**Narrative; Late October 1999**

They had been on the Universal Destiny 1 for a little over three weeks now, and it had been more than two and a half weeks since they had had their last look at Earth from space. They were speeding on their way towards the Nephilian home planet, although they knew that they would encounter plenty of action before they reached it. Once they reached it, the war wouldn't be long in ending.

"Hanson, you are the absolute bane of my existence! You're late again!" Tucker said sharply as Zac rushed into the conference room.

"Oops-I mean, sorry Sir."

Tucker sighed and rubbed his temples for a moment before looking back at the fourteen year old kid who was full of gumption. "Be on time next time, or you're cleaning floors after lunch…got that?" It was hard to stay mad at the kid.

"Sir, yes, Sir," Zac replied vaguely, smiling impishly as he tied his hair back. Tucker sighed and let the matter drop.

"All right, let's get down to business," he began. "You all known that you've been chosen to specialize in the area of fighting outside of the main ship. You will each be assigned to something called a single person, slim-lined model fighter pod. Now, these pods were made especially for the Universal Destiny 1, since this ship carries more crew members than any other, and many of you were chosen specifically for certain abilities. So, therefore, not only are the pods noticeably smaller, they have more ability to detect the slightest movements in the controls, which means that you have to be careful. These pods will know your every movement, your every breath, your every thought. They are extremely agile, yet rough enough to take a couple indirect hits before being in serious trouble. Now, direct hits may not cripple the pod, but you'll need to retreat. However, if you're paying attention and are alert enough, then you should be able to maneuver out of the way of any oncoming shot…that's how fast and agile these things are-"

"Uh, Sir?" Jax spoke up, barely raising his hand at all before opening his mouth. Tucker sighed and nodded.

"What?"

"Can you stop talking about them and just let us get in them? We'll learn about them better if we're out flying them."

Tucker let out a slow breath. "Yes, I was getting to that. Today will be your first chance to get inside one and take it out of the ship for a quick spin. So, if you all think you're ready, we can get started. Follow me down below."

A few minutes later, Tucker, along with the multitude of members who were to be manning the fighter pods, were standing down below, looking at them in awe.

The pods were small. They looked to be just big enough to fit one person comfortably, along with the control panel. The outsides were jet black and immaculately clean and smooth. You could see your reflection in the sides just by looking into the chrome. There wasn't a dent or crease anywhere along the outside edge, not even a viewing window.

"Hey, how are we supposed to get in these things?" Logan Baird asked from where he was standing by his assigned pod.

"And how are we supposed to see out once we are inside?" Zac added in slight confusion.

"On the left side of the pod, just below where the equator would be, there are three small dents that you probably haven't noticed. Place your index, middle, and third fingers into each of these holes and press. A door will open up, and you will be allowed access. To close the doors, there is a button on the control panel to do so. After you are all in, put on the headsets resting on the seats. I will then give further instructions," Tucker said from where he was sitting at a different control panel that was linked by airborne signal to each of the pods.

Zac ran his hand along the side of the pod and, sure enough, found three small indentations, into which he placed his fingers. Within a split second, a door opened slightly forward of the indentations, and Zac climbed inside.

"Whoa…" Zac whispered as he situated himself comfortably in the plush seat and adjusted the headset atop his head. His legs fit nicely underneath the control panel that spread the front length of the pod. Just to test the actual width of the pod, Zac stretched his arms out on either side, and hit his wrists painfully against the side. Wasn't much room at all.

On the control panel was a joystick, with a nice little red button on the top which was obviously for firing. There were a couple switches, nicely labeled with things such as 'start-up' and 'shut-down' and things like that. There was another button that was labeled 'Frequency'. Zac guessed that that was probably so that he could talk to different people. No problem. Then, he looked up.

"Oh…my…God…" he said slowly. On all sides he could see out, due to the kind of paint that was used on the outside panels of the pod, although it was a bit misty. Then, directly in front of him, spread out across the width of the ship above the control panel, was an immaculately clear window. It was any kid's dream.

"All right, boys and gals, enough drooling. Now, Thompkson is opening the door. Ease the pods out slowly and then hang around till I give you further orders."

Zac watched as the first couple pods went jerkily out the door due to the drivers being unaccustomed to the sensitivity of the pod.

"All right, Zac, this is where all those hours in front of the Play Station pay off, nice and easy," he whispered, gripping the joystick with one hand and, after pushing the 'start-up' button, a quiet humming filled the air briefly then quieted. He pushed the joystick forward slowly, and, like a well-trained dog, though even that is a bad example, she moved forward slowly.

"Handles like a dream!" Jax exclaimed over the headset. He had used the frequency button to connect to Zac, and Jax himself had been one of the first pods out of the main ship.

Zac got into open space and smiled. "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!" he exclaimed with a laugh after his headset had immediately connected back to Jax.

"Not quite yet, Hanson," Tucker cut in, though he was pleased that the kid was ready and raring to go. "You have to have something to shoot at, first."

"Are these loaded?" Zac wondered as he slowly took the pod in a figure eight.

"As a matter of fact, yes. But DO NOT fire at anything!" Tucker ordered.

Zac laughed and became a bit more daring and pushing harder on the joystick. "Holy hell, this thing just went from zero to a hundred in no time flat!" he exclaimed in surprise as he turned the pod back around in a wide circle. Then, he quickly took the joystick around in a fast circle. The pod spun in a complete 360° in the space of about five seconds before halting obediently.

"All right, cowboy, be a little more careful," Tucker ordered with a laugh.

"Tucker, this ain't no damned horse!" Zac shot back, his voice joyful and laughing. "This thing is absolutely awesome!"

"Hey, Zac, how'd you do that 360° ?" Jax wondered.

"Who wants to know?" Zac shot back with an impish laugh as he pulled off another one, slower though.

"Everybody!"

Things went on for awhile more while the they all became adjusted to the pods and how very sensitive they were before Tucker finally called them back in. After a long length of complaining, they were all seated back in the conference room.

Tucker cleared his throat to get attention and stop the excited chatter. "Everybody, take a look at Hanson over there. See him? Now, when you see him out in the pod, you know exactly what not to do."

"Aw, you're just jealous cause I'm so good with that thing!" Zac joked with a laugh as he tilted his chair back and tucked his arms underneath his head. "So…when do we get to go out again?"

"Soon enough, Hanson, soon enough."

** *** **

Isaac sat in front of the large control panel, wondering how in the hell he was going to figure out what all those buttons, knobs, and various other instruments were for. He glanced up, out the front window that ran along the width of the spaceship so that those who would be working the control panel would be able to see out. He glanced to his right, where Laina Chancey sat, her headset already on her head as she sat, staring dumbfounded at the panel.

"How on Earth are we supposed to figure out all these controls?" she wondered aloud, glancing over at him.

"We’re not."

Laina laughed a bit. "Yeah, I suppose so. We’re not on Earth anymore, are we?" she asked rhetorically before shaking her head slightly.

"All right people, listen up," Tucker came breezing in, looking as if he had had a harrowing experience with the pod fighters first flight. "You all have to learn the basics of the panel, and you have to do it today. Its pretty simple, actually, it just looks like there’s a lot to learn. So let’s get started, shall we?"

The ten people seated at that console stared at him expectantly in answer, so he nodded and continued.

"All right. See the purple button right next to where your headset plugs in?" Nods of confirmation, so he continued. "I want you to press it."

They all glanced at each other uncertainly, and then, one by one, they began pressing the buttons. The ship was rocked by the force of several laser shots being fired into empty space in successive order. There was shocked silence, and then smiles began appearing on everyone’s faces.

"Now, look for the red one next to the frequency button for your headset. See that button? I want you to press it."

They all searched out the button, and then hit it. The ship was rocked again by the force of the weapon released, and everyone stared at Tucker, waiting for more instructions.

"Good," he began, smiling. "I believe that you’ve all got that down. You’ll figure out what the rest of the weapons buttons do once you’re actually in battle. Now, the frequency button will allow you to talk to one of the following. You can talk to all of the fighter pods at once. You can single out one fighter pod and talk to just that one. You can talk to the enemy ship, though why you’d want to, I don’t know. You can talk to another allied ship. There are several other possibilities, but those are the main ones you need to be aware of, because that means that they can contact you, too. So be on the alert."

Isaac cleared his throat. "So we’ll be here during any…battle."

Tucker nodded in confirmation. "Exactly. You learn quickly. Anyways, you who will be manning the main weapons control panel will be an absolutely vital part of every mission, battle, etc. You will need to be here as soon as you here the emergency siren go off, and, believe me, you can’t miss it. You must be on time. You must be alert. You must be ready to kick ass. Is that clear?"

"Sir, yes, Sir!"

Tucker nodded, obviously somewhat placated. "Now, the consoles that you are at right now will be your permanent spots, so when we do go into battle, or need you here for some reason, report to the very same seat that you are sitting in. Because if your ass is not in the proper chair, I personally will kick it for you. Understood?"

There were a few snickers and veiled laughter around the room, but the ‘Sir, yes, Sir!’ was shot back just as quickly as before.

Tucker, however, was not amused. "Lopes!"

"Yes sir?" came back the smart reply as Nathan Lopes jumped a bit in his seat.

"Do you doubt my ability to kick your ass?"

"No sir!"

Tucker nodded, then looked around. Wills! Do you doubt my ability to kick your ass?"

Tabitha Wills shook her head. "No sir!"

"All right then. Let us move on!" Tucker said, dropping the previous subject. "Now, I have a simple task for you. Take the frequency button and set it on any frequency that is not full of static. In other words, for those of you with low IQs, any frequency that does not sound like your bowl of Rice Krispies and doesn’t go snap, crackle, and pop!"
There were quite a few unveiled laughs throughout the room as people began messing with the frequency button. Tucker didn’t chide them, because he himself was hiding a smile as he watched with a keen eye. Finally, everyone’s hands had fallen away from the button, and they were waiting, albeit slightly impatiently, for more orders.

"Good, you can rotate a button and stop on a channel. Now, you may turn your headsets off," Tucker said, heading for the door. "You’re all dismissed."

** *** **

"Where’s Tucker? For someone who’s so set on us always being on time, he’s the most unlikely one I’d expect to be late," Theo commented impatiently as he drummed the pads of his fingers on the tabletop. Taylor, who was tilting back lazily in his chair at a dangerous angle looked over at him.

"Who knows? Who cares? He’s like my old voice instructor…the later he is, the better it is for everyone who’s waiting on him."

Theo sighed and glanced at the clock. "I wonder what he wants us all here for?" he commented, looking around the room at the dozen or so other people who were there as well.

"Well, earlier today Zac got assigned to some fighter pod unit thing, and Isaac got assigned to control console. My bet is we’re finding out what dangerous stuff we’ll be doing during this whole thing," Taylor commented with a shrug. He looked around lethargically before focusing on the door.

Tucker burst in, looking as if he had been in a great hurry. "Sorry about being so late," he apologized immediately, taking a seat at the head of the large conference table.

"Hey, Tucker, I think that you should have to be on bathroom duty for being late…you did it to Chancey, Hanson, Lopes, and myself before!" Jason Donovan spoke up matter-of-factly.

"Nice try, Donovan, but it ain’t gonna happen," Tucker replied with a wry smile. Then, he slapped his hands rhythmically on the tabletop. "Let’s get started, shall we?"

"Hey, can I ask a question, first?" Nick Quinn spoke up, watching the captain steadily.

"Does it have anything to do with this topic?" Tucker asked.

"Well, since I don’t know what the topic even is, probably not."

"Go ahead."

Nick smiled. "All right, who do you think tells the truth more, children or animals?" he asked, bringing up a topic that had become the basis for a heated debate earlier that day at lunch.

Tucker thought a moment. "Animals and children tell the truth, they never lie. Which one is more human? There’s a thought, now you decide," he finally replied, taking the lyrics from Savage Garden’s ‘The Animal Song’. "Now, can we get started on the real reason we’re here?"

"Sure," Nick said, handing the floor *so to speak* back over to the captain.

"What ‘unit’ are you assigning us all to?" Theo asked, not caring about protocol or any of that junk.

"Infiltration," Tucker stated matter-of-factly.

"Infiltration?" Several of the people around the table repeated, slightly confused.

"Exactly. Infiltration of enemy ships. Basically, y’all get to break a couple laws. Breaking and entering, theft, possible kidnapping, possible murder-in-self-defense."

There were some murmurs of surprise and delighted agreement to that.

"Now, I will expand on that. You get to sneak into enemy ships, steal whatever needs to be stolen, possibly kidnap a bastard or two for ransom or something like that, and hey, you never know, you might get to blow one of their Avanti heads off…with these, of course," Tucker continued, holding up what looked like a gun, but was smaller and without a revolving chamber. There were gasps around the table.

"These," Tucker said, setting several on the table before reaching into a box beside him for more. "Are what are called ACE guns. ACE stands for Avanti Compressed Electron. We kind of stole the technology from them. Anyways, have you ever heard of something called electron microscopes?"

There were nods around the table, and Taylor answered.

"Yeah. They’re those microscopes that, instead of light, send a highly condensed beam of electrons through and over the specimen or whatever. Nothing living ever comes out alive after that."

"Exactly. And these guns, they hurt like a bitch, so try and stay out of their way when you’re on the wrong side of them, all right? Now, I’m going to issue each of you one of these. Please, for the love of whatever deity or deities you worship, be careful with them!" He warned as he began passing them out in a most uncareful *probably not a word* way. Once everyone had one in their hands, he smiled and sat back.

"I can’t tell you anymore. The rest you have to learn on your own. Play it by ear. Blah, blah, blah."

** *** **

**Back to present; December 1999**

The boys paused in their story to take some breaths and look around. The clock was chiming eight o’clock, and their whole family was staring at them in wonder. Tucker had a look of silent amusement on his face as he, too, looked around at their faces. There was shocked silence as the chiming of the clock died.

"You issued a gun to my son?" Diana demanded, suddenly turning on Tucker. He seemed surprised.

"Well, yeah, Diana, I did. Protocol."

"Protocol, my foot! Were you trying to get him killed?"

Tucker laughed. "No, the whole idea was to keep him from getting killed."

"Tucker, he can barely walk a straight line, let alone be reasonably safe with a gun!" she exclaimed.

"Hey! I can too walk a straight line!" Taylor defended, jumping into the conversation.

Diana looked at him sympathetically. "Honey, you’re a klutz. Face it."

Taylor opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again, and then reopened it. He resembled a fish out of water. "So? I never once shot myself, or anyone else that I didn’t mean to hit, with that gun!" he defended, trying to get past the fact that he couldn’t tell left from right, not to mention that it had taken him years to discover that walls didn’t move. Well, his mind knew it, but his feet hadn’t. *Now, I have no idea if he can tell left from right, and, particularly, I don’t care. All I know is that I myself can’t tell you left from right unless I think about it for a moment…I’m dead serious. Its not funny.*

"Now, just calm down. That gun saved his life quite a few times, so don’t go biting my head off. Why don’t you let the boys continue?" Tucker suggested. They all knew that Taylor was a klutz. Nothing special.

Diana seemed to agree, because she turned here eyes back to her boys. "All right, do go on. This is getting interesting."

"Yeah, come on. When do you get to the first battle?" Walker asked, sounding more like a fourteen year old boy than the boys’ father.

"Well, sooner than any of us expected, that’s for sure," Zac answered with a smile as he twirled the half-full wine glass in his hands.

"Yeah, and if you’d stop interrupting us, we would have gotten to that part already," Isaac pointed out reasonably.

"You paused," Avery shot back with a smirk of triumph on her face.

"Oh yes, always blame it on the ones who pause!" Zac commented, rolling his eyes briefly. "All right, all right. If you all are done, we will continue."