Solar Star

The Solar Star was well on her way back to Sakkara before Maclyn returned to the bridge. There was a real buzz in the air, everyone busy over their own stations, so much so that he walked around without anyone acknowledging him. He got to the Captain’s chair and found it conspicuously empty so he glanced about him and realised that Ty wasn’t there. He moved to Black Elk’s shoulder.

‘Where’s Ty?’ he asked.

Ben looked up and smiled.

‘Can’t you guess?’ he said.

Maclyn groaned.

‘Oh no, tell me he didn’t,’ he said.

Ben laughed.

‘Of course he did, you don’t think he’d resist a bit of excitement do you?’

Maclyn sank into the Captain’s chair and put his head in his hands muttering to himself.

‘The stupid idiot. What is he trying to prove?’

Black Elk glanced over to Su-min and they grinned at the reaction of their first officer and friend. Ty never could keep out of a good fight so it was no surprise to them when he said he was going on the away team. Maybe that’s why he insisted Maclyn stayed at Denver; he knew he would try to stop him.

Sarrin moved to Maclyn’s side, concerned by his distress as he didn’t understand why the others did not share it, after all their leader and friend had placed himself in unnecessary danger for people he had never met. To the Andromedian this was a selfless act, which should be celebrated, but he could sympathise with Maclyn and puzzled over the reason why some of the crew seemed uncaring in their attitude which alarmed him. He had to confess, at least to himself, there was still so much he didn’t understand about humans so he stood there unsure how to proceed. Should he hug the human as he had seen others do or pat his arm, or even try to speak to him?

‘What is the appropriate action?’ he wondered.

He was saved from embarrassment when Ben Black Elk announced they were four minutes from the landing area and that sensors showed a fire fight was underway.

Maclyn sprang from his seat, fully restored and started issuing orders just as Ty might have done. Sarrin sighed and returned no less confused, to his scanner to see if he could help find out what was going on.

Ty Kelsey could have told him; as he aimed and fired at the advancing soldier, all time seemed to slow down and a feeling of absolute calm came over him. There was a clarity and certainty he had never experienced before, yet he had never been so scared either. Something had happened to him that he knew he’d never be able to explain but all he could say was that somehow he saw exactly what had to be done, in what order and by whom and he automatically started to give orders to his crew via the handsets. He seemed to be able to see every part of the combat zone simultaneously and in great detail, yet he hadn’t physically moved from his prone position on the grassy bank. It was as if there was two of him; one stayed focused on firing at any soldier within range, whilst the other looked after the wider picture. It was very strange, but he had no time to analyse it, he was just thankful he could do it. He kept up a constant fire, aiming squarely at their torsos and for a time they did well as everyone kept calm and fired slowly and deliberately, but as fast as they knocked one down, three more seemed to take their place, a numerical equation that would ultimately spelled disaster. It became obvious to them all that they couldn’t hold the line any longer so it was time to pull back, so Ty gave them the word.

‘Pull back in a line; keep down and be careful.’

Slowly he and the crew prepared to back away from the edge of the ridge, but once they moved their view of the advancing men would be impaired and their advantage would be lost. But there was nothing else they could do, they were being squeezed on three sides and to protect the community and themselves they had to fall back.

Jenny swallowed hard and tried to keep breathing even though she was shaking with fear as she lined up her gun on the fastening of the black jacket of the heavily armed person running towards her and fired. He stopped and his hands twitched and he dropped his weapons before sinking to his knees and onto his face, but she didn’t have time to feel relieved as at each side of the fallen man there were two others and she was losing the battle to stop them. To make matters worse they had now come under fire and not with stun weapon either as Colonel Nye’s squad was firing with laser lances and distributors, which was meant to stop them permanently. She felt the air around her tingling with the energy waves of the lasers and more and more weapons were aimed at her and her colleagues. The rising panic inside her threatened to become overwhelming and the impulse to get up and run was almost too strong to resist.

‘It’s no good,’ she shouted, as much to herself as to Lenny, who was shooting wildly and becoming frantic.

He had already moved out of his original position, leaving too big a gap on her left and as she glanced that way she was dismayed to see him get up and turn away from his post.

‘Get back you idiot,’ she screamed, whilst shooting a soldier who had been making for the gap but she was too late to stop him letting off a short blast from his weapon before he fell to the ground. There was a cry from behind her, but with seven or more troops moving towards her she had no time to see how Lenny was. She bit her lip and held her gun steady with both hands before holding the trigger down and panning the weapon in an arch, hoping to hit as many of them as possible. They fell like pins in a bowling alley and for the first time since the attack started she had time to take a breath but one glance at Lenny told her that any help she could have given him was too late. His jacket was smouldering and covered in blood and his eyes stared into oblivion. She put her hand to her mouth and turned away, trying not to be sick.

‘Oh God,’ she muttered and shuddered, wishing she’d never volunteered for this.

Her communicator bleeped and above the noise she heard Ty’s voice.

‘Pull back,’ he screamed.

She needed no persuading to comply, immediately she wiggled on her stomach backwards and as she moved below the ridge she felt a wave of energy sweep over her, a stillness and cessation of noise fell on them as the Kataree was completed.

‘Magic, where are you,’ she cried in desperation as outside she could hear the sounds of battle.

She looked under the large oak table they had used for meetings and meals, but again Magic wasn’t there; then she looked around the family room, which had been all but stripped of its wall hangings and artwork, the ornate antique chairs and the small table, the oldest and most treasured possession of the community. She was glad that they had not been sacrificed as so much had had to be, so at least when they got to Ieesha they would have some familiar symbols of their homeland and community around them. There was nowhere else in the room where Magic could be hiding, so she moved on as in less than five minutes she would have to go to the meeting place and leave her home forever.

‘But no yet,’ she said. ‘And not without Magic.’

She carried on looking into each room.

‘Magic,’ she called and gritted her teeth as she was running out of places to search and if she was outside Kassina knew she’d never find her. She pushed her hair out of her face, she was sweating and feeling frustrated which made her feel like screaming or crying she wasn’t sure which. It was no good, she couldn’t spend any more time looking, and she had to give up even though she felt disloyal, as if she were abandoning her, although it was Magic’s illusive nature, which was now working against her. One room was left and she looked into the small store room, which once held their community’s joint possessions, the tools and equipment that anyone might need to use occasionally, of which only a few were needed. It was dark in the windowless room and there was no power on now so she couldn’t see much at all, especially one small black cat. She sighed, it seemed hopeless.

‘Magic,’ she called, but no answer.

Her shoulders sagged and with a heavy heart she started to turn away when a faint sound stopped her.

‘Magic?’ she called again.

A sad, long meow resounded loudly back to her and an indignant and highly annoyed cat appeared. She was a creature of habit and disliked noise and disruption and had sought some peace and quiet in this out of the way place. Magic stalked out towards her, her tail straight up, her legs stiff and her back arched and she looked up at her relieved owner and her amber eyes blazed angrily and her expression said it all.

‘I am not amused.’

Kassina tried to hide her smile, knowing her intuitive cat would think it inappropriate to find her in the least amusing. This cat had an ego and dignity as wide as the oceans and truly believed that the community revolved around her so to find herself forgotten and abandoned had not gone down well and she made sure Kassina knew her feelings. Kassina kneeled down and held out her arms.

‘I know honey and I’m sorry.’

Magic allowed her ears to be rubbed and soon mellowed a little, but she was not going to forget this treatment in a hurry. Kassina scooped her up and even though Magic felt she should have been placated and petted for longer than this before being held, she didn’t resist as she had been frightened all alone and was pleased to be found. Kassina breathed a sigh of relief, now she could leave, not happily, but at least she had had the chance to say goodbye and to find Magic meant so much to her but there was one problem, she didn’t think she’d be able to walk aboard Solar Star with Magic under her arm, so she’d have to somehow smuggle her on. But how? She thought of a bag, but Magic wouldn’t co-operate with being placed in one, so that idea was disregarded. What she needed was a large shawl or coat to hide her in and she knew where she could find one so she stroked Magic’s head and said.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll get you on that ship if it’s the last thing I do.’

She began to run back to her quarters and away from the meeting point and safety.

Whilst the main force attacked the open three sides of the complex, Major Gerrard had taken a small unit of men around the outside to try to come through the buildings to attack them from behind. It was a risky manoeuvre, but he believed they’d have a better chance than a frontal attack, even if Colonel Nye disapproved or was it because she disapproved that he was so determined to do it? He’d never hated anyone as much as he hated her and her high handed attitude. She thought she knew how to win military battles, but how could she? She had never even been in a real one before, only political dogfights. He acknowledged she would probably win those as her rapid rise to power testified. Gerrard had served his apprenticeship; he knew his trade and resented her telling him otherwise and this time he was going to do it his way.

The approach to the buildings had been more convoluted than it had looked from the observation post and consequently had taken far longer to negotiate than he had thought. He had hoped to lead an attack from behind at the same time as his main force moved in at the front. However the sound of gunfire had been evident for nearly ten minutes before his squad made it to the first of the outbuildings, which were the barns and stables; all of which were empty of livestock, but full of booby traps for the unwary. It looked like they had gone through the place in a hurry; discarded equipment and implements were shattered on the ground, making it very difficult to move through quietly or quickly. He silently cursed the disorder he and his men were forced to deal with, making them very late to join the attack. Finally they left the barn and began to move across the courtyard herb garden to the glass double doors that would lead them into the main community building. Suddenly there was a thundering roar and almost above them a huge dark shadow appeared and the ground shook beneath their feet and he looked up to see the descending ship so he knew he was facing failure. His men had stopped to watch it manoeuvre and slowly drop until he screamed at them.

‘Get a move on.” He yelled “We have to stop them leaving.’

He pulled open the doors and began to run down the corridors followed by his men.