Nebula One:

Jag strode onto the bridge. His piercing glance scanned the room. Thunder and Vice were standing near the communications officer, quietly talking. They both looked up when he entered the room.

“Two down, the last is along the outer rim. Was Jordan able to determine if it was a ship?” Vice asked.

“Yes. How long until we reach it?” Jag asked, wanting to verify the time he already estimated.

“We will reach the vessel in five hours, thirty-two minutes, six seconds,” the navigator replied.

“Thunder, Vice, my office,” Jag ordered, turning on his heel.

Thunder glanced at Vice with a raised eyebrow before he shrugged and followed Jag into the Captain’s room off the bridge. Vice followed behind him. When they paused at the door, Jag motioned for both men to have a seat at a small conference table in the middle of the room. He walked over and poured three drinks. Turning, he walked back to the table and placed a drink in front of both men before sitting down across from them.

“What is it?” they both asked at the same time.

Jag stared at the dark green liquid in his glass before he lifted it to his lips and drank it in one swig. He placed the glass on the table and leaned forward. With a flick of his wrist, he activated the computer screen. The soft green glow from the image of a small ship floated above the table, this time in full three-dimensional form. Data ran along the side of the image.

“Nice! I didn’t know the Waxians made ships like that,” Vice commented.

“They don’t. This one was reported stolen from a Kassisan development center ten years ago. The outer section has been modified, but the guts of the ship are anything but Waxian,” Jag replied.

Thunder frowned. “How do you know that it is a Kassisan ship?” he asked.

Jag looked toward the shadows behind them. They both turned and started when they saw the figure of a man standing near the window looking out into space. The man turned when he felt the eyes of the other men on him.

“This is Dakar,” Jag briefly introduced.

Thunder raised an eyebrow. “When did a Kassisan become part of the crew?” he asked.

“It was in the fine print that came with the cloaking devices we sent,” Dakar replied in a light tone.

“Why the hiding?” Vice asked with a raised eyebrow.

Dakar chuckled and stepped out of the shadows. Jag watched the other man warily as he walked across to the bar and refilled the glass in his hand. He tightened his jaw when the Kassisan studied the screen before he looked at them.

“Kassisans don’t typically hide. We prefer to observe from the shadows until we have a clear understanding of the situation—most of the time,” he added, lifting his glass to Vice.

“Riiiight,” Thunder said dubiously. “So, why is he here?” he asked.

Jag looked at Thunder in warning. “The fine print,” he replied with a hard edge to his voice.

Jag watched as Dakar glanced down at his drink and sighed before he swung one of the chairs around and sat down. He pointed to the screen. Jag returned his attention to the images floating above the table.

“Unbeknownst to us at the time, we had a traitor working with another alien species to overthrow the leadership of our world. The fallout and repercussions of Tai Tek’s treachery is still being felt. He was working with a group of rogue Tearnats, a species who was once our enemy, but has since become our ally. During that time, Tai Tek and Commander Trolis of the renegade Tearnats stole a prototype ship from us and sold it to an unknown species,” Dakar shared.

“The Waxians,” Thunder and Vice said at the same time.

“Actually, no.... But, it was recently brought to our attention that a Waxian stole the ship after killing the previous owner. We were able to trace the ship to Oculus IX, but it disappeared three years ago. Since then, the Kassisan star system has joined the Alliance, and we discovered a few other areas of concern that related to the Waxians and the Drethulans,” Dakar explained.

“Concerns?” Thunder asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The incident on Dises V has caused us all great concern. The ore they are mining can be made into an unusually strong, yet lightweight alloy. If combined with a unique energy source and the right technology, weapons and ships could be made that would have a devastating effect in the hands of the wrong people,” Dakar said.

“What unique energy source?” Vice asked, sitting forward.

Dakar glanced at Jag before he shrugged. “I’m not at liberty to say,” he replied.

“Do you trust him?” Vice asked, turning to look at Jag.

Jag’s mouth tightened. “Let’s just say I’m monitoring the situation,” he replied.

Dakar was the first one to start chuckling. Soon, Thunder and Vice joined in. Jag finally allowed a hint of a smile to show on his lips before he leaned forward in his chair.

“Now that we have the introductions out of the way, here is the latest update we have on the situation,” Jag said.

* * *

Aboard the Dauntless Explorer:

“We’ll be coming out of the jump soon. Hang on tight,” Edge warned, moving to take the seat that Andy had vacated. He brought up the scanners.

“Are the fighters still behind us?” Lina asked.

Edge nodded. “Yes, and there are now three additional warships approaching,” he said in a grim voice.

Gail rose from the co-pilot seat. “We’ll gear up and be ready for the bastards,” she said.

“I’ll take the port turret,” Lina said, stepping back so that Gail and Andy could pass her.

Edge looked over his shoulder when he felt her gaze on him. She was looking at him with a conflicted expression. He watched as she unconsciously worried her bottom lip.

“We will make it,” he softly vowed. Lina’s gaze moved to his hand. He turned his head and saw that his hand was trembling again. Curling his fingers into a fist, he looked up at her. “Be ready. The fighters will come in fast behind us. We will emerge near the remains of a large moon. I will use it to conceal us,” he said, turning back to focus on the controls.

He heard Lina murmur a soft acknowledgement before she turned and left. Uncurling his fingers, he stared down at his hand. A soft hiss escaped him when he saw several insects rising out from beneath his skin. Swallowing down the bile that rose in his throat, he refocused his attention on the controls, and carefully programmed in the safest, fastest route to the Alliance territory. He also set up an emergency message that would broadcast on a secure channel monitored by Alliance forces. They were still several weeks away from the closest Alliance controlled border.

He frowned when an unusual signal was emitted from the shield system again. It lasted only a brief second, but it was enough to trigger his internal warning system. An alert from the computer drew his attention to the fighters closing in on them.

The moon was made of pyroxene, a glass-like silicon type mineral, brilliant green in color. He was confident they would be able to find hundreds of caverns large enough to hide inside. The mineral’s unique composition would deflect any signals from the warship’s scanners. In essence, they would simply vanish.

It was a risky maneuver, but necessary. He would deploy decoy flares in different directions to divert the warships. Once the warships jumped, he would divert all power to the main engines and pass through the outer rim of Jawtaw space. While the Jawtaw were members of the Alliance, they were also neighbors to the Waxians. So, even if they wouldn’t attack a vessel emitting an emergency message on an Alliance channel, they might also look the other way if the Waxian warships attacked them.

“Brace yourselves. I will bring the ship around once we exit the jump. Lina, I will angle toward the port side so we are not vulnerable,” Edge warned through the com link.

“We’re ready,” Lina calmly replied.

Edge gritted his teeth and disengaged the jump propulsion system. The harness around his chest and shoulders tightened at the sudden decrease in speed. Tilting the retro rockets and releasing timed bursts, he swung the ship around. He reached for the forward weapons system controls even as his glance narrowed on the scanner showing the approaching fighters.

“Steady,” he murmured. ”Now!”

The two fighters appeared almost simultaneously from the black void. He released a series of bursts from the front cannons at the same time as Lina, Gail, and Andy did. The first fighter exploded and broke apart almost immediately. The second one verged to the left, but it was no match for the unexpected firepower of the Dauntless. In seconds, the second fighter joined the first in oblivion.

“Lina, I’m bringing in the port turret. Andy, Gail, be prepared for entry,” Edge advised.

“Entry? Into what?” Andy asked before her voice faded. “You have got to be fucking kidding me! A green glass house?”

Edge chuckled. “I do not remember Earth women having such colorful language,” he replied.

“You just didn’t hang out with the right ones,” Andy retorted.

“Obviously,” he responded.

He fired three long range decoys. The missile shaped cones floated away from the Dauntless. He waited until they were a ship’s length away before he fired the rocket systems at several second intervals. Each veered off in a different direction, before disappearing from sight.

With the decoys deployed, he focused on maneuvering the ship toward the moon while keeping an eye on the approaching warships. The ion trails would be easy to recognize. Not willing to use the main engines, he used the impulse jets to guide the ship toward the moon.

“I really hope you know how to fly this thing in very tight spaces,” Gail muttered.

“Can you?” Lina asked.

Edge huffed as he gently rotated the ship, aligning it with the entrance to a dark cavernous hole in the moon. The lights of the ship reflected off the mirrored green surface.

“Yes, I can,” he finally replied when they cleared an exceptionally narrow section.

“I think I’m going to need a clean pair of panties,” Andy muttered over the comlink.

Gail’s choked laugh was heard on the bridge. “You and me both, sister,” she retorted.

Edge leaned forward and cut off the power to all but the most essential systems. The soft red glow from the emergency lights lit the bridge. Rising from his seat, he turned Lina’s chair until she faced him. Drinking in the sight of her, he couldn’t help but think she was the most beautiful, strongest woman he had ever met.

“What?” she asked with a puzzled expression.

Edge lifted his hand and ran his fingers along her jaw. He never wanted to forget the feel of her skin against his fingers or the taste of her lips against his. Bending over, he drew her up until she was standing in front of him.

“What is it?” she asked again.

He threaded his fingers in her hair. “I want you to know that I have come to care very deeply for you,” he said.

“I…. Edge, I don’t… I can’t…,” she murmured, fear, sadness, and confusion warring in her eyes.

He gently laid his thumb against her lips. “I want you to know you have given me a gift that I never thought I would ever receive. I… love you, Lina. I love you,” he repeated softly before he bent and captured her lips.