“We’re approaching Cygnus Beta, sir.”
“I haven’t been here in a year or so. Prepare to land.”
“This place is almost as disgusting as Cygnus Alpha.”
“Could we be so lucky as to be there,” joked the commander.
“Should we land the ship or beam down?” asked the first officer.
“Send down Thal and Kad.”
Thal overhears.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Thal, “I didn’t make a good impression on the people there last time.”
“I have an idea,” said the commander, “Zen, is there any place with a ten mile radius of no life where we can get what we’re looking for?”
Zen, a large brown hexagon shape supercomputer, scans the planet and in just more than five seconds of the question being asked, responds with “Yes, a map will load with the most ideal spots.”
The commander smiles, “I know the place and it will be too much fun to turn down. Thal, Kad, and I will go down.” The three leave the command bridge to another room next to their own. It’s a little room with a piece of the floor a foot from the ground with lights shined directly on it. There’s a booth with a control panel.
The commander grabs a black bracelet from a rack of identical bracelets and puts it on. Thal and Kad look at their respective black bracelets and they look at all the numerous buttons and flashy symbols. Thal says, “Mine works.” Kad responds with a nod. Kad grabs a large bag which produces at least a small click or clack whenever moved.
The three file in under the bright light and Rachel, another crewman, pulls a lever on the control panel and the three disappear.
“Let’s hope for the best,” proclaims Rachel.
The planet is foggy and dirty. The three appear on the planet surface unharmed. Right after beaming down, Kad struggles to see where his crewmates are.
“We need that water,” said the commander, “Let’s go get it.”
The three scope out their environment and see a hill. They give one another a look and a smirk and they run to it. Once they get down to the top of the hill, they see what appears to be a lake. The commander commands them all to get down on the ground.
“Why do we need to get down, sir?” asked Kad.
“If this is the only source of water, people might come by here to get it. We don’t want to be spotted.” The commander stops and thinks. “Kad, let’s roll down the hill and get some of the water. Thal, wait up here for a cue to act.” The three get to the ground, Kad and the commander then roll down the hill. A nervous Thal grabs the ground with his sweaty palms. His hand runs into something clearly metal. He moves the dirt out of the way and sees a big metal plate. He can’t find an end he can use to pick it up. He moves more dirt away only to discover not a side, but just how massive this thing is.
Thal says to himself, “This isn’t a plate, it’s a box.” He keeps going, fixated on the box. He runs his hand along the mystery, his hand does a relatively good job of pushing away the dirt. He keeps at it and eventually his hand leaves metal and goes down into dirt a centimeter or so.
…
Below the hill by the water, Kad removes a scanner from his bag and scans the sea of water by him. The commander looks on without a tool, almost as if his eyes could scan the water. His face looks almost as if he was a war veteran being photographed.
“Commander, this water needs to be filtered before we can put it in the bottle,” said Kad.
The commander’s face goes from stoic to stressed.
“Curses, I was hoping this could be quick.” Kad takes out a cylinder made of glass with a motor at the bottom and a tube sticking out the side. He inserts the end of the tube in the water and the water very, very slowly proceeds up in the container. The commander and Kad notice that the water changes color once entering the glass container. The commander looks up to Thal, sticks up his hand and shouts. “Thal get down here.” Thal is too infatuated on the metal device he has not yet found an end to. The commander almost stands up, but realizes how foolish that would be. He yells again. After no avail, he gets out his communicator, which isn’t working.
“We shouldn’t have gone to Saurian Major. Kad, let me use your communicator.”
“Yes sir.”
…
Thal, fascinated with the end of the box just as much as the top of it, is almost not pulled out of this intrigue when his communicator beeps. He answers it.
“Thal, what are you doing? Get down here.”
Thal signals for his crewmates to go up the hill to the box.
“Thal, this is important. What is going on up there?”
“I found something crazy. It’s huge!”
“Is it dangerous?” The commander has a serious tone for the first time on this mission.
“I don’t think so.”
The commander rolls his eyes and crawls up the hill.
The moment he is up the hill, Thal eagerly says, “I found this huge box, who knows what could be inside? Treasure perhaps!”
“This is not important Thal, get down the hill. We got water to deal with.”
Thal begrudgingly accepts. He stands to start moving down the hill. A bullet comes from what appears nowhere and Thal is struck.
…
As Thal’s lifeless body hits the ground. The sound of tires begin to be heard from Kad and the commander. The commander takes Thal’s communicator and contacts Kad.
“Kad, one of us needs to stay for the water.” “Please let me stay.”
“Kad, are you sure?”
“Please commander, go.” Kad flicks a switch on his bracelet and removes it.
A frightened commander, firmly grasped to Thal’s love, demands to be sent up. Rachel pulls forward a lever with a handle on the control panel.
The commander and the metal thing appear on the spot where the commander and company were sent down. Rachel and the first officer watch in surprise. Once the teleportation is completed, the ship bends down and begins to approach a planet.
“Rachel, Bod; join me and beam down.” “Commander!”
“Now! Two hours, the nearest planet!”
Rachel goes to a variety of places on the control panel. Little buttons are pushed, things are typed in. She types in “7200”, which is the number of seconds in two hours. Rachel pushes a button and pulls a lever at the same time. She quickly joins Bod and the commander, they all are beamed to the nearest planet.
“Rachel, where are we?” said the commander.
“How should I know?”
The commander rolls his eyes.
“We have to figure out what this thing is.” said the commander.
Bod circles the object. Still just as wide as Thal had observed, but not exceptionally tall.
“I think this is only a foot in height,” said a surprised Bod.
The commander, looking on the top of the structure for a hole, dent, door, etc, does not notice Bod’s observation. Rachel however, does.
“Perhaps it’s so oddly shaped as it’s to deceive people,” wondered Rachel.
“Maybe something very long is in it,” said Bod.
The commander, still not listening, shouts to his crew, “I found no doors of the sort. Let’s turn it over.”
The commander gets off the thing and the three attempt to turn the box over, but fail due to its exceptional weight. The commander kicks the box in anger.
After the commander kicked the box, Bod noticed something that both the commander and even Rachel had not. The box moved in with the kick ever so slightly, so slight most would not notice, before moving outward to the original position it was in. Bod runs over to a nearby rock and picks it up.
“I have an idea,” Bod said, “Commander, Rachel, both of you push on the box.”
They both comply. Bod then runs the rock into the side with all his might. As before, it moves in, slightly more than before, but not a significant amount. Bod then asks his associates to go to a different side and they repeatedly do variations of where they are. They try the top, all the sides, they try multiple sides at once. Eventually the combination of two specific adjacent sides work. The four sides detach from the box and create a large thud on the ground. The top of the box is supported by four legs that remained standing. Inside the box, was a smaller box made of wood. The commander grabs for it. Before Bod and Rachel can tell him of the risks he would take by opening it, he opens it. Inside are six small objects that appear as and are the size of phones that must be flipped open or close. An ecstatic commander is fascinated by them.
“We’re taking these with us!” said the commander.
…
Having spent quite a while sitting patiently, at exactly two hours after arriving on the planet, the commander, Rachel, and Bod are beamed back aboard their ship. The commander, holding all these strange toys of his, held onto each and everyone of them.
The commander noticed that Kad had not been beamed up.
The commander presses a little green button on the control panel, “Kad, respond.”
There’s no response.
“Kad, respond!”
No response.
“The bracelet must not be closed,” said Bod, “Do you think he was attacked?”
“He took it off, but I don’t know why he wouldn’t have put it back on,” replied the commander.
“Thal wasn’t beamed up.”
The commander, realizing that, has a mix of emotions in his head and a slight eye widen on his face.
“I have to go down,” said the commander.
“Don’t you think whatever force attacked Thal and Kad would easily attack us?”
The commander looks at the devices they all recently obtained.
“I don’t know what these are, but maybe they are weapons or they’re valuable.”
The commander grabs a few extra bracelets and stands on the platform for teleportation.
“Commander, this is too reckless!” said Rachel.
“Send me down!” said the commander.
A large bang is heard from the side of the ship. The trio are slightly disoriented by this.
Bod goes into to the ship’s bridge. He specifically looks at a door being dented.
Bod looks to the ship computer and shouts, “Zen, what is going on out there?!”
“We are being attacked.”
“By what?”
“Unknown.”
“Zen, we need to fly away.”
“No!” said the commander, “What about Kad?”
“If this ship is destroyed, all of us including Kad are done for!”
“Alright,” said the commander, “I thought of a compromise. You and Rachel hide while I go to get Kad. Both of you arm yourselves.”
Rachel goes to the control panel to send down The Commander, but just before she can the Troopers break in. One Trooper points his gun at Rachel. Rachel stays still. She thins, if she runs, the people might shoot the control panel; if she stays, she’ll get shot. Bod and The Commander run to behind a nearby wall. The Commander pulls out a gun and fires at the Troopers, he hits one. Rachel takes the opportunity to run away, but in the opposite direction of The Commander and Bod.
The Commander runs to Bod.
“Commander, how many of those people are there?”
“I’m not sure, but one is down.”
The Commander runs out to hit a Trooper, but is struck in the arm by one of them.
Bod runs off as quietly as he can, but still not particularly quiet.
The Troopers pace their way through the ship, they look at the chair in front of a sea of screens, some at arms reach of the chairs, some farther away on the wall, the Troopers continue to stomp through.
The Commander, runs off in the opposite direction of where Bod went.
One Trooper turns to the other three Troopers. He says, “You two,” he points at two of the Troopers, “Go after the abled man.” The Trooper turns to the remaining Trooper. “Go after the Dame.”
The Trooper receives a message on his phone. Commander Leylan is trying to contact him, he answers.
“How are things going?” asked Commander Leylan.
“One of three are injured, zero dead on their side. One dead on our side. We have control of the situation,” The Trooper says in a neutral tone of voice.
…
Bod runs through many halls past bedrooms, a kitchen, a storage house, and other rooms to a safe in the wall. He puts in a code and it doesn’t work. Bod begins to sweat. He tries another code and it still doesn’t open the safe. He hears the Troopers approaching and says under his breath, “Sorry Commander, Rachel, Kad.”
Bod runs to a close by row of escape pods. He opens one up and the loud noise alerts two Troopers. The Troopers quickly make it to the row of escape pods. Bod jumps in and makes eye contact with one of the Troopers. Bod looks at the mask that covers the Trooper’s eyes. He tries to look in, but he can’t. The Trooper fires his gun and shoots Bod dead. He lays lifeless with his head and torso outside the pod, but with his legs in it.
…
Rachel runs into the bridge of the ship.
“Zen,” yelled Rachel, louder than she should, “If we all- Commander, Bod, Kad, and I die, tell whoever comes aboard to get the water on the planet and take it to the planet Aristo.”
Rachel tries her very hardest not to tear up, even though the only thing she’s with is a computer.
“Confirmed,” replied Zen in a cold, neutral voice.
Rachel runs off.
…
The Commander rests on the ground for a few minutes.
“I have to arm myself… with something powerful,” thought The Commander. He struggles to walk, but he makes himself. He limps away, with a trail of blood marking wherever he’s been.
The Commander goes and goes and goes to get a weapon. He’s confused as to why no Trooper has come by for him.
“Wait,” The Commander thought, “if they spotted Rachel, they could be trying to hunt her down.”
The Commander moves even faster until he reaches the safe where the guns are kept.
“Hmmm, it says here an attempt to open this was made recently.”
The Commander opens the safe and retrieves a gun. The gun appears as a little gray box attached to a black curly cord with a clear cylinder to top it off. The Commander tosses the original gun on the ground.
Before The Commander can close the safe, he hears a Trooper near him. He turns around, sees the Trooper, and fires at him. The Commander runs off. After extensive searching, The Commander sees Rachel. He walks to her.
“Rachel.”
She turns.
“Commander? You’re alive?!”
The two run for each other. Before they embrace fully, two Troopers appear. The Commander, seeing this, directs his gun at one of them and fires. One of the Troopers fall.
The Commander fires at the other Trooper, but misses. Both The Commander and Rachel jump to behind a wall. The Commander points his gun by the edge of the wall. The Trooper says, “You three won’t be harmed if you come with me. You are all alive.”
The Commander whispers something at Rachel. The two stand together for a few seconds. The Commander then turns out from behind the wall without a gun and his hands in the air. Though The Commander would not have known this, the Trooper smiles. The Trooper raises his gun. Rachel jumps from behind the wall and fires at the Trooper, killing him. The Commander and Rachel look at each other and smile. The two of them walk to the bridge and close the door that let in the Troopers in the first place. They next go to the transport room.
“Rachel,” The Commander says weakly, “can you get the water?”
“Yes.”
Rachel grabs a bracelet and steps on the transport pad.
The Commander climbs on the booth by the control panel.
“I’ll go look for Bod,” said The Commander about to get up.
“Are you sure I shouldn’t find him now?” Rachel says as she steps off the pad and walks to The Commander.
“Alright, then.”
The Commander stays put as Rachel runs off.
The Commander sits, thinking of all the adventures he’s had with his crew. While he’s usually made it through with his team, he has failed at times. He wonders if he’d be injured if old friends and companions had still been around.
“Dala, San, Calson,” The Commander said very quietly, “All gone.”
The Commander teared up once he thought about the dead bodies, the graves. He didn’t know if it was worse when the graves were empty or full.
Rachel returns from her search. The Commander looks at her.
“I’m sorry Rex, he’s dead.”
Rachel walks to hug The Commander, but a Trooper appears and fires at Rachel. The Commander looks at the door, it hasn’t been opened again. He takes his gun and fires at the Trooper. The Commander looks down at Rachel. He can’t bare to look at her body, so he looks away. Struggling with not crying, he plugs in some information on the control panel and goes to the teleport pad.
“Zen! Goodbye!” The Commander yells right before being sent down.
He’s beamed to Cygnus Beta.
“Kad!” The Commander yells.
The Commander sees where Kad and he had been working. He walks slowly, but the fastest he can do. Once at the top of a hill between where he landed and the spot he was at, he rolls down it. Everytime he moves he feels pain, but he doesn’t care. He almost stands up, but he realizes how easily that could get him shot. He sees the full container of water that he and Kad were working on. He turns and sees two dead bodies lying on the ground. While he knows the two are Thal and Kad, he doesn’t have the guts to look. He crawls to the container, he goes for it eagerly, but only so fast. When he’s almost there, he extends his hand to grab it. Before he quite makes it to the container, he is struck by a flying bullet and his arm falls to the ground.
Commander's 6
By S. B. Ely
rex
BOD
RACHEL
KAD
THAL
ZEN
FEDERATION TROOPER #1
FEDERATION TROOPER #2
FEDERATION TROOPER #3
FEDERATION TROOPER #4
FEDERATION TROOPER #5