Solar Star

Tel’kesa shivered in the cold air. In her hand she held the end of a branch which was bound with cloth soaked in inflammatory fluid as her job was to light the fire when she heard the Solar Star approaching. She stood one hundred metres north of the amphitheatre and from her position she couldn’t see the compound but she would never forget the frightened faces of the children as they clung to their parents in the cold and dark; unsure as to why they had been hurried from their beds to wait to leave their homes forever. She sighed heavily regretting the fact that so much they had wanted to take with them was to be left behind. Ten large crates were packed and would go in the first wave along with ten goats and thirty hens, which were waiting now with the families; but so much else was to be abandoned. Inside the main building, even at this last moment, books, tents and emergency kits were still being hurriedly packed and with luck at least three more crates would leave with them, if Solar Star got back. She wasn’t under any illusions; it wouldn’t be easy to get in a second time even with some of the ship’s crew using stun guns; they wouldn’t be able to hold out against fully armed troops for long. Another shiver went through her, she had been the one to suggest they try to use the ‘Kataree’, but would it work or were they just putting themselves in more danger? But it was too late to change their plan now and once the Solar Star landed she would join the other nine elders and start to create a ‘Kataree’, a sacred place, large enough to hold a spaceship. She closed her eyes and asked for help from the only being who could interfere on their behalf now.

‘Creator, Lord of all that is, hear my prayer. If it is thy will that we leave Sakkara for a new home in the stars, then help us now to leave in safety and without hurting anyone. I send love to our enemies for they do not understand, but I hope one day they will see the light and be as we have been, peaceful and happy. I leave our fate in your hands Creator, and thy will, will be done.’

As she finished her prayer a roaring of engines broke the calm around her and she lit the torch. The fire sprang into life and she looked about her to the huge black shape hovering overhead.

‘So it begins,’ she said and began to make her way hurriedly back to the compound.

Armin Zimmerman yawned and scratched his nearly bald head, wondering who it was demanding entry to the Red Rocket before it was even fully light. He was the First Officer and general dog’s body on Silvereen’s ship, without whom nothing would get done. It was he who brought provisions for the ship, who hired and fired the crew and took care of their problems and even drummed up business. Silvereen was a lazy and vain man, who believed the Captain’s job was to order others to do things for him but fortunately he had had the good sense to employee Armin to oversee the workings of the ship. That being the case, it was Armin, not Retro Ray that Maclyn wanted to talk to. The banging continued until Armin got out of his nice warm bed, pulled on his long warm coat and weaved his way down to the loading ramp. He was greeted by yet more banging until he activated the releasing mechanism and the doors slowly parted. Thankfully that put paid to any more banging as it was giving him a headache.

‘Who is it?’ he called out, before the doors fully opened.

‘Maclyn,’ came the reply.

A tall slim figure climbed inside the loading bay and stood looking down on the much smaller figure of his counterpart on the Rocket.

Armin smiled a crooked affair of slightly uneven teeth, combined with sticking out ears and a small nose. He wasn’t a handsome man, but his eyes gave away his nature, they showed kindness and strength that his frail physical frame could not and Maclyn knew he was ten times a better person than Ray Silvereen. There was no malice in his character, he loved people and their problems and was a gifted organiser, who empathised with the crew. They worked for Armin, not Silvereen and if push came to shove, they’d take his side over their Captain’s any day. Maclyn liked Armin and they often talked together about their lives as First Officers and they had found them to be very different. On the Solar Star Ty was Captain, not just in name but in reality too. All the crew respected him and knew he’d never ask them to do what he wouldn’t do himself. They were all in it together, but that couldn’t be said about Silvereen. He was a bit of a joke to his crew, who was a much more motley collection of misfits and never-do-wells, who didn’t respect their Captain at all, but fortunately they did love Armin. It was a strange marriage of crew and First Officer, but somehow it worked and that’s how the Rocket operated; as long as Ray stayed on the bridge it ran smoothly, but if he took it in his head to run the ship, it collapsed around his ears. Armin was the man to see if you needed anything done and Maclyn certainly needed a lot done.

‘Mac, good to see you; but it’s a little early for house calls,’ Armin said grinning up at his friend.

‘That it is Armin,’ Maclyn agreed and shivered in the cold bay.

Armin closed the doors and led them both back towards the warmth of his quarters.

‘So what are you doing here?’ he asked.

‘There’s been a change of plans forced on us by Colonel Nye,’ Mac began.

Armin stopped and raised an eyebrow when Nye’s name was mentioned.

‘What’s she got to do with this?’ he asked.

Maclyn frowned.

‘What has Ray told you?’ he countered.

Armin shrugged and carried on walking.

‘Not much just that we’d be taking some colonists to their new home.’

Maclyn was incredulous.

‘Is that it!’ he exclaimed.

Armin frowned and nodded.

‘Yes why? Is there more?’

Maclyn sighed.

‘I don’t believe him. I should say there’s more; a whole heap more.’

By now they’d reached the sanctuary of Armin’s home; a small but well organised, even luxurious two room cabin, which contrasted with the general tattiness of the Red Rocket, with its smart, clean, functional appearance. Armin put the coffee pot on and turned back to Maclyn.

‘I think I’d better get dressed while the coffee’s brewing. By then I’ll be awake enough to take the bad news.’

Maclyn smiled and watched Armin disappear into his bedroom, giving him time to work out how to break it to him that if all went well, in just one hour’s time he’d have to find quarters for nearly a hundred people, plus some goats and hens.

Ben Black Elk bit his lip as he focused hard on flying the ship to the co-ordinates Sarrin had given him, keeping it at the height of 2,000 feet, so as to avoid Nye’s web of detection equipment. He glanced at the navigation readout and turned the ship two degrees to keep on track and looked up at the screen but there was little to see, as this corner of the state was very under populated, mainly consisting of wilderness or farmland, so the darkness was all prevailing. Sarrin came to his side to help him by watching the navigation board and telling him when he was flying off course.

‘One degree right,’ he said softly. ‘You height is 1,800 feet.’

‘Aye,’ Ben acknowledged, wiping a few beads of sweat off his forehead.

He slowed the ship down as they were now just a mile from Sakkara. Ty sat calmly in his chair watching the screen intently, hoping to spot the beacon of fire, which O’realian had promised them. Behind him he sensed the presence of Kassina before her long dark hair touched his shoulder and her rose scented perfume invaded his senses. He glanced up at her, but she was straining forward, her face white and tight with anxiety and unaware of anyone or anything else. Suddenly her face changed.

‘Look,’ she shouted and pointed at the view screen.

Ty turned and saw the small orange and red fire almost dead ahead.

‘There’s your mark Ben,’ he said.

Black Elk nodded.

‘Aye Captain, I see it.’

Ty turned to Su-min.

‘Lights.’

She nodded.

‘Aye Sir, lights on.’

The area below and in front of them suddenly turned from a black void to a brightly-lit compound area with many people huddled together looking up, scared and cold in the air being kicked up by the engines. As the ship approached Black Elk activated thrusts so they rotated downward, making it easier to position the craft exactly where they wanted it. Ty got up from his chair and took two steps forward, his eyes sweeping the screen before him.

‘Turn on the underside and rear cameras,’ he ordered.

Su-min complied and the screen split into three, the largest portion still showed the compound, then the two small screens on the side showed different angles, one directly under the ship and one behind, set above the shuttle bay doors. It seemed to Ty that the best bet would be to turn the ship around so the loading bay was directly in front of the queue of waiting people.

‘Alright people,’ he said. ‘Let’s get on with it. Ben, turn us around and land with the ramp facing them.’

‘Aye Sir,’ Ben acknowledged, but Ty’s attention was already somewhere else.

‘Su-min inform the cargo bay to be ready and for the troops to disembark.’

She nodded and got on with her job as the ship began to turn and descend. Ty glanced at the clock, their time was ticking away and every second counted as Nye’s people would be watching and it wouldn’t take them long to realise they were getting away. What they’d do about it, he wasn’t sure, but knowing Nye it wouldn’t be pleasant and not something he wanted to be around to witness. He had already decided to stay at Sakkara to help with the evacuation even though Maclyn had thought he’d talked him out of it. Ty couldn’t stay on board whilst others risked their lives, he had to be there. The ship landed with the smallest of bumps and Black Elk let out a sigh of relief. He’d done it, now all he had to do was repeat the exercise, but next time they may be under attack.

‘Great job Ben,’ Ty said and then he dropped his bombshell. ‘I want you to take charge here as I’ve got to stay here and help defend this place until you get back for us.’

Ben blinked, unsure he’d heard him correctly.

‘But,’ was all managed to get out.

‘Captain you must stay here,’ Sarrin said. ‘I will go.’

Ty shook his head.

‘No, they need you to get them to Ieesha, as I sure don’t know where it is.’

He was grateful to see the looks of concern on his crew’s faces, but he had made up his mind and once that was done, they all knew it was futile to try and change it. Sarrin was still unhappy, but agreed the knowledge he possessed was the only way they’d make it to Ieesha, but to risk his life Sarrin believed was unnecessary.

‘Then if you are going Captain, please take this with you.’

He put a small gold coloured box in his hand.

‘It will keep us in contact,’ he added.

Ty looked at it and couldn’t see any workings on its surface; it appeared to be a solid lump of metal.

‘How does it work?’ he asked.

‘Don’t worry, it is directly connected to my communications device, all you need to do is hold it in your hand and squeeze it three times if you need assistance.’

‘But I have a communicator,’ Ty said, showing his hand-held device.

Sarrin nodded.

‘Yes but this is a bit different. Please take it.’

Ty shrugged, there wasn’t time for any further discussions, already the rear camera showed most people were on board and once the boxes and animals were loaded they’d be ready to go.

‘Alright,’ he said, and then added. ‘Ben, get back here as fast as you can,’ as he ran for the door, hotly pursued by Kassina.

‘I’m coming too,’ she said and slid into the lift before he had the chance to stop her.

Major Theodore Gerrard opened his eyes reluctantly, after being hailed by his Lieutenant. He rolled over and glared at the man.

‘Yes, what is it?’ he barked.

‘We are not sure Sir, but a vessel has just appeared over the horizon and seems to be attempting to land in the compound.’

Gerrard blinked and sat up; he could now hear the roar of the engines himself. He fumbled for the zip on his sleeping bag and yelled.

‘Get my uniform,’ to the helpless lieutenant, who gathered it up and handed it to his Commanding Officer.

’Find out what’s going on,’Gerrard commanded.

The lieutenant dashed from the tent, leaving the Major rubbing his eyes and rapidly pulling on his clothes. He was well aware of what would happen to his career if somehow the Sakata community got away from them as Colonel Nye had made that abundantly clear in her briefing sessions. She had them start to surround the place two days ago but she was not yet aware of the shuttle that left yesterday morning. It was something he had seen fit to leave out of his reports, after all they hadn’t been told to stop anyone leaving then, that order had not come until an hour later and since then nothing had come in or out, until now.

He pulled on his jacket and hurried out of the tent and over to the forward observation post. Lieutenant Dewmore past him the night vision scope and he could see all too clearly that a large aircraft had set down in the amphitheatre, but because of the bank he could not see the people streaming into it.

‘Sight the lasers on the amphitheatre,’ he ordered.

Both lieutenants jumped to it, communicating his orders to all the surrounding troops, but as he watched he already knew they were going to be too late. He banged a clenched fist down hard on the rails in front of him and swore as he hadn’t anticipated this and now he was going to pay as Nye didn’t tolerate failure or excuses.

‘Damn it to hell,’ he screamed as he stood helplessly by, as he knew that ship had only come for one reason; to evacuate the community.

Maclyn sank down next to an equally exhausted Kate Samuels and managed to give her a weak smile. He had never worked so hard or taken such verbal abuse as he had in the last hour. The Solar Star’s four crewmembers had pitched in to help Armin roust the Red Rocket’s crew and get their ship ready to receive their passengers. Armin was a demon when he needed to be and had a mind like a steel trap as he rattled out orders and made decisions at the speed of light, and Maclyn found himself in charge of deliveries and their storage, ably assisted by Kate. The verbal abuse had come from the Rocket’s crew, who knew language to make your hair curl and they weren’t shy in using it, like when he’d tried to get them out of their bunks, but just one announcement over the intercom from Armin did the trick. Like magic they got on with the task, albeit grudgingly. Kate grinned at the grime and sweat on Maclyn’s face; she hadn’t seen him this mucky since he’d helped her install the new engines.

‘Are you having fun,’ she said.

He rolled his eyes at that.

‘Just dandy,’ he said, making her laugh.

‘We aren’t going to make it in an hour, are we?’ she said more seriously.

‘Not a hope,’ he said. ‘Still we aren’t leaving here until tonight, so when the passengers arrive, they’ll just have to give us a hand; at least they will if they want to be comfortable.’

She looked around them at the crates and boxes they still had to get stacked and sighed heavily.

‘Well I suppose we had better get back to work,’ she said.

Maclyn nodded and got tiredly to his feet, pulling her up after him.There were more crates arriving from the smaller cargo bay all the time as it was cleared to become living quarters, so even though they’d moved a lot, it didn’t look any better. He looked around trying to work out where to move next.

‘Okay, let’s start there,’ he said, pointing to the right.

She smiled and said.

‘You’re the boss,’ and followed him with her anti-gravity stretcher floating behind her.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ he said angrily.

She glared back at him.

‘I could say the same to you,’ she replied indignantly.

‘I’ve got to organise the troops,’ Ty replied defiantly.

The lift stopped and they both got out and started to walk down the corridor.

‘Look it could be dangerous out there,’ he said. ‘Go back to the bridge where it is safe.’

She snorted and grabbed his arm.

‘Now look here you arrogant pig, this is my home and I want to say goodbye to it. But I guess you couldn’t understand that, being as you’re so high and mighty. I love this place and it hurts to leave it.’

She tried hard not to allow tears to come into her eyes; she didn’t want to cry, especially in front of him. He frowned and looked surprisingly sympathetic.

‘I know you won’t believe me but I do understand,’ he said. ‘Just be careful and be back here in twenty minutes.’

She was so shocked that all she could do was nod and follow him into the rapidly filling cargo bay. Ty took her arm and manoeuvred her through the crowd and over to where the ten crewmen who had volunteered to try to hold back Nye’s forces, were waiting for him. Greg Marion, O’Neil’s second in command of ship security grinned as Ty got to them and handed him a stun gun.

‘Thanks,’ he said, then turned to his crew, all of whom he thought of as his own family. ‘Right, we are going to be stretched thinly around the perimeter but I don’t want you to be out of sight of each other. Keep down and only fire when they are in range.’

He looked around at their eager faces and added.

‘We are here only to defend this place until the ship returns. We are not here to kick butt or get our fool heads shot off.’

A couple of them grinned, as they’d been into action with Ty before and things had a habit of getting out of hand, like the time on Mars, when they ended up fighting their way out of the Kaldina Station.

Ty noticed the first of the goats being loaded and said.

‘It’s time to go.’

He led them down the ramp into the cold light of the South Dakota morning.