As the day of reaching Earth grew closer, Ethlan’s men were preparing, now under the
leadership of John, for the great day. The plan was simple subdue the captain just before arrival,
dispose of the crew by whatever means, and secure Earth as theirs. Days turned into hours, and
soon the crew became anxious. The captain came over the ships intercoms, “Attention all
personnel, we are now entering the supposed location of the Sol solar system. We will now shut off
the main engine drives and exit hyperspace. Please be ready to land in approximately 8 hours.
Thank you.” John and Ethlan were playing cards at the time of the announcement, their opportunity
came. John and Ethlan looked at each other, and put the cards down, they set to work. John
gathered the men under his command in mess hall 82, Ethlan and Gieban set to work to capture
the captain of the ship. All of the men in the mess hall sat down, and listened to John as he
explained the plan, “Once Ethlan and Gieban have captured the captain, group one will disperse
and secure the hangar bays, Group two, it is your job to subdue any opposing forces in the upper
section of the ship, grouped three you’re the middle section, and group four you will provide any
assistance to the groups previously named, so spilt up into 3 even groups and help the others, are
we clear?” “YES SIR!” shouted the men. “Good” said John, “The signal is when you here Ethlan on
the intercoms, good luck to you all, and Godspeed! Dismissed!”
Ethlan and Gieban slowly made their way to the ships command deck, a small group of
soldiers had followed them. They reached the command deck doors, where three guards were
positioned, “can we help you?” asked a guard. “Yes“, said Ethlan, “you can die for us.” The soldiers
with Ethlan pulled out rifles and shot the three guards. The guards then fell to the floor dead. Ethlan
punched in the codes for the doors, they hissed open. Ethlan was a bit surprised at the size of the
command deck, but he continued with his mission. Some more guards came up, but Ethlans men
shot them. The crew stopped what they were doing and looked at the men standing in their
doorway. Ethlans group walked to the captains chair. “Captain, Gieban said, “We would like it very
much if you would relinquish your position.” The captain just sat in his chair and stared out his
viewport. White flashes passing the ship every second. After a minute the captain stood up, and
turned to face them. Ethlan immediately recognized him, “Kieob“, Ethlan said in astonishment, “It’s
been a long time.” “To long Ethlan, too long. “ A scar ran across the left side of Kieob’s face. “I see
you gone up in rank Kieob” “And it looks as though that pathetic group had made you their leader,
you should’ve stayed Ethlan, you could’ve been a higher rank than even me, but you wanted to
follow your fantasies.” “Kieob, aren’t you going to Earth? I don’t think you would be if it wasn’t.” “No
Ethlan, I’m talking about you taking over the Tentor Republic, I was well aware of your plan from the
beginning. So Ethlan, are you going to shoot me?” “That’s too easy Kieob, but not a bad idea.”
Ethlan pulled out his gun and shot Kieob, a blue beam of light encased Kieob from head to toe.
“Now then.”, Ethlan spoke up to the crew, “you will all do as we say or this will happen.” Ethlan
flipped a switch on his gun and shot a nearby personnel, the man disintegrated. “”Now then, would
one of you kindly put me on theShips intercoms. Ethlan sat down in the captains chair, and spoke,
“Attention all personnel, I am your new captain, if have any questions, please hesitate to ask, I don’t
like answering to many questions. Thank you and have a nice day.”
Ethlans men set to work putting their plan into motion, and in 2 hours the ship was
under their control. John Joined Ethlan and Gieban on the command deck. John walked towards
the viewport, “How much longer?” “About five hours John,” Responded Ethlans, “It will be a
beautiful site John, I hope you brought a camera. John when we land, we don’t know what will be
there, or there might even be nothing, be prepared for whatever lies ahead John, be ready for
anything. Each hour that passed seemed like a day to john, he wanted to know already what Earth
looked like, would it look like Goitn, the beautiful ringed planet, or Naqum, the hot volcano planet.
The five hours were up and the ship had reached the Sol system. The sun was now in the center of
the view port, John looked out of the side veiwport, and saw a blue gas giant, “Ethlan,” he said,
“What planet is that?” “That is what used to be called Neptune, named after the roman god of the
sea.” in another 30 minutes they came to the planet Uranus, then Saturn, but when they had
reached Jupiter, something was off, Ethlan looked closely, “Crew, try to locate the planet IO.” A few
minutes later, a crew member spoke up, “Sir, We cannot locate the moon IO, it’s just not there. No
traces or anything.” “Very well, keep traveling to earth, and be careful of the asteroid belt located not
to far from here.” “What’s important about IO Ethlan?” Gieban asked. “IO was the third human
colony ever, and now the entire moon is gone, moons don’t just disappear Gieban.” Ethlan said, he
closed his eyes and began to think, “I think there may be something going on here. But we won’t
find out until we reach Earth.
The ship continued on towards its goal, the asteroid belt cam into view, Sir, an officer
said, “Should we fly over the belt?” “No need” said Ethlan, “The belt doesn’t have much in the way of
material or debris, so we should have no problem.” the large ship slowly passed through the belt,
and made its way towards mars. In fifteen minutes, the ship had reached mars, “Crew, stop the
ship and scan the Planet, for anything, life, buildings, or anything else.” “Sir!” a personnel said, I
think you should have a look at this.” Put it up on the big screen.“ responded Ethlan. Ethlan looked
on with intrigue and fascination, “Did you find any signs of life?” “No sir, just all this you see before
you.” the screen showed a destroyed colony, the buildings still burning to the ground, and dead
bodies all on the ground. “Turn it off .” Ethlan Said, “there’s nothing more to see here. Continue to
Earth.”
