The light of the alien sun greeted them as the ramp lowered beneath the shuttle’s beaver tail. The shimmering surface of the lagoon presented an inviting view. Blazer leapt out before the ramp had even finished cycling and took up his position under the tail before the other three bounded out. They scanned the beach for any signs of life, Blazer and Marda watching the shore as Kink and Ller checked the tree line. They found and heard nothing, except for the sound of water lapping against the beach and whine of the engines as they cooled in the building breeze.

  Blazer couldn’t help but smile at the pristine view. “Deploy scent markers.”

  The new smells of the place overwhelmed Blazer’s senses, making him feel energized and excited. He ran off to plant his share of the pheromone-releasing rods. The scents and ultrasonic tones they released helped to ward off animals and were their first defense against predators.

  Once finished, Blazer watched each of his team run like kids on vacation back to the ramp. “We’re all clear. You’re set to disembark,” Blazer called into the dropship, safing his weapon. “It’s humid as all get out though.”

  Blazer waited beside the hatch as the six remaining cadets piled out the dropship with their equipment. He could tell just by looking at them that it was the first time some of them had been on a planet beyond their homeworld. He had to suppress a chuckle at how they were reacting to the scene. “Acknit, set up a link with the ship. We’ll have the camp up in less than a hect. Everyone else let’s get to it.”

  Away Team Camp, 4th Planet, System: T-18-E-36

  Blazer and Marda sat and marveled at the alien sunset. He couldn’t believe how peaceful and beautiful the scene was. In this place, he could almost forget about the war. Marda laid her head against his chest as they watched the light play against the rippling water. The sound of the campfire added to the chorus of native birds as they bid goodbye to the sun. Blazer wrapped his arm around Marda as some of the wood in the fire collapsed, spraying embers skyward.

  The sound of feet approaching across the sand drew Blazer’s attention. Kink sauntered up to take a seat on the large log they’d dragged over earlier. “Any sign of Mikle and Acknit with the wood?”

  Kink kicked off his boots and put his feet near the fire to dry them. “They’ve just linked in and said they’reare on their way back. They found a clearing with a ton of dry wood not far off, probably dropped by the probe when it crashed.”

  Marda smiled and set a small metal frame over the fire. “Great. We’re going to need all the wood we can find. That weather we spotted is definitely heading our way.” She pulled out a small nondescript case.

  Blazer’s mouth watered as Marda opened the package and the aroma wafted out. “You have to love a good old-fashioned camp-out. I can’t remember the last time I did this.”

  “Been forever for me too. But those two need to get back so I can get started on these,” she commented. She pulled the lid the rest of the way to reveal several strips of steak in an orange sauce. “I don’t know what Ller is marinating these in but it smells divine.”

  Blazer couldn’t wait to dig into the uncooked meal. A snorting sound from the treeline drew his attention. Some form of local herbivore grazed near the scent markers, keeping a wide berth from them as it did so. We should check for amino acid compatibility next cycle.

  Kink laughed, looking at the familiar Nerzain sauce. “It’s one of Ller’s family secrets. She won’t even tell me what it is and I’m her pilot. Oh hey, speaking of secrets. Shouldn’t you link in and report?”

  Blazer rolled his head back to look at the first stars emerging in the twilight. He really didn’t want to get up but it was his duty. “I’ll get to it. Think anyone noticed that we snagged those from the galley yet?”

  Marda and Kink just shrugged.

  Big help you guys are. Blazer thought as he got up. Careful not to get any sand in the opened container, he headed into the dropship. He spotted several of their team walking back along the shore as he climbed aboard. He waved them towards the campfire. Once inside, he stepped up to the cockpit and grabbed the pilot’s headset. Looking out of the canopy, he slipped on the headset as he caught sight of Mikle and Acknit. Along with two other cadets, they emerged out of the woods, their arms loaded down with timbers. “Transport One Three, this is Drop Shuttle One Three Delt. How do you read?”

  Bichard’s hum click voice replied, the sound a welcome one. “This is transport One Three. We read you in the clear. Go ahead Delt.”

  “We have established base camp. All experiments and sample gathering devices are in place and functioning to spec.”

  “Copy that. We show the storm has shifted and will brush your site. Are you ready for it?”

  “Affirmative. We’re ready for a full gale down here if it shifts again.”

  Zithe’s voice rang out over the link. “Away team Lead, Monstero Nach Actual. Primary mission?”

  Blazer considered that. Their primary mission was to recover a probe which had crashed here two cycles earlier. A close flyby of the local star had corrupted its navigational computer. “Affirmative. We’ve found some downed foliage. It’s consistent with the course plotted for the crash, but it got dark faster than expected. I’ll lead a team out at first light to retrieve it. Any further word on the Moglis?”

  “They came out of slipstream just long enough to give us a dirty look before heading off again. They didn’t even bother to hail us.”

  “Copy that Actual. Looks like chow is almost ready.”

  “Confirmed. We’ll let you know if the storm shifts again. If need be, we’ll evac and return for the probe later.”

  “Copy that, One Three Delt signing off,” Blazer replied as the smell of cooking meat wafted in.

  “Actual signing off. See you in two cycles.”

  UCSB DATE: 1003.035

  Drop Shuttle-27413-D, 4th Planet, System: T-18-E-36

  Securing the last of his equipment, Blazer flopped down into his acceleration couch. The away mission’s original duration had been set for two cycles, instead it had lasted four. He looked up at the remains of the probe in the overhead storage netting, the nanofibers tightened to keep it from shifting around during flight. They’d found the probe on their second cycle, but it took another two cycles to dismantle it for travel due to the extent of the damage. Sneaking a look out the side window, he made sure that no more parts were left behind. After two cycles ferrying components back to the ship, there shouldn’t be.

  He looked up as he felt the rear hatch cycle and seal, the internal air supply blowing into his face. It tasted dry and plastic compared to the salty sea air of the last few cycles. He would get used to it, but would miss the taste of real air.

  Marda placed a hand on his as they waited and leaned in close to him. “I never got the chance to thank you properly for that wakeup call this dawn.”

  Blazer smiled, considered that and looked out the window before turning to her. “You thanked me plenty.”

  She leaned in close and kissed him again. “I’m just glad we could sneak off like that.”

  “Me too. Maybe we should make that our dawn wakeup and workout every cycle.”

  Marda smiled and kissed him again before sitting back in her seat. “Maybe. If you’re good.”

  Before Blazer could say anything; Mikle’s too chipper voice echoed back from the cockpit. “Attention passengers I have activated the fasten harness light. I remind you that during lift you must remain seated. Our cruising altitude today will be high orbital and we should reach our destination in a few pulses, please enjoy the ride,” Mikle joked and pushed the throttle open.

  Blazer shook his head as he felt the engines rotate down and fire. The drop shuttle lifted off and drifted out over the water, gathering speed as it raced away from the pristine beach. Blazer had dressed Mikle down after the last delivery flight, when he’d blasted off the beach straight up, leaving twin glass ovals in the sand. They were supposed to leave the places they visited as they found them, and Blazer made sure to break up the glass as much as he could before they left. No glass this time, good.

  Blazer kept Marda’s hand in a light embrace as the dropship arced skyward. The rest of the craft rotated to match the engines as they raced towards orbit. Soon the blue sky outside his window began to darken and a rattle ran through the shuttle. He shot a look forward again. Mikle needs to take it easy this climb out. He’s already taxed the drop shuttle too much the last few cycles. Blazer was less than impressed with the quality of the maintenance the cadets aboard ship had performed in his absence. Zithe’s lack of concern when he’d spoken to him about it the cycle before had almost pushed him over the edge. You can bet your ass I’ll be fixing more than this shuttle when I get back.

  Marda laid a hand on his as another shudder rolled through the ship. “What do you think?”

  Blazer shook his head and checked a light on the wrist of his uniform. He quickly looked for the same light on Marda’s. Others aboard saw and followed suit. “I think I’m going to have to kick some asses when we get back, but we’ve still got pressure; for now.”

  Marda nodded and activated her suit’s emergency pressure gloves just in case. “Acknit what’s our status?”

  “The board is all blue, except I have a yellow light on engine two’s rotation gimbal.”

  Blazer considered that. Overstressing them. I’ll have to check the mounts as well.

  “Hold on, here come our escorts.”

  Blazer wished he had a portable diagnostic computer with him. “Let’s just hope that the fighters are being maintained better.”

  “Hail dropship,” Matt’s voice chimed in over the intercom as they pulled in alongside.

  “Hail escorts, linking navigation computers,” Acknit responded, “Anything exciting happen while we were away?”

  “Not much, just took readings and looked at the stars, though we did find some supplies missing from the mess,” Matt reported, a note of humor in his voice.

  “Oh,” Acknit replied. “What kind of supplies were missing?”

  “Food type supplies, over a kilobar of meat we had in the freezer.”

  “I wonder what became of it,” Acknit wondered.

  Even Blazer had to smile about that. They weren’t supposed to take the meat. The wild boarlike creature they’d had to kill which had stormed into camp should more than make up for it though.

  “We’re not entirely sure. But Zithe wants to have a talk with you about it when you get back.”

  “Contact! Contact! Ship coming out of slipstream! She’s exiting right on top of us,” Nash yelled out, cutting the conversation short.

  “Evasive” Gavit ordered.

  Blazer’s pulse raced as the dropship vectored away. The rattle above his heard turned into an out and out screech of strained metal as they evaded the incoming ship. He prayed that the dropship would hold together; he wished he could see the sensors as he strained his neck to look out the cockpit. He felt the engines rotate behind him and snuck a look back when he heard the distinctive sound of a gear slip. He would not panic though and watched the engine rotate to correct their course. The G forces eased up and he sealed his suit, the emergency gloves and pressure hood snapping into place.

  He gasped at the view out of the twin slits in the pressure hood. He’d forgotten how much activating the pressure hood would remind him of the Vaurnel’s destruction when he’d been a child. It was a suit just like this that had saved his life back then.

  Shoving those thoughts aside, he released his harness and pushed off towards the cockpit. Mikle was still vectoring them away from their previous course. The holographic sensors showed the incoming transport moments before it dropped out of slipstream right where their course would have taken them. Big universe my ass.

  He breathed a sigh of relief, but one look at the transport convinced him that more trouble would come their way. The ship’s shields glittered and flashed back at them. Erratic thruster firing set the ship into an awkward roll angle. The habitat rings were frozen between spin and thrust mode. Blazer watched the glow of the engines as they sputtered in the darkness, fighting to reach a higher orbit.

  He scanned the hull for the registration code as Mikle vectored back towards their transport. While he only caught the last two numbers, it was enough to recognize who it was; the Pogrin’s Payback. “Run a scan. See what’s wrong with them.”

  “I’m reading simulated damage to numerous systems. It looks like they got into a fight.”

  Blazer retracted his hood to get a better look. The air of the dropship smelled of burnt meat. We’ve got a slow atmosphere leak. “Everyone seal up.”

  Acknit looked at a window on his display and nodded. They’d cracked a seal but the dropship’s auto repair system had patched the hole, for now at least. “Yeah, better safe than sorry. Check this. Their navigational sensors took a direct hit. Their engines aren’t getting even half power, three of their turrets are down, and their shields are barely functional.”

  “Must have pissed somebody off,” Matt commented over the link.

  Blazer grimaced. “We knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Get us back home and take it easy. That engine mount just went orange and is probably the source of our leak.”

  “Pogrin’s Payback this is Monstero Nach, what is your status?” Bichard’s humming voice rang out over the open link.

  “Have taken heavy simulated damage. Weapons systems are inoperable; engines are in trouble; sensors filled with noise and our fighters are trapped in their locks,” their communications officer panted.

  Blazer heard the near-panic in the man’s voice through the static-choked transmission

  “We ran afoul of the Moglis’ transport,” the cadet captain, Jeg Teflin, added a moment later. “My comm. officer is just overreacting. The damage is nothing we can’t handle on our own.”

  “Negative,” Zithe replied over the comm.

  Zithe stepping on Bichard like that surprised Blazer. There must be something more going on here.

  “According to our sensors you’re barely spaceworthy. Once you reach higher orbit heave-to and we’ll dock to render assistance. Besides, if the Moglis pursue you here, you’ll be defenseless.”

  “You have no right to give us orders Zithe. We’re a neutral ship,” Teflin bit back.

  “Ignoring the fact you’ve intruded on our space, nearly crashing into three of our attendant craft, your ship is presenting as in severe distress. Therefore, pursuant to Space Forces and exercise regulations we will render assistance. Fighters assume escort position about the Pogrin’s Payback, Drop shuttle Delt, dock immediately. We’re going to need every able hand to help us out.”

  Main Airlock, UCSBTS-27413

  Zithe’s patience was wearing thin as he waited beside the airlock. It took the Pogrin’s Payback a full thirty pulses to claw its way into a safe orbit alongside their own. Even then, it took another twenty pulses for Mikle, and to his surprise, Alieha to guide their transport into hard dock with the crippled ship. By that time even the Observer Corvette had slipstreamed into the area.

  He found her skill curious as he’d never known her to fly anything. Her explanation that her older sister ‘learned’ it to her just didn’t feel right. Something else was going on there.

  He pushed that out of his mind as he heard the sound of the final docking latch snapping into place. He turned to the hatch in anticipation. The light above the hatch flashed blue and the airlock cycled open. He remained stoic as his medical teams raced past him to assist in treating the injuries aboard the other ship, real and simulated. He wanted to wait for his engineering teams, but they were still outside linking the hardline connections to slave the two transports together.

  Zithe waited until Blazer had arrived in his spacesuit before he waved his entourage forward. Blazer, Trevis, Nash, Gokhead, and Tadeh Qudas with the personnel droid Que Dee in tow, boarded the ship behind Zithe. Zithe met Cadet Teflin and his command staff on the other side, their supervising officer Commander Eshrin waiting in the wings. Zithe made sure to follow protocol as he boarded and fit his feet into the loops on the deck in front of Teflin as the rest floated behind him. He issued the Anulian salute. “Permission to come aboard skipper?”

  Zithe read the reluctance on Cadet Teflin’s face like a news report. “Granted,” he replied between gritted teeth. “I noticed that your people didn’t bother to request permission.”

  Zithe raised an eyebrow as if considering that. “Standard spacefaring protocol dictates that emergency medical and repair crews need not wait for permission to board a stricken craft when rendering aid. You should know that as ship’s captain.”

  Telfin grumbled back at them, and Zithe had to suppress a smile at the man’s displeasure. “Fine, this way then, please.” The group pushed towards the ship’s engineering bay. “Like I said before, the Moglis jumped us for no reason when we were taking scans of the moons around the eighth planet.”

  Zithe shook his head and pulled Teflin aside. “That’s not what your logs indicated.”

  Cadet Teflin stared back at him, eyes narrowed. “What in the Sheol are you talking about? How did you get into our logs?”

  Zithe had to play this straight: they’d done nothing wrong to access the logs but Cadet Teflin was not in the mood to be tested. “When you uploaded your ship’s damage report, it included your comm logs. Those showed several pulses of transmissions between the ships before they’d fired the first shot. Your sensor logs revealed that it was a warning shot.”

  Teflin turned away, shaking, his fists clenched.

  “Things obviously escalated after that. You fired back from an unprepared and far weaker position. You were lucky to slipstream away without getting yourself ghosted.”

  “We’re a neutral ship. It wouldn’t have mattered to us much anyway. We weren’t planning on sharing data with either side.”

  Cadet Teflin’s second-in-command floated up next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. Whatever plan Teflin had to hide what happened had begun to unravel. “They would have found out sooner or later Jeg. Someone would have talked. Come on, it’ll be easier to show you.”