HW Story by apocalypse77

Published on Kiith Iopia on date Unknown

Engineer First-Class Ronald Jimson looked out of the Observation window and smilied. The Taiidan Mothership, the Rebirth, was swarmed with smaller construction vessels finishing hull work. Smaller Corvettes and Fighters roamed into the mammoth bays of Rebirth. Larger Pulsar-class Frigates stood at station-keeping, waiting for the command to head into the black unknown.
Ron glanced down at his watch, wondering for the umpteenth time where his transport was. Well, he decided, I can't wait any longer, there's some final details I need to take care of on the Rebirth. Starting off in the general direction of the mass transports, he turned a corner and ran into a towering wall of muscle. Ron, being a tad bit smaller than the average Taiidan, collapsed to the deck. The horrified security man quickly helped Ron to his feet. After tossing off a quick salute, the man asked, "Engineer First-Class Ronald Jimson?".
"Yes", Ron barked off, a little perturbed, forgetting even to return the salute.
"Sir, I have been instructed to find you and take you aboard the Eminence. It's a large ship, larger than any of the frigates we have now. We recently...acquired it...from some pirates maruding the spacelanes around here."
"What!? Who's going to take care of the Rebirth!"
"Your Second-in-command, of course. The captain of the Eminence specifically requested you. He felt you would love the assignment, he reported that it was, 'A worthy rival for the Last Chance'. Sir?"
"No...it can't be...not him? The Last Chance was a small fighter-type vechicle I worked on, but it's been, I don't know, how many years since-"
"Sir, we really DO need to leave soon, if we are to make the fleet deadline."
"Uh, yeah, sure, lead on."
A thouroughly shaken Engineer followed the burly security officer to a section of the station Ron had never been to. The security officer, whose name Ron had still not gotten, led him into a small, two-person vehicle. The trip lasted almost an hour, but ended abruptly when a docking bay suddenly appeared around them.
"WAAAAAAA!!!", screamed Ron, "What the hell is that?!".
"The Eminince, sir, she has a stealth armor that protects her from any visual inspection and most electronic detection, when the armor is turned on, that is."
"Turned on?"
"Yessir, it only works when power is being run through it. We let it run because we didn't want anyone stumbling on our little secret."
The mischevious smile that crossed the securtiy man's face indicated that he either knew more than he was telling, which was more than a securtiy man should know, or he wasn't a security man at all. The startling realization crossed Ron's face in an instant, but he had it quickly, being a decent actor himself. He'd go ahead and ride this trip out to see what was going on.
The small two-man pod slid easily into a corner of the bay. A SMALL bay, Ron noticed, nothing compared to the massive bays of the Rebirth. They both climbed out and stepped into the nearest turbolift. The ride to the brigde was short and uneventful. There was a barely noticable appraising look on the face of the securtity officer, and something struck Ron as phoney about the security man, but nothing he could put his finger on. Ron couldn't really concentrate, that image from the past kept floating up, and his anxiety level was about as high as it could get.
They stepped out onto the bridge, to preform the customary action of asking the captain's permission to board. As the doors opened, there was a huge grin on most of the officers present, and one of them announced, "Captain on the Bridge!". Ron looked around, and saw no other lift doors opening, and he knew that HE wasn't captain, so he leaned over to ask the securtity officer something, but what he saw knocked him flat on his back.
The security man had removed most of his facial features, leaving new ones in their places. Ron was on the ground staring with an open mouth at the slightly deformed face looking down on him and laughing. "Y--Y--You!!! Bu--bu--but, but you're DEAD!"

Ron's mouth hung agape as he stared at someone he had not seen in years.
Ron stammered, "But--but--but you died, when-".
"Perhaps we'd better step into my office.", said the man, who had an enourmous grin on his face.
The pair slowly strode across the bridge, the huge smug captain and the small shaken engineer. As they approached the doors, Ron noticed that the captain had to stop and punch a button, strage, no automatic doors. They walked in to the surprisingly luxuriant office, the man offered Ron a chair and he took it.
"Nice office", Ron began neutrally.
"Thanks, the former captain had quite a taste for luxury." A sneer crossed his face, "It's all being recycled tomorrow."
"Well...", Ron shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Hmm, I guess you wanted to know what happened to me."
"It might be nice, yea."
"Well, you remember the Last Chance, right?"
"How could I forget?" The Last Chance was a two man fighter-type vehicle, atmosphere-only craft. This was shortly after infighting and civil war nearly rocked the planet to it's foundations. They were ambitious children, and had wanted to get away. They'd heard of one last peaceful city, one last bastion of hope. There was no chance of getting there on foot, the walk was too far, and it was through a battle zone besides. So they snuck into the military junkyard, stealing the parts they needed to get away. Using his father's military access codes, he found the patrol routes of the atmosphere fighters. There was one area where they could test their creation. In a small ceremony, they christened her the Last Chance. The day of the flight test came up. They flipped a coin to see who would go, Ron lost. So the Last Chance took off, and headed away. Ron was lost in his thoughts for a moment, but he was suddenly stirred by a small flash. The Last Chance plummeted out of the sky, heading well away from him and any rescue. The ship was quite aerodynamic, and was able to glide for quite a distance, and Ron had no chance of getting to it, not through the constant fighting. Ron wept for a long time, before collecting himself and returing home. The next day, a news broadcast was made that the ship had exploded several miles out, and that the pilot was not found, but presumed dead in the explosion. Shortly after, the fighting was ended when The Ship was discovered.
"Well, I imagine you saw the explosion."
Ron nodded.
"That was the port stabilizer, I told you it wasn't up to specs."
"Well, we didn't really have any choice in the matter."
"I know, I don't blame you. Well, I was able to postion the Chance in a stable flight mode, it was basically gliding. I planned to turn around and come back, but the flight module was damaged in the explosion, and she wouldn't respond. I had to glide straight on ahead, slowly losing altitude all the time. Then I realized somthing, how could the flight module be down, it's nowhere near the port side. I looked back to see most of the ship on fire. I waited and waited, but the ship never got close enough to the ground for me to safely jump. Eventually the fire chewed through the fuel pod, exploded, sent me out of the ship whether I liked it or not. I hit some bushes that had mud under them, so I was really hurt at all. Just covered in mud. Hehe. Well, the wreck was to hot to even approach, so I made my way to the nearest town. No food, but plently of water, I made it easily enough. I got really banged up inside the cockpit, so there was organic material all over, probably enough to give me up for dead. My face was in horrid condition, several lacerations, but nothing vital, mostly cosmetic. I had some plastic surgery to help correct it, joined the Aerospace Division, and did well, got transferred here as captian."
A thourougly rattled Ron suddenly asked, "Why'd you ask me here? why'd you pull me away from the Rebirth?"
"Well, like I said eariler, this ship was recently...acquired...from a pirate band that attacked us while we were mining the asteroids out past Choodaan. We only got her about a day ago, and she took quite a beating. The fleet launch was pushed back by three days for us to get this ship in working condition. First priority is accomplished, we established atmopheric integrity. Second priority is also accomplished, the armor is at full strength. Thrid is to get the hyperdrive working at full capactiy, fourth to get the mains working at full efficeny, and fifth is to get all weapon systems fully functional. If nessecary, we'll be a hulk alongside the Rebirth until we get the ship fixed. Any questions?"
"No sir."
"Well then, I suggest you get to your duties."
"Yessir. One last thing sir-"
"Don't call me sir."
"What?"
"We're old friends, if we're alone, don't call me sir."
"Very well, uh, Thrake," Ron smilied, "I request permission to come aboard...uh, what's the ship called?"
Thrake quirked a smile and said, "I christened her the First Dream yesterday."
Ron smilied, "What you wanted to name the Last Chance."
"Exactly, I'm the skipper here." Thrake grinned and saluted, "Persmission granted."
Ron spun smartly on his heel and left the captain's office. A Lieutenant guided him to his bunk. As he lay down to sleep, he thought, Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into.