Branca

Chapter 10

The wormhole experience was quick and painless. They have arrived at a point in space between Mars and the Earth. The fourth flying lesson isn't much different than the rest and Branca improves greatly.

"Fire at will." Says the Lieutenant.

"Firing now." Says Branca.

"Now, fire while you're making the loop sideways. That's good enough. Let's go back to the mothership. Wait. What's that?" To the far right they could see a large spaceship approaching. "Colonel, I think that's the Alliance!"

As soon as she spoke the huge spaceship fires at the Ana'atar.

"HEY!" screams Branca.

"They shouldn't be doing this! We have ambassadors on board. We're on a diplomatic journey."

"We have to do something!"

"Do what? We're just a small dot in space, they're massive spaceships. We can't penetrate their shield."

"They should know that we're on a diplomatic mission!"

"The Captain must be trying to explain that to them. Look the Ana'atar isn't firing."

"We need to get in contact with the Alliance's spaceship."

"What for?"

"They won't believe the Captain is telling the truth. Maybe if I can speak to the Alliance it'll change their minds."

"How do you plan on talking to them? Do you know the Alliance's common language?"

"A little. Just about enough."

"Look, Colonel, whatever you do don't get too close. It's easy for them to shoot us even though we're not a menace to them."

"Got it. Should I just change the channels and give it a try?"

"Oh look. They've stopped firing. I wonder why? Let's go back and find out. I hope they'll let us in, the shield must be all the way to the max."

"This is Colonel Branca in the Yellow-22, requesting landing permission."

"Permission denied. We suggest that you keep your distance for now. We'll tell you when it's safe to land."

"I guess that they are expecting more attacks." Says Branca.

"They must, or they would let us in. Let's keep a certain distance like they said."

Branca accompanies the Ana'atar that flies slowly through space. She keeps an eye out for the Alliance spaceship.

"Do you think they'll fire at us again?"

"We can never be certain that they won't. They are mischievous. They must know that we're carrying ambassadors by now."

"Yes, but will-"

"Yellow-22, you're clear for landing."

"Let's go." She says to her co-pilot.

Branca manoeuvres the spacecraft to slowly enter the spaceship. She lands and waits for the inside gate to open. When it does, she parks back in its place and opens the airlock.

"What a ride." She says.

"We're lucky we weren't hit. Those rays can fry us instantly." Says the Lieutenant tense with worry. "No matter how many times I see them attack without any provocation I can never get used to it."

"But why such hate? It makes no sense."

"Long ago the slave planets belonged to the Sa'el planet. After they rebelled against Sa'el wanting freedom, the Sa'el planet tried to conquer them back. But it was already too late, the Hobandir planet had already sent military help to the slave planets and that began the Second Alliance, we call it the Union. Sa'el is the planet that has the most powerful military force in all the Alliance. They can cause much harm to a planet's forces."