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When we last left our crew, they had just survived a gruelling and hard few days. They seemed to be on the brink of destruction when they were saved at the last second. They were on their way back and enjoying a quiet evening. The colossus was being escorted by 6 other ships, so they weren’t worried about an attack.
“When I get back to the starbase, I am taking a nice, long bath.” Mary-Kate said.
“I’m going to go shopping!” Ashley said cheerfully.
“I’m going to spend time with Heath.” Kat said with a dreamy look in her eye. “What about you Brett?”
He snapped out of what looked like a daze. “Huh?”
They all laughed. “What are you going to do when we get back to the starbase?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?” Mary-Kate asked.
“I just don’t know.” Brett replied. He got up and started to walk away.
“Where are you going?” Kat asked.
“I’m going to see if my fighter is still intact and go out and fly escort.” Brett said as he walked off.
“That was weird.” Ashley said.
“It’s been a hard few days.” Kat said. “Maybe he’s just in a bad mood.”
“All senior officers report to the meeting room.” Commander Stacey’s voice said over the intercom.
“So much for relaxing.” Kat said.
Brett and Jessica were just sitting down when Kat, Mary-Kate and Ashley walked in. They all took a seat and waited for Stacey to speak up. Stacey turned around and faced them.
“Thank you for coming.” Stacey said. “I’ve called this meeting to announce that I have been reassigned to a different position on Earth. Effective immediately, Commander Jen is now your commanding officer.” She pushed a button on a keypad built into the desk. “Come in Jen.”
The door opened and Jen stood in the doorway. She walked in and greeted them. She seemed cheerful and energetic.
“Hi.” She said. “As you know, I’m Jen and I’ll be the new commander on the ship.”
Stacey spoke up once again. “I’m not the only one leaving.”
“What?” Mary-Kate said.
“Jessica is also being reassigned to an outpost.” Stacey answered. “We’re dropping her off at the starbase and I’ll be taking a shuttle to earth.”
“To go through all that just to be separated…” Ashley said. “It’s not fair.”
“You both know transfers are part of signing up.” Stacey said.
“That doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Ashley replied.
All of a sudden, red lights started flashing and red alert sounded. Everyone got up and rushed to the bridge. People were running around and console alarms were going off all over.
“Report!” Commander Stacey yelled.
“Enemy fleet incoming!” An ensign said.
“How many ships?” Brett said.
“Two warships and multiple fighter and bomber wings.” The same ensign said.
Brett ran out of the bridge and down the hall. Stacey saw him run and yelled “Where is he going?”
Ashley knew right away where Brett was headed. “That crazy boy.” She ran down the hall after Brett. Kat soon followed.
“What is going on?!” Stacey yelled out, frustrated that everyone was running out with no explanation.
“They’re on the way to see if their fighters are intact.” Jen said.
“How do you know?” Stacey said.
“Commander’s intuition.” She smiled.
Brett had gotten to the fighter bay and was clearing away the doors. Kat and Ashley ran in. Brett noticed them, but didn’t stop clearing away the twisted metal.
“We can’t let him go out there.” Ashley said. “You know how Brett can be.”
“Tell me about it.” Kat said.
They both ran and caught up to Brett who was almost done clearing away the launch doors.
“Brett, you can’t go out there.” Kat said.
“Why is that?” Brett said, still clearing away the last of the debris.
“Why? Because you’ll most likely be killed.” She said.
“I’ve fought through worse. We had worse odds at the battle of Deneb. Back then we didn’t even have bean cannons or anti-fighter beams, only the shivans did. We only had flak cannons and the fighters.” Brett said, now looking at Kat since he had finished cleaning away the debris.
“Why do you want to go out there so bad?” Kat asked, frustrated with Brett.
“Because for the last week, all we’ve been taking are hits. I’m tired of it.” Brett said. “I need to get out there, spread my wings and kick serious butt.” He started to walk towards his fighter, sitting on the flight deck.
“You’re so stubborn! Don’t you know you’ll most likely get killed!?” Kat yelled.
“With the ship in this condition, I probably have a better chance out there alone.” Brett said as he got into his ship.
“Ugh!” Kat said, going to find her ship.
“Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like what you are doing.” Ashley said as she ran after Kat.
“I can’t let him go out there alone.” Kat said.
“I’m not going to let you two have all the fun.” Ashley said, racing to find a fighter.
The three ships charged out of the flight deck and out into space. The battle was already raging between the enemy fleet and the 7 friendly ships.
