It’d started nearly two years ago when shipments of jerlinium started being intercepted by what were thought to be pirates. Will along with Gwen Fulbright had been sent by President Grandle to investigate and to stop the thefts. This was one of the first times, the President had sent her with Will.

It turned out that it wasn’t pirates stealing the jerlinium, but the government of Pikner Seven. Their scientists had devised a way to modify plasma blasters so that their energy would pass right through a ship’s shield. With their shields ineffective, ships would be helpless before vessels equipped with such a weapon.

To perform the blaster modifications it was necessary to extract one of the chemical constituents of jerlinium. However, the chemical made up such a small part of the jerlinium that over a thousand pounds of it was needed for each blaster. Thus, disguised as pirates, ships from Pikner Seven had started intercepting the jerlinium shipments.

Fortunately Will had been able to destroy the factory where the blasters were being modified along with the computers and scientists who knew the process. Now Earth troops had invaded Celentus and made off with most of the available jerlinium. Could someone on Earth figured out how to make the same blaster modifications? And what about the weapon Will and Debra had destroyed? It’d been just like the one Will destroyed on Janis Three.

Developing two weapons from worlds light years apart surely couldn’t be a coincidence. However, the only common factor between them was him and …”

“Gwen!” exclaimed Will.

“What about her?” asked a surprised Debra who was walking beside him as they headed back to the hoverjet. Will’s pace had slowed as he was thinking and the two of them were well behind the rest of the group.

“I think I now know why President Grandle insisted I bring her along on my missions,” explained Will in a furious tone. He was mostly angry at himself for not figuring it out sooner. “She was there to scan any weapons we came across. I always thought she kept wandering off because she didn’t know any better, but she knew exactly what she was doing.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“That weapon you and I just destroyed,” began Will. “Well I destroyed one just like it on Janis Three about a year and a half ago. Gwen was with me.”

Debra’s eyes narrowed. “That certainly sounds damning, but it still could be a coincidence. Different scientists come up with the same ideas all the time.”

“True,” answered Will, “but there’s also the theft of the jerlinium.”

“I don’t understand the connection.”

Will recounted what’d happened at Pikner Seven. When he finished, he fixed his gaze on Debra. “Still think it could be a coincidence?”

She shook her head. “So what are we going to do about it?”

Will couldn’t help but smile at her response “We’re going to find where they’ve taken the jerlinium and stop them. If we don’t, Earth’s invasion of Celentus will just be the first of many. We can’t let that happen.”

“And we’ll help in any way we can.”

Will and Debra jumped. They hadn’t noticed than Lord Lestron had slowed his pace and was now walking just in front of them. The three of them stopped.

“I apologize for ease dropping,” he said,” but when I heard what you were talking about I felt it necessary to continue.”

Will shook his head. “No need to apologize. It saves us the effort of having to explain everything again.”

The three of them resumed walking. “So what are you going to need?”

“I’ll need my ship repaired as soon as possible,” answered Will. “Then I’ll need any tracking data your ships have on the Earth fleet’s retreat.”

“I’ll have extra crews put on your ship.” Lestron frowned. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure if we can give you much tracking data. We were more concerned with returning to Celentus than following the Earth ships.”

Debra nodded. “Understandable.”

King Raphul and Princess Cintrel were waiting for them at the hoverjet. “It’s about time,” called the King in a good humored tone. “Dinner awaits us at the palace.”

Lord Lestron bowed. “Your Majesty, there is much we need to discuss.”

On the return flight to the palace, Will and Debra told the king about what they’d discovered and the new threat associated with the stolen jerlinium. The King listened in silence, a look of deep concentration on his face.

When they’d finished, he gave a determined nod. “We’ll have crews working on your ship round the clock,” he assured them. “And although we didn’t track the retreating ships, there may be other ways we can help you find them. I’ll have our scientists look into that immediately.”

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

As he finished speaking, the hoverjet landed on the palace roof. A military officer opened the door and they all stepped out. “However,” continued the King, “at the moment all we can do is wait. And if one must wait, what better way is there to do it than by enjoying a fine meal.”

And it was indeed a fine meal. Fifteen courses of the finest delicacies on Celentus. Will made a show of sampling each one, but actually ate very little. While in space his diet consisted of freeze dried meals and back on Earth, with the exception of the occasional state dinner, he dined on whatever was on sale. Even so, he was in no mood to eat. However, he was glad to see Debra enjoying herself.

For the moment, the situation before them was put aside as the dinner conversation touched on the history of Celentus, famous space battles, and after some cajoling, Will reluctantly shared some tales of his adventures. It was late when Will and Debra were escorted back to their room.

Although tired, Will had too much on his mind to go to sleep. He sat down on the couch and Debra joined him. Will leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “All these years, I thought I was doing so much good for Earth. How could I be so stupid?”

Debra put a hand on his shoulder. “You were. Just look at how many attacks you stopped. You can’t control what others do.”

Will shook his head. “I should have figured out what Gwen was up to. Or better yet, I should have refused to take her in the first place.” He pounded a fist into his hand. “But no, foolish Will just did what he was told and now people are dead because of it. And that may only be the beginning.”

“Stop it,” snapped Debra. “The great Will Power’s made a mistake and now you regret everything you’ve ever done. Let me tell you as someone who’s made a lot of mistakes. The only way to put them behind you is to push through.”

“Well, I doubt your mistakes killed people,” he shot back.

Debra took her hand from Will’s shoulder and turned away. It took her a few minutes to answer in a choked up voice. “They did.”

Her words hit Will hard.

“It was during the Trelent War at the battle of Alun. I’d only been out of the academy six months. Greg and I were on a shuttle doing reconnaissance when we were hit. The shuttle went down. Greg was badly injured and his space suit was damaged. I tried to repair it, but was too scared and upset. He was dead in minutes.”

She let out a sob as she continued. “I was able to make it back to our lines, but from them on I looked for any chance I could to get out. Finally, I deserted and have been on the run ever since, never knowing who to trust. I’ve worked freighters, transports, and was even part of a pirate crew for a time.”

She looked back at Will, her face wet from tears. “So don’t get all high and mighty and think your mistakes are worse than anyone else’s.”

Will reached over and wiped away some of her tears. “I’m sorry.”

They sat there in silence for a while.

At last Debra stood up. “We should get some sleep. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.” Her voice had regained some of its normal determined tone, yet there was an undercurrent of sadness still.

Will got up and hugged her. “I truly am sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

Debra shook her head and gave him a small smile. “We just never seem to get our timing right.”

“What?” asked a confused Will.

“Never mind. Let’s get some sleep.”

They were up early and after breakfast met with the King and his advisors including Lord Lestron in the king’s chambers. It was a large well-lit room with a long wooden table in the middle. The King sat at the head of the table. Military officers and civilians sat around the table. Two seats near the King and Lord Lestron had been reserved for Will and Debra.

“You ship should be ready tomorrow morning,” Lestron informed Will and Debra.

“Excellent,” answered Will. “Any luck on tracking the Earth ships?”

The King nodded, “Drelnor has been working on that.”

A young man with blond hair stood up and bowed to the King and then to Will and Debra. Sitting back down, he began speaking. “Jerlinium emits a very low level radiation. Normally this radiation is very difficult to distinguish from other forms of radiation. However, due to the large quantities of jerlinium stored onboard the Earth ships, a specially modified radiation detector might be able to detect it.”

“So it could leave a trail?” asked Debra.

“We believe so. We’re modifying the sensors on your ship to allow you to track it.” He shook his head slightly. “Unfortunately, we don’t know how long a trail formed by the radiation would last. It may be gone by the time you get into space.”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” said Will. “Thanks for your help.”

“Would you like any of our ships to come with you?” asked one of the military officers.

Will shook his head. “Thank you for the offer, but we want to try and sneak in and that’s a lot easier with a single ship.”

“Understood.”

The meeting went on for a while longer, but it looked like Will and Debra would have everything they needed.

Later in the day, they took a hoverjet out to the spaceport to see how the repairs on Will’s ship were going. They arrived just in time to see the ship being lifted up by a crane as a new engine assembly was installed. Already the ship looked much better as the dents and scorch marks had been removed.

Lord Lestron had gone to the spaceport with them and he took them over to the hangers to select a new shuttle for the ship. There were five shuttles to select from and Will insisted on taking each of them for a test flight before making a decision. It was getting late in the day by the time they’d finished.

By then, Will’s ship was back on the ground, the new engines fully installed. As the hoverjet lifted off for the journey back to the palace, lights illuminated Will’s ship as crews continued their work.

Will and Debra went to bed early since they had no idea when they’d get another chance to sleep. As they were having breakfast, word reached them that the repairs on Will’s ship had been completed.

They quickly packed the new clothing and supplies the king had provided and headed upstairs to the hoverjet. King Raphul and Lord Lestron were waiting for them. Once they’d boarded the hoverjet, it began the ten minute journey to the spaceport landing not far from the gate which led to the ship.

The King and Lord Lestron each shook hands with Will and Debra.

“Good luck to you both,” said the King. “I’ll have our fastest ships standing by if you run into trouble.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” responded Will.

“Yes, thank you for your wonderful hospitality,” added Debra.

The King smiled. “My dear girl, it’s the very least we can do after all you’ve done for my people.”

With a final wave, Will and Debra walked through the gate and were soon on the gantry moving up the side of the ship. Once inside, they stored their belongings and strapped themselves into their seats.”

“You ready?” asked Will looking over at Debra.

“Always.”

Will quickly began flipping switches and as he flipped the last one announced, “Initiating ignition sequence,” and the ships engines sprung to life.

The ship lifted off and within ten minutes had left Celentus behind.