Short Stories

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From a young girl, Rebecca had wanted more than anything to join Zoë Space Academy, and become a part of Alpha System Military (ASM). They had allowed her to start when she was six-teen years of age; that was two and a half years ago. Having completed her two years of aircraft school, her father had bought her an A-38, a small two-seater spacecraft. It had not been outfitted with any weapons, because it was only for traveling from one planet to another, or for journeying over a planet, and wasn’t for fighting.

Rebecca had been flying near Ventron’s moon, when out from behind the moon, this crazed spacecraft came looming out, firing at her with weapons flaring. She hadn’t been doing anything but cruising along, minding her own business.

Flying in a tight-lipped circle, Rebecca grasped the controls flipping her craft around, and flew away for her life, trying to avert her spacecraft away from the fanatical craft that was trying to snuff her out. Why was the person in that craft after her? All she could do was run for it. The enemy craft was relentless in its pursuit against her. Though her life was at risk, she was curious about what this person didn’t want her to find, near the moon. One day her adventurous nature would get her in trouble; hopefully it would not be today.

Staying out of his reach, she scanned the moon to see if anything would show up. The scans showed the penal colony on the planet, Ventron, and the spherical motion detector, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary on the moon. Surely, they weren’t planning an escape? It would be hard to escape from Ventron with all the computer security in place. She couldn’t imagine any criminal no matter how smart, succeeding in getting off the planet alive and in one piece. The spherical motion detector was equipped with all kinds of lasers that would rip any ship to shreds that tried to shut it down, or outrun it. It was virtually impossible. The penal colony was encased inside of a bubble that had all the necessary breathable air for the community of prisoners banished to Ventron. Only their worst criminals were sent there.

Sighing, she wished she had weapons on board to defend herself with. She wondered if this idiot knew she was unarmed. Her craft was one that many of the Academy students were given as their first spacecraft. Maybe this person knew that, and that’s why he wanted to kill her, figuring her for a Zoë Space Academy student who would be in ASM upon completion.

Suddenly, the barrage of weapon fire ceased. Pondering if it was over, Rebecca looked around through her windows. Not seeing anything, she checked her computer scans. That looked like a shadow alongside Ventron’s moon. ‘ What is that?’ Zooming in closer, she tried to make it out. Her computer detected it as a T-66. ‘Humm, those were banned years ago. Who made this T-66? ASM had declared them too dangerous for the normal public and had banned them from being made and sold. What was one doing out here?’

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Dolphus Calzan had been behind the moon, studying the spherical motion detector on his computer, called CIN: for Computer Isolation Network. He was attempting to decipher the code so he could disable ASM’s technology. C.I.N. has a bank of laser beams that shoots toward where the violator is trying to penetrate. Dolphus was working on a plan to shut the spherical motion detector off, or at least fool the motion detector into not sensing their presence, so he can take a ship down to the planet's surface and break out his people. His sensors spotted one of the Zoë Space Academy students. He thought, ‘what are one of them doing out here?’ That’s all he needed. He wasn’t about to lose his freedom over some Academy student wanting to be a part of ASM, and endeavoring to make a name for himself by nabbing him.

Besides all that, Lightfoot needed him. Lightfoot was the best War Lord in the galaxy. Those ASM had him arrested for war crimes, and their so-called Judge had sentenced him to the worse place in the entire galaxy, the Penal Colony on Ventron. It was the Alpha Systems version of maximum security. No one ever went to Ventron. Supplies had to be beamed down, and whenever new prisoners were dropped off, they were literally dropped off by beaming them down to the surface. Everyone was afraid of these men. They were considered dangerous by “normal society”. Dolphus had been hired by Stephen Lightfoot to get him and his team out. Lightfoot had a plan for taking over the galaxy and setting it up as an ant-ichrist system instead of a system founded on the Christian God.

He decided he would destroy the craft. He would teach those students to not come out this far. Slipping out from behind Ventron’s moon, he began firing on the little ship. He was fairly certain it didn’t have any weapons, as most A-38’s didn’t. He couldn’t let whoever was in that craft report his T-66, as it was illegal for him to have one. They didn’t make them anymore … legally. The owner of that craft flew it extremely well. He would probably be one of their top pilots, that is … if he lived, which he wouldn’t if Dolphus had anything to do about it. The craft kept evading him no matter what he tried to do. He had to take it out. A student was not going to outdo him. “Die already! Die!”



Coming from out of nowhere entered another ship. This ship had weapons and commenced to firing on him. This would not do. He had better leave while he could; maybe he could hunt down the little ship later.

Rebecca didn't think she could outrun the T-66; it seemed he was determined to kill her. She didn't know what to do. She sensed a presence. Then out of nowhere, she saw her friend from Zoë Academy appear. Michael dove after the T-66, firing laser bolts.. Abruptly, the T-66 stopped firing. It was as if he was considering what to do. Then, after a minute or so, he retreated behind Ventron's moon.

Rebecca heard Michael's voice on the converser.

"Are you ok, Rebecca?"

"I am now, Michael! Thanks!" she exclaimed. Rebecca let out her breath with relief. "How did you know I was out here, and needed help?"

"I sensed something was wrong with you. I decided I had better come see what the problem is, and if you needed assistance. I guess you did. What happened?"

"He just came out of nowhere, and started firing at me! I don't know who he thought I was, but it sure seemed to me, he wanted to kill me!"

“I wasn’t doing anything! They started attacking me for no reason. And that ship just now you were firing at isn’t supposed to be in existence.”

“What kind of ship was it?”

“I’ll tell you when I see you; I don’t want to talk on air about this.”

“Okay, Rebecca. See you back at the Academy.”

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