Commander Stelia was just about in weapons range when the shuttle slowed to a stop and dropped its shields. Not sure if it might be a trick, she continued her approach and targeted the shuttle’s engines to disable it. She was just about to fire when the shuttle’s shields came on and it fired its engines to move away.

Adjusting the ship’s heading, she set out in pursuit. That’s when she noticed the sensor readings of a small object that had been ejected by the shuttle. She looked over the sensor readings expecting to see it was some sort of weapon, but to her horror they showed it was a human female.

Without hesitation she swung the ship around and headed for her. Shutting down the radio jammer, she pushed the radio transmitter. “Debra, come in. Do you read me?” But there was no response.

“Commander Stelia to Admiral Zelen, urgent,” she radioed.

“Admiral Zelen, go ahead.”

“Has the ship been destroyed?” she asked anxiously.

“Yes,” he answered. “What’s your status?”

“They’ve ejected Miss Corlander from their ship. Showing positive life signs, but she’s not responding to my radio calls. I’m heading for her now.”

Several angry voices could be heard speaking at once. “Please repeat?” asked Commander Stelia. “Message was garbled.”

“Get her,” ordered the Admiral. “If she’s up to it, then continue your pursuit of Captain Power.”

“Understood.”

Using the transponder in Debra’s suit, Commander Stelia moved the ship towards her, slowing as she got close. They were near the edge of the Celentus system where the sun provided little light so she activated the ship’s lights and aimed them at the source of the transponder signal. Bringing up the ship’s exterior camera, she saw a blinking spot of light in the distance. Zooming in on it revealed a figure in a spacesuit spinning and drifting uncontrollably.

She moved the ship until she was about a hundred feet away then set the autopilot to match Debra’s speed and direction. Moving quickly, Commander Stelia put on her spacesuit and an emergency jetpack. Taking a tether from the storage locker, she stepped into the airlock. She anxiously watched the pressure gage drop as the chamber depressurized. It seemed to take forever, but within a minute, the chamber had reached vacuum and the outer door opened.

She latched one end of the tether to her belt and the other end to a ring just outside the door. After yanking both ends to make sure they were secure, she pushed off from the doorway. Immediately, she began to fall behind the ship, but she activated her jetpack and began to move out towards Debra. As she did, she again tried contacting Debra, but again there was no response. She stopped when she was about eight feet away.

Debra’s body was still tumbling, making it difficult to grab her. Commander Stelia waited until her body was just about even with hers and shot forward, wrapping her arms around her. They were both now spinning, but more slowly than Debra had been. However, due to the spinning, the jetpacks thrusters were no long aligned with the ship and they began to drift behind it.

With her arms around Debra, she used the wrist controls for the jetpack to pulse its firing until they’d stopped spinning. By the time that was accomplished, they’d moved beyond the back of the ship and the tether had gone taunt which began pulling them towards the engines. Continuing to hold onto Debra, Commander Stelia fired the jetpack to take them back to the airlock.

Reaching it, she pushed Debra inside and followed her in. She closed the exterior door and the airlock began to fill with air. Finally, a green light flashed and the interior door opened. She dragged Debra inside and laid her down on the deck. As she did so, she noticed a discolored area on the front of her suit. She’d seen this often enough to immediately know it was the result of blaster fire.

She removed Debra’s helmet and grabbed a scanner. Scanning her, Commander Stelia breathed a sigh of relief when she saw no serious injuries. After taking off her helmet, she lightly tapped the side of Debra’s face. “Wake up,” she called.

Her eyes slowly opened. “Not without Will,” she muttered. Then she repeated it again, this time more forcefully. Finally she sat up and cried angrily, “Not without Will.” That’s when she noticed she was no longer on the shuttle. “Commander Stelia?” she exclaimed in a surprised tone.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“But we saw you go back to Celentus.”

She helped Debra to her feet. “I’ll explain everything,” she said quickly, “but right now we need to find that shuttle.” Debra was still a little unbalanced so Commander Stelia helped her to the co-pilot chair.

After strapping themselves in, Commander Stelia pushed the control stick forward and they were shoved back into their seats as the ship set out in pursuit of the shuttle. She pressed some buttons and the auxiliary thrusters kicked in further increasing the ship’s speed. She looked down at the control panel. “We’ve lost the signal,” she said angrily.

“What signal?” asked Debra.

“Admiral Zelen had location transponders placed in your and Captain Power’s spacesuits. I used them to track you,” she explained as she turned on the radio to contact Admiral Zelen.

“But now they’ll send the ship back to Celentus,” declared Debra, worry in her voice.

“We were able to destroy the ship,” replied Commander Stelia.

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Debra looked at her with surprise. “How?”

She held up a hand. “Admiral Zelen. I’ve got her,” she radioed.

“Is she all right?”

Commander Stelia looked over at Debra. “I’m fine Admiral.”

“Thank goodness,” he answered, relief evident in his voice. “I’m so sorry. I never thought they’d do something like this.”

“It’s not your fault Admiral,” declared Debra.

“We’ve lost Captain Power’s signal,” reported Commander Stelia. “We’re maintaining pursuit on their original course. Requesting any available ships to assist.”

“The attack fleet’s several hours away from your current position,” he replied. “Too far away to be of assistance.”

“Understood. Stelia out.”

As the ship continued its pursuit of the shuttle, Commander Stelia filled Debra in on everything that’d happened since she’d left them on the moon.

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Will’s first sensation as he groggily woke up was a terrible headache. Reaching back he felt a large lump on the back of his head. “You hit your head when you fell back on the bed,” said a woman’s voice.

He had trouble getting his eye’s to focus and had trouble seeing who was speaking. The first thing to come into focus was a white blouse followed by blond hair. “Gwen?”

“Yes.”

He lay there for another minute until his sight had cleared and looked over at the other bed. “Where’s Debra?” he demanded even though it made his head hurt worse.

“We released her,” replied Gwen in a matter of fact tone.

“I find that a little hard to believe.”

Gwen smiled. “Looks who’s talking. You were willing to destroy a whole planet just to save yourself.”

“What?” exclaimed Will, trying to sit up. “I did no such thing.”

“Then how do you explain the transponder we found in your spacesuit?”

Will looked down and noticed he was no longer wearing his spacesuit. “I didn’t put it there.”

Gwen stared at him quietly for a moment. “Actually, I don’t think you would. Regardless, a ship used it to follow us. However, we were able to come to an agreement. Rather than having both of you killed, they agreed to take your Debra and leave.” She laughed. “I suppose they expected they’d still be able to track us. Now all they’ll find is an empty suit floating in space.”

She got up. “I’ll have someone come in to take care of your head.” Reaching the door she turned around. “After all, we need you in tip top shape for your trial,” she said gleefully.

“King Raphul, how could you?” muttered Will figuring he had to be responsible for the transponder. He also remembered the shuttle suddenly starting to move side to side before he’d lost consciousness which would be consistent with another ship following them. At least that part of Gwen’s story seemed true. As for the rest, he didn’t believe a word of it. He could only hope Debra was all right.

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Commander Stelia and Debra continued their pursuit. “I’m getting a signal,” called Debra who was keeping an eye on the sensors. “However, it’s not moving.”

“That’s the transponder signal all right.” She set course for it.

However, when they reached the location, they didn’t find a shuttle, but only an empty spacesuit floating in space.

“They found it,” sighed Debra. “How are we going to find Will now?”

Commander Stelia was quiet for a moment. “All we can do is keep going and hope we find them.”

Debra leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes for a moment. She knew if the situation was reversed that Will wouldn’t give up and neither would she. She looked over at Commander Stelia. “Let’s go find them.”

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A short while later, the female soldier came in carrying a medkit. She appeared middle-aged with dark hair that was streaked with grey. Her face showed the effects of long stretches of time spent outdoors. Will could tell she’d had a long military career.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and opened the medkit. “Turn you head,” she ordered roughly. As he did so, she jabbed a tube into the side of his neck. “This should help with the pain and reduce the swelling on your head.” Her voice wasn’t as rough, but it sure wasn’t friendly.

“Thanks,” said Will.

Without another word, she packed up the medkit and left the room. Almost immediately, Gwen came in. “Feeling better.”

“Yes. Not the most friendly, is she?” said Will gesturing at the door.

Gwen sat down. “And what reason has she to be friendly, Will? You’re a traitor openly associating with a deserter. That doesn’t exactly make you popular.”

“I guess not,” he agreed. “One thing I am curious about. Since when do military personnel take orders from a civilian?”

“When the president tells them to,” answered Gwen. “President Grandle personally asked me to be here. He appreciates everything you’ve done for Earth and doesn’t want to see you executed as a traitor.”

“And all I have to do is confess, right?” asked Will sarcastically.

Gwen shook her head. “Don’t you want to save your life?”

“If I was guilty, I’d gladly take your offer, but I’m not,” he furiously shot back. “Grandle’s ordered the invasion of an innocent world then sent a suicide ship to destroy it. He’s acting more like a Caesar than a president. If anyone’s guilty of treason, it’s him.”

She glared at him. “He’s doing what’s best for Earth.”

“More like what’s best for himself,” he muttered. “So why don’t you tell me the real reason Grandle is now so concerned with keeping me alive. Up to now, he seemed pretty happy with the idea of seeing me dead.”

“Rendezvous in half an hour,” came Henry’s voice over the intercom.

Gwen got up. “People can change their minds,” she said. “You’ve got half an hour to make your choice.”

Just as she reached the door, Will called after her. “I’ve already told you my decision. I won’t confess to something I’m not guilty of.” She stepped through the door without answering.

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Debra kept her eyes trained on the sensor display trying to will the shuttle to show up, but it didn’t. They continued on in silence. “Ninety degrees to port,” she suddenly called out.

“See something?” asked Commander Stelia as she adjusted the ship’s heading.

“It was there for an instant, but now it’s gone,” replied Debra.

“Well, let’s see if we can find it again.”

As each minute passed with nothing showing up, Debra was growing more convinced she’d imagined the whole thing. Then it showed up again and this time it didn’t disappear. “Bear thirty degrees to starboard,” she called excitedly. “Too far away to get any detailed scans, but it has to be the shuttle.”

Within ten minutes, they were able to confirm that it was indeed the shuttle on which Will was held. Slowly they drew closer to it.

“Sensors are showing a second ship,” reported Debra. “Looks like a cruiser and it’s heading for the shuttle.”

Commander Stelia looked at the tactical display. “It’s going to be close,” she called as she activated the ship’s shields and brought the weapons online.

As they approached, the shuttle activated its shields and began performing evasive maneuvers. As soon as they were in weapons range, Commander Stelia targeted the shuttle engines and began firing. She scored several hits, but the shuttles shields held. However, every second they were drawing closer to the cruiser.

Suddenly the ship shook as blaster fire from the cruiser hit it. “Shields down to ninety percent,” reported Debra.

Commander Stelia continued her pursuit of the shuttle while doing her best to evade the incoming fire from the cruiser. However, several more plasma blasts hit the ship.

“Shields at fifty percent,” called Debra.

Commander Stelia shook her head. “No good. We have to get out of here.” She brought the ship around. The ship shook and smoke began to fill the cabin as several more plasma blasts hit them before they could get out of the cruiser’s weapons range.

“Shields are failing,” shouted Debra to be heard over the alarms which had started to sound.

As they moved away, the cruiser lowered its shields and opened its shuttle bay door. The shuttle carrying Will flew inside and the door closed behind it.