CHAPTER 6
A MISSION, AND A RESCUE
"We're all clear Captain!" Clarpus yelled down from the Crows Nest.
"Very good," Amelia called back before turning to me, "Well Commander, are we ready to raise this creaking tub once again?" she said with a smirk. Whenever we were in front of the crew, it was always formal.
I smiled back at her, "My pleasure Captain. ALL HANDS TO STATIONS!"
"SMARTLY NOW!" I added as our crew ran around the deck, each one in Navel uniform.
I smiled at the thought as I remembered Arrow doing this on the voyage to Treasure Planet.
"Release the Solar Sails Mr. Dearing," I heard the Captain say quietly.
I nodded.
"LOOSE ALL SOLAR SAILS!" I bellowed across deck.
As I looked over the ship, I noticed Jenny and Armstrong, both in borrowed Civilian clothing, come up on deck and gaze over the side of the ship.
Jenny now wore some of Jims old clothes: old brown boots, black trousers and over jacket, as well as a loose fitting shirt.
Armstrong wore some of Sarah's husbands stuff. Blue shirt, brown trousers and black boots covered his masculine figure.
"Clear for the braces. BRACE UP!"
At that moment, I suddenly felt the deck move beneath me as the ship left Crescentia's gravity.
I watched in amusement as Lt. Trent flailed his arms in an effort to get down, only to fail.
"Mr. Morse," I heard the Captain call out, "Engage Artificial gravity.
"Aye Captain!" The large Alien called as he punched down on the control panel of the gravity generator, allowing myself and the Captain to fall on our feet, Jenny and Peter to fall onto feet and one hand, and Trent to fall flat on his face.
Amelia and I sighed as we cast an amused glance at each other. No matter how many times we had told him to stay still the poor guy constantly fell into a heap.
I shook my head while the Captain barked out orders to our temporary helmsmen,
"North by north east Mr. Hawkins heading 3-1-5-2
"Aye Captain," Jim said eagerly, as he spun the wheel to the coordinates, "3-1-5-2."
"Full speed Mr. Dearing if you please.
"Take her away," I called into the talk tube.
I listen to the ever familiar sound of the engines powering up, all the while Trent getting up from the floor.
"Brace yourself, Lieutenant," Amelia said quietly with a smile, while me and Morph exchanged a dark glance and moving to the Captains left side.
"Brace yourself Lieutenant," Trent mocked, rolling his eyes as he did so.
The ship's engines suddenly roared beneath us, flinging the ship forward, sending the poor Lieutenant flying, once again.
I sighed as Morph mimicked Trent flying again, as I checked over the ship.
"Launch successful Captain," I said proudly, "All things went according to plan," I suddenly caught sight of something and sighed, "Well, almost everything."
Amelia gave me a puzzled look and followed my gaze, only to groan in dismay.
"Ah, 'tis a grand for sailing Cap'n," Silver's loud brassy voice boomed out, "And look at ya. As trim and as bonny as a…"
"As a sloop with new sails and a fresh coat of paint," the Captain and I said together, a small smirk appearing on our faces as Silver's face looked up mid bow in shock.
"I've told you what to do with you talk sir," Amelia sighed before giving the Cyborg a infamous death glare, "You can keep that kind of flim-flammery for your Spaceport floozies Silver!"
"Spaceport Floozies! Spaceport Floozies!" Morph squeaked up, turning into a mini Amelia, before being promptly shoved into Jim's pocket, who had been watching.
"You cut him to the quick Captain," I said in a mock pained voice before Silver could speak, "He speaks nothing but his heart at all times, Don't you Silver?"
Silver said nothing for a moment, he just folded his arms and put on a pretend scowl.
"Not funny Danny-boy," he muttered.
I raised an eyebrow at him with a smile, before glancing over at Jenny and Armstrong, who were both watching the crew go about their duties.
"Oh by the way, Aren't those your cabin boy…" I paused for a moment, remembering Jenny's comment, " and girl, aimlessly wondering around the ship?"
Silver glanced over at the two cabin people, before turning back to make a excuse. He was silence by my own quickly becoming infamous death stare, before sighing in defeat.
"A moment to the aberration, Commander!" he said hastily, "Soon to be addressed, JEN! PETE!"
The two astronauts looked up at the cook.
"I've got three new friends I'd like you to meet," Silver said sweetly, grabbing a few things from behind the mast, while Jenny and Armstrong looked around to see these 'new friends'
Silver's smile widen as he threw them the cleaning utensils.
"Say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Mop, and young Master Bucket!"
He chuckled heartily, before giving me a wink and a nod and heading down below.
"Yippee," Jenny said flatly.
"Ditto," Muttered Peter mutinously.
Steel clashed against steel as I continued blow after blow against Amelia, forcing her back again.
"Nice to see you've been practicing," she smirked as we paused.
"Nothing too good for the Captain!" I replied.
Suddenly I let loose another barrage of swordsmanship, forcing my wife up against the State room desk.
I smiled as I leered over her, rapiers crossed, her back curved over the back of the desk, our faces only a centimetre apart.
We both enjoyed these little sparring matches when on voyages. It took us back to our first voyage together.
"Do you surrender Captain?" I asked, my artificial arm keeping a good hold of my sword.
Amelia tried to move her rapier, or even move from under me, but to no avail.
Suddenly she smiled playfully at me, looking at me with helpless looking eyes.
I looked at her confusion.
"What are you…"
Suddenly her lips were on mine, kissing me softly.
I let my guard down, my grip on my rapier loosening slightly.
Suddenly without warning, The Captain suddenly through me off her, befor promptly poking me in the chest, signifying the end of the match.
I looked down at the rapier in surprise, before scowling at Amelia.
"That wasn't fair," I growled, "you cheated!"
Amelia regarded me out of the corner of her eye as she sheathed her sword, "I did nothing of the sort Daniel, I won fair and square."
"You cheated you….you cheater," I said in disbelief, sheathing my sword and folding my eyes, "You distracted me."
Amelia shrugged with a smile, "If that's what you want to believe Mr. I'll-use-my-enhanced-arm-strength-to-win,"
My eyes narrowed as I slowly approached her.
"Cheat,"
She glanced back at me, a small smirk appearing on her face.
"Cyborg"
"Catty woman"
"scoundrel,"
"Silver look-alike," we said together.
We blinked, then laughed. We loved to take the mickey out of each other, but the best part was when we kissed and made up.
Just then there was a knock on the door.
Amelia looked up and sighed.
"Duty calls,"
I smiled, "No doubt we'll continue this some other time,"
She returned the smile, "No doubt. Come in!"
The door latch clicked and Trent peeped in through the door.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, Sir," he nodded to each of us, "But we're arriving at the Terran System in five minutes,"
"Very good Mr. Trent, we'll be out momentarily."
Trent nodded and left.
"Well Mr. Dearing, Shall we see what the Procyon dogs have done to you system?" Amelia asked gravely as she picked up her hat and headed for the door.
I followed her out, both eyes narrowed.
"Aye Captain. Aye"
"My God," Peter whispered, "What have they done to her?"
The Legacy lay in the shadow of the moon, where the Earth could be plainly seen.
Thousands upon thousands of ships were in orbit, their pearl-white hulls glinting in the sunlight.
In higher orbit, a hundred shipyards were constructing more of these vessels, from small and venerable gunboats, to the immense and heavily armoured Ice-fist class.
Planet Earth herself was a mess. Her once blue seas now looked grey and almost black from the dust and ash from the constant mining that appeared to be ensuing on the planet. The once green and brown islands were now the same rocky grey, the whites of the poles no longer even existing.
"They've sure done a lot in a month," I whispered, while Jenny buried her face in Peters arms.
"There's no doubt what there are doing though," Amelia sighed, "This appears to be a base of some kind for a invasion."
"Montressor is only ten hours away," I thought aloud, "Earth is a base of operations for an invasion of the Terran Empire."
"We gotta do something," Peter said desperately, "Surely there must by something we can do?"
"There's over two thousand ships there Dr. Armstrong," Amelia said tightly, "There's nothing a ship of our size can do,"
"Screw the odds! We have to do something! I can't stand here and do nothing!"
"Captain!" Clarpus' voice called from above as I was about to argue, "I see a…thing that looks out of place, being towed to the moon base."
"Can you describe it?" I called up.
"it has a sort of circular shape, with two large blue rectangles on each side."
"An escape pod!" gasped Jenny.
"That means that Mikhail could still be alive," breathed Peter, "We have to rescue him!"
"Are you brain-dead man?" Amelia shot, "Your asking us to raid a Procyon station, without backup? I won't allow it, I repeat, I won't allow it!"
"I can't believe she allowed it," I sighed as I peered around the corner of a corridor.
"Hey, I know how to beg," Jenny said cheekily, "Besides I've been getting puppy-dog pouting lessons from you children,"
"Remind me to ground them when we get back," I muttered back.
After a whole lot of begging on Jenny's behalf, myself, Peter, Jenny and Silver were now deep within the Moon base erected on Earths natural satellite. The Legacy meanwhile was analysing the Planet Earth in an attempt to find out if there was any signs of human life.
As I gazed on, I saw a Procyon soldier walk across the shining white hallway.
Compared to us, the alien was about half a head shorter then the average human, but he somehow looked more muscular.
His face reminded me of Amelia's, a small boxy kind of nose, and a pair of large, almost bat-like ears.
His face however, was completely covered in fur. In fact, now that I mentioned it, he looked like he had fur all over his body, the thin clothing draped over his frame obviously only for show.
At that moment another Procyon came down the corridor.
"Did you hear?" he said to his companion, "We found a couple more humans aboard that hunk of junk we found in orbit."
"You don't say?" the first Procyon asked keenly, "Have they been interrogated yet?"
The second Procyon shrugged, "All they say is: 'Dr. Mikhail Volenski, Doctor of chemistry.' and Lieutenant Susan Walden, I.D. number 7453687645.' if you want my opinion, we won't get nothing out of them."
"What are they going to do with them then?"
"I heard they were being shipped out with the last shipment of humans," the Procyon grinned evilly, "They'll be mining the moons of Laar by the end of the week."
"Excuse me, gentlemen?" I asked calmly as I stepped out from my cover, my pistols armed and ready, "But I'm afraid we have to take those people with us,"
The Procyons gasped in surprise at my sudden appearances.
"Escapees!"
"No, Intruders," Peter said smugly as he stepped out from his hiding place.
"And good ones at that," Jenny added as she also stepped out, both carrying a pistol.
"Now would you good gents take us to those prisoners you were talking about? If you don't mind." Silver finished as he came out, his pistol utensil out on his artificial arm.
"And what if we were to refuse?" the first Procyon sneered, "There's only four of you, and this base is crawling with guards. What's stopping me from pushing this button and…"
A purple plasma blast suddenly shot out from my pistol, totally obliterating the button the Procyon had been reaching for, making him withdraw it quickly.
"First off," I said quietly, "That button no longer works. Secondly, if you don't, I'll give you both a little speech impediment. So not to sound like an old western hero, but, Get going you varmints!"
I suddenly shot at the floor in front of their feet, backing them jump back.
They each gave each other a glance before turning and walking down a hallway, my pistols always trained on their backs.
Mikhail's breathing was shallow as he sat in the darkness of his cell. His jumpsuit was hanging around him in rags, his black hair was matted and all over the place, his face covered in black stubble.
How he and Susan had survived in the escape pod had been a mystery. They had been the pod for over a month, just the two of them, all alone, in the night.
The next thing they had known, something had grabbed onto them, and the pod had been opened, not to the familiar faces of NASA techs, but to the furry face of E.T.
He shook his head. He had always said that aliens existed, he found it hard to believe that out of the countless millions of systems in the galaxy, hell the countless systems in all the universe, there had to be at least a handful of intelligent life.
He just hadn't been expecting them to be so aggressive.
The Russian sighed. He hoped Susan was alright. Both had been viciously tortured for information about things neither of them knew anything about.
He was only a scientist, and she was a low ranking Canadian Astronaut, not the best people to interrogate about something called the 'Terran Empire.'
Suddenly the door was flung open again, making Volenski shield his eyes from the blinding white light, as their captures threw in Walden's limp body, before slamming the door shut.
"Susan? My God Susan are you all right?" Mikhail cried as he came over to her, feeling about in the dim light from the small window in the door for her body.
Walden coughed up a lot of blood suddenly.
"Heh, Compared to the dried food we usually eat, that was a slice of Heaven!" she chuckled weakly.
Mikhail sighed in relief as he gathered her up in his arms.
"Mikhail," she murmured half-heartedly, "Stop it. I'm fine….really."
"If you are fine, then Mother Russia is an American state," Volenski muttered darkly as he help her sit up, "You've been hurt, bad. Your are not as fine as your wit wants me to believe."
Susan sighed. She had to admit, being held in the gruff Cosmonaut arms was somewhat comforting.
She finally relented, allowing him to stroke her matted, damp hair.
"This wasn't the way I planned to go," she whispered, "Not in an alien prison cell. In a nice warm bed, aged a hundred and three, in my log cabin in the Rockies."
"Don't say that," Volenski scolded, "As Peter would say: never give up, no matter how dark the situation seems. We will find a way out of here. I promise."
Susan chuckled and snuggled down into his arms.
"You know, that's what I love about you Volenski, you undying hope. Something you and Dr. Armstrong always shared."
Mikhail chuckled, "Yes, he was a good friend, and I will miss him dearly."
Susan looked up at the Russian doctor, the man she had come to respect and love, as he stared at the small window of light.
Then, without hesitation, she reached up slowly, and planted a kiss on his dirty cheek.
Mikhail blinked and looked down at her as she gazed into his deep brown eyes.
"I'm not afraid to die Mikhail," she said softly, "Death is but the next big adventure. But I want you to know before we pass on. I truly love you, with all my heart."
Mikhail gazed into her turquoise eyes, his own filled with happiness and hope.
He leaned towards her as she closed her eyes, feeling his breath on her face…
BOOM!
Mikhail jumped and held the bewildered Susan close as suddenly the door was blasted off it's hinges, sending blinding white light into the room.
Mikhail shielded his eyes as Susan clung to him, both of them scared out of their wits.
Standing in the doorway was a man. A man in uniform, with a cannon attached to his arm.
"Oh I'm sorry," he said with a smirk, "Am I interrupting something?"