Chapter Six

"I got one on my tail, I can't sh…" Knight three said just before his fighter burst into flames

"Knight three's gone, and I got the same guy on my six, I can't shake him! Its like he's got a leash on me or something!" Matthew reported in.

"Hold on, we're coming. Knights five, six, converge on knight four. Knight two, let's go!" As the four fighters rushed to Matthew's aid, he was doing his best to try and shake I him.

"Damn, where did this guy come from?" Matthew complained.

Just then, the enemy on his tail scored a glancing hit on his left wing, weakening the shields and damaging some of the power distribution systems in that section.

"Um, James, where the hell are you?" His response was a bright flash behind him and flaming debris flying past his cockpit window.

"You're lucky we have the same mother. I want you to get back to the Majestic; you're in no condition to fight." I ordered.

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Oh my god!" Matthew exclaimed. What he saw was an Akira-class star ship take five direct hits to the star drive section, causing one third of the ship to explode and fly violently off course, directly at the five knights.

"KNIGHTS, SCRABLE!" I screamed into my head set. James moved just out of the way to see the flaming hulk of the once noble Starfleet ship fly past his cockpit window, and clip the right wing of Matthew's fighter, causing it to spin, and fly right into the nacelle of the destroyed ship.

"MATTHEW, NOOOOO! God no…"

I sat up in bed in bed, waking up in a cold sweat and breathing heavily.

"Computer, what time is it?" I asked.

"0234 hours." The computer responded.

"Damn…" I exclaimed quietly, getting up and putting on some clothes. I knew I wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight. I walked out of my quarters towards the turbo lift. It was the ship's night, so the corridors were mostly empty. "Mess hall." I asked the turbo lift computer. Once I walked through the doors, it was empty as I expected it to be, so I got a coffee from the replicator and took a seat near one of the windows. Before me was a stunning view of Risa below. It was a mix of greens and blues with little tufts of white clouds here and there. I didn't notice the doors open and someone walk up behind me.

"You alright, James?" A woman asked. I turned around to see Amber standing there with a cup of coffee in one hand and a few padds in the other. She was still in her uniform, so I guessed that she hadn't slept yet.

"Couldn't sleep; Bad dream. Came down here to relax a bit. What about you?" I asked

"I was in the lab all night working on something, trying to tire myself out so that I can get some sleep. I have to pull night duty on the bridge tonight, and you know me, I've always been a night owl."

"That's true. Have you talked with Erin recently? I haven't had the chance to talk to her since she shipped out to the Keewatin."

"Just the other day actually; she's very pregnant, and doing well. Her doctor is saying that the baby is healthy and will be running around in a few months time. She's doing well." She told me. "So, tell me. What's it like to know you're going to be an Uncle?" Amber asked.

"I'm happy about it. My parents are the ones who are getting all excited about it."

"I know what that's like. My parents got the same way when my brother had his kids." She said, agreeing with what I said. "You going down to Risa later today?" she asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, I have some friends down there who still haven't heard the news about Amanda and Matthew. I might go and do some skydiving after that." I explained.

"That sounds like fun. Wish I could join you."

"You're afraid of heights Amber." I said, confronting her.

"I am not!" she exclaimed, nearly spitting out the coffee that she had in her mouth.

"Really, so it wasn't you who passed out when I took you up on my father's bi-plane that summer we went to Edmonton."

"Shut up." She said, taking another drink from her coffee. She looked at one of her padds for the time. "Well, the test I was running should be finished by now. I'll talk to you later." She said, as she got up and walked out the door. I just sat there for next few hours staring out the window. It wasn't until I noticed that crewmembers were coming into the mess hall for their breakfast how early it was getting. I took a drink from my coffee, which had gone cold long ago. As stood up to leave, one of them walked over to me.

"Good morning commander." Lizzie Erickson said.

"Morning, ensign."

"Sir, I just wanted to thank you again for yesterday."

"Don't worry about it." I said, stifling a yawn.

"Late night?" she asked.

"Early morning actually, couldn't sleep. Anyways, I got to get going. Have a good day ensign." I said, and I left the mess hall.

Lizzie went and sat down with her some of the crewmen she worked with.

"You're pretty friendly with the XO, Lizzie." One of them said.

"I bumped into him yesterday on the way to sickbay." Lizzie explained. "I wonder what's eating at him though, when I walked in he looked pretty distant."

"I might know the answer to that." Another crewman said. "I was a medic on the Majestic, his last posting. During the war, he was the CO of a fighter squadron. During the last battle, his squad was hit pretty hard. They lost five people that day, the first time they had ever lost anyone in battle. His brother and his Wingman were killed in action. The three of them were very close; they all went to the academy together." He explained.

"My God, that's terrible." Lizzie said.

"Word of advice, Ensign; unless he brings it up, don't talk about it."