one more thing that is not marked on your com-pads and that
is that you will carrying live ordnance on this flight, you will have,"
he pressed another button on the holo-table and the picture of the
U.P.E.D.S VALLIANT shimmered and disappeared, a moment later it was
replaced by a spinning 3D image of a STARHAWK.
"This is what you will carrying," the S.L said as he touched a finger
into the stream of 3D electrons. Immediately the STARHAWK exploded into
its component parts and Marcus touched the swirling mass again and this
time an exploded view of the weapons appeared.
"I want you to link and copy this data onto your com-pads," he cleared
his throat before continuing. "Two ASN mixed plutonium long range
nukes, four AS100 missiles with five thousand case-less exploding shell
rounds," he swept his gaze across the group as he spoke. "These are to
be locked down and not armed understand, any ship found to be weapons
hot and it's crew will fail the course and be dishonourably discharged,
do I make myself clear," he shouted as he moved towards the muttering
cadets. "Do I make myself clear!" he bellowed when he received no reply
from the fidgeting youths.
"Sir, yes sir!" they cried back at him.
"Right crews, to your ships and good luck!" Marcus waved a hand in the
air and turned to switch off the holo-table behind him the sound of
grating chair legs and the sound of talking reached him. He smiled at
the thought of when he took his own exam all those years ago and the
waves of nervousness mixed with excitement that flooded over him. He
turned and followed the group as they clattered towards their ships
waiting by them was the service crews.
"This is it Pip, can you really believe it, live ordnance and a fuel
link up with a U.P.E.D.S not a drone," Zack said excitably as he
stopped in front of their ship. He looked up and ran a hand over the
underneath of the wing and came to stop when his hand reached the hatch
that housed the weapon pods.
"You get in and prep the ship Pip and I'll do the visual check," he
said as he turned back to his friend.
"One step ahead of ya pal," Pip, replied as he climbed into the
cockpit and sat down.
Zack started to walk around the fighter and perform his visual checks
of the skids, intakes, and engine nozzles while Pip plugged in his
com-pad into the port in his console. Happy with the checks he signed
off the fighter as ok from the ground crew and climbed up the small
ladder and climbed into his seat.
"Everything ok," Pip enquired as he watched his monitors.
"Yeah, fine, you?" Zack asked as he fastened his helmet strap and then
started to fasten his harness.
"No probs, download complete, ship systems coming online," Pip said as
he unplugged the com-pad and stuffed it his flight suit leg
pocket.
"Copy, that," Zack said automatically as he watched his flight panel
come alive.
"System check...engines online...life-support online...navigation
online...tactical online...flight controls online...weapons systems
online...ejection system online...communications online...computer
systems operating at 100\%, ship operating at 100\%," the computers
monotone sampled voice droned in their headsets.
"All in the green ready to roll," Zack said as his screen confirmed
what the computer had already told them.
"Copy that, I'll call us in," Pip said as he depressed a button on his
console. "Tower this is training flight four niner two, all systems are
in the green and we are requesting the go ahead for flight, over," Pip
spoke smoothly into his mike and waited for the reply.
"Copy that four niner two, we show you all green please make your way
behind training flight one seven three to the launch area, over," the
man's crackly voice said from his earphones.
"We're rolling, system on hover mode," Zack, replied as he pushed the
throttle forward a little and pulled back on the stick, the fighter
jumped slightly as power was brought into the lift nozzles and then it
rose from the ground and hovered. He waited while the ship he was to
follow moved out of the hanger and then pushed forward slightly on the
control stick and glided out of the gloomy hanger. The fighters
automated glare systems darkened the cockpit as they emerged into the
sunshine and took up position awaiting the order to launch.
"Right listen up people, we are going with the standard launch ok, on
my mark," Marcus said over the speaker system.
Zack turned his head from side to side and watched as all the fighters
took up their launch stations. He could feel the adrenalin course
through him and his heart beat wildly in his chest; he loved the
launches.
"Go!" Marcus screamed into his mike. One by one the fighters shot into
the air and climbed away.
"Ready?" Zack asked as he waited for their turn.
"You bet," Pip replied as he checked his systems again.
"Here we go!" Zack stated as he thrust the throttle forward. There was
a brief pause before the full power reached the nozzles then...
"Yahooooooooooo!" Zack screamed as the fighter rocketed away from the
launch area and soared into the blue sky behind him his nav-com Pip
Norgon grinned.
"Training flight 027 this is tower we confirm all launches, please
proceeded to flight mode and rendezvous point, over," the nasally
sounding man said through their headsets. All the pilots switched their
craft to flight mode and the fighters now took on a sleek dark form as
the landing skids and blastoff nozzles where retracted.
"Listen up flight, formation alpha two six and keep it tight, this is
it as from now on we're been watched, nav-coms check your navigation
screens for rendezvous coordinates, over," Marcus said as he settled
back into his couch and waited for the reply.
"Copy that lead," they all said one at a time to Marcus's words. He
looked out as the thinning blue faded away into the blackness of space
and smiled; he loved the corps.
They travelled in a tight formation for twenty minutes and then the
pilots adjusted their heading from the information that was fed to them
via their nav-com officers so that they could slingshot away from the
earth and towards the moon. One at a time the tiny black darts peeled
away from the main group and shot away.
"Ready for max throttle burn," Pip asked Zack quietly.
"Copy, ready for max throttle burn, in five, four, three, two,
one...burn," Zack said coolly as he punched a button on his console and
then pushed the throttle forward. Instead of shooting up this time from
its nozzles the fighters two nitrogen accelerator Stream jet engines
pushed out a stream of compressed heated swirling nitrogen atoms that
propelled the craft away from the earth and out into the
blackness.
They got back into formation and then performed a few set manoeuvres
that were laid down in the exam. After two hours they slowed and fell
into moon orbit, again they dropped out of formation one at a time and
used the moons gravity to help push them back towards the earth.
"Well piece of cake so far," Zack said as he looked at the glowing
engines of one of his companions.
"Yeah for now, remember that this is only the first part, there are
two more parts after this one," Pip replied to Zack's casual
comments.
"Cut the talk, four niner two, over," the S.L's voice crackled.
"Sorry sir, copy that," Pip replied sharply, he knew that he had
passed his written part of the exams but now he had to prove that he
had actually learned something. Deep down he hoped that Zack wouldn't
lose it and blow Pip's chances of graduating; after all they were
supposed to be a team.
"Right listen up, I want deceleration in,
five...four...three...two...one...mark," Marcus said as he read his
monitor he thumbed a switch and eased back on his throttle. All around
him ten neat little daggers slowed at the same rate. He checked his
screen and nodded approvingly as his nav-com relayed the results to
him, it showed him that there was only a 0.04\% reaction rate between
the pilots receiving the order and then acting on it. He smiled to
himself he knew that the exam board would like that.
"Right first five, get ready formation beta f20, over," he said as he
banked his craft over.
"Copy lead," came the reply from the first five fighters, he watched
as they split from the first group and formed their own little group.
Each person in the fighters was not only watching their instruments but
was also watching as the U.P.E.D.S 'Valliant' loomed ahead the sun
reflected of its massive titanium and composite hull.
"Wow," Zack, whispered as he watched the spacecraft grow larger.
Marcus heard the muted 'wow' but decided that this he wouldn't
reprimand Zack; it really was a 'wow' time.
"Trainee flight this is Valliant control, lock on your automated fuel
sensors and prepare for upload of data, over" said the 'Valliant's'
controller as the small craft approached.
"Copy that Valliant control," Marcus replied as he watched the group
as it neared the massive ship. Zack and Pip watched as one by one their
companion's ships were guided into the re-fuelling bays, after twenty
minutes the re-fuelled fighters moved away and formed up waiting for
Zack and his group to take on fuel.
"Trainee flight this is Valliant control, lock on your automated fuel
sensors and prepare for upload of data, over" repeated the 'Valliant's'
controller as the second wave of fighters moved closer. Pip watched as
the information from the 'Variant' was downloaded into the ships
computer systems; his console beeped to confirm that the information
was stored in the computers memory banks.
"All set Zack, data downloaded, computer is switching to Valliant's
control, we're on automatic," Pip said professionally.
"Copy that, confirm data download, we're on auto, going in," Zack
confirmed as he glanced at his control screen then up at the looming
spaceship. He let go of the control stick as it moved in his hand, he
stared down as it moved from side to side and up and down as it made
minute changes to the pitch and yaw of the craft; he smiled as he felt
the engines increase in power briefly then cut out almost at
once.
"Relax gentlemen and enjoy the ride," the S.L said as he finished
re-fuelling and turned away and flew up to join the first group of
fighters. Zack felt the ship bob slightly as it neared the great
underbelly of the 'Valliant'. He strained his neck so that he could see
the structure of the ship as he slipped by, he turned to look out of
the window again as his ship slowed then stopped. The fuel nozzle moved
silently out from the great ship to meet the hose coupling on the small
fighter, Pip looked through his window as the hose connected to his
ship with a metallic clink; he turned his attentions back to his
screen.
"Confirm re-fuelling," he said as he checked the ships fuel
gauges.
"Copy, I confirm re-fuelling," Zack, said as he stared out into the
black void, he was supposed to check his own gauges with that of the
nav-com, he hadn't and had spoken automatically; luckily the examiners
wouldn't know unless they were having a problem.
"Re-fuelling complete, computer detaching hose," Pip said as he read
his readout, he shuffled in his couch and wished that he could get at
the itch, which had suddenly developed, in the middle of his
back.
All the remaining fighters had been re-fuelled and had pulled away
from the 'Valliant' and had rejoined with their companions.
"Thank you Valliant control, over," Marcus said as he watched as the
last fighter slot into the formation.
"You're welcome trainee flight and good luck, you will have control
in...five...four...three...two...one...mark," the controller said as
the 'Valliant's' computer system relinquished control of the fighters
back to the pilots. No sooner had manual control returned to the cadets
than a shrill warning beep echoed in every headset.
"Keep quiet you lot, let me sort this out," Marcus instructed as he
pressed a series of buttons on his console.
"Flight this is Valliant control, we have been issued a level 2
warning, repeat a level 2 warning please evacuate the area, repeat
evacuate the area," the controller said calmly. Twenty sets of eyes
looked across the inky black of space at the big spaceship as the voice
filled their ears.
"Right listen up flight, we have to get out of here this baby is going
to hit hyper-speed and we do not want to be around for that," S.L
Richards said as he adjusted his chin strap and waited for some
coordinates to come through on his display. "Right listen, feed this
download into your systems I don't want anybody getting lost out here,
we will go to these coordinates and await further orders, over," he now
said with authority.
"Copy, leader," they all said in unison.
S.L Marcus Richards transmitted his new coordinates to the control
tower and then led his cadets away from the massive ship. Onboard the
U.P.E.D.S. 'Valliant' klaxon's wailed and personal charged through her
many decks to their stations.
Captain Daniel Murphy sat in his command chair and watched as his
people settled down and started to operate their systems with
well-rehearsed practise. He glanced around the bridge one more time
then called over to the engineering post.
"Status Mr Reid," he said.
"Engines at 100\%, hyper-drive is ready, sir," the man said as he
continued to examine the readouts at his console.
"Navigation, is the course laid in?" the Captain now asked as he
stared at the view-screen in front of him.
"Course laid in, aye Captain," the woman said smoothly.
"Good, very well, helm three quarter sub-light now," Captain Johnson,
said to the person at the helm position.
"Aye, sir," the woman replied and pushed the throttles to the three
quarter mark. "Three quarter sub-light Captain," she relayed as he read
off her console data.
Captain Daniel Murphy stared at the small screen before him on the
com-pad and found it hard to tear his eyes away from the image that was
displayed there.
"I'll be in my battle room call the senior officers will you," he said
softly as he stood and passed the communications post.
"Aye, sir," the man said flatly.
The cadet group reached their leaders new coordinates and stopped in a
tight formation. Even from their new position they could still see the
vast bulk of the 'Valliant' as she sliced her way through space and on
towards her new mission.
"We have been told to keep station here, there is a lot of traffic
leaving earth just at the moment, so we'll just sit tight, ok," Marcus
said coolly as he watched the tiny craft through his cockpit.
"Sir, what has happened?" Zack asked, he knew that every cadet in the
group wanted to ask it, so it might as well be him.
"Keep quiet Brogen, that's an order," Marcus snapped back. Zack Brogan
slumped back into his chair and sulked. Pip scanned through his
communications and relayed one through to his brooding pilot, Zack's
console beeped at him and he turned his head slowly towards the glowing
screen.
He straightened up as he read the incoming information that was been
fed to his flight station from Pip.
"Oh, no!" Zack shouted as he watched the images on his screen.
"What the hell, Brogan I told..." Marcus never finished his sentence
as the wild chattering from two other cadets who had found the same
com-frequency crackled in his earphones. He knew it wouldn't be long
before the nav-coms found the frequency; they wouldn't be very good if
they couldn't even do that.
"All right people settle down," Richardson said calmly, he sighed as
he thought about what he would say. 'Hell there is no point in sugar
coating it for them,' he thought, they're here to train as fighter
pilots, once they past their exams and graduated the next stop for many
of them was to fighter command; for some real training.
"All right, listen as probably all of you have seen via the Geo Venus
Deep Space Telescope, we have a problem," he paused while ran his
gloved hand over his chin. "The ship you see on your screens is a
Nomi-an star catcher," he said then he waiting for the words to sink
in.
"The star traders," Zack muttered as he stared at the image of the
tiny earth fighters as they closed in on the Nomi-an ship.
"Star traders," Marcus repeated flatly. He had heard stories of them
from the deep core miners and traders but he had never seen any, until
today.
He knew what they were as all earth defence stations had been alerted
to them when a star in the Orion belt was seen to move. Closer
observations had shown the Nomi-an ship dragging the huge star behind
it, it was hard to believe, but it was true. A trader from the one of
the backwater systems had found out from a crashed Nomi-an scout craft
how they did it. It seemed that the Nomi-an's had found a way of
stabilising a star that was about to go supernova or near its end, then
if the system could afford it, the Nomi-an's typed the star and set out
to find another one and drag it back to the system, then they would
drag the supernova away.
Of course this was fine for the system with the 'new star' but the
Nomi-an's didn't really care were they got the 'new star' from. Many
systems were decimated by the gravity shifts while the Nomi-an's were
'hitching' the star to their giant 'galactic pick-up'. What of course
made it worse was the fact that they had very good weapons technology;
they could afford the best. Lots of civilisations had gone up against
the Nomi-an's giant ship but all had failed. Now it looked like it was
the earths turn die.
They sat in stunned silence as the G.V.D.S.T (Geo. Venus. Deep. Space.
Telescope) transmitted the slight time delayed pictures of wave after
wave of fighters from the U.P.E.D.S SOLAR RIDER as they threw
themselves at the colossal alien ship only to be blasted into cosmic
dust. Even the U.P.E.D.S stood little chance against the heavy particle
cannons that ripped into her. The cadets gasped and some even wept as
the earth ship finally succumbed to the pounding, even its own nitrogen
fusion engines helped to blow apart the multi-decked vessel into a
great white cloud of flame and superheated gasses. Vast plates of
decking and superstructure spun and twisted in the seething maelstrom,
what remained of the great battleship slowly drifted away: a grey cold
slow moving monument to the dead crew.
Pip didn't see the images of the devastation that was played on all
the other cadet's screens even his pilot's, he was busy studying and
working something out.
"Sir, this is Pip Norgan permission to speak?" he asked nervously, he
held his breath and waited for the order to keep his mouth shut.
"Granted Norgan, what's up?" Richardson replied sadly, he had served
on the SOLAR RIDER and had a lot of friends on the great ship.
"Sir, I have been watching the attack runs on the alien vessel, not
one of the fighters fired any missiles they only used pulse cannons,"
Pip said as he re-ran a recording of the attack that he had stored. "I
got the computer to analyse the results, I managed to get some
telemetry data from one of the fighters," he said as he removed his
glove and scratched his forehead.
"Yeah so?" Zack snapped getting impatient with the hanging
around.
"Shut it Zack!" Marcus shouted at the impertinent young man.
"Well, they couldn't use their missiles because they have all the
latest ZX81 pathfinder seek and destroy combat systems, the aliens just
jammed them, so to the computer the alien ship showed up as a nothing,
no target," Pip said as he undid his chin strap and removed his helmet
and ran a hand through his sweaty brown curly hair.
"So what you're saying is that, the computer saw nothing so wouldn't
launch the missiles?" the S.L said in astonishment.
"Err, that's right sir and it gets worse with the new system you can't
even fire manually," the nav-com said as he reset his screen.
"So how come their pulse guns didn't work Pip?" Zack inquired
intelligently, he was hoping to get back into the S.L good books.
"Like I said I managed to get a bit of telemetry and combat data from
one of our fighters, as far as I can tell the aliens shields acted like
a mirror and bounced it away, in fact sir probably more of our ships
were hit by reflected fire than by the aliens," Pip said
sullenly.
"Then there is no hope," Marcus Richards said quietly.
"Well, maybe there is sir," Pip said suddenly aware that all eyes and
ears were on him.
"Go on son," Marcus said slowly.
"We can have ago sir," Pip blurted as he stared at the back of Zack's
helmet.
"Oh, holy Olympus Mons, Norgons lost it!" came a panicky voice in
Pip's ear. He screwed up his face and wished he had never spoken the
words.
"Shut up Rishworth you fat sack of..." Zack never finished the
sentence as Richardson quickly intervened.
"Enough! Go on Pip what's your idea?" Marcus said, he understood the
frustration and terror that was slowly growing in these young men and
woman, he had to keep control; the last thing he needed was a rogue
ship: or two.
"We carry the old R12 systems, so even if they jammed us we can still
override and fire manually, also we are carrying shell rounds not pulse
cannons, the shields won't or shouldn't be able to stop them," the
nav-com said excitedly. Pip could here the buzz of chattering in his
earpiece from the other cadets. Marcus Richardson let the cadets talk
as he conferred with his nav-com about the plan.
"Keep it down people," he said soothingly, "It's a good idea Pip but,
even if we had enough fuel to get there, we are not a combat ready
force, besides I can't let you guys go up against that ship, what the
hell would your parents say," he muttered as he looked out at the group
of ships around him.
"Well, sir, the alien ship is only just past Venus, at full throttle
we can catch up to it and have ten minutes of flying, before we start
running out of fuel," Pip said encouragingly.
"All right, even if we did go what the hell are ten fighters going to
do against that thing," Marcus asked, he tried not to sound defeatist
but he was a combat veteran and he knew that the odds were practically
nil; especially for a non combat ready unit.
"Sir our families will die, we have to try something!" Zack wailed as
he whacked his hands down on the top of his flight console.
"Sir, I don't think that we have to go for the main ship we can go for
one of the gravity flux generators, as far as I can fathom they have no
defence apart from shields," Pip stated as he punched up a close up of
one of the giant spheres onto his screen.
"Are you joking Pip, there the size of Saturn," Zack snorted as he
pressed a button on his console and brought up the image of the giant
sphere.
"Sir, if we set off now I 'm sure that I can analyse the generator and
come up with a plan," the nav-com said hopefully.
"Ok, listen up flight, you 're not a combat ready force so I'm not
sending you to your possible deaths, without a vote on it," Marcus
instructed, he thought about the idea and realised that what else could
they do: if they waited, they would definitely die.
"Right, call in your numbers with an aye or a nay," he said flatly,
after a few moments he had the answer that deep down he hoped for; his
ten small ships crewed by cadets were going into battle against a
superior force.
"Ok, cadets buckle up and get into formation alpha two four, we burn
at full throttle for thirty seconds then we kick in the hyper-drive as
one, ok, nav-coms prepare for data download," Richardson said smoothly
as he worked his practised hands over his instruments.
The cadets Starhawks circled each other silently before they fell into
formation.
"On my mark, five...four...three...two...one...mark," S.L Richardson
called as he ignited his engines and pushed the throttle forward.
Behind him the remainder of his flight powered up and shot away from
the blue sparkling orb they called home.
Colonel Christopher Lyles was beginning to feel his head start to
pound as he was constantly bombarded with the sounds of alarms and
talking. He stared blankly at the man before him and watched as his
mouth opened and closed.
"What?" he snapped as he realised that although he had been facing the
man he had not heard one word that he had said.
"Sir, Cohn valley ranging station reports that training flight 027 has
just left station keeping and gone into hyper space," the man reported.
He stood there and fidgeted slightly as the Colonel looked at him with
narrowed eyes.
"Who's in charge of that flight?" the Colonel said softly.
"Err, I don't know, sir," the man replied meekly as he shuffled some
more.
"Well go and find out man, then report back to me!" he shouted at the
hapless messenger.
"Yes s...sir, right a...away sir," the man stammered as he nearly fell
over himself as he tried to turn away and salute at the same time, the
Colonel just looked at the man. He watched as the man ran into somebody
as he hastily tried to get through the doors at the end of the
operations room, he heard him babble an apology to the woman who
scowled at him as she bent to pick up the scattered papers that had
been thrown all over the floor; he shook his head then turned to the
main viewer showing the alien vessel as it carried on towards its
destination.
Pip Norgen concentrated on the images and data that flashed across his
screen. He glanced up and then stopped and looked as the stars streamed
past. He pressed a button on his console and a digital clock appeared,
he stared at the numbers as they slowly counted down the time they had
remaining until they reached the vast alien ship; he sighed and brought
back the images and data and carried on studying them.
"Sir we have the S.L of trainee flight 027, its Marcus Richardson,
sir!" the man announced excitably as he approached the Colonel.
"Marcus Richardson," the Colonel repeated and turned away from the man
slightly as another alarm started to blare. "Shut that thing off!" he
shouted to a group of men and woman just in front of him.
"Well Marcus what are you up to my friend," he pondered as he turned
back to waiting man. "Can you get hold of Commander Richardson?" he
asked.
"No sir, their onboard antenna would not be able to pick up our
transmission at this range, especially while there in hyper space," the
man said almost apologetically. "But sir, we may be able to get a
signal to them via the Valliant which has far better receiving and
sending equipment, they could re-lay the message and response," he
paused while the Colonel looked at him, he gulped and continued. "We
have the Valliant at grid 4506, that puts then about 45.000 miles in
front of flight 027, sir," the man said hoping to score some 'brownie
points' with the stony faced Colonel.
"Very well Corporal...Smith," Lyles said as he read the man's name
badge. "Good work, see to it, send this message, 'To S.L of flight 027,
what is your destination and plan, oh and Corporal this high priority,"
he said and then saluted at the man who smiled and saluted back.
"Yes, sir!" the man replied and turned and left the room as fast as he
could, this time making sure that he watched where he was going.
"Sir, I have a priority communication from earth, from Colonel
Christopher Lyles, I will relay the message to your com-pad," the
communication officer said as his com-panel flashed and the message was
relayed to him through his headset.
Captain Daniel Murphy looked across at the man and then glanced down
at his com-pad as the message flashed across the screen. He frowned as
he read the words then turned to his battle station officer.
"Ben, a group of ten Starhawks is closing fast from our stern, I want
you to find that flight," he said as he rubbed his chin.
"Sir," the man acknowledged then started to work his hands over the
console.
"Marcus, we have an incoming message from the Valliant," the nav-com
said as his console beeped at him.
"Copy that, relay please," Richardson asked, he listened to the
message in his headset and nodded his head slowly. "John, earth has
found out that we have gone and they have been in touch with the
Valliant and told them to relay a message, send out our exact position
and tell them of our plan, your sending it to the Valliant so that they
can boost the signal and relay back to earth," he said to his nav-com
as he thought about what the bosses back on earth would be saying when
they found out; that was it, his career was over and if he lived
through this then he knew that he would be facing a court martial and
possibly prison.
"Sir, I have incoming message from flight 027, I'll punch it through
to your com-pad, sir," the communications officer said.
"Thank you," Captain Daniel Murphy said as he turned his attention
back to his com-pad and read the words slowly, he read them again to
make sure that he had understood them. "Relay message back to earth,"
he said flatly as he stared at the words that glowed softly back at
him. "Good god," he whispered.
"Sir, I have the message back from the Valliant!" the Corporal stated
as he stopped and thrust a com-pad towards Colonel Christopher Lyles.
The man looked at the man and then the com-pad.
"Thank you, Smith," he said as he took the device from the man's
outstretched hand. He cleared his throat and then began to read the
message. He looked up and went pale.
"Sir, are you alright?" the Corporal said anxiously as the Colonel
visibly swayed.
"What? Yes, you come with me," he snapped as he turned on his heels
and walked briskly towards the door.
"S.L, I think that I may have found out something," Pip suggested as
he tapped his finger end against the image on the screen.
"Copy that Pip, what you got," Richardson asked.
"Well sir, I have studied the images and I have found that even though
they are the size of Saturn and are shielded, they do have a weakness,"
the nav-com stated. "Sir, the spheres themselves are way too big for us
to destroy one of them, but what we can do is go for the weakest
point..." Pip stopped talking as the angry voice of Richardson bellowed
in his earpiece and cut him off. "God damn it Norgen, get to the point
will you!"
"Yes sir, sorry sir," apologised the nav-com sheepishly, in front of
him Zack smirked. "Well, we go for one of the flux couplings, there are
two on each axis of the sphere, making a total of eight," he paused and
took a deep breath before continuing. "These link the gravity binders
together from sphere to sphere all the way around the star, we only
need to attack just one of the couplings and bang...well in theory.
Sir," he finished talking and listened to the muted mumblings in his
headset. He waited and waited for what seemed an age until Richardson's
voice sounded in his ear.
"Rrrriiight, in theory," the Squadron Leader said unconvincingly. "You
want us to attack one of the couplings on the sphere, yes?" he repeated
with a dismal tone.
"Well, yes sir, I have checked everything and worked out the
calculations, as far as I can see it will work if we concentrate all
our firepower on one of the couplings... but," he said anxiously.
"But?" Richardson remarked in mock surprise.
"Well sir, for us to successfully destroy, err cripple the Nomi-an
ship we have to wait until it has deployed its gravity flux generators
around the sun and activated them, sir," Norgan said softly. He knew
that the plan was risky but it was all he could come up with.
"You what Norgan, are you insane!" Richardson ranted. In his cockpit
only seen by his nav-com, Squadron Leader Marcus Richardson waved his
arms around and squirmed in his seat as if it had just burst into
flames. "We have to wait until that thing harnesses the sun and then
attack! And hope that this plan of yours works!" he shouted at the poor
nav-com.
"Yes sir, if we attack and destroy the coupling it should change the
gravity and destroy the spheres, and maybe the Nomi-an ship as well,"
Pip replied quietly. He sat back in his chair and rubbed his hands over
his tired eyes. 'I wish I'd never joined up' he thought as he stopped
rubbing his eyes and sighed.
"Sir, may I speak?" Zack said, breaking the awkward cold silence that
had appeared over the small group.
"What is it Brogen...and choose your words carefully son," the S.L
said in a menacing tone.
"Sir, Pip is right, it is our best shot at getting them, everything
else has failed," he waited a second or two before continuing. "Our
families are dead if we do nothing and they may die if we do something,
at least we tried, and Pip's plan is the best so far, sir," he said
with a flourish then he fell silent and waited for Richardson to start
ranting again. The man didn't and to Zack Brogen the silence was worse
than the shouting angry Squadron Leader.
"Ok, you're right Zack, sorry for getting on you're case Pip you have
done extremely well just to come up with a plan, well done son,"
Richardson said apologetically. "I'll call the plan in and get the
Valliant to support us, where going to kick some alien sun snatchers
butt!" he shouted happily. As he finished talking his headset was
filled with the 'cheers' and 'whoops' of the gleeful cadets.
After carefully listening to the transmission sent from Squadron
Leader Richardson, Captain Daniel Murphy shook his head and
smiled.
"Well gentlemen you have heard the plan, what do you think?" the
Captain said as he turned his gaze from one face to the next as he
studied his office in his battle room.
"Absolute rubbish, were the hell has this...kid got his data from, and
even if it is correct, how come he managed to piece it together and our
guys couldn't?" the man at the end table blurted out, he waved his hand
in the air and then let it drop to the tabletop. The Captain looked at
the man then motioned to a woman who was seated next to him.
"We have studied the data and the plan and it makes sense, if not a
bit risky, we have also concluded that his data and calculations are
correct," she said as she too looked from face to face. "Our weapons
systems are just no good against that kind of technology, even our
ships weapons are useless against it, the only thing that we are good
for is to ram them," she remarked chillingly. Daniel listened to the
panicky murmuring that erupted from around the members of his staff. He
liked his science and tactician officer she always called it as how it
was; and this time it was a real mess.
"Good god Daniel, she said it herself the plan is risky, even for
trained combat pilots let alone a bunch of snotty nosed cadets and
an...over zealous Squadron Leader who wants another shot at fame," the
same man said as he pointed to the woman and then to the Captain. The
Captain knew that his first officer had to give alternative opinions
and views but: First Officer Gregory Stowe was a real pain in the
ass.
"Noted Gregory," the Captain said quickly to subdue his
number-one.
"Well, Kirsten here has linked up with the kid who analysed and came
up with the plan, we have already lost one ship and two fleets of
fighters, pretty soon we may well lose the earth and all that we hold
dear," he stopped talking and watched as the horror of the SOLAR RIDERS
demise relived itself in each persons mind. "The plan will work, it has
to work we have no other ships that can get here in time," he stopped
talking again and walked over to a large window and looked out at the
stars as they slowly moved by. "Frankly gentlemen this is it, if the
earth is to be saved then it is up to us and that flight of cadets, no
ifs, no buts, us and them, and I need focus from you," he turned away
from the window and looked at the group of officers who all stared back
at him.
"To your stations we have a planet to save," he said sternly.
Colonel Christopher Lyles stared disbelievingly at the com-pad in
front of him. He couldn't believe the data that he was reading he
handed the com-pad back to Corporal Smith and asked him to reconfirm
the message and data.
"Sir, message checks out so does the data we have had all the err
boffins working on it, we can't get any fighters with the old combat
systems, fully armed with old ordnance and trained crews in the combat
area in time, sir," Corporal Smith said as he handed the com-pad back
to the Colonel who just stared blankly at him. The officer seemed lost
in a daydream where the dream he was having was much more preferred
than the reality he was in. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. The
Corporal looked at the man and then glanced around the room nervously
before looking back at the man.
"No well maybe we can't get old ships, weapons and combat ready crews
up there from down here, but I know another way," Lyles said as he
opened his eyes.
"Ok, guys and gals listen up, we have got a green light for our little
escapade," Richardson relayed to his charges. "So that means Pip, that
even the brain boxes couldn't come up with a better plan, so it had
better work and we had better not screw it up," he conveyed. "Right get
ready for download of data you nav-coms, sending now," he stated as he
raised his thumb into the air. Behind him his nav-com smiled and pushed
a button on his console that started the data transfer.
The Starhawks sailed majestically through space, there crews refining
the tactics that they would employ to defeat a far more superior
force-not only in size but also in weaponry. If the cadets had thought
that they were under pressure before then that was nothing that each
and every one of them felt now in their twisted, knotted guts. They
caught up with the earth ship, which had dropped into sub light speed.
They had taken on extra fuel and told to hold station keeping off the
great ships port side when Squadron Leader Marcus Richardson was
summoned aboard the Valliant. The cadets watched and chatted excitedly
as Richardson's small fighter broke formation and circled around the
vast bulk of the battle ship then silently slipped into the hanger
bay.
"I wonder what they want with the S.L?" Zack mumbled into his mike as
he stared out at the Valliant as she floated gracefully in a sea of
stars.
"Maybe there going to throw him in the brig?" Pip muttered back as he
studied his screen for the tenth time in as many minutes.
"Heh, that's not funny Norgan..." Rishworth started to say over the
radio but was cut off as the communications officer onboard the
Valliant butted in.
"To all flights, this is Valliant control, you're requested to brake
formation by twos and await computer control for docking procedure,
over," a woman's voice said in their earpieces.
"What? Why Valliant control, where is Squadron Leader Richardson,
over," Zack responded suspiciously.
"It's ok Zack, it's me they want us to do a briefing that's all, so
come on in, over," Richardson's reassuring voice said to them over the
speakers.
"Copy that," Zack replied and then peeled over to starboard and
started to align his ship up for docking.
In side the Valliant Marcus Richardson seethed as he stared at the
floor next to the communications officers console.
"I'm sorry Marcus, I really am but this has come from the top, and
besides you know that it is the right thing to do," Captain Daniel
Murphy said softly as he looked across at the angry man.
"Yeah, but I shouldn't have had to lie to them," Richardson shot back
as he glared at the Captain.
"God, damn it Richardson, there only kids, and this is a war, we are
fighting for our lives as a people, as a species!" Daniel fired back
angrily. Marcus stared at him and then hunched his shoulders over and
sagged. He knew that Daniel was right this was a war not just between
nations or planets. He had been in plenty of border disputes and small
skirmishes as mankind had pushed out further into space, but although
tragic they had eventually ended and the peoples had lived together or
had given each other breathing room. But this was different, this, was
against beings that didn't care if they wiped out an entire species no
matter who it was all in the sake of profit. He just wished that he
hadn't had to lie to his group, he knew that some, namely Zack Brogan
and a few others would refuse the order and would fly off to attack the
Nomi-an ship on their own; something that he couldn't let happen.
"Look, Marcus go and welcome your flight and take them to the briefing
room, I'll join you later and I'll explain it to them," Daniel said as
he saw the upset on the man's face.
"Yes sir," Richardson said as he stood to attention and saluted, he
didn't wait for the Captain to respond and turned sharply and marched
out of the door and towards the hanger bay.
"Captain Daniel Murphy swivelled in his chair and watched as the man
disappeared from view, he screwed up his face and sighed then he
depressed a button on his chair console.
"Security, I want a detail sent to the main hanger, Squadron Leader
Marcus Richardson and any of his cadet group are not, I repeat not
permitted to leave this ship, if they resist then you have my
permission to arrest them," he said flatly.
"Yes sir," the voice acknowledged.
Daniel was just like Marcus, he was 'old school' just like himself,
they both had seen combat and Daniel knew what Marcus was thinking
because if he was in the same shoes as Marcus, he would thinking of
doing the same thing as well.
Richardson took the lift down to the hanger and made his way towards
the control centre. He walked straight through the room with its flight
technician's busy working at their terminals and headed out the other
side and onto the covered plexi-glass viewing bridge that straddled the
vast hanger. He looked down as his flight started to glide into the
hanger. He watched as one by one the fighters were manoeuvred into neat
rows by the computers and technicians in the control room. He lifted
his head slightly and watched as the great metal door at the end of the
hanger made its way slowly towards a large grove set into the floor, he
listened to the klaxons as they wailed, informing people that the
hanger was incapable of sustaining unprotected life. The great door
closed silently sealing the hanger from the coldness of space.
"Warning, hanger now pressurising," the computers monotone sounded
over the hangers speakers. "Warning, hanger pressurised, please be
aware of cold surfaces and condensation, authorised personal with full
safety equipment only," the voice instructed. Marcus Richardson moved
away from the plexi-glass and turned towards the opposite end of the
bridge away from the control centre. He had taken only three steps when
two men at the end appeared. He stopped and looked at them; they looked
back. He turned back the way he had come and was met by two more men
who barred his way; they also stared back at him with stony
expressions. He sighed and threw up his hands in a mock surrender
gesture. He recognised the security uniforms and realised that Captain
Daniel Murphy was no fool and had figured out what he was up to. He
smiled and walked slowly towards the two men at the control centre end
of the bridge.
"Come with us sir, we will take you to the briefing room, you're
flight crews will join you there," one of the men said flatly then he
smiled thinly and moved out of the way to allow the S.L to pass.
Zack and the other cadets lined up in the hanger bay, now a hive of
activity as technicians secured their ships and prepped others.
"Attention!" Zack called out as First officer Gregory Stowe stopped
before the group of cadets. They stomped their feet and saluted the
officer as one. Stowe returned the salute and smiled at the group who
try as they might to look straight ahead many had big grins on their
faces.
"At ease," he said and waited until they had relaxed and clasped their
hands behind their backs. "You've all shown outstanding courage and
dedication, not only to you're selves and families but to the corps,
the Valliant and its crew salute you," Stowe said smarmily. He watched
as the young faces split with wide grins and toothy smiles, he knew how
to butter up people and a group of wet-behind-the-ears cadets was about
as easy as they came.
"You're S.L is awaiting you in the briefing room, so if you will
follow me I'll take you there," the officer said and then spun on his
highly polished boots and headed towards the door at the end of the
hanger.
Marcus Richardson looked up as the door opened and in walked First
officer Stowe followed by his group of chattering cadets.
"Sir, am I glad to see you," Zack exclaimed as he saw hi S.L.
"Come in and sit down, I have some news to tell," Richardson said.
Zack looked at the Squadron Leader's sad expression and frowned.
"What's up boss?" he asked as he pulled out a chair and sat down.
Marcus waited until his entire group had found seats then he looked
over at Stowe who smiled sickly at him.
"If you don't mind I'll address them personally, please, sir,"
Richardson requested as he stood and stared at the officer. Stowe
looked from Richardson to the cadets and then back to the Squadron
Leader. He nodded his approval and exited the room closing the door
behind him.
Stowe listened to the quiet mumblings of Richardson as he informed his
cadets that they would not be flying into battle. He relished the
moment when he heard Zack tell him that he was a gutless snipe way past
his sell-by-date. He had decided that he might just like the lad when
he heard him telling Richardson that he should have flattened 'that
smarmy faggot of a First officer'. Stowe backed away from the door and
turned to see one of the two guards smirking, he gave the man a hard
scowl and then swiped his I.D card key through the electronic lock;
locking the door.
"You two stay here, you're not to open that door understand, only
Captain Murphy and myself are to enter," he instructed the two security
guards who stood to attention and saluted. He ignored them and walked
back towards the bridge.
"Where are the cadets and Richardson?" Captain Daniel Murphy asked as
Stowe entered the bridge and walked over to his Captain.
"I'm afraid that they didn't take it too well and I had to lock them
in the briefing room, I left two guards in place, sir," Stowe said in a
smarmy apologetic voice.
"I didn't need this, well I'll have to see them later, right now I
have orders to intercept that ship, so I can't leave the bridge area
and neither can you number one," the Captain said as he pointed to an
image of the alien ship on the view-screen. First officer Stowe
followed Murphy's pointing finger towards the viewer and smiled
thinly.
Zack stared at his S.L and fumed while Richardson glanced at the
people who either stared at the table or like Zack locked their eyes
onto him. He couldn't blame them for the way they felt and although
Zack's outburst would have meant discipline proceedings being brought
against the young man he wouldn't bring any towards the pilot.
"For what it is worth, I'm sorry about what has happened," Richardson
said softly.
"Sorry, you're sorry!" Zack snorted and shook his head. "You made us
believe that we could take on that ship and defeat it, at the end of
the day we believed in you to see us through!" he said angrily then he
folded his arms and turned away from the Squadron Leader.
"Yes and I was a fool...not because I didn't think you could do it,
but because I broke the chain of command and went 'gun-ho' with 'at the
end of the day' a group of cadets," he said as he looked at the young
faces staring back at him. "I came down to the hanger to meet you and
for us all to get the hell out of here, but I was intercepted by
security," he sated as he threw up his arms. "Because all of you made
me believe in not only myself but you as well, I knew that we could do
it," he said and then stood up. "But I broke the chain of command, and
when you do that you're no longer a team player," he said softly as he
looked down at his gold cluster with wings badge on his flight
suit.
Zack and the rest of the group looked at the man who turned slowly to
face them, he smiled at them thinly and they smiled back.
"Sorry sir," Zack said apologetically.
"God, I'm so damn proud of you all, now seen as its our fine group
that came up with plan lets get to the bridge and watch the battle, I
think that is the least the Cap can do for us," he said happily as he
walked over to the door and depressed the open button. The door lock
buzzed and remained shut, Richardson jabbed the button again but got
the same response.
"Why those...hey is anyone outside? Let us out of here!" he shouted at
the door then he started to thump the grey metal with his fists. The
guards outside turned and looked at the metal door and then smiled at
each other.
"Those Okmanu space devils...you're right Zack about that First
officer he is a smarmy faggot, they've lock us in!" he snapped as he
faced Zack. The young pilot frowned and then picked up a chair and
started to pound the door with it. Richardson let the young pilot get
some of his anger out on the door before he stopped him.
"There's no point Zack, you'll never get through it's a fire-vac door,
and believe me those guards will never open it, not unless ordered,"
Marcus stated as he placed a hand gently on Zack's shoulder. The young
man nodded and put the chair back.
"Looks like we're going to sit this one out," Pip said
disappointedly.
The cadets fighters manned by the pilots from the Valliant slipped out
of the giant ships hanger bay and roared away towards their quarry. As
the tiny fleet of ships disappeared towards the great ball of hot
seething gas the men and woman onboard the Valliant stared in disbelief
at the main-viewer.
"Distance?" Captain Daniel Murphy said as he squinted at the image on
the screen.
"It's, my god sir! The sphere is holding at one million five hundred
thousand miles away from the suns corona, err, our, err, distance to
alien ship is, two point four million miles and closing rapidly, sir,"
the navigator said excitedly. Daniel glanced around at his bridge
officers who all stared with slack jaws at the image before them.
"Stations people, we have a job to do," he commanded as he turned back
to the thing that was trying to steal his and every living thing on
earth's life force.
The cadets sat in small groups around the large table, some talked
others just sat and stared at the wall or the floor. Zack stared at the
fire-vac door and willed it to open, he sighed and unfolded his arms
when his tele-mind control technique failed to work. Outside they heard
the general alarm start its wailing informing the crew that the time
had come. Inside the young flyers looked at each other.
"It's begun," Pip said softly.
They all looked across to the door as it opened. Captain Daniel Murphy
walked into the room and stopped by the desk, he splayed his fingers
out and looked at Richardson.
"Sir, you can't just leave us in here, without food or water..." Zack
started to protest but a wave of Richardson's hand silenced him.
"Sir, what's the news?" Marcus said as he stood up slowly.
"It failed, the god damn mission failed," Daniel said his blue eyes
staring in utter disbelief at the polished tabletop. He heard the
mutterings that erupted but he just ignored them and carried on
staring.
"How, the plan was good...I..." Richardson stammered as he shook his
head.
"The plan was excellent, apart from one tiny flaw, and that was our
ships were not designed to get that close to the sun," the Captain
began as he pushed himself away from the table. "We lost five just
through electrical failures, that killed three pilots, then once our
boys got even closer we lost another two due to explosions, the fuel
prematurely ignited blowing them to cosmic dust," he stopped and wiped
a hand across his slightly beaded brow. "It wasn't Pip's fault it was
the stupid bloody brain heads they said that the fighters should be
able to withstand the heat..." he trailed off and sagged
slightly.
"What about the remaining fighters, sir," Pip inquired. The Captain
turned and looked at the young man and smiled thinly.
"They got near enough to fire the nukes, but when they tried the
firing mechanisms had fried, not one got a way, they..." Daniel stopped
talking and straightened he picked a spot on the wall opposite to focus
on then he started to speak again. "They decided to ram the
couplings...those brave boys," he faltered briefly then composed
himself and carried on. "Unfortunately only two detonated and the
damage was not sufficient to cause any structural problems to the
sphere," he finished talking and walked slowly towards the door with
his head hung low.
"We have been ordered to get back to earth ASAP, to help with
evacuation," he said as he stopped by the open door. He turned back to
the group of no more than kids and shook his head then he marched out
and back to the bridge.
Zack moaned as he tossed and turned in his sleep. "No...nooo...!" he
shouted as he shot bolt upright in the cot bed. He clasped his hands to
his face and felt the tears flow down his sweaty face. He had been
having the same nightmare for over two months with the images getting
stronger and stronger, the doctors and psyches had told him it was
stress. He had taken the medication they had prescribed for him but it
didn't help and because of that he had been grounded until he could get
his head sorted out. He climbed out of the cot and padded into the
communal barrack bathroom and washed his face with cold water. He
sighed as he turned off the water jet and looked at his reflection in
the plexi-mirror above the sink.
"What's happening in there?" he puzzled as he tapped a finger against
his temple, he shook his head and turned away from the pale faced image
that stared back at him and trudged back to his bed.
Four hundred million miles away from Zack's bed a giant alien ship
moved gracefully through the cold star studded heavens it's heading was
going to take it to just one sun in a far away system called sol.

THE END