THE RELIANT

ENEMY OF THE ENEMY

"Captain."

"Yes, Roger."

"We have a message coming in from Admiral Renjay."

"Put it on the viewscreen."

"Aye, sir."

Within seconds, Admiral Renjay's face appeared on the ship's viewscreen.

"Captain," said the Admiral.

"Admiral," replied John. "What can we do for you?"

"One of our outposts along the border has reported seeing a Kelvarian ship enter Alliance space."

"A Kelvarian ship?"

"Yes," the Admiral replied, nodding. "I want you to take The Reliant and check it out."

"Pardon me for asking, Admiral, but isn't there another ship you could send?"

"I understand you had a bit of trouble with the last Kelvarian ship you came across."

"Yeah." John nodded. "They boarded my ship, nearly killed my first officer and abducted three of my crew members. I had to go and rescue them."

"I know. I read your report on the incident."

"Then you understand why I would be . . . hesitant about coming across another Kelvarian ship."

"I understand your misgivings, Captain. But, according to our sensors, The Reliant is the closest ship to where the Kelvarian ship was spotted. And the closest ship to your position is The Artemis which is about thirty minutes away from you."

"I understand, Admiral. We'll go and check it out and see why their ship is in Alliance space."

"Thank you, Captain." Jason then looked over at his son-and ship's pilot-Zack. "And how are you doing, Zack?"

"I'm doing okay."

"That's good. It's been a while since we've had a chance to talk."

"I know. But, as you know, I've been kind of busy flying this ship."

Jason grinned at his son. "I know. And, judging from the reports John has been sending me, you're doing a pretty good job piloting the ship."

Zack seemed genuinely surprised by what his father had just told him. "Really?"

"Yes. The next time you get the chance to come back to Earth, we should have dinner together."

Zack grinned back at his father. "Sounds good, Dad, uh, I mean Admiral."

"Good." Jason looked back at John. "Captain, I'm sending you the coordinates to where the Kelvarian ship was located."

"Thank you, Admiral."

 "Oh, and Captain, be careful checking out that Kelvarian ship."

"Thanks, Admiral. I'll let you know what we find."

The viewscreen then went blank.

"Mr. Renjay," John began, looking at Zack, "plot a course to those coordinates."

"Aye, Captain." He keyed in the coordinates. "Course plotted."

"Let's go."

***

"Captain," said Zack, "we're coming up on the Kelvarian ship."

"Viewscreen on."

"Aye, sir."

Within seconds, the viewscreen came on, and the Kelvarian ship came into view. Kelvarian ships were as large as a Class A Alliance ships and were as heavily-armed.