Space Trippers

Book One

Trippin'

By: A. Lightbourne

Books By A. Lightbourne

~Space Trippers Book 2~

Just Passing Through

After the disaster in the hydroponics lab the ship needs more food supplies. But the trade aliens seem a little too interested in Valesque for Tim and Sanic's comfort. With the addition of a new, sifting alien girl, they set out to rescue her.

~Space Trippers Book 3~

A Frosty Farewell

The ship needs water, so they are off to the nearest water trade planet.

Valesque has found some disturbing secret files on one of the Upper Crewmen. Will they get the water they need? And if they do will they be going home with one less crewmate?

~Space Trippers Book 4~

Will Work For Food Parts

The ship makes its first jump home. The tracker Valesque found points her to a nearby planet. Making an excuse to stop for repair supplies, can she find her contact on the mysterious supply planet where all the technology keeps disappearing?

Copyright © 2009 A. Lightbourne.

All contents copyright © 2009 A. Lightbourne. All rights reserved. No part of this work or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author. This work whole or in part may not be copied or distributed without prior written permission. No merchandising in any form of any character or text herein may be sold without the prior authorization of the author.

You may contact the author through her website http://alightbourne.netau.net/

Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if one of these terms is used.

Copyright © 2009 A. Lightbourne. All rights reserved worldwide.

Ebook Published by FairSpot Publishing

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Book is dedicated to

All my readers, I hope you enjoy the story as much as I do.

Special Acknowledgment to:

My sweet, supportive Hubby who is the best thing in life!

About the Author:

A. Lightbourne lives in the Midwest with her husband and menagerie of animals.

Her love for writing started at an early age, writing stories in her 1st grade journal.

She is a certified PC tech, with a deep background in designing and building her own electronic devices and computers, knowledge she uses to bring Scientific Engineer Valesque and all of her creations to life.

Space Trippers

Book One

Trippin'

Contents

Chapters

Chapter 1: Battle Lines

Chapter 2: Traitor?

Chapter 3: Allies

Chapter 4: Suspicions

Chapter 5: Springing The Trap

Chapter 6: Deadline

Chapter 7: Tripped

Chapter 8: Accusations

Chapter 9: Teamwork

Chapter 10: Costs and Circumstances

Chapter One: Battle Lines

Valesque Rhaugh could not help but smile, she smiled at everyone, all of the engineering teams that were preparing to leave the project for lunch, all of the hard-hatted inspectors as they passed her in the hall. Everyone got the same big, toothy grin from the Chief Scientific Engineer.

She could not stop smiling, everything was wonderful, everything was perfect. Not quite finished, but perfect.

She loved her work. She loved this ship. She loved the look of it, the luxurious feel of it; she even loved the sharp ‘new’ smell of it. But most of all she loved it because it was hers, she had designed it, she had planned it, she had even helped build it! It was her most fantastic dream, which had now become her most precious reality.

This was finally one thing she had done just for herself and not out of an attempt for reconciliation. Being as she was from a pure line of Virrilians it was expected that she would follow the old traditions. Instead she followed more in her great grandmother's footsteps and challenged the rules of her people in deciding for herself how to live her life. In return she was, of course, disowned by the family circle and was considered a disgrace to her family name.

To Virrilians true honor does not come from the talents you were born with but from the achievements you make that are against your natural inclinations.

Therefore, Valesque was to be a warrior, a military officer, not that Virrilians are a warlike race but because it was the one thing that was totally against her scientific nature. She had tried for a while to comply by attending, though very briefly, the `Corseccan Galactic Military training school'. She was soon kicked out however for `non-military conduct’ and went into her natural field of expertise, scientific engineering.

She had traveled to many places that others had never dared dream to go. And had done many things in her life she was not very proud of, some of which had been done in her scientific attempt at appeasing her family.

The latest and worst fiasco in this department had been the `Space Tripper’, a device she had built to aid her people in the ongoing galaxy wide war in their sector. But her attempt had once again been denied and even scoffed at.

A device that would not kill but just send enemy ships through a space warp never to return, it was absurd!

At least it was to the Virrilians. But it had not appeared so absurd to some other party it would seem, for a few nights after her proposal to her people the contraption had vanished from her high-security lab. By this time Valesque was more relieved than alarmed at its disappearance, she hated the idea she had even made such an ominous weapon, and she did not really care much where it had gone.

The Virrilians did care however and when the rumors got around that the Space Tripper device had been sold to their enemies Valesque quickly became her home world’s most wanted war criminal.

Valesque thought the whole thing very hypocritical. If they honestly believed she had sold the horrible device to their enemies, they should have considered her very accomplished and honorable. After all; building war devices and then selling them to the other side was certainly not in her nature.

So with her last attempt at honor with her family falling into smoldering ruin she turned her back on the whole idea and started the construction of the first major accomplishment in her life that had nothing to do with her family, nothing to do with her people, nothing to do with anyone but herself. The I.S.A Magellan was the glorious product of her selfish desire to succeed just for the sake of succeeding.

She had finally been left up to her own devices and she had done one heck of a job, even if she did say so herself. And she did.

Of course, technically speaking it was really Dr. Warner’s project. He had obtained permission to start it. He had gotten the significant grant from the Intergalactic Scientific Association for it. He had even helped with some of the detailing and had put in a few of his own experimental gadgets. Nevertheless, it had been her dream, her planning, and her soul that had gone into it.

Now as she walked the gleaming corridors of the Recreation Deck she felt a deep sense of pride and satisfaction in her accomplishments. This deck in itself was one of the crowning achievements of the whole design. Developed as a recreational and exercise facility it could also boast of being among the most beautiful areas of the ship. The deck was four stories high with a generously wide three-tone corridor, encircled in row upon row of exterior facing windows all around the deck, and was luxurious enough to have been on any of the first class civilian pleasure cruisers. But it wasn’t.

On the Recreation Deck there were three separate Hydro-lift areas, placed at convenient intervals along the deck.

In between these were numerous well equipped, and improved, holographic recreation rooms. Two large park-like areas were on either end of the rows of Holo-rooms, at the front and rear of the Recreation Deck, complete with walking tracks, artificial greenery and a pool filled with an experimental thicker-than-water liqui-gel that would stay put in its containment but would feel like pure water to swim through. The shallower wading type pool had been placed by the spacious and well-supplied childcare facility at the rear of the deck; where trained personnel would care for the non-school aged children, while their parents were on duty. A wonderful way to continue your child-psychology studies!

The entire ship had been designed and constructed with the health and happiness of the scientists and crew in mind. Being as it was an exploratory vessel where veteran and up-and-coming scientists and engineers alike could work, develop and discover, it had been built as a community within itself. Able to satisfactorily accommodate, entertain and educate large numbers of people for prolonged periods of time.

As Valesque continued toward the last Hydro-lift bay, she began to notice a fairly steady stream of people coming and going along the opposite side of the deck. Not just people, non-personnel, non-engineering people! Talking, laughing, and carrying what appeared to be large duffel bags over their shoulders.

Crew commission duffel bags!

Ever since her brief, but educational, military experience Valesque had a deep loathing for anything military. She had dealt with them during several of her morally challenging projects and had always found them to be obnoxiously callous and irritating. She had sworn to herself when she had first drawn up the plans for this vessel that not one military officer would ever step foot on her decks. And here there were throngs of them!

Chief Engineer Valesque quickened her pace; these people were definitely not here to admire her ship. She passed a group of them that were checking some papers in their hands as they crowded around a ship location map near the Hydro-lifts while a chime sounded and a male voice boomed over the ship’s communication system. “Attention please, the ranking Captain of the I.P.A Vortex is now on board, all members of the flight and control crew are to report immediately to the Control Deck. Repeat: All members of the flight and control crew are to report immediately to the Control Deck. That is all.”

“A ranking military captain on my Control Deck, we will just see about that!” Valesque spat hatefully, giving the obviously confused crowd an unnoticed scowl as she forced her way through to the lift. Hitting the emergency close button with a ferocious punch of her finger before anyone else could join her.

Valesque Rhaugh was no longer smiling. Her ship was crawling with a military regulation crew. She hated commissioned personnel of any rank or graduating class. Outwardly, she was enraged but inwardly she was just hoping it was all a mistake; that the Warmongering General had not won. She directed the lift to head for the Control level, hoping to find some answers and fast.

Valesque was not happy as she made her march to the control room.

Somebody was messing with her ship and she was not going to take it lightly. She found herself wishing as she rounded the last corner that Dr. Warner was there to back her up, but there was no going back now as the automatic doors slid open to the ship’s Command Center. Valesque was surprised at what she found there, but not enough to slow her.

The room was very large, over two stories in height. The double automatic doors led onto the upper floor of the Command Center. To the right on the far wall was the door to the Control Deck’s conference room. To the far left of the entrance was the door to the Captain’s Observation Room.

Immediately to the right and left, on the same wall as the door she entered were several computer stations all facing ahead; these were for the many ships operations, such as scanners, weapons, communications, engines etc.

The Captain could order these stations to perform any tasks that needed to be done, such as scan the area or target and destroy an obstruction ahead.

Straight ahead to the right and left were two long counters inlaid with computer panels. The Operations Commander and his coordinators used these posts. They oversaw all the critical operations of the ship including the power supplies, engine conditions, weapons system operation, scanner operations, communications and so on. Their job was to correlate all the information on the ship's operating functions and relay them to the Captain if there were any abnormalities, as well as figure out ways to fix or work around any ship's function problems that came up.

Between the two operations stations was a long narrow gangway with rails all around it. From here, you could oversee the flight crew below. From the very end of the observation point, you could look straight down on the pilot at his control panels. To his right and left were several key flight stations that gave him all pertinent information on space conditions that were fed to them by the control crew at the scanning and communications stations above. In front of the pilot was a very large open area that dropped down another half storey and ended in a two-storey-tall and deck-wide outer facing window that showed where the ship was heading.

These outer facing, clear panels wrapped back around to where the Flight Deck ended, behind the pilot's peripheral vision field, giving the flight crew a panoramic view of where they were heading.

But none of this is what Valesque was interested in, for straight ahead of her on the end of the observation point above the Flight Deck was a lone man, looking out over the Command Center in perfect ease.

“Fazar!” the Engineer exclaimed upon catching sight of the familiar figure. “What are you doing here, who ordered this crew on board my ship?!” she demanded of him furiously.

The man calmly held up a hand to stop her. Fazar was a middle-aged, non-military Captain that had been handpicked for the Magellan’s maiden voyage. Which was a good two months away maybe more seeing as construction had been slowed by some unwelcome military attention, namely a General snooping around and causing trouble.

However, Dr. Warner had gone out to put an end to it today so everything could proceed on track. Now with Warner gone and the presence of the milling crew along with their future Captain invading her ship, she more than wondered at the connection.

“If you looking for Captain,” came Fazar’s heavily accented and carefully calculated reply, “she over there.” he said, nodding his graying head in the direction of an auburn haired woman clothed in full regulation uniform as he looked at Valesque through his heavily lidded eyes. He had been expecting this confrontation ever since he had received the orders to launch, and he was obviously taking it in his usual calm manner. After all, there was no arguing with the Intergalactic Planetary Alliance, not if you wanted to live anyway.

“Oh, she is, is she?” Valesque murmured, squaring her shoulders for battle as she turned heel and walked briskly toward the indicated quarry. Virrilian Corseccans are not known for their tact or decorum and, as Valesque proceeded toward the unwary Captain, she was living up to that reputation to the letter.

"Remember," he called out to her in his proverbial way as she changed targets, "if you too quick to boil over you may get into hot water."

Valesque paid no attention to his warning; she was used to him always having some adage to say in every situation and generally just ignored them.

“Who put out the order to commission this ship?!” Valesque demanded again as she approached the uninvited Captain.

The woman who at closer range appeared to be a good ten years older than Valesque turned very slowly toward her assailant, appalled at such an outburst. Captain Fairbanks was a very strict military captain. She did everything by the book and she expected each member of her crew to do the same. She regained her composure however upon discovering it was not a crewmember but an outraged Tech-Labs Engineer who had verbally assaulted her.

“I demand to know who gave orders for my vessel, and I demand to know now!” Valesque continued bitterly.

The Captain looked her over quickly and ascertained that although the girl’s nails were neatly squared off at the fingers, she was indeed a Virrilian.

“If you will follow me,” she began patiently, noticing that part of the arriving Control crew was beginning to stare, “I will discuss the matter with you privately.” she said, ushering the younger woman into the Observation Room. The Observation Room was behind an automatic door to the left side on the Control Deck. From here, the ship's Captain could view the control crew through one-way glass walls that faced the control deck, while getting away to themselves. Straight ahead as you entered the room was a large outer facing window with automatic privacy blinds, before it sat a large smooth, glass top desk. To the left was a wall with a built in display unit, to the right was a wall filled with rows of computer screens, each one showing the data on one of the control center's stations. From here, the Captain could oversee everything the crew was doing, down to the information on their screens.

The Captain had not been in this room before and she tried to hide her surprise as she entered it, but she was never very good at hiding her feelings, she supposed it due to her red hair. And there were many surprises on this ship.

“So,” Valesque erupted as soon as the doors had closed, “who authorized this?”

“I don’t see what concern it is of a Tech-Labs worker.” the Captain responded calmly, as she walked about the room trying to remain unalarmed as she surveyed its unfinished state. “But I receive my orders from my commanding officer, the same as you.”

The young Scientist scowled, “I receive orders from no one.” she hissed, narrowing her eyes at the intruding Military Captain. In the dim light of the room, the girl’s eyes shone brightly as her naturally pale, Virrilian skin took on an almost eerie glow.

“I see.” the Captain replied softly, not really paying attention as she pondered the presence of the large cables that cascaded from the open ceiling panels.

Valesque tried to remain calm. “Just what did `your Commanding Officer’ tell you about this ship, anyway?” she finally asked, noting how the other woman regarded the incomplete state of the room. It was obvious she had not been briefed on the Magellan’s present state, and maybe when she was she would see the mistake and disembark the vessel with her crew.

“I was informed that the Vortex was undergoing some minor . . . refurbishing.” the woman replied, her red hair shining in the dim light as she glanced up the web of cables she was nearest to. “But that their completion was not necessary for our mission.”

Valesque laughed aloud, so loud the Captain thought for sure the crew outside could hear her. “First of all, lady,” the young scientist began, regaining her composure. The Captain glanced at her coldly. “Captain.” Valesque corrected, conceding. “First of all, this is the I.S.A Magellan, S as in Science, and not the `Warpact’ or whatever military ship you are looking for. And secondly, this ship is NOT being remodeled, it is being built! As in constructed, created, assembled, put together originally, finished!” she exclaimed in her usual thesaurus way, stepping forward and grabbing two cables out of the tangled mess the Captain had just been puzzling over and snapping them together as she uttered the last syllable.

“And furthermore,” she continued not even pausing for breath, as the Captain regarded her in amazement, “the Magellan is not, has never and won’t be, for quite a while, on any `Mission’! And now I would suggest, Captain, that you and your crew get off my ship!” the young scientist added forcefully, enraged at the woman’s obvious lack of decorum, for she just kept staring over the Scientist’s shoulder and glancing back at her amused.

Valesque wished then and there she had waited and let her partner talk to this obnoxious Captain. She could never keep her temper, she hadn’t even been with her five minutes and she already felt like killing her!

Captain Fairbanks calmly stepped across the room to the large, slick, if not entirely clean desk, grinning all the while like the cat that ate the canary.

Which after further reflection, and after she had settled herself down in the exquisitely comfortable desk chair, she decided was not such a good idea with a Virrilian and immediately wiped the smile from her face.

“I see.” she began coolly, addressing the hot-tempered young woman before her after a moment of silence. “But, it is my understanding . . .” she continued, pulling her Vid-screen from its holder on her waist and punching up a data screen, “that the I.P.A Vortex, Omega S-Class Intergalactic Battle Cruiser, has been, will be and is commissioned out for battle. So it seems that one of us has the wrong ship.” she mused, looking up at the enraged young scientist and then beyond her, gesturing toward the wall on her far right. “And it seems it is you... uh, what is your name again?”

Valesque turned slightly to see what the woman was alluding to, realizing then what she had been staring at so smugly before.

The cable Valesque had snapped together was the power supply for the ship’s registry display that she herself had designed and built.

The wall the Captain had noted was recessed and covered with a three-dimensional mural of the galaxy with shimmering stars, solar systems, comets and the like. Complete with man-made orbital moon Saturna 3, the ship’s birthplace, and a scale model of the ship itself in the foreground.

All set off by the antique replicas of pioneering telescopes that gave humans their first glimpse into space. Usually the sight of her best work come to life would have made her spirits soar, but as she glanced at her masterpiece of engineering and programming her blood ran cold. Instead of her meticulously crafted name plate for the I.S.A Magellan hung the menacing, rough-hewn, and quickly done replacement, the `I.P.A Vortex’.

Valesque was not sure which amazed her more, their sheer gall or their amazing speed in overtaking her ship.

The Captain, quite sure the argument was now over, repeated her last question as she punched up the crew registry to assure this volatile woman she was where she didn’t belong. “What was your name again?” she repeated patiently.

The young scientist turned back to her impatiently, her lips in a full snarl, showing all four of her sharp white fangs, while her naturally pale face flushed red in her building fury.

“My name is Valesque, Chief Engineer of this project.” she replied bluntly, through clenched teeth, trying to keep herself from lunging over the desk and ripping the Captain’s throat out.

“No, no,” the Captain corrected, hating to use any title so civilian, “your ranking title.”

Valesque grew indignant; straightening up to her full height she replied very clearly, “I am not a classified military officer.” she replied so vehemently that she almost spat the last few words.

The Captain was astounded by her proclamation; she could have sworn the young woman sounded almost proud of her non-ranking standing. Never the less she punched in the name just to assure herself it wasn’t in the ship’s registry, and grimaced to see it just a moment later as the computer located her. `Great’, she thought, `this is not good.’ Outwardly, she said, “Well, non-classified Valesque it seems you are assigned to this ship.”

Valesque grinned smugly, supposing the woman had finally found her mistake.

“As maintenance Ensign, second class.”

“What!” Valesque shouted, grabbing for the handheld screen, which the Captain deftly snatched from her reach as she continued:

“According to this you are a classified military ensign, Ensign.”

“Since when and by whose orders!!” the young woman snapped, disbelieving. Nothing like that was possible; you cannot just go around classifying people. “Who is the commanding officer of this outrage?!”

“According to the records you became an Ensign second class, just over two hours ago.” the Captain replied. “Congratulations.”

For some reason she just seemed to enjoy irritating this young woman, although she knew it probably was not a wise thing to do. Especially seeing as the young Virrilian was beginning to go into hunting mode, her eyes filming over, but at least her nails were cut.

“And in answer to your second question, which as I remember was also your first,” she continued, looking up at her new Ensign calmly, “the commanding officer of this mission is General Gorbok. My superior and friend, who has assigned this ship to report to the Corseccan Galaxy as a military defense vessel.”

Valesque gaped in disbelief, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t stand, all she could do was stare. “General `Warlord’ Gorbok?!” she asked in shock and alarm.

The same General who had been snooping around the project for the last few months? The same General who had felt it necessary to infiltrate a construction crew with spies?

The same General who her partner had just this morning gone to get a restraining order and injunction against, that General Gorbok?

She could not believe it. It could not be true, why would anyone in their right mind hand over a science vessel to the `Warlord’ General?

“Insubordination will not be tolerated on this ship, Ensign. I suggest you refrain from referring to your commanding General as `Warlord’. Do I make myself clear? Because as of . . .” she checked her screen, “two hours and twenty minutes ago General Gorbok became your commanding General, and I was given command of this vessel. If there is any more discussion on this point I will throw you into the brig, Ensign, is that clear?!”

Valesque was steaming now as she crouched low over the Captain’s desk, placing both hands before her on the smooth hard surface, her brown eyes glowing silver as she spat, “Let me make myself clear, Captain. I am not, have not and will never be an Ensign on any ship and certainly not on my own ship. And as for your Commanding officer, well, we will just see about that!” she seethed, “But for right now, let me just say that your taking this ship into Corseccan space would be a grave mistake, you would be destroyed in an instant. If you even made it there to begin with.”

“I don’t know what you could possibly mean,” Captain Fairbanks replied defensively, relieved to see that the Virrilian had at least backed off just a bit, “this ship is equipped with weapons far superior to anything the Corseccans have. It should be an easy victory.”

“Ha!” Valesque laughed, “Victory? Do you have any idea what state your weapons systems are in? Or even how to run them? I don't think you do. What’s more, I don't think your dear old General had enough time in those two hours he used to take over my ship to get you an optimal crew. Just how many poor souls did he manage to round up for this death march?” she asked sarcastically.

The Captain was not sure she entirely liked what this young engineer was alluding to. “In case it is any concern of yours, we have a crew of over two hundred and fifty. More than enough to run this ship for the short time we will be needing her.” Fairbanks responded curtly. She was beginning to get a little tired of this girl’s belligerent attitude and cross-examination.

“More than enough.” Valesque sneered. “Whatever you say, Captain. As for me, I’m getting off this ship and I’m going to do everything in my power to stop you from taking it into the Corseccan Galaxy if it’s the last thing I do. Even if I have to press criminal charges against old General `Warlord’ himself!” she swore adamantly.

“I’m afraid that won’t do you any good.” the Captain warned her, opening up the automatic blinds. “You see, we are already preparing to leave space dock. We are scheduled to launch in four hours. And believe me Ensign, one way or another you will be on this ship when it leaves.” the Captain said smugly.

The General had wasted no time.

“You can’t! You can’t do this. There is a forty-eight hour clearance rule at Tech-Labs. They would never let a ship in this condition get clearance to leave space dock.” Valesque argued.

“Well, in this case, with the war effort needing our emergency assistance, they seem to have made an exception. In addition, as much as I hate to say it, it looks like you are stuck with us. At least until we reach Corseccan space, I am sure since you come from that area you will have someone who would be willing to retrieve you.”

“No, no, no.” Valesque breathed, her eyes widening at the thought. Her people had sworn to kill her if she ever entered their space again. “You can’t take me back there! I cannot go in there. It is impossible! You cannot just come in here and fly off with me like that! Kidnapping is still a crime here you know!” Valesque reasoned feverishly, but the Captain refused to be understanding.

“Kidnapping is hardly the case; you seem to have forgotten you are an ensign on this vessel, Miss Valesque. You will be with us and since you don’t seem to have any way of getting off, I guess you will have to go to battle with us as well.”

Valesque panicked, foreseeing the disastrous consequences of that action, “Oh, no. I most certainly am not! I am not going to be a party to your suicide mission. If you all want to go and get yourself killed you will have to do it without me!” the Engineer barked ferociously. No matter what these people had planned she was not about to die. She could always find another station and get funding to rebuild the Magellan.

But then again, after this one is destroyed, it might be difficult to get any takers.

“I really don’t see where you have any other choice.” the Captain remarked. “And seeing as you refuse to be a part of this crew, you will just have to stay confined to quarters until we return to Star Base. Is that clear?!”

Valesque glared at her defiantly, “I’ll tell you what’s clear!” she growled. “You are going to die! You are all going to die! And I intend to get off this ship using any means in my power before that happens!” she finished, her temper near its peak as she turned sharply on her heel from the unnerved woman before her and strode across the room, unsnapping the power cables to the display as she stormed out the door.

The entire control crew stopped to stare as the raging Virrilian erupted from the Captain’s Observation Room. Fear gripping them as they saw her turn back sharply on her heel, pointing one immaculately manicured finger toward the Captain as the automatic doors began to hiss shut, and say, “You will live to rue the day you tangled with me, Captain, you’ll rue the day you were even born! If you live.”

And with that the livid scientist stalked out of the Control Deck, not even casting a glance upon her observers. Among whom was a young ensign in charge of Operations Command named Sanic; who had been a long time admirer of the beautiful Tech-Labs Engineer.

Ensign Sanic glanced around to assure himself there was no duty he was about to shirk before he quickly followed her out of the Command Center.

Meanwhile the Captain sat sighing relief at her near escape with the younger woman, she should have known better than to antagonize her. But she had never been one to back down from a fight. Her Irish temper always got the better of her.

She glanced down at her finger, stroking the tattooed clan ring that encircled it. Sometimes she wished the Irish-Scott colonies had taught her a little more control and a lot less contention.

She more than hoped, as she gazed out the huge observation window, that the woman would be able to get reassigned off the ship. Yet, there wasn’t much chance of that seeing as the I.P.A never changes it’s mind and especially since they were already being prepared to leave space dock.

Chapter Two: Traitor?

“Well,” Valesque began to herself as soon as she had cleared the automatic doors, “that had gone well; after all, no blood was spilled.”

But some was going to be, she thought as she suddenly sprang into action, sprinting down the corridor. She was determined to find her lost partner and give him a good going over for leaving her alone with that woman. After finding out what had gone wrong at the proceedings, of course.

Moments later Valesque was darting across the hard steel flooring of the construction bay, this was the first time she could remember being out here in well . . .weeks anyway.

Since they had gotten the food duplicators on line and had shipped in a few extra cots, she had not found it necessary to venture outside the ship and had continued working steadily on several secret projects of her own, along with her usual construction workload.

Now as she sprinted the few hundred yards to the exit door, she took a moment to scan the large open area between the ship and her destination. The ground crews were busy, almost all of the larger equipment and building supplies had been cleared away, it had to be because once they opened those airlock doors space would take care of the clean up itself.

Valesque reached the small metal door leading to the web of streets outside and flung it open, rushing through the portal and straight into the arms of a very surprised young man.

The young man laughed and then smiled broadly as he pulled her from him, “Well, hello Beautiful!”

Tim Baine was a first class pilot, in a single engine fighter, and was also the Academy’s Ace flirt.

He had what it took too: boyish good looks, gorgeous blue eyes, a smile that could set the world on fire and a casual over-friendly teasing manner that made him hard to ignore. And worst of all, he knew it.

Valesque regained her footing, shaking free of the pilot’s unwelcome embrace as she pushed her hair back out of her eyes and gave him a good hard look.

He was standing before her quite amused, dressed in a dark-grey flight suit with black striping.

Obviously some lost space jockey.

She then took a quick glance behind him at what was obviously his vehicle, a low slung highly aerodynamic little number. She was about to comment on the `no hovering’ law for this area when she noticed something else which made her glance back at him not sure which was worse: being a jockey pilot or being a jockey POLICE pilot!

Valesque looked him over again disapprovingly. “You’re with the Intergalactic Police Force, huh?” she asked in a voice of forced civility.

The I.P.F is called a policing force but it had always been more of a mercenary organization; it had loyalties to no government or solar system and would take any kind of job from any source. It claimed neutrality to all conflicts and would work for either side.

Although the I.P.F claimed to be a separate and distinct entity from the I.P.A it was actually a secret division of the military. It was the Intergalactic Planetary Alliance's way to get more money and to stick its fingers in to every crack it could find.

About the middle of the 23rd century, the Earthians had finally stopped fighting against themselves. Actually, they had been forced to stop, due to the destruction they had caused to their planet from centuries of pollution and war. The remaining nations of Earth joined to form one all encompassing military organization, the Intergalactic Planetary Alliance.

The name itself was a huge joke, as there was nothing intergalactically allying about it. The entire organization had been formed for one purpose and one purpose only, to expand Earthian control and gather for themselves more resources and more power. Planets and galaxies brought under the I.P.A were usually there from threat of violence or all out war. The I.P.A subjugated the people to their will and set up an I.P.A acceptable ‘interim’ government they could control.

Everyone joked that the I.P.F's slogan was "A friendly little division of I.P.A", that is if you consider being hit men and mercenary fighter pilots for hire 'friendly'.

Valesque was not sure she liked the idea of the I.P.F being around and she was especially hoping it was not anything to do with her or another surprise from the General.

She knew the Military had severe ways to ensure all crew members were aboard at time of departure but she had another four or five hours left at least.

The Lieutenant liked her voice, it had a very rich pleasant sound, even in the angry tone. “Yes I am . . . . well . . was, anyway. I was just reassigned, and none

too soon as I can see.” he replied flirtatiously, looking her up and down. Noticing with pleasure how her thick, dark hair shimmered with blue and red in the overhead light.

“I assume you are on this crew too? This certainly promises to be a very nice mission. Let me guess,” he continued smiling broadly, eyeing her simple green uniform and white lab coat, “nurse, right? Hmm, I will definitely have to make it a point to get sick on this trip!”

“Crew?” she questioned him peevishly, totally ignoring his impertinent question. Irritated beyond belief at his very unwelcome presence. He was obviously not here in a legal capacity. “Look, exactly who are you anyway?”

The Lieutenant was not to be dissuaded, he just shrugged, and gave her one of his luminous smiles. Maybe she was just having a rough day.

“Lieutenant, Timothy Baine. First class pilot extraordinaire. At your service.” he began with a flourishing bow. “I have been assigned to the helm of this ship.”

“Not of this ship you weren’t!” the young woman exclaimed, her defenses up, obviously not enchanted. “I think you have the wrong vessel, Flyboy. The I.S.A Magellan is not ready for commission, as I have already explained in there.” she snapped, indicating the door from which she had just emerged.

“I don’t know about the Magellan,” the Pilot replied, giving her a small sympathetic smile, feeling what her embarrassment would be at finding herself at the wrong ship. “But the I.P.A Vortex is. Which is the name written on the side of this housing bay, and it fits my orders.”

“Then the paint is so wet you could write in it.” she snarled back, not even giving the building a look, furious that the General had gotten so much past her. Maybe she should have left the ship more often in the past few weeks. “Let me see your orders.”

Lieutenant Baine casually handed over the paper he had been carrying in his otherwise free hand.

He had never refused a beautiful woman anything and he was not about to start now. Because grumpy or not he was determined to get on this woman’s good side.

Valesque snatched the sheet from his hand and looked it over in quick disapproving glances, her annoyance showing ever more each second as her fist crumpled the side of the paper in her grasp.

The Lieutenant meanwhile ran a hand carelessly through his light blond hair as he watched her, pushing back the wave of forelocks that stubbornly fell over his right eye, in the way that all the girls thought so charming, except of course for this one.

Chief Engineer Valesque was totally oblivious to the man’s charms as she scanned the document in hand. “How dare they?” she muttered angrily. “How could they? My ship! How dare they classify her as a Battle Cruiser!” she seethed, spitting out the name as if it were a piece of putrefied fish.

“To my knowledge Captain C. Fairbanks will be on board exactly, . . . now.” Lieutenant Baine replied cheerily, gazing at his wrist-com, completely unfazed by her anger. He was really beginning to like her in an antagonistic kind of a way. “If you want you can always go discuss it with her, or the commanding General. I believe his name is on that paper as well.” Tim suggested helpfully.

“I was just going to see about that!” she snapped, shoving past the bewildered pilot, and continuing swiftly down the dark, drizzly street; murder on her mind.

“Hey, wait.” the young Lieutenant called out, as she quickly disappeared down the alley. “You still have my papers! . . . .Why does this always happen to me?” he sighed, still trying to catch a glimpse of the enraged woman.

Slinging his satchel over one shoulder Tim Baine turned back to the housing bay door and strolled casually into the Battle cruiser’s airlock. He then stopped in his tracks awe struck as his eyes adjusted to the lighting for the ship just kept going and going and going. He half-wondered if he had the right ship after all.

Yep, I.P.A Vortex, that is the name that had been written outside and it was on the side of the ship.

The ship was in the shape of a very large pointed oval, with the exterior measurement of one mile long and one-half of a mile across at its widest point.

With thirty decks and all the exterior walls, including the transparent ones, being five feet thick, the ship had over one hundred and three million square feet of space.

'Omega S-Class Intergalactic Battle Cruiser.' And they expected him to fly this barge! Well one thing is for sure, he thought to himself as he looked up at its towering thirty-storey frame, this is going to be one exciting ride.

Readjusting his belongings, the young pilot strode toward the first well-marked entrance he could find. Hoping it would take him to deck B-2 and his quarters. At least he was sure to like this assignment better than flying solo like he had been doing on those fighters. Especially after having met one of his new crewmates, or so he hoped.

Lieutenant Baine stopped short of the lighted gangplank to take one last look at the exterior of his new ship. And new it appeared to be. The entire exterior hull was cleaned and buffed to a gleaming finish so that the entire ship shimmered like a giant faceted gem. In fact, with the shape of the ship resembling a Marquee cut stone and the encircling metal rim with the tall, tapering array arms, the ship looked remarkably like a Tiffany set gemstone.

He could not have known the designer of the ship had based it on a Virrilian royal jewel, all he knew was the ship was a truly breathtaking spectacle and he could almost envy those who had the privilege of viewing her exterior. It was too bad she would soon be battle scarred and the gleaming hull seared by laser fire.

As he was taking this moment for these deliberations, the young Pilot was once again waylaid by a crewmember rushing from the ship.

“This is becoming quite a habit.” he mused, freeing himself again. This time however it was not a beautiful girl but a young Ensign that had run into him.

“Oh, excuse me. I beg your pardon, Lieutenant.” Sanic fumbled hurriedly, as he noticed the other man’s rank insignia. “You didn’t by any chance just see a beautiful, dark haired woman come through here did you?”

Tim looked a little confused, why was the crew in such a hurry to get away from this ship? “Uh… yeah, I did, Ensign. I... we just ran into each other.”

The Ensign’s eyes widened with alarm, he must be way behind her by now. “Which way did she go, do you know?”

“I believe she had some notion of seeing the General. I’d tell you which one, but she took my papers.” Tim explained as obligingly as he could.

“Thank you.” the Ensign replied, mentally filing the information as he quickly started away. “I mean, thank you, Sir.” Sanic said, turning back to his superior briefly before bounding toward the exit door.

Lieutenant Baine shrugged, pressing his lips together in puzzlement. Then turning and checking to be sure no one else was about to come flying off the ship, he made his way up the ramp toward the lighted interior of the base deck.

Valesque made her way quickly along the puddle-strewn walkways toward the side of town she knew Dr. Warner to frequent. The air was thick, cool and damp making her wish she had worn something warmer than a lab coat.

The advertisements for this man-made, `Earth Orbiting’, planetoid had boasted of its high-tech Environmental Atmospheric Weather Controls. But ever since she had arrived the modern wonder always seemed to be on the blink. Valesque quickened her pace and tightened her thin white coat around her, trying to ward off the now common dreary drizzle.

Technological concepts, she had often noted, were only as good as the people hired to run them.

As she neared her destination, a sleazy looking bar on the corner of two equally sleazy looking streets, Valesque slowed her pace as she suddenly felt an eerie twinge like someone was following her.

She glanced behind her cautiously, then peered quickly down the dingy streets on either side but nothing looked out of place. She shrugged off her insecurity, supposing it to be just over-exposure to bad weather and entered the bar.

Moe’s Place, the sign read that blinked on and off at the passers by on the street, the few there were. Not many arrivals or launches were taking place here lately; the Corseccan War was putting a damper on most Earth traffic these days.

Valesque shuddered involuntarily upon entering the moodily lit warmth of the bar, the change of temperature was instantly noticeable upon her entrance. She slipped off her damp lab coat and made her way to the back of the building.

Walking past the long slightly curved faux wood bar, past the huddling clientèle who had come here seeking refuge from the cold as well as from the I.P.A.

For they heard an unscheduled launching was taking place today and they knew what that meant: involuntary crew assignments.

Valesque was in search of one man in particular, the proprietor, a guy named Moe. Who just happened to be Dr. Warner’s closest pal. She caught sight of him about half way through her trek and called out to him as he sat at a high table at the far end of the place.

He seemed to have heard her but kept on talking to the man seated opposite him, only stopping long enough to give a split second glance at who had called. Valesque was in too much of a hurry to let that stop her or to care that he was in conversation with someone else as she approached. “Moe,” she interrupted urgently, “have you seen Dr. Warner today? This morning?”

Moe gave the other man a nod of dismissal as he turned his attention on her, “You just interrupted a very important business opportunity here, Val.” he grumbled in his deep Old New York accent.

“I’m sorry Moe, but this is urgent,” Valesque implored, leaning heavily over the table, “I’ve got to find Dr. Warner.” “Urgent, eh?” he queried, giving her a contemplative look as he scratched his two day growth. “Yeah, I heard you’s was launching today. Kinda sudden ain’t it, I mean ya finished up awful quick didn’t ya?”

“Yeah, finished, right. We’re about as done as the food you serve here.” she joked bitterly. “Listen, Moe, do you know where he is? I have to find him and quick, they are about to launch our ship! They will destroy her if I don’t find him! He’s bound to know what’s going on.”

“I’ve seen him.” Moe replied thoughtfully. “But I don’t think it was today. What time is it?” he asked, checking his wrist chronometer. “Nope it wasn’t today. Yesterday I saw him, came in here late, and seemed a little edgy if ya ask me.”

“But you don’t know where he is now?” she pressed.

“No I don’t, you might try down at the Military building though, he said he had a meeting with that General you were havin’ trouble with, ya know the one.”

“Yeah, Moe, I know the one. He was supposed to meet with him four hours ago, though. And now that General seems to have subterfuged his way into taking over my ship. He even managed to assign me to it as an ensign. Can you imagine, me an ensign? I know one thing though, I am not going to sacrifice my life on his mindless journey to Corseccan space! One way or another I am not launching with that ship today.” the Engineer fumed.

Moe had known both John Warner and Valesque long enough to have grasped a little of her situation with her home world, but he could not help her now. Like it or not, what she was contemplating was not only dangerous but downright impossible.

“I’d like to help you out, Val, but you know my rules: When the I.P.A is involved I am out of it. I mean, I like you and all and John is my best bud but I draw the line at vaporization. That just don’t sit too well with me, ya know?”

“I know, Moe, I know. But I do not, can not and will never happen to like the idea of being kidnapped onto my own ship either. This has never come up before; I have no idea how to get out of it.”

“If I may make a small suggestion,” Moe interrupted, “go along with it and get out of it later. Your chances of escape here are much smaller than they would be out in open space, a lot less troopers out there too, if I may add. You designed the bloomin’ ship I am sure once you are out there you could figure your way off. If you don’t get blasted tryin’.”

“Thanks, Moe, that’s really . . . comforting.” Valesque replied slowly, seeing she was not about to get any help here.

“And if I may make a further suggestion for the immediate future,” Moe continued, his round face darkening with concern, “may I suggest you hurry on your way? I mean, not that I would ever push away a friend or nutt’n but uh . . . the nearer we are getting to the launch time the more likely some I.P.A men will be tracking you down. Not that I doubt your success, Val, I mean you’re one smart cookie, ya know. But, uh . . . I kinda like my place the way it is, in one piece if ya know what I mean.”

“Hint noted and taken.” Valesque replied, gathering up her lab coat and heading for the door.

“Remember, Val, if you are ever this way again my door is always open. I’ll tell John ya were looking for him, if I ever see him again.” the man called warmly as she left.

Valesque stopped suddenly just outside of the entrance, she had almost forgotten how frigid it had been. She slipped on her lab coat and felt that same eerie chill, as if someone was watching her.

Virrilians were especially adept at sensing their surroundings, a Virrilian in hunting mode even more so. In hunting mode, a Virrilian could sense a quarry’s heart rate, nervous system and feel any little twitch it made. Valesque almost went into hunting mode now, but thought the better of it, she was just being paranoid after all. She was always paranoid in situations she was not familiar with, and this one was very unfamiliar.

She decided just to keep moving, if anyone was following her she would at least make it difficult for them.

She made her way over to the business side of the satellite; it was a more upscale, well-to-do area of the planetoid. Large office buildings held various company representative offices, one of which being the Military Branch.

She went over to the large secretive looking structure to inquire of the General, but was refused admittance. The receptionist informed her that the General had

left early that morning and was not to return for several weeks. Valesque knew this could not be true because Dr. Warner did not have his appointment with him until 10 am.

But she also knew that it was futile to argue with a reception android.

Reception androids always said exactly what they were told to say. Their boss could be standing directly in front of them, but he would still be classified as `not in’ if they had not been ordered otherwise. This was probably why most business men preferred the mechanized secretary to the live version.

Well, that and their wives did not complain as much.

So either the General was avoiding her or had skipped town, either way she wasn’t getting anywhere. She decided to try Dr. Warner's apartment. He had been given one of the more upscale Scientist allocated condos by the Scientific Association: the ones who had funded the ship.

She, on the other hand, had taken a small studio style place on the construction side, and therefore scummy side, of the planetoid. She figured it did not really matter to her since she was determined to live aboard ship as much as possible once the hull had been sealed and the life support system activated.

Dr. Warner’s place was not far from the Military Building; she had been there on several occasions, mostly to celebrate the finishing of major hurdles during construction, so she knew where to find it, which was good considering she was getting low on time.

The apartment was located on a third floor, interior. Valesque pressed the door chime several times but no one answered. She waited a few minutes, looking around the hall critically, before trying again.

The place looked like it had not been re-done since it was first built, very chrome and rigid. Out-dated really, since most newer buildings went into the more plush, natural material look; with carpets and non-metallic paints. She waited five more minutes after she rang the chimes before deciding to leave, he obviously had not returned home. Or he wasn’t answering.

She tried several other places on this side of town that she knew him to frequent but search as she might, she could not find the good Doctor anywhere. Nor did he answer any of her frequent calls to his personal communicator.

It was as though he had just . . . vanished.

She soon found herself back on the construction bay side, heading toward her apartment to see if maybe he had gone there to wait for her, knowing she would come looking for him.

She was two blocks away from her destination when she heard a noise behind her and spun around quickly to see what it was. All she saw was the slight flutter of fabric as whomever it had been disappeared back down the alley.

Valesque knew it had not been the I.P.A since she still had a good hour left until take off, and they would run forward not away. She started down the alley again in pursuit of whoever it was, turning corners and glancing down side streets in hopes of catching another glimpse of the fleeing figure.

She began to notice familiar looking buildings and landmarks, they had been snaking around to the street where her apartment was. It had to be Dr. Warner! Only he knew where she lived.

She picked up the pace, using all of her Virrilian speed and rounded the last corner, coming out almost directly in front of her building. She stopped in her tracks, as she perceived a familiar looking silhouette in the darkness ahead. “Dr. Warner?” she breathed, squinting against the mist to make out the figure ahead. “Is that you? What’s going on?”

The person seemed to be advancing slowly toward her in the dim light, she could still not quite make out who it was but she did begin to recognize the object they were raising from their side.

Valesque’s eyes widened, she could not believe what she was seeing. “John?” she whispered hoarsely, as the weapon took aim. “What are you . . ." her voice cut off in mid-sentence, her question ending in a thud as her stunned body hit the cold, wet ground. She saw a white light come toward her just before her world turned black.

Chapter Three: Allies

Valesque awoke to find herself lying in one of the over 2,000 pods in the large life-pod holding room of her ship. She was tired and ached all over. Her vision was still a little black around the edges as she tried to acquaint herself with her position. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on remembering how she had gotten here, when she felt a light touch on her shoulder.

She had not heard anyone approach and was so startled by the touch she involuntarily jumped. Turning her head quickly around she found a slightly less startled young man standing behind her in the dim light of the holding bay.

“Uh, hi!” he began hesitantly; finally face-to-face he was not sure what to say to a top Tech-Labs Engineer, and a beautiful one at that. “You’re awake?” he asked grasping for something to say. He struggled to sound friendly and easy as her fine–featured, pale face showed her annoyance at his sudden intrusion.

“Did you not expect for me to be?” replied the Scientist alarmed that he might be in on the General’s schemes and had followed her to ensure their plans expedience.

“Oh, no, no.” the young man said nervously. “I was just… uh, you have been out of it since you were brought back aboard your ship. I was beginning to worry, but I guess . . . you are….alright.” he finished, losing his edge toward the end and wondering what he had just said, his dark eyes glancing around nervously.

“Oh.” she replied slowly, not sure what to make of him. He looked pleasant enough, with his warm grey eyes and schoolboy jitters. But he was still military personnel and from what he’d said, an intruder on her ship. “Who are you, some guard the Captain has ordered to keep track of me? How long have I been here? And what do you mean by my ship?” she queried quickly, attempting to sit up.

The young man smiled a big beautiful smile, not one of the Lieutenant’s charming smiles but a true genuine grin. “I am Ensign Sanic,” he began happily noting her interest and detecting a bit of friendliness on the subject, “and you are the Chief Engineer of the Magellan project, right? It is such a pleasure to finally meet you.” he gushed, excited at finally being face to face with the beautiful scientist he had been admiring all these months.

And he was especially glad to see that close up she did not appear to be much older than he was. In fact, her thick, short cropped, dark hair and creamy, ivory complexion coupled with her large brown eyes seemed to reveal her to be no more than two or three years his senior. Not an unbridgeable difference.

Sanic had always been rather brainy, he was especially adept at electronics, figuring out sequences, logic puzzles and the like. He also liked smart women. And Valesque was both smart and beautiful, the perfect combination.

The Ensign had been planet-side on the orbital moon for quite a while so he had plenty of time to admire the building, as well as the builder, of the ship. He had always hoped to meet her, but it seemed rather difficult since she rarely left the project and he did not have the clearance to enter. Now here she was, and all his braininess seemed to have turned to sloppy mush as he realized the situation he was in.

Valesque of course knew nothing of the young man's aspirations or feelings. She only perceived his nervousness and most of all his last remark to her. “The Magellan? You know about the Magellan?” Valesque repeated shocked at his knowledge of the ship’s true name. Suddenly she seemed to like the shy young man who stood before her.

He was roughly as tall as she was if not a bit taller. Certainly not as old or manly looking as the Lieutenant she had met earlier, but cute in his own young, dark-haired, Etherian sort of way.

Although Etherians strongly resembled Earthians there was one distinguishable difference, Etherians had naturally multicolored hair. Each hair actually grew in layers of color; this one’s grew dark on the bottom lightening in bands as it went up until finally ending in blonde tips.

He had an open, friendly look about him and seemed to epitomize Etheria, his home planet. It was a college planet, known as the "party planet”, and he seemed very Etherian with his upbeat expressions, tan skin and blonde-tipped spiky hair. She smiled at him, and he began deeply hoping she would not take the position that he was `just an Ensign’ like all of the other upper crew did.

“I must tell you, I am just, well, thrilled for the lack of a better word, to at last be on this ship!” he continued, glancing around appreciatively at the large dark room with its huge exterior viewing panels before training his eyes back on her. “I must say I never expected it to be as magnificent as it is. Or to be aboard her so soon. I thought we had a good two months left at least.”

“What are you talking about?” Valesque asked suddenly, pushing aside all of the flattery and striving to see this military ensign’s motive. More ranking-military conspiratal gloating?

“Why would a military crew be scheduled for the Magellan’s maiden voyage? Of, course,” she added, coming to terms with reality, “why are they here now.”

“Military?” the Ensign laughed. “I am not military. I am a Scientific Class -Two Operator, assigned to the I.S.A Magellan. I have been planet-side for nearly three months now, watching the construction of my next assignment the `Magellan’. Well, me and a few other guys.” he replied avoiding telling her what else he had enjoyed watching.

“Let me get this straight, you are not military.” the Scientist repeated slowly, trying to understand. “And yet you are on a, shall we say a `confiscated’ and now military ranked vessel with an also very military Captain and crew?”

“We are not all military; I just became 'reclassified' as an ensign a few days ago.” Sanic informed her hurriedly, seeing her confused look. “Some of us are science officers, like me. Some are low ranking engineering personnel and some are space jockeys who just happened to be planet-side when the orders were given. Mostly I guess you could say they scraped the bottom of the barrel to get this crew. Except for some of the upper class officers, of course.” he continued quickly. “Like the Captain, the Commander, our Pilot and of course, you.” he added blushing slightly.

“What makes you think I am a top ranking Officer, Sanic?” she asked with a sarcastic laugh at the irony of it.

“Well, I saw you leaving the Captain’s Observation Room.” he began a bit flustered, wondering what had been his mistake, and liking the way she dispensed with his Ensign title. “Who else but a very high ranking crew member could get away with that?”

Valesque laughed at this remark. “A very peeved Virrilian, that's who, and one that is going to be getting off this ship as soon as possible if she knows what's good for her.”

“But, you can’t.” the Ensign exclaimed concerned with this sudden plan. It was not just the idea of her leaving just when he had finally met her, but it was the sheer danger of such an attempt.

Valesque looked at the young man coldly. So he had been sent to stop her. Well, they would have to do better than that. She could easily overpower him, although she hated to have to do it, he seemed like a nice kid.

"And why is that? Did that conniving Captain send you down here to detain me?" she asked irritably.

She was getting tired of being hampered at every turn. She would get off this ship, even if it meant over the young Ensign's body.

“No, you don’t understand,” the young man continued, rubbing his forehead as he tried to figure out the best way to say this, noting her apparent irritation at being stopped, “you can’t get off the ship, nobody can. You have been unconscious for nearly three days. We are out in deep space now. Even if you could get a hold of a Scuttle Craft there is no way you could make it out of the dual shield with out proper authorization. You would just crash up on the electro field.”

“Three days?” Valesque returned shocked. “I have been down in this hold for three days?!” she continued, glancing down at the panel of her vid-screen and pressing the chronometer button to verify the exact time.

Sanic strained to see what she was looking at, “We are leaving the Milky Way as we speak. I am sorry you had to stay down here but I had been trying to find you on Saturna 3 when you went to look for the General. Unfortunately I didn’t catch up to you until after you had been shot.” he informed her apologetically.

“You saw who shot me?” the Engineer asked urgently, leaning forward out of her pod in anxious suspense.

“Well, sort of.” he replied hesitantly, his dark eyes avoiding hers. “I followed from quite a ways back as they carried you to the ship. I had assumed it was the I.P.A but then you were brought here." he continued, looking around at the unorthodox area. “I startled them when they were placing you in the life-pod. I tried to act as if everything was normal, I did not want to get shot too. The one guy who seemed to be in charge said to leave you here until you woke up. I figured it would only be a few minutes, I didn’t know he meant three days! It was a good thing you were in here though,” Sanic added, patting the lid of the pod, “I would never have been able to tell if you were alive or dead without the heart monitor. You had me pretty scared for a while there.”

Valesque looked troubled, “You say two men brought me here? Do you remember what they looked like? Did one of then have brown, curly hair and blue eyes, sort of Earthian looking?”

“I. . .I honestly couldn’t say.” the young Ensign answered, upset at having to disappoint her. “It is pretty dark in here, you know.” he looked around, as if to prove it to himself.

“And they were pretty well covered up, like they didn’t want to be recognized. If I had to say one thing though,” he continued thoughtfully, “I would have to say that the accomplice seemed almost… luminous.”

“Luminous? Oh, that helps a lot.” Valesque grumbled as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, trying to ward off her achy feeling.

Sanic handed her a flask of water he had been carrying as she slid forward off the bed. “Any idea of what they hit you with?” he asked finally, it was something he had often wondered about these past few days.

Valesque took a sip of water, swishing it in her mouth before spiting it back out. Her palate had become acidic from the liquid. She grimaced, shaking her head and trying to dispel the sharp metallic taste in her mouth. “Ugh,” she groaned, “a taser.”

“A taser did that to you? Knocked you out for three days? Wow,” he marveled, “that must have been some charge, what did they set it on, 'coma'?”

“Probably 'death'.” Valesque replied, stretching out her shock treated limbs. “If it was who I think it was, he knew the highest setting was the only thing that would knock me out. But I just can’t figure what would make him do it, and then dump me back here again when he knew they had taken over the `Magellan.”

"You mean you didn't authorize the use of this ship?" Sanic asked shocked. He had assumed the engineers on the project had been aware of the orders.

"Authorize? Ha! They even had the nerve to assign me to this death mission." Valesque scoffed, like they would ask her permission.

"Are you saying this ship isn't equipped?" the young man asked worrisomely. He could not imagine them assigning him to a non-working vessel. Especially one that was assigned to Corseccan space.

"No, I have already said that. I told that stubborn and irritating Captain up there, before they launched, that the ship was not finished. However, all she did was babble on about orders and refurbishing. I do not think that woman would believe anything unless it was in an order and signed in triplicate. You said you are the operations person right?” she asked him simply.

"Well, all I can say is plan on having a lot of time on your hands because as far as scanners and things of that nature go, you are pretty much in the dark. And that goes for weapons, off ship communications and just about everything else. The only things working on this vessel are the engines. But I wouldn't be too sure about those either.

Experimental power sources and non-tested engines can be somewhat tricky. But I suppose General Gorbok knew that before he sent her out."

“Are you saying that the General is knowingly sending out a completely unequipped vessel? Is this the same General who has been seen sneaking around the science wing of Tech-Labs?!” the Ensign cried, realizing what she was implying.

“That would be the one.” she agreed. “General `Warlord’ we call him. But don’t tell the Captain that, she is friends with him. He has been slinking around here for months trying to figure out a way to get his hands on this ship,” she informed him.

“Why do you suppose he would want a science vessel?” Sanic puzzled, trying to get a picture of the situation.

“It’s not really the ship as much as her capabilities.” Valesque responded thoughtfully, striving to make her suspicions plain. “This ship is loaded with new experimental gadgets. One of which you have already seen, the foursquare weapon’s system, located in the lower array disk and the four upper array arms. That system coupled with the dual oscillating shield would make this ship virtually impenetrable and therefore very much to be desired by the power hungry General.

That is of course, depending on its actually working or not. It has never really been successfully accomplished. This would be the first ship to be designed to handle it, if it handles it.” she concluded hurriedly, unsure of which way the final test would turn out.

“It seems he must not have known how incomplete the ship was then. Otherwise, he never would have sent it out. Especially not with Captain Fairbanks and our pilot, Lieutenant Baine." Sanic mused.

"What is so special about this Captain C. Fairbanks and the jockey Pilot?” she queried.

“Captain C. Fairbanks? I guess being a scientist, you would not know, but she is one of the top ranking military captains of all time. Except of course for her husband, who is right now out there getting a good beating in the war. But do you know who introduced them?” the Ensign asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes like a gossiping old woman. “General Gorbok, that’s who. So why would he want one of his most prized prodigies to be sent off to her death? It just doesn’t quite fit. So there must be another reason.”

“Well, I for one am not waiting around to find out!” Valesque exclaimed figuring she had already wasted enough time talking. “The General’s reasons aside I know what will happen to this ship, and if you are smart you will come with me, because I intend to get out of here! And if not all I can say is: Good bye, Good luck! And I hope to be off this ship before it happens.” she replied dispassionately, standing up and heading for the double, automatic doors.

He may not know a lot about Virrilians but he knew a lot more than she obviously did about ship relations and politics. He quickly grabbed up his gear, put on the anti-gravity disks he had shoved in his pockets and slid hastily after her.

"Wait," he called as he hurried to catch up to her, "what about the shields? And the Scuttle? The Captain isn't likely to just hand one over to you. Besides it would take two programmers to work it all out, one on board and one in the Scuttle."

"I think I could figure a way out." she replied curtly, after all she had designed it. And besides, only half of the shields were operational at the moment.

Sanic was not to be deterred. “Look,” he continued as they neared the exit, “you know nothing on this ship works and I know nothing on this ship works, so all we need to do is wait until the Captain realizes it and comes crawling to you for help, right? She would have to listen to you then. And if it doesn’t work . . . then, I will help you get your Scuttle craft and make it through the shields. Deal?” he asked seeing her skeptical look.

“Whatever, but I am out of here before we reach Corseccan space.” she warned, not about to be stuck on this death trap any longer than necessary. She would do just about anything to get her ship back in one piece, aside from dying.

“Agreed. We will get you off before then. Now,” he said proceeding with her down the hall, “since you are the brain behind this ship perhaps you could help me find my quarters, because I just can’t make any sense out of these papers.” he shrugged pathetically, handing her the small sketchily drawn map he had been carrying.

The young Engineer took it in her hand, pushing back her dark, shimmering locks before glancing up at him amused as she slowly turned the map over. “Come on.” she laughed at seeing him blush, leading him to the nearest Hydro-lift bay.

“I am really sorry about your ship.” Sanic said softly, trying to piece together what had happened and what a shock it was to her. “I am also sorry about your loss in your engineering team.” he continued trying to be of some comfort to her. He had meant to get to tell her that in person ever since he had witnessed the accident.

“Loss?” Valesque queried dazed. Could he mean Dr. Warner? “What loss?” she asked more urgently. Was that what had happened to him? Maybe he wasn’t the one who shot her?

“The hull worker who was soldering on the upper array arm. The one that fell to his death a few weeks ago. I was watching the work from the Tech-Labs park balcony when it happened. Since then I have wanted to tell you how sorry I was for your loss. And now it seems you have two of them.” the dark-haired boy said, wondering at her confusion.

“Someone working on the upper array arm?” she puzzled. “I don’t remember anyone on the upper array arm. Oh, wait a minute,” she continued, clutching her side in remembrance, “yes I do. I was on the arm, fixing a wiring short.”

“You?” he asked unbelievingly. “No, but, this person fell . . . .” he corrected.

“Yep,” she replied assuredly, “that was me.”

“Twenty stories?”

“Oh, yeah,” she agreed completely, nodding her head, somewhat embarrassed, “but it was more like twenty-two. I remember, it felt like a very long fall, at least twenty-two stories.”

“But, you are alive?!” he exclaimed, nearly pouncing on her in his surprise. “No one could have lived through that! Not twenty-two stories.”

“You obviously don’t know Virrilians.” Valesque laughed. “We are a very sturdy brood. I will admit, I had never been on a twenty-two storey drop before, and I got a few cracked ribs doing it, but I have survived worse. You would be amazed.”

“I already am.” he replied, somehow both fearing and respecting her more. “I guess I am going to have to do some research on Virrilians, huh? Since you will be on the crew and all, I like to know the equations I am working with.”

“Well, I am not crew, and I hopefully won’t be here very long. So I think you can put off studying Virrilians.” she replied optimistically.

Sanic was silent after this. He was not too thrilled with the prospect of her leaving and was busy contemplating how he could make the Captain see the condition of the ship without appearing insubordinate or mutinous.

Valesque did not notice his silence for she was busy with thoughts of her own as she led her new friend up to his assigned quarters, trying to remember why the cabin number sounded so familiar to her as they went. She checked her Vid-screen panel as they exited the Hydro-lift on the designated deck. Sure enough, there it was D-3 room 351. “Uh, I hate to tell you this, Sanic,” Valesque said apologetically, as they advanced down the corridor, “but I don’t think you will like your quarters.”

“What are you talking about?” he gushed, enjoying every nuance of Delta Deck 3's hall.

Each housing deck of the ship had been built with a large garden area in the center of the wide corridor with the housing entrances off to either side. Unlike the normal ship quarters, this one’s housing was not laid out in straight rows with sterile hallways but they were made to resemble urban planet-side neighborhoods. In the very center of each deck was the Emergency Shelter area and around this and up and down the generously wide corridor were various garden areas of faux plants and trees, each one representing a different culture's style or planet's fauna.

Each of the housing fronts was slightly different as well, giving them a more homey appearance, with windows facing out onto the hall with views of the gardens and any visitors, plus they could keep an eye on their children as they played 'outside' in the corridor.

The quarters were designed like regular houses, just all in a row, and even the smallest of them had two bedrooms. These decks were meant to be home for many people and families for long periods. With the gardens and park-like areas, the people could enjoy the 'outdoors' even when they may not get to be on actual ground for years.

“Look at this place!" Sanic said in pure wonder as he gazed at the corridor, feeling like he was outdoors in a quaint housing block. "I am sure I will love it.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure about that.” the Engineer cautioned, hating to ruin his fantasy.

Just then Sanic noticed someone approaching from the opposite direction and quickly walked ahead of Valesque so as not to embarrass her by being seen socializing with an ensign.

Valesque did not notice this however; she just stopped and started on some calibrations on the Vid-screen mini-computer she always carried at her waist.

“Well, hello there Mr. Sanic.” the Lieutenant called out upon catching sight of him. “I find you home at last. You know I have been by your quarters several times in the past few days but you just never seem to be at home.” Tim remarked playfully.

“You were looking for me?” Sanic asked, bewildered at the attention.

“Well, of course I was, Sanic, old buddy, old pal.” Tim replied, giving the younger man a friendly slap on the back. “After all, we're old friends, right?”

Actually, Tim would have been friends with anyone who seemed to have some sort of contact with the mysterious, moody woman he had run into over three days ago. He had wandered everywhere on the entire ship in the past three days trying to locate her, buttering up everyone he thought might have a lead.

He had finally figured Sanic as his only clue. Not that there were not other beautiful women on board, he just enjoyed the challenge that this one seemed to give. Besides, she had a strange eternal beauty about her that he could not quite place, and would not rest until he had.

“So,” Tim began, “I am finally off duty. It seems like I have been up there for days. I don't know about yours, but whoever designed my flight panels must have been a complete idiot! It has taken me every waking hour since we left space dock until now to figure out those controls. You know what I mean?” the Lieutenant complained, wondering as he finished why the Ensign looked so edgy.

"Well, actually I haven't been able to use any of my panels yet. But they look great." Sanic added in praise.

“Sanic.” came the calm feminine voice behind the Ensign, as Valesque interrupted the conversation.

Sanic was a bit flustered at her not having used his ranking title in front of the Lieutenant, thinking it might show a degrading intimacy on her part.

Tim gave Sanic a knowing look. “Ah, caught you entertaining, huh? I beg your pardon, Miss. Well, hello again, Beautiful.” the Lieutenant adjusted, shocked at the sight of her, as she came around in front of the Ensign.

Sanic flushed red at the inappropriateness of the meeting. “Uh, Lieutenant Baine, this is, uh,” Sanic glanced over at the Engineer helplessly, unsure of how to introduce her ranking title.

Valesque stepped forward confidently. "What is wrong with your panel, Lieutenant?" she asked bitterly, she did not handle criticism well.

"Nothing that a competent engineer and some major rebuilding couldn't fix." Tim smiled.

Valesque blinked at him coldly. "Those panels are a Virrilian design, made specifically for use by all known life forms. Perhaps you neglected to input your species..... whatever it is." she muttered under her breath.

"Ah, that explains it!" the Pilot exclaimed. "Virrilians are not the best engineers, actually they are not the best anything. Nice people though." he added, seeing her and the young Ensign get a bit upset.

"But you have to admit, they have lousy job skills. My last assignment was on the Corseccan boarder, ensuring that no unauthorized vessels came or went from the war zone. And I got to see quite a few of those Virrilian 'pilots'.

Virrilians are terrible fighter pilots if you ask me... well, I take that back, those 'rebel' pilots as the Virrilians called them were pretty good.... no, excellent pilots " he corrected himself, remembering.

"I never could understand why the main Virrilian force wanted to keep them out of Corseccan space. The 'Rebel' pilots never shot at the regular Virrilian forces; they were all on the same side as far as I could see. But those Virrilians tried to shoot down the 'rebels' with no mercy if they happened to catch them assisting in the war. Good thing they were such bad shots or it could have been a real blood bath. They actually tried to get me to do the same, but I refused, shooting down good fighters is not my style. Of course, that is probably how I ended up here." he laughed, shrugging at his lot. "But that isn't all that bad either." he added, giving Valesque a wink.

Valesque's eyes narrowed at the man before her. "Virrilians are as good if not better than any other race at any occupation. Maybe you should do a little more research before you go judging others! For instance, I don't see where a species that has not only continually fought amongst itself, but also killed off just about all animal and plant life as well as the very planet they inhabited has any cause to judge another species that is still on their first planet, and no where near depleting it!" she seethed.

"If we are still talking about Virrilians, I can see why their planet is doing so well. They are depleting other planets instead. Isn't that what this whole war is about?"

"Uninhabited planets. Virrilians mine uninhabited planets, unlike you Earthians who destroy people's worlds and solar systems just to make yourselves more money and suck up more resources. If you had taken care of your planet to begin with you wouldn't have to be destroying everyone else's.

And as I recall the whole war started over you humans trying to strip mine a planet in our sector and enslave its inhabitants. Virrilians had been trading with that mining planet for generations without the destruction you people were planning! Is it no wonder they wouldn't let you get away with it?"

"Uh, oh." Tim grimaced; taking note for the first time of the four sharp fangs that showed in her scowl and the inch long points that had grown on her hands over the past three days. "You are Virrilian, aren't you?" he almost hated to ask.

"Whatever gave you that impression?" she returned sarcastically as she touched the tip of an upper fang with her tongue. "I am Virrilian, but I went to the Intergalactic University in your sector. Where did you go to school? Perhaps if you had listened more and flirted less, you would have learned about other people instead of just yourself." she taunted.

"I went to school in New New York. I didn't really attend the University though; I dropped out and was recruited by the I.P.F." Lieutenant Baine replied, hoping she didn't get the wrong impression.

She did.

"Ohhh, N.N.Y, huh? Excuse me, poor little rich boy! I didn't know you were a Yorkie." Valesque scoffed. She had been to New New York a few times. It was a large city built above the ruins of what had been Old New York.

The new city was very upscale, shiny and elite. Encased in a dome with its own oxygen environment, the only way in or out was by way of ramps that ran down each side, past the hoverport and into the remains of the old city. The entire planet had become this way; the larger more affluent cities were rebuilt on hovering platforms and encased in environmental bubbles with the older ruins lying underneath. Only the rich and affluent citizens could live in the new cities, the rest of the declining population had to live on the planet's surface, ravaged by radiation, heat and desolation.

The lucky ones could find work as maintenance personnel for the new city and therefore enjoy the ruins of the old cities, shaded from the sun by the new cities above them. The less fortunate vied for jobs in the energy farms.

Which were large fields of solar panels placed out in the barren wilderness beyond the glistening city's shadow. These farms supplied the power needed to run the huge new metropolises. The remaining class was left to the wastelands, the sun and wind ravaged areas beyond the solar farms.

All in all the Earth was no longer a wonderful place to live and not even a safe one to visit, unless you enjoyed radiation burns.

“I wouldn't exactly say I was a 'Yorkie'." Tim defended, but sure she wouldn't listen, she already had her back up about being Virrilian. "Maybe we should get off this subject, Beautiful." he advised, a little upset.

Tim had been raised the only child of two elderly solar farmers in Old New York. He was shown interest by a friend of his parents, General Gorbok, who had him sent to a posh NNY school. But, of course the kids in NNY looked down on him and his solar farming parents and would not include him in their groups.

He ended up developing a rebellious, devil-may-care attitude and drove a souped up hoverbike he had rebuilt from a ruin in ONY.

His dangerous reputation with fast machines and his carefree attitude towards authority made him a popular attraction to the girls but even more of a nuisance to the other guys. Now that he was out of there he always hated when people started talking about his past.

Because one way or the other they always ended up prejudice, either because of his posh schooling background or because of his solar farming family life.

"Fine by me." Valesque shrugged a bit embarrassed by his flustered look. She had lost her temper again and she was not too happy about it.

“How about we start over?" Tim said, suddenly friendly again and determined to get on her good side, "I am Timothy Baine, Pilot and Earthian."

Valesque smiled smugly. "And I am the Virrilian idiot who designed this ship."

Now it was the Lieutenant’s turn to be embarrassed. “Oh, did I say that?” he fumbled, his calm, cool charm eluding him. “I meant to say, `who ever could have been the brilliant, beautiful genius behind those flight controls. They are just pure heaven!'” he gave her a brilliant, semi-sheepish smile. “I’m not getting out of it am I?”

Valesque gave him a bold, unaffected look. “The flight panels are perfect, if you know how to use them. Don’t worry about it, Yorkie.” she assured him as she casually handed the young dumbfounded Ensign the key card she had made.

“Oh, thank you, most benevolent, most irresistibly desirous among women!” Tim exclaimed, about to grab her hands and acting like he would fall to his knees.

“Oh, cut it out.” Valesque retorted, sure he was teasing her, and hating to be played with.

“Welcome to my quarters, Lieutenant!” Sanic exclaimed happily, as the key-card signaled the door to open.

Lieutenant Baine turned from Valesque and peered into the room. “Wow, you’re quite a messy little camper aren’t you?” he exclaimed upon viewing the interior.

Sanic, baffled by his remark, moved beside him to view the room himself. “What the? Am I missing something here?”

“Not that I can see.” Tim returned playfully, “There is a bed, over there against that wall, under what I suppose is the carpet, and over there I can sort of make out a pile of what I assume are counter tops and drawers? Looks like just about everything to me.”

Valesque peered over Sanic’s shoulder trying to ascertain the condition of the room.

Tim put an arm around her and led her to a better viewing area, directly in front of him.

He pretended to ignore her attempts to push away from his embrace as he stood there quite casually, with his arm about her waist, surveying the wreckage.

Valesque had seen flirts before but this one took the cake.

“I tried to tell you, this room isn’t finished yet.” Valesque explained, accidentally slicing the Lieutenant's hand with her three-day nail growth as she tried to pry herself free of his hold. “We have only completed Delta Decks one through two and half of deck three."

"Yeow!" Tim yelped, sucking on his injured hand, sure she had hit a major artery with her claws. She did not play nice.

“Well,” Sanic murmured, trying to look at the bright side, “at least I have my own room.”

"Actually, I was surprised they even assigned you here at all, since Delta Decks are for Scientist housing. Crew housing is several decks above us on Beta Decks one through three. I guess whoever assigned the quarters did not have a ship layout map to work from." she informed him reluctantly.

Tim looked down at Valesque as she looked over at Sanic in concern.

“Aw, come on, now. Look, Sanic, you can stay with me in my quarters until we can get this place straightened up. I have a big place, with running water and working lights, it would be no problem. It could fit two nicely.” he added almost suggestively, as he met Valesque’s gaze.

The Engineer gave him a sour look before turning to see what state of completeness everything was really in.

“That’s nice of you, Lieutenant.” Sanic replied. “But you know as well as I do that there are Military rules about upper and lower crew members socializing together. And Fairbanks isn’t the sort of Captain that would let something like that slide by. No, I had better just stay here, it won’t be that bad. And there are always the showers by the gel-pool on the Rec. Deck.”

“Speaking of the Rec. Deck.” Tim interrupted, “I was just coming down here to see if you wanted to join me in a Holo-room. You too, Beautiful.” he added to Valesque.

“Actually we were just about to go down to the Med-room.” Sanic told him, “But maybe we could all go down there and then come back up to the Holo-rooms?” he suggested, looking over at Valesque for her approval.

Valesque meanwhile had gone over to the in-room computer interface and was messing with a few wires, checking the connection, when a sudden jolt hit her and the terminal activated for a fraction of a second. Valesque dropped the power cable she was holding and turned slowly towards the very alarmed men as they came rushing towards her.

“I think I still have a bit of a charge left.” she muttered groggily.

Tim looked over at Sanic in utter amazement. “The Med-room it is. Besides, I think I need to get this cauterized." he continued pitifully as he examined the slash in his right hand.

"Perhaps you should learn to keep your hands to yourself." Valesque remarked, feeling no pity as Sanic tried to figure out how the Lieutenant had gotten such a nasty cut in his room.

The Lieutenant was in fact bleeding quite steadily from the gash she had made. The cuff of his long sleeved flight suit beginning to get soaked through, as he tried to keep the blood from dripping on the new flooring.

Valesque did not have anything to give him as a temporary bandage, besides she didn't want him thinking she was the least bit concerned. After all, that is what you get for messing with a Virrilian, and this was exactly the reason she kept her nails filed.

Well, that and she did not want everyone knowing she was Virrilian right off. With the war going on Virrilian was not the safest thing to be, and especially a Virrilian named Valesque Rhaugh.

Captain Fairbanks paced her Observation Room restlessly. Nothing was going as smoothly as she had hoped. Her 'Ace Pilot' could barely manage his controls, the Ensign assigned the Operations Command post seemed to have nothing to do. Half the flight control crew seemed to have no idea what they were there for. The ship had so far taken three days just to clear the Milky Way. If it kept up this pace the war would be over before they got there.

She had ordered her engineering team to fix the problems but they just kept saying how everything was 'unfinished' or they did not understand the design.

She knew the General would never have sent her out in an unfit ship; it had to be that darned Virrilian.

After all, she had sworn she would sabotage their mission. The Captain had tried the shipboard locators but had not picked up the Virrilian Ensign's communication signal anywhere; perhaps she had made it off the ship after all, after disabling all their defenses and crippling the engines.

"Arrgh." Captain Fairbanks moaned in frustration as she slammed her fist into the wall. A small metallic clink followed this action and she turned quickly towards the sound to see a small, thin, rectangular object on the floor under the ship's name display. She walked over to it and reached down to pick it up.

It read 'I.P.A Vortex', the back of the name plaque was slightly sticky against her fingers. She looked at the place where it had been and narrowed her eyes.

The Captain peered at the sign, her lips pressing together into a tight, thin line as she positioned the fallen plaque over the sticky residue on the wall and pressed it into place, covering back over the lettering underneath it.

"Computer, locate any Virrilian life signs on board and notify Second Officer Fazar I wish to see him in my Observation Room." she called out, after a moment’s consideration.

This was not going well at all.

When Valesque and the others entered the Med-room, it was empty. The beds and medical equipment were all there but no patients or medical staff could be seen anywhere.

"Is this room ever staffed by anyone?" Tim asked after looking around the now familiar emptiness. "I have been up here several times recently looking for....uh, someone, and I have never found anyone in here." he remarked, trying to avoid admitting he had been searching for the beautiful Virrilian, thinking it might make him look desperate.

Valesque looked a bit puzzled as she pushed the medical call button just inside the Med-room doorway, "Lola? Are you in here? Lola?" she called, gazing around the room, looking for signs of life.

"Lola?" Tim repeated to himself, eyebrows raised in interest, with an expression that reminded Valesque of a cat eager to pounce.

Valesque rolled her eyes at his obvious anxiousness to meet any new female and walked further into the room. She was sure Lola was here; she never left the ship and seldom ever left the Med-room.

A door on the far-right side of the room slid open and revealed a young woman clinging to the doorframe as if she was about to fall over.

The two men were not far enough into the room to get a look at her, all they could see from their angle was a small hand on the doorway and a glimpse of her pale blue uniform.

Valesque who was further into the Med-room could see her clearly.

"Lola!" she exclaimed on seeing her. "What's wrong? You don't look very good."

"I don't feel very good." the girl replied in a cute sounding voice but with a strange grimace on her face. "I have been feeling a little dizzy, it is worse when I stand up, so I have been lying down. I keep feeling like I am going to fall." she said worrisomely as she moved slightly to tighten her hold on the doorframe.

Tim, always eager to help a lady, and especially such a cute sounding one, moved forward as if to go to her aid.

Valesque noticed his movement out of the corner of her eye and put her hand out for him to stop. "It's okay." Valesque said, speaking to all in the room but mostly to Lieutenant Baine. "She is just not used to space travel. This is her first time on a Space Ship."

"Space travel?" Lola squeaked, "You mean we are not in the airlock anymore? I was not told the ship had been completed and we were launching. How long have I been in here?"

"We launched three days ago, although the ship is still not complete." Valesque replied a little bitterly.

"Oh," Lola sighed with a very disappointed look on her face, "I had so wanted to watch the launch too."

"Well, it was a bit sudden. I am afraid you are not the only one who missed seeing her maiden launch." Valesque explained, rubbing her head as she remembered how she had missed it by being unconscious in a life pod.

"But, you are okay, Lola. You are not sick. You just have to adjust to the movement of the ship and then you will be just fine."

"Oh, is that all it is?" Lola asked brightening at the thought. "I had never felt so strange before in all my life, I thought something was seriously wrong with me." Lola said happily, as she released her hold on the doorframe and stepped boldly into the main room.

She stumbled a bit as she walked and Tim rushed to catch her.

Lola felt the Lieutenant's strong arm encircle her and help her regain her balance. She turned her head back towards him and gave him a sweet smile after she regained her footing.

Tim had been surprised at Valesque who usually seemed so prickly being so patient and kind to Lola, but now that he saw her, he could not wonder at anyone being kind to such a beautiful creature.

The young woman was perfectly formed and gorgeous. She was small and slender with a perfect, healthy pink complexion; round, bright green eyes and soft, lustrous hair that was candy pink on one side and sky blue on the other.

Her hair was cut short to her chin on the pink side, with the blue side being slightly longer and ending in a downward slant.

"What’s a gorgeous girl like you doing in a place like this?" Tim asked in his usual flirty way as he gave her his patented smile.

Lola giggled girlishly, her green eyes twinkling with delight. She was still very young and naive and loved to be admired.

"Was it you that pressed the medical call button?" Lola asked him with a cute, tempting smile and flirtatious flutter of lashes.

"No, that was me." Valesque interrupted, quickly tiring of the nauseous scene. I have an electrical charge I need to get rid of. He just has a little scratch on his hand."

Lola breathed, wide eyed at the thought as she turned her attention from the Lieutenant to the medical task at hand. "And how did you get this electrical charge?" Lola asked professionally, as she suddenly turned from young flirtatious girl to serious medical worker.

"She was hit by a taser." Sanic replied before Valesque.

"A taser?" Tim asked, confused as he remembered the bright jolt he had seen from Valesque earlier.

"Set to kill." Sanic added eagerly.

"Kill? How could she have possibly survived an electrical shock of that magnitude?" Tim returned unbelievingly.

"She's a Virrilian." Sanic replied simply and almost proudly. "They had to use the top setting to knock her out. She was out for three days!"

Tim looked to Lola for help. "He is kidding right?" he asked her.

Lola just shrugged. "I haven't gotten up to the 'V's' yet in the intergalactic encyclopedia. But it is possible."

Tim glanced from Lola to Valesque, who's naturally pale complexion looked deathly white beside Lola's healthy pink tone. "You do look awfully pale." Tim observed in concern.

Valesque sighed irritably as she got up on an exam table to prepare for her treatment. "I am a Virrilian." she said, suppressing the urge to call him an idiot. "I'm always this pale."

Lola came forward and slid small metallic cuffs on each of Valesque's fingers. Each cuff had a different colored wire, and all the wires combined to form a cable that was plugged into the exam table.

She then reached up, lowered the exam table’s arm over Valesque’s body, and set the arm to perform the various treatments she deemed necessary for the taser blast. "This will discharge the electrical build up and rebalance all your system functions." Lola explained with a comforting smile.

"Now, let's see about your hand." Lola said turning towards the Lieutenant and taking his hand as she led him to another exam table across the aisle. "My goodness, how ever did you get such a nasty, deep cut?" Lola exclaimed, reverting to being flirtatious as she cared for her handsome patient.

"This ship is just full of untold dangers." Tim replied with a knowing backward glance at the reclining Valesque.

Sanic watched for a while as the Lieutenant and Lola flirted across the way.

"It is amazing.” the Ensign began leaning in close to Valesque, so as not to be overheard by the other two. "Absolutely amazing. Is that your work?" he asked, his dark, spiky, blonde-tipped hair almost touching hers.

Valesque who had been resting comfortably as she underwent her procedures opened her eyes slightly and looked at the Ensign who was still staring across the aisle at the flirtatious two.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, utterly confused.

"Lola." Sanic said excitedly as he turned to look at Valesque. "She is amazing, did you design her too?"

Valesque looked a bit uncomfortable as she glanced quickly over to where Lola and the Lieutenant were talking and giggling as Lola fixed the cut in the Pilot's hand.

"How did you know about Lola?" Valesque finally whispered, obviously upset about the subject.

"Well," Sanic began nervously, noting her intent and a bit unfriendly stare. "I...uhh. I am a scientist too, you see. I like to build things and to make electronic gadgets. Like these.." he said as he reached down and took two small discs off the bottom of his shoes. "I made these. " he continued, showing her the small, metallic circles. "They are anti-gravity discs. You can put them on your shoes and you can move without having to walk or climb."

"Hmm...very interesting. I was wondering what you were using. Don't let the Captain see you with those though. I doubt she would approve, she would probably find something in her rule book about requiring movement that involved exercise."

"Oh, I get plenty of exercise with these, believe me!" Sanic laughed, "They are extremely sensitive, it takes a lot of concentration and effort to get them to move the way you want. They are controlled by body balance and just a little too much pressure in one direction and you can go flying off out of control. I should know, it took me a while to get used to them."

"Mmmm..." the Engineer muttered trying to see what this had to do with anything, "but that still doesn't explain why you were asking about Lola."

"Well, being used to making mechanical things, I guess I just have an eye, or actually an ear for them. I have slightly more sensitive hearing than most people do when it comes to electronics, and when I got near Lola I heard that distinct high-pitched sound all electronic things put out. Not that it is very noticeable." he added quickly afraid of offending her. "She seems to be very well insulated."

Valesque sighed as she laid her head back on the exam table and stared up at the ceiling as she thought of an appropriate response.

Sanic watched her in nervous concern, he got the feeling she did not appreciate him finding out that Lola was an android.

"She isn't mine." Valesque finally said softly, so only Sanic could hear. She looked back over to where Lola was still flirting with the Lieutenant to be sure they wouldn’t be overheard. "She was created by a couple. Doctors Larea and Neegal Triumdic. They are both scientists. She is in biomechanics and he is in microbiology. She doesn't know... I mean Lola knows she is mechanical, that she is an electronic being, but she does not know that is something different.

That she is any different from a so-called "normal" life form. So, just don't...don't treat her like she isn't a real person, just because she is mechanical, okay. She really wouldn't understand and it would upset and confuse her."

"Okay. I mean, no, of course I wouldn't. She is just amazing." Sanic stumbled out as reassuringly as he could. "So... real and lifelike."

Valesque scowled at him as if he just insulted her child. "She is real, she is a person and she is alive." she said sternly. "Just be sure you remember that in your admiration of her.”

"I understand." the Ensign assured her hurriedly, hating the idea he might loose Valesque's trust and good opinion. "I wont treat her any differently than I would anyone else of another species that fascinates me." he smiled.

Valesque looked back over to where Lola was giggling and sighed again. "She is very young and naive still. She has been in creation for over a decade but she has only been active in that body for about a month. Although, she does not know that.

She has implanted memories of an entire childhood growing up, just as any other being would have. She has memories of a past and a home and of her parents; Larea and Neegal. They knew it would be easier for her to interact with others if she could reflect back on 'past experiences' and relate to others more intimately by having childhood memories to share with them. That way she will never feel any real difference in herself compared to anyone else." Valesque explained.

"Oh, no!" Lola suddenly exclaimed, putting a hand to her face in alarm.

Valesque and Sanic looked quickly over to her to see what the problem was, hoping she had not been upset by something she had overheard.

Lola turned to Valesque with wide, worried eyes. "Oh, no." she repeated, this time addressing Valesque as she walked quickly back over to the side of her exam table. "The Lieutenant and I were just discussing our home worlds and our families when I suddenly remembered. My parents!" Lola exclaimed. "I haven't seen or heard from them in over three days. They may not even know where I am. They will be so worried!" she cried in her cute innocent way.

Valesque sat up, pushing the medical exam arm out of the way. It had stopped humming and showed all green lights on the front panel so she assumed it was done with its programmed treatments and she could get up. Lola helped her remove the metal cuffs from her fingers as she looked intently at the Engineer for guidance.

"It's alright, Lola." Valesque said calmly and with a slight reassuring smile. "Your parents probably weren't informed of your departure and they are probably wondering where you are, but we can contact them from the ship. The main off-ship communications aren't working, but I think I can rig up a relay that will get a message to them for you."

"Really?" Lola squeaked excited. "I can send my parents a message that I am okay, and about my new friends?" she asked, glancing back coyly at the Lieutenant.

"Sure." Valesque replied obligingly. "You can tell them whatever you like. We just need to go to the main medical console and set up the signal. Do they know about your latest look?" she asked.

Lola had the ability to alter her appearance by changing, among other things, her hair, eye and skin color.

Lola patted her candy-pink hair satisfactorily. "No, not yet. I think I have decided I like this appearance best, I am going to keep it. Don't you just love it?" she asked Valesque, her eyes sparkling with glee.

"Yeah, it's...uhhhmm…" Valesque looked her over as she searched for the right word, taking in her bright pink and blue hair, green eyes, fresh pink complexion and silvery blue uniform, "it is very...colorful."

As Valesque and Lola left the patient treatment area of the Med-room to access the main computer terminal on the lab side, Sanic went over to chat with Tim who was still sitting idly on the edge of his exam table flexing his treated hand.

The Med-room was a very large rectangular area that was used for initial exams and minor injury treatment. More severe injuries or long-term care was provided in other rooms on the medical deck.

The Med-room had a large open doorway onto the corridor; just inside the doorway was a medical call button to summon medical help if no one was in the room at the time. From the doorway, looking to your left you could see three aisles, each aisle having a row of three exam tables.

The tables were spaced wide apart allowing plenty of room for medical personnel to get around them and access each bed's medical controls. The medical controls were located in the large arm that hung over the head of the bed and could be pulled down and positioned over the patient, as well as in a standing tower console that housed all kinds of medical devices, including the finger cuffs Lola had used earlier on Valesque.

Behind the rows of beds was a giant window that showed a panoramic view of space.

Tim and Sanic were sitting on the first exam table in the last aisle, just in front of the large window.

Across the room on the right side was a large table console for the medical teams to use for research and patient records.

The door Lola had entered from earlier was beside this console. The door led into a smaller room that was meant to be used as a Doctor's break-room, it contained a desk with a computer terminal, a bed and a food duplicator. The main access panels to the medical computer core were also located in this room.

In the main Med-room to the right of the main doorway from the corridor was a large 'L' shaped counter area with all kinds of beakers, glass slides, digital microscopes and other lab materials. There was also an island counter that housed the sink and decontamination devices.

Built into the large 'L' shaped lab counter was the main medical computer terminal where Lola was waiting as Valesque worked to set up a way for her to send a message to her parents.

As Valesque tinkered with her hand held computer that was always at her hip, faint voices and sounds riddled with static were occasionally heard.

"I am looking for a sub-space signal that I might be able to send your message on. The people who receive the signal will have to relay the message on to Saturna 3." Valesque explained as she continued her sub-space frequency scan.

“This one should work." she said, finally deciding on a certain signal. "It is a sub-space music signal. Someone who receives this program should be able to forward the message for us."

Valesque now reached forward and attached her Vid-screen mini-computer to the main medical console in order to boost the signal and hopefully get the message out clearly. Now all that was left to do was to record the message, pirate the signal long enough to send it out and then hope someone listening will be nice enough to relay it.

"I sure hope this is a program signal a lot of people actually listen to." the Engineer remarked as she finished her calibrating. "Ok.. now we start the recording, get ready." she told Lola as she pressed the console's voice log recording button.

"This is a personal sub-space message for the Tech-Labs on Saturna 3. Our ship's communications are non-functioning, please record and relay this message as follows. Repeat: Our ship's communications are non-functioning, please record and relay this message as follows: To Doctors Triumdic of Tech-labs on Saturna 3. This is a message from Scientific Engineer Valesque on the Magellan, your daughter is safe and with me. Her message is as follows." Valesque concluded, nodding to Lola for her to begin, before walking away to give her some privacy.

The Doctors would know not to worry about Lola when they heard she was with Valesque, so whatever Lola added at the end was just for her own piece of mind. This was the first time she would be this far away from her family.

Valesque put her hand to her head as she waited for Lola to finish her message. She had started to feel a little strange when she had first entered the Med-room, a little light headed with a dull throbbing in her inner ears. She had assumed it was a taser residual effect, but she still had it even after her treatment.

The Engineer glanced back over to Lola and saw her still chattering away, she was definitely going to have to edit the message if they wanted anyone to bother forwarding it.

Valesque took the time to look around the still room, noticing as she did so that her ears throbbed more when she looked in the direction of the break-room than when her head was turned anywhere else.

The young Engineer's brow furrowed as she curiously walked towards the break-room door.

She looked back around at the others in the room but no one else seemed to be having any problems. They all seemed at ease and as if they didn't notice anything unusual.

Perhaps something was out of alignment in the systems and it was at such a low frequency only she could sense it.

Valesque pressed the room access button on the side of the break-room's door frame. As the door slid open, a very low pitched drone flowed over her from inside the room.

She went over to the computer terminal on the desk, to the right of the doorway.

Valesque glanced over the terminal's screen as it glowed in the semi darkness, it was displaying a section of the Intergalactic Medical Encyclopedia, apparently Lola had gotten up to volume 'K'.

She sensed the noise was not emanating from this direction.

She reached out and touched the room's light activating panel, sliding her fingers all the way to the top, making the lights shine their brightest and then back down to the bottom, turning the lights completely off before moving the sensors back to the middle setting. The sound was not caused by a malfunction in the lighting.

Valesque turned around and looked over at the food-duplicating unit, but it was not yet active.

Finally, she moved towards the last possibility in the room, the electrical access panel. As she approached the smooth, pale green wall, the throbbing in her ears became stronger.

She pressed the panel release button and a small section in the wall popped out and then slowly rose up out of the way.

As soon as the panel opened, Valesque felt an increase in the low frequency pulse's intensity. Whatever it was, it was in here.

As the access panel moved out of the way and the overhead lighting illuminated the interior of the opening, Valesque gasped in horror!

Amid the silvery wires and multi-colored cables sat a black, metallic, titan spider of a device. Valesque was too shocked to do anything but stare for a moment, taking in the many 'legs' of wiring fanning out from the central device and intersecting every major circuit of the ship.

The alarmed Engineer suddenly sprang forward and swiftly closed the panel as if she feared the spider-like device would jump out and consume her. She turned her back to the panel and leaned heavily against it, keeping it closed as she stared ahead in wide-eyed shock.

"Oh, no." she groaned, trying to come to grips with what she had just seen.

As if things were not bad enough already, and now this! She had hoped she would never see that thing again; that she could forget about ever having created it, but now here it was, on her own ship.

The Space Tripper had returned.

Chapter Four: Suspicions

Apparently, whoever had put the Space Tripper there had wanted to be sure she found it, because she had not created it to be audibly detected. Someone had purposely adjusted its frequency to resonate a tone that only a Virrilian could detect.

They wanted her to find it.

This was very bad.

But at least the device was not yet active, it still appeared to be in its passive mode, but that could change at any moment depending on what trigger it was set for.

Valesque held her hand to her chest, trying to slow down her pounding heart, as she turned over in her mind all the difficulties this new obstacle would bring.

Someone had purposely attached her horrible device to this ship, she did not have time to contemplate on who it had been, the more pressing thing was what to do about it.

If she told the Captain, the woman would be certain to figure out who she was and that it was her device.

The Captain already did not trust her.

A Virrilian on board, who has already angrily confronted her once, and threatened her, Valesque remembered painfully.

The ship was supposed to be going to aid the Earthians in the war against the Virrilians, so no doubt they would think she was a saboteur, especially since it was her device and nobody else knew how to operate it.

At least she had thought so until a moment ago, but obviously, someone knew enough about it to connect it to every major artery in the ship.

The medical electrical panel would have been the best location for it. The medical room had to have access to all the energy and computer sources on the ship, including any back up power supplies.

That is what the Space Tripper fed on; it sucked all the power from the ship once it became active, effectively shutting down everything, including life support systems.

If she didn't tell the Captain, she could possibly escape, she would take Lola with her of course...and maybe Sanic.... and possibly the Yorkie she supposed... but, everyone else on board might be killed. No, she could not do that.

Then of course there was the problem with it being discovered that her device had destroyed them all and she had escaped before it happened and how would that look to the Universal Council.

Valesque groaned at her dilemma. Someone had sure made things difficult for her. She is doomed if she does and doomed if she doesn't.

Well, it had been an interesting life, might as well go out fighting, she thought as she reached the inevitable conclusion.

She was going to have to try to deactivate it.

However, that was a risky idea. One false move and you either kill yourself with a massive power surge and activate the tripper's system, or you live and activate the system anyway.

It was a very sensitive device, one bad move and they could all be sent who knows where as the power drained and all be killed when the life support fails.

Anything could set it off if you tried to tamper with it, but she had no choice because it was on an activation switch somewhere and could go off at any second.

Time was not a luxury she could afford.

She had to figure out how to remove the Space Tripper before it became active and she had to do it fast. First thing she needed were some supplies from one of the engineering or construction areas.

She pushed herself off the wall and headed towards the door to the main Med-room. She was not going to tell anybody about this; it would only cause more problems and slow her down. If she hurried and got it deactivated, there would be no need to alarm anyone else.

And if it went off, well, it was going to happen anyway, whether they were told about it or not.

Valesque was so absorbed in her thoughts she almost ran right into the Lieutenant again as she exited the break-room. He looked as if he had been waiting for her as he stood by the door to the room with his arms folded across his chest, glaring coldly across the room to where Lola and Sanic were talking at the main medical terminal.

"She finished her recording." Tim said relaying the message rather dispassionately to Valesque as he moved slightly from his position on seeing her emerge from the room.

Valesque glanced up at him from her thoughts. Message, right, she thought, have to send the message back to Saturna 3.

Something struck her as odd when she looked at the Lieutenant again. He was not flirting and he was not smiling, actually, he seemed to be looking irritably across the room at Lola and Sanic.

"What is wrong with you?" Valesque asked, surprised at his changed disposition. "Is Sanic cutting in on your time?" she teased, supposing he was bitter about Sanic monopolizing Lola's attentions.

"No one gets in my way if I am interested." Tim replied almost too seriously. "I just don't go for artificial girls." he said with as close to a sneer as Valesque could imagine on his handsome face.

Valesque scowled at the conceited flyboy, as she looked him scornfully up and down. "She isn’t the one I would call artificial." Valesque countered.

Tim turned his head slightly and looked down at her with a half smile; he liked it when she got antagonistic. "Well, it was always said of me that I would go for any female, anywhere. But I do draw the line somewhere." he replied half amused.

"And so you draw the line at Lola." the peeved engineer concluded for him.

“That is interesting, considering how you seemed to be quite into her just a few minutes ago."

Tim smiled, recalling his natural response to a pretty female. "Well, that was before Sanic rambled on about how amazing he thought she was and I found out that she wasn't real."

"I think she is more real than you are, Yorkie." Valesque replied, glaring at him through angrily narrowed eyes. "So what you are saying is you liked her until you found out she was different from you? Sanic is Etherian and I am Virrilian, but you seem to tolerate us just fine. "

Tim smiled his half smile again, "That is different."

"I don't see it as any different." Valesque retorted hotly. "You decided against her after you found out what she was. You had spent enough time with her, flirting, to find out what she is like. That she is a real and a distinct person, just like you and I." Valesque paused for a moment as she considered the unfounded prejudice before her.

"We all come from somewhere, Mr. Baine. We all had a start from somewhere, someone created us. Whether we come from an egg, one parent, two parents, a test tube in a lab or from a workbench, we were all created. Being prejudice about someone just because of how they came into this world is just ignorant. What difference does it make where she comes from? Or what she is composed of? All that should really matter is what she is like." Valesque spouted.

She hated ignorant bigots, probably because she had come across so many herself.

Many people out there had no tolerance for Virrilians.

Tim, who found it uncomfortable to be serious for very long, let out a relenting chuckle. "You are probably right.” he conceded, though not at all changing his opinion on the matter, he was just tired of the conversation.

"But I think I would like to concentrate on carbon based life forms, if you don't mind." he continued, pushing the lock of blonde hair flirtatiously from his eyes as he turned towards the pretty Engineer with his sly, meaningful smile and a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes.

He looked down at the still angry woman before him, taking in how she was just about a head shorter than him, the perfect height. How cute her black, wavy hair was cropped to chin length, and the way it shined blue and red in the light. And how her pale skin accentuated all the pretty features of her face.

He still found her strikingly beautiful, even when her blood-red lips were curved into a scowl directed at him, and he was still determined to get on her good side.

"Lola aside," he added in a low meaningful voice, as he changed the subject from the disagreeable to a more agreeable one, “I think I would prefer to concentrate on one certain biological form, if that's okay with you." he smiled.

Valesque sighed, she was never going to get anywhere trying to talk sense to him. "Look." she sighed in forfeit. “Just don't tell anyone... what she is. If they find out on their own, fine. But it is unfair to her if people become prejudice against her before they even get to know her."

"That's fine." Tim agreed, his eyes locked on hers as he closed the distance between them, "I would much rather talk about you anyway."

"You really can't be serious for more than a minute can you, Yorkie?" she muttered, dodging his advance and walking quickly past him to where Lola and Sanic were waiting. She really had more important things to do than stand around here all day listening to his insincerity. She had a message to send, supplies to find and a ship to save.

"I helped her edit her message down." Sanic informed Valesque as she approached. He stepped back away from Lola as he said this, allowing room for Valesque to reach the computer console he and Lola had been standing at. "I was not sure how you wanted to send it though, so we waited for you to do that."

Valesque noticed that Tim did not follow her to where Lola and Sanic were, but instead stood apart from them, leaning casually with his arms crossed over his chest, staring blankly out the Med-room doorway.

Lola regarded his sudden aloofness with a puzzled expression, but did not seem too upset by it. Valesque had noted that nothing ever seemed to get Lola down, she was always as bubbly, open and completely naive as usual in any situation.

Valesque turned from observing the two and addressed the situation at hand.

"I was just going to use the ship as a relay and arrest the signal long enough to insert the message and send it off." the Virrilian engineer explained as she did her last calibrations and pushed the button to send the space-signal back on its way with her message embedded. As her finger released the send button, she heard a familiar, stern voice behind her.

"Miss Valesque." it said a little bitterly.

Valesque turned quickly towards the sound, alarmed.

The Captain stood in the Med-room doorway, arms folded across her chest with a grim expression on her face and Fazar standing calmly at her side.

A flood of thoughts raced through Valesque's mind at this sudden appearance. Had she detected the relay of the space signal?

No, Valesque thought, that was not possible with the sensors as they were.

Perhaps... Fear seized Valesque, her breath tightening in her chest as she glanced nervously over her shoulder towards the medical staff's break-room. Perhaps...she had found out about the Space Tripper, she thought slightly panicked.

"I see you have joined us after all." the Captain continued, unaware of any suspicious activities or devices. "I would appreciate it if you would wear your communicator so we can locate you more easily in the future." she said as she tossed Valesque a tiny electronic device she had been carrying, in case the Virrilian life sign had turned out to be the lost Engineer.

Valesque deftly caught the ship-com and looked it over disapprovingly, it was standard issue. She hated standard issue.

"Thank you. But I prefer to use my own." she replied, relieved she didn't appear to be in any trouble. She checked the frequency number on the communicator the Captain had thrown her and digging out her own ship-com from her lab coat's pocket, she set it to the same frequency before slipping the tiny device in her ear. "Mine has been newly modified."

Captain Fairbanks let out a slightly irritated sigh.

Everything this Virrilian did seemed to get on her nerves.

She had called Fazar to her observation room after she had discovered the original nameplate on the ship registry display, and had an enlightening conversation with him about the origins of the ship and the violent Virrilian. She had determined to try to get along with her, if it meant she could get better response from her ship in return. The Captain was hoping since Fazar had said the Virrilian had indeed designed and built the ship that she could get the engines and other non-functioning devices up and running before it was too late.

Time was precious, her husband was in need of reinforcements in the Corseccan war zone, and at the rate this ship was going they would never make it in time.

Captain Fairbanks reigned in her displeasure and tried another route.

"I understand from Fazar that you had a hand in designing this vessel, when it was known as the Magellan."

Valesque's face brightened, finally she was getting somewhere. She was about to make a reply when the Captain held up a hand to stop her.

"I am not here to discuss the origins of this ship, Miss Valesque." she said shortly. "Yours is not the first ship to be confiscated for the war effort I assure you. It still remains that this is now the I.P.A Vortex and it is a military battleship."

Valesque scowled in defeat.

"What I want from you," she continued with a glance at Fazar, "what I need from you, Miss Valesque, is your help."

Fazar nodded assuringly, she had worded it correctly.

He had told her in the observation room that the best way to get what she needed was to appease the Virrilian Engineer.

"There is saying on my planet," he had told her, " 'a person's friendship, worth more than their hatred.' Engineer Valesque worth more to you as friend in getting ship to work, than as enemy and try to force her. Virrilian have very hot head. You must make her idea to help. As they say, 'Tact can remove stinger, without getting stung.' ”

He had tried to make the Captain understand the best way to get what she wanted from Valesque was to approach her carefully and appeal to her concern for the ship. Even out of the war zone, the ship needed its scanners and defenses up in case they came across any hostile ships or other dangers.

However, he knew the Captain was bound to irritate her again. She had a habit of rubbing people the wrong way, so he had come along to help ensure her success by guiding her diplomacy.

Valesque looked at them both suspiciously.

Fairbanks breathed a small sigh of relief, it was working so far, the Engineer was not getting irate.

"I need you to show me the workings of the power core, and to determine what can be done to increase the output of the engines." she continued confidently.

The young Engineer thought about this for a moment. Increasing the speed of the ship was not a top priority. She had to get the supplies needed to disable the Space Tripper, and she did not have the time to waste on tours.

"Sorry Captain. I don't have the time for that right now. Maybe some other time." she replied as courteously as she could, ready to head out of the Med-room to attend to the real emergency at hand.

A dark expression fell over the Captain’s face.

Fazar noticing this tried to get her attention, to stop her before she said something antagonistic, but to no avail.

Captain Fairbanks ignored the warning looks from her Second in Command and with an angrily determined look on her face she began.

"As Captain of this vessel you will do as I ask, Ensign. You, as a Virrilian, may not care about our speed in getting to the Corseccan Galaxy, but as an Ensign Second Class on my vessel you will assist us in getting there as promptly as possible. Am I clear?"

Fazar shook his head in defeat; there was no diffusing the situation now. He was afraid the two hot-tempered women would never be more than very cool friends.

Sanic was shocked by what he had just heard. "Ensign?" he questioned aloud. He would never have thought the great Engineer was the same lowly classification as himself.

Tim took the news with his usual passiveness; her rank made no difference to him one way or another. However, Sanic was openly astonished.

Valesque overhead Sanic's startled remark and steamed.

The irritating Captain had done it again, calling her by the obnoxious military title.

She was having quite enough of this.

"I told you before, Captain. I am not, have not, and will never be one of your crew!" she spat indignantly. "So I would appreciate it if you would stop calling me that. I am 'Scientific Engineer Valesque', not some military flunky."

Captain Fairbanks sighed peevishly. She had never had so much trouble with one low class crewmember in her entire career.

She glanced over at Fazar and saw him hanging his head at the setback; she had been so close to getting the Virrilian's voluntary cooperation.

Fairbanks groaned, smoothing back her red hair.

It was already tightly pulled back from her face and twisted into a thick braid down her back, but it was a nervous habit of hers to smooth her hair back when she was irritated.

The Captain glanced for the first time at the other occupants of the room, looking for a less explosive topic.

"I see we have quite a little gathering here." she remarked. "My so-called 'Ace' pilot and my Ensign in charge of operations. What might you two be doing here?" she asked, suspiciously eyeing the two men and the two women who had been occupying the room.

"Uh, the Lieutenant had hurt his hand and I showed him the way up here." Sanic said quickly, grasping for the innocent answer.

Tim just gave the Captain a wry smile and flexed his mended hand in agreement with Sanic's story.

Fairbanks noticed the bloodstained sleeve on the Pilot’s uniform and gave them both a stern, tight-lipped look. "I would appreciate it, Lieutenant Baine, if you could take the time to figure out your controls before your next shift. See if your ‘extraordinary’ piloting skills can actually get this ship to do more than crawl.”

“And you, Ensign," she said looking directly at the uneasy lower officer, “since you seem to have no data to work from in overseeing the ship's functions, you will accompany us to the power and engine rooms and hopefully learn a few things. And who is this person?" she said at last turning to the girl with the candy-colored hair.

'"That is Lola. She is in charge of the Med-room." Valesque replied quickly.

The Captain looked at the girl with obvious disdain. It was apparent from her looks she was not military personnel.

"Unnecessary." she snapped. "There is no need for a person to man the Med-room. The standard issue M.M.U is perfectly sufficient. She shall be assigned elsewhere."

"But she doesn't know any other job besides medical technician." Valesque countered irritably.

"Then she will learn." the red-haired woman replied bluntly. "The mobile medical unit is all that is required in this room."

"The M.M.U is only functioning in an advisory capacity without the hologram on." Valesque tried to explain as the M.M.U was called over.

The mobile medical unit was a sleek, silvery orb that floated in the air and was very quick and agile for responding to emergencies. M.M.U's were standard issue on all space ships. It was considered a waste to put good Doctors out in remote space.

The M.M.U was equipped with an interactive hologram that could treat patients just as a regular Doctor could.

However, if the hologram was turned off the unit could not interact with a patient, it did not have the ability to touch, and was only useful as a medical advisor to whoever was attending to the patients.

Captain Fairbanks sighed, "Then turn it on. Standard issue is perfectly sufficient for my ship."

Valesque grimaced. "I....really don't think you want to do that." she warned.

The Captain blinked angrily at the obstinate Engineer. "Turn it on." she ordered tersely.

"Oooookay. " Valesque conceded. "But I don't think it's a good idea."

She reached over to the hovering M.M.U as it hung in the air before the Captain and flipped the visual mode switch to 'on'.

A beam came out of the unit and suddenly a large, purple beast appeared. It was over seven feet tall and had bumpy, blistering, purple flesh that covered all eight of its tentacle arms and slug-like body.

Its face was in the middle of its oozing torso and consisted mainly of a large gaping, drooling, mouth that showed hundreds of tiny, pointy, white teeth.

The Captain let out an involuntary scream and pressed a hand to her chest in alarm, "Shut it off!! " she cried almost instantly, "Shut it off!!"

Valesque stepped forward towards the M.M.U with a slight smirk and disengaged the visual projection. The others all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Even Tim who usually appeared unaffected looked a bit shaken.

"What was that monstrosity?" the Captain demanded as soon as she caught her breath.

"That? Oh, that was Doctor Melvin Moorobis. He is a very, very skilled physician. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but he is over one hundred years old. In appreciation for him letting us transfer his vast medical knowledge into our M.M.U we used his image as the hologram. I told you, you wouldn't like it. Although I hear he is quite a catch on his home planet." Valesque replied, quite pleased with herself.

Captain Fairbanks still held her hand to her chest as she recovered from the shock. Her red-hair looked even brighter against her now pale skin. "Does everything on this ship have to be unconventional? Everywhere I turn it is modified this and experimental that." she complained bitterly.

Valesque smiled, showing all four of her sharp Virrilian fangs. "Thank you. I am glad you noticed." She was rather proud of all the new inventions and custom modified gadgets they had put into the ship.

The Captain struggled to regain her composure. "The unit will operate in advisory, non-visual, mode until we can get the imaging redesigned." she said finally, eyeing the innocent looking M.M.U cautiously.

"The girl can go to the deck, we are in need of a crew member there as it is currently unmanned.” the Captain finished ungenerously, stubbornly sticking to the I.P.A medical room regulations.

Lola looked to Valesque with uncharacteristic worry and concern on her pretty face. Valesque gave her a reassuring nod, to say she would be safe there.

Keeping Lola away from the Captain would probably be a good idea. Seeing as Captain Fairbanks does not like unconventional things on her ship, she would certainly not appreciate finding out Lola was an android, and would try to deactivate her.

The hydroponics labs would be the perfect place; Lola would not have much responsibility there, could learn the job rather easily and would be completely out of the way.

As Valesque was pondering the benefits of Lola’s new assignment her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the Captain’s sharp address to her.

"Now, you might as well show me what horrors await me in the power core and engine rooms." Fairbanks ordered pessimistically as she turned to leave the Med-room with one last disparaging glance at the wide-eyed, pink and blue haired crewmember.

Valesque followed her out of the room, accompanied by Fazar and Sanic.

She could see no immediate way out of it.

The time it would take to argue it out with the Captain would probably be more than it would take to give her a quick lecture tour of the ship's core. Besides, she might find something down there she could use to dismantle the Space Tripper, since the area is still under construction.

It was a quiet trip down to the engine rooms.

Valesque was wrapped up in her thoughts over how best to approach the problem of the Space Tripper. The Captain was brooding over her dismal fate of being in charge of this increasingly unconventional ship and ragtag crew. Sanic was pondering over his chances now that he learned the Engineer’s rank was not superior to his.

And Fazar was busy mulling over new proverbs to use in situations like these, but so far he could think of no other circumstances like this one.

As the Hydro-lift doors hissed open revealing the main engineering deck, three of the group suddenly awoke from their thoughts and stared in awe of the scene before them.

The main engineering deck shined with stainless steel and polished crystal. The lights on the control panels sparkled off their highly polished metallic casings.

The crystal technical input panels shimmered in the lights from above and glowed with the colors of the information that was appearing on them. All around them was a show of lights, colors and shining newness.

The deck was laid out with rows of control centers against the exterior walls, and islands of flat paneled input screens and technician’s tables in the middle.

Off in the distance there was a large break in the deck that seemed to cut the deck in half. Inside the space was the visible part of a very large, round metallic ball that seemed to go up at least three more floors and encompass over eighty feet of deck space in width.

The sphere came up from an opening in the deck and continued on up through another opening in the ceiling. All around the perimeter of the sphere were shiny metal and glass railings with a single, bridge walkway spanning the fissure from the deck level to the portal on the side of the gigantic suspended orb.

This was the first ship they had seen with something like this as the core, and they were all momentarily dumbfounded at such an incomprehensible sight.

Valesque was not one of the three in amazement, she was still lost in her thoughts and working on some calculations on the Vid she had taken from her hip pouch.

She stepped out of the Hydro-lift onto Solar Deck 1 still lost in her own thoughts until she sensed the others were not following her.

She glanced back over her shoulder to see them still standing half way in the Hydro-lift, staring out in wonder at the massive, open deck space.

Good a place as any to start the tour , she thought as she turned back to them, putting her Vid-screen away in her hip pouch as she regarded their stunned expressions satisfactorily.

“This is Solar Deck 1. The main control center for engineering on this ship.” she began, breaking them out of their trances as they turned to look at her.

“As you can see there are many different control stations around this area, each having to do with different aspects of the ships power, weapons, shields and other control functions. You may have noticed the large sphere in the center of the deck.” Valesque continued with a little smirk. “That is the heart of the ship. We call it the Light Core, though some refer to it as the Star Chamber.”

“Is the ship’s power reactor beyond the ball?” the Captain questioned as she glanced up and down the deck looking for the familiar sight of a fusion reactor core.

“No.” Valesque replied slightly irritated by the anticlimax of the question. The Captain had missed the point and was completely unmoved by the device before her. “The Light Core IS power core for this ship. There is no fusion reactor or otherwise on this deck. All your power is coming from that ball.” the disappointed Engineer informed her a little briskly.

“There is no fusion reactor on this ship?” Captain Fairbanks asked unbelievingly.

The Captain then caught herself and shook her head in wonder at her naivety; of course there would be no fusion reactor on this ship… that would be too logical. The engine room would stay the course and have some drastically modified and completely ineffective new power source. How stupid of her to think otherwise.

She once again sighed at her bad fortune to be stuck with this ship, and wondered what kind of thing she could have done to make the General punish her like this, as she turned her attention back to the Engineer and the end of her explanation on the lack of a fusion reactor.

The young Engineer’s mood seemed a bit brighter as if she had been getting a very welcome reaction from the other two in the group, who seemed completely enraptured by her discourse as they glanced eagerly from their guide to the giant device like enthusiastic school kids on a field trip.

“….making it completely self sufficient and both physically and environmentally safe. There is no danger from the system if it ever goes down or becomes unstable.” Valesque finished, quite pleased with her explanation and how both Sanic and Fazar seemed to grasp the workings of the device and its practicality.

The Captain on the other hand seemed slightly bewildered and Valesque could just see a load of irrelevant questions about to assail her from that source.

She sighed, trying to calm her disappointment in the Military Officer as she turned to the Captain who had already initiated the onslaught.

“But, how does it work? If we do not have the standard issue, and perfectly satisfactory in my opinion, fusion reactor, how can we be sure of enough dependable power output? Obviously something is lacking if all it can give us is enough energy to move this ship at a crawl.”

Valesque blinked back her anger at the questioning of her power source’s dependability and design.

“The Light Core is quite capable of putting out more than enough power to not only move this ship at full speed, but also to provide ample energy to all decks including all scientific decks with their massive power drain when research is being done in all labs. I assure you Captain if you understood the application of the Light Core’s design you would not need to question its reliability or power production capabilities” Valesque replied a bit condescendingly as she led them all a little closer to the device in question. “As you can see, the shape of the core means there is no space left unused in its light absorption.”

“Light absorption?” Fairbanks echoed, completely lost. She had not been paying attention earlier when the Engineer had explained how the device replaced the fusion reactor and so she still had no idea what this huge ball was and how it was supposed to produce power.

The Engineer sighed as she stood in the middle of the aisle with one arm across her chest supporting her raised arm in whose hand she was hiding her face.

She did not have time for this.

They could all be on the brink of death and she had to re-explain the solar energy collection device to the dense Military Captain.

As Valesque was pondering how she could possibly explain it simply enough for the Captain to finally understand, Sanic eagerly broke in, looking very Etherian in his excitement.

“I can explain it!” Sanic volunteered, seeing Valesque hanging her head in her hand and looking rather disheartened. He had understood the entire concept as she had explained it and was very eager for the Captain to understand and appreciate the Virrilian’s impressive design as well.

“It is like the panels on a Solar Farm” he began, trying to keep it simple as if he were explaining it to a child. “Only it is like hundreds of solar farm absorption arrays combined and formed into a gigantic sphere. That way you see there are no missed spots in the light chamber, every inch of that huge ball is being used and is absorbing power.

It really is magnificent.

If you can calculate how much energy solar panels encompassing the area of, what is that… some 1,600 feet in circumference? That can produce an amazing amount of power output!” Sanic gushed, his dark grey eyes alight with enthusiasm and his cheeks flushed with excitement as he gazed up at the magnificent structure.

“How can a ball of solar panels absorb energy when it is in the middle of a ship? Are we always going to have to be near a star in order to maintain energy? Is that why this ship is traveling so slowly? It is between power sources?” the Captain questioned incredulously at the very idea of using solar panels to power a space ship.

“The light chamber does not feed off exterior light sources.” Valesque replied as if the Captain were a moron, as she lifted her head a little and glared at the dim-witted woman through a fringe of hair.

“As I explained earlier it is powered by a single high intensity laser. That laser is then refracted in a web like pattern over the entire interior of the ball. The solar panels are a new updated design and are extremely efficient in picking up every ray of light available. The panels are in a slightly hexagonal shape that allows them to be fitted snugly together to conform to the sloping surface. This also allows room for the tiny refracting mirrors that are precisely aligned to continue that one single high intensity laser beam all over the inside of the core, creating a complete web of light beams that encompasses the entire interior.

The laser is then heightened in strength by a super fine gas of readily available elements that when the laser is exposed to them the beam shines 100 times brighter. Thus producing a very cheap, readily available and very efficient power source.” the Virrilian engineer concluded proudly as she straightened back up and brushed her shimmering black hair from her face.

“So, you are saying that this entire ship can run off the power of one laser?” the Captain reviewed unbelievingly.

“Well, after it gets going, yes.” Valesque replied a little hesitantly.

“After it gets going?” the auburn haired Captain questioned suspiciously.

“Well..yes. When the system is first started or when it is restarted from empty it takes about three to four weeks to completely fill all of the energy containments. However, you can have life support and basic power needs up in about six days. Low engine power can also be provided after seven days. But it is best to let the system completely charge before using its power.”

“And….what level might we be running at now?” Fairbanks dreaded to ask.

“As the ship was still being built we had not bothered to completely charge the system as of yet. We had basic power running and we had taken her out for a little, low powered space run to test the hull integrity. But other than that it was only in about its second week of actual charge up.

We weren’t supposed to be on her maiden flight for at least another month.” the Engineer replied, excusing the present low energy supply. “I would say we are at about half capacity at the moment.”

“And so that is why we are running so slowly? The magnificent experimental power core is incapable of enough output to get us going for a month?” the irritated Captain surmised.

“No, not at all and I don’t think so.” the Engineer replied with a flash of anger in her eyes. “This ship is equipped with thousands of power storage containers. They are located on the deck above us, Solar Deck 2.” Valesque informed her as she waved her hand towards the location she was referring to.

“Each container is 10 feet high and 20 feet wide. If you consider there are about 100 containers across and 250 rows of them, that is about 25,000 power storage units. Even with only half of them full this ship has plenty of power to operate.

Especially when you consider all we are really running are lights, life support, food duplicators, some shields and engines. With the scanners, most of the shields, the entire weapons system and none of the labs being used at all there is plenty, a surfeit and a plethora of power available for what little this ship is running at the moment.” Valesque finished with an evil little smirk, knowing the reminder of all the things nonfunctional on the ship would aggravate the Captain even more.

“Perhaps there is not as much power as you had thought.” the Captain replied tersely. “With it all sealed up like that how can you tell if that light ball thing is even on? Do you have to go over that gangway and look in the door?” she inquired as she started to move towards the aforementioned walkway to investigate for herself.

Valesque stopped her before she could get too far.

“That wouldn’t be advisable.” she warned the other woman. “When the light chamber is active the laser light web mixed with the suspended elements can be extremely bright. Any, normal, humanoid exposed to such an extreme light source would be blinded even with their eyes closed, let alone the skin reaction to such intensity, you could be blistered in a second.” the Virrilian warned her. “Even I couldn’t take the intensity of the Light Core.” she finished ominously.

Sanic and Fazar who had been quiet and unobtrusive during most of the discourse both gasped in amazement at this announcement.

If not even the unbelievable sturdy Virrilian could take exposure to the Light Core, it must be very intense indeed.

Captain Fairbanks pursed her lips in annoyance as she eyed the two awe struck men disapprovingly.

Valesque saw she had gotten the Military woman’s attention and so went on.

“These panels over here…” she began as she indicated a large console located closest to the empty span of deck floor before the ball, “are where you monitor the Light Core’s operation. This panel indicates the capacity and the condition of all of the power storage containers above us.” she said indicating a large panel that was lit with progressive bar graphs and thousands of small indicator lights half of which appeared fully green, some others half green and the rest completely red.

“As you can see the power we have available is at this mark.” the Engineer went on as she ran her still-clawed finger over one of the bar graphs that appeared halfway up the chart. “And these smaller icons show each of the containers and how much energy is available in each one.” she continued, running her hand over the small green and red circles on the panel below the bar graphs.

The Engineer stepped in front of the next console to her right. “Over here we have the indication of how much of the gas suspension is present in the chamber and how much is left on hand.” she indicated a row of glowing and pulsing bars with climbing and descending numbers next to them.

“What happens when we run out of our supply?” Sanic who had been silent until now queried in his Operations Overseer’s concern.

“We just collect more. The elements we need are freely available throughout space.” Valesque returned happily.

“As you can see...” she said, directing her speech mostly to the Captain, “the Light Core is very economical to run. If any parts are needed they are all pretty universally carried, you can pick up mirrors, solar panels and laser beam projectors just about anywhere. And it is a safe system too, in that if it does become unstable or gets damaged it will not cause a fall out or meltdown.” she finished smugly with a secret condescending side glance at the Military Captain.

“But it takes a month to charge up and you can not view its operation externally.” the Captain rebutted, again smoothing back her tightly bound red hair.

The Virrilian’s happy glow turned dark.

“The operational condition of the chamber can be viewed at this console over here.” she retorted.

Showing the way to the opposite side of the aisle were a large number of read outs and one small screen showing a live camera feed were housed.

“As you can see we have a special, tiny, camera set up to view the interior operation of the Light Core. Here we can see the web of laser light beams and check for any abnormalities. As you can see from the screen, the interior of the ball is completely empty; there are no walkways or ladders, which would interfere with the bounce of the light beams and the absorption of the solar panels.”

“How can the core be maintained if there is no way to get around inside it?” Sanic asked again in his Operations Control mode.

“Bots.” she answered. “Cleaning Bots. Once a month or so the Core can be shut down for the Bots to go in, polish the panels, and remove any mineral buildup.

They are anti-gravity bots so they do not need to touch any of the surfaces, which could damage the sensitive panels and misalign the mirrors.

Which is another reason why regular personnel can’t enter the core, besides the fact that while it is running, like now, it is impossible for any humanoid life form to with…..stand……the…..intensity….” the Engineer’s voice trailed off uncertainly as she finished her statement and glanced at the live video feed from inside the Core, for she thought, she was almost sure, for a split second she saw a luminous figure move about inside the light field.

Valesque shook her head at the idea but stranger things had been happening lately, the nightmare just keeps getting worse.

She tried to obstruct the view of the screen by turning towards the others as she positioned herself in front of the console, hoping nobody else had caught the glimpse of movement she had detected.

“Uhhhh….. well, that is about it for the Light Core.” she announced trying to sound unconcerned and move the tour away from the screen.

The Captain looked perturbed. She stood before the Engineer with her arms crossed thoughtfully and one hand resting on her chin as she stared at the Engineer suspiciously. Valesque began to worry that she had seen something in the screen as well, until she finally spoke.

“So, if it is not the power source that is causing our slow down. Then, what is it?” she finally asked in an almost accusing tone.

“Well, it can’t be the power source.” the Engineer replied, grinning nervously. “Since there is absolutely, utterly and unequivocally nothing wrong with it.” she added as she made sure she was still covering the view of the screen.

“It might possibly have something to do with the engines themselves.” she suggested quickly.

“That would be over there, on the other side of the Light Core.” she continued as she gestured across the deck with no sign of intent to move from her spot.

“The engine, weapons and scanner controls are all over there.” she added enticingly, trying to lure them away from the area so she could move.

The Captain gave her a strange look as if to say she thought the Engineer was quite unstable and started across the open area of deck and around the huge sphere to the other half of Solar Deck 1. The other two slowly followed their leader in a slightly confused state.

As soon as they were out of sight, Valesque quickly turned around to examine the screen behind her. She stared at it intently examining every nuance of the image, but no matter how hard she looked, there was nothing abnormal in the Light Core.

I must have just imagined it, she thought, with everything else going wrong I am probably just over stressed and am seeing things. Or one of the mirrors could be slightly off alignment, I will have to look into that later, she mused, much later. Right now, she needed to concentrate on the main problem, the Space Tripper.

Valesque scanned the area for anything that might be of use in disassembling the device in question.

The crew they had to run these controls might not have any idea what they are doing, but they sure seemed to have cleaned things up very well.

There was not a piece of wire, a clamp, or anything else useful in the whole area.

With a resigned sigh, she pushed herself up off the stool before the Light Core monitoring panel and headed across the open area of deck to the side the others had gone to earlier.

They were probably wondering where she was and who knows what surprises they might find next, the Engineer thought with one last suspicious glance at the giant metallic ball as she passed.

This day just was not getting any better.

She caught sight of her tour group as she reached the second control section of the deck. They were all huddled together around one of the engine monitoring consoles, with two new additions.

Two thin, pink aliens with matching light red body suits stood nervously within the group around the controls. They seemed to be the ones in charge of the area as the Captain was trying to get answers out of them on the ship’s present lack of speed, but the two pink beings seemed to talk more to each other than to answer any questions the increasingly irritated Captain asked of them.

“Well, I see you finally decided to join us after all.” the Captain began tersely as she noticed the Virrilian approaching.

Her Second in Command, Fazar, winced a bit at her conversation starter with the headstrong Virrilian. At this rate they would never get on her good side.

Captain Fairbanks let out a long groaning sigh, revealing the level of her frustration as she began again, “These two seem to be the ones assigned to monitor the ship’s functions down here.” she explained quickly, trying to calm her nerves. “And, of course, they don’t seem to have any idea what is going on. Like 90 percent of the rest of the crew.” she muttered.

“They say this is the main engine console but they don’t know how to read it.” she concluded, looking to the newly arrived Engineer for any insights.

She hated to admit it but she was almost relieved to see the Engineer arrive, she may be obstinate, quick-tempered, stubborn and antagonistic, but at least she seemed to know what she was doing.

Valesque was a bit worried by the slight look of relief the Captain had at seeing her. She tried to shake off the uneasy feeling of being wanted by the Military Officer by looking down at the panels in question.

“You can monitor the engine’s functions from here.” she agreed to the others' assumption, keeping her distance from the almost welcoming Captain.

Valesque glanced over to the two red clad figures.

She had never seen them before, which meant they had not been a part of her building staff and therefore were not in any technical occupation.

She could only guess where they had rounded the poor souls up from; they probably had been running a little juice bar somewhere, or considering how they had apparently cleaned up the entire deck of any building materials, they could have been janitors on Saturna 3.

The pair seemed overjoyed at seeing her, as soon as they heard her say she knew what the panels were for their big black eyes got round with excitement and relief.

Finally, someone who knew what was going on; perhaps she also knew what they were doing here!

“Did you hear that, Brother?” one said eagerly to the other as they turned to each other and clasped hands excitedly.

“Oh, yes, Brother!” the other replied just as eagerly, “She knows what the panels say, doesn’t she, Brother?”

“Yes, Brother.” the first one replied, “She does seem to know what the panels say. Perhaps she knows the answer to that other thing we wanted to know as well.”

“What thing was that, Brother?” the second returned, seemingly confused.

The Captain put one hand up to her head and smoothed back her tightly bound hair once again. “Before we start that all over again.” she interrupted the apparently repeating conversation, feeling she would go mad if she had to endure the endless banter again. “Miss Valesque, would you please, be so kind as to tell us what these panels say about the engines?” she requested, looking as if she was trying to restrain herself from gagging the annoying twins.

The Virrilian Engineer shrugged. “Well, these horizontal bars over on the left side are power availability indicators.” she began, deciding to start with the simplest component.

“As you can see,” she continued, running a clawed finger along the length of the bars of light, “the lights are in the green, which means there is ample power to run the engines. If it was in the reds it would mean you had to use low-powered thrusters, no lights at all would mean no engine power was available.”

The Captain made a mental note of that, there was enough power to run the engines, so that still did not explain the problem.

Sanic also made a note of how the indicator functioned. No doubt, there was a similar power bar on his main operations command console on the Control Deck.

Valesque ran her hand down the lighted panels to another indicator. “This is a diagram of the engines; any parts in red would indicate a fault. As you can see engine function is all green. There is no functional problem with the engines at this time.”

Again that did not explain the problem.

“Over on the right we have the engine output controls. You can adjust the pulse intensity to determine your speed. A subtle pulse would move us slower and a stronger pulse would push us faster.” she explained carefully for the slow ones in her audience. “This bar graph indicator shows us to be set for a high strength pulse….. and over here ..is the output chart……that's strange.” she mumbled to herself as she pointed out the graphs to the others. Valesque quickly slid in front of the panel and started running both hands expertly across the controls, trying to figure out the problem she was seeing.

“What is it?” the Captain immediately asked, hoping for an explanation to her engine problems at last.

“Uhmm, I'm not sure yet.” the Engineer replied quickly as her hands flew swiftly over the board, her serious eyes darting quickly from one indicator to another. She had detected a problem with the output of the engines but she did not want to admit any difficulties to the Captain. Not that she was afraid or too proud to admit her engines were somehow at fault, she quickly reasoned to herself as she rechecked the controls.

Valesque hit a series of commands and suddenly a screen full of scrolling data sprang up before her. She scanned the information, looking for something in particular, as a series of diagrams flashed by indicating power flow, circuitry loops and energy levels.

The Virrilian Engineer just kept them scrolling by at an amazingly rapid rate, until finally seeming to find what she had been looking for.

Valesque groaned inwardly, just what she needed was another delay. She really had more pressing things to do, but if she wanted to get the Captain off her back so she could get on with her work she had better find a way to fix this as quickly as possible.

“So have you found the problem?” the eager Captain asked again as soon as the Engineer seemed to find what she had been searching for and began to move away from the control panels.

If she could get this engine problem fixed she might still have enough time to get to the Corseccan Galaxy and help her husband before it was too late.

“Uh, maybe.” was all the Virrilian replied, very noncommittally as she moved quickly from the area towards a section of bulkhead wall across the room behind them.

‘Maybe’ was better than ‘no’ the Captain thought as she contemplated the need to follow the Engineer across the room, but decided instead to just sit on one of the control section stools and wait for a progress report as she monitored the situation.

Sanic took Valesque’s place at the engine control panel to see if he could detect what had troubled her. He glanced over the controls she had mentioned last, looking for any discrepancies.

He saw that the engine control was set for a strong pulse thrust, but the output chart showed a much weaker pulse actually being emitted. The control specialist then glanced to where the scrolling information had been stopped.

There was nothing in the information on the screen that seemed to pertain to the problem at hand, Sanic reached out to scroll the data back a few more pages looking for what had finally caught the Engineer’s attention.

All he could see was a circuitry chart, but being unfamiliar with the intimate design of the ship, he could not see what that portion would have to do with the low engine output.

Valesque meanwhile had already removed the access panel to the circuitry she had found questionable in the diagrams.

She looked through the web of cables until she found the dark blue cabling the chart had indicated.

Scanning its length, she found herself staring up at a foreign piece of metal and an apparent addition of looped cables connecting here and there in the circuitry.

Valesque caught a glimpse of some deliberate scratches on the face of the metallic box. She stood on tiptoe to get a better look at the silvery piece in the middle of the cabling. ‘DRW’ it said.

Valesque lowered herself back on her heels. “DRW?” she pondered, what could that mean?

Suddenly her eyes opened wide as she came to an unhappy realization. “Dr. Warner!” she said aloud in alarm, and then quickly turned to look behind her to see if anyone had heard her.

The Captain was sitting quietly, smoothing back her hair as she watched Sanic explaining control functions to the babbling pink twins, while Fazar wandered about mindlessly examining the room and control components as if they were wondrous works of art.

Valesque sighed in relief as she turned back to examine the foreign couplings more carefully.

First, there was the Space Tripper in the Med-room with a tone set for just her Virrilian hearing to detect.

Then, there was the possibility he was one of the ones who had stunned her to make sure she was on the ship when it left, plus the possibility of some flux in the Light Core she had detected and now there was a feed back loop in the circuitry complete with an etching of his initials.

If Dr. Warner had done this, he apparently wanted to be sure she knew it was him. But why would he want to make sure she was on board?

How would he have gotten a hold of the Space Tripper, or know how to set it up?

And why did he mess with the engines and wiring?

Valesque contemplated the silver box and cables once more.

The engine controls showed the setting to be at a strong pulse, which would mean they should be going over ten times the speed they were now.

The output graphs showed the engines output to be quite lower then they were set for.

However, no one unfamiliar with the ship’s circuitry, anyone other than herself, could probably detect any faults in the system.

Therefore, they would not have found this jumble of cables leeching energy from the output of the engines. It was quite a good job of sabotage, because none of the other systems it bled into were producing any noticeable spikes and the leek was not easy to detect in the operational charts.

She studied the job again; why would someone want to hamstring the engines?

She considered the power flow, the energy leeched from the engines output would loop back into the system at various locations and eventually end up back in the power cells because the amount of energy was not used up in the circuit.

This means, the feedback loop was probably not just meant to cause the ship to delay. The delay was just a by-product of the real intent. The feedback of the energy coupled with the presence of the Space Tripper meant only one thing.

Whoever had set this up had not wanted the engines to use up too much power!

They wanted to conserve the energy so it could be used when the Space Tripper was activated!

This was bad, this was very bad.

No matter what you set the engines at they would only output the same paltry amount because the rest was being saved up for the space jump.

This means, if the feedback loop was connected to the Space Tripper and she attempted to undo the loop in order to give the Captain the power she wanted, the Space Tripper would be activated by the change and jump immediately before too much power was used up by the engines.

This was getting to be a very complicated and serious situation. There could be more than one trigger set up on the Space Tripper. It was now extremely imperative she find a way to disconnect it, if any existed, and fast.

Valesque reached down to retrieve the cover for the access panel.

As she bent over she heard a sudden low growl and placed her hand over her stomach.

It was then she remembered she had not eaten for the past three days.

Her high protein, Virrilian metabolism had gone into hibernation stage while she was unconscious and her body repaired from the electrical shock.

However, after Lola’s treatment, her metabolism had been rebalanced and now she was in desperate need of food. If she neglected it any longer she could go into an uncontrollable hunting mode until she had filled up on protein. And with a ship full of protein based crew mates, that was not a good thing to let happen.

Valesque resealed the circuitry in the sleek, metallic wall as she mentally made a new priority list.

First she needed to get food, and then figure out a way to disable the Space Tripper while delaying the Captain in getting the engines fixed.

She had to come up with a plausible story otherwise someone like Sanic, who seemed quite adept at technical things, might start snooping around and find the feedback loop and sort it out, causing her more problems.

Valesque took her Vid- screen out of her hip pouch again. The ship’s wall access panels had a pressure locking system to prevent unauthorized access; it just had never been implemented during construction. The Engineer quickly accessed the command for the ship’s panel lock down and initiated it, adding in an encrypted opening code only she could know. She clicked the 'Apply' button in the program and suddenly all the panels in the walls shifted and pressure sealed with a low hiss.

Lockdown was initiated, now no curious ‘helpers’ could inadvertently cause her more trouble by messing with the crippled circuitry.

If only she had done this before, she thought, but then it is a little difficult to have the cable panels on lockdown when you have teams working on them for installations.

The Captain rapidly started receiving urgent calls from all of her Department Commanders on the sudden and very unexpected hissing all over the ship.

Captain Fairbanks had one hand on her ear to shield out external noise as she listened to one after another of these calls, as she herself could only reply, “Yes, I know, we heard it down here too. I will find out what it was, I am sure it is a minor thing, no reason to panic.” she tried to assure the uneasy crewmembers. They were already on edge, not understanding anything on the ship, and now they unexpectedly hear strange hissing noises. Those cannot be good in space. Is the ship’s problem getting worse?

She looked up as the Virrilian Engineer returned.

“We just heard the sound of a lot of things abruptly shift and then a low hissing all over the ship. Do you know what that could have been?” she queried quickly, with more than a little concern.

Valesque reddened a little at the fuss she had caused. “Yes, when I finished with my inspection I just sealed all of the ship’s panels. They should have been locked down before we launched, but someone must have overlooked that.” she fumbled. “They are pressure sealed, so that was the hissing sound you all heard.” she finished still trying to think up a plausible story for the inevitable question she would surely ask next.

The Captain let out a slight sigh of relief as she smoothed back her hair and tapped the communicator in her right ear. “Crew broadcast.” she said, informing the inter-ship communication computer of her desired contacts. “To all personnel on the I.P.A Vortex,” she began, as her voice now came over everyone’s ear piece in the entire ship, including Valesque’s, “this is Captain Fairbanks speaking. The sudden hissing noise that was heard earlier was from the sealing of the wall access panels. All crewmembers are to return to their duties, there is no reason for alarm. That is all.”

When she had finished her announcement the Captain turned her red head once again towards the Virrilian Engineer. “In the future, inform me before you do anything that might cause general panic amongst the crew.”

“Have you fixed the problem with the Engines yet?” she then asked, not letting a second more slip by in finding the underlying cause of that problem.

“Uhhmm… not fixed it yet, no.” Valesque evaded, trying to formulate her convincing story of why the engines could not be fixed at the moment. Besides the explanation where the Space Tripper was involved.

“But you have figured out what the problem is right? Something to do with that control panel and the wiring in the wall over there?” the Captain prodded hopefully.

“Y-Yes.” the Engineer replied slowly, guarding her words. “I did find a slight…problem, with the, uhm, relay…between the control panel, the engines and the output.” she said vaguely.

Sanic looked a little intrigued by this but said nothing.

He had come up with some ideas of his own, from looking at the engine read outs and the information the Virrilian Engineer had been looking at, as to what the problem might be.

Sanic knew from their previous discussion that some things were wrong with the ship and the Captain needed to be made aware of them before they got involved in a war.

But if Valesque thought it best not to tell her, or not to fix the problem, he just had to trust her judgment on that. He knew she was not trying to get them all killed, she just wanted to save her ship.

“But, this problem can be fixed?” the Captain urged.

Valesque thought for a moment. “It can be fixed.” she finally said.

The Captain looked very relieved, until the Engineer continued. “But, it will take some time. If the problem is fixed too soon it will cause a…backlash in the other systems of the ship and could cause even more problems. You see, during construction, the output from the engines was... diverted, to prevent accidental overpowering during system testing.” she continued, almost believing her own story. It could happen.

“You mean they hamstrung the engines.” the Captain observed bluntly.

“Sort of, like that.” the Virrilian agreed, surprised she had actually caught on to something so quickly.

“So how long will it take you to undo this… bypass thing?” Captain Fairbanks asked her, hoping to be full speed to the Corseccan Galaxy right away.

“Well, it could take some time, I have a few things to do first and then I need to study the problem a little more. Releasing that energy too quickly or in the wrong way could permanently damage the engines, or the ship.” Valesque replied ominously.

“First things first, Ensign, I expect you to get to work right away on fixing this problem your team has caused.” the Captain returned curtly, not wanting anyone wasting time on other things besides getting this ship up to speed.

“No.” the Virrilian replied, trying to hold back her increasingly quick temper. “First I need to get something to eat.” she said, just as her stomach gave out another low growl. “I am getting very hungry, and believe me Captain; you wouldn’t like me when I am hungry.” she finished with a very menacing grin.

The Captain suddenly felt like she now knew what a deer in the crosshairs felt like as she unconsciously stepped back from the intimidating Virrilian. As she recalled, they had a very high protein metabolism, and therefore hunted and ate a lot of meat.

“Food first.” she quickly agreed. “In fact, I think we should all take a nice dinner break and then we can get back to work full force.” the agitated Captain continued as she smoothed back her hair and started to turn to leave the room.

“Ensign Sanic, I would then like you to finish instructing the twins here about the operation of their control panels, if that is at all possible.

In addition, when you are finished with that perhaps you can look into the inoperable state of the shields and weapons systems. And Miss Valesque,” she said addressing the Virrilian she was retreating from, trying not to say anything upsetting in her present condition, “we shall leave the engine problem in your hands. I expect you all to report to me with any progress by the end of the night shift. That is all, carry on.”

And with that she made a hasty departure as she headed towards the Hydro-lifts, her Second in Command in tow.

Sanic then turned to Valesque, as they too made their way to the other side of the deck to catch the Hydro-lifts.

“Well, thanks to you we have a dinner break. Where do you want to go?

Would you like to go up to the Star deck? I hear the menu programs in the food duplicators are really good, and the scenery from the windows up there is amazing.” he suggested, trying not to stumble on his words as he realized he was asking her to dinner.

Valesque’s mind was preoccupied, and stopping for dinner was not on her agenda.

“No thanks, Sanic. I can’t right now. I'll just get my usual from the duplicator in my lab. I have a few things I need to do before the Captain gets too insistent on those engines.”

“Oh, right.” the young Ensign muttered in disappointment. “Besides you know all about the duplicator’s menus and the view from the Star Deck already. You made them, right?” he said trying to sound more cheerful.

“It did turn out pretty well up there. It's one of my favorite places on the ship. Maybe, if I get some time later, I can give you the tour and show you some of it's more subtle features.” she suggested, seeing his forlorn look.

Sanic brightened at her suggesting they meet later. “Okay.” he said, his spirits high again. “I will look forward to your insider’s tour. Now I guess I better get something quick and get back to work down here. I think educating the twins might be a long and exhausting task!” he laughed as they reached their respective Hydro-lifts.

Sanic stood before the left lift doors and Valesque who was going down to her lab stood next to him at the right lift doors.

“Well, this is where we part. I really enjoyed the tour of the Solar Deck.” he commented quickly as both their doors opened. “You will have to tell me more about how you came up with some of the designs, especially the Light Core later.” he finished hurriedly giving Valesque a parting grin as they both stepped into their respective lifts and the doors hissed shut.

As soon as the automatic doors on the Hydro-lift closed, Sanic let out a long sigh, relaxing his jangled nerves.

At least I finally asked her, he thought to himself as he looked at his reflection in the mirror-like finish of the polished steel doors.

From his short, muscular build and tan skin, to the ends of his spiked, blonde-tipped hair, he looked like a true Etherian. If only he could act it, he thought, and then he could talk to his dream girl freely, with no anxiety.

But the self assured Pilot acted more Etherian than he did, he sighed.

Then… she had not seemed to take any interest in Lieutenant Baine, he brightened at the reflection.

And she hadn’t really turned down his invitation, at least not technically.

Moreover, he was actually on the same ship with her, stuck in a confined area in the middle of space. He could see her anytime he wanted and talk face to face with her, he reminded himself.

There would always be another chance, he smiled, as the now determined Etherian looked straight back at him from the surface of the Hydro-lift doors.

Chapter Five: Springing The Trap

General Gorbok sat in his darkened office on the upscale side of Saturna 3.

Around him flickered numerous floating screens, each illuminated with different information.

Some showed personnel records, some departure logs, others displayed various star charts and the locations of deployed military craft.

The aging Military Officer seemed to be focusing on one screen in particular; on it a small blip moved steadily towards Corseccan Space.

The tough old General gave a slow menacing grin as he watched the ship moving away. His plan had succeeded. The scientific vessel I.S.A Magellan had been seized and sent out on its emergency mission.

Now all that remained was to set the last piece in motion, before finishing the paperwork, and all his troubles would be over.

His troubles, he groaned, all his troubles starting and ending with that little Virrilian inventor and her stubborn non-acquiescence to Military requests.

He had dealings with her indirectly and directly for many years.

Fresh out of Galactic University when she went into development of the Space Tripper and refused to sell the plans to the I.P.A, sticking with her sickening morals and desire to please her people.

Fodder, all that useless sentimentality.

Throwing away good field research possibilities under complaints of the possible harm to the test subjects.

Her brilliant mind wasted on useless household gadgets and engine thrusters.

He had offered her the chance of a lifetime, to be on his winning team.

But it was fine, he got over it.

He found a better way, a simpler way to reach his goal.

Then she ended up in his own backyard, building her streamlined, ultra-mechanized, ultra-powerful ship. Equipped with, from what his spies had gathered, the most advanced weapons system in the galaxy. Foursquare firing power, four oscillating shields. The thing was impenetrable.

It was perfect, but she would not let him have it.

He had tried to persuade her, to get her genius and her magnificent design on his side, but she was so stubbornly pigheaded.

Hating the Military. Hating the pure pursuit of power and dominance over the entire universe.

Simple girl.

She called him ‘General Warlord’, he chuckled, she did not know the half of it.

She even had a restraining order on him!

But he got it in the end.

Her precious ship that could make or break all his dreams.

That solid chunk of shimmering metal that could be wedged right in the middle of all his great plans.

That menace of a miracle the ‘Magellan’, and its creator would not be a thorn in his side for much longer, he sneered.

With that satisfying thought, the coarse old man turned his chair towards a new screen that illuminated in an open space before him as he swiveled his seat.

“Connect me with the Intergalactic Police Force Vessel 1119036 on a secured wave.” he commanded the newly arrived screen.

It was time to put the last pawn into action.

“I.P.F 1119036 Call name: Black Viper at your service, Sir.” the sharp salutation began as the connection was made with the requested ship.

The General’s old heart swelled, the sharp, smart, respectful addresses, the unfaltering loyalty, the strict adherence to I.P.A rules of do what you are told, ask no questions; you had to love it.

“I have special orders for you and your ship, Captain.” the calculating man began in his deep booming voice. “A ship launched from here just three days ago, that ship is on route to the Corseccan Galaxy. I wish for you to intercept.”

“Yes, Sir.” the strict young Captain replied as he checked his screens. “I have a ship located answering to that description. The vessel is the I.P.A Vortex, launched three days ago from Saturna 3. Awaiting your orders, General, Sir.”

The weathered face smiled calmly. “I wish for a viper intercept of the Vortex.” he said simply.

“Yes, Sir.” came the obedient reply. “We have a viper strike order for the target. How many pod retrievals?”

“None. This is a full strike order.” his superior said unemotionally.

“Yes, Sir. But…” the young man hesitated, “isn't Captain Fairbanks in command of that vessel, Sir? Are you sure you wish a full destroy?”

“The loss will be regrettable.” the hardened man replied.

“There is to be no record of this order. Black Viper 1110936 will be put under cover on all Military charts until returning to its assigned sector after the mission. All records will show the ship was attacked by an enemy Virrilian vessel outside the war zone.”

“Yes, Sir. Is the General sure Black Viper can handle the kill alone? We heard that ship has a superior weapons system and impenetrable shields.” the I.P.F Officer questioned respectfully.

“One ship will be sufficient. Do not expect the ship to either hail or respond. It will not attempt to return fire.” the General assured him. “These orders are top priority, to be carried out immediately. Report to me on the secure wave when the strike has been completed. That is all.” he finished coldly.

“Yes, General, Sir. We will move to strike right away.” the Captain replied in sharp military fashion.

“End secured wave, delete all trace logs.” the General commanded the screen before him as the video feed from the Viper flashed off.

The man now turned back towards the other screens that still hovered in the air around him.

One last thing to be done.

He called up the screen showing personnel files.

A picture of Captain Fairbanks along with her military record was still displayed on the screen.

“A regrettable, but necessary loss.” he repeated as he added one last detail to her file before flipping unemotionally to the next record.

“Timothy Baine…..the time I spent on that boy. Wasted effort, good riddance.” he muttered as he added one last line to the Pilot’s record.

He moved quickly through the rest of the files, useless space trash most of them.

Worthless fodder, best cleaned out of the gene pool.

He paused again when he got to the last record. Seeing the smiling face of the Virrilian Engineer made his crinkled old face smirk.

Valesque Rhaugh, no longer would she be a threat to him or a hindrance to his plans.

But it was thanks to her that he could get rid of the whole bad lot in one clean sweep; her, that ship and all the failures that had been dragging him down.

Just one last bad mark to add to her record, he thought amusingly to himself as he scrolled down to the bottom of her file to add in the last line, the same as everyone else’s.

‘Killed in action 05 15 2538 in the Corseccan war against the Virrilians. Died with honor.’

Chapter Six: Deadline

Valesque sat in her room attaching a tiny wire onto a gadget she was holding under a magnification glass.

On the table around her were strewn pieces of wiring in various lengths and gauges, miscellaneous screws, clamps and bottles containing various chemicals and lubricants.

She was carefully wrapping the end of a thin gauge wire and tightening down the tiny screw that would hold it in place as her mind wandered over her growing list of concerns.

She was going to need a way of grounding her body to the ship, so she could work with the Space Tripper without any risk of shock to the system or it could trigger the device. But more importantly, she needed a way to tap onto the Space Trippers feeders and leach the power away from the circuits she wanted to disconnect, without the Space Tripper noticing any power fluctuations.

She didn’t have time to draw up plans or test prototypes. She just had to make it up in her head as she went, trusting her intuition and experience to get her by.

The Engineer’s room was actually one of the larger scientific labs on Science Deck 3, two floors below the Med-room. She had set it up as a makeshift apartment and workroom. One small corner of the large open space taken up with a washroom, food duplicator, a tall upright locker to hold the few clothes she had brought with her, a small low-to-the-floor sofa and the brushed silver table and chair she was currently seated at.

Along with these few comforts, she had also brought over from her apartment her entire collection of vintage posters and books, which she always kept near her.

It was modest and a bit sterile looking, but it was only supposed to be temporary as she worked on her projects for the Magellan’s construction.

Not that she planned to move up to a regular room, but she had intended to eventually make half of this extra large lab into comfortable living quarters.

It suited her needs far better than the house plans that made up the regular living quarters on the decks above.

Valesque laid down the object she had been working on so tediously and sat up to stretch her tense, aching shoulders and neck.

She then leaned back in her seat to rest for a moment as she dug out a small square of metal from her hip pouch and placed it on the end of a finger.

The device was something she had designed to help with her constantly growing Virrilian nails. Keeping the talons on the ends of her fingers neatly squared off was a constant job.

The small metal device used a kind of laser to trim and shape her tough nails into a smooth short manicure. It was a little hot to the touch but it got the job done and was easy to use. Now she had gotten into the habit of pulling it out and placing it on her fingers whenever she was deep in thought over something.

As she moved the small square of silver from one finger to the next she contemplated what else her latest device would need in order to work on the Space Tripper.

As she was thus absorbed, the chime to her door sounded and she came back to her senses just as two guests entered the room.

The first through the automatic door was Sanic, who seemed to smile in relief upon seeing her, followed closely by the ever-calm jockey Pilot, who just gave her his usual smooth smile as he entered the room.

“Sorry about just walking in on you.” Sanic immediately apologized. “But I can’t tell you how many rooms we have tried already. We thought we would never find you.” he said, excusing their bad manners.

“The ship crew list had you down for Beta Deck 2. But we didn’t get any answer there and it looked pretty empty. Then I remembered you had mentioned going down to your lab earlier, so we started checking the Science levels.

I guess you had turned off your communicator during your dinner break, so the computer couldn’t locate you by that.” he finished, a little embarrassed as he realized the last part almost sounded like a reprimand.

“Ah, yeah.” the Engineer acknowledged unfazed as she absently put her nail trimmer back in her pouch and produced her disengaged communication device. “I'm not used to wearing them, so I find it a bit uncomfortable to have it in my ear all the time.” she commented as she held the device briefly, with no sign of intent on wearing it again, before dropping it back into her hip pouch.

Her visitor then turned his attention to her worktable, noticing the components and the half-finished device that was lying discarded under the adjustable magnifier.

“Working on a way to get the engine output back up for the Captain?” he stated more than asked as he surveyed the scene. Calculating in his engineering oriented brain the possible uses for the device he was seeing.

Valesque affirmed his assumption, but Sanic somehow doubted that device was going to be used for that particular problem, but did not say anything further.

Instead, he turned his attention to something else on the table.

“I see we caught you in the middle of dinner.” he said apologetically as he caught sight of the half-finished meal that sat on the table before her.

Tim too had just noticed this object and as Sanic apologized for the interruption, Tim could not help but make his own observations.

“That, is the sort of thing you eat?” he asked, a bit put off by the large piece of thick, rare meat that sat abandoned on the table.

It seemed to be just a slab of fresh meat that had been burnt crisp and black on just the very surface, leaving the thick inner meat raw, pulpy and red with liquid juices puddling on the plate around it.

It looked like someone had attempted to cook it by throwing it into a raging fire for a few seconds before taking it out and calling it done.

“It looks like it hasn’t stopped moving yet.” he remarked, eyeing the supposed meal warily.

Valesque cast a quick glance at the half finished dinner she had push to the side as she began working on her projects.

She had forgotten to finish that, now either she would have to have it reheated, which wasn’t as good, or just have it sterilized and reprocessed back into the ship’s liquid food storage containers.

“It's the traditional way to fix a cut of meat on my planet.” she told him simply. “It's quick seared on just the very exterior so it is hot and crisp, but the inside stays raw.” she showed her top fangs as she continued. “We like our meat quite rare.” she smiled. “And we have very high protein metabolisms.” she said with an almost evil grin.

“Ah, but you didn’t finish your dinner, Beautiful.” he scolded, determined not to be intimidated by her penchant for raw meat or her deliberate show of fangs. “We will have to do the space ship entering the hanger.” he said, referring to the way you feed a stubborn child.

“NO.” the alarmed Engineer exclaimed, not trusting him just to be joking. She could see him trying something like that, with how flirtatious he was.

“It isn’t good once it has gotten cold. I will reheat it and finish it later.” she promised, pushing the plate of food in question further out of the teasing Pilot’s reach.

Both men simply chuckled at her amusing reaction and switched their focus onto the room they were occupying, and for the first time noticed the impressive sights it offered.

“Wow!” Sanic exclaimed as he took in not only the size of the room but also the immense projects it housed in the background. “You have been holding out on us! This place is amazing.” he gaped as he gazed intently at the different objects in the distance, guessing at what they could be.

“I’ll say!” Tim agreed wholeheartedly. “Do you have a wallet size of that picture?” he begged as he stared in a totally different direction from Sanic.

What Tim had just noticed was a large poster that hung on the wall behind Valesque, above her small couch.

Tim let out a long impressed whistle. “Now that is one sexy picture. You look good with your hair longer.” he noted as he continued to take in every nuance of the image.

Valesque made a partially puzzled, partially disgusted face as she turned around in her seat to see what exactly the brazen Flyboy was looking at.

On the wall behind her, hanging in an antique gilded frame was a picture of a pale woman with blood-red lips, sitting in a seductive pose on the edge of a Victorian settee.

She was dressed in a dark red, low cut gown with a slit high up one shapely leg. Her wavy black hair was piled on top of her head with long loose tendrils falling down her shoulders and around her face.

Her expression was a mixture of amusement and invitation, the tips of her four fangs showing as she enticed you to come near.

“Mmmmm, yes,” Tim continued appreciatively, “I could do with some duplicates of that.”

The young Virrilian woman turned back and looked at him incredulously.

“You don’t honestly think that's me?” she said finally. “Did you somehow miss the title on the picture?” she asked as if he were stupid, pointing over her shoulder at the framed image behind her.

Tim glanced over the image again, and then leaned slightly to the right to get a clear view of the bottom of the poster that was behind Valesque’s head. Down at the bottom in half worn lettering were the words:

'Vamp-Iress, Queen of the night'

“It is an antique Earthian movie poster.” she informed him as his expression changed, indicating he had finally read the title on the picture.

“Vamp-Iress, eh?” the jockey Pilot mused. “I hope you never try to bite me.” he chuckled, remembering the similar old movies he had seen once in a run down Old New York Theater.

Tim’s expression changed upon this remembrance as he gradually realized why Valesque’s appearance had seemed so exceptional to him.

He had finally placed it, that strange allure she exuded; she resembled the unearthly beauty of the creatures in the Vampire films!

Valesque groaned, “You can rest assured, Yorkie, that I would never bite you.” she proclaimed in such a way as to make Tim think perhaps he wanted to be bitten after all.

“My great-grandmother was the model for a lot of the old Earthian pictures like that.” she went on. “I have a whole collection of ‘Vamp-Iress’ stuff, posters and books and things like that. Whatever had her image on it.” she explained tersely, still astounded that he had assumed it was a picture of her.

“Nope.” the flirtatious Pilot disagreed, shaking his head and leaning back on his right leg with one hand on his chin as he studied the picture, looking something like an art critic as he continued his appraisal. “It still looks like you, Beautiful.”

“He’s right.” Sanic agreed, sorry to contradict her. “It may be that your grandmother posed for it, but she looks exactly like you….well, except for the hairstyle….and…pose.” he added with an embarrassed blush as he imagined the real Valesque in such a way.

“Whatever.” Valesque conceded, slightly irritated. “But it still isn’t me. And can you quit looking at it like that?” she angrily requested as Tim continued his appreciative stare.

“Of course,” he smiled easily, “after all why do I need the copy when I have the original right here?” he said, starting in again as he placed one hand on the back of Valesque’s chair and leaned over her.

“I told you, I am not the original.” she reminded him as she backed away.

Tim smiled satisfactorily down at her, as she tried to look unaffected while cringing away from him and avoiding eye contact.

“Anyway.” he began suddenly, changing the subject and giving her relief.

“The Captain sent us down here to ask you what you needed us to do in order to get the shield and weapons systems online.” he said in a completely changed tone as he straightened back up and looked seriously about the room.

“W…Well,” Valesque faltered, still dizzy from the sudden change in conversation, “if you want to work on getting the remaining shields up, be my guest.” she offered. “You see those two huge drums over there?” she asked, gesturing across the room. “Those are the two main emitters, they need to be completed. The plans are tacked up on the wall.”

The drums she pointed out were on the opposite side of the room from where they stood, and even at that distance they were quite imposing. The huge barrel shaped objects were at least 5 feet in height and 7 feet in diameter, composed on the outside of smooth polished metal they looked almost like the casings for a jet engine.

Valesque grinned, there was no way they could finish those on their own. Sanic might be fairly capable, but she doubted the Yorkie had any real technical experience.

This should prove amusing, but she did not have the time to watch.

Tim looked down at her, as she smirked beside him, and gave her an understanding look. “You don’t think I will be of much help, do you?” he asked as if reading her mind.

The Engineer just chuckled a little at the thought and without pulling any punches simply replied, “Nope.”

Tim laughed. “I didn’t think so either, but the Captain seems to think any warm body doing a job is progress, so on orders I am here to give it a shot.” he teased.

Valesque suddenly decided that maybe she should be very worried.

Tim noticed her changed expression and laughed good-naturedly again, “I was just kidding; really I do have experience with things like this. No….. honest.

I have had to work on my own fighter many times, when you get shot down and stranded in some forsaken place, you have to know how to get by.” he tried to assure her.

She still was not certain.

Tim then glanced over to Sanic and his smile faded a bit as he saw the younger man’s slightly anxious expression at watching the friendly banter between the two.

“Well, anyway,” he said quickly, “Sanic and I better get to work on those emitters before Fairbanks comes asking for our progress report.” Tim remarked as he and the young Ensign turned and walked towards the opposite side of the room, leaving Valesque to finish her project in peace.

As soon as they got out of ear shot Tim looked over at his younger companion and said casually. “You like her, don’t you?”

Sanic looked a bit shocked at the abrupt question and stuttered in his reply.

“Uh, y...yeah...I think she is…uh..” he faltered his thought running dry.

Tim chuckled. “You aren’t very Etherian for an Etherian are you?” he laughed.

Sanic reddened, so he had noticed it too.

“If I had gone to college I always thought I would pick Etherian University. I always heard Etheria was the party planet.” Tim commented. “I figured that was the place for me.” he laughed. “But you don’t seem much of a partier. You got the cool looks but your attitude is sadly lacking.”

“Yeah.” Sanic agreed, stealing a glance back across the room. “I wasn’t raised on Etheria actually.” he admitted. “My parents had originally been Professors at EU but they saw that the attitudes of the students were getting less and less serious towards their studies and more into just cruising through school on a constant party. So they left and transferred onto a scientific research vessel, and that is where I grew up. So I know all the ins and outs of ship maintenance and am pretty good with schematics.” the Ensign mused.

“Which explains why you ended up as an Operations Commander at such a young age.” Tim finished for him.

“Right.” Sanic agreed solemnly. “And why I am not very ‘Etherian’.” he added.

“But sometimes, I really wish I was.” he sighed as he again stole a glance across the room before looking up at the emitter blueprints that were fastened to the wall.

Tim was thoughtful for a moment as the young Ensign studied the diagrams.

“How long have you known her?” he asked curiously.

Sanic briefly looked down at his feet self-consciously, leaving one hand on the papers where he had left off.

“A few months. I was transferred to Saturna 3 between assignments. My next ship was to be this one...when it was called the Magellan, and she was in charge of building it. I used to go out to the park overlooking the construction bays every day.” he remembered.

“I mean, there wasn’t really much else to do while I waited for my next ship to be built, you know.” he added quickly as he thought it sounded too pathetic.

“So you went there and watched every day, but you never talked to her?” Tim asked already knowing the answer.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t really possible with all the security and she hardly came out into the public areas.” the Etherian excused.

“And you couldn’t just wait outside the hanger when you saw her coming out to say, ‘Hey, I am assigned to your ship, I am really looking forward to it being completed. How about a tour?’ Or sending a note in with a delivery of flowers.” Tim suggested.

Sanic colored at the ideas that came so naturally to the easy-going Pilot. “Is that what you would have done?”

Tim shrugged. “If I liked her.” he said simply as he casually leaned on the wall.

“You...seem to like her.” Sanic prodded uneasily; in a competition with Tim he was not at all sure he stood even a remote chance at winning.

Tim gave a non-committal shrug as he looked calmly back to where Valesque sat working at the table. “She is….intriguing.” he admitted.

“But you’ve got the seniority on me, I’ll give you that.” the Pilot laughed, not showing any real sign of serious intent.

“And….even if I did decide to be serious, I wouldn’t try to cut you out.” he added with a touch of solemnity after a slight pause, continuing to watch her across the room before turning back to his rival with a generous smile. “After all, when it comes right down to it, it doesn’t matter how you or I feel, it’s still her choice to make. Right?” he said openly.

Sanic brightened a bit at this friendly offering, suddenly getting the feeling that….maybe…. the Lieutenant had actually started this whole conversation just to put him at ease.

“Right.” he agreed with a newly assured smile before the two friendly, possible rivals went to work on the large cylindrical shield emitters.

Valesque looked up from her worktable to see the two men in friendly conversation near the emitters. Finally, they seemed to be working, Sanic was holding some component and apparently instructing the Yorkie on how to install it inside the metal tub.

The perfect chance to sneak out, she thought, as she gathered her finished projects and slipped quietly out the door.

The nervous Virrilian Engineer made her way up the two levels to Science Deck 1 and the Med-room. With Lola having been transferred out to the Hydroponics lab at the Captain’s orders, there should be no one on the Med-room level except the Mobile Medical Unit. This was perfect for her objective.

Valesque walked quickly out of the Hydro-Lift onto the abandoned deck and headed for the empty medical room where the Space Tripper was waiting.

The deserted, expansive deck with its eerie silence gave Valesque a bit of a chill and she had to shake it off quickly before she started imagining things that would only slow her down.

She reached the Med-room and took a quick look over the three aisles of exam tables and medical lab areas just to be sure nobody else was present, before once again entering the doctor’s break-room.

As soon as she entered she was again hit with the strong audible wave emanating from the Space Tripper in the wall.

Valesque quickly stripped herself of her lab coat, hip pouch, Vid-screen and holder, and any other devices she had on her. She then arranged the tools and new creations she had brought around her, in front of the panel she would be accessing.

The wary Engineer then took up her Vid-screen again and opened up the panel lockdown program, she picked out the panel that covered the Space Tripper and hit the release key. After entering the code she had set up when she sealed all the access panels earlier the main break-room access panel hissed as it released its seal and slowly opened.

Valesque sat her Vid-screen aside once again and took a deep calming breath.

She picked out her new grounding device and a small spray bottle. Pointing the nozzle at herself, she pressed the cap and sprayed her body with short one second bursts. She then did the same to the grounding device.

Valesque was about to put the bottle back down when she looked at her arm in alarm. Dark red liquid was dripping in thin streams down her hand and forearm.

At first, she thought it was blood and wondered how she had injured herself already.

However, on a second examination she noticed the small pools of red liquid also on the top of the spray can.

The cheap metal had rusted with age, or from the damp climate of Saturna 3, and the rust now mixed with the anti-static liquid to form a blood-like substance that had run down her arm as she tilted the can.

Many people would object to her even having such a polluting gas-filled can, but when you are working in low rent labs on backwater planets you have to take what you can get. Not all planets are as advanced as others in their technology or tools. And there is no sense in wasting it, as there was no ozone layer around to ruin anyway.

Valesque carefully set the can aside, trying not to spill any rusty liquid on her new flooring. She then clipped wires from her device to herself at various places, careful not to restrict her arm movement.

Then she pressed her bare hands against the sides of the opening to ground herself before attaching the remaining wires to the wall opening and some to the metal bracing that mingled with the electrical wiring the Space Tripper was nesting in.

So far so good, she breathed in relief as she intently watched the lights and listened to the sound to check for any changes before continuing. She was now grounded to the ship, so she should be able to touch the wiring and the Space Tripper without accidentally setting it off.

Next was the tricky part, removing some of the feeders from the ship’s main power cables, without alerting the Space Tripper.

Valesque took a moment to thoroughly examine the wiring; figuring out where the power went in and where it returned.

The Tripper would be connected to, and monitoring, the power that was flowing past it. But not the unused power that was returning to the storage cells. If she could determine where those were she could leach power slowly to that area, so the Space Tripper did not experience any sudden shocks when the feed it had was disconnected.

If the line slowly lost power until it stopped, the circuitry should not see it as a problem. Then she could completely disconnect the Tripper from that cable and it would not notice the difference.

It was like putting on a tourniquet and slowly stopping the blood from flowing, until it was accustomed to nothing flowing through that ‘vein’ and then disconnecting it completely before releasing the flow again.

It was a simple, yet time-consuming solution; she just hoped it would work.

The first connection she decided to remove was the feeder into the emergency backup power. If she could at least get that one supply freed, then even if the Space Tripper activated, they would still have life support for a while.

Valesque cautiously started her surgical procedure.

Meanwhile up on the Control Deck things were beginning to heat up.

One of the Control Deck crewmembers had spotted a ship approaching off in the distance. This was a fortunate coincidence as none of their exterior sensors were working.

It was still too far away to identify but Captain Fairbanks had her hopeless crew scrambling to get the off-ship communicators working, as she called her main Pilot and Operations Commander back to their positions.

Tim Baine had rushed back and slid behind his controls just as the approaching ship was coming into view. Even though it was still a bit too far out for most people to get an exact ID on, Tim could see it clearly with his extremely sharp eyes and he knew that shape too well to be wrong.

It was an I.P.F. Viper strike craft and it was heading straight for them.

Tim had been involved with some missions where the Vipers were active, and he knew their capabilities well. He also knew they never showed unless there was a kill strike order.

The deadly predator of the Intergalactic Police, the Viper was fast, sleek and agile. Once it was in pursuit the target had little chance, especially a large cumbersome one like this, it was like a shark on the attack; deadly and accurate.

He could not see why a viper strike would have been called for their ship, but there was no harm in being prepared. If this ship had actually been completed, he thought, its specs suggested it would have been capable of surviving even this kind of attack.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t, so he could only hope the ship they spotted was merely on a flyby in their path, on its way to another zone.

Captain Fairbanks was above him on the Upper Control Deck look out, where she had a clear view of him at his controls below her; but also of the massive two storey deck-wide view screens, on which the riveting scene was unfolding.

“Don’t make any sudden moves.” she ordered as her ‘expert’ pilot returned to his post below her. “We don’t want to appear concerned or threatening. Just keep us steady on our course until we see what they are up to.”

The Lieutenant acknowledged her orders as he arranged his flight panels around him. He wanted to be sure the right controls were in easy reach if he needed to try for any evasive action.

The Flight Deck crew stared at the scene outside, waiting with bated breath, their hands poised over their controls for immediate action. As the Control Crew above, headed by the newly arrived Ensign Sanic, rushed franticly around trying to find a way to get their communications system running.

They had inter-ship communication but the main incoming and outgoing off-ship systems did not seem to be accessible. Either they had not been completed because they were not necessary for the construction crew's use, or they had not been activated at some point along the way, either somewhere in the Control Deck's system or down on the Solar level.

As Operations Commander, it was Sanic's job to get the communication person's systems online. He did not have time to run down to the Solar Deck himself so he was going to have to try to talk the twins through checking the communications set up down there.

Taking a deep breath in expectation, he opened the video connection between his console and the main engineering floor.

Two curious heads crowded into the picture as the pink alien twins noticed the moving picture of Sanic suddenly appear by them.

"What is it, Brother?" one of the aliens asked, nothing but it's dark eyes showing in the return video.

"I don't know, Brother." the other replied just as puzzled, as he pushed his twin out of the way for a better look himself. "It looks like that Commander person who was down here earlier."

"Oh, yes. Yes it does!" the first one exclaimed in agreement, as he again moved his head into view. "It is that nice person who was showing us what the panels were for, isn't it Brother? I wonder why he is showing up on this screen. Why do you think that is Brother?"

Sanic put his hand to his head, trying not to be disturbed. "I'm on the Control Deck. I need for you two to check something for me." he finally said when there was a pause in the Twin's conversation.

"Check?" one asked as he looked at the other, “He seems to want us to check something, Brother."

This time Sanic cut in, he did not have time to wait through another cycle of their merry-go round conversation.

"Look. Right now there should be a panel lit up. That is the communications controls. I need you to check those controls." the anxious Ensign told them quickly.

The twins looked to where he had indicated, murmuring back and forth to each other as they located each item he called off to them.

It seemed like ages to Sanic, as he guided the befuddled twins through the process, all the while glancing up to check the progress of the oncoming vessel.

The foreign ship was now close enough for the Captain to make out, and she was a bit perplexed as she did. “Why would a Viper be intercepting us?" she pondered aloud from her post above the Pilot’s seat.

"The only reason a Viper would approach another vessel is if they had a strike order." Tim replied openly to his Superior’s muttered inquiry.

Captain Fairbanks scoffed at this reply. "That is ridiculous. We are on a mission to the war zone." she snapped authoritatively, smoothing down her regulation uniform with an air of assured dignity.

She was in her right place, she had her orders, and she was carrying them out to the letter.

"That's the only reason I know of that a Viper would make contact. You could ask them yourself if we had any communications." Tim replied calmly in his defense.

She seemed to think she knew what she was doing, but he knew Vipers never showed for no reason, and they never revealed themselves openly to a non-target either.

“Have you got the communications working yet?” she called quickly over to her Operations Commander, sounding a little more alarmed than she had wanted to reveal.

Sanic looked up from his taxing relay with the Twins down in Engineering.

“Not, yet.” he said quickly, not wanting to take any more time away from his project than he had too. “Give me a few more minutes.”

Captain Fairbanks smoothed back her red hair as she took in a deep calming breath. Of course it is not fixed yet, nothing is fixed, she thought to herself, this whole ship is a Virrilian design concocted just to upset me…….

Speaking of Virrilian, how was her work on the engines coming?

Fairbanks tapped the communicator in her ear, “Connect me to Ensign Valesque.” she ordered the on-ship communications computer.

There was a slight pause before the voice of the relaying computer was heard in her ear, “Cannot connect with specified communicator. Communicator may be off, malfunctioning or out of range.” it said politely.

“Captain!” Sanic exclaimed suddenly as one of his previously inert panels lit up.

“I think we are receiving incoming transmissions now.” he said excitedly, “It looks like the other ship has opened up communications with us.”

“Put it on the main screen.” she replied immediately as she turned back towards the two-storey screen as the Ensign redirected the feed.

“We can receive but not send.” her Operations Commander added as he linked the video to the main Control Deck view screen. “So we can see them but they can’t see or hear us.” he finished hurriedly, as a large video window opened and a sharply dressed I.P.F officer stood before them in mid-sentence.

"… the third and last attempt to contact you I.P.A Vortex." the strict young Captain of the Intergalactic Police repeated, "All note, the ship did not respond." he immediately followed, speaking to his crew, just before the transmission ended.

Captain Fairbanks looked a bit perturbed by this. For it looked as if he had never expected any answer; he certainly had not waited for one.

"They will charge up their weapons system now." Tim informed them all evenly. "They will want to take the ship out in one strike. Since it is such a large vessel they will have to charge their system for at least….. 30 seconds."

"Put us on a red alert.” the now deadly serious Captain ordered promptly.

“We need some options people.” she called out to her Control Crew. “Evasive maneuvers? Can we get the rest of those shields up?”

“Negative, Captain.” the crew watching over ship functions responded instantly as they rechecked their readings. “The main shields have not been put online.”

“I could try to shake them, Captain,” her Pilot called up to her from his position below as he checked and rechecked simulations. “But I need more power; we don’t have a chance of evading them at our current speed.” he concluded inevitably.

“We need to find that Engineer and get those engines up and some evasive maneuvers.” she stated, trying to sooth her increasingly alarmed nerves.

“Ensign, Sanic, see what you can do about getting more power into what shields we have. Lieutenant Baine, try to get us away from them, buy us as much time as you can.” she ordered briskly before turning back to her communicator one more time. “Ship board announcement.” she requested as the communications computer acknowledged her connection.

Seventeen floors below, Valesque was in the middle of her delicate operation.

She had managed to get a drain in place on the emergency power cable and had been slowly diverting the power to a return supply that the Space Tripper was not monitoring. She then had to wait impatiently until the power from the Emergency back-up line was completely diverted from the Tripper’s feeder and she could begin her risky task of removing the foot without setting off the device.

Just as she was easing her long nosed, angled pliers down over the Space Tripper's coupling she was startled by an unexpected announcement over the Ship’s intercom, coupled with a violent shudder of the ship itself and the blinking red alert light and intermittent alarm.

Something strange was definitely going on, she thought, as the Captain’s voice boomed over the speakers. “Ensign Valesque, please report immediately to the Control Deck. We need power from the engines now.” the voice overhead demanded sternly.

The Virrilian Engineer groaned in annoyance as she turned her attention back on her urgent project at hand, only to notice something even more distressing.

She didn’t know if it was because she had touched the wrong thing when the ship had suddenly lurched, or if a pre-programmed trigger had finally gone off…. but the Space Tripper was now active!

Busy lights flashed on its surface as it began to awaken, the perpetual droning sound it had been making in her frequency had shifted as well. Something bad was about to happen.

Valesque quickly reached her pliers into the wiring and ripped out the connecting wire in the cable she had diverted power from. She then hurriedly released her bypass on the emergency power.

There was no time for delicacy now.

She would have taken the Tripper’s feeders out of other systems as well, except that if she touched them she would more than likely receive a shock that would kill even her sturdy Virrilian body.

So instead, she simply gave the loathsome device one last anxious glance before rushing up to the Control Deck to see what was happening.

As Valesque raced into the Hydro-lift she ran one hand feverishly down to her hip pouch to retrieve her communicator; only to realize too late that she had left the pouch, her Vid-screen and everything else behind in the Med-room!

The Engineer switched gears and immediately typed an emergency command into the touch pad of the Hydro-lift then backed into the corner of the small metal box and braced herself on the handrails along the walls, as the elevator suddenly shot up the shaft at incredible speed, reaching the seventeenth floor up in just under two seconds.

Valesque scrambled back up from the jolting stop and forced her way out the automatic doors and down the hall to the Control Room.

She burst through the doors of the room and into a chaotic mess of people running and shouting amid ship systems starting to go haywire.

Lights began to flicker; control panels began to flash off and on randomly as the powerful drumming of the engines became louder and louder.

The readouts on the engine’s power were going off the charts before it suddenly went black and then all you could do was listen as they seemed to be revving up higher and higher, but not going anywhere.

The crew was panicked, a Viper ship was about to fire on them and their own ship was suddenly out of control, their destruction seemed imminent.

“Do we have power back to the engines?” the agitated Captain asked as soon as she caught sight of the mystified Engineer.

“Uh, not….really.” the Virrilian replied absently, trying to piece together the view of an I.P.F spacecraft on their screens coupled with their red alert flashing overhead.

“Are those the engines we are hearing?” came the wearisome reply from the increasingly rattled Captain. “It sounds like they have power, why are we not moving?” she demanded, trying to split her attention between her ship’s problems and the other ship targeting them.

Indeed, you could hear the sound of the engines increasing power yet the ship was staying at a standstill.

Valesque was not quite positive what was happening, but she assumed it must have something to do with the pre-programmed execution order in the Tripper.

All she could ascertain was, one or the other was about to happen, either the ship she was seeing was about to blow her ship to pieces, or the Tripper was about to send them all to who knows where as soon as it had gotten enough power into the engines.

On the Viper things were going smoothly.

Although they were a bit perplexed by the reaction of their target.

They had not responded to their calls, just as the General had said, but also as soon as they started to power up their weapons it seemed the other vessel had suddenly come to an abrupt stop, and was now just sitting there waiting to be destroyed.

“Weapons system fully charged.” one of the Viper’s flight crew announced.

The Captain gave a momentary pause, pondering the strangeness of this situation before replying.

“Execute kill strike.” he ordered resolutely, regaining his cold expression as he watched the burst of firepower explode from his ship towards their still target.

Valesque heard the engines switch as her ship shuddered, feeling as if it were preparing for an abrupt jump, just as the other vessel fired off its weapons.

Either way, there was only one thing to do.

“Brace yourself!” Valesque called out urgently to the people around her in the chaos, as she grabbed onto the rails that surrounded the outlook point over the flight crew.

The Viper watched as their shot made contact with the ship before them, completely obliterating it in a bright flash of light.

Nothing was left, not even a scrap of metal hull.

The serious young I.P.F Captain let out a small sigh; realizing then he had been holding his breath as he waited for the blast to hit. “Target destroyed. Kill Strike completed. Take us back to our assigned division, and then inform the General of mission success.” he ordered his crew briskly as the ship turned and headed home.

Valesque felt a bit ill, just as the other ship had fired, the Tripper had projected a space warp before them and, in a bright flash of light, threw them into it with a forceful lurch.

This situation was hard on the nerves, she thought dizzily, as the Vortex bucked

and reared beneath her.

Panic had struck the rest of the crew, for they had no idea the ship was jumping through a warp. They thought the ship was being blown apart by the enemy ship’s discharge.

They scrambled to hold onto any solid surface as they were tossed about by the constant stopping and starting of the ship, as it revved up its engines and launched itself forward then stopped with a jolt only to immediately jump forward again. All with a nausea inducing strobe light effect as each jump was coupled with a bright flash of light.

The ship’s interior lights flickered with each thrust and stop. Life support, shields, everything was starting to fail as the ship continued to rear.

As the systems started to shut down, giving all remaining power to the still accelerating engines, a shocked and worried look came over Valesque while she clung to the railing, as if all of a sudden remembering something vitally important.

The Engineer gave a quick look around the Control Room; it seemed everyone was busy fearing for their lives and would not notice as she quickly pushed herself from her support and rushed unsteadily out the failing automatic doors.

The bucking began to slow after the few seconds of intense flashing and rearing, calming down into a slower lurch, jump and flash pattern before the ship completely blacked out and groaned to a stop in a patch of empty space.

The startled crew picked themselves up from their crash positions and began to look around in wonder as they all seemed to still be alive, and the ship appeared to be intact.

All the control panels were blank and dead as they began to come to their senses and try to ascertain the damage.

Captain Fairbanks released her white knuckled grip on the metal railing before her, straightening out her uniform and smoothing back her hair as she began to take inventory in the darkness.

The ship pulsed, lights flashing on and then off again as the computer’s voice was heard over the ship’s communication system. “Switching to Emergency power.” it said as the panels powered on and off again, the computer shutting down all unnecessary systems.

“Emergency power engaged.” the computer voice affirmed as the ship hummed quietly back to life, with no sign of engine noise and only half the lights and controls active.

“Is everyone alright?” the Captain called out as she surveyed her battered crew. They appeared shocked and bruised but miraculously alive, as they gathered to their leader in the dim light.

Fairbanks looked around her Control Room confirming the presence of the crewmembers she remembered being on the deck before the ship was hit.

She wrinkled her brow as she discerned one conspicuously absent crewmember. “Where is Ensign Valesque?” she queried as she looked down from her vantage point to the Flight Deck below to see if the Engineer had been thrown down there during the violent upheaval.

But she was no where to be seen.

Captain Fairbanks smoothed back her hair again as she called up the ship’s computer. Valesque had not had her communicator on before the incident, so it was useless to try that approach again.

“Computer,” the Captain began a bit irritably, “locate Ensign Valesque.” she requested with an agitated sigh. That Science Engineer constantly had to do something to annoy her it seemed.

The computer was silent for a moment as it ran the request. “Ensign Valesque is no longer aboard this vessel.” was the result that came back.

The Captain made a puzzled expression. “Computer,” she called again, “locate any Virrilian life signs on board the ship.” There was another slight pause as the main computer scanned the decks before it replied, “There are currently no Virrilians on board this vessel.” it informed her.

Tim and Sanic looked at each other from their respective posts, slight concern showing in their expressions.

Fairbanks frowned in thought. She was sure the Virrilian had been on the Control Deck just as their ship was hit.

“Computer, where was Ensign Valesque last located.” she queried again, trying to sort out the puzzle.

“That information is not available due to recent system malfunctions.” came the instant response.

The stern Military Officer furrowed her brow once again.

“Computer, run the scan every five minutes and inform me if a Virrilian is located.” the Captain said, putting in the timed order.

How could a crewmember just disappear from a ship?

Chapter Seven: Tripped

Valesque cautiously peeked up and down the corridor from the hidden panel she was exiting through. She had run out of the Control Room to check on something, but she had not needed to worry it had seemed.

Now she just wanted to get back out into the ship’s main areas without being spotted.

She slowly stepped out into the dim, empty hall and resealed the secret access.

Just one more thing to check, she thought, as she quickly made her way to the Hydroponics Lab to see how Lola had fared during the jump.

The Hydroponics Lab was located on Hydro Deck 1, almost the bottom level of the ship. Since the ship was shaped like a marquee cut gem, the widest and longest deck was the very middle section, which was the Recreation Deck.

The top and bottom decks would then be the smallest in size, roughly 1,760 feet long and 880 feet wide.

The Hydro decks were just slightly larger than the final Omega Deck; it was here that the plant-growing labs as well as all the food storage tanks were located.

The hydroponics room was almost the size of the whole Hydro Deck 1, the plants growing there were essential for many reasons.

One reason was that they provided oxygen stores that could be used in other applications, another was that they provided the fiber, and of course raw vegetation that the food duplicator machines combined to create pre-programmed menu selections. The plants grown here supplied the necessary spice flavors and scents for food recipes, but also for the ship’s room fresheners.

There was nothing worse than traveling in a stale smelling spaceship for months at a time.

The hydroponics room was mainly an automated operation, with different varieties of plants from various regions of space growing in a controlled environment, either in trays or hanging from conveyor belts that circulated the bare root plants through nutrient sprays.

The only thing someone in the lab had to do was monitor the system, make sure all the vegetation was in good health and ready supply and get the fertilizer mixtures into the tanks at the proper times.

It was a pretty simple but important job.

As Valesque neared the hydroponic room doors, she came upon Lola just about to enter the room herself, with a load of folded sheets in her arms.

The Engineer eyed her curiously. “Is everything alright down here?” she inquired, not sure why anyone would need an armful of sheeting in the growing room.

“No! It’s horrible!” Lola immediately exclaimed, looking as close to crying as an android could get. “They’re dead. They are all deeeead.” she bawled, leaning her pink and blue head on Valesque’s shoulder in grief.

The Virrilian stood there shocked for a moment. “Dead?” she repeated uncertainly. Surely, they could not all have been killed in the jump. There were thousands of plants in that lab.

“Yes!” Lola exclaimed as they both entered the room. “When that Captain person said I had to come down here I asked that cute Pilot what a hydroponics lab was and he said ‘it is a place where you nurture living things.’ And so I thought, I can handle that!” she remembered as she smiled confidently, imitating her first reaction.

“But then I came down here and it was awful!” Lola continued, her happy expression falling into a dark void of depression.

“I don’t know who was in charge here before me, but they did a terrible job.” she complained. “I came in and saw where they had left the poor creatures hanging upside down in the air from these little plastic holders. Their feet were up in the air and their white hair was hanging down, dripping wet. I don’t know how long they had been left like that.” she explained in deep concern.

Valesque took stock of this explanation and tried to decipher it into what she knew of the lab. Lola had apparently thought the bare root plants hanging from the converyor belt were innocent beings left hanging upside down in the air.

The Engineer suppressed a giggle as she thought of the scene as Lola had imagined.

“So, of course, I took them down immediately. But none of them were moving!” Lola went on, getting more upset as she relayed her devastating tale. “Then I looked around and they had some different ones in sectioned trays on tables and none of them were moving either!” she cried.

“So straight away I took their temperature, and they were all COLD!” she said in wide-eyed alarm as she exuberantly gave the details of her diagnosis. “So of course I put them all on warmers to try to keep them out of shock.” she continued.

That would put them all in shock, Valesque thought a bit worrisomely, but Lola’s story was far from over.

“And as I was warming them up I took their pulse, but…..” she paused in distress, “they had no pulse! None of them!” she sobbed, her green eyes wide with concern. “They were all so in shock their hearts had stopped. So right away I did the best thing I could think of to get their little hearts started again. I put an electrical shock through them.” she stated proudly.

Valesque winced as she heard this, imagining thousands of plants sitting on warmers being electrocuted. All she could picture were sizzling, shriveled foliage as the poor plants were subjected to Lola’s ‘treatments’.

“But that didn’t help either.” Valesque was not surprised to hear. “I tried at least three times to jump start their hearts, but they were already deeeeead.” Lola wailed inconsolably.

“So then all I could do was lay them all out on the tables. I made the room cool so their bodies would keep, as I started to write up all their death certificates.” she added sadly, shaking her short hair in pity over the lost souls. “And they didn’t even have all their names on their beds.” Lola complained.

“They had only separated the poor things into family groups. So as I went along I had to think up first names for them all so I could put it on the form.” she said with a furrowed brow incredulously: how could her predecessor have neglected to put all their names down?

“For example,” she went on, adjusting her load so she could have one free hand to enumerate on. “For all the ones I found together under the family name ‘Brassica-Oleracea’ I named them things like ‘Barney Brassica-Oleracea’, ‘Belinda Brassica-Oleracea’ and ‘Baxter Brassica-Oleracea’.” she announced, counting them off on her fingers.

“I could not really tell the boys from the girls though.” she whispered, a bit embarrassed. “So I just had to guess. But it was easy to tell they all belonged to the same family, they all looked alike.” she added.

Valesque was not sure what to say, she was at a complete loss for words.

Lola sighed sadly as she looked over the tables of ‘dead’ bodies she had been working on. Most of the tables had already been covered in the burial sheeting, so all Valesque could see of the poor plants were a few singed leaves and wilting stems.

Apparently, Lola had been so preoccupied with saving her patients she had not noticed the space jump, and as all the exterior windows in the lab had their blinds engaged she probably had not seen any of the flashes of light either.

“All I can do for them now is finish covering them up and keep them in cold storage until we can get to a planet where we can bury them.” she sniffed sorrowfully.

“Uh, riiiiight.” Valesque agreed absently as she surveyed the damage to the vegetation supply. The power was being shut down to all unoccupied areas anyway, so the hydroponics lab probably would have been effected by that even without Lola.

She could just hope that when the power was restored they could find some salvageable specimens among the dearly departed.

Just then the overhead communicator came on again with the voice of the noticeably annoyed Captain who had just been informed by the computer that a Virrilian had been located on Hydro Deck 1.

“This is Captain Fairbanks. Ensign Valesque, report to the Control Deck immediately.” came the stern order.

Valesque made a sour face at the ship’s communicator, as she stopped the bereaved android from finishing her work in the morgue by putting an arm around her shoulders.

“I….think you have done about all you can do down here.” she said in sympathy, for both Lola and the massacred plants.

“I don’t know if you had noticed but we just went through a space jump, so the power is going to have to be shut down for a little while. I think you should come with me.” she coaxed as she led the girl out of the room with one last glance at their dwindling food supply. “There are probably some injured people that will need your help right now.” she furthered, giving Lola a new mission.

Thank goodness she seemed better with people than with plants.

The dejected pink and blue haired figure perked up a bit at the mention of someone needing her assistance, putting down her sheets as her friend guided her out of the room.

Valesque took her time to get to the Control Deck, entering in time to witness a conversational exchange that rivaled even the pink twins in Engineering for sheer frustration.

Captain Fairbanks, Sanic, Tim, as well as other miscellaneous members of the flight and control crew were standing around one apparently unintelligible new crewmate.

They had not met him before as he seemed to prefer to keep to himself down in the navigation room, but the Captain had called the person in charge of navigation to the Control Deck to help them figure out where they were. Unfortunately, that was not as good of an idea as it had seemed.

The crewmember that had arrived had shocked most of the control personnel as soon as he had slithered through the door, and afterwards only succeeded in frustrating everyone present.

He was roughly five feet tall from the floor, not including the trailing tail, and was covered in dark brown scales over his body with light beige plates all along his abdomen.

He had two spindly little arms on his upper body and a face that ended in a pointy snake nose. On the back and sides of his head hung what looked to be long hair on a balding hairline but was actually limp folds of a spined hood, which when unfolded made him resemble a cobra.

He stood upright on the front half of his snakelike body, the remainder resting on the floor on which he slithered with his tapered tail looped up into the air behind him.

He did not wear any clothing except a short vest with pockets and an illuminated metallic collar around his neck.

The collar was not a decorative item Valesque noted as she watched him in the middle of the group.

As he hissed away, the lights on the collar lit up in intricate patterns, supposedly interpreting what he was saying, but nobody seemed to understand anything it was trying to translate.

This did not really seem to bother him as much as it did everyone else, he just stood in the midst of his agitated fellow crewmembers hissing to himself and then squinting up his eyes and making sounds like a snake laugh. “Sss..ssss…sssss…sssss” he hissed, apparently very amused at something he had just said that no one else understood.

Captain Fairbanks stood with her arms folded tightly against her chest as she sighed irritably over her fate, glancing up to see Valesque looking on with an amused expression on her naturally pale face.

“Ensign Valesque.” the Captain immediately called; relieved at anything that would take her attention away from the hissing snakelike man.

“We were very concerned about you, the computer said you had left the ship during our near escape and it seemed you had just vanished altogether.” she began in an almost accusing tone.

The young Engineer flushed a bit as she thought of a quick excuse. “Uhmm, there must be…..some sensors down in parts of the ship.” she said awkwardly trying to reason away why the ship could not locate her earlier, feeling a little bad for lying about such things.

“I had just …gone down to check on Lola in the Hydroponics Lab.” she finished brightly; putting a friendly arm around the plausible alibi standing next to her.

“Is that so.” Fairbanks mused as she stared at the Engineer with suspicious eyes. “So how were things down in hydroponics?”

At this question Lola regained her look of wide eyed concern as she began to move forward to retell her saga of woe.

“Oh, it was just horri….” she broke off as Valesque put a hand on her shoulder and moved in front of her, effectively curtailing the girl’s tale of terror.

“It is…all under control.” the Virrilian cut in confidently, giving Lola a quick warning look. “Better than it seems to be going up here. What was it you wanted me for anyway?” she asked a bit brusquely.

“It seems the ship has switched to emergency power, and we are not sure where we are.” the Captain replied, trying to ignore the girl’s rudeness. “We called up the person from navigation, but….as you can see.” the exasperated Officer gestured to the latest addition. “He has not been much help.”

Valesque put her hand over her mouth unable to hold back a snicker and sarcastic response.

“Well I can understand that.” she jeered, not missing an opportunity to rub in the Military woman’s stubbornness in taking off with an unfinished ship and unfit crew. “If you hadn’t noticed before, I would say at least half of this, so called, crew of yours are not, have not, and probably never will be I.P.A Officers of any rank.” she laughed.

“Take Sanic for instance, he is a Science Officer in a command position, and yet you call him a Military Ensign.” she pointed out, as Sanic blushed modestly.

“And I don’t know if you saw Jimmy over there in charge of communications? He has never operated anything like that before in his life. Hi there, Jimmy.” she waved at the relieved looking young man at the communication console.

“He was a delivery boy for ‘Sam’s Soppy Subs’. I could never understand liking a wet sandwich myself, but they were very popular with the construction crew.” she added, shrugging and shaking her head at the thought of it.

“He probably just happened to be in the area when the orders went out. So, I am not surprised you are finding some of these poor people a bit lost and confused, Captain.” she finished, quite happy with herself that she finally was able to speak her mind, and not violently.

“That may be the case, Ensign Valesque.” the Captain relied unsympathetically. “But they are all ranking Officers now and will carry out their assignments accordingly.” she proclaimed looking over her crew with a critical eye.

The Serpantial-man hissed at this, chuckling to himself and saying with that statement she had proven herself adequately qualified to be the Captain of this ship of fools.

He was apparently used to people not being able to read his communication collar, because he had the habit of saying the most inappropriate and insulting things about those around him, and then sticking out his forked snake tongue, squishing up his eyes and hissing out a long snake laugh, “Ssss..ssss..sssss..sssss”

He was surprised this time when someone else joined him in his laughter.

“That is so true!” the other voice chimed in.

He turned in shock towards the person in question to see Sanic snickering along with him.

The snake man’s beady little eyes widened in alarm. “You underssssstood what I sssssaid?” he hissed, stunned at the thought. Not one person on any of his other assignments had ever understood him.

Sanic paused a moment as he watched the lights flashing on the collar and then deciphered it in his head. “That part I did.” he smiled in reply. “I had a little trouble at first, but I think I’ve got it figured out now.” he explained, still chuckling at what the snake had said.

Sanic had always been good with puzzles and codes and could usually figure things out pretty quickly. That was one reason he had chosen to be in charge of ship operations, everything there was like a big puzzle he had to make work together in order for the ship to run, it was a challenging and rewarding job for him.

The snake man looked visibly upset, the hood around his face rose slightly while he regarded Sanic warily, his forked tongue licking the air before him as he contemplated this development. It would be bad if this person were to replay everything he said to everyone, he thought, especially the strict Military Captain.

Sanic just smiled in a friendly, reassuring way.

“So what race are you?” the Etherian began, trying to get on pleasant terms with his unusual crewmate.

“Sssssserpential.” the one in question replied.

Again, Sanic paused as he processed the collar’s signals in his head. “Serpential.” he finally repeated, sounding out the new word. “I don’t think I've ever come across one before.”

“We are rare.” the scaly man replied plainly, trying to size up his interrogator’s purpose.

“My name is Sanic, I am an Etherian.” the Ensign went on casually. “That is our Pilot over there, Lieutenant Baine. He is an Earthian.” he said motioning to where Tim stood leaning back against the railing. “That is Engineer Valesque by Lola over there.” he continued, gesturing to where Valesque and the Android stood off to the side of the main group. “She is a Virrilian.”

The Serpential squinted up his little eyes and crinkled his nose in a snakelike sneer as Valesque was introduced before replying, “My name is Ssssssssesssssil. I am an assssstronomer in the navigation department.” he hissed looking back at the Etherian with a superior air.

Captain Fairbanks looked back and forth at the two low ranking officers talking casually before her. “Do you understand what this person is saying?” she asked her Operations Commander.

“I think so, Captain.” he replied respectfully. “He says his name is Cecil, he is a Serpential and he is an astronomer in ship navigation”

“He can understand all of us then?” she clarified trying to get a grasp of the situation. “Does he have any idea where we are?”

Sanic looked at Cecil as he started to hiss his reply, beginning with a belittling laugh as he said, “Of courssssse I know what you are sssssaying, you ssssssimple minded human. You are the onessssss that are too ssssstupid to undersssstand anyone. I have been telling you all thissss time my computer’ssssss chartssss are not ssshowing thissss location.” he prickled and then looked quickly in Sanic’s direction as he realized what he had said.

However, Sanic did not look to be upset, he even laughed a bit while he relayed the essential parts of Cecil’s reply to the Captain. “He says he can understand perfectly. And he has been trying to tell you his charts are not showing this area.”

Cecil relaxed a little at hearing the Ensign’s translation. He had not tried to get him in trouble by revealing what other things he had said about the stupid humans. Perhaps it would not be so bad to have someone understand him after all, he thought.

“What does he mean the charts are not showing where we are?” she asked in disbelief. Was he as inept at his job as everyone else in her crew?

The snake man hissed a sigh of agitation at her questioning him.

“The sssstarsssss.” he hissed hotly, gesturing toward the huge view screen. “The ssssstarssss do not match the chartsssss.” he maintained.

Sanic turned to look out at the space scene showing on the display behind him.

“He says the stars don’t match the charts.” he informed the Captain.

Fairbanks tisked her impatience. “That is ridiculous.” she persisted. “There were only a few seconds from the time the ship finally moved to evade the attack until we stopped here. We could not have traveled that far.” she calculated.

“We must still be in the Andromeda Galaxy at least.” she insisted crossly, tiring of everyone else’s incompetence.

“Sssss…sssss..sssss..sssss” Cecil snickered at the Captain’s childish stubbornness. “You can check the chartssss yoursssself, human.” he hissed condescendingly. “But they sssstill will not match.”

“He still believes the ship is out of range for the charts to match.” Sanic interpreted for the Captain.

Fairbanks shook her head in disbelief that they could not be on any star charts, and at her terrible fate of being stuck on this exasperating ship.

Valesque who had been watching the situation quietly decided it was about time for her to speak up. She didn’t want to come right out and say anything about the Space Tripper, that would only criminalize her, but she did have an idea on how to solve the skepticism about their current position.

Have to start getting them used to it from some point, and it would be better if they can come to the conclusion themselves , she thought before coming forward to present her suggestion.

“Umm….I think that Cecil is probably right.” she began, trying to keep from sounding too knowledgeable about their situation. “But we can all go up to the Star Deck and have a look from there to be sure.” she urged, “You can get a panoramic view from up there so it might be helpful.” she explained temptingly for both sides.

The two opposing parties looked at each other with annoyance showing plainly in their countenance. The Captain finally conceding, “Fine, at least if we can get a better view outside we can figure out where we are.” she stated, still resolute on her stand that they were not outside of known space.

Valesque grimaced a bit, imagining how uncomfortable her near future was about to become, as she led the whole control and flight crew to the Hydro-lifts and up to the ship’s topmost deck.

The Star Deck was by far the most beautiful area on the ship, exceeding even the Recreation Deck in ambiance and décor.

This floor was actually two open decks in one, making it a very tall and airy space.

The only solid interior walls were on an island in the middle of the deck that housed the three Hydro-lift bay areas, which accessed the rest of the ship.

This island of elevators and wall effectively cut the deck in half, but only went up as far as the first floor ceiling would have, leaving a deck high open area above the wall and connecting both sides of the large room. The wall also did not reach all the way to the ends of the room leaving space on either edge for tables and walkways.

The Star Deck was the ship’s only public eating area; the food duplicators for the entire room were located along the back of the Hydro-lift wall, the long stretch of flat space allowing ample room for enough duplicating machines to feed an entire ship of people with little or no waiting in lines.

The rest of the room was just open space occupied by tables set out in intimate groupings with plenty of empty floor space in between for walking.

The most captivating feature was that the entire deck was bordered by a transparent outer hull, like a ring of huge picture windows all around the deck.

The lighting in the room was kept dim with only natural bioluminescent lamps on the tables and slightly stronger lights pointing down at the duplicators.

The low lighting not only made the room feel more elegant but it also allowed the stars and planets outside to take center stage, as there were no bright interior lights that would interfere with the view.

Not many of the crowd had made it up to this deck before it seemed, because as soon as the lift doors had hissed open they would just stand there in the doorway gaping as they gasped in wonder at the sights before them.

The darkness of space with the incandescent stars that surrounded the ship made a dramatic background through the clear deck high viewing panels.

Everyone except Cecil and Captain Fairbanks seemed in awe of the view around them. The Captain just stood surveying the scene with crisp, stern glances noting how unnecessary the entire deck was. While Cecil made a scornful face and commented cynically in his snake like hiss, “Ssssssshowy and repulsssssively overdone desssign.”

Valesque however did not pay either of them any mind as she reached down for her Vid-screen from her hip pouch. She had gone back to the Med-room after picking up Lola to retrieve her tools and reseal the panel over the Space Tripper in the doctor’s break-room. The last thing she needed was someone who was there for treatments from the jump coming across that mess and either fooling with it or alerting the Captain before she had a chance to explain.

The Engineer brought up a control program on her Vid-screen and did an override on the emergency power shut down in order to open the Star Deck’s ceiling blinds.

She tapped the release button on the screen and looked up expectantly as a low hiss and motor movement was heard far above them.

The rest of the group slowly switched their focus from the room to the roof above as the droning motors gradually revealed a slit in the formerly dark, flat ceiling panels.

Even the crew members who had been to this deck before began to murmur in wonder as the roof above them began to open up, revealing an entire slightly domed ceiling of the same transparent material as the walls.

They all now found themselves standing in a huge clear dome with stars and galaxies twinkling all around them.

Gasps of awe went up from the group she had brought with her as well as from the few people who had been enjoying a meal from the duplicators before they arrived.

It looked as if the entire deck was sitting out in open space.

Even the most critical among them looked to be enthralled with the new view, Valesque noted with a sideways glance at them all.

The usually cool Pilot looked up with a slightly dropped jaw, from his spot where he was leaning casually between the Hydro-lifts to the back of the group.

Sanic was looking at it with unrestrained enthusiasm, a wide eager smile across his face.

The Captain let her tightly crossed arms slack a bit as the blinds folded away.

While the usually acidic Serpantial lost himself in the moment and slithered forward from the group as he stared wide-eyed at the view around him. Opening his stubby arms and looking up with a childish glee that only a fellow astronomer or lover of stars could know.

“Well, there you go.” Valesque interrupted the stunned silence with a sweeping gesture across the panoramic view. “Do you think you know where we are now?” she asked no one in particular.

Whispering and murmurs went up from the group as they all tried to locate familiar stars or constellations.

“I think that is Orespher with its twelve moons over there.” one said. “Except that other planet doesn’t belong there.” they finished.

“That group over there looks like Auron’s Hammer.” someone suggested.

“Doesn’t the Hammer have twenty stars in its head and a line of 10 for its handle?” another asked. “That one only has fifteen and the handle is too short.”

They went on trying to make out what galaxy or solar system they could possibly be in but nothing fit.

Finally the snake man who had come out of his star daze came up with an idea. “Is it posssssible to have the computer project the chartssss onto the ssseiling to find any matchessss?” he hissed, still fully believing they would not find one, but it was the easiest way to show those who were too simple to realize it themselves.

Sanic translated his suggestion to the Captain, who then looked to the Engineer for an answer.

Valesque called up her Vid-screen programs again and did an access link between the star charts and the Star Deck’s dome, instructing the computer to find a match to the scene outside.

Red laser lights flashed up on the walls and ceiling, indicating where stars should be on a certain chart, the pattern then switched to some green spots where stars and planets matched and remaining red dots where there were errors.

A number then showed up on the controlling Vid-screen in Valesque’s hand “298,056 mismatches.” she announced.

Another pattern flashed on the dome, changing to different red and green spots.

“573,967 mismatched.” Valesque repeated the number aloud.

“There are thousssandsss of ssssstar chartsssss.” Cecil informed them, thinking how tiring this would be if they went through all of them this slowly.

“He says this will take forever to go through all the charts this way.” Sanic translated to the Captain.

“I agree.” she immediately responded, “Can we get the computer to go through the calculations faster?” she asked the Virrilian who was tapping up the next chart.

“If you like.” she shrugged. “What margin of error are you comfortable with?”

“Margin of error?” the Captain blinked, she was not in favor of any error.

“In the match. How much error will you allow before you call it a match?” Valesque explained calmly, knowing full well nothing more than a 2% match would ever be likely to come up.

“I would like a 100% match, Ensign.” she snapped, annoyed at the suggestion that she had been wrong and the charts would not match correctly. “We will settle for a 95% match however.” she said covering her bases.

“95 it is.” the Virrilian acknowledged as she put the number into the search parameters, then stood back and watched as star charts flashed on the dome around them.

“We might as well relax, this could take a while.” Tim commented as he watched a few charts flash on and off before making his way over to where Valesque stood staring at her Vid-screen.

“Are you really expecting a match to come up soon?” he asked over her shoulder as he joined her in watching the numbers flash by on her handheld computer.

“Not particularly.” she answered a bit hesitantly, wondering if he had caught on, as she turned her head to look at him behind her.

“Good.” he smiled, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “Then how about we go over to one of those intimate tables and enjoy the romantic view?” he winked.

Valesque groaned slightly as she flipped her Vid-screen off and put it back in her pouch. “Okay, why not,” she sighed tiredly.

Tim grinned happily as he began to lead her off away from the crowd. But she turned to look behind them and call out, “Come on Lola, Sanic, we are going to go sit down over there for a while.” she invited.

The Pilot let out a breath of disappointment; he had been so close to getting her alone.

There was an awkward silence as they all sat down together, mainly because Tim was still not comfortable with Lola around. He had flirted with her so unabashedly before he knew what she was, and now it was a bit off-putting when she tried to continue that relationship.

Lola had sat down between Tim and Sanic, across the table from Valesque and began smiling coyly at the cool, good-looking Pilot.

Tim just looked around the table calmly as he calculated what his next move could be to lessen the numbers.

“I don’t know about any of you but I am getting really thirsty.” he began his strategy. “But I am too tired to bother getting anything, even though the duplicators are right over there.” he emphasized as he rested his arm on the table and leaned his head wearily against his hand, looking briefly at Lola in the seat beside him.

“I can get you something!” Lola exclaimed brightly, only too happy to do something for the cute Lieutenant.

“No, I wouldn’t want to bother you.” he sighed dejectedly. “You are probably tired too.”

“Oh, no, I am not a bit tired!” she assured him. “I can go get you something right now and be back in a jiffy.” she insisted.

“If you are sure it isn’t any trouble.” the Pilot replied with a patented smile.

“Nope, no trouble at all.” she bubbled. “What would you like?”

“I’ll let you pick.” he replied. “I am sure you will choose something I will really like.” he coaxed with another smile.

Lola grinned and bounced up from her seat, cheerily going across the room to the food duplicators.

Tim had calculated his reply perfectly because he knew it would take longer for her to pick something she thought he might like than for her to just order something he asked for specifically.

Tim then turned worrisomely to Valesque. “Are you sure you don’t want anything, Beautiful?” he queried. “It has been a while since your dinner break and you had been a bad girl and not finished everything on your plate. With your high metabolism I am sure you must be getting hungry again by now.” he commented.

Valesque wanted to contradict him, but the truth was as he mentioned it she did begin to feel hungry and regretted not finishing her meal earlier.

Sanic saw that the Lieutenant was probably right and got an idea. “I can go get you something.” he suggested eagerly.

Valesque looked to the easily maneuvered young Operations Commander uncertainly.

It was almost as if the Yorkie had it all scripted out with Lola and Sanic completely under his control.

“It’s not a problem; I have something I am sure you will like.” he insisted, then got up from the table and started on his mission before she could reply.

Valesque gave the Pilot an icy look, “You are pretty clever at this, Yorkie.” she remarked.

Tim gave her a pleased smile and a wink, looking like he was about to say something but she cut him off.

“You still don’t care for Lola, yet you can easily use her when it is to your benefit.” she continued a bit angry at him being able to utilize the naive girl so easily. On the other hand, maybe she was upset at Lola for being so easily used.

Tim shrugged, still smiling. “Serving others makes her happy doesn’t it?” he excused. “Besides, it gave us the chance to be alone.” he said moving a bit closer and reaching out for her hand that rested on the table before her.

Valesque sat back in her chair, effectively breaking the intimacy and rolled her eyes.

“You just don’t seem to trust my sincerity, Beautiful.” Tim complained teasingly as he held his position near her.

“What sincerity?” she mocked.

For some reason the flirtatious Pilot looked slightly hurt, he still held his carefree smile, but something in his eyes seemed to start at this and then take on an almost sad expression.

Valesque was caught a bit off guard by this sudden change in his look, but went on awkwardly. “You probably use the same lines on all the girls, Yorkie.” she continued.

The Pilot put his head to the side, his stubborn lock of blond hair falling over his right eye as he smiled at her again, but somehow his eyes did not seem to loose the sad reflection.

He regarded her silently for a moment. Her pale skin glowed softly in the incandescent light, her red lips looking dark and tempting as her short hair shimmered in waves around her slightly anxious face.

“What if I promise to use all new lines on you?” he suggested half seriously.

The Virrilian woman groaned at the unwelcome thought. “Oh, Puulease.” she moaned, giving him a weary expression, not feeling sorry for him anymore. “Is it impossible for you to be serious for even a second?” she complained.

The Lieutenant did not have time to reply to this as Lola rejoined their table and sat a steaming cup in front of the Pilot with a proud smile. “It is a cup of hot moogo bean juice.” she announced, very happy with herself. “There were so many choices, but I remembered my father always liked a nice hot cup of bean juice at the end of a tiring day.” she grinned; sure he would like her selection.

Tim made a slight grimace at the mention of her ‘father’ and the more than likely false memory, as he picked up the cup she had deposited on the table for him.

It was indeed a good choice though he had to admit as he lifted it to his lips and breathed in the calming, richly spiced aroma.

He had not gotten much of a chance to talk with his target, but he did get a good impression that his usual style was not going to interest her he acknowledged as he cast a glance her way over the rim of his cup.

Valesque was not sure why but the Yorkie did not seem to look at her in his usual carefree, playful way ever since she challenged his sincerity. As she caught him looking at her again with those strangely serious eyes she looked away uncomfortably, somehow with that expression he looked rather dangerous.

Sanic returned to the table with food and drink for Valesque and himself.

The bowl he handed her was filled with some kind of hot broth with noodles and vegetables.

“This is an Etherian specialty.” he informed her as she sniffed the bowl of brown liquid doubtfully, carbohydrates were not something she normally ate a lot of. “It is something that my mother always made for me; it’s one of my favorite meals.” he assured her with a friendly smile.

Valesque looked at the bowl of noodles curiously. “I don’t remember this being one of the selections programmed into the duplicator.”

Sanic gave a knowing look as he pulled a small rectangular storage card from a pocket on his uniform, “It isn’t, but I brought the program for it with me.”

Valesque was silent for a second as she let this sink in. “You….carry the molecular composition of your favorite dish with you everywhere you go?” she asked incredulously.

Of course, she admitted to herself, she pretty much did the same thing with the program for her meat.

Sanic laughed good-naturedly, his grey eyes squinting in his smile. “It’s easier than reprogramming it every time.”

“I know you have a high protein metabolism.” the young Ensign added quickly, “So I modified it by having the duplicator add in some pieces of your Virrilian seared meat. I put some in mine too so I can try it.” he grinned, always eager to try something new and exotic.

As he said this Valesque noticed the chunks of blackened meat that were combined with the original Etherian mixture. He had certainly been thoughtful in his selection.

She shrugged out a small weary sigh as she dug into the newly revised dish, and was amazed at how tasty it actually was with just the right blend of soft wheat noodles and warm, fragrant spices. Too bad the food stores that made up the noodles and vegetables would soon be depleted thanks to Lola’s hydroponics fiasco.

Sanic watched nervously as she took her first bite, hoping she would like it. He was very relieved when her eyes lit up and she smiled at him commenting that his Etherian spiced noodles were wonderful.

He in turn took a bite of her rare Virrilian beef and praised it as well, deciding to make it a frequent addition to his program. The two cultures blended well together, he thought happily.

Sanic had a warm feeling flush over him as he and his ideal ate their meals happily together, it was something he had wanted to do for a long time.

Although, he had never pictured the scene quite like this; with a cheerful android trying to flirt with a quiet Pilot who just sat sipping his juice as the background.

By the time they had finished their meals the computer had just about gone through all of the star charts.

The Captain was sitting calmly on the other side of the wide aisle with a small group of senior officers, sipping a cup of hot tea and staring silently up at the charts as they flashed on and off around her.

As the last one blinked on and off on the clear, domed ceiling, Fairbanks turned slowly in her seat to address the Virrilian Engineer who sat across the way chatting casually with the small group of lower officers.

“Ensign Valesque.” she began steadily after her soothing cup of herbal tea.

“What matches have we found?”

Valesque got out her Vid-screen again, deciding to ignore the irritating title.

“Matches at 100%.” she started as the results began to come up on her screen.

“Zero.” she said flatly.

Fairbanks mouth twisted into a small annoyed scowl at this announcement.

“Results for the minimum 95% match…zero” the Engineer continued counting off.

Cecil slithered a bit closer to the two groups seated at the opposing tables, apparently well pleased.

The Captain saw him edging closer but kept her attention on the Engineer and the program’s findings.

“How about 80%.” she sighed, putting down her cup and smoothing back her auburn hair.

Valesque checked the screen again, scrolling down through some other data to get to the result the Captain had requested, “80% error margin……has…no matches.” she returned, starting to feel a little uneasy as everyone listened to her calling off the results with confused and anxious expressions. How was she going to find the right moment to tell them all what had really happened?

Fairbanks shook her head as she sighed in agitation, she still could not believe they had no chart for their current location. “Are there any matches?” she asked, as the Serpential seemed to grin behind her back.

Sanic and Tim looked over Valesque’s shoulders as she scrolled through the report.

“Ah, there.” Tim called as his sharp eyes found a match. “5% probability has one possible match.”

“It is chart number Z-3-726492786-B.” Sanic chimed in before the Captain had to ask.

“Where is that?” came her modified question.

Cecil hissed his snake laugh again as he moved forward between the two groups. “Impossssible.” he argued. “That chart number issss for the Exsssspheron Nebula.”

“He says that is the Expheron Nebula.” Sanic relayed to the Captain as he interpreted the collar’s code.

The Captain looked happy they had found a match of any kind. Even a 5% probability was better than nothing.

Cecil gave another derisive laugh at the very suggestion. “Thisss isss not the Nebula.” he opposed, “That chart hasssss not been updated in hunderedssssss of yearsssss. The Nebula is too far away to bother keeping up with.” he hissed authoritatively. “Bessssidessss, if thisssss were the Exsssssspheron Nebula thissss sssship would have been dessstroyed by now.” Cecil continued.

“The Nebula issss too corrosssive and we have no ssshieldsss. Alssso the area is much too clear, the Nebula issss very gassssseoussss.” he remarked as he gestured towards the sparkling stars and transparent space with one spindly arm.

Sanic translated the basics for the rest of the group by saying it was too clear outside to be the acidic Nebula and that the chart was very old.

“But even if this was the Nebula.” he added in his own analysis, “That would put us on the very outer edge of known space.”

The Captain did not want to hear this. They needed to get to Corseccan space, if they were in the Nebula’s area that would put them hundreds of light years off course, meaning they had crossed all that distance in a few seconds.

“Impossible.” she insisted. “We can not possibly be that far out. There must be some mistake. Run the charts again.” she ordered.

Valesque was tempted to say something about that being a waste of time but the snake man interrupted her.

“Sss.ssss.sssss.sssss” Cecil snickered at the Captain’s stubbornness.

“You will never admit it, will you human?” he hissed accusingly. “It isss ssssstupid to deny the obviousssss. We are not in known ssssspace any longer. It issss not impossssible to travel ssssso far in a few sssssecondssss” he continued correcting the simple being, “if we had traveled in a ssssspasssse warp or sssssssomething.”

“A space warp?” Sanic repeated as he contemplated that possibility.

Fairbanks again scoffed at the idea. “Space warps are just a myth, a scientific dream.” she retorted. She hated science and its hypothesis, such whimsical, flighty ideas.

“Not nessssessssarily you obssssstinate biped.” Cecil informed her through Sanic. “There were tessstsss done with warpsssss a few yearssss ago. I believe even the Military wasssss interesssted in that.” he blinked at her.

Valesque was starting to get a little nervous as they continued edging closer to the truth.

“The sssssspassse traveler or sssssomething they had named it.” he tried to recall.

“The Space Tripper?” the Military Captain corrected him as Sanic translated. She was vaguely familiar with that project. It was something her superior

General Gorbok had been interested in, but the project had ended prematurely and no more was heard about it. Just that it was rumored the inventor had sold it. And that inventor…was….a... “Virrilian.” she said aloud as she realized a possible connection.

“That Space Tripper device that the General was trying to get was invented by a Virrilian.” she remembered, looking towards her Virrilian Ensign.

Valesque found herself uncomfortably in the spotlight once again as she nervously cleared her throat trying not to look distressed as all eyes were turned to her.

“You would not happen to know anything about that device would you, Ensign?” she asked suspiciously. The Virrilian Engineer had been adamant about not wanting this ship to go to Corseccan Space to join the fight against her people, she recalled clearly, and had threatened to do anything in her power to keep it from happening.

“The Space Tripper?” Valesque stalled, knowing the conclusions everyone was likely to come to. “Uhmm, yes…and no. I had not heard anything about it for at least five years, ever since the Virrilians rejected the project.” she evaded.

“Would you say it is possible that something like that has caused us to get far off our intended course?” the Military woman prodded, her suspicions growing as she contemplated the circumstantial evidence.

“A space warp could definitely do that.” she agreed, trying to ease her way into the truth of the situation.

The Captain was silent for a moment before she continued in a very severe tone, “I need to check into something, and then I think we all need to have an important discussion in the conference room, Miss Valesque.” she commanded, before calling her Upper Officers to her and purposefully leaving the room.

Chapter Eight: Accusations

Half an hour later Valesque found herself standing at the head of the conference room table with the Captain, a large blank video screen hung on the wall between them.

The rest of the main control and flight crew were seated around the table, all looking quizzically at their Captain and Virrilian crewmate, wondering why they had been summoned here.

Among those at the table were Sanic and Lieutenant Baine who were in the dark as much as the rest, for Valesque had excused herself and hastily left the Star Deck as soon as the Captain had gone, in order to make preparations for her soon to be demanded defense.

Captain Fairbanks began by addressing the young Virrilian Engineer who stood beside her. “Miss Valesque, I did a little research into the device known as the Space Tripper. And what I found was very interesting.” the regally composed redheaded Captain began as she pointed a controller towards the screen behind them.

“The person who invented the only known space warp device was a Virrilian.

According to the records I could find, her people did not hold her in great esteem and she had just graduated early from the Intergalactic University.

Immediately upon graduation she began a year long project on the same subject as her graduating thesis; Space Warp Technology.” the Captain related as pictures of different old articles she had found in the ship’s digital library showed on the screen between them.

“This is the only picture I could find of the Scientist in question; Doctor V. Rhaugh.” the stoic Captain continued, as an ID shot was shown from the University Yearbook. In it was a young pale woman with deep red lips who very much resembled Valesque, except she had long black hair that was braided and twisted up into a traditional Virrilian style, with long waves of hair falling down around her face. The girl in the photo was dressed in traditional garments and had a serious, determined look on her young Virrilian face.

“And this is a picture of a certain Tech-labs worker taken just this year.” Fairbanks continued as she brought up a photo everyone there recognized as Valesque. The second picture was from her Tech-Labs ID and showed a short-haired, smiling Valesque when she was just beginning her building project and beside herself with joy.

Valesque did not feel very joyful now as she looked at the two photos. She knew many fingers were once again about to point at her, just as they had five years ago when the Tripper had gone missing, making her feel very ill at ease.

Her Commanding Officer was not finished with her comparison yet. “It is interesting how very similar the two of you look, is it not Miss Valesque? Except that you no longer have the traditional hairstyle of your people, but have cropped it short. In addition, you no longer wear Virrilian clothing and even keep your nails trimmed short. All of which are against Virrilian customs.

Who would have thought our Engineer ‘Just Valesque’ was actually the same Doctor V. Rhaugh who had invented a space warp device so many years ago.” she taunted accusingly.

A few murmurs and one long low whistle were heard in the room as the two pictures were shown on the screen and the Captain’s observations heard.

Tim’s hand immediately went up as he spoke out freely, “You wouldn’t happen to have either of those in a wallet size, would you?” he asked eagerly, effectively alleviating the tension that had built in the room.

He liked the first picture with her hair long and pulled up, in that it reminded him of the poster in Valesque’s room, but the second more recent shot for the Tech-Labs ID was the only time he had really seen her smile.

He was torn as to which one he liked better.

Valesque groaned and rolled her eyes at his characteristic inquiry, but at least he was back to his usual carefree, playful self, which she was relieved to see.

Captain Fairbanks however was not amused by the outburst.

“This is not the time to be fooling around, Lieutenant.” she reprimanded crossly.

“You're right, Captain. I apologize. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Tim said solemnly, hanging his head in repentance. “I can just get the computer to make me copies later.” he acknowledged, as low snickers went up from the group around him.

“That is enough! We are discussing a serious matter. I expect you all to retain proper decorum.” she scolded the crew sitting around the table, with a stern, tight-lipped frown of disapproval.

“Miss Valesque, or should I say Doctor Rhaugh, you have purposely sabotaged this ship with your space warp generator in order to keep us from helping the war effort in Corseccan Space. You were determined to keep us from that area and swore to use every means at your disposal. You have done nothing but try to hamper our progress from the very beginning by disabling the shields, engines, weapons, communications and now even using a space warp.” Fairbanks accused crossly. “I demand that you return us to our proper course immediately.” she ordered the traitorous Virrilian.

Valesque gaped as the Captain read off the list of supposed interference she had deliberately caused. Anger and disbelief rushed to her face as she squared off against her accuser hotly.

“Excuse me? What did you just say? I not the one who stubbornly, stupidly and inexcusably insisted on stealing an unfinished vessel, Captain. If anyone is responsible for this mess it is you and your blind obedience to that ‘General Warlord'.” Valesque fumed, not about to take the blame for getting everyone in this situation.

“If you had listened to anyone besides your own obstinate, pigheaded and inflexible self we wouldn’t even be in this position. And as for the Space Tripper, I would like to point out, Captain, that it is only because it kicked in that we have survived this long after facing enemy fire. Taking an incomplete, unarmed, unprotected vessel out into open space is pure suicide. Let alone your intention of taking it into battle.”

Fairbanks looked back at the irate Virrilian smugly. “So you admit to bringing that device on board?” she stated more than asked.

Valesque reeled at the thought as if she had just been slapped. “I admit no such thing.” she spat vehemently. “I had invented it, I admit that much. But I had created it to appease my people, as you had gathered they were not well pleased with my life choices in becoming a scientist and going to Intergalactic University. So I naively tried to pacify them by creating a war device. But I would not make anything that would kill someone.” she announced firmly. She was resolute on that score; she would never intentionally end another person’s life.

A whisper of agreement went up from the group watching this exchange, many of them were not Military personnel and they too felt the sanctity of life.

Sanic was proud of her declaration and smiled in agreement with her words while the placid Pilot made a small half smile at hearing her defense.

The Captain made a derisive face at this proclamation. “Yet you used that weapon against us.” she charged coldly, debasing Valesque’s self-proclaimed humanitarian stand.

Valesque looked a bit flustered as she glanced at all the seemingly accusing faces surrounding her. At this rate, if she could not express herself calmly, nobody would believe her.

Presently the Captain’s Second in Command Fazar spoke up, he had not been with them earlier on the Control Deck nor when they had gone up to verify the charts on the Star Deck, because he had been down in the Med-room waiting to be treated for a slight shoulder injury.

Now as he was getting abreast of the situation he had to cut in for the Virrilian’s defense. “It is said ‘The harder you have to fight to hold specific assumptions, the more value there is in letting them go.’” Fazar began calmly as he leaned back in his seat near the Captain.

His heavily lidded eyes looked directly as his Superior Officer as he continued softly, “In case of dissension, never judge till you have heard the other side.” he advised the short-tempered woman.

“Are you suggesting she is innocent?” the Captain wondered incredulously. “The facts are plain, she is the inventor of the only known space warp device, she admits it was used on this ship. What more do we need to know, besides how to get back?” she argued, disliking Fazar’s easygoing approach to all the problems they faced. He was the one who had tried to get her to be nice and diplomatic with the Virrilian saboteur to begin with.

The round wrinkled man resembled a tortoise even more as he pursed his lips and closed his eyes before replying in his heavily accented voice, “It better to risk saving guilty person than to condemn an innocent one, as they say.” he remarked in defense of his diplomatic tact.

“I believe you can judge character of someone by how they treat those who can do nothing for them, I have known the young woman for many year and have found her to be very good character. I would like therefore to hear her out. As said ‘there no better way to judge the future but by the past’.” he quoted. “If you do not mind, Captain, I would like to attempt get the facts of this case myself. If you please take my seat, I continue investigation.” the older man prompted as he raised himself up from the chair and offered it to the aggravated Officer.

Valesque breathed out a sigh of relief at this turn of events; it seemed she was going to get to tell her side rationally after all.

“Now, Miss Valesque, I call you still because that how I have come to know you. I admit, I had my suspicion you were Virrilian Scientist we had heard much controversy about all those year ago. But did not matter as been said, 'Things that are already done, is needless to speak about...for things that are past, is needless to blame'.

However, for sake of your accusers would please relate to us the circumstances as they occurred.” he requested considerately with a bow to the onlookers as if he were her defense attorney addressing a jury.

“The circumstances?” Valesque repeated puzzled, “Where do you want me to begin?”

“I am sure we all find it very enlightening if began with your reason for inventing a space warp creation, through the turbulent affairs that arose from it and how we got to this point today.” he prompted his witness.

“Oookay.” Valesque replied uncertainly as she turned to her attentive fellow crewmates. Where to start?

“Well…..” she hesitated as she thought of her approach to the subject of her reasons for creating the device. “As many are aware the Virrilian race, my race, do not approve of you choosing your own path in life.” she began simply.

“I have always been interested in science and inventing so of course they wanted me to do something opposite of that. Of course….I left and I attended the Intergalactic University. During school and even upon graduation I had a dream to appease my people, so I began work on a weapon.” she admitted with downcast eyes. “But I could not bring myself to create something that would really harm anyone. What I devised was a space warp. Surely if you could get rid of your enemy without having to kill them it would be the better solution.” the Engineer exclaimed, still believing in her ideals.

“But as the Captain had mentioned I had already been disowned by my family and my race, and the Virrilian council did not approve of the plan, so I was again rejected. At this time there were other factions wanting me to sell them my plans, but they all wanted it for war and greed and by that time I had regretted the entire idea. So I refused any offers on it and intended to destroy the entire project.” she explained with a remorseful sigh as she remembered those times.

“However, someone broke into my secured lab and stole the Space Tripper before I had a chance to dismantle it. I have to admit, I was relieved it was gone, and I honestly believed no one else knew how to operate it.” she added defensively.

“The word got around about my having sold the Tripper to the enemies of my people in the war, and so I was exiled and told if I ever entered their space again I would be executed. After that, I moved around a lot, trying to find my place in the universe outside my home planet. I finally ended up on Saturna 3 with plans in hand for my grand scheme of a large scale science exploration vessel.” she concluded.

“A peaceful science vessel with foursquare firing capabilities and four level, dual oscillating shields?” the Captain laughed cynically.

Valesque’s dark, red lips pressed into a tight frown as she glared at the provoking Military Officer. “An exploratory vessel needs full defensive capabilities.” the Engineer maintained. “Foursquare weapons mean no part of the ship would be vulnerable at any given time. That would be essential for a vessel which would be observing a Super Nova explosion, or traveling through an asteroid storm where debris is coming at you from all angles.” she revealed with a furrowed brow at the Captain’s obviously single-minded use for weapons.

Valesque did however suppress the urge to tell the antagonistic woman exactly what she thought of her cynicism.

The Captain looked unconvinced as she geared up for another assault. “You also claimed your space warp device vanished and yet there was one on this ship wasn’t there? And very conveniently for your intentions of keeping us from taking this vessel to Corseccan space, I might add.”

Valesque scowled again, “Are you insinuating I purposely installed the device I have regretted building for five years on my own ship?” she growled in disgust.

“Of course!” Fairbanks affirmed, “In order to keep from going back to your native sector, and to keep your precious ‘exploration’ vessel from being in a war.”

“So you think I intentionally chose to get stuck out in the middle of who-knows-where with you? Not to mention being stuck out here on an unshielded, unarmed and incomplete ship for who knows how long, with you!” the Virrilian emphasized negatively.

“I don’t know how the Space Tripper got on this ship, but when I discovered it in the Med-room while I was being treated, I was just as surprised and alarmed to see it as you.” Valesque related.

Tim and Sanic were a bit surprised at hearing this, they had been with her when she had been in the Med-room and she had not mentioned anything to them about it.

Come to think of it though, they each thought to themselves, it would explain a lot of her odd behavior lately. Why she had seemed so nervous and distracted.

Sanic particularly remembered her anxious look in the Engineering room when she had found the fault in the engine’s output. And then there was the device she had been making when they had walked in on her in her lab. And how she had disappeared without a word.

Many things started to fit together and make sense as they reminisced about the past day’s events.

“So, you have known it was aboard this whole time? Yet, you kept silent about it. That spells either a guilty conscience or the deliberate act of a saboteur.” Fairbanks said in another accusing tone.

“ I chose not to alarm anyone else.” Valesque corrected, “I knew that if the Space Tripper was revealed that I would become suspect and that would slow me down in trying to disarm it. From the time I found it I have been trying to deactivate it before its preset trigger went off. All I was successful in doing however was getting the feeders out of the emergency power system before it was activated; by I assume…the red alert.” she informed them after having considered the circumstances. “Otherwise it would have used up even what little back-up power we have in the jumps.”

Fazar mulled over the story Valesque had related in his head as the Captain gave a dubious snort and turned away.

“Hmmmm….” he pondered aloud about to begin his closing remarks, “it been said ‘You cannot change anything unless you first accept it’” he cited.

“We now must accept, no matter circumstances, we have been sent through a space warp. We need to move past the reasons and onto what to do about it, as is said ‘Forget everything except what you are going to do now’.”

“Right now, I say we make the Doctor return us to known space so we can get back on our course.” Captain Fairbanks agreed heartily.

Valesque grimaced at the unfeasible order. “Ummm....that…..is not really possible.” the Inventor reluctantly pronounced.

“What do you mean it is not possible? Just send us back the way we came.” she insisted, distrustful of the Virrilian’s hesitation to do as she was asked.

“You are forgetting... I designed it to be a weapon. I never intended anyone to get back.” she paused, not sure how they would take the next news. “You see, we did not go through just one space warp.” the nervous Virrilian explained.

This seemed to peak Sanic’s interest. “You mean we did more than one jump?” he asked in wonder at the sheer possibility. “Even so, it should be possible to trace a path back and reverse the jumps to the original position, right?”

“Yes, in theory…that might work. But do you remember all the times the ship lurched forward and then stopped and instantly jumped again?” she probed. “And do you remember the strobe-like flashes of light?”

They all agreed they had remembered successive flashes as the ship had rocked beneath them.

“Well……was anyone able to count how many flashes of light there were?” she inquired again, knowing full well they had gone by too quickly to count. “Because…that is how many jumps we did before the Tripper used up all of our power.” Valesque winced at admitting the problem.

There was a moment of stunned silence.

At last it was Sanic who spoke again. “That would mean we did possibly hundreds of jumps in just a matter of seconds.”

“Exactly.” she agreed, he had hit the problem right on the head. “You see…I devised the Space Tripper to send enemy ships through a space warp never to return. In order to do that, they had to not know where they were or how to get back.” she clarified. “So I made the Tripper use not one but…multiple jumps. It will actually just keep jumping until the power runs out, while ricocheting you in all directions.”

Valesque paused for a moment before she continued; she had just remembered some of her earlier problems. “In fact, who ever had set up the Tripper had also hamstrung the engines. So the Captain could not get a faster speed no matter what the output was set at, because the energy was bled away and saved up for the jumps. They had been very clever in getting us as far away as possible.” she noted slightly impressed.

“Then why did you not fix the engines right away?” the Captain asked bluntly.

“Because, if the Tripper had sensed the power dissipating it would have activated before too much energy was lost in the engines.” she stated simply, annoyed the Captain could not even understand something that elementary. “I was trying to avoid it going off at all, I was not looking for ways to activate it.” she scowled.

“As Ensign Sanic suggested, why not just go back the way we came, it took just seconds to get here, it should not take that long to get back.” Fairbanks suggested, tiring of all the scientific babble.

She just wanted a plan to get back home and on their way to the Corseccan Galaxy.

Valesque gawked at her incredulously; had she not listened at all?

“I am sure even Sanic realizes that in order to reverse a jump you…”

“Have to know the exact speed, place and length of the original jump.” Lieutenant Baine finished for her.

The Virrilian Engineer looked at him in astonishment, even the Yorkie could figure that much out!

“E….exactly” she stuttered in utter shock at him saying something so rational.

“You would have to have kept an exact record of each jump.”

“Why not just point the ship in the direction we came from and just do some jumps until we get to a familiar place.” the Captain asked impatient to get on the move again.

“You could end up anywhere.” Sanic and Valesque replied in unison, both a bit alarmed at the very idea.

“You could end up even farther away and more lost. You could theoretically jump for years and never get back to a recognizable place.” Valesque added, she had calculated all these possibilities when she had designed it after all.

Captain Fairbanks frowned as she ran her hand over her sleek red hair. “So you are saying we are stuck out here.” she confirmed steadily.

“We could try to ascertain which direction we came from originally and try going back that way without a jump.” Tim recommended. “Of course, depending on where we actually are, it could take quite a few years to get back even at L3.”

A low whistle came from one of the other crewmembers. “Going for years at three times the speed of light.” they repeated, discouraged by the very idea. And that was only if they had picked the right direction to travel!

The Captain sighed loosing patience, “So what are our options?”

“We could do as Lieutenant Baine suggested and try to calculate what direction we need to go in order to get back, and try to analyze any data we can find on the jumps as we go. Eventually we might be able to find a return path.” Sanic suggested.

Valesque shook her head. “Before you can even do that we need to get this ship repaired. We have zero power, which means the Light Core will have to charge the batteries for at least a week before we can use even the lowest engine pulse.” she reported, throwing water on the Captain’s plans once again.

“And before that we have to get the shields in place, and some of the weapons would be a good idea as well. We are now in unfamiliar territory, we have no sensors and therefore no idea what is out there, a comet could come by or we could drift into an asteroid field. Without shields we are completely vulnerable to any number of things.” she reminded them seriously. Her concern was the safety of her ship and these people, no matter where they were in the universe.

Fairbanks hated to admit it, but the aggravating Virrilian was right, their first priority was defense. “I will have Junior Lieutenant Cecil in navigation begin calculating a return path.” she announced. “Lieutenant Baine, I want you to accompany Doctor Rhaugh and Ensign Sanic. You three will oversee the repairs, starting with the shields.” she ordered curtly, not wanting to let the Virrilian wander unsupervised any longer.

She still did not trust her to willingly help them return to their home territory, as she was adamant about not letting herself or her ship be involved in the war.

The Captain let out a heavy sigh as she dismissed the crew from the conference room. It looked like her husband was going to have to wait a bit longer after all.

Chapter Nine: Teamwork

Tim, Sanic and Valesque all left the conference room together. Since Tim was a Lieutenant he had been put in charge of the two Ensigns and their repair project.

The Captain had called Tim over and talked briefly with him before the three had left the room. Valesque was not quite sure what she had said to him, but she guessed it was something to do with her because Captain Fairbanks kept looking at her grimly as she spoke to her junior officer.

Now as soon as the doors had closed behind them, separating the small group from their heated superior, Tim turned to Valesque with a cocky half smile.

“It seems our Captain is not too fond of you, Beautiful.” he began, not a bit surprised. “It is now my duty to accompany you wherever you go. She told me from now on not to let you out of my sight. And I am not about to argue with the Captain’s wishes.” he smirked, satisfied with the arrangement himself. “Especially when they coincide so nicely with mine.” he added with a mischievous wink..

The small Virrilian next to him growled her disgust at her latest fate.

“So I am under house arrest? Is that it?” she asked in rhetorical aggravation.

“Yep, and I am your very own, personal guard.” he added suggestively, his blue eyes twinkling as he entertained himself with his companion’s deep loathing sighs and obvious annoyance with the situation.

“So, you are a ‘Doctor’, eh?” he started again after a slight pause, looking down at her as the three of them walked out of the control room towards the down Hydro-lift.

“That is pretty impressive, Beautiful.” Tim praised, imagining what it would take to acquire such a prestigious designation.

He had never bothered going to college himself, the only reason he had left Old New York and joined the Intergalactic Police was because of his parents insisting he do something useful with his life and talents. And they did not consider wasting away his life on a solar farm as making anything of himself. They had pressed him to go into the I.P.A. Military but he was not interested in being a subordinate lackey. At least in the I.P.F you were given mostly free reign, mercenaries were not known for liking to be dictated to after all.

Now as he contemplated Valesque’s achievements, who looked to be even younger than himself, he had new respect for her. It was a new thing for him to be so taken with such a highly educated and capable girl, before the only type he had really gone for was a waitress or cute nurse.

Then there was the occasional flight mechanic, the base secretaries and one rather attractive salesgirl he remembered. But the aloof Virrilian was the first really distinguished and complex girl he had ever been interested in. Her title, knowledge and competence put her in a league of her own, but not out of his league by any means, it just made her more interesting and worth attaining.

Valesque flushed slightly at hearing herself referred to as ‘Doctor’ again, she had never been particularly fond of the title. ‘Doctor’ somehow felt like a smug, arrogant, conceited title; thinking it was better than everyone else was.

She had worked hard and graduated early in order to get her doctorate as quickly as possible because she had thought that somehow if she were someone important in the Science Field, a ‘Doctor’, her people would change their minds and accept her.

But they hadn’t.

And when they rejected her offering in the shape of the space warp weapon, she discarded everything that had gone along with it including the self-important title, the whole space warp project, and her hopes of ever returning home. She threw it away, all the garbage of her past piled up together.

The Virrilian Engineer let out a small resigned sigh as her ignominious history began to catch up with her. “’Doctor’ is just something they call a person who finishes a certain number of classes.” she dismissed trivially.

“If you say so, Beautiful.” the Pilot replied, wondering a bit at the self–depreciating tone of her statement when she had obviously worked very hard to get that title.

“But, you can’t deny that creating a space warp device was one amazingly inconceivable accomplishment.” he insisted. He knew he was impressed with the idea anyone could have come up with that, let alone that it was the same young woman who was standing beside him in the hydro-lift now.

Surely you had to go to special high-tech, ultra-secured, top-secret places, by invitation only to get to meet such an apparent genius as her. Yet here she was, shamefaced in the elevator next to him as if it was nothing at all and even seemed to wish he would stop mentioning her accomplishments.

Valesque’s face twisted into a distrustful frown as he said this. “I would think you of all people would not have appreciated the design of such a weapon. What with you being a Military Flyboy and all.” she replied as if he had been mocking her.

“You mean because I am a fighter pilot and shoot people down for a living.” he confirmed. “But if you could get rid of an opponent without having to really harm them, that would be a much better solution.” he admitted to her shock.

“Of course, that is probably why I never would have fit into the I.PA.” he laughed. “There the motto is 'shoot first, ask questions later'. At least in the Police force I could choose how to deal with my targets. They might not have always agreed with my methods of incapacitating the enemy until they were forced to retreat, but they couldn’t argue much as I was their best fighter.” he finished with a slightly conceited tone.

Their companion Sanic had been silent from the time they left the conference room; he was deep in thought over the sudden revelation that his dream girl was even more amazing than he had at first thought. It was impressive enough that she was the main Engineer in charge of building such an outstanding ship, but now he also finds out she had even conceived and built a space warp generator and held a Doctorate in Scientific Engineering!

He had not had much formal education himself, he learned all about ship functions and electronics from living most of his life on board a science vessel with his parents. Becoming an Operations Commander seemed to be a natural course, he could not fathom how much determination it would take to pursue a doctorate degree.

That title and her accomplishments with it, especially the space warp device, surely put her in an even higher class than he had previously feared.

It seemed the more he found out about her the farther she was out of his league, and the less chance he had.

As the lift stopped at Science Deck 1 the two men realized they had been blindly following the Virrilian Engineer to the Med-room.

Tim suddenly felt uncomfortable again, as he realized their destination and he recalled Lola had been sent down to the Med-room by Valesque earlier to tend to those injured during the space warp.

He was still not at ease around the artificial female, her extremely outgoing and simple character would have been cute in a real girl, but in a fake one it was increasingly irritating. If she was a robot she should just act like one.

“Is there a reason why we are stopping on this level, Beautiful?” he asked as the Hydro-lift doors hissed open on the medical floor. He had somehow been under the impression they were going back down to her lab to work on the shield emitters.

“The Space Tripper is in the Med-room.” she replied simply. “Sanic had said he wanted to examine it and see if he could find a return path, remember?”

And she also wanted to check on Lola, she added silently to herself.

She was never quite sure what that android would get herself into without close supervision. Like the episode in the hydroponics room, she recalled, thinking how she now had to find the time to clean that mess up and see if there were any decent plants left.

Lola was not an official crewmember, no one had even realized she was on board when the orders had been made; she was also not a part of the control or flight crew so therefore she had not been invited to the Captain’s interrogation meeting in the conference room. Valesque had instead sent her back to the Med-room with instructions to feign an injury so she would have an excuse for being there if the Captain found out about it.

Lola had the ability to alter her appearance by picturing what she wanted to look like and then her exoskeleton would morph to conform to her visualization.

Valesque had no idea what injury Lola had given to herself as her excuse for being in the Med-room, but she was about to find out as the threesome walked through the doorway towards their destination.

Lola was seen in the second exam table aisle working on a very nervous looking patient.

Valesque was not sure what he had to be so worried about until Lola turned to see who the new arrivals were.

As the girl’s candy-colored head turned to glance their way Valesque got a good look at what had obviously been troubling him.

Lola had inflicted a serious ‘head injury’ to herself as her cover.

The blue side of her cotton-candy hair was stuck in spots to a horrible looking gash in her forehead that had trickled ‘blood’ down the side of her face. She looked like someone who was in desperate need of medical attention herself!

And this was apparently what her ‘patients’ in the Med-room had been thinking.

They had entered the room with merely slight cuts, scrapes and bruises only to be greeted by a woman with a severe head wound who insisted on treating them and would not take no for an answer.

As she diagnosed and tended to them, she rattled on a sad tale about the ordeal of unfortunate crewmates who were now lying dead by the thousands in a make-shift morgue a few floors below.

When she told them this story, and they saw her own terrible gash, they tended to look at one another in concern and back away fearfully. They were afraid the poor girl had been hit too hard in the head and was going completely delusional.

The crewmen figured the best thing to do in the situation was to let her do whatever she wanted and not to alarm her. They had heard deranged people like her tended to get violent if you tried to oppose them.

So, all of them just sat quietly waiting for their treatments while giving each other apprehensive looks and warning gestures.

They were obviously much relieved when the newest arrivals came and the disturbed girl excused herself to go talk with them.

Tim could not help but chuckle as the injured crew members looked at each other meaningfully and began to tiptoe out of the room behind the android’s back.

Valesque just put her hand to her head realizing once again how much oversight this person required.

“Look! Isn’t it good? I think the other people really believed it was real too.” Lola said happily, as she joined her friends and pointed to her self-inflicted wound proudly.

“Mmmm…yes, I am afraid they did.” the Virrilian acknowledged as she caught a glimpse of the last frightened worker quickly fleeing the room while Lola was distracted.

“When I said you should pretend to be injured I had meant for you to just have maybe a cut on your arm or a sprained wrist.” she explained as she examined the scary looking illusion on the girl’s forehead.

“You mean, like this?” the eager to please android questioned as she momentarily closed her eyes. Her head wound slowly disappeared until no trace was seen of it as a new smaller cut was formed on her hand.

“That is better.” Valesque commended as she inspected the smaller, less noticeable injury. “The other one would tend to frighten people.”

“Wow, that is a pretty clever trick.” Sanic remarked, clearly impressed by her transformation abilities

Lola held her newly cut hand to her as she smiled demurely at her love interest.

“It is the same wound as the Lieutenant had when I first met him.” she cooed as she looked coquettishly up at the reluctant Pilot.

“And it looks just like it.” Valesque intruded quickly, coming between them before the Yorkie could say anything rude to her charge.

“Lola, we have to go into the break-room for a minute. You stay out here….and try not to scare any more patients.” she instructed; turning Lola back towards the exam tables where she was to wait.

Tim chuckled again when they were all in the break-room. “She is amusing; I will say that for her.” he laughed.

“Amusing?” Valesque repeated, “I suppose you could say that if you didn’t have to be her keeper.”

“But she is cute; she seems to look up to you like she is your pet.” Sanic added on to Tim’s comment.

“A pet that requires constant supervision.” she grumbled, as she took out her Vid-screen and opened the break-room’s access panel once again.

As the panel slid up and back Valesque approached the opening without fear. This time the device was dormant so she did not have to worry about getting a shock or setting it off.

Lieutenant Baine leaned back against the computer counter to keep out of the way of the other two; he was not that into technical things.

Ensign Sanic on the other hand crowded closer to the opening where Valesque was reaching in and starting to remove the Trippers feeder wires from the ship’s cabling with her pliers.

“It doesn’t look like much does it?” he mused as he caught sight of the unpretentious black box that sat in the middle of a confusing web of wires.

“It isn’t what it looks like as much as what it works like.” Valesque quoted to him from her University days.

“The bad thing is…” she continued as she began to remove the box itself from the panel, “this is not my original device.”

“It looks very much like it. But it isn’t the same one.” she said as she turned it upside down and on its sides to look at the entire exterior of the small black square.

“What does that mean?” Sanic asked a bit worried. Did that spell their not being able to study it to get the necessary information to return home?

“It means, someone has copied my design.” she informed him. “They seem to have copied it in great detail which makes me doubt they had much knowledge of the actual inner workings of the Tripper. But unfortunately…. it seems to work the same, except mine was made to self-destruct after it executed a warp jump so that there would be no chance to return. But this one still seems to be intact.” she said with a bit of a scowl as she gripped the culprit that had gotten her in so much trouble.

“Anyway, now that we got it out of there we can start the Light Core back up and begin charging the main batteries.” she concluded as she handed the despised contraption to Sanic who was eager to examine it.

“Why couldn’t you have just left it where it was since the Captain is hoping to use it again to jump home?” the non-technical Pilot asked as they gathered to leave the room.

“Because, Sanic wanted to examine it to see if it had a trace of the jump path, and besides it might have gone off again if it had gotten any power back.” she explained simply to the puzzled Yorkie.

After a quick goodbye to Lola, the three then made their way back up to Solar Deck 4 where the base of the light core was located.

In a few minutes, Sanic found himself crawling under the massive sphere towards its center as Valesque directed him in what to look for from the outer edge.

They had to manually switch the power to the core, from the main batteries to back-up power. This required someone to go under the huge metallic ball and switch it over by hand. Always the gentleman, Sanic had volunteered to do the dirty work.

As soon as the power source was reset and Sanic was on his way back out, Valesque called up the engineering controls on her Vid-screen and powered up the laser again.

“You seem to be able to control just about everything on this ship from that little computer.” Tim remarked as she flipped her Vid closed and put it back in its holder on her hip. “It is like you have a remote control for the entire ship.”

“Pretty much.” she laughed as she realized how strange it might look for one person to control just about everything on the ship from one little Vid-screen.

“I modified it and networked it with most of the ship’s main computers.” she explained. “When you are in charge of a project this big you can’t be everywhere at once, so it is helpful to be able to check different systems remotely.”

“Is it really going to take a whole week to get enough power to move the ship again?” Sanic asked as he crawled out from under the Light core. “I know I am going to sound like the Captain, but is it possible to get the engines back online any sooner?” he prompted, concerned that they would be drifting for an entire week in open space.

“It is possible to get power to the engines faster. But you would have to use up your emergency energy to do it.” she replied, not wishing to do anything so risky. “We have just about a full store of back-up power, which means if we can shut down most of the decks we should be able to keep life support, some shields and the food duplicators on the Star Deck working for about one and a half to two weeks.” she calculated.

“Right now we need to get the main shields finished and installed so we can start shutting down all the lower levels in order to conserve energy.” the Engineer suggested, turning from the room and going back to the Hydro-lifts with the two men obediently in tow.

Back down in Valesque’s lab the three of them got to work on finishing the large round shield emitters.

Tim may not have been very adept at electronic things but Valesque was surprised at how well he could follow instructions and how fast he was at completing his assignments.

The only thing really slowing him down was his occasional flirting with the pretty Virrilian.

Hours passed quickly as the small team worked on the daunting project. Normally it would have taken a team of six trained technicians to tackle anything this complex.

Tim was lying on the floor under one of the huge metal drums when he abruptly stopped moving and gestured for the others to keep quiet.

“I thought I heard something below us.” he whispered straining to listen for anything out of place.

Then came a slight jolt as if the ship had been nudged from outside.

“An asteroid?” Sanic suggested as all three of them stayed perfectly still and paid close attention for anything else unusual.

Valesque’s Vid-screen began to chirp loudly, startling the Engineer.

She quickly took it from its holder and checked the alarm.

“It’s not an asteroid.” she remarked as she read the warning, “Not unless they can force open the Space Deck’s pressure lock door.”

The alarm on the Vid-screen was to inform the Engineer that one of the Ship’s entries had been breached. She had set it up to warn her of intruders when they were having problems with General Gorbok attempting to infiltrate the construction site.

Valesque quickly accessed another ship function and shut it down.

“What are you doing?” Sanic queried nervously as he listened for more sounds from the trespasser and glanced at Valesque as she worked on her Vid with a furrowed brow.

“I am shutting down the Hydro-lifts.” she informed him. “If there is someone on the ship I would like to try to confine them to as few decks as possible.”

At this statement all three became a bit apprehensive, intruders on their powerless ship in the middle of uncharted space did not sound like a good thing to happen.

Tim and Sanic both put a hand to their ear as a call apparently came through on their communicators. Valesque had never put hers back on so she could not hear what was being said.

“It’s the Captain. She wanted to know if we did anything just now to cause the ship to shudder.” the Lieutenant informed her as he listened. “What should I tell her?”

Valesque thought a moment. “Tell her that we may have uninvited guests, they probably think this ship is deserted. So lets try to keep it that way until we can see who they are and what they are up to.” she told him. “Tell her the three of us will investigate and report back as soon as we can verify anything.”

Valesque turned off the lab lights and led the way to the emergency escape shafts hidden in the ship’s walls.

A very dim green bioluminescent light glowed in the vertical shaft, barely illuminating the metal ladder that was attached to the left side of the tunnel. The Engineer went first into the darkness and began to descend the steps with a low pinging sound from the toes of her boots touching on the metal rungs as she quickly made her way to the lower decks.

When she reached her destination she cautiously opened the access door just enough to peer out onto the deck.

The Space Deck was two decks high with the front half separated and pressure sealed from the back by a large, solid wall. The back part of the deck was a huge open hanger used for housing and launching the small Scuttle Craft vessels, sending and receiving transport bubbles, as well as an area for visiting smaller ships to land inside the Vortex.

The front portion where Valesque and the others were exiting was a two-storey life pod holding area.

This was the place Valesque had been in for three days after being hit with the taser on Saturna 3.

Valesque eased herself out of the shaft, staying low to the floor and hiding behind the life pods as the two men followed her out into the cool, dark room.

The life pod side of the deck seemed deserted and undisturbed.

To their far left was the wall that separated the life pod section from the Space Hanger. Along the top of the wall was a glass enclosed control room that overlooked the two layers of pods before it. Below this room and to the left on the wall there was a single manual door with a small clear window embedded in it. This door was their objective, if someone had breached the hanger door they were probably still in that room. Valesque gestured in the darkness to the other two that she was heading for the door.

Tim and Sanic hunched down as they cautiously followed the slim silhouette of the Virrilian as she slunk her way across the floor.

Valesque’s heart began to race as she sprinted low across the open area between the pods and the door. Virrilian’s may be good hunters, but as a peaceful scientist, she was not accustomed to being in such an intense situation.

She stayed crouched down, pressed herself flat against the wall next to the door, and waited until the others had safely joined her.

Motioning for them to stay down she slowly raised herself up and leaned over to peek in the window.

The small room between the two sides of the deck seemed to be empty as well.

Valesque put one slightly trembling hand on the cold, metal doorknob and gently pulled it open as she moved back against the wall with the others and waited a moment before slinking low though the now open door.

The three wary crewmates glanced around the dark room but did not see anything out of order.

To their left was a narrow metal stairwell leading up to the deck's control room, to the right was a double door that opened into a Hydro-Lift. Straight ahead was another small manual door with a window set into it, exactly like the one they had just come through.

The Engineer checked the light above the door to the hanger.

“Maybe there is no one here after all.” Valesque whispered a bit relieved as she pointed up at the green light above the door. “The hanger is still pressurized.”

Not letting down her guard just yet Valesque once again peeked carefully through the window on the second door and into the large room on the other side.

She gave her companions a puzzled look as she slowly opened the door and slipped out into the last remaining room.

The three tried to keep down, moving in a serpentine chain from one hiding place to another as they made their way farther into the room.

Valesque looked towards the back wall where the two huge hanger doors were located. Between the large main accesses doors was the small regular-sized door in the ship’s hull that her Vid-screen informed her had been released.

Instead of the pressure sealed hatchway that usually sealed this entrance, what she saw was an open area with what looked like a gangway lined with red glowing strips.

It seemed that the bump that had been felt earlier was from another ship docking against the back of the Vortex.

Tim put a silencing finger to his lips as he nodded his head to the left. They started to hear slight scuffing against the floor as well as some deep low grumbling sound that appeared to be a muffled conversation in a language none them could distinguish.

Sanic, Valesque and Tim cautiously peered out from behind a strapped down Scuttle Craft to see several large shadows moving cautiously around the deck.

“What are they doing?” Sanic wondered, as the silhouettes seemed to search the area for something.

“Probably taking an inventory of what we have.” Tim replied, he was experienced in similar situations where the Police had staked out alleged crime rings. “They could be space pirates.” he guessed as they continued to monitor the intruders.

“Or scavengers.” Valesque put in. “I am sure we look pretty abandoned from the outside since we are just drifting with no shields and very little light.”

“Either way, they don't seem to be on any rescue mission.” the Pilot observed solemnly as the shadows got closer and began to examine the third Scuttle down from them.

From what they could see of them in the darkness, the intruders were rather large beings with slightly hunched backs as if their heads were too heavy to hold erect.

Their profiles seemed to indicate they had a short muzzled face.

Long prickly looking hair protruded in clumps, around the sleeveless shirts they wore, all over their shoulders and heads making them resemble mangy apes. Something about their proportions did not seem quite right as they lumbered around the hanger, but the light was too dim in the room to tell exactly why.

Deciding they had witnessed enough, the three backed up slowly and revolved in unison to go back to the life pod room and report to the Captain, only to turn and discover one of the hulking intruders behind them!

Tim instinctively reached for the small silver weapon he always kept at his side as the other two flattened themselves against the small, white Scuttle they had been hiding behind.

The huge, dark figure loomed above them as it looked up and roared out something in the unintelligible language they had heard earlier. Even from this close distance, it was too dark to get a good look at its face as the creature stood in the shadow of the small spacecraft beside them.

They could make out one thing easily enough though, it had brandished a large black weapon, which resembled an Earthian laser rifle, at them and barked threateningly as it prepared to fire.

Tim moved protectively between the assailant and his crewmates pointing his small self-defense taser gun as he ordered Valesque and Sanic to run.

They could not escape back to the pod room as the massive creature was blocking that route, forcing the two to quickly take off farther into the hanger.

As Sanic and Valesque dashed out into the open, the rest of the band of thieves caught sight of them and opened fire.

Sanic quickly pulled Valesque after him as he dove behind a stack of crates. The laser fire sizzled holes into the metal containers they were now crouching behind.

The two desperately looked for a way out as their attackers cautiously approached their hiding spot, unsure if the ship’s owners were armed.

“I will distract them.” Sanic whispered harshly as he dug into his pocket and brought out his anti-grav discs. “When I go out, you run back to the pod room.”

Not giving her time to argue the young Etherian quickly set some adjustments and stuck the discs to the bottom of his boots before kicking off and flying up over their shield, ascending up into the air over the startled intruders, effectively capturing their attention.

Valesque tore herself away from the spectacle and ran back along the wall on a path that would lead directly behind the first assailant, her Virrilian instincts were beginning to kick in as she sprinted quickly over the hard floor.

Tim’s opponent noticed her dash and turned to the side to stop her, but Tim took that opportunity to launch himself at the large hairy alien and kick him squarely in the side of its huge ape-like head. Then touching his other foot down on the enemy’s shoulder he sprang himself back up into the air with a backward flip and landed on top of the Scuttle craft he had been standing beside a moment ago.

The intruder turned his attention away from the approaching Virrilian as it reeled from the powerful kick he had just received from the Pilot who was now perched above him.

Valesque was impressed by the cocky Yorkie’s amazing agility and speed as he landed the aerial kick on his opponent before using him as a springboard onto the roof of the Scuttle.

She sped thankfully past the scuffle and back into the small room between the hanger and the life pod housing bay.

She was followed closely by Sanic who had managed to dodge the shots fired by his attackers by jetting around the top of the room with his anti-gravity devices.

Tim quickly fired the small electric gun off at his angered opponent when he saw his comrades make it safely back to the room. The agile pilot then turned on his heel and fired off several more quick shots at the remaining intruders, hitting all of them dead on with his super-fast speed and incredible accuracy, before leaping down off his vantage point and following Valesque and Sanic into the small dark room.

The three friends momentarily leaned against the door and walls as they panted heavily from their sudden adrenaline rush.

“That probably isn’t going to stop them for long.” Tim advised as he caught his breath, thinking they had better move as far away from the door as possible.

He turned around and hit the emergency door lock, then led his charges back into the Pod room and locked that door behind them as well.

He could see the intruders shaking off his weak taser shot and starting to gather at the far door through the window. This unfortunately meant the Pirates could see the three of them as well.

“That may only hold them for a few more seconds.” Tim warned as they all started to sprint for the emergency access shaft they had come down through before. They crawled quickly back up with Valesque in the rear, so she could seal the entrance before following the other two up the ladder to the open panel three deck levels above.

“The hatch is made of a special alloy.” she assured them over the hammering from below as they exited the shaft. “The laser won’t be able to get through it so it might give us a few more minutes.” she added, quickly sealing the panel they had just come out of as well.

“We need to come up with some options.” the young Etherian began nervously, his problem solving brain already churning. He had not liked the looks of their apparently fierce company. The creatures were huge, monstrous and ugly.

It was just a good thing for the three of them that they also seemed to be exceptionally dumb.

“Perhaps we can find some kind of defense weapons? I am afraid all I have is this taser. It has a weak shock and it is only good for close combat.” Tim offered showing the small weapon that rested in his palm.

“There aren’t any other weapons on board.” Valesque informed him regretfully. “We didn’t really have a need for them while we were constructing the ship.”

“How about the other crewmembers?” Sanic suggested.

Tim shook his blonde head in a definite negative. “Most of them are non I.P.A like you two; they wouldn’t have any weapons either. Besides, I would rather not get any of them involved.” he added not wanting to risk any more innocent lives.

“We have maybe five minutes, if they don’t break through the shielding sooner. So let’s come up with a plan quickly.” the Virrilian Engineer began as she knelt down on the smooth carpeted floor of Science Deck 3.

As she crouched down and took out her Vid-screen Tim noticed something the faint overhead lights revealed as they descended upon her.

She had a spot on the front of her thigh where the fabric of her green Engineering pants had been singed away showing a small seared section of her pale muscular leg.

“You got hit.” Tim noted unhappily as he saw this.

Sanic suddenly got very worried. “Where did you get hurt? Are you alright? When did they hit you?” he sputtered in concern as he looked for the spot the Lieutenant had noticed.

“I think they got her when she was trying to cover you, as you two ran away the first time.” the composed Pilot said evenly. “Right, Beautiful?”

Sanic's grey eyes darkened with worry as he frowned, he was not happy to hear she had been injured while shielding him.

“It’s fine. It's only a slight burn.” the Virrilian dismissed not worrying about such a trivial matter at this imperative juncture.

Tim continued to look at the scorched spot on her upper thigh, remembering how the same shots had melted holes in the metal of the Scuttle and storage crates.

If one of us had been hit with that we would have a hole in our leg right now, he thought. Virrilians were amazingly tough, but he guessed even she could not stand to be hit in the same spot more than twice.

“Since we have no weapons, and most definitely not a fighting crew, we need some other way to get them off our ship.” the Virrilian began, oblivious to the Pilot’s concerns.

“There is one way I can think of.” she informed them with a far away look as she ran the idea carefully through her head. “This ship is a science vessel and as such we had to be prepared for certain events. Like an experiment escaping on the ship, or an airborne contaminate accidentally being released.” she explained as she began to check some things on her Vid-screen.

“Almost every level of this ship has a shielded emergency shelter in the center of it.” she started again, beginning to explain her plan. “They are all self-contained with their own life support systems. We are running off Emergency power right now so we can only run one room. Thankfully there is a small crew so you should all fit.”

Valesque ran a few more checks from her Vid-screen as she continued. “I think if I can run the detoxifying program that is used for a Biohazard it might drive them away. I got a good look at one of them and I don’t think their bodies would stand up well under something like that.” she explained.

While Sanic had distracted the intruders, allowing Valesque to run out from behind the metal crates, she began to slip into hunting mode, her brown eyes filming over as her Virrilian senses strengthened. In this condition, she was able to see that the disproportion of the aliens’ bodies was not a natural phenomenon, but rather a deliberate alteration of their physique. It was as if they had patchwork bodies, they also had a pungent stench as if something was rotting or infected.

“I could see its heart rate was even and low, meaning they were used to this kind of scuffle so I don’t believe they are normal scavengers. Plus, their bodies seemed to be a mismatch of parts, the blood flow was different in some areas, various parts were cooler and less muscular as well. They don’t look like normal bodies; I think they are pieced together somehow.” she said, glancing up at the two of them. “So a little chemical detoxification might make them very uncomfortable.”

The two men looked from her to each other with a bit of alarm, this was the first time since they had gone down to the Space Deck they had gotten a good look at their companion’s face.

Tim and Sanic had never seen a Virrilian in hunting mode before and Valesque was looking rather spooky now with her silver coated eyes and four pointy fangs.

Nevertheless, it was thanks to her naturally going into hunting mode after she was injured that she was able to get such a good perspective on their assailants.

The heightened Virrilian continued expounding her plan to her two wary comrades. “We need the Captain to gather everyone into the Emergency Shelter on the Control deck. Most everyone should be pretty close to that one already and we might be able to keep the intruders from getting that far up in the ship.”

“How are you going to do that?” Sanic pondered, if everyone was supposed to gather on the Control Deck who was going to stop the invaders?

Valesque smiled at her ingenious plan. “Bots.” she said. “I am going to make an army of Bots. They don’t have any weapons, but we have quite a few cleaning Bots and construction Bots onboard. And the best thing is; they will run on their own power. They may not do much damage, but they can probably slow them down in reaching the top decks.”

A loud sound was heard echoing up the Emergency shaft.

The three of them looked at the panel next to them in concern.

“They probably got through the Space Deck entry panel.” Valesque commented in a low whisper as she edged quietly away from the area in question and farther down the hall toward her lab.

“We probably have a little time left before they discover what level we are on and break through this door.” she said as she walked along typing things into her Vid-screen.

Hard banging sounds were heard down the hall as the intruders tried to force their way through the thick access panel.

“It seems they may have fanned out.” Valesque noted on their foes speed in arriving at their deck level. “Yorkie, I need you to get the Captain to gather everyone into the shelter. I can’t start the program until everyone is safely accounted for in that room.” she instructed him.

“What do you mean? What about you?” Sanic demanded worrisomely. She was not talking like she was going with them.

“I have to get to a main computer control panel. I can’t run the emergency clean up program from my Vid.” she informed him with determination shining in her silvery eyes.

“Then we should go with you. You can’t face them alone and have the rest of us go to a shelter.” he insisted, fearing for her safety.

“It will be easier for her to go alone.” Tim corrected him, seeing that Valesque was not about to give in. “She is the most likely of the three of us, she knows the ship and what she has to do. Plus she is much sturdier than we are.” he added. “If we had been hit with a blast back there we would have gotten a lot more than a minor burn.”

Sanic gave his superior a dark look for agreeing that Valesque should do it all herself while they waited in a shielded room.

“I will be fine. I just need to borrow your anti-grav discs, if I can. And your taser too, Yorkie.” she added with a smile as she reached out for both items.

With her silvery eyes and fanged grin, she almost looked thoroughly evil, reminding the two eerily of the vampire art they had seen in her room.

The sound of straining metal began to mix with the repetitive slamming coming from the escape shaft.

“Here!” Valesque said hurriedly, forcing her Vid-screen at Sanic as she began to stare intently down the corridor, taser in hand. “I have it set to activate the Hydro-lifts for you. Press the top button to unseal the door and then press it again to seal it behind you. Then use the others to operate the lift.”

The aliens penetrated the Science Deck.

“Quick!” she shouted urgently as she pushed the reluctant Sanic towards Tim before turning back again to face the emerging foes. “Get Lola in the Med-room and take her with you to the shelter.”

The invading hulks began shouting to one another as they aimed their long, black rifles at the three targets standing immovable in the Science Deck corridor.

Valesque held Tim’s taser before her but thought twice about firing. She was not very comfortable with using a weapon on someone, besides at this distance it was doubtful that the weak jolt would even have an effect.

Sanic had a panicked look as he glanced from his dream girl to the violent intruders. “You have to come with us!” he insisted trying to take hold of her as the enemies opened fire.

Valesque swiftly blocked the shot that was heading for the two behind her. Another hole was burned into her uniform, this time she had been hit in the side. Her white flesh again blackened by the scorching burst.

The large alien appeared confused as he looked from the only slightly singed woman to his laser gun, before taking aim to try it again

The injured Virrilian growled lowly as she stared down her opponents. She was ready for a fight.

Tim looked at the scene with an uncharacteristically creased brow before grabbing Sanic by the arm and pulling him quickly down the hallway.

”Stop!” Sanic demanded, trying to break free of the Lieutenant’s grasp, “You can’t just leave her like that!”

“The longer you stay here hesitating, the longer she will have to keep taking hits.” Tim said roughly, as he continued to drag his junior towards their escape route. “She won’t move until we are safely out of the way.”

The Pilot gave her one last glance as he and Sanic turned the corner to the nearest Hydro-lift.

Be safe, he wished as she disappeared from his sight.

Tim hated to see good people sacrificed, it was hard to run away and leave the girl alone, but she was only going to put herself in more danger the longer they hesitated. They just had to hope her Virrilian sturdiness would see her through.

Valesque was free to move once she sensed the other two had left the corridor.

She grinned satisfactorily as she noticed the patchwork aliens were suddenly very interested in her ability to withstand their firepower.

In her hunting mode she could sense every move they were about to make. She could see their hearts beating, the blood coursing through their pieced together bodies, the slightest movement of every muscle.

There was no way to use a surprise attack on her with her senses so sharpened, and her Virrilian adrenaline rush was making her very exhilarated at the thought of a good fight.

She laughed quietly to herself as she tacked Sanic’s discs to the bottom of her feet while the puzzled aliens paused their assault.

As long as she could keep their attention the others should be able to get safely to the Emergency Shelter. Valesque tapped her feet to the ground and instantly found herself hugging the ceiling, the setting Sanic had used was a bit too strong for this height but she was going to have to make do.

She pushed down off the ceiling a bit with one hand and leaned herself forward so she zoomed along above the intruders heads. Just skimming the top of the corridor by keeping one hand along the ceiling as she flew, with her white lab coat flapping behind her.

Tim and Sanic crept stealthily out of the lift on Science Deck 1 and headed for the Med-room. If the enemy had separated to search for them, as Valesque had suggested, then they could be anywhere. Plus they also had to be on the look out for the Bot army she had sent to defend the corridors.

The two quickly grabbed Lola as she sat alone in the medical room and ran back to the Hydro-lift.

Tim then took the time to contact the Captain who had been impatiently awaiting their report.

"Captain, we have confirmed there is a group of heavily armed intruders. They have gained access to the port side middle emergency shaft; all the Hydro-lifts are under lockdown. Doctor Rhaugh has mobilized the ship's Bots, to try to hold them off, so we can all get to the Emergency Shelter she says is located in the center of the Control Deck. You need to order all crew to gather there. She has a plan to get the invaders off the ship but she can not implement it until everyone is safely in that room.” her Lieutenant reported hurriedly.

"Acknowledged.” Fairbanks replied briskly as she instructed the computer to open communications with all crewmembers on board, ordering them to report to the center of the Control Deck immediately.

"Are you three returning now?" she asked trying to track her reconnaissance team.

"Affirmative Captain, Ensign Sanic...the hydroponics worker and I are on our way up there right now." Tim verified as the three of them anxiously watched the deck floors tick by on the lift's indicator.

"What about the Virrilian? Is she not with you?" the Captain worried.

"Negative, Captain. She is attempting to get to a main computer terminal in order to execute the Biohazard program and force the trespassers off the ship." he informed her quickly as their transport neared its destination. "We will be in the Control Deck Emergency Shelter in one minute. I will brief you more thoroughly there." he concluded as he tapped his communicator off and prepared to evacuate the lift as soon as it hit the right floor.

Their timing was imperative; in order to save Valesque from having to stay out in the open with the enemy they had to get everyone else to the shelter. Then she could initiate the program and get to safety herself.

The longer they took to assemble the more danger they would be putting the Virrilian in.

Valesque was having a bit of trouble directing her flight on the Anti-grav discs. If they did not remain pointed at the ground she would begin to fall, and quickly.

She began to wonder why it had been necessary to put so many protruding objects on the ceiling as she struggled to steer her way around them.

She was so snug up against the top of the hallway that she had to try to push herself down in order to miss a hanging light or sign. She was going much too fast to safely swerve around them without veering off and hitting a wall, which she had discovered a few too many times.

The invading aliens were still in pursuit and firing off their weapons. They did not seem to want to kill her though; they now seemed more intent on capturing her. To add her strengths to their patchwork of parts no doubt.

The fleeing Virrilian was therefore getting more beat up from hitting the ceiling protrusions, or missing a turn and slamming into a wall, than from her followers' laser fire.

Her body took another painful beating as she once again pushed her self down off the ceiling with her sore, lacerated hand to avoid hitting a ceiling light. Her tired arm missed its timing to catch her from hitting her head on the metal panels that lined the top of the hallway, as the anti-gravity devices bounced her back up again.

Bots swarmed down the corridor beneath her, looking to intercept anyone moving on the deck. She could not program in an exact target for them all, so she just gave them the task to clean, drill, move, or whatever their designed task was, to anything they found in the halls.

The Bots had been successful so far in slowing her pursuers down, although the poor things did not last long under the alien’s laser fire. Smoldering and sparking robots started to pile up along the walkways, some spinning dizzily down the hall smoking and sputtering.

Thanks to the construction Bots sacrifices, Valesque was able to gain enough distance that she decided to attempt an albatross landing and remove the cover from an escape shaft before kicking off again the next second and flying on down the hall. She was hoping the open panel would fool the interlopers into thinking she had gone through there in her getaway, giving her the opportunity to use a different route and get to a main computer terminal.

The ruse seemed to have worked; she heard bellows in the direction she had just come from as they discovered the open shaft and then a clambering noise as they heaved their massive bodies hurriedly into the small passage to follow her.

Valesque made another graceless landing, hitting a wall and rolling to a stop. She immediately clicked off the anti-grav discs and scrambled into the nearest access shaft, sealing the door behind, as her Bot army began to advance on her.

The battered Virrilian pocketed the escape devices and wearily made her way down the metal rung ladder, trying to keep as quiet as possible as she passed each level.

Her objective was a terminal; the only one close to her location was either up in Engineering or down in the Life Pod control room. She decided it was best to go back down to the holding room as she did not want laser holes burned in her brand new Engineering department, or in the recovering Light Core.

Up on the Control Deck the remainder of the mystified crew was trailing into the designated room. Most of them had no idea what was going on, just that the Captain had ordered them all to gather in this safety area.

The few who had seen the large hairy intruders were trying to rush their slower comrades into the room so they could bar the thick, insulated doors before the attackers reached them.

The last of the straggling crew was being herded into the room just as the first of the hulking Patchwork Pirates made their appearance. The panicked crew raced to shut the heavy doors just as the howling raiders noticed the room and began a charge.

“Is everyone here?” the Captain called out as the first muffled thuds were heard at the door. The nervous crew looked around verifying that the other crewmates they knew were all there. “What about the Doctor? Is she here?” Fairbanks queried Lieutenant Baine who stood near her with Sanic and Lola.

“She is not here. And she doesn’t have her communicator on either.” Tim informed her as he saw the Captain about to put a hand to her ear.

“So we have no idea where she is or what she is doing?” she asked perturbed.

Although it was doubtful, it was possible that the scheming Doctor had something to do with the present invasion and that gathering them all together here was part of some elaborate plan.

“She is out there trying to get a detoxifying program to run.” Sanic spoke out, nervous that he could be counted as rude or insubordinate, but not about to let Valesque be maligned. Especially when she had just covered for Tim and himself. “She was injured protecting Lieutenant Baine and me so that we could escape and warn everyone.”

Fairbanks lips twisted into a thin distrustful scowl as she silently accepted her ardent Ensign’s account.

The muted pounding at the insulted, bolted door continued for a few quiet, stressful minutes before a flicker was seen high up on the wall as a large, previously unnoticed video panel came to life.

On the newly activated monitor appeared the exhausted face of the Virrilian in question. “Is everyone accounted for?” she asked quickly while panting as if out of breath.

“Yes, they are all safely in the room and the doors have been shut.” Fairbanks informed the large glowing image. “Everyone except you that is, Doctor.”

Valesque’s warm brown eyes scanned the instruments before her; she had come out of hunting mode as her body had become too weak to keep her senses that pumped up.

“Good, then I am going to seal you in and activate the biohazard clean up.” she told them as she glanced up at her monitor and watched in the video feed as the doors to their room hissed tight and lighted red.

“The program will begin in about one minute. You can come out again when the lights turn green.” she instructed as she quickly worked her controls in the room that overlooked the dual Life Pod levels.

“Wait! What about you!?” Sanic called urgently.

Valesque acted as if she had not heard him as she turned her head suddenly to the right and looked off screen thinking she heard something.

As she did this the crew in the safety room got a good view of the deep red liquid that was streaming down the left side of her head.

Captain Fairbanks became alarmed at the sight of the severe wound on her lower officer.

But she was not nearly as concerned as Tim and Sanic who upon seeing their friend’s condition rushed to open the Emergency room’s heavy doors.

“This is unacceptable, Ensign. I demand you return to the Control Deck at once.” Fairbanks ordered, she was not about to allow the Virrilian to take all the credit for saving everyone except herself.

The Virrilian gave an amused smile, just showing the tips of her top fangs.

“ I am sorry, but I don’t take orders from you, Captain.”

“And I advise you not to try opening those doors.” she warned the two men, “Let alone are the Pirates out there but breaking that seal would mean the death of everyone in the room when the clean up starts.”

Tim and Sanic turned to look at Valesque’s bemused half smile on the monitor behind them.

The young woman glanced to the right again at a loud noise off screen.

“It seems they have found me.” she tisked her annoyance, rushing to finish the job at hand by punching in the start time and pressing the confirmation button.

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. Just remember not to go out of that room for at least an hour.” she said quickly just before switching off the video.

The room fell silent as the screen blacked out leaving the shocked crew to wait in the dark as the thudding continued outside.

Valesque reached into her hip pouch to retrieve the anti-grav discs as the powerful aliens worked on battered in the door the control room.

Her hand wrapped around something small, cool and hard in her pouch, she pulled it out to find it was her rusty can of anti-static spray she had used earlier while trying to dismantle the Space Tripper.

An idea suddenly flashed in her head as she place the metal discs back on the bottom of her boots and gripped the small red-stained can.

The intruders were almost through the door as Valesque threw her already injured body at the room’s windows.

Jagged shards of glass glittered in the dim light as the Virrilian broke through the wall with a loud crash and flew off into the rows of inactive life pods.

She put a hand tightly over her aching shoulder, dripping a red trail behind her as she disappeared into the upper level of the holding bay, just as the control room door gave way.

“Isn’t Valesque coming?” Lola asked Sanic in a quiet, worried voice. She was not sure what was happening, but it seemed they were all worrying about the Engineer not returning. Lola felt very lonesome and disturbed herself; she did not know what she would do without her wise friend to look after her.

“She'll be alright.” Sanic replied trying to assure himself more than the android next to him, as he looked over to where the levelheaded Pilot stood leaning against the doors Valesque had sealed.

Tim stood against the door, staring up at the dark, empty video panel with deep concern. Valesque was out there, injured and alone, trying to save them all. Perhaps they should have stayed with her after all, he pondered, at least then they would not be having to wait here in powerless suspense.

The light above the door began to flash red as the biohazard-cleaning program initiated. The pounding on the door slowed before ceasing completely, to both the relief and concern of the imprisoned crew.

A solemn silence permeated the room as they all anxiously waited for either another attack to begin or the program to end.

Chapter Ten: Costs And Circumstances

Time passed slowly for the two hundred or so people trapped in the Safety room. The hour seemed to stretch into an eternity as they began to tire from the tension, restless to be free of their confinement.

Finally when they thought they could take it no longer the light above the doors changed from flashing red to solid green. A low hiss was heard as the doors shifted, releasing the seal on the room.

As soon as the doors were open Tim, Sanic and a reluctant Lola immediately exited the room. Not even thinking to be concerned that the enemy might still be there waiting, they rushed out into the open, immediately beginning their search for the missing Virrilian.

Lola lagged a bit behind the two impetuous men, she was not sure she wanted to find Valesque if there was a chance she might be dead. Lola did not want to find her like that. She would rather not confirm it in person and be able to deny to herself that her friend was gone. Besides, she did not think there would be any room for the Engineer under the sheets in the hydroponics morgue.

However, Sanic had Lola firmly in tow as they rushed to a Hydro-lift with Valesque’s controlling Vid-screen.

They were not sure where Valesque had been last so they decided to check the deck they had left her on first.

When they arrived, they found the corridors empty and silent with only scared traces of the skirmish that had taken place there.

At intervals along the top of the wall were melted and scorched laser marks. On the floor were the remains of the defenseless cleaning Bots who were lying around quivering and groaning as they still tried to carry out their duties, half their small metal bodies liquefied by enemy fire.

As they searched the level and its many rooms they discovered the open escape shaft the aliens had been fooled into going down earlier.

Tim cautiously peered into the opening, to assure himself nothing was lurking in there ready to spring at them, before he led the other two in scaling down the ladder to where the intruders had exited. While they retraced Valesque’s pursuers’ tracks they noted thankfully that there were no more of the ugly lumbering Pirates to be seen anywhere. They only traces of them were the ripped open doors and the occasional pock marks in the walls and sizzling Bots.

The threesome eventually found themselves back down in the small room that separated the two halves of the Space Deck. Before them was a narrow stairwell that led up to the small control room that looked out over the two levels of life pods. To their left was the door to the hanger, it was tightly sealed with the light above it flashing in warning.

Tim curiously led the way out of the room and into the holding area, looking up at the room on the wall and recognizing it as the background they had seen in Valesque’s last transmission.

Hard crunching sounds came from under their boots as they moved to look up at the control room above them.

The three looked down at what had made the sound to discover shattered glass all over the floor around them and a jagged hole in the windows surrounding the control room above.

Lola spotted something in the dim light and nervously pointed it out to the two concerned men. Edging several large glass shards was an all too familiar deep red.

Whether Valesque had jumped through the glass window herself or was forced by her attackers, it was impossible for them to tell. But it was obvious someone had gone through it and had been severely injured in the process.

Lola’s highly sensitive robotic eyes picked up more small traces of red liquid dotted across the floor. The trail led to the edge of the life pod area and disappeared.

Sanic realized that if Valesque had been wearing his anti-gravity discs that the trail suddenly ending meant she had flown into the top life pod floor.

The search area was immense and the light dim as the worried group looked out woefully over the sea of pods on the upper deck.

They made their way back towards the middle of the ship to where the drops had ended below and followed the continuing trail as it weaved through the aisles of inert pods.

The group stopped short as they spotted a disturbing scene ahead.

About sixty feet down the aisle a pod was in bad shape, it had numerous holes melted halfway through its exterior and the latch looked like something had tried to force it open. The assaulted pod smoked and sizzled as its damaged circuitry sparked yellow and blue in the semi-darkness.

Tim approached cautiously, noting to his dismay that the trail of red ended at the side of a closed life pod.

The somber Pilot touched his communicator in his right ear. “Captain, I think we have located the missing Doctor, on Space level in the upper Life Pod holding area .” he announced dispassionately as he computer connected him to his Superior.

“Acknowledged.” came her instant reply. “I am sending the M.M.U to the area and I am on my way down there now.”

Sanic and Lola slowly edged their way to where Tim stood looking down at the locked pod.

“We are going to have to pry it open.” he informed them as he surveyed the locking system and the scratches on the pod’s slick surface where the assailants had obviously attempted to force open the pod before them.

The three lined up along the length of the silver oval’s lid and reluctantly prepared to force the container open, not sure they really wanted to see what they all feared was inside.

The pod’s lock popped and broke as Lola’s super human strength came against it, the brutally damaged lid creaked as it lifted off the base and revealed the interior to the three apprehensive friends.

However, as the lid moved out of the way all they saw was an empty pod with nothing but a small metal spray can lying on its side in a small puddle of rusty fluid.

Picking up the can and looking at the floor Tim gradually realized they had been following a trail of rust spots the whole time.

The Pilot tossed the old can back into the damaged pod with a small laugh of amused relief.

“It seems we were fooled by her trick as much as the aliens were.” he chuckled.

If she had taken the time to set this elaborate decoy she must not have been too terribly bad off, they all thought hopefully.

The small group’s attention was captured by the whoosh of the approaching Mobile Medical Unit as it hurriedly flew towards them followed almost immediately by the bedraggled Captain. Her usually smooth red hair in a bit of disarray from her hasty trip down the escape shaft from the Control Deck.

“How is she?” Fairbanks called out a bit worrisomely as she spied the smoking life pod in the distance.

“I am afraid we haven’t actually located her yet.” her lieutenant replied gesturing to the rusty can that sat innocently in the smoldering pod.

“What is this?” she asked at the strange sight before her.

“An elaborate ruse, of rusty 'blood' drops and a sealed life pod.” Tim informed her with an amused grin.

Captain Fairbanks straightened out her blue uniform smartly and smoothed back her hair once again. The enemy had been heard at the door just before the Doctor had ended the transmission.

Fairbanks turned to look back across the wide open area towards the shattered window of the Life Pod Control Room, she had apparently left that room in quite a hurry, only to set up this decoy to distract her pursuers as the Biohazard program began.

That meant she could not have had much time left after all that to get very far.

“She must still be somewhere on this level.” the Captain concluded aloud as she turned back to her lower officer. “She would not have had the time to get much farther without being spotted after she set this up.”

The four of them began to scan the deck as they split up to search for the missing crew member until finally spotting something about ten aisles away from the baited pod.

Among the rows of ready, open Life Pods was one lone one with its lid down and sealed. This pod was not damaged like the last one, meaning the Pirates had not noticed it before they were driven from the ship by the toxic gases released by the biohazard program.

Captain Fairbanks made a determined beeline for this pod as the three others followed at a respectful distance.

Fairbanks marched purposefully to the side of the container and pressed the release switch on the smooth, rounded lid. The unharmed pod instantly clicked open to expose the still, tattered body of the missing Doctor.

Fairbanks brow furrowed, “She looks pale.” she observed impassively.

“She's Virrilian, she always looks pale.” Tim reminded her, as he and the other two looked into the pod from beside the Captain.

Valesque did indeed look even whiter than usual. The long black lashes of her closed eyes lay still against her tranquil face, her deep red lips and trails of sticky blood on the side of her head looking stark against her eerily light skin.

She lay stiffly in the confinement her right arm bent with her hand posed on her abdomen over an open wound. Blood slowly creeping down her hand and arm, her chest not showing any sign of breath.

Her left shoulder glistened with wet blood and glass as her arm lay limp by her side, with Sanic’s two anti-grav units resting in her relaxed fist. The Engineer’s plain green clothing and normally white lab coat had taken quite a beating; they were torn, seared and bloodstained as they hung on her motionless form.

The M.M.U prompted the lifeless woman’s Commanding Officer to check her pupils for dilation and her limp wrist for a pulse before pronouncing the Virrilian Doctor dead from substantial trauma and blood-loss.

Tim and Sanic’s faces darkened with grief over the announcement, their hopes had been raised at discovering her clever decoy.

They thought if she had the strength to pull that off she must not be too terribly injured, and they would surely find her alive, giving them sneering looks and sarcastic comments about their having been worried about her.

They could not have known that in reality she had been starting to loose consciousness as she flew down the aisles, spraying the anti-static into her hand and letting the rusty chemical drip down to the floor.

She was really struggling by the time she threw the can into a pod and zapped the side with Tim’s taser in order to freeze the locking mechanism, before flying off to find herself a shelter as the noxious fumes began to fill the room and her lungs.

Lola did not take the M.M.U’s news as well as everyone else.

The slight girl shook her cotton candy hair in frantic denial as the others conceded to the diagnosis.

“No!” Lola exclaimed, shaking her head and backing away from the others with her green eyes scrunched tightly closed as she tried to fend of the unwelcome report. “No, no, she can’t be dead; she’s not allowed to be. She can’t die, cause I don’t want her to die!” she cried passionately echoing the inner feelings of the two men who glanced grimly at one another by the deceased girl’s side.

As Lola argued for the impossibility of the Virrilians demise Sanic and Tim looked over Valesque’s still body once again, looking for anything that might even remotely indicate she was still alive.

Sanic’s gaze fell on the Engineer’s wounded midsection where the Captain had replaced Valesque’s hand after checking her pulse and saw the tiny communication earpiece that must have fallen out of her lifeless hand.

She never willingly used her communicator, so it was strange that she had put it in her hand when she lay down in the life pod.

Captain Fairbanks, who had not seemed too upset at finding their Virrilian savior dead, had wandered off to check on the condition of the Space Hanger. After having received a message from one of the other crewmembers that the hanger door had been blown and the area was depressurized and trying to suck everything not strapped down out into open space.

Sanic curiously picked up the out of place communicator from the Virrilian’s body. “Are communicators supposed to have a flashing light like that on them?” he asked his more experienced companion as he looked at the device in his hand.

“I never noticed a communicator having any lights on it before.” Tim remarked as they both watched the tiny amber light flick on and off.

Sanic remembered a scene from when the Captain had tried to make Valesque put on the standard communicator, when she found them all in the Med-room. However, Valesque had refused and used her own because it had been 'newly modified'.

Now as Sanic examined the tiny black device he began to wonder how it was modified.

Was it the light?

Why would she have added a light to a communicator?

The steady flashing amber color reminded him of the message-waiting alert found in most crew quarters.

He absently pressed the communicator’s activation switch, just as he would press the message retrieval button in his room.

A hushed broken voice came on for one second.

Intrigued Sanic held the device to his ear as it repeated its one-second long sound.

The muffled voice seemed to be Valesque’s but the message was hard to make out.

“I think it says ‘Not Dead’.” Sanic said uncertainly as he held the small unit up for Tim to listen to the repeating recording.

“That is what it sounds like. Maybe she didn’t know how badly injured she was.” he suggested.

“Why would she go through all the trouble to leave us a message then?” Sanic argued. That explanation did not make sense. She must have known they would think she was dead if she bothered to leave a recording to make sure they knew she was not.

Sanic had a realization. “Is it possible she is in some kind of stasis?” he inquired, leaning forward to get a closer look at the badly injured Virrilian.

Lola’s tearful looking green eyes got a sudden interested look at this suggestion.

“You mean she is not really dead?” she asked hopefully.

“It’s….possible.” Sanic told her as the communicator continued to replay its muddled message. “But I don’t think these life pods can do something like that.” he concluded disheartened again when faced with the improbability of the idea.

“Virrilians can.” the now excited android informed him. “Let me see Valesque’s Vid-screen for a minute.” she requested, snapping the device onto a port that appeared in her wrist as soon as Sanic handed it to her.

Lola was silent a moment as she connected to the ship’s main computers and called up the Intergalactic Encyclopedia.

“I have not gotten up to the V’s in my studies yet.” she commented as she found the correct file and downloaded it into her memory. “But I remember hearing before that Virrilians will go into a type of suspended sleep when they are injured.”

Lola detached the Vid from her access port and started to open the information file she had stored. “V, Virrilians.” she read from the internal text. “Medical attributes; severely injured Virrilians will automatically search out a dark, quiet area and go into a comatose state to repair themselves. This condition can appear to the untrained eye as though the subject were dead. Breathing, heart rate and brain functions will all fall below normal sensor range. The period of repair depends on the degree of injury and can last from 6 hours to 6 years.” she recited.

When she finished going over the pertinent material Lola approached Valesque’s pod and initiated the scanners in her hands, passing them slowly over the Virrilian’s inert body.

“Her heart rate is extremely low, down to one beat per minute. Her respiratory system is also slow and very shallow.” the medical technician reported as she did an in depth scan. “She has traumatic brain injury caused by a closed head injury and severe head trauma, including the blow to her left temple. A dislocated left shoulder and damaged shoulder muscles along with deeply imbedded debris. Her left arm has a stress fracture near the radial head. Her surface abdominal wound is not too serious, but she has other internal damage to her stomach and liver as well as internal bleeding. Her right arm his multiple stress injuries, a Colles fracture, as well as deep lacerations on her right palm and fingers.” Lola diagnosed worrisomely.

“And she is still living?” Tim questioned incredulously as he gazed down on Valesque’s serene face. It was a great relief, as well as a hard concept to fathom, that the deathly looking girl was actually alive after all of that.

If it had been any normal person, any one of them, they would be preparing to jettison them out into space right now.

“She is definitely still alive.” Lola confirmed happily. “Her body has begun to repair the damage already.”

Sanic let out a deep sigh of unabashed relief at this news. “How long will it take until she comes to?” he questioned expectantly, eager to have her back to normal.

Lola looked thoughtful for a moment as she scanned the body again. “With the degree of injury and at the present rate of repair... about… eighteen months.” she estimated.

“Eighteen months?” Sanic and the Pilot repeated incredulously.

“You mean… she is going to be like this for a year and a half?” Sanic complained. It had been hard enough when he had to wait for three days for her to wakeup after the high voltage taser blast. Eighteen months was just ridiculous!

“It seems like an incredibly long time to have to just watch her sleeping like that.” Tim commented. “But I guess we should just be glad she is alive at all, after what she obviously had to go through.” he reminded them seriously.

“You want to wait for her to repair herself?” Lola questioned with an almost astonished look. She was somewhat disappointed. “I was going to fix her now.” she said dejectedly. She did not want to have to wait eighteen months.

The two previously distraught men gave the air-headed android a very stern and sour look.

“It would only take me about ten minutes to get all the bleeding stopped and most of the injuries repaired.” she insisted as if she had to convince them to let her do it.

Sanic groaned in unusual impatience with the mechanical dimwit. “If you could do that, then why didn’t you say so to begin with?” he demanded, upset at the unnecessary worry she had caused them.

Lola made a frustrated kind of pout, not understanding why they were suddenly angry with her. But she did not say anything as she turned back to her patient and began her intensive, intricate healing work.

Without Valesque’s tolerant intercession, it was impossible for Lola to function in society without upsetting everyone with her childish simplicity.

A few minutes showed a marked improvement in Valesque’s condition.

She was still covered in layers of sticky, drying blood, but the fresh bleeding had all stopped and her open wounds had been sealed and repaired.

Lola had used specialized lasers to stop the internal bleeding before working to repair the unseen injuries. As Lola worked to heal the last few remaining wounds Valesque’s complexion seemed to return to a more normal color and glow, loosing some of its deathly pallor.

Her heart rate began to increase and her respiration became more evident in the movement of her chest as she breathed slowly in her increasingly shallow sleep.

Lola was just repairing the last of the cuts Valesque had gotten, from dragging her hand on the ceiling as she flew, when the Virrilian began to groan slightly as she awoke from her sleep.

Blinking her eyes open tiredly, Valesque suddenly focused on three happy faces all crowded above her.

She resisted the feeling of alarm at waking up to see people hanging so close over her and instead just closed her eyes and took a calming breath.

Valesque reopened one eye and peered up at the three again with an annoyed scowl on her face.

She was sore, stiff and exhausted. But apparently still alive.

Tim stepped back and regained his normal cool, nonchalant look as soon as he saw she was awake and making faces at them like usual. She looked like a mess but she was going to be alright.

Sanic was his usual overeager, concerned self as she awoke and gave them all an irritated look. “Are you alright?” he asked in urgent concern, “Can you get up? How do you feel?”

Valesque clenched her left hand, feeling the coolness of the metal discs she had been holding when she passed out.

She slowly raised her weary arm and dropped the small round objects into the Ensign’s hands. “Thanks.” she sighed with a small weary smile. “The Yorkie’s taser is around here somewhere too.”

“Are you okay?” the Etherian repeated again as she lay exhaustedly on the bed of the life pod.

“I feel like I was just run over by a 180 ton speeding garbage barge.” she groaned. “I just need to lie here a bit.”

Sanic’s grey, Etherian eyes got misty as he looked down on the battered yet still joking Virrilian. “We thought you were dead.” he told her. “Don’t ever do that again!” he both ordered and pleaded, struggling to keep the tears from his eyes.

“Ah, well I am afraid the Captain will be disappointed though.” Valesque quipped, trying to ward off her uneasiness from all their concern.

“But we did get rid of them, right?” she asked quickly remembering her original objective.

“Yeah, you got rid of them.” Tim informed her with a bit of irritation in his usually composed voice. “But like Sanic said, from now on you don’t do things like that on your own. Okay, Beautiful?” he commanded seriously.

“That’s right.” Sanic chimed in with a happy smile, “From now on we all work together.”

The Captain indeed found herself torn between disappointment and relief when she was informed the Virrilian Engineer was alive and well. It was good she was still around to fix things, but that also meant she still had to deal with her and her traitorous ways.

A few hours later Valesque was wandering around in Dr. Warner’s lab.

Tim and Sanic had kicked her out of her own lab, insisting she was that she was too injured to be helping with the repairs and too annoying to supervising their work on the emitters and therefore had to go somewhere else to rest.

They did, however, mange to keep Lola in there with them so that the overjoyed android would not be pestering the recovering Engineer.

As she now walked around the abandoned room, she wondered to herself what, if anything, Dr. Warner had to do with what had happened to them so far.

Her attention soon turned to the room however. The nice rich colors, the warm leather upholstered couch and desk chair. The large antique wooden desk and hand woven area rug. Even the simple parchment table lamps and other casual, homey touches caught her interest. This was a working lab, but it looked more like a cozy den.

He was certainly more upscale than she was, she noted a little self-consciously. While she had chosen to live on the cheap, trashy side of Saturna 3 he had lived on the posh, high-class side of the planetoid.

And while she had chosen a large utilitarian lab, he had picked out this smaller, more put-together room. Her room was definitely bigger and more practical for her projects at hand, but his seemed to exude self-assurance and well tailored style.

Hers in comparison just conveyed bare, boring coldness.

The difference in just the rooms made her feel rather dumpy and plain, with the need to get herself more together.

While she was absently pondering these differences, Valesque noticed a small flashing light on his computer terminal. She pressed her lips together in an uneasy frown as she made her way over to the signal.

Valesque sat down in the simple leather desk chair and examined the front of the computer as it sat against the wall on a low wooden credenza behind Dr. Warner’s Desk. This was Dr. Warner’s personal computer system, he had brought onboard and installed it in his workroom. This system was not related to the construction and was not tied into the rest of the ship’s computers.

She spotted a small black button below the pulsing light and after a few seconds of hesitation, she gingerly pressed it.

A light immediately came on behind the button and a thin white beam of light scanned from the top to the bottom of the button Valesque had just pushed.

“Fingerprint Authentication Confirmed. Authorizing, Doctor Valesque Rhaugh.” the computer voice established as the machine whirred to life and the flat-screen monitor flashed on.

Valesque was a bit puzzled as the computer announced her full name and title, she had only been known as plain Engineer Valesque to Dr. Warner and the rest of the construction crew.

Dr. Warner’s personal computer knowing her real name was definitely a surprise.

A picture glowed to life on the newly activated monitor in it was a youngish man with an unruly mop of curly, sandy-blond hair.

“Well, Val, if you are seeing this message then I can bet on two things: One, I was right in assuming the General was up to something and Two, you are still alive.” the recorded message began.

“I am going to the meeting with General Gorbok in the morning, but just in case anything happens I am recording this message to let you know a few things that have been going on.”

“First, I have to tell you that when we were introduced by the Scientific Association on Saturna 3, it was not really the first time we had met.” the man said apologetically, “I am sure you were too distracted back then to remember, but the first time I met you was actually way back when you were on Roscetta Station working on your space warp project.” he explained.

“I knew General Gorbok back then as well.” he admitted regretfully.

“In fact I was one of the Scientists he had forcefully ‘persuaded’ to be on his research team. I hated working with them on their underhanded projects, but it was either play along or get black listed.”

“It was at that time the General gave me, what I considered then, an irresistible offer. He volunteered that if I got him your Space Tripper device that he would let me out of the contract and I could be totally free of the I.P.A and work on whatever projects I wanted.”

The image of Dr. John Warner paused for a moment in an repentant shrug. “I…am the one who stole your project.” he announced to Valesque’s utter shock.

The man who had acted completely innocent and open, eager to make her acquaintance and work with her on the Magellan project, was the same person who had gotten her into so much trouble all those years ago.

The lying, cheating sneak!

“I guess you can blame me for your home planet’s issuing a death warrant for you, and for your character being besmirched in every Science journal and tabloid for months afterward.” he continued with a slight wince as if she was going to slap him through the screen.

Which she wished she could!

“But you have to know that I was not working with the General any longer when we started this project.” he insisted earnestly. “It was pure coincidence the two of us wound up paired together by the I.S.A for the building of the Magellan.”

Valesque made a disbelieving face at the video. How can she trust that now?

After his admitting to the theft of her device, after that same device ended up on their ship and his initials scratched into the surface of the unit that was hamstringing the engine’s power for the Tripper to use?

“By now you may have discovered the preparations I have been making in case the meeting with the General tomorrow is ineffective.” he continued. “I still have a few friends on the General’s science team, not friends exactly, more like acquaintances as our ideals don’t exactly match. They still willingly work with the power hungry man, while I am relived every day at my escape.” he explained.

“Anyway, these people still seemed to treat me like a member of the team, even inviting me to their top secret laboratory and telling me all about the research the General had ordered on your Space Tripper device that I had delivered to them five years before. Gorbok had ordered space warp tests with live subjects.”

Valesque grimaced at the thought, she had absolutely refused to test her device on live subjects before it was perfected, and even then, she would not do a full test, as that would strand the poor soul somewhere light years away. The General of course had no such qualms. He did not care what happened as long as he got the results he wanted.

Dr. Warner’s message continued, “It seems our General ‘Warlord’ as you so aptly named him not only tested the device extensively the first four years, but also devised a way to create a return path! He was using the Tripper to search into uncharted areas of space.”

“ One return trip resulted in the first exchange between the General’s team and a new alien race. The people he had contacted were just as war minded as himself, if not more so.” the curly haired man continued scornfully.

“His science team started to boast about his plans and how they had actually sent another ship back to the same coordinates and it returned with an emissary of this aggressive race. They then made a pact that the General would allow them to have access to the best and mightiest populations of people in our sectors in order for them to increase their own power.

It seems these creatures can assimilate other beings into themselves and gain their strengths. And who are the strongest, sturdiest and most amazingly resilient beings known to man? And with whom the General has been waging a losing battle for ages in the Corseccan Galaxy?” he prompted.

“That’s right, the Virrilians.” he agreed with her silent conclusion.

“He has asked the Meterions, that is what they are called, to help him destroy and assimilate your people so they can get stronger and work with him to take over all of our known space before using your Space Tripper’s abilities to spread their tyrannous reign throughout the Universe. That war mongering General intends to rule the whole universe!” Dr. Warner laughed incredulously at the absurdly egotistical idea.

“But unfortunately, with these people behind him and your technology in his hands he actually has a chance of succeeding. And that alien race’s battle fleet is already on its way here.” he added ominously.

“The only thing that could possibly stand in his way is the Magellan and her invincible weapons system.” the Doctor informed her. “This explains his dogged interest in the construction project. However, he came up against you once again.

First, you refused to sell him your space warp, and now you reject every offer he made to get your ship on his side in his new war.” John Warner laughed amused at the sheer irony.

“No matter where he turns, you keep showing up to spoil his plans. His team, believing I was on their side, tried to get me to agree to hand over the completed Magellan to them. It seems he either wants the ship on his side, or destroyed.

There is no middle ground.

He cannot let the construction be completed or this ship with your weapons system will be the one thing capable of ruining his quest for universal domination. Of course,” he corrected himself, “This ship and you are the two things in his way of that plan. Therefore, he has to find a means to get rid of you both.”

“I played along enough to get access to their confidential files and download all their research data, plus everything else I could, into this computer. I even was able to steal one of the copies they had of your Space Tripper.

In anticipation of the worst case scenario, General Gorbok’s attempt to destroy the Magellan project, I have installed the Tripper clone on our ship and programmed one of their jump sequences into it. I made sure you could tell what bits of ‘sabotage’ were my works in case the General had some of his own done.

I am not sure if the jump program I installed was the exact one they are using now, but it should get you close enough to their fleet by either waiting for them to catch up or by jumping forward to their location.” he advised the dumbfounded Engineer.

“While hacking their system I also found a transmission about the coming fleet being unable make the jumps all at once because they are down to using just one Tripper to jump their entire convoy. It seems that scientist they had kidnapped to work on figuring out your device in order to jump faster has escaped as well, taking their Tripper plans along with other vital information.

Our only chance to beat them and save your people, as well as the rest us, is to make contact with that scientist and stop the alien fleet from reaching here.” he spelled out very seriously.

“Remember they are a very dangerous race, they can take on the appearance of anyone they assimilate with and can blend in anywhere. Do not trust anyone.

Do not mention your mission to anyone on the ship.

You can never tell who is loyal to the General and will stop at nothing, even if it means their lives. He may even have planted his own people on board to make sure his plans succeed.”

“It is quite ironic when you think of it, Val. Your people’s most wanted criminal is the only one who can save them!” he chuckled at the thought. “The despised Virrilian criminal will be the savior of the universe!”

Valesque was not nearly as amused as he seemed to have been. What he was asking was nearly impossible. Out in the vastness of space she was not only supposed to find one lone fugitive, but then use an incomplete ship to some how stop a violent armada?

Impossible.

“So you got it, Val? The return trip jump record logs are in this computer, as well as some other useful information. You can use them to follow your path back as you get the ship finished, find our only ally and stop the invasion. It is all up to you.”

“If my assumptions prove true about the General’s intentions to destroy the Magellan project, I will be going into hiding to attempt to work on things from this side. If I don’t see you before then, try to keep safe, Val.” he said with a somber look in his blue eyes. “So you can come back here and kill me for doing all of this to you. … You and that ship.” he repeated in conclusion, “Are our only hope.”

The video ended and the monitor once again turned black.

Invasions, universal conquest, space warp chases, an incomplete ship, a mysterious ally, orders for utmost secrecy and her recent near death experience with the Patchwork Pirates, this promised to be a very challenging trip!

He had sure staked a lot on her.

But he was right about one thing…she was going to kill him for sticking her out here with all of this when she got back! He could count on that!

Join the crew in the next book:

Space Trippers Book 2

Just Passing Through

The adventure continues as Tim rescues an alien damsel in distress.

With the ship in need of food stores, thanks to Lola and her

fiasco in the hydroponics lab, the green girl leads them to a nearby trade planet.

But the trade aliens seem a little too interested in Valesque for Tim and Sanic's comfort.

When she goes missing it is up to them to retrace her last few hours aboard ship,

and they become quite disturbed when they find much more than they bargained for in the secret recesses of the ship’s twisting corridors.

"Who dares disturb my lair?" an eerie, watery voice demanded from behind them.

Tim and Sanic spun in alarm at the unexpected sound, only to be confronted by an even more unnerving sight.

Floating in the air was the dark figure of a woman, hands raised with pointed,

claw-like nails aimed at them as they stood in shock below her.