Matt's Story

Fire Fight

     "This is not a drill! Fighter fleet to their ships now! Go, go, go!"
     Matt jumped out of bed, already in his uniform, and ran to the ship. His pants were loose fitting and brown. Around his shoulders, he work a long dark clock, also brown in color. His sleeves were long and he wore combat boots. He threw on a mask as he was running and double checked to make sure he had his bow staff.
     When he arrived at the ship, Olia was already there with the robot. It had been three weeks and they had trained several times for multiple hours at a time. Olia nodded to Matt and ran aboard the ship, starting the engines as Matt and the robot entered and took their positions.
     "Engines are go!" Matt told Olia. "Navigation systems are go! Weapon systems online!"
     Olia glanced at a small collection of pictures that she had taped to her area. Then she grinned back at Matt and had a now familiar glint in her eye. "Hold on tight!"
     Matt thought he was ready. He had been through so many practices with Olia. She had done everything to get Matt to fall out of his seat. He thought he was prepared, but soon found that, even buckled in, he had been wrong and found himself almost parallel with the floor. Olia let out a loud whooping noise and he couldn't help grinning despite the fact that they were going into an actual fight.
     Fighters were flying out of the hanger and immediately shooting at Galra ships. Matt's eyes widened when he saw the number of ships waiting for them. He let out a low whistle. To their left, already, a ship blew up. Matt and Olia stared, wide eyed before focussing again. Olia once again glanced at her pictures.
     "Matt... If by some miracle you make it and something happens...."
     "Don't talk like that!" Matt said sternly. Fear held him tight. He had been terrified by the Galra, terrified by their gladiator, afraid of what the Galra would do to him. That fear had been almost nothing compared to what Matt felt now. "You're going to be okay."
     Olia looked at him and gave him a sad smile. "Whatever you say, Matt."
     Weapons fired in every direction at everyone. Ships blew up on both sides, but Matt, Olia, and the robot never got hit, which they considered extremely lucky.
     "Matt, six o'clock!" Olia cried out suddenly. They'd been so busy firing at Galra ships that they hadn't been noticing that they were being followed. Matt turned their weapons to target the ship following them when they were hit. Olia grunted. The robot continued carrying out its programmed instructions like nothing had happened. Matt gritted his teeth and ran a test. He fired the laser Canon at the ship, breaking off one of it's wings. He fired laser guns at it, eventually blowing it up.
     "That was too close. Fortunately everything is still operational. Unfortunately, we were hit hard enough that our left engine, still operational I assure you, will still be needing a tune up."
     "Great!" Olia growled. A few more minutes passed in silence as they fired at more ships. The fight was almost over now. Within minutes, all ships would be recalled to the rebel base.
     "You don't think we'll have to ever go into a fire fight do you?"
     It was the middle of fall semester at the Galaxy Garrison. Shiro and Matt were hanging out in the lounge, just weeks before the Kerberos Mission. Shiro looked at Matt and smirked.
     "We're leaving for Kerberos in a couple of weeks. They wouldn't send us into a fire fight at any rate, but especially not if we're going on this mission. Why?"
      "I don't know, Shiro. I just... don't think I could manage going into a fire fight. I've thought about it a lot and I don't think I could do it."
     "Don't worry, Matt. If I have anything to say about it, you won't have to."
     "Thanks, Shiro. Sir."
     Shiro laughed and clapped Matt on the shoulder. Matt laughed too. He wasn't supposed to refer to Shiro as "sir" but it was fun to mess with him sometimes and it certainly helped the mood....
     Matt almost fell from his seat when they were hit again. Olia looked back at him.
     "Matt! Are you okay?"
     "I'm fine! I don't think our weapons systems are though," he reported as he got the scan results. "The systems are offline. They'll need to be rebooted. Until then, we're sitting ducks!"
      "What are ducks?" Olia demanded to know. Matt shook his head before being thrown to the ground again as they were hit. His hair fell into his face. His mask had long since fallen off. His hair was chin length and desperately needed cut again.
     "Another hit like that and we won't be able to reboot the systems. There won't be any systems to reboot then."
     "Cut the jokes Matt!"
     "Sorry, Captain," he said, still trying to keep the mood lightened. "See that old Galra ship over there?"
     In fact, there was a Galra ship straight ahead. It had been a giant ship, but it was now torn apart with holes. It would, however, be a wonderful hiding spot until they could reboot the systems.
     "I see it!"
     "Pilot us into it!"
     "Are you nuts? They'll find us! We'll be surrounded in seconds!"
      "We don't have a choice, Olia! If we don't go in there, we don't stand a chance! Another hit and we're gone!"
      Olia took a deep breath and stared for a moment at the pictures in her station. He knew she was married and had a son. Maybe she had a daughter or another son too, but he wasn't sure. Then she looked at Matt and nodded, flying slowly forward and cruising into the Galra ship. They heard and even saw a few explosions outside of the ship. Matt worked quickly to try and reboot the systems.
     Suddenly things were quiet. Almost too quiet. Over the speakers, all ships were told to come back to rebel base. Olia started leaving, but something caught Matt's attention.
     "Olia, wait!"
     "What? Why? We have to go back!"
     "I'm getting another heat signature. There's a third living being on this ship. We have to see what it is."
     "Matt you're insane. We have to go back. Besides, it's probably another Galra."
     "Which is all the more reason to check it out. They could figure out where the base is. We could take them prisoner."
     "Matt...."
     Matt looked at Olia. He went over to the robot and switched it off momentarily.
      "You said there was something weird going on. That's everything is staged. That there's a spy. That there's a possibility that none of this is right or as it should be. We should at least figure out what's going on if we can."
     Olia looked shocked, but quickly recovered. She considered Matt's words for a moment, taking deep breaths.
      "Fine."
     Matt found his mask and put it on. Olia put her mask back on and opened the door. As they left the ship, Matt noticed just how eerie the destroyed Galra ship was. Galra troops we're usually robots, and usually filled the ship. They would have been destroyed or deactivated when the ship went down. There wasn't a single robot to be seen now.
      "Where are all of the troops?" Matt asked. "There should be several troops."
      Olia shrugged. Continuing on, Matt felt his heart start to flutter. He had never seen a Galra ship so empty. It definitely didn't help that he was now worried about an ambush. He pulled out his bow staff, knowing that, being in space with zero gravity, it would not have the same effect of having gravity. Once they reached the central command center, Matt saw a hooded figure.
      Matt couldn't tell if the figure was male or female. The figure's features were hidden by a mask that made it seem like they had three eyes. A hood was pulled over their head and in their hand was a short knife. The figure had to be Galra, without a doubt, but that was all Matt could tell.
     "Olia. Matt. Can you hear me? Your robot is unresponsive, but we are detecting your heat signatures along with another. Is everything okay?"
     Te-Osh. Te-Osh had noticed that they were missing and was calling for them, not as their leader or commander, but as a genuinely concerned friend. Matt almost smiled.
     "This is Matt. We detected a heat signature and are trying to find the Galra crew member," he told her, leaving out that they had already found the crew member, giving them more time. "We'll bring them in for questioning."
     "Good."
     Matt didn't respond, not feeling the need to. He switched off his comm link and motioned Olia to do the same. She complied to him and moved forward.
     The figure wheezed now and looked up at them. The fact that he couldn't see the figure's face didn't help settle Matt's unease. It would have probably been more comforting to look upon the face of the Galra rather than its mask.
     "What is your name and rank?"
     "I will never reveal myself to those who work with the Galra Empire," the figure wheezed. Matt could tell by the sound of the figure's voice that it was male.
     "We don't consort with the Galra Empire," Matt said.
     "Yet you help them destroy their enemies. You steal from planets and force them to join the Galra, to give up their freedom."
     "No. We don't. Others may. Most without this knowledge," Olia said quietly. Matt could tell that their fears we're about to be confirmed.
      "What do you mean, young warrior? Nobody fights alongside the Galra without knowledge of it."
      "Perhaps some know and believe what they do is right. But not all of us do. We are fed stories that we truly fight the Galra. We believe that we free planets and help them." Olia was quiet for a moment. Matt realized then what had to be said. So that everyone understood just exactly what was going on. He took a deep breath.
     "The rebel forces have become corrupted."