1 down, 400 billion to go.

By: Marcus R. Jones

The controls vibrated slightly, as the engines roared to life. The fur's paws shaking a little with the excitement of what they were about to do. The air was cool and dry, the lights dark and coming from behind the fur. A small click of a switch, and a female electronic voice crackled through the ship's speakers, saying "Pre-Flight checks complete, releasing ship."

A small rocking, and a few creaks, and the ship, a Cobra Mk III, lifted up from the launch platform. Again the electron voice comes through the speakers, "Ship released, landing gear raised" the voice notified the fur in the captain's seat. And he was free, for the first time in his life he was free.

The fur in question was called Ludo; he is a dingo, light red/brown fur, mostly normal patterns except for the blue tips to his ears, and the blue streaks on his muzzle. The ship, he owns it. Though he has only owned it for an hour, it was still his. This ship was his ticket away from his "Home" away from the federation. He had been trapped there, with his family far, far too long. The canine had been working for the past four years, doing painstaking tasks, for little pay, hoping one day, he could escape this place, and this day was that day.

With careful precision, the ship rose off of the platform and with eager unsteadiness he throttled up and bolted away from the orbital platform. In seconds he was nearly two thousand meters away. But what do you do with freedom once it's achieved? What is the first thing that you do?

Well...Let the journey begin.