Feeling better now (added story fragment)

Christie climbed into the tiny scout pod and began the pre-flight checks. As she warmed the engines and double checked the gauges, she felt like she wasn't alone. She kept turning around quickly as if to catch someone behind her. “just nerves” she thought to her self. Over the intercom she could hear the captain arguing with the man. She could only hear the captain's voice, but could guess the rest. The captain wasn't happy about something, but was losing the argument. The man was just too strong a personality. He was pleasant and good looking, but his aura was overpowering. Something dark and not understood. It bothered her a lot and she took to avoiding him when she could.

Finally she got the green light to launch and the bay doors opened into the blackness. Never before had she seen the sky so black. Normally the screen would be full of stars, but this was a dark, cold section of the galaxy. As she maneuvered the pod out of the bay towards the object, it struck her hard. This was out here in the blackness for a reason. It was out here not to be found!

After she left the bay and moved ever so slowly towards the object, the captain turned the ship and gently used the engines to heat the object. A difficult job, having to use the thrusters to hold position while the main engines fired almost at stall speed as not to harm the object, but it was working, she could see the object now in the infer-red against the black background. Ever so slowly, she crept towards it until she finally touched it. Even the mildest of bumps made her cringe. She couldn't help but feel that this object, this ship was evil and being this close to it scared her.

Once on the surface of the ship, she began to reach for the radar beacons to attach to the surface. Her lights could illuminate a small area of the ship, but it just looked dark. Over the intercom, the captain ordered her to return to the freighter immediately. His voice was harsh and anxious. She turned the controller to move away from the ship, but it stuck. She tried again, but now it swung the pod away from the object and down away from the freighter. The captain again ordered her back, but when she tried to respond, the intercom wouldn't turn on. The pod's controller was moving in a deliberate fashion and she couldn't stop it!


She was struggling with the controls with tears coming down her face. She was going to die and she knew it. The evil on the ship had her and there was nothing she could do about it. Suddenly, the pod stopped and turned directly toward the surface, the lights of the pod showed a doorway. And the pod's arms moved out and turned the levers on the doorway and with horror she watched as the door began to open. “relax” said a voice from behind her. She would have jumped out of her seat if she wasn't restrained by the harness. “you are safe” the voice said.

“Safe!” she screamed. “safe!” her voice cracking with the fear that was running through her.

“Yes, safe. You will come to no harm, now try to relax” said the voice again. It was calm and warm and reminded her of the man.

“You're with him aren't you!” she said quieter, but still full of fear.

“Yes, well no” came the voice again. “I'm sorry we had to do it this way, but it was necessary, please relax. You will come to no harm.”

“you already said that!” she snapped.

“I know, but you are not relaxing, so I thought it wise to repeat myself for your benefit.” came the reply with that hint of humor that the man always had in his voice.

Resigned to her fate, she slumped in her seat and watched the door finish opening and the pod moved into the blackness within. The lights of the pod now shown into a large bay, but the reflection allowed her to see that there were other ships in the hanger. Warships, the design of the ships were unmistakable. They were warships. Small, but made to kill.

The pod swung around back to the door and the arms reached out again and pulled some levers and the door began to close. Fear once again began to overwhelm her, but the voice again came back soothing and warm. “Patience, I can't turn the lights on until the door is closed.”

“Wait!” she exclaimed, “What did you mean that you were, but not with him?”

“What it means is that we..., my associates and myself have used him to help us get back out here, but he was not aware of our..., help.”

“You mean you tricked him too!”

“You could say that, but please remember that you are not in any danger from us. We needed for me to get back out to our ship and without alerting anyone.”

She was still scared and angry, but curiosity was overwhelming. “Alert who?”

“You..., the others, when they rejoin us need to understand.” He said

“understand what?” she asked

“That war is coming.”




Aboard the freighter that Captain was shouting into the communicator to no avail while the navigator tried to turn the ship around to go after the pod. The man stood there and watched. “I've been played” he thought to himself. “And now these people are going to pay for his stupidity.” The First officer yelled back “Look!” On the radar screen an object suddenly appreared in front of the pod.
“It's a hatchway” the man said.