* * * *
“I think Joshua should’ve sent a real fighter pilot instead of me.” Clay had positioned their ship a few hundred miles from the small fleet of Kan-ji ships… hoping the Kan-ji couldn’t detect them. And at least for now, they weren’t showing any signs that they did. At this distance, the sun behind them wasn’t much bigger than a large star. The Milky Way sparkled beyond.
“I can fly a ship, but I’ve never attacked anything.” Clay sounded unsure.
“We need to get this over with so we can get Jessie.” Alec said. They had just heard about the ALEC’S DREAM escape… and they were worried about Jessie. All Alec could think of was getting her back home. He missed her more than he ever thought he could miss anyone.
“Alec! Alec!” Jodi’s voice screamed over their radio.
“Jodi, what’s wrong!” A bad feeling came over him.
“The Seeker ship… it’s gone, there’s nothing left but small burning pieces of rock!” Her voice shook.
“Jessie?” Alec asked knowing her answer…. if Jessie was safe, he’d be talking to her by now.
“She never came out.” She whispered.
“How?” Alec’s asked falling to his knees.
“Not us, there wasn’t any attack from Earth. The missiles are still a half day out. We first noticed that the Kan-ji ships stopped coming out of it… then…” Her voice faded. “Alec, our little girl!” she cried out. Alec covered his face sobbing uncontrollably. Clay kneeled down next to his best friend and helped him into a chair.
“They’re dead meat.” Alec said after 20 minutes of staring out into space. He was referring to the small fleet of Kan-ji ships as his grief turned to anger. Clay took his seat in the pilots chair and without a word, accelerated. As they neared, two ships broke away to fly straight for them.
Alec activated the missile systems. Clay easily evaded the fighter’s energy blasts and turned back toward them. Alec let loose a missile and they watched the first Kan-ji fighter silently blow apart. The second Kan-ji ship realizing it was in a real fight, dropped below them in a maneuver to slip behind catching them defenseless. But the Kan-ji pilot didn’t realize who he was up against as Clay stopped and turned in a second. Alec fired his second missile. The Kan-ji ship never finished its move.
“Look there.” Clay pointed to an enormous bubble shaped abnormality.
“That’s the portal!” Alec said pointing to their modified navigation screen showing a new spot. Clay raced towards it and was met by 4 of the last 5 Kan-ji ships. These were not fighters but larger battle ships. They were less maneuverable but armed to the teeth. Alec and Clay soon found out just how well armed they were as they were forced to dodge missiles, energy blasts, lasers and projectiles. Alec quickly gave up on using his missiles as these battle ships had more than adequate defenses. He activated the Alec-Blaster. His worries that Stan may have limited their range too much were soon put to rest as he easily took out the closest Kan-ji destroyer.
“I think we found our favorite weapon.” he said to Clay as they turned to the next battleship. It didn’t take long for them to take out the rest of the attacking ships. “Four down, one to go. Let’s get that bastard before any ships can get through that portal.”
Clay turned towards the control ship sitting helplessly below its portal. Before Alec could shoot, they saw a small distortion in the portal followed by a ship blinking into existence. Clay looked at Alec who nodded… and changed course to the new ship.
“It’s so small, I can’t find it.” Clay said slowing to a stop where he thought the small ship should be. Alec examined the navigation console and typed into his laptop trying to get better resolution.
“There!” Clay said looking at the view screen. It showed a small dot about a quarter mile behind them. Turning, he slowly moved toward it as Alec returned to the weapons console.
“Let’s see that S.O.B.” Alec strained looking for the ship. His blaster worked fine but required visual contact.
“There it is.” Clay said with satisfaction as they spotted a small boxy ship moving slowly away from the portal.
“Wonder what kind of wondrous evil weapons this ship contains.” Alec growled as they closed in on it from behind.
“Hold on a second.” Clay said just as Alec was about to fire.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s something not right about that ship. What would you think an escape pod would look like?” Clay asked.
Alec just gave him an angry look. “What the heck kind of question is that!” he growled… and as he was about to fire, Clay’s question sunk in. “Jessie?” He looked at Clay… then slowly reached out to deactivate the blaster. He remembered Jessie had planned to use an escape pod… and that ship was small enough to be one.
Feeling hope rise, he stood up from behind the weapons console and slowly walked to the front window. “Why am I torturing myself?” he thought. His confidence began to fade… as he realized the odds of finding Jessie in the middle of nowhere… an hour after the Seeker ship blew up wasn’t good. In fact it didn’t make any sense at all. Still, he was unable to take his eyes off it as he waited for Clay to rotate their ship around the pod. The small pods front window came into view, but the distant sun didn’t give them near enough light to see inside. Clay turned on a spotlight. Alec’s heart sank as he saw nothing but two empty seats. He sadly turned, his hands covering his face.
“Not so fast buddy.” Clay stepped over to intercept him and gently turned him around. Alec’s knees went weak as he placed both hands against the front windshield… “Jessie.” His daughter was alive… and looking out from behind the front seat, waving at them.
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