GALAXY AT WAR - Book 5 - The Paladin Knights

CHAPTER ONE - June 2173 - Osolieus / Greko

CHAPTER ONE

June 2173

Osolieus / Greko

...Osolieus...

The Justice was at full thrust, heading towards the planet Osolieus. It was still a tiny speck of light in the distance but they had finally entered the Osolieus system after seven weeks of travel.

Rebecca felt a twinge of apprehension as she looked at her destination which, to the naked eye, was still lost amongst the stars. The sun, a large, dominating sphere of burning energy, was shining brightly to her right.

Rebecca had already searched ahead with her mind to see what they were facing. The StarGate and its blockade of osolite ships awaited them. As she stared at the shining stars in front of her she felt a presence approaching from behind.

"Hello, Michael. Have you come to keep me company?"

Michael lowered himself into the co-pilot's seat. "If you want. How much longer is it going to take?"

"It won't be long now. Our first test will soon be upon us."

"Are we going to take on the blockade?"

"You have had a look yourself then?"

"Yes. I was thinking we could perhaps sneak on board each one and take them over."

"Yes. We could."

"But... that's not your plan."

"No. I feel that will warn the osolites on the surface. They may kill the queen before we could get there."

"What's our first target?"

"It has to be the queen. We can sneak in close and rescue her before taking out the rogue osolites."

"Okay. What's the plan?"

Rebecca stared at him. "What?"

"The plan of attack. You know. Where do we go in? Which of us handles which jobs? That sort of thing."

"I don't have a plan."

"Oh."

"We'll see when we get there. We save the queen. Get her onside. Then help to retake the planet."

"You make that sound easy."

"It won't be. Let the others know we're nearly there." Rebecca watched the horizon and could now make out the planet Osolieus ahead of them. She reduced the throttle from full to three quarters. Osolieus was now starting to dominate the area directly in front of her.

As Rebecca's radar picked up the blockade she switched on the cloaking device and reduced the throttle again. She centred the blip representing the blockade and closed the distance rapidly.

Michael returned and saw the blockade looming ahead of them. "Is it wise to get this close?"

"They can't detect us. I want to have a look before we go to the surface." Rebecca steered the Justice closer to the four, large osolite warships and reduced the throttle again. The StarGate looked impressive. She could see the energy shimmering within its massive ring. It was ready to receive traffic from Earth.

She flew slowly around the warships keeping a safe distance away. Although they were cloaked, she didn't want to tempt fate and somehow give herself away to them.

"If our fleet flew through, do you think they could survive against these ships?" asked Michael.

"I hope to have them removed before that happens," said Rebecca.