Alarms blared, lights flashed and sparks flew as Will fought to regain control of the ship.

“Decompression in the cargo bay,” shouted Debra as she strained to see the readout on the console as she was being thrown around in her seat. “Shields down!”

“Attitude control not responding,” cried Will. “Trying manual override.”

It took time, but the ship’s spinning began to slow and finally stopped. The alarms stopped and the lights came back on. Will and Debra lay in their seats panting.

‘What happened?” gasped Debra.

Will leaned forward to look at the sensor scan. “Gamma radiation,” he muttered. “Looks like they put several reactor cores in with the jerlinium.”

“But why didn’t our sensors detect them?”

“They must have shielded them,” he answered. “Seems they were expecting us to have them jettison the jerlinium and then destroy it. We’re just lucky our shields were up when we fired. If not, well we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Debra bend over the scanner. “No sign of the cruiser.”

“Oh, they’ll be along to check on their handiwork,” declared Will tersely as he began flipping switches to check the ship’s systems. “And when they see we’re still in one piece, I’m sure they’ll want to finish the job.”

He shook his head as he looked at the status readout. “Aft weapons are out and the engines took some damage. At best, we’ll get eighty percent performance out of them.”

“So the space cruiser will be able to catch us,” observed Debra in a low voice.

Will nodded. “Yeah, but we won’t make it easy for them.” He flipped several switches and announced. “Initiating ignition sequence.” The engines roared to life and the ship resumed its journey towards Celentus.

“The cruiser just showed up on sensors,” reported Debra. “We’ll be within their weapons range in about eighty-five minutes.”

“And without shields, we’ll be sitting ducks,” answered Will as he began unstrapping himself. “You take over. I’m going to see if I can get the shields working. Keep me informed of any changes.”

“Right,” called Debra grabbing the auxiliary control stick.

The shields and weapons control were located near the bottom of the ship so Will had a long climb ahead of him as he headed down the ladder. “Wish I’d gotten the model with an elevator,” he muttered as he scampered down the ladder. Several times he had to stop to wipe his sweaty hands on his shirt so he wouldn’t slip.

At last, gasping for breath he reached the weapon and shield controls. However, instead of clean fresh air, his lungs were filled with the smoky haze which filled the room. Coughing he grabbed an emergency breathing apparatus and slipped it over his head. As his coughing subsided, he looked around.

Sparks flew from some of the panels and smoke flowed from others. From one the lockers lining the wall, he pulled out a fire extinguisher along with some flame retardant gloves. Pulling open the smoking panels, he sprayed the extinguisher and the smoke slowly subsided.

“Seventy-five minutes,” came Debra’s voice from the intercom.

“Got it,” answered Will as he pulled open the shield control panel. He could only shake his head at the sight before him. A number of components were fused together and the cable to the main power supply had melted. Shutting down the power to the shields he got to work.

His first order of business was to tear out all the damaged components. Because of the modular design of the shield system, this normally would have been straight forward. However, having components fused together made this effort for more difficult. He dug out a laser torch from a locker and started the slow process of cutting away the damaged components.

“Sixty-five minutes,” announced Debra over the intercom.

Will was too busy to answer. Sweat poured down his face as he used both his hands to control the torch so be wouldn’t hit any of the surrounding component which hadn’t been damaged.

“Forty-five minutes,” called Debra as Will pulled out the last damaged component. However, he still had to pull out the melted power cable and then replace everything he’d removed with working units. Fortunately, the power cable had melted in the middle so we was able to pull out the connectors at the ends of the cable without resorting to the laser torch.

When the ship had been repaired on Celentus, a full complement of replacements components has been stored on the ship. Will began installing them as quickly as he could. As each one clicked into place without incident, he breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he connected the new power cable.

Will stood there panting and sweating as he looked over the repairs he’d made. At last convinced, everything was in place he closed the panel and turned the power back on. He smiled as lights began to flicker and no alarms sounds. Of course he wouldn’t know for sure if the shields worked until he activated them and that would have to wait.

He pushed the intercom button. “I’m coming up.”

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“Hurry,” answered Debra. “We’ve got twenty minutes.”

Will rushed up the ladder and was breathing heavily as he climbed into the control cabin and collapsed in his seat.

“Did you repair the shields?”

“We’ll soon find out,” wheezed Will.

He strapped himself into his seat as he fought to control his breathing. Grabbing the control stick, he looked over at Debra. “I’ve got it from here.”

He gently began moving the stick back and forth causing the engine thrust to increase and decrease. The ship bucked, but Will continued, slowing decreasing the engine thrust each time. The ship slowed and the cruiser drew closer. Flipping a switch, one of the reaction thrusters fired causing the ship to slowly rotate towards the approaching craft. Will shut the engines down leaving the ship floating helplessly in space.

The cruiser came to a stop just outside of weapons range, its shields still active. Will gave Debra a wink. “Looks like they don’t trust us.”

“Captain Power,” crackled the radio. “We’ve scanned your ship. Your shields and engines are down. If you wish to live, you and your companion are to immediately board your shuttle and fly to our ship.”

“Unfortunately,” answered Will, doing his best to sound concerned. “We seem to have misplaced our shuttle.”

There was silence for a few minutes. “Very well, we will send a shuttle for you. However, be aware that all our weapons are fixed on your ship and we will fire at the first sign of trouble.”

“Understood,” radioed Will.

She looked over at Debra. “This class cruiser has to drop shields when launching a shuttle, so get ready.”

Will held one hand over the shield control and other poised on the control stick. Debra kept a sharp eye on the scanner.

“Shields are down,” she shouted.

Will activated the shields which shimmered to life and shoved the control stick forward. The ship shot towards the cruiser and Will began firing, concentrating the blaster fire on the cruiser’s engine room and power systems. The cruiser fired its plasma blasters, but due to the sudden acceleration of Will’s ship, missed.

However, before the cruiser could raise shields Will scored multiple hits causing explosions at several locations on the cruiser’s surface. Will ship zoomed past the cruiser.

“Damage to their main power control,” reported Debra. “Their shields are at forty percent.”

“Weapons and engines?” asked

“Engines are still fully active. Weapons too, but at reduced power.”

The ship shook as the cruiser returned fire, but the shields held. Will swung the ship around to make other pass by the cruiser. However, they’d activated their engines and were trying to move away. As soon as he was in weapons range, Will began firing at the cruiser’s engines. The cruiser fired back hitting Will’s ship, but the damage to its power control system had left its blaster fire too weak to penetrate the shields on Will’s ship.

The cruiser’s weakened shield fluttered and failed. With one final shot to disable the space cruiser’s engines, Will piloted his ship away and continued towards Celentus.

Will engaged the autopilot, leaned back in his seat, and closed his eyes. “I could sleep for a week,” he muttered.

“Well, I can take care of things for a while,” offered Debra. “You go get some sleep.”

The only answer was soft snoring. Debra shook her head and smiled. “Sleep well, Will.”

Opening his eyes, Will saw Debra sitting at the controls. Hearing him stir, she turned around. “You must have been tired”, she said cheerfully. “You slept for nearly nine hours.”

Will sat up. “I’m sorry. You should’ve woken me.”

She laughed. “Oh no, I’m fine. I really don’t need that much sleep.”

“How are we looking?”

“No sign of any pursuit and we’re about four days away from Celentus.”

“Great. I can take over if you want to grab some sleep.”

Debra shook her head. “Maybe later.”

The two of them just sat there for a while. There’s a question Will had wanted to ask Debra since he’d met her, but wasn’t sure if it would upset her. However, since she’d finally opened up to him about her past maybe it would be okay.

He gave a little cough to get her attention. She looked over at him. “Debra,” he began, “there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

She considered him for a moment. “Okay, shoot.”

“Why’d you come to see me?”

She shook her head and laughed. “You already asked me that, don’t you remember? And I told you, profit.”

Will shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. Why me specifically?”

Debra’s smile faded. “Because someone very dear to me once told me that you could be trusted.”

“Who?”

She was quiet for a moment. “My father, Robert Corlander.”

Will sat up straight. “Captain Robert Corlander?”

“Yes.”

Memories came flooding back to Will. Captain Corlander had been his first commander after he graduated from the academy and had taught Will what it meant to be a military officer. It was more than fighting and tactics, but also standing up for what’s right and treating any civilians they encountered with respect.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Debra wiped her face. “Because I was ashamed. I’d always wanted to be just like him, but I couldn’t cut it. I let a man die and then deserted. I’m just glad he wasn’t around to see it.”

Their squadron had been on routine patrol when they received a distress call from a freighter that was being attacked by pirates. Captain Corlander immediately ordered them to respond and their group of six fighters set out to relieve the freighter. However, it’d been a trap. As they approached the freighter’s location, the squadron had been ambushed by ten Carcisian fighters. It was the first battle of the Trelent War, a war that would last for twelve long years.

The first attack had taken out two of the squadron’s fighters. And although the remaining members were able to take out some of the enemy, the odds were against them. Captain Corlander ordered the squadron to retreat, but purposely lagged behind. No one understood why until a large explosion wiped out the pursuing Carcisian fighters. Captain Corlander had detonated his ship’s reactor to save his squadron.

Tears flowed down Debra’s face. “Just before his last mission, my father told me about you. It was two years before I started at the academy and he said that if I ever had a chance I should serve under you. I never forgot that.”

Will looked down wishing he’d never asked the question. It’d only brought back sad memories, not only for Debra, but for him as well. And it hurt to see Debra so upset. He got up, knelt down beside her, and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I never meant to upset you like this.”

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. I should have told you before.”

Debra fumbled with the buckles on her seat as she tried to unstrap herself. “Maybe I should just head down to my quarters to get some sleep.”

“Sure, but before you go there’s something you need to know.” He looked down trying to find the right words. “Your father meant a great deal to me, not only because he saved my life, but because of everything he taught me.” Will’s voice broke as he continued. “However, there was one thing I’d forgotten until you reminded me; doing what is right is more important than blindly following orders.”

Will stood up. “Whether you believe it or not, I’m certain your father would be proud of you.”

Debra finished unbuckling herself and got to her feet, her face wet with tears. She kissed Will on the cheek. “Thanks,” she said before climbing down the ladder to the crew quarters.

Will watched her go, his eyes remaining fixed on the ladder long after she’d gone.