Appropriation

PART I

It felt like his insides had been emptied, shifted, and then put back into all the wrong places. Marcus almost threw up over the polished metal floor that he had been thrust upon with enough force to knock the breath out of him. It was almost impossible to see with his head swimming and his eyes having to adjust to the low blue light illuminating the antechamber. He would have sworn he had lain on the floor for hours, when it had only been seconds.

After regaining some sense of awareness, Marcus looked around at his new and unfamiliar surroundings. To his surprise, he noticed that he was not alone. Quickly, he panicked; hoping that whoever was there was not responsible for his apparent abduction. On closer inspection, he was able to make out the vague outlines of the bodies scattered across the metallic surface: his classmates, John, Charles, Chris, and Olivia.

Following panic, Marcus felt a flux of emotions, ranging from recognition to fear. Had they been incapacitated in the transit to this unfamiliar place? With a moment of hesitation, he made his way over to his friends and instinctively checked to make sure that they were still breathing and had a pulse. Thankfully, they were all still alive. Unfortunately, they were unconscious. Thinking it futile to try to rouse them after their ordeal, Marcus decided to try to do some quick reconnaissance to gain some sort of familiarity with his environment.

Although, what had they been through? The last cognizant memory he had was one of embarrassment. Marcus had made a world-class fool of himself at a get together with his friends, and people that they had known from assorted clubs and organizations. He had hoped that he could get away from everything, but he did not expect it to happen so literally and suddenly. They obviously were not back at home, and there was no way of knowing where they were without at least looking out of a window; even then, it may not tell them their location.

The room he and his friends were transferred to was foreign to say the least. Nearly everything was made of an unknown metal, with slits in between the walls that glowed a blue-tinted light. The ceiling was vaulted and spacious, being at least ten meters high. Even with the ambient lighting, the room was uncomfortably dark. The only remarkable other feature of the chamber was a protrusion from the walls that Marcus could only assume was a door. He approached it, careful to not accidentally step on his companions, and attempted to open it, with little success.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an inactive screen to the left side of the door. As he waited in front of the console, it activated as if it were responding to Marcus’ presence. Strangely familiar symbols decorated the screen; glyphs were circling each other in enchanting patterns, oscillating in size and color. The fanciful display had a spellbinding effect on Marcus. However, there was something more to it that he could not determine.

Deciding that he had more important concerns, Marcus put the thought out of his mind and began experimenting with symbols, pressing signs here and there, but producing only a series of sound and pulses that meant nothing to him. After about a minute of random combination of symbols, the lights in the chamber brightened to a more acceptable level, which, at first, caused Marcus a moment of discomfort, but he adapted quickly.

Perhaps as a response to the increased illumination, or maybe the effects of the transition were wearing off, John started to regain consciousness and looked oddly like what Marcus imagined a rabbit caught in the headlights of a speeding car might appear. Marcus considered helping John out, but thought better of it as they were still trapped and needed a way back home. Besides, it was mostly due to John that Marcus was humiliated. It was no secret that there was some animosity between the two.

John was still adjusting to the ‘unique’ situation he was in and had not yet noticed Marcus at the exit of the antechamber. Marcus had his back turned to the group as he continued trying different permutations of glyphs, while gaining a miniscule familiarity with the interface. It was not as simple as pressing a symbol; one had to arrange, rotate, and alter the size of the runes in order to produce an effect. However, with over a dozen symbols and any number of combinations, it would almost be impossible to find the correct sequence to open the door. Marcus attributed luck to his ability to alter the lights.

“Marcus?” John exclaimed as he noticed his ‘friend’ at the edge of the room, “What is going on? Where are we? What happened?” Marcus continued with his work; how would he have answers to any of those questions?

“How are the others?” Marcus deflected. He had hoped that would keep John busy for the time being. The previous situation at home and their current predicament did not do much to improve his mood.

“What?” He could tell that the voice belonged to Olivia. Of course those two would be the first to wake. Not wanting to get distracted with John and Olivia’s complex history, Marcus again dismissed the thought and continued to fiddle with the console.

“I feel like someone knocked my head in with a shovel,” Olivia noted.

“Same here. Can you stand?” John always at least pretended that he cared. Marcus knew better.

“I think so. How are Charles and Chris?” Olivia stopped, as she noticed Marcus away from them, “Marcus? What is going on here?”

“I’m afraid I know about as much as you all do.” Marcus stepped aside and pointed to the screen and then to the door, “I’m trying to open this door so we can get out of here and get some answers. Until then, I suspect we won’t get any information from this room.” It was true. The room was completely bare save for the five young adults in the room.

John then could see Charles starting to rouse and began to help him up, “Hey man, you ok?”

“I doubt it, I can barely see straight.”

“It’ll pass. Here, you’ll feel better if you stand up and move about.”

Marcus could feel their eyes on him, and as soon as Charles started to speak at him, he interrupted, “Don’t know. Working on it. Check on Chris.” If only they applied a miniscule amount of common sense. However, he did not need to be so harsh. They were the closest things that he had to friends. Despite how they might get on each other’s nerves, they were still fairly close. Some were not as close as others though.

“He seems pretty out cold. I guess it affects everyone differently. Whatever ‘it’ was,” Charles noted. A fairly accurate assessment, Marcus thought.

It was then that things began to change. The glyphs began circling each other in the form of interlocking triangles and the four-meter tall matte black door opened without the faintest hint of a sound. Everyone in the room stood mesmerized at the sudden change of circumstances.

“Ah, some progress,” Marcus spoke as he turned round to his group and began making a few obvious statements, or so he thought, “It seems we are in a very ‘alien’ situation in which we have literally no information. I advise we shake off the initial questions we might have and take things one step at a time.” He waved his hand across the room, “Seeing as there is little data to be gathered from this place, I propose we move on and try to find our way back home.” The group merely looked at him with a look of confusion mixed with hesitation and a hint of doubt.

Marcus sighed and continued his assessment, “I’m sorry. I am not trying to be so matter of fact or detached. I just have already been through all of what you are experiencing right now and finally got my wits together and resolved to get out of this place. If you all need a moment to accept the reality of our situation, by all means, sit down and contemplate. Although, it will not get us out of here any faster. We’ve been together for nearly a decade, if you trust me, then please, take my word.”

The group did not say much, but as they were discussing amongst themselves, Chris finally gained consciousness. He was a bit of a sluggard. After a few minutes, John, Charles, Chris, and Olivia gathered next to Marcus.

John spoke, “Ok, you seem to know what you are doing. You did get the door open after all. But perhaps if we work together we can get out of here sooner?”

Marcus held out his hand, his back to the open doorway, which lead out into the pitch black hallway, “Agreed, shall we go then?” He turned and ventured into the darkness while walking as casually as he could and at the same time hiding the fact that he had no idea, what he was doing. Why were they following him? He was no leader, just a risk taker.

After about twelve paces into the corridor, automated lights activated which did not reflect well off the dark alloy that made up the hallway. Marcus let his eyes adjust and turned to the group standing in the doorway of the chamber they must have been transported into and spoke sarcastically, “See? How difficult can it be to find our way out of an unknown facility which could be filled with God knows what?”

That last comment got a smile out of Charles. Out of the four, Marcus considered himself the closest to him. Although the group was familiar with his naturally sarcastic demeanor, the other three did not find him quite as amusing. In a flash of memory, Marcus thought of the time one summer when he broke his arm in a motocross accident at Charles’ property. His parents were out for the weekend and Charles had to drive him to the emergency room. His company was a good distraction from his shattered arm.

Marcus was broken out of his reverie by John coming up to him and putting his hand on his shoulder, obviously noticing him daydreaming. “You alright man?” He shrugged off his hand and ignored his question while walking towards an intersection in the hallway.

“Let’s split up gang,” Marcus spoke jokingly but continued with a hint of seriousness, “But honestly, we do not know how big this place is and so I think covering as much ground as possible would be the best course of action. Unless anyone has any better ideas?”

The group fell silent. Marcus almost thought he saw a sign of shock in them. He knew that they were very engrossed in their lives and being snatched out of them could not help their psyche. Oddly enough, it did not seem to affect Marcus in the same way, but then again, he often had his head in the clouds, dreaming of bigger and better things. The monotony of daily life was almost killing him, but this turn of events almost excited Marcus. The spontaneity of things thrilled him.

As he began to make his way down the left most path, Olivia spoke up, “How will we know where to go or how to come back?”

Marcus thought for a moment and then responded, “Make an educated guess, we will meet back here in,” he checked his watch, “One hour. As for getting back, just make mental notes of which turns you make. Mark the walls if you have to. Now hurry, we don’t know if we are safe here, the sooner we leave the better.” Each of them nodded in turn and went down their own separate paths, but Charles looked back at Marcus with concern. Marcus returned the gaze and went his own way.

Something was off. Other than the obvious fact he had no idea where he was. It was not that he felt out of place; was that he felt oddly at home. Marcus simply attributed the familiarity to video games and movies that he had played and seen. The place did have a “science fiction” feel to it. Marcus though did not have any inkling as to what this place could be. He did not even see any evidence that they place had been used in some time. Lights were off but activated once he got close to the darkness. Whatever this place was, it was highly advanced, as evidenced by the complex interface system he had accessed.

As he rounded a corner, Marcus noticed yet another console next to a closed door. Luckily, he had remembered the sequence he used to open the door in the transportation room. After entering the code, the four sections that made up the door eased open without a sound. He crossed the threshold and entered a large hall, at least one-hundred meters long and ten meters high, which was empty save for another control panel that much larger than the door control and significantly more elaborate.

For a moment, Marcus swore he saw Latin lettering on the console, but after he blinked he saw only the same type of etching that he had seen on the previous terminals only this time much more complex and with a larger selection of glyphs. It had taken Marcus not long to figure out the door controls, but by increasing the variables and factors of the equation, possible permutations increased exponentially.

Marcus sighed, and began the slow process of punching in random sequences till he found a result. After ten minutes of fiddling with the symbols, Marcus was beginning to get the slightest grasp of the systems controls. He could only guess as to what they meant, but he determined that the symbols most likely did not stand for individual words, but rather stood for complex ideas. One only had to select a small number of ‘letters,’ if he could call them that, and you could execute the most complex of commands.

Eventually, the console raised a few meters above the ground and a protrusion extended out of it. Flashing lights could be seen within the device. As Marcus moved closer to inspect it, the device suddenly lashed out and caught Marcus’ head. He was unable to move and was forced to look into the enchanting lights. They began glowing brighter and as they did, Marcus began feeling a sharp pain in the back of his head. He was taken away from the scene as random images began flashing in his mind. He was unable to determine what they were, but felt oddly comfortable with it. Marcus did not know how long that he was held there, but when he gained consciousness, he found himself lying on the floor. The console had returned to original formation. He had the worst headache in his life. Things did not look the same to him. Instead of feeling trapped in a foreign place, he felt oddly at home. After regaining his wits, Marcus decided to search the ship for more information. This time, however, he had a new perspective on things.

He wandered the halls for another ten minutes, leaving him with only forty minutes before he should head back to rendezvous with his friends. That means that he would have to begin making his way back in approximately twenty minutes and he had not found any hard evidence to where they were or what this place was. Suddenly, he found himself in a massive antechamber, similar to the one they had appeared in, but this place was a meeting point of several corridors and at the point of the teardrop shaped room was another large door. This intrigued Marcus because it may lead to an exit or at least get him closer to one. After inputting the same code, the door slid open, revealing a colossal rotunda, at least thirty meters in diameter. The way in which he had entered appeared to be one of three doorways, which led to the chamber. The center of the room consisted of a raised platform with chest high counters surrounding it. The outer sides of the room in between the exit pathways resembled three large auditorium-styled seating with metal desks in front of each seat. He leaned over and noticed that the desks were actually more control consoles. How many did this place need? Marcus thought.

Cautiously making his way to the center of the room, Marcus accessed one of the terminals, which surrounded the central platform and began activating more glyphs. This time, however, instead of being baffled, Marcus felt eerily comfortable, as he understood the symbols as if they were all written in English. Most of the symbols translated into technical or mystical jargon, but some were clear and succinct. While cruising his way through the computer, Marcus found the first useful bit of information, a protocol, which initialized a representation of the complex. After initializing the command, the center altar on the platform in the exact center of the meeting hall, which Marcus now considered a command and information center, activated and began projecting a hologram of the facility, correction, of the ship.

Marcus couldn’t believe it; in fact, the outline of the representation did not match any ship he had seen before. It was massive, though. At least two kilometers long and at it’s most, five hundred meters wide. It had sleek curves and bulbous sections, which reminded him of a whale or shark, but only as a tangent. This structure was entirely foreign to him. He began to initiate a diagnostic of the system with an unnatural familiarity with the system. As the results scrolled across and down the screen, Marcus noticed something that made him give an audible cheer. This would prove useful.

Upon closer inspection of the hologram though, Marcus noted five pulsing red lights, which he could only assume indicated himself and the rest of his friends. Marcus checked his watch, he must have lost track of time, and he had missed the hour window by approximately ten minutes. Was I fooling with the controls that long? The other four were at the meeting point, most likely worried that he was not there. He rotated a control and shifted it and tapped another item on the screen that he could only hope activated the ship’s intercom system.

“I believe that I have found something that you all might find interesting.”

It took the four almost no time to get to the command and information center of the vessel as Marcus lighted the path for them to take. Upon arrival, the group stood in awe at the legion of holographic displays and the center pedestal that Marcus stood at which projected the outline of the ship.

Marcus took a few steps towards them and spoke, “I believe I figured out where we are.”

“Somewhere in space?” Olivia added. Her statement took Marcus aback. How could they know where they were?

“How exactly do you know that?”

“Chris found a window that looked out at the stars.”

He should not have dismissed them so soon. Even though they were never the group that he would count on in an emergency, they seem to have proven they were more useful than they appeared to be. Regardless, they were in this together and would most likely have to work together to resolve the situation. Besides, Marcus was a step ahead of them.

“Well, yes we are in space. More specifically, we are moving at sub-luminal speed away from Earth…” Marcus paused as he let what he said sink in, then continued, “and at this moment, I have no way of turning this ship around.” Normally the fact that one was hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from home would cause a feeling of panic and shock. Marcus merely shrugged. He had wished that he was far away from everyone for a while, but did expect it to be granted.

“There has to be a way to get back. You opened the doors and even found this place, can’t you like flip a switch and send us back?” There seemed to be a hint of fear in John’s voice.

“I only have a basic understanding of the controls. To be honest, opening a few doors and turning on the lights does not even compare to navigating an interstellar starship.”

“Maybe if we each took a terminal and inputted commands? Hit enough buttons and something is bound to happen, right?” Charles did bring up a good point. It was the best plan they had at the moment.

Marcus motioned each of them in turn towards different consoles that he could only guess as to their true purpose. They tried for nearly fifteen minutes, but the more time passed, the further away they were from home. John, Olivia, and Chris had pretty much given up. They had not lost all hope, but they were close. Charles and Marcus continued though.

Suddenly, the consoles started blinking and chirping, indicating that things had changed. According to the readout on the central command console, the ship had stopped accelerating and was now motionless in orbit around Neptune. Finally, some progress, Marcus thought.

Marcus made his way around the central projecting pedestal to the console that seemed to control navigation, or so he hoped. Piloting in three dimensions is vastly different than in two dimensions. This was nothing like driving a car or even a plane. He assumed that he simply could plot some coordinates and the ship could handle the maneuvering itself. Upon further investigation, he found the controls that determined course trajectory and even manual maneuvering panels. Now, it was only a matter of plotting in a course back to Earth and things could go back to being normal.

Marcus hesitated. Did he even want everything to be normal again? Sure, he missed his home and family, but what did they really mean to him? People prefer routines and predictability. But was that what he craved? His mind immediately flashed to memories of his past, and more specifically his recent past. Not only did his past not hold anything for him, what did his future offer him? Was he going to get a job like everyone else and work till the day he died?

He decided. Once he brought John and the others home, he wasn’t going to immediately leave this ship behind. It opened up so many more possibilities than what his previous life did. After all, how many people have the opportunity to go into space, let alone travel to distant stars?

As Marcus reached to program in a return trip, the central hologram that had once projected a detailed image of the vessel now switched to a diagram of the solar system. There was a pulsing blue triangle next to Neptune, which must have represented the Reclamation (Marcus had stumbled upon the ship’s name while attempting to find the navigation directory).

At first, no one could figure out what the importance of the image was. Olivia was the first to notice a red dot appear at the edge of the solar system. However, by the time Marcus viewed them, the one dot turned into two. It was then followed by three, and continued to be followed by more markers till eight images were on the screen.

Quickly, Marcus initiated a series of commands that should, theoretically, activate the ship’s sensors and identify the objects. What they saw only served to heighten the alien nature of their adventure: The dots were eight vessels, approximately three hundred meters or so in length, and they were on an intercept course to the Reclamation.

Understandably, everyone began to panic. As far as they knew, they were alone on the ship, but now there were going to have company and they did not know if they were friendly or hostile. John and Olivia began exchanging exacerbated remarks, which were not helping the situation while Chris stood silent and Charles looked at Marcus for some indication of what they were supposed to do.

If he understood the numbers correctly, they had approximately five minutes before the approaching ships were close enough to do any real damage, that is, if that was their intent. Immediately, Marcus put the others out of his mind and began analyzing the situation. Either these vessels were friendly or not. If they were friendly, they could simply take them home and presumably commandeer the ship, which Marcus was not about to let them do. On the other hand, they could be hostile and attempt to either destroy the Reclamation and them along with it or they would capture and/or execute them, which, again, Marcus was not about to let them do. That left him with only two options: fight or flight.

So, he had about four minutes to figure out how to maneuver the ship and command its weapons practically alone, if it had any weapons to speak of. It seemed that his natural affinity for the control mechanisms was increasing with each command he inputted. The complexity of the controls and intricacy of the glyphs made completing series of tasks ironically much easier than inputting them on a conventional keyboard.

Before continuing with his frantic work, Marcus reviewed the last bit of data on the diagnostic he had run earlier: The ship’s weapons were functioning; however, it did not have defense systems to speak of. On the lighter side, the communications systems were operational; perhaps he could reason his way out of this situation?

The alarm sounded that indicated that the ships were within weapons range. They were out of time.

“Um, I have something over here. I think they are trying to talk to us,” John spoke who must have at the ship’s communication station. They all made their way over to his console and read the words that were on the screen, oddly enough, they were in plain English:

UNKNOWN VESSEL. YOU ARE TRESPASSING IN T.D.F. CONTROLLED SPACE. IDENITFY.

Marcus shoved John out of the way and began composing a reply to the battle group.

“This is the Reclamation. Unknown vessels. Identify.”

WE ARE THE TERRAN DEFENSE FORCE. YOU HAVE ENCROACHED UPON PROTECTED TERRITORY. PREPARE TO BE BOARDED. DO NOT RESIST.

“This ship is under command of the people of earth.”

YOUR STATEMENT IS FALSE. PREPARE TO BE BOARDED.

“What do you think you are doing?” Charles spoke frantically. He was not the only one who doubted Marcus’ actions. “Are you trying to get us killed? We don’t know if they are hostile or not. Since when did we own this ship? Shouldn’t we take this slow?”

Marcus sighed. Even he doubted himself, but he was working with all the information that he was presented with, “You heard them, we are breaking one if not more of their own laws. If they board us, how can we expect them to treat us with any humanity? Assuming they are human. We are humans, right? We are effectively the crew at this point, hence saying the ship belonged to the people of earth. They said, “Humans do not posses such technology,” which indicates they know about Earth and our technological development. Why should we let this ship fall in to their hands?”

Olivia spoke up, “If they know about Earth and they haven’t attacked, doesn’t that mean that they must be friendly? We can’t just attack them; what could we do against that?” she said as she motioned to the hologram that showed the ships holding position just within weapons range.

The console beeped as another text message appeared on screen:

WE WILL BOARD YOUR SHIP. IF YOU WILL NOT COMPLY, THEN IT WILL BE DESTROYED. YOU HAVE 90 SECONDS.

“See? Does that sound friendly to you?” Marcus questioned. He then moved over to the navigation console and routed it to where he also had control of the ship’s ‘weapons,’ whatever they were. By the time he had finished, another alarm went off; this one signaled that the enemy ships were charging weapons. There was no time left and they had to act.

“Ok, I have some grasp of the navigational controls and the weapons systems. They outnumber us but we are the stronger, I think. Though, we lack any defensive measures. I can only do my best. I just ask one thing: Don’t get in my way.” Marcus made himself very clear, and from what he could tell, they got the message. He even thought a few of them were praying. Hopefully it will help. To be honest, the odds were stacked against them.

Their weapons were almost active and Marcus overrode certain safety measures on the maneuvering engines of the Reclamation in a slim chance of evading them at the last second. The frigates opened fired. Surprisingly, they were not directed energy weapons, but rather they were what appeared to be long-range ship-to-ship missiles. Marcus always thought that civilizations capable of interstellar travel and with access to multiple warships would have a grasp of the technology, at least on a large scale.

Marcus activated the ship’s repulsor engines with a trajectory heading straight for the incoming missiles and the enemy fleet. At the same moment, Marcus increased the ship’s energy output to one hundred and fifty percent to be able to charge the main weapons at an increased rate. Indicators showed that the lateral lines of the ship were charging with super-heated plasma. They at least had superior weaponry. However, the missiles would impact before the lines were charged. He increased velocity right at the incoming volley.

With the missiles only hundreds of meters from the ship, Marcus fired the emergency booster engines, which shifted the ship out of the way of the missiles path. As he suspected, the missiles weren’t able to track dramatic changes in speed and direction, especially at oblique angles. They attempted to track the Reclamation but lost contact and detonated.

The lateral lines were charged. Marcus hesitated. Could he actually kill complete strangers with a flick of his wrist? The situation was clear; it was either they or he and his friends. He chose the latter. The three, super-heated plasma torpedoes blitzed from the ship with a bluish-white light as they tracked three of the enemy frigates. They attempted evasive maneuvers, even going as far as to fire missiles to intercept them. Their tactics had proven ineffective. The three frigates that were targeted were impacted by the blasts and layers of armor melted and boiled away and the plasma cut clean through the ships, stern to stern.

Following that encounter there was only five, active frigates left with the molten remains of the other three nearby. It seemed the remaining ships were holding off and planning their next move. Marcus did not wait for them to respond. They had initiated the hostilities by arming their weapons, and he was going to finish it.

Another volley of plasma was charging, this time, all five of the ships were targeted. The ‘T.D.F.’ battle group attempted evasive action, but were unable to out run the scorching salvo launched from the Reclamation. Like their three fallen comrades before, the five remaining ships were reduced to molten slag, unable to withstand the intense heat of the plasma torpedoes.

Within minutes, it was all over. The intruders were vaporized and Marcus, John, Charles, Chris, and Olivia were now alone in the outer edges of the solar system. The question now was: what had they done? Or rather, what had Marcus done? He had taken command of an alien vessel and killed all the crew aboard the eight ships. They were complete strangers that he did not even know. Marcus felt numb. He had suppressed all feeling at the time. But he could not hold it now. He finally had time to think. And his thoughts were taking him to a dark place. Instinctively, Marcus brought himself out of his contemplation to face reality, and consequently, his friends.

John, Charles, Chris, and Olivia stood aghast at what had just happened. Despite whatever ethical concerns they might have, they would not be able to ignore the fact that they let Marcus do what he did. They did not even try to intervene; granted, Marcus told them not to. But the excuse of ‘just following orders’ is not a decent defense.

Marcus knew that he would have to face what he had done, but the results still remained: they were going to be killed and he had saved them. In actuality, the others should be grateful, not horror-struck. But perhaps that was too much to ask, especially in these circumstances.

Before anyone could get a word in, another alert appeared at the central control console. Of course, what else could go wrong? Marcus thought. He viewed the screen and immediately, his heart sunk. The ships had sent out a super-luminal distress call, which indicated one thing: more ships. If eight ships were only a scouting party, how large would a fully armed armada be? They had to get out of there. But where would they hide the ship? They couldn’t land it on any planetoid in the system; they couldn’t live there forever, what would they do for food and water? Landing on Earth was out of the question. Someone would be bound to detect them and respond in force. They’d be detained and God knows what would happen to them. That left them with only one choice: run.

Marcus felt like he was being backed into a corner. Every time he thought through the options they did not leave him with much choice. If they were going to run, all he could see they had access to was the sub-light engines. That alone would not get them far enough away. Perhaps there was another way?

There was a mountain of data from the diagnostic that had yet to be reviewed. Marcus decided to try a general search through the data; maybe the ship’s computer could find a solution where he could not. In less than a second, a result appeared in front of him. The ship was equipped with some form of super-luminal engine. The basic description of its function was beyond Marcus. He could not even begin to understand the advanced astrophysics that went into its design. Regardless, if it got them out of the path of the approaching fleet, then all would be well.

There was one major problem though: Marcus did not have any coordinates or have the expertise to calculate them. Though, the ship’s previous coordinates were still in the navigation repository. He had gotten this far without taking counsel from his friends, why stop now? It was a simple matter of copying the coordinates into the super-luminal engine’s navigation computer. All that remained was for the faster-than-light drive to charge.

Noticing Marcus furiously working at a console, John made his way over to him and asked quietly, “What exactly are you working on? Are you going to take us back home?” John and the others had seen the distress call but did not think much of it. Marcus felt bad about breaking the news to John, but upon realizing exactly whom he was talking to, he thought better of it.

“I’m afraid we are not going back home. If other ‘T.D.F.’ whatever that is, ships show up, what are we going to do? We were lucky just now and that was a small battle group. They will most likely return in force. And we cannot hide this ship. It may be crazy, but we do not know when they will get here. Furthermore, it will take over an hour to return to Earth and drop you four off. We have to get out of here now,” Marcus was finishing up a few commands and turned to John, “I’m ordering the ship to make a faster-than-light trip to its last know location before appearing in this system. Perhaps we can find why it came here and why it abducted us and put us in this mess. I’m sorry, but this is not a discussion.”

John was taken aback by what he was told. He then went over to Olivia, his off again on again girlfriend, Charles, and Chris and told them the news. Olivia was the first to voice her opposition. She always was emotive and opinionated.

“You cannot be serious. We have taken enough risks. You are going to take us back. We don’t belong here.”

“She does have a point, Marcus. We don’t know that it’s not safe. Why can’t we just leave the same way we got here and let the ship drift in space?” John spoke, agreeing with Olivia, like usual.

“Marcus, please, do you even know what you are doing?” Charles questioned him, but he could tell that Charles was uncomfortable going against his friend. He was his most loyal and sometimes, only friend. His remark cut the most.

Chris was the only one to not voice his opinion. He was the quiet one of the group.

Marcus stepped over from the console and motioned his hand towards it, “Would anyone care to try navigating?” The group merely stood, unable to come up with a retort. Olivia was the first to speak, yet again.

“You know that we can’t. Now, quit being a smart ass and take us home.”

“Yes ma’am,” Marcus spoke with a veiled smirk. He then moved back to the navigation console. The FTL drive was ready. He held his hand over the control that would activate the jump into hyperspace. Turning his head to his friends, with a smile on his face, he spoke, “Jump.” John realized what he was about to do and sprinted across the pedestal to Marcus, but it was already too late. The lights dimmed all across the ship. The Reclamation lurched as it broke through several layers of space-time in a flash of dark light while it made its way to its enigmatic destination…

END OF PART I