Future Fur-A Hero Rises

Chapter 6 Empty Spaces (unrevised)

     Commodore Liz Balitar sat in the crews mess, at the moment it was empty aside for herself and the second in command. She looked into her own white face reflecting through the reinforced glass; listening to what the recording said for the third time now. The message was static and no understandable words for a minute, "a trajectory that could take them past the A.C.P., the crew is scared and to be honest so am I; I just hope that if my hunch is right, that you get this message in time".

     "Shiro it's definitely Tanem, though the message is not complete I fear we may not be able to assist", The commodore stated.

     Shiro did not like the tone and her past could not let this message go unanswered, "I can not sit by and wait to be recalled my past won't let that happen, if you don't go back I will find a way to go alone".

     Balitar smiled, "it's decided then, it is obviously Captain Tanem Jax that sent the message and it is highly unlikely he would send a message like that if he could avert the chaos alone; tell the helmsman to return home at our best speed, it will take about a week to get home at our best speed." The shock in Shiro's eyes made Balitar smile, she acknowledged how she felt but could not convey it to Shiro; all Shiro did was nod and walk out to complete her orders, they had a long road ahead of them and it was going to be painful. Liz knew that much, the old saying was that a captain should go down with the ship; the fact that Tanem actually admitted to being afraid made her heart stop, having met him before she knew danger was right around the corner. At this moment she feared there may only be three New Howlers left, and she knew Tanem would fight to his last breath.

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     The ships counselor had asked to see everyone that survived the Tragedy at Aden, and now it was Jason Alders Turn; the question he kept asking was why she did not ask to see him first considering He was the Captain of the Archimedes. The corridors still sparked out of the missing panels every now and then, and the ship was in shambles and he knew with the rate of his reflection on the attack that he should be removed from duty. He had never had to see the ships counselor outside of staff meetings, He walked through the door that revealed the waiting room to her office; despite the rest of the ships condition this room was in good shape, and the panels were just piled to the side of the room. Sitting down the memory of the attack flooded his mind; he tried to stop thinking about it. The beginning of the attack was simple most of the ships in the defense force had been destroyed on the attackers arrival, and every ship aside from the Archimedes had been destroyed and even then the crew had no idea where the survivors went if there were any. The ship had been disabled and allowed to survive, but the one thing that kept nagging at Jason's mind was the question, "are my children alive"; nothing else mattered, the course that the attackers came from was the same telemetry as the Explorer had left. His son Collin was the heavy weapons officer on the explorer, and there had not been a message in almost a week now from anyone. Jason had not had much time to think, and now that he could the tears fell from his grey eyes.

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     Admiral Sam Devens wasn't sure if it was a wonderful sign or a sign of disaster, but Sam knew that the Starship Argos Explorer was back from its exploration mission; two weeks ago a strange force had Attacked Aden, the only thing that remained was the grey ash of a destroyed civilization and nothing left of its defense force. The Explorer had not contacted anyone as far as he knew, and the ship was only getting faster on a straight line to Earth; Sam brought up the data that he had on the attack, noticing instantly why the explorer was in such a hurry. The explorer was on the edge of the aligned Planets sensor grid, and the information that Sam had could mean that the Explorer had been attacked and was now limping home. A week earlier Commodore Balitar had come back racing with a report of bad news, now Sam knew the report was indeed correct; he hit the communications panel on his work desk, "Captain Narr, prepare the Necos for departure; and please inform Commodore Balitar that she will be joining us".