MAXIS glowed bright blue, her swirling mass of plasma shifted restlessly. The core room had a single lead-glass window, of which MAXIS often looked out of. Gently easing her energies, she touched the window with her endoplasm and let out a sigh. Not much of a sigh, more like some sort of cosmic radiance.

"When will I see you again?"

MAXIS' swirling mass began turning red...

TKE was in the engineering sector again.

"'A new breakthrough!' Dr Claev says. Even Mr Saegen seemed excited." He muttered to himself.

"Dr Claev and Mr Saegen have taken up the new task, and now having cut communications with EarthGov, I really do not know what is going to happen next."

TKE dropped his wrench onto the floor, and let out a sigh.

"Do you require my assistance Te...sir?" Clanedd really seemed to be unaffected change in circumstances, lively and focused as usual.

"Lets take a break sir. We have been standing here for over 4 hours and not a single neutron from this dang machine. A change in pace would certainly help!"

Clanedd spoke with the same bright smile.

"Alright Clanedd. Lets go to Observatory Deck 12. Our usual spot."

TKE and Clanedd walked down the same, familiar sector towards the observatory deck. Both of the engineers saying nothing. The soft tapping of the engineers shoes in sync filled the hall, until it was interrupted by a certain peculiar android.

"*Beep! Beep! Server ID error! Uplink establish... Failed! Initiating new port 29801467...Failure...*" resounded the loud cries of a malfunctioning android.

TKE stepped forward and inspected the android.

"I see the problem with this thing."

He spoke in a soft and yet serious tone. Clanedd looked on with awe filled eyes.

"First things first, we don't have any AI software for androids on this station whatsoever!"

After a brief pause, TKE continued.

"Well, whoever was conducting industrial espionage on us certainly does not know how not to put your company logo onto your surveillance drone."

TKE said as he pointed to a picture of an ice cube stuck to the android.

"Teeke, umm so what should we do with this robot?"

Clanedd asked as she prodded the android's torso.

"OK, Clanedd, go to my office and get some opaque black duct tape. I will attempt to hack this android."

TKE said hastily. Clanedd ran off in the direction towards his office. TKE took out a Philip head screwdriver and undid the outer hull of the android.

"The next thing I wonder about is why whoever is spying on us built this damn thing so huge? And why did they build it to stand out? I mean to say, not everyone has "Dalek" shaped robots around."

TKE mumbled to himself while contemplating the structure of the AI. The hallway was once again filled with the rapid, loud tapping of footsteps.

"I'm back!" yelled Clanedd.

"I got the duct tape! I also got a pair of needle nose pliers in case you need one!"

"Thanks Clanedd! You are a great help!" TKE yelled back. "Now, to duct tape all the sensory devices of this thing and rewire the AI such that it cannot transmit data back... done!"

TKE closed the open section of the android and stood it at the same corner he found it at.

"Let us not have anymore to do with this. Now Clanedd, I have to spend some time with you right?" Clanedd nodded, blushing and eyes gleaming.

Up on the observatory deck, TKE and Clanedd sat side by side admiring the untouched stars of the sky. At least for humanity. Flashes of light from the glinting meteor fragments burning up in the atmosphere filled the horizon.

"I really wonder, why there are so many shooting stars today. It's as though someone is shooting fireworks out there." Clanedd said to herself.

She leaned her head onto TKE's shoulder.

"Well, at least they are pretty."

"Careful what you wish for." TKE said with a smile.

Clanedd giggled softly.

The two engineers did not utter a word. After all, nothing was needed to be said. The view, even after five years was still stunning. It seemed to shatter the worries in TKE and Clanedd's hearts. Suddenly, so did the viewing port.

The window was webbed with fractures. Multiple cracking noises and the hissing of leaking atmosphere resounded from the broken window. The metal slug was embedded in the glass, red hot from either the muzzle velocity or friction during contact. The two engineers stepped back in horror.

"Aww shit, are the InterCon and EarthGov fighting again?" TKE said.

He reached behind his back and opened the blast door. The cracking of the glass continued, threatening to rip the glass pane open. TKE and Clanedd retreated behind the blast door, just as the glass gave way, releasing precious oxygen into space.

"A war?" Saegen contemplated TKE's words.

"Yes sir. Apparently Observatory Deck 12 was hit by a stray gauss shell. I suspect InterCon and EarthGov are at it again." TKE commented.

"I highly doubt it." Saegen replied. "After all, knowing InterCon, they would have blown another continent into orbit if they wanted to. I have confirmed the participation of EarthGov from their signature G77-AntiArmour Gauss Cannon Shell. In my opinion, I think they are fighting a extraterrestrial opponent. In other words, aliens."

TKE stood rooted to the spot in awe. "No way! We have long decided our galaxy to be devoid of intelligent life, there could not be an alien attack!"

"Unfortunately, you are mistaken." Saegen said bluntly. "Never heard of the secret Terran-Martians war (1942-1975)? Luckily it was resolved peacefully in the end. That being said, this had proven that we are not the only intelligent species in the galaxy."

The comms system suddenly blared with Claev's voice, "Saegen? Head Engineer? Please head to engineering sector 01 immediately. I have some important news."

Claev was sitting on what seemed to be a pile of scrap metal when TKE and Mr Saegen entered.

"First things first..." Claev started. "My apologies for calling you two here so abruptly but I really cannot wait for a test run with the newly developed warp drive."

Claev got down from the pile and stood up.

"Unfortunately we still do not have a suitable power source to power the drive for long periods of time. You see, the maximum test speed we were able to achieve was measured to be 11.03 c.(33.1 times the speed of light) This means that we can travel one light year in about 11 days."

Claev coughed softly to clear his voice before continuing.

"Something that can produce 4.11GJ of energy a second for that long will be sufficient."

TKE tried to reason with the doctor, "But sir, our current "Trans-LightForce Fubuki Fission" would not be able to produce that much power for such intervals, I mean to say that it can but..."

Mr Saegen interrupted TKE, "Well, how about nuclear fusion? Te...I mean head engineer, you have completed the fusion reactor no?"

TKE felt the glares of his two superiors burning holes in his forehead. The sensation was almost unbearable.

"Umm, well I..." Claev shouted in triumph, "Alright! It is settled. The warp test, Probe Daledalus, will take place next week, 22 April 2084!"

What a joke, TKE thought to himself.

"Deciding on things without the head engineer, me, giving approval. What if the project is not up to standard and therefore costs the lives of millions? I will get the blame, me!" he continued to curse silently.

At this moment Clanedd entered the office.

"Umm sir? Are you still working on the fusion reactor?" TKE remained silent, fuming internally. "Well, you see sir, I think that..."

"Keep quiet will you, I am trying to focus here!" TKE snapped, regretting what he said almost immediately after. Clanedd was taken aback. She stepped backwards once, tears in her eyes. "I...I just wanted to help… she stammered. TKE felt a sharp sensation pierce at his chest. "Umm… Clanedd, I-I'm sorry. I well…"

Clanedd let out a long deep sigh.

"It is OK, sir. I understand. W-Would you like a moment by yourself?" Clanedd said softly as she wiped her tears on the sleeves of her uniform.

TKE sat dumbfounded. That was the first time, he have ever seen Clanedd cry. Shit... what have I done? He thought to himself. He spoke up again, desperately trying to rectify the situation.

"N-No. Clanedd. It's fine. I was really…"

Clanedd stared at her feet, not saying a word. She walked up to TKE silently and swiftly brought her right fist upon the head engineer's head.

He yelled, although it was more like a yelp of shock.

"Seriously! Could you be any blunter?" Clanedd said, apparently red in the cheek.

"S-Sorry! Sorry!" TKE squeaked. He nearly expected her to run away crying. Thankfully this was not the case.

"Yelling at me like that! Be thankful I did not run away crying or I would have embarrassed our head writers!"

"Head writers?"

"No coffee for you."

"Aww come on!"

TKE almost felt better.

Two days later, TKE yet again was in the engineering sector. He silently screwed on the final part for the fusion reactor as he watched it spur to life.

The ring shaped magnetic containment chamber and the central solenoid worked in direct unison, producing a net output of nearly 5 GJ of electrical energy a second. This was definitely an extremely noteworthy innovation in power sources.

Clanedd stood behind TKE and clapped her hands.

"See! I told you could do it!"

"Yeah. Thanks Clanedd. Sorry that I shouted at you then. Forgot you had good intentions all along."

Clanedd blushed slightly. "O-Of course I do. I would have been fired long ago if it weren't so. Without my help, you would have not had finished this by today… OK, you probably would have but would not have been proud about it because I would not have been there!"

TKE threw himself onto his back and laughed. He stretched and quite literally threw the last spare bolt into the waste disposal bin on the opposite side of the facility.

"Great to have you around. Come. Let's go and finish the report."

"Yeah!" Clanedd replied.

On the way to Claev's office, TKE could not help but to think about his assistant. From young, Clanedd was dismissed as being noisy and annoying, as a result TKE was the only person she could have called a "friend", and yet he reacted in such a rashful and violent manner two days ago. How would she have felt? Did she really forgive him?

Door after door passed, until TKE and Clanedd reached the one with Claev's name plate on it. The head engineer knocked on the door once and entered without even waiting for a response.

As he entered, he immediately recoiled back in shock and Clanedd's face flushed bright red as she pivoted on her toes and did a full one-eighty. Claev was in his boxers with his feet on his desk, and the scientist was playing with his toy figurines.

Claev was equally surprised to see the two engineers.

"What the f…"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"KNOCK NEXT TIME! KNOCK!" Claev yelled as he flung all his figurines off the table into the cardboard box that lay under the desk.

"Did you see anything?" Claev said as he shifted his feet off the table, and sitting upright, looking very uneasy.

"No sir." TKE replied with a straight face. "I did not see you playing with your dolls sir."

"Good!" Claev flicked his eyes between the two engineers suspiciously before letting TKE continuing. "So… what are you here for?"

"The Fusion reactor is ready. Sir." TKE said as he felt a smile creep up onto his face.

"Good!" Claev said again. "I will have Saegen know about it…"

He opened a file on his RIG and sent it to TKE.

"I have a new job for you. Read that and execute. I have to go back to playing with my dol… I mean to continue doing paperwork."

TKE and Clanedd nodded, saluted and went on their way.

Suiting up in a LongExposure TV2 EVA Suit, TKE stepped into the airlock. Once completely depressurized, the blast doors opened revealing the harsh vacuums of space.

Maneuvering himself carefully, TKE pushed himself off the walls of the airlock and into the open. From where he was, TKE could easily see the probe under construction, foundations being put into place.

Reaching onto his back, he pulled out a tether line and attached it to the fractured remains of Observatory Deck 12.

TKE looked at the observatory and gave a thumbs up to the other person floating about within it. Clanedd showed her thumb back, signifying that his suit functions were all green and he was ready to proceed.

With that being said, TKE cracked his knuckles and activated the HUD on his RIG.

Taking note of all the damage done to the structure, TKE found it more serious then he thought it would be. There were multiple hull breaches across the entire deck. Holes of varying sizes littered the surface of the hull. TKE pulled himself closer to the damage site and noted some minor plasma scorches.

"This is no Earth bound weapon... EarthGov never developed energy weapons, only InterCon ever made laser weaponry, even so, they were of short range and incapable of blasting such a large area..."

TKE thought to himself as he pulled out salvageable materiel out from the debris. Something flew above the station at this point of time. TKE looked up and the first thing he noticed was the large iconic ring shaped engine of an EarthGov destroyer. It was built to look something like an inverted '7', with the tip of the '7' pointing downwards. Ring at the back, weapon blocks mounted on its spine with a command section, the tip of the '7', at its head. The 90m long ship was cruising gracefully across the sky, chemical engines blazing, only to be shot down by a stray plasma bolt.

TKE then noticed what seemed to be a black ship skim past the wreckage of the EarthGov ship which then proceed to fly off into the distance.

The black aggressor was no larger then its human counterpart. Except the craft had what seemed to be a beak like protrusion as its upper hull and guns mounted on the lower hull.

Red hot shrapnel was flying all over the place as the insides of the destroyer split open. The spine of the ship cracked due to the mechanical stress exerted onto it.

"Tgh! There really are aliens here. Open comms link... Dr Claev? Can you hear me?"

TKE opened the communications but static was all that filled it.

"Must be the ion interference... come on, clear up!"

TKE looked around and noted Clanedd still fiddling around with hull and glass plating within the observation deck, completely oblivious to the ordeal occurring outside. Better let her be. The head engineer thought to himself. Some things are best not known by others. All in good time.

The line buzzed and after a few seconds, Claev's muffled voice was heard over the link.

"Yeah, I can hear you. Whats the matter?"

TKE replied hastily, "There is a EarthGov warship here, it has been taken down by an unknown aggressor, requesting the mobilization of Repair and Salvage 03."

A moments silence. "OK, permission granted. I will be there to supervise. Head engineer, stay right there."

After what seemed like 15 minutes, Claev, in an EVA suit, together with his repair and salvage team, approached the engineer.

"Whoa, that's one hell of a ship! Never seen it before, must be newly commissioned. Come! Lets' check it out. The repair work can wait."

TKE remained silent, he was wondering what that mysterious attack craft was. What it's origins were and more importantly, how to utilize its weapons for his people's advantage.

Dr Claev glided through the destroyed interior of the EarthGov ship. He approached the stern of the ship, and made a quick mental note of what seemed to be a missing component that was meant to be attached to the ringed engine of the ship.

TKE began writing notes in his RIG. EarthGov ships designed with useless protrusions to make them look cool…

"Dr Claev?" TKE said. "Why don't we 'borrow' this ring of power? I think it might help with our warp project."

Claev almost choked due to a short spasm of violent coughing.

"Are you telling me that you want to attach this piece of junk to the Daledalus probe?!" The doctor said, almost screaming. "It will make the probe look ugly! I designed the thing myself you know!"

TKE, ring in tow, glided towards the probe construction site, that is after the persuasion and intervention of Saegen.

Bringing the ring to the site, he informed the already present engineers working on the probe about the addition of the ring and change of plans. He sent a data file through the RIG to ensure success.

Following that he proceeded to retreat back into the safety of SkyLab2. Gliding back to his designated repair site, TKE looked back once again to witness the flashes of gunfire beyond the horizon. Shrugging off his worries, he continued with his task.

Meanwhile, Saegen was in the radio and operation's sector. Looking over the shoulders of the radar operator, he let out a short sigh.

"Still no response." He said to himself. "There has been some heavy ion interference with this dammed radar for the past hour or two...damn this stupid machine!"

Saegen raised his right foot and gave the operating machine a kick to the side. Thunk! The radar man jumped up in shock.

Saegen smiled, "There we go! Nothing like a good whack to get the machines running! Anyways, lets see who the EarthGov are fighting... Wow, I have never seen a ship like that!"

The image of the black, beak shaped ship appeared onto the screen. Engaged in combat with the IXS Toemo Destroyer, the alien ship and the EarthGov ship circled around taking occasional port shots at each other.

The EarthGov ship fired its gauss cannons and missiles, shells closing in onto the target with missile smoke trails in tow. Much to the dismay and surprise of Saegen, the shells and warheads deflected off the curved hull of the alien ship leaving nothing more then mere dents and scratches.

Plasma cannon charged, the alien ship fired and the bright green bolt tore off the engine section of the destroyer, liquid metal was flying all over the place.

"I am going to record this. I bet it is going to come in handy in the future."

Saegen mumbled to himself.

"In the meantime, we must get probe Daledalus ready for launch."

TKE sat on his office chair reading the final reports and checks on Probe Daledalus. The fusion reactor was fueled and was ready for operation. Luckily the alien threat was dealt with by then, (With the destruction of almost the entire EarthGov fleet) otherwise the launch would not have been able to proceed.

The engineer stood up silently. Five days had passed and TKE had not received any further defect reports about the probe. Good news, TKE thought to himself. At least his hard work paid off.

The Head Engineer opened the sliding door and entered the operations site. Everyone was already there. Claev approached the engineer. "Hey there Head Engineer! Are you excited? Your creation is about to be put into proper operation!"

TKE gave a silent nod. "What's wrong son? You don't look too good. Are you OK?"

"Butterflies."

"What?"

Before Claev could continue, the communications channel blared Saegen's voice.

"All personnel, please vacate Deck B immediately, prepare for the launch of probe Daledalus!"

Dr Claev shrugged his shoulders, "Ah, that's our sign. Get ready! Man your position, and get your assistant too!"

TKE replied with a brief "yes sir" and walked briskly to his station. At this moment, Clanedd entered the room of operations. For a brief moment she stared at TKE with slightly worried eyes. She took her position behind TKE and remained silent.

"Butterflies?" TKE asked.

Clanedd replied with a nod.

Thought so. TKE said in his head.

"Hey head engineer! You are supposed to ignite the fusion reactor!" Claev yelled across the room. The engineer was jerked back to reality. "Yes s...sir. Sorry. Got distracted." He stuttered.

"OK... raise deuterium pressure, initiate solenoid rotation, and activate!"

A loud and powerful explosion rippled throughout the entire operation site.

"Oh no!" TKE gasped. The reactor hull integrity had failed, a design flaw! Super heated helium plasma was spilling all over the place, whatever the plasma touched was vaporized instantly.

"Damn it! I never realized that." TKE cursed to himself, desperately searching for a solution to the problem.

"*Warning! Reactor temperature rising above safety levels! Please initiate nitrogen injection sequences immediately!*"

The in place warning system wailed. The crew in the operation deck were in a state of shock, all unable to say anything. The probe's outer hull started glowing bright red, metal oxides steaming from the affected parts. The aura of panic grew stronger. Murmuring could be heard across the entire room.

TKE suddenly turned. "I'm going to fix that problem." He said.

Now turning towards Clanedd, he said quickly. "Stay here. Monitor the probe."

"Wait!" She said, almost shouting. "What are you…"

"Don't worry." TKE replied as he pretended to put sunglasses over his eyes. "I'll be back."

He ran off instantly. He could hear Clanedd shouting after him. He ignored the pleas. Everything depended on him.

The airlock opened with a dull clank. TKE, already in an EVA suit, stepped out into the vacuums of space and pushed himself hard towards the damaged probe. The distance between the engineer and the probe closed rapidly.

Even though he was thoroughly protected by the EVA suit, TKE was sure he felt the heat of the leaking plasma radiating through. He drew in closer to the site of the leak.

"A power overload?!" TKE said to himself. "That means the batteries are over capacity, the resulting sparking from them broke the magnetic seal holding the fusion plasma in."

Perhaps, if one were to directly connect the reactor output into the warp engine, thereby bypassing the capacitors and allowing the warp engine to activate despite the leak...

TKE's RIG communications came online, Saegen's almost frantic voice came through among heavy static.

"Head Engineer! Stop! What are you doing?! It is too dangerous to try fixing the breach directly. Let us..."

"Don't give me your bullshit now!" TKE yelled back. Saegen was silenced.

"There is no turning that thing off now! The magnetic link has been served and not to mention we almost have this in flight!"

TKE closed the comms link immediately. With that, the engineer unscrewed the maintenance plating of the probe. Seizing two high voltage jump cables, he attached one to the reactor output port, and prepared to plug the second directly into the ringed structure.

"Lets get this thing going, just as I have always done before!" The jump cable met the warp appliance and a shower of blue sparks flew. TKE's entire body jerked as his eyes glazed over and every single one of his muscles tensed up.

High voltage. TKE's short spasm launched him away from the probe. Through his blurred vision, he could see the dimensional fluctuation appear. The warp bubble enveloped the Daledalus probe and with a high pitched whine, and the probe surged forward at many times the speed of light.

The probe disappeared instantly, leaving a deadly space-time shockwave, sapping away what little consciousness remained in the head engineer.

TKE opened his eyes wearily.

Was I dreaming? Where am I? He thought to himself. His entire body was aching all over, especially in his abdominal area.

TKE's vision cleared, the first thing he saw was the teary eyed Clanedd.

"You are awake! Thank goodness!"

Clanedd spoke softly, tears dripping on TKE's face, before procedding to hug him tightly.

"This can't be heaven is it?"

"Of course not you… you idiot!" Clanedd hugged him even tighter.

"Heh… Sorry."

Claev suddenly entered the room with a smile as large as his ego. Clanedd immediately let the head engineer go, stood up and saluted.

"At ease… Well Head engineer, I see you are fine, goodness me, you had me worried when you pulled that stunt!"

His eyes flicked towards Clanedd. "Miss assistant head, you can do your romantic reconciliations later. I have something to tell our patient here"

Clanedd's jaw dropped and TKE felt as though he was stabbed through his chest. Both of their faces turned beet red.

"H-How long have I been out?" TKE asked shortly after shaking off the embarrassment.

"Well..." Claev paused, "Nearly eleven days."

TKE almost fainted again when he heard that.

"Eleven days?! What has gone on in the meantime?"

Claev cleared his throat and announced proudly. He opened up a report on his RIG and sent it to the head engineer's.

"I'm glad you asked. The Daledalus project was a great success!"

"I really do not think you should be shouting in the medical sector..." TKE mumbled under his breath.

Claev took no notice.

"Although the probe crashed into the nearby star Sirius, eight light years away, (causing the star to go unstable for an estimated 23 years) we have managed to gather an exceptional amount of data on that warp engine."

Claev cleared his throat. Oh boy. TKE thought to himself. This was going to be a long one.

"The drive operates based on compressing and expanding space-time behind and in front of the craft respectively. No idea how you made it happen though. And apparently by adding the ring, the 'warp bubble' was able to be distributed evenly and have increased our estimated warp speed by 300%, thereby reaching the star in eleven days. By the way, what should we name the warp drive and that fusion reactor?"

Claev stared at TKE. "After all, you did create them, therefore earning the right to name them."

TKE thought carefully to himself. After a long and awkward pause, TKE finally spoke up.

"I think the fusion reactor... shall be called the Shangri-La Peacekeeper Fusion Reactor, with respect to how worry free, the making of the reactor was."

He stared at Claev with sarcasm filled eyes.

"And, for the warp engine, I would like to respect the original inventor of the theory. The drive shall be called the Alcubiere Drive! Or Warp Drive colloquially."

Claev nodded, "A good choice! Your inventions will be remembered for centuries! I shall leave you be now, see ya!"

He winked at Clanedd who was still red before closing the door behind him.

"Umm, Clanedd..." TKE started.

"Don't say a thing!"

Clanedd interrupted TKE.

"I am just glad I have not lost you yet. Please don't make me worry like that."

Tears filled her eyes once more as she leaned forward and embraced the engineer.

"OK, I promise." whispered TKE softly.

To be continued.