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A Stellar Affair

Chapter Four

Preparations

As I entered the atmosphere my fears were laid to rest. Even with only one engine operational, the new Arwing handled like a charm.

"Academy Tower this is Falcon one requesting clearance to land."

"Falcon one this is Academy Tower, you are clear to land using pattern Zulu. Welcome back." An unknown voice replied.

As I came in to the landing spot I hit the switch that was supposed to lock the landing struts and got red lights from the console. "What the..."

The forward landing strut is damaged. Systems show that it will be unable to support weight. The voice of the AI said.

"Academy tower this is Falcon one."

"This is Academy tower."

"Academy tower this is Falcon one. I am showing a malfunction with my landing gear. Systems show it will be unable to support the weight of the ship."

"Falcon one hold in current position, we're contacting the crew chief for further instructions."

"Academy tower this is Falcon one, acknowledge."

It was a few minutes until I saw a bunch of personnel running around pushing all sorts of equipment through the bay. Standing in front of the ship was a brute of a bear with a helmet on trying to get my attention.

"Falcon one this is top dog, what is the condition of your craft?"

"Forward landing strut is unable to support weight, engine two is damaged and shut down, and controls are sluggish but responsive."

"Alright, I need you to follow my directions exactly. We're gonna land you on the support scaffold we use to do landing gear repairs. You need to watch me and follow my directions."

"Top Dog this is Falcon One, acknowledged."

I watched him turn and shout orders to those around him then turn back to where I was hovering. Raising his paws he slowly drew me forward then slowly maneuvered me over the scaffold and gently set me down on it. When I was down, I cut the engines and popped the canopy as they rolled a ladder up to the side of the ship.

Climbing down the ladder I was met by the bear at the bottom. "Lieutenant Randolph at your service cadet. I was told that your ship was a little banged up."

"Yes sir, the meteor didn't like me flying in front of it."

"I'll bet it didn't. Now if you will tell your AI to allow me access for repairs, I'll get started."

"Computer, allow Lieutenant Randolph access for repair purposes."

Acknowledged.

"Now Cadet, I understand you have a meeting to attend. I wouldn't keep the Major waiting."

With a salute I turned and ran off towards the academy. Major Maxwell didn't sound too happy.

Stopping outside his office I took a minute to catch my breath before I stood at attention and knocked on the door. It was a few seconds before I heard a voice telling me to enter.

Opening the door I entered and stopped two paces from the front of his desk. I took in everything I could from the way he sat there tensely with his eyes flicking over a data pad to the other pads spread across his desk. This all took a split second to do as I snapped to attention and saluted him.

"Cadet Price reporting as ordered, sir."

He just sat there reading on. I held my salute for about five minutes before he set the data pad down and returned it.

"Cadet, do you want to tell me why you disobeyed a direct order?"

"Sir, I disobeyed a direct order because it put the life of a fellow pilot in danger, sir."

"And what would have happened if your little stunt would not have worked? Did you ever think of that?"

"Sir, the lives of those who I consider my allies are precious and meant to be saved. It is up to me to do everything I possibly can to achieve that goal. I would not be able to live with my conscious if I didn't do everything I could to help them."

"You know," he said as he picked up a data pad in front of him and looked it over. "I had our engineers calculate the chance of your success in performing your little stunt. Taking into account a fur who never did an EVA nor left the planet until a week ago, maneuvering through an asteroid field where a fragment as small as a grain of sand would have killed you, towing another aircraft in the manner you did all with no help from anyone. Cadet Price you are the only human we know of, what do you think the academy would be put through if you would have been killed? Indeed the engineers gave you a one in three hundred and twenty chance of succeeding. With those odds, we were sitting on the edge awaiting your fate. I think you scared ten years off my life and gave me grey fur."

"Sir, if I may say something?"

"Go ahead cadet"

"Sir, if my life is so important to the people then use this incident as a marketing tool."

"I don't get you cadet, how?"

"I hate to make myself out to more than I am but you can show how the academy trains their soldiers to operate under any conditions. Show them that even in emergencies with odds against them, that the cadets operate with a level head and accomplish the mission and do everything they can to bring their people back alive. If it is done properly, the people will see that their children, brothers, sisters and even parents who sign up have the greatest chance to return. It will make them more confident in the abilities of the military and the safety of their love ones. I mean if you can take an unknown like me and create that kind of soldier in about a week, what could you do in twenty weeks of training?"

"So you want me to make you the poster child for the military?"

"No sir, I'm no poster child but if you need to do that then I am willing to do what is necessary."

"I fully understand what you have said but that doesn't excuse you from disobeying a direct order. What do you have to say to that?"

"Sir, I will not make up excuses as to why I did it. I only did what my conscious told me needed to be done. I will accept any and all punishments you deem appropriate for my failure."

"For the moment you will go down and assist Lieutenant Randolph in repairing your Arwing. If you have not heard from me by the time he dismisses you, then you are to go back to your room and await my call. Do you have that cadet?"

"Sir, yes sir."

"Then you are dismissed."

I snapped to attention and saluted him, when he returned the salute I turned around and left the office. Breathing a sigh of relief, I made my way over to the elevator and waited for it to arrive.

I thought about the events that had occurred. Could I have left the other ship adrift in the asteroid field like they wanted? Could I have done anything different to retrieve it that would have prevented this? The car arrived and I climbed aboard riding it down to the bottom. My mind went over every possible scenario in regards to retrieving the other ship and watched each one fail with either the other pilot or both of us not making it out.

A chill rode down my spine as I recalled what Major Maxwell had said. They gave me a one in over three hundred chance of succeeding with what I did. Either I am extremely lucky or the odds weren't as bad as he said they were. I only did what was necessary to save the other pilots life.

My mind drifted to the other pilot. Was it her, did I go up against and beat her? If it was her then it had to be the whole team I went up against. They are the best that are out there. They have proven time and time again that they couldn't be defeated. They had to have gone easy on me. There's no way I could have beaten one of them, and all of them would be impossible. So it had to have been someone else, but who?

Those thoughts occupied my mind until I found myself again in the hangar bay the top cadets were assigned to. It took me a few minutes to find the Lieutenant. He was waist deep buried in the front of my Arwing where the forward landing gear should have been. I stood at attention and addressed him in a way I hoped would not startle him.

"Sir, Cadet Price reporting as ordered to assist you."

"You wanna hand me that spanner."

I turned to find another mechanic holding out a strangely shaped object. Taking it, I passed it to the Lieutenant and waited till he had finished whatever he was doing. He slowly made his way out of the Arwing and turned towards me as I again snapped to attention.

"Relax cadet, I hate suck-ups. Now Major Maxwell already informed me of the situation and why you are here. But as you can see there's nothing you can do here. We have the landing strut removed and are awaiting the engineers to replace it. In fact they are redesigning all the struts to bear extra weight and not break as easily. They're also trying to come up with some sort of tractor beam for it so this situation won't happen again. Until the replacements arrive in the next two days there's nothing more to do here. So you are to return to your room and get some rest. Your trials begin in three days. Oh and just to let you know, you are not restricted to your room, just be ready if you get called."

"Yes sir."

"Alright then, get out of here."

I turned and made my way to my room while my mind began to bounce between today's events and those of the trials. By the time I had reached my room I was close to having an anxiety attack. Too much was happening at once.

I opened the door to my room and suddenly felt this presence in my mind. A few seconds later my mind began to slow down and calmness took its place. Looking around I saw her sitting on one of the chairs in the main room.

"Good evening cadet, I heard about today's trials, I also heard that you did extremely well. That was some quick thinking you did in order to save the other ship. I'm extremely impressed. And your first EVA was successful from what I hear."

"I was scared shitless."

"I would have been worried if you were anything but. I grew up around spaceships and had been in one since I could walk but my first time scared me too." She stood up and made her way over to me.

"You scared? Yea right, I don't believe it."

Taking me by the arm she slowly steered me towards the kitchen. "Believe it, I was terrified of that one and the next few. It took a while for me to get used to it and even now I still have some apprehension about it. Anyway I took the liberty to make dinner for you. I hope you don't mind. I figured you would be too tired to make your own or to go to the cafeteria for some."

My table was cleared off and two plates sat across from each other. In the middle was a small vase with flowers in it and off to each side were two glasses waiting to be filled.

"Go and clean yourself up. Take a shower and put on some comfortable clothes, something you would wear around here to relax in. Nothing fancy mind you." with that she turned me towards my room and gave a gentle push.

Stripping off my flight suit, I placed it in the recycler then grabbed a towel. Stepping into the shower, I adjusted the water and let myself relax. I could feel my muscles, one by one, loosen up. I hadn't realized I was so tense. Taking the washcloth, I slowly cleaned each part of my body. Soon the last of the suds were flowing down the drain as I grabbed the towel and began to dry off.

Stepping out of the shower, I placed the towel into the recycler to be cleaned and walked around to the other side of the room to grab some new clothes. I actually felt more relaxed as I slipped my shoes on and turned to leave.

That's when I noticed that I forgot to close the door to my bedroom. Oh great, I thought to myself. Now she probably thinks I'm some sort of pervert. She probably thinks I left my door open on purpose and wanted to flash her. I sat down heavily on my bed dropping my head into my hands. Why me? I asked myself in despair.

Krystal came running, knocking lightly on my door before sticking her head around the corner. "Jason!" she said as she came running over to me. "What's wrong? Are you Okay?"

I looked up at her with a bit of fear showing on my face. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what? What's wrong?"

"I didn't do it intentionally. I'm not that kind of person."

"Didn't do what intentionally?"

"Leave my door open while I was changing. I didn't mean to."

I watched as her face went from concern to relief before she smiled. "Is that all? I thought something happened. You scared me."

"I didn't mean to."

"Seriously, I wasn't even paying attention. Now get up and come eat. Then go to bed and get some rest. You have three days until the test and I want you to rest up for them." Taking my arm, she hauled me up off the bed and drug me out to the kitchen. Pushing me down into a char she walked over and grabbed a plate. Setting it down in front of me she turned and grabbed another plate and set it down on the other side before setting down herself.

"Now eat up." She said with a smile before she lifted her fork taking the first bite.