 
Journey to the Stars

A Story By

Philip R Benge

Smashwords Edition

***************

Published by

Philip R Benge on Smashwords

Journey to the Stars

Copyright Philip R Benge 2018

Cover photo by Steve Jurvetson 2018

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author`s imagination and used fictitiously.

Contents

Chapter One: Alien Presence

Chapter Two: Jupiter

Chapter Three: Europa

Chapter Four: Ganymede

Chapter Five: Proxima Centauri

Chapter Six: In Search of the Argolians

Chapter Seven: Marguerite

About the Author

Other Books by the Author

Journey to the Stars

Chapter One

Alien Presence

It was the year 2084 and approaching the outer atmosphere of Earth was a small alien starship, the mission of the crew was twofold. Firstly, to report on the ability of the inhabitants to repel the raids that would soon be made by their brotherhood, making a detailed map of the military bases, their weapons, and their attack and defensive capabilities. Secondly, to make a detailed note of all items that would be of interest to the brotherhood, and their exact location, because they were raiders, space pirates and more.

The all-male crew comprised of; Captain August Tarsier, First Officer Roge Turk, Engineer Tulles Quadra, Helmsman Maric Baryon, and finally Communications officer Baric Tulsan, who doubled as the security officer. Accompanying the crew were two female scientists, a biologist, Nandi Marcia and who doubled as the medical orderly, and an anthropologist, Petra Nyman.

With their vessel operating in full chameleon stealth mode, one that made the starship almost impossible to detect, they felt secure, even though they were passing nearby to many of the planet`s satellites and space stations. Captain Tarsier looked at his crew, apart from Turk they were all new, his original crew having been injured on their last mission. These were drawn from all over the galaxy, and the only thing that they had in common was that they spoke English. As for the language spoken by Tarsier and Turk, the others did speak it, but in various dialects, all of which were foreign to him. Tarsier smiled, and as it was time to begin their mission, he called across to his helmsman.

"Baryon, take us in to a geostationary orbit, 25000 miles above the land mass known to the locals as Europe."

"Taking the ship in to a geostationary orbit above Europe, Captain, at a height of 25000 miles above the planet." Baryon replied as he manoeuvred the small starship in to the specified orbit.

As Baryon manoeuvred the ship, it shuddered and emitted a giant groan that momentarily paralysed the crew with fear, and then, from the rear of the starship, they heard and felt a terrific explosion. Momentarily startled by the explosion, Tarsier rose from his command chair and made for the door at the rear of the bridge. It was just as the starship pitched violently to starboard and a terrible whining noise came from the engineering department, it grew until it filled the bridge with a sound resembling the shriek of an Argolian banshee, one on heat. The starship shuddered again as the engine momentarily came back to life and sent the starship hurtling down through the planet`s outer atmosphere, before finally dying in one great, and final, scream of twisting metal. Tarsier normal calm face took on the look of a terrified man as he grabbed a hold of the main computer to stop himself from being flung across the bridge, shaken, but with his fear back under control, for he was no rookie astronaut experiencing his first encounter with danger. They were in trouble; however, they were not dead, yet, he turned to Turk at the moment that smoke began to come from the vents of the computer, the one that he had used to steady himself, this was followed by a loud bang. Tarsier pulled the computer from the wall and wrenched the power leads from it, to save it if possible for future use. Then feeling calmer he screamed above the growing noise.

"Turk, Quadra, you are with me, Baryon, do what you can to level the ship off."

"It`s no use Captain, we are losing too much height, and at too great a rate." Baryon cried out fearfully as anything electrical began to send out painful sparks at Baryon, to his credit he ignored them, for the most part.

Baryon though was scared, and he looked to his captain to tell him what to do. Tarsier looked at the altitude gauge on the helmsman`s console, and he saw that it showed that the ground was indeed coming up too fast for them to be able to repair whatever it was that had gone wrong with the starship`s engine. Ensuring that his rising fear did not show in his voice, he cried out above the terrible noise that now filled the bridge and made speech almost impossible.

"He`s right, everyone, strap yourself in, we are going in hard, there is not enough time to do anything about it except pray to the ancient gods."

Turk looked across at Marcia and smiled at her, he noticed that Quadra was smiling at Nyman, both men were attempting to bolster the spirits of the two women, both scientists and neither of them trained for this sort of emergency. However, both women merely smiled back, they knew that to panic would be to endanger the ship and the lives of those within it.

It was mid-winter upon the small Scottish island of Marduh, the witching hour had just past, and a fireball plunged towards it, across a storm filled ocean.

"Captain, we are not going to make it, we are going to crash in to the ocean!" Baryon cried out in distress.

**********

Miles from the plunging starship, and on the same frozen Scottish island, the inhabitants had been frightened by a massive explosion in the sky followed by a sound, that according to some of them, sounded as if something mechanical was screaming out in pain. Rushing from their house, after hastily donning coats and boots, and in to a snow-covered landscape, they looked up at the fireball approaching their small island. The wind was blowing the still falling snow from behind them, pushing them on, their eyes straining to make out anything other than the flames through the wall of white ahead of them.

**********

Back in his command chair, Tarsier slid a panel across that was inset in to his chair; his action exposed a keypad and a button.

"We must separate from the main section of the ship, we will never survive otherwise, everyone prepare yourself for whatever fate has in store for us." Tarsier screamed above the terrible noise.

He entered a six-number code in to the keypad and the button popped up.

"How far is it to the island ahead of us?" Tarsier screamed out.

"One-mile Captain," Baryon replied shakily. "but we will not make it."

"Separation now everyone." Tarsier said pressing the raised button and hearing the locks beneath the bridge operating.

The bridge area that made up the lifeboat shot upwards, away from the flaming starship, small powerful thrusters kept it up as its speed decreased. What remained of the starship plunged down towards the Atlantic Ocean, an ocean that raged below the rapidly slowing lifeboat that somehow glided onwards towards the island.

**********

On the island a group of frozen humans watched the unfolding drama.

"From the size of it, it must be a passenger jet, Doctor Prentiss." Margaret Matthews declared fearfully, and it was then that the main bulk of the starship hit the ocean. "My god they have crashed in to the ocean, they have all died!" She cried out as tears ran down her pale frozen face, watching as the flames were extinguished by the cold waters of the ocean.

Margaret was a young laboratory technician, one of two, the other being Alice Barnard who doubled as the group`s medical orderly, she was older and more capable of controlling her emotions, as she demonstrated now by going to Margaret`s side to comfort her.

"There is nothing that we can do." Doctor Donaldson cried out. "What with the phones being out, we may as well return to the house before we all catch pneumonia."

The recent snow falls on the island and the nearby mainland had cut their links to the mainland, thankfully, however, their generator was still working, so they had electricity.

"No everyone, listen, I can hear the sound of an engine of some sort, and it is coming this way." Margaret cried out quizzically.

How, she wondered, had anything managed to survive the explosions and the terrible twisting and tearing of metal to battle on? What she expected to see, even she did not know, however, it was certainly not an alien lifeboat from a crashed starship.

**********

Tarsier sighed with relief as they crossed the high cliffs on the Atlantic side of the island.

"Lower the landing legs Baryon." He ordered.

From beneath them they heard the legs slot in to place. Their speed practically down to zero, the only power left was in their vertical boosters.

"Take us down Baryon." He ordered.

Baryon adjusted the power feeding the boosters and the lifeboat slowly settled down until it was standing on its short stubby landing legs. All was quiet within the lifeboat, except the low hum coming from the small generator, outside, the storm raged across the island, heading straight for the lifeboat and covering it in cold snow. The surface temperature of the vessel had quickly dropped to that of the freezing storm, even inside the lifeboat the temperature was falling steadily.

"Turk, there are some natives running towards us, nine of them, we need to meet and greet them, unpack the Pacifier." Tarsier ordered and then added. "Turk, we will need to speak with these primitives first, before we use the Pacifier, we need to learn how many more of them there are on this frozen island." Tarsier ordered.

Turk, who was the first officer, walked swiftly across to the weapons locker, which was positioned between the inner bridge door and the airlock, which normally gave them access to the rest of their downed starship and in normal times was kept open. Tarsier turned to his engineer.

"Quadra, ensure that the chameleon stealth mode is left on for the moment."

"It will drain what little power is remaining in our batteries Captain." Quadra replied anxiously.

"I understand that Quadra, but for the moment we need to hide the ship from the natives, until we find out how many primitives live on this frozen island, and if they are armed or dangerous." Tarsier replied as he turned to the others.

"Listen up everyone, we must all go and meet the natives together, collect weapons from the weapons locker, and remember, the primitives are all said to be paranoid on this planet, and so they will be unpredictable and maybe dangerous."

"According to the scanners, it is very cold outside." Tulsan said looking down at his lightweight bridge clothing.

"We will only be outside for a few minutes Tulsan, there is a building just a few hundred feet way, the primitives probably live there." Tarsier replied testily while thinking that the younger generation were such wimps.

They left the ship by the airlock at the rear of the bridge, walking down the small metal steps that had unfolded automatically when they had touched down. Turk was carrying the Pacifier, a weapon that would make anyone subservient that had felt its energy beam touching them on the head, amenable, that is, to the will of the first person to speak to them and that person would be Tarsier.

**********

Doctor Prentiss walked quickly towards the approaching people, his team only a step behind him, the deep snow crunching under foot leaving foot prints that even now were being filled with fresh snow.

"Are any of you hurt, do you require medical attention?" Prentiss asked anxiously.

He could see seven people walking towards him, but because the chameleon stealth mode was still in operation, he could not see the aircraft that he had also been looking for. "We thought that we saw an aircraft crash in to the ocean, did your aircraft collide with it?"

"No, you are mistaken, there was no collision, however, our craft was badly damaged, fortunately we escaped without serious injury." Tarsier replied. "Tell me, can we contact the local police station?" He asked while bowing his head in an attempt to shield his eyes from the storm.

However, even this measure failed to stop the strong wind from hurling icy snowflakes in to his eyes. His English was perfect, although he spoke with an American accent, for they had all learned the language prior to leaving their home base, but Prentiss did not seem it worth the bother to ask if they were indeed Americans.

"I am afraid not, there isn`t one on the island, and the recent storm has knocked out communications with the mainland." Prentiss replied and then added. "Where are the other passengers, surely they are more survivors?"

Tarsier wondered why the primitive assumed that there were more of them, however, he replied.

"No, we are all there are, what about you, are you alone on this frozen island?"

"Yes, the original islanders gave up trying to make a living here and now they live on the mainland. It suits us though, the privacy, however, we are not normally cut off from the rest of the world, a small boat comes across once a week, weather permitting, or we can call the boatman, when the phones are working, and he will come over." Prentiss replied and then said quizzically. "The snow is so thick that I cannot even see your aircraft." He then added. "But you must be freezing with nothing but your uniforms on, quickly come to our house and we will light a fire."

Smiling acquiescence to Prentiss, Tarsier turned to Turk and said in their native language.

"Use it now, they are alone here."

Before the scientists could even begin to attempt to understand his words, Turk turned on the Pacifier and using a wide beam, he swung it across the scientists and the servants. A bright beam of icy cold light, accompanied by a low humming sound, initially lit up the heads of Doctors Prentiss and Donaldson. Seeing its eerie light, and fearing the worst, some of the others cried out in terror. Alice even managed to turn and attempt to escape, but within seconds they had all felt its cold, and very evil, touch. This icy cold feeling was followed by one of utter terror, just for a moment, but the terror quickly passed, and they stood there smiling, not even noticing the snowstorm that blasted against their frozen bodies.

Tarsier approached them and said.

"We landed by helicopter, be sure to tell anyone that asks that we landed after the storm had passed. You will see our craft when the storm is over, please ensure that you stay away from it, it is experimental. We are your new colleagues; we have come to work alongside you to give you the benefit of our recent work. Why don`t we return to the warmth of the house, then you can show us where we will be sleeping."

Tarsier turned to his engineer and said.

"Quadra, turn off the stealth mode, we will not need it until the storm passes, however, we will need to recharge the lifeboat`s batteries, see if you can fix something up tomorrow, if the storm has finished that is. Maybe you could move the lifeboat nearer to the house and tap in to their electricity supply."

Then Tarsier spoke to Tulsan.

"Tulsan, when Quadra can give you the necessary power, see if you can contact Marsoon, you should be able to boost the signal through the relay station on the moon Ganymede."

The relay station would indeed boost their signal and then send it through a series of such hidden stations to prevent an enemy, such as the Argolian navy, from locating the sender or the recipient.

Tulsan nodded acceptance of the order, shivered, and then complained in a loud voice.

"By Jalal's breath it is cold on this pathetic island, one that suits this pathetic world perfectly. Why did we have to crash here, why not on one of the slave worlds that would treat us as gods?"

No one heard him, they were all hurrying towards the building, the wind driven snow now slowing them and freezing the humans and the aliens, neither wearing suitable clothing for exposure to the night time temperatures of a severe Scottish snow storm. Finally, they were all inside the large manor house, upon which the house had been modelled, the servants left the others to make up beds within seven of the many empty spare bedrooms that were in the large house. The scientists and the aliens went in to the large front room, whereupon Prentiss and Donaldson set to work on making up a fire in the large fireplace, and they soon had a roaring fire.

With the room warming up, and after the initial introductions, the aliens having changed their ranks to that of doctor or mister depending on their expertise, Prentiss spoke to the new arrivals.

"I hope that you will enjoy your stay with us, just now the noise from the storm does seem very loud, even within the house, but you will soon get used to it. We were lucky getting our hands on this place Doctor Tarsier. The owner is the president and owner of our company, who as you must be aware of, is a billionaire and he bought the island as a hideaway, but the cold winters soon drove him and his family back to warmer climates. When our original laboratory burnt down following an accident, and that place was even colder than here, it being on an island even further north than this one, he offered us this place, which is ideal, what with the top-secret work that we are mostly involved in. It is quite comfortable really; we have a good cook who doubles as a housekeeper, a laundry maid and a cleaning maid, so we only need concentrate on our work."

When the housekeeper came to report that the rooms were ready for the new guests, everyone retired for the night, for alien and human alike were exhausted. The next morning Tarsier gathered his crew together and said.

"We may be marooned here on Earth; however, it is not all bad news. First off, our chameleon stealth mode prevented the authorities on this primitive world from noticing our descent, especially as it was made over the ocean and during a bad storm. Secondly, we have been lucky enough to land on a small island with a population of only nine, and six of them are scientists, we could not have asked for a better location, if our luck holds then we will enjoy our time here. I will ask Prentiss if his people can supply as with some warmer clothing, I will say that ours were all lost in the storm." Tarsier said grinning before continuing. "We should also bear in mind that our people may send another starship, it will be up to you Tulsan, to contact them when and if they do." He said to the communications officer before turning to the engineer.

"After breakfast Quadra, as the storm is over, you should be able to begin charging up the lifeboat`s batteries, who knows, we might still have need of its hardware. When you have done that, I need our computer closer to hand, it is already disconnected from the power supply, all you need to do is pull out a few leads. Bring it here, you can put it in the bedroom that I have been allocated, I will find a way to connect it to the house power supply."

Tarsier then turned to the others.

"This morning, we must visit the laboratories, to see what they are working on, then we can see how best we can help them, and better still, help our own situation on this grim planet. However, first let us all see what they mean by breakfast."

After enjoying a better meal than they expected, which consisted of a full Scottish breakfast, Tarsier spoke to Prentiss.

"Doctor Prentiss, we lost all of our things in the storm, the explosion, that you all undoubtably noticed, jettisoned our luggage pod and nearly did for us. Could you ask your people if they could spare us some warm winter clothing?"

"Of course, Doctor Tarsier, I will get on to it immediately." Prentiss said and then added. "Later, if you wish, we can place an order with Amazon, the firm`s comfort fund, as I like to call it, can pay for it, and now the weather has improved Amazon will be able to deliver your order on one of their larger drones." Prentiss suggested.

"Thank you Doctor that is most kind of you." Tarsier replied feeling grateful to someone for the first time in his life.

After they had all been given some warmer clothing, Quadra went to the lifeboat, moved it nearer to an electrical power point, and spent the rest of the morning converting the charger on it to allow him to connect to the 13amp, 240 volts wiring of the house.

The others, on arriving at the laboratories beneath the house, were allocated a laboratory to work in. Tarsier and Turk though, spent their first day talking to their 'primitive' colleagues about the work in which they were currently working on, and they were very interested when Prentiss took them through his own project.

"Doctor Metcalfe and I are currently working on a new type of scanner for Blazer Space, and NASA are providing some of the funding as they are partners with Blazer Space on this project. Their spaceship, the Jupiter Express, is due to leave Earth orbit in six months' time, on its ten-month journey to Jupiter. They are to investigate some unusual radio signals coming from the moon Ganymede." Prentiss explained. "As for us, we must complete the scanner within the next three months so that our new dish can be fitted to the exterior of the spaceship, and then connected to its console on the bridge of the spaceship. Both the dish and the console are now ready; we just have to complete writing the necessary software, which will be far in advance of any of its competitors."

This explanation had both staggered Tarsier and sent a pulse of excitement through his entire body, and he could only just manage to keep his feelings from showing.

"Doctor Tulsan and his assistant Mr Baryon will be delighted to assist you on your project Doctor Prentiss, to ensure that the completion of your project is not delayed." Tarsier offered. "They have spent quite some time researching scanners over the last year and will be able to ensure that you finish the task in plenty of time."

Prentiss immediately accepted the offer, due to his conditioning, and with the aliens help, the project was to move along at speed, along with some improvements in its technology which the aliens thought would impress the locals. Tarsier had offered his men because his sixth sense had gone in to overdrive on hearing about the spaceship and its intended destination. He questioned Prentiss further about the alien spaceship.

"The Jupiter Express spaceship, do you have any technical specifications on it, I would like to study it?"

"Yes of course Doctor Tarsier, apart from what Blazer Space has already given out to the media, we also have the drawings we needed to carry out the work we are doing on the scanners." Prentiss replied.

Prentiss then turned on a small computer; it was on one of the worktops and brought up the pages regarding the Jupiter Express. Tarsier was even more interested in the project when he read that it would have the latest nuclear-powered Ion drive, even if it seemed primitive to Tarsier. In addition to the main drive, the spaceship also had two liquid fuel rockets, there to help decelerate the craft when they neared Jupiter, and again as they neared Earth after completing their homeward leg of the journey. They would also be used if its Captain, Mark Blazer, felt it necessary to land the spaceship on Ganymede, the rockets would allow them to both land on the Jovian moon and to escape the moon`s gravity. On finishing the article, Tarsier took Turk and Quadra, Quadra had just returned to tell Tarsier that the lifeboat`s batteries were charging, in to the laboratory that they had been given and told them of his idea to highjack the Jupiter Express.

With the help of Nyman and Marcia, both of whom had enough skills to be of use to them on the project, Tarsier, Turk and Quadra began work on their own project, they had just two months to complete it. This would give Prentiss the time he would need to get Blazer Space and NASA interested enough to allow them to install it on the spaceship, giving the aliens access to the Jupiter Express. It would also give the aliens time enough to complete another project, one that would help them to return to their base on the large moon of Marsoon.

They did not spend all their time in this way, each of the aliens also trawled through the internet making a detailed note of many things. They noted everything to do with the military on each of the major countries, especially America, Russia, India and China; they also noted the advances made in all the branches of science. They made a note of the whereabouts of certain rare Earth minerals also of gold, platinum, mercury, chrome, silver, uranium and many other important minerals. They also noted down the mega warehouses that stored food or luxury goods, for raiders were always hungry and in need of comfort and entertainment, even if some of it was Retro. They preferred the out of town buildings rather than those in a built-up area, for it would be easier to raid these. In this way, they completed their original mission, even if they no longer possessed their starship and its superior technology.

Tulsan, being a young pirate, also had other interests, such as Margaret Matthews, interests that had nothing to do with work, but then she was in her early twenties; had long blond hair, was quite pretty, of medium height with an attractive figure. One day, when the sun chose to shine upon this Scottish island, he followed her to the high cliffs that looked out across the ocean, which was quiet for the moment.

"Margaret, you are very beautiful." Tulsan began when he had closed in on her, hemming her between him and cliff top.

"Thank you, Mr Tulsan, but I am not interested." She said brusquely for she thought the alien a bore and rather young. "Please leave me to enjoy the view by myself."

"Leave you Margaret; I have no intention of leaving you." Tulsan replied tersely. "It would be very rude of me to ignore one as lovely as you."

Tulsan grabbed the young woman and forced a kiss upon her lips, and fearing that Tulsan planned to go even further, she pushed him back and cried out in fear. However, help was at hand.

"Stop that Tulsan; we cannot afford your outside interests now." Tarsier said pulling the alien away who looked angrily at Tarsier.

Turning to Margaret, Tarsier looked in to her eyes and said.

"Nothing happened here, Tulsan merely stopped by to say hello, is that understood?"

"Yes Doctor, I understand." Margaret replied as her conditioning took over her brain.

"Taking Tulsan well away from Margaret, he spoke sternly to him.

"You`re a young fool Tulsan; you know that strong emotions will annul any amount of conditioning, that the pacifier will not work a second time on a subject." Tulsan shrunk under the look in Tarsier`s glaring eyes. "For the moment we need these scientists, however, they do not need any of their women being attacked by a testosterone powered young fool."

Tulsan could see that Tarsier was extremely angry with him, so he buried his own anger and merely nodded and apologised. Tarsier though considered himself a good captain, one who cared for his crew and so he added.

"Baric, I will have a word with the other human female, Alice, I have seen her looking at you, I am certain that if I suggested it to her, her conditioning would make her agree to take you as her lover."

Tulsan smiled as he thought of Alice and he thanked his captain and went away feeling much better, as for Tarsier, he now had the younger woman all to himself.

Tarsier now returned to Margaret and escorted her back to the house.

"Margaret, would you like to join me for a cup of tea, and a biscuit perhaps, I would be most interested in hearing about the time that you spent in America, you were at university there, if I am not mistaken."

Calmed down, her conditioning ensuring that she remembered nothing of Tulsan`s attempted assault upon her, she agreed, and they walked back to the house speaking about her time in America and of her return to the UK and her job on the island. Tarsier felt that after their disastrous space flight, things were about to take a turn for the better, in so many ways, for instance, he meant to bed Margaret later that night.

**********

Tarsier and Turk commenced work upon their first project, a powerful magnetic defence shield to protect spaceships and space stations against meteorites, both micrometeorites and ones up to five inches in size. It would also prevent solar radiation from entering the Jupiter Express on its long voyage out to the Jovian moon Ganymede. To aid them in their task they took the small defence shield out of the lifeboat, together with the low power scanners that were for use when the bridge was turned in to the lifeboat. Then taking them apart they drew up the necessary diagrams that would allow them to make a larger shield using the technology of Earth. Using their superior knowledge, and with the help of Doctor O`Reilly to convert the alien technology to that of Earth, they completed the project within the specified time. Tarsier then approached Doctor Prentiss, and after telling him about their successful project, he asked Prentiss to contact NASA, to request permission to give the defence shield its first test in space. Prentiss was only too happy to help, and after hearing about the defence shield, NASA felt the same way, as did Blazer Space. They both requested permission to visit the small Scottish island to view the defence shield, and to see it in operation, if only in the laboratory. Tarsier was feeling very pleased with himself, but he soon realised that with the coming arrival of more earthmen, he must dispose of the lifeboat.

"Tulsan, Baryon, leave whatever you are doing and strip anything of value to us from the lifeboat, and install it in your laboratory. When you have done that, send the lifeboat back out over the Atlantic Ocean, and when it is far enough out, sink it. We need to be rid of it before the scientists arrive from America."

Over the course of the day, the two aliens worked at their task, and they had soon completed it, for as the moon rose over a dark ocean, the lifeboat flew out over the ocean using its thrusters. However, the power within its batteries soon faded, and the lifeboat glided down to rest upon the surface of the ocean, with the airlock already open, the water flooded in and sank the craft. Not long after, the lifeboat settled on the ocean bed, far beneath the waves, someone, sometime, might find it, but by then the aliens thought they would be back on Marsoonia. With all evidence of their arrival gone, they gave their permission, and the scientists and executives of NASA and Blazer Space arrived the following week.

Prentiss and his team met them, for the aliens could hardly meet and greet their guests, being unknown to anyone except for those on the island. Later that same day they were introduced to them, as laboratory technicians. On seeing the defence shield work in the laboratory, both NASA and Blazer Space were more than just interested, NASA agreed to test out the device on the American space station, this was the same station where Blazer Space were just finishing the fitting out of the Jupiter Express spaceship.

The aliens were overjoyed that their plans were going so well, they would soon be heading home. Blazer Space sent a shuttle down to the island to collect the first of the defence shields, happy to provide the transport for such an important piece of innovative hardware.

The shuttles of 2084 were the latest in the technology of Earth, however, they were crude things in comparison with the shuttles shown on Startrek. They were powered by two totally different propulsion systems. While the craft was in the atmosphere, it used a Teslar engine, powered by its solar panels, which covered its entire surface. When it increased its speed to escape the gravity of a planet, or moon, it used a nuclear-powered engine, its heavy shielding making both propulsion systems work hard. There was a small environmental system in the middle section of the shuttle and forward of that there was a small cabin, one that could be used for transporting people or goods, or a mixture of both. Finally, the shuttle had swing wings, they were used for flights within the Earth`s atmosphere, however, they were swept back when the speed exceeded MK1 or in space where they were of no use at all.

There were a few extra items on board the shuttle, added by the aliens, about which they had told no one. Prentiss accompanied the hardware, as did the aliens who were to install the defence shield. For the next month they worked hard on the space station, installing their defence shield, and after testing the shield in space, they found that it worked perfectly. With this successful testing of the defence shield on the space station, NASA and Blazer Space agreed to purchase more of this ground-breaking technology, for even the most junior amongst them could see that it would herald in the next step in space travel.

The second defence shield was already built and ready for installation, so Blazer Space arranged for a shuttle to transfer it up to the space station. The aliens, with Prentiss, now began to install the defence shield on the Jupiter Express, with Mark Blazer insisting that he and his crew help in the installation, so as to become fully conversant with it, should it develop a fault. While aboard the spaceship, the aliens also left, secreted within the craft, the necessary components needed to boost the speed of the craft so that it will not take ten months to get them to Ganymede, where their people had an automated relay station.

It was the day before the spaceship was due to leave on its mission, and the aliens were still on the space station, for they were helping the crew of the station to improve life aboard it by installing another device taken from the lifeboat. Later that night, as the station went in to party mode, celebrating the beginning of the mission, the aliens made their way to the Jupiter Express, and as by now they were trusted, no one stopped them. Arriving at the Jupiter Express airlock, they soon found out that there was no member of the crew on board the spaceship, so they went down to hold number two, and entering the four-number code into the keypad on the wall beside the door, entered. They had been given the code while they had worked at installing the defence shield, otherwise it would have delayed the installation of a now necessary piece of hardware. Some of the boxes that made up the stores had not been sent by Blazer Space, these boxes contained the items that the aliens had secretly brought aboard to aid them after they had hijacked the spaceship. They had also taken the Pacifier with them and they aimed to use the weapon on the crew, after the mission was underway. The boxes that contained their equipment were stacked at the rear of the hold, and it was behind these boxes that they concealed themselves, just in case a member of the crew came to collect something within the hold, for the next twelve hours they had to be invisible.

Chapter Two

Jupiter

The time to depart on their mission had arrived, Mark Blazer backed the Jupiter Express away from the space station, using his thrusters only at minimum power until he was far enough away from it, then he used his lateral thrusters to position the spaceship in to the correct position. With all the systems showing that they were all working correctly, he fired up the Ion drive and set course for Jupiter, everything was going fine. His fellow crewmembers were Peter Townsend, the engineer, Jean Warrior, the science officer, and Rob Masters the communications officer/ electrical officer.

The Jupiter Express was one of the newer breed of spaceship, for the constant acceleration of the Ion drive gave the Jupiter Express artificial gravity, which amongst other things was healthier for the crew. The problems inherent with weightlessness had long been known, affecting blood, the heart, body fluids, the muscles, and the reduced ability to exercise. Of course, until the spaceship was accelerating, the crew still needed their magnetic boots to move around the ship. In addition, because of the size of the Jupiter Express, or to be correct its mass, their acceleration did not approach the gravity on Earth, which is 1G. Therefore, they wore weighted boots and weighted vests during the voyage, this helped to reduce muscle loss and reduced bone mass. To travel at 1G would require either a craft with less mass, or a more powerful engine, never mind Einstein`s theory regarding time dilation. Even so, they were able to move around the ship quite comfortably.

They were one hour away from Earth when Jean declared that she needed a cold drink of water to wet her very dry throat. She walked back in to the small galley area and opened a storage unit and it was at this moment that the aliens chose to make their move.

Tarsier led his crew quietly forward towards the small bridge of the spaceship, through the galley area, with Jean hidden by the open door of the storage unit.

"Mark, we are travelling slower than predicted." Peter Townsend, the ship`s engineer said quizzically. "Not by much, but we are not moving at the estimated speed."

"Could you have made a mistake on your original estimate, input an incorrect weight?" Mark replied quizzically.

"No, Mark, I double checked everything personally, we should be moving faster than this."

It was at this moment that Tarsier spoke.

"No Captain, our extra weight is slowing your craft down, especially when you also include the extra items that we had shipped to your spaceship, covertly of course."

Four pairs of eyes looked up startled, and they each saw the strange weapons held by the aliens, and all pointed at the three crewmembers on the bridge. However, only Jean saw the Pacifier that Turk was holding, and who was at the rear of the alien group, and something about its looks made her shiver. The aliens then moved to one side revealing Turk with his weapon, it resembled a Hollywood ray gun, which in a way it was. He raised the Pacifier and switched it on; a low humming sound began to emanate from it. Two things happened next, first Tarsier realised that there were only three humans on the bridge, and secondly Mark began to protest when he realised that the aliens were about to use the strange large weapon on them.

"Hey, wait a moment, there is no need..."

Mark never finished the sentence because Jean had moved up behind Turk, and she was holding a fire extinguisher in her hands. She meant to brain the alien, however, at the same moment Turk also noticed that one of the humans was missing, and it was as he turned his head to look for her that she brought the heavy fire extinguisher down. It missed its target, as Turk took a step backwards on to the bridge on seeing her, but it hit the Pacifier, sending it crashing to floor with electrical sparks coming from every inch of it. The impetus of her attack, and the weight of the extinguisher meant that she ended her swing crouched over the Pacifier. It lay there on the floor before her, and something made her continue to attack the weapon, that is until Turk grabbed a hold of her and stopped her, but it was too late, the Pacifier was pacified for good.

The other members of the crew rushed at the hijackers; however, they were outnumbered and out gunned. Mark was grappling with Tarsier when Tarsier`s energy weapon fired, hitting the radio and destroying it in a shower of sparks amid a small fire that broke out threatening worse to come.

Tulsan and Baryon had the other members of the crew covered, leaving Quadra free to assist his captain, who on breaking free from Mark cried out.

"Stop right there Captain, or you and your crew will all die." Tarsier warned as he struggled to contain his own anger on seeing such a valuable weapon as the Pacifier smashed in to pieces and the radio destroyed.

"I thought that was what Doctor Turk intended." Mark cried out angrily but sitting back down on his chair and indicating that the others should stop resisting.

However, Peter, ignoring the aliens, first took care of the fire that was beginning to threaten the safety of the ship. Feeling that the situation was secure now, Tarsier replied.

"No captain, the Pacifier would only have made you amenable to following my orders; instead you will have to be confined within your ship`s number two hold, after you have made some space in there, to accommodate you all."

"Amenable, so that is why Doctor Prentiss and his team always looked to you whenever they were asked a question relating to the defence shield."

"Well it is of our world`s design." Tarsier replied tersely.

"Your world Doctor Tarsier?" Mark replied quizzically.

"Yes Captain, we are astronauts too, but from another world, however, our ship developed engine trouble and we crashed on your backward planet. We believed that we were, marooned, with no way home."

"Marooned until you heard about the Jupiter Express and its Ion drive." Mark declared angrily. "Then our technology was not considered too primitive."

"Enough of this small talk Captain, we need to make some improvements to your primitive Ion drive." Tarsier spat out angrily. "It will increase your speed so that we do not have to spend almost a year getting to the nearest communications station set up by our people."

Tarsier, who prided himself on being a calm civilised individual, finally got control of his anger and said in a much more civilised manner.

"Everyone will now put on their magnetic boots, because Captain, I am about to order you to turn off the Ion drive."

"They are all in our cabins Captain." Mark replied.

Tarsier now had his two scientists collect the crew`s magnetic boots, the aliens had left their own just outside of the bridge. When they finally had put them on Tarsier said.

"Please turn off your Ion drive now so that we can upgrade the drive."

Mark knew that they were helpless before the seven weapons aimed at them, and so he turned about and switched off their Ion drive.

"As I said earlier Captain, you and your crew are to be confined within the hold, so all of you will please move towards the elevator, and be careful, if we have to use our weapons upon you, we will, and at full power."

Mark stood up, and with his crew, slowly walked off the bridge in their magnetic boots, carrying their weighted boots. Once they had arrived at the elevator, Tarsier had them travel down separately, with two of his team to guard each one. When each group of three arrived at the floor that was hold number two, the elevator door would open on to a small landing. Here there was another door, a crash door in case of damage to the ship`s hull, and the first group had to open this by entering in to a keypad a four-number code, normally known only by authorised personnel, but on the Jupiter Express it was known by all the crew. Jean and Tarsier came down last, and with all of them standing within the hold, Tarsier gave them another order.

"You will need room to sleep, and to move around, so you will move the store of food in to the elevator Captain, it will be moved down to environmental." Adding. "At once please." When his prisoners did not instantly obey his order."

With the food in environmental, the crew of the Jupiter Express were finally finished working, and despondently, they sank down on to the remaining boxes within the hold. Tarsier then closed the crash door of the hold and changed the four-number code that locked the door, ensuring that his prisoners would only leave the room when he allowed it.

**********

The Blazer Space team were temporarily based in Houston, Texas, and were working in the NASA Johnson Space Centre building for this mission, and they were looking worried, for the Jupiter Express was not performing as expected. As the technicians on Earth attempted to find out why, they were alarmed to see that the crew of the spaceship had turned off the Ion drive.

"What the hell are they doing up there?" The mission controller said quizzically. "Joe, contact Captain Blazer and see if anything is all right." The mission controller ordered.

However, they could not contact the Jupiter Express, which made them even more anxious, what they wondered, was happening aboard the spaceship.

While on the space station, they were busy searching for the missing team from the Scottish island of Marduh, and after realising that they were not there, they began to wonder how they could have left without anyone noticing, and in what craft.

**********

The aliens had finished upgrading the Ion drive, which was now able to work beyond its initial design specification. The aliens had then returned to the bridge of the Jupiter Express, taking the computer of their starship with them. However, during their wild descent through the atmosphere of Earth, the computer had been damaged, and a large amount of data had been lost, even so, it would provide much needed help over the course of their journey to Ganymede. The pirates quickly mastered the controls of the Jupiter Express and turned the Ion drive back on, applauding one another for their audacious hijacking as they felt the ship surge forward. Their next stop would be Ganymede where they could call home for assistance. Their mission had been a success even if they had lost their ship, they even had four valuable prisoners.

**********

Back on Earth, the scientists of NASA and Blazer Space were further puzzled when three hours after the Jupiter Express had stopped accelerating, it suddenly leapt forward, and it was moving at a much greater speed than was possible for its Ion drive. At the rate it was accelerating, it would arrive at Jupiter in less than three months, rather than the planned ten months. On top of that, they still could not regain contact with the crew.

**********

As they congratulated themselves, and with artificial gravity restored, and the spaceship moving at a much-increased rate of acceleration, Tarsier realised that he was hungry. Realising that his prisoners would also be requiring a meal he thought about who he should detail to feed them. He finally decided that he was not about to use his crew to feed his prisoners, such a task was beneath them, and after thinking further about the matter, he came to a decision. Taking Turk and Tulsan with him he went down to the ship`s number two hold, which was now more of a prison cell than providing valuable storage space. The crew were talking about the sudden increase in the gravity; they were interrupted by Tarsier opening the door. Looking inside, Tarsier spoke to Jean Warrior.

"You will come with us; you will prepare a snack for the seven of us and then for yourselves."

"I am not your maid servant, I am happy to prepare our food this time, but you will have to make your own meals." Jean replied angrily.

"If you want to eat then you will do as I say, otherwise you and your comrades can starve, do I make myself clear?" Tarsier replied in kind.

Knowing that she had no choice other than to agree, Jean stood up and walked out of the hold, the door being locked behind her by Tarsier, who ensured that she did not see the new code that he entered. This was to happen three times a day for the remainder of their captivity, Jean being the only person allowed to leave the room, except for such times as the crew needed to use the toilet facilities. The reason that Tarsier had chosen her was that the aliens believed that she would not be strong enough to cause them any trouble, or bright enough to fool them, sexism strikes again.

Mark could do nothing but fume, as he did not know the new code number, but he was determined that he and his crew would be free before too long. One thing was for certain, he could not try different permutations on the keypad within the hold, put there on the insistence of health & safety, until he got the correct one, for the ship`s computer would alert Tarsier after three such wrong attempts, and there was no knowing what he might do by way of punishment. As time slowly past, Mark worried about Jean, and so using the ship`s intercom system, he called Tarsier.

"Captain, we are getting rather hungry, how about releasing us to help Jean prepare the food?

Tarsier looked angrily in the direction of the ship`s intercom and bit back an angry reply, he wanted to keep the air of superiority that he showed when dealing with the primitives, not allow them to see that they could rile him. Instead, he went in search of Jean, who was in the galley preparing the evening meal, to see if she had finished preparing the meals for everyone.

"Come to check up on me Captain, well as you can see, I have finished preparing the meals, so will you please release Captain Blazer and my crew, to allow them to eat here in the ship`s galley." Jean declared boldly.

"No, you will have all of your meals in the hold, take your meals and return to your prison cell." Tarsier replied tersely.

Turning to Turk and Tulsan he had them escort her to the hold carrying two of the meals, she had to return to the galley twice more, once to collect the other two meals and again for their hot drinks. As she entered the ship`s hold for the last time, Tarsier walked in to check on them, and seeing him, Mark looked at Tarsier and asked.

"So just where are we heading Captain and what do you intend for us?"

Tarsier looked at him and said.

"You will not be harmed Captain, as long as you do not attempt to take back your ship. As for where we are heading Captain, why Jupiter of course, where else for a ship named the Jupiter Express."

Tarsier then closed the door to the hold and locked it. Fuming silently inside, Mark did not know whether the alien captain was joking or not, he supposed he would just have to wait and see.

**********

Mark and his crew spent their first night within the ship`s hold, and once again they were talking about the extra gravity, but the talk finally centred on ways in which they might escape from the ship`s hold.

"I had hoped to get in to the medical room, to make use of the drugs that we brought along, however, there is always at least one of them watching me." Jean said glumly. "Maybe later they will become bored by the whole thing and then I will be able to slip down to it and add some sleeping tablets to their drinks." Jean said and the thought did cheer her, for a moment.

"Just be careful Jean, I don`t think that they value our lives, one mistake could see you killed." Mark warned. "Other than that, the only chance that we have to overpower them is in the early hours of the morning, at that time they must operate some sort of shift. However, if we are to overpower them then we need to be out of the hold." Mark said. "Rob, is there any way to short circuit the lock from inside?"

Rob thought for a moment before replying.

"Now obviously I haven`t thought about it before, but I will need a screwdriver of some sort if I am to attempt a jail break, I need one to pry open the keypad, but I don`t see why we couldn`t do it. However, it will send an alert to the bridge, so it will need to be a time when the bridge has been left unoccupied."

"So again, during the night shift, and we would have to succeed, or lord knows what sort of punishment Tarsier would think up." Mark said. "The only other way for us to get out of here is for one of us to see them entering in the new code. There are two ways to obtain it, firstly when we return here after using the bathroom, and secondly, if Jean can get it when she brings us our meals. Inputting the correct code in to the keypad would mean that the bridge would not be notified by the ship`s computer of our escape."

"There must be another way for us to take back the ship Mark, other than sitting in here hoping that one of us might get lucky, that way relies more on the aliens getting sloppy." Peter Townsend complained.

"Well Peter, we have the time to come up with one, how much I could not say as Tarsier mentioned that he was going to make some improvements to our Ion drive, which by the feel of the increase in gravity he has succeeded in doing. However, if he was telling the truth about Jupiter being his destination, then we must have five months at least." Mark replied. "Surely, they cannot improve the drive to go any faster than that, can they Peter?"

"Their people possess a Stardrive, Mark, so who can say." Peter Townsend replied.

The next morning, while Jean was busy preparing the meals for everyone on board the Jupiter Express, Tulsan, decided to make a play for her. He walked up behind her, placed his hands on her shoulders, and said in a quiet voice so that his comrades would not hear.

"You are much better than this Jean; if you were nice to me I could get the captain to order one of your comrades to prepare the meals while you sleep in a comfy bed with me to keep you warm."

"I would rather mate with a slug than you Tulsan, and if you do not take your hands off me I will hurt you badly." Jean replied angrily.

Turning her around to face him, and placing his hands on her waist, he said.

"Jean, your future with me would be a lot better than without me, trust me."

It was at this point that Jean decided that actions would be more understood than mere words, for Jean was an expert in judo, and moments later Tulsan hit the floor hard. His back took the brunt of the energy expended, and he swore loudly, and was about to stand up when Jean placed her foot against his crutch.

"Do I make myself clear Tulsan, or would you like me to elaborate?"

Looking up at her, he saw anger and determination; he also saw her boot, which she was beginning to press down.

"All right, I will be a good boy, sorry if I made you angry but I thought that you felt as I do, lonely on this long trip." He said apologetically, smiling, before his attention was drawn back to her foot.

Jean stepped back, but ready to restart the fight, however, there it was left, with Tulsan returning to the bridge and Jean to her breakfasts and yet another boring day.

As the weeks passed by, with their escape being no nearer to happening, tempers were beginning to get a little frayed inside of the hold. One morning, and in just that sort of atmosphere, Jean was mad, mad at her friends, mad at the aliens, and most of all mad at being taken up to the galley to prepare breakfast. On the bridge the aliens were talking, and with the galley being attached to the bridge, Jean heard every word.

"From our study of their defences, our raiding craft, such as the Xavier, would have no problem in landing unseen and then taking whatever goods we desired. Their planetary defences are minimal, with our chameleon stealth mode in operation they would have difficulty in seeing us, never mind detecting us on their radar." Tarsier said.

Jean could understand every word that they said as the aliens were talking in English, as they had no common mother tongue that they could all understand.

"They are nothing more than pirates; they will come to Earth to steal, not to meet us as friends." Jean fumed, mad to hear an advanced race utter such words.

"A starship as large as the Xavier could also accommodate a number of slaves; they would fetch a good price at the market, especially from the mine owners. There are some superb specimens within the continent of Africa, and the defences there are non-existent." Turk replied.

The Xavier, unknown to Jean was as large as a super tanker; however, from the conversation she assumed rightly that the spaceship must be large.

"My god they are slave traders as well, but why would an advanced people still use such barbaric measures." Jean said quizzically and still talking to herself.

Just then she heard movement, someone was coming her way, she quickly returned to her work, and just in time, for Quadra walked past her on his way to the elevator.

Later that morning, while they ate their breakfast, she told the others what she had heard, which made Mark feel even more desperate to turn the tables on the aliens.

"We really need to retake the ship, god knows what they really have planned for us, slavery at the very least, first squeezing out of us everything that we know about the defences of Earth and then selling us for life down in their mines." Mark declared grimly. "Jean, you are our best bet on getting the new code number, I am sorry to ask this of you, but you will have to take the risk of being caught. It is that or slavery and an early death"

"It is all right Mark, I will try tomorrow morning, if I am quick and quiet, and if the fates are with us, I will serve you the numbers with your breakfast." Jean replied.

Moreover, having agreed to do it, Jean found that she felt better, even her fears for the future seemed lighter. The next morning, and feeling anxious, Jean was led up to the galley, and for the first thirty minutes, Jean could do nothing but prepare breakfast for both crews. It was while she was busy that Tulsan and Baryon commenced bathroom duty, something that they had been landed with ever since the aliens had taken control of the ship. The two alien scientists walked passed Jean, entering the elevator, and they went down to environmental, Quadra was in engineering and Tarsier and Turk had just entered the bridge. Jean decided that the time had arrived, what would the near future bring, freedom or the risk of being discovered snooping. She took of her boots and slid down the emergency ladder, which was alongside the elevator, to watch as Tulsan entered the four-number code in to the keypad. With the code memorised, she climbed silently back up, arriving seconds before Tarsier returned to check on her progress.

"Nearly finished Captain, you can take your breakfast if you want?" Jean said politely.

Tarsier smiled and taking his plate sat down at the small table in the galley to eat his meal while Jean toiled on. Excitement bubbled away within her as she strove to hide it, finally she was back in the hold, and looking at Mark, she said.

"2491"

That is all she said but it was enough to raise the spirits of her comrades to the heavens, it even made the breakfast taste better.

"Well done Jean, early tomorrow morning we take back our ship, but for today we must act as before, angry, sullen and bored." Mark said with a smile appearing on his face for a quick moment, then he pushed it away, until tomorrow.

Then the aliens could see how it felt to be a prisoner, to know that they would never get to see their home planet again. Mark thought about the improvements that the aliens had made to his ship, improvements that would now benefit Earth. He closed his eyes and thought over his plan of campaign, one hour later and he fell asleep, and dreamed of Earth.

**********

None of them could sleep that night; they were too tightly wound up. Looking constantly at their watches to see if time had moved on, or as before, stalled. However, even time must eventually pass, and as the witching hour came and went, and as yet another hour passed by, Mark decided that the time had come to take their ship back from the alien slavers.

Only Tarsier and Baryon were on the bridge for their two-hour watch, both were bored and so tired, wishing that they too were in their cabins asleep, as were the others, Baryon even closed his eyes for a moment, until Tarsier kicked him, hard.

Mark had decided to take out the sleeping aliens first, climbing the ladder up to the accommodation level. They first visited the medical room and collected a hypodermic syringe and a fast-acting anaesthetic. Loading the syringe, they entered in to each of the cabins, the doors of which were all unlocked, and injected each of the sleeping aliens. The two scientists shared one cabin, Tarsier had one to himself, Tulsan and Baryon shared another, and Quadra and Turk were in the last cabin. Having put five of the aliens to sleep, they tied them up and finally gagged them. With the aliens` weapons grasped firmly in their hands, they felt that their task was nearly over, they could not fail now and Mark was determined that they would succeed.

With only the two aliens on the bridge left to take care of, the four humans, now armed, moved silently towards the bridge, their every sense searching ahead of them for Tarsier or Baryon. However, fate decided to make life interesting for the Earthlings. Tarsier was in the galley preparing a coffee for himself, Baryon deciding that it would keep him awake after his watch ended in thirty minutes, had refused his captain`s offer, when he saw Mark and his crew. His energy weapon was on the console in front of the science officer`s chair, so far away, his mind worked faster than light, after the primitives had walked on to the bridge he rushed to the elevator, got in and headed down to engineering.

Baryon looked around and saw three energy weapons aimed at him, and so he slowly climbed out of the pilot`s seat and put his hands up in a sign of surrender.

Mark had seen Tarsier just as the elevator door closed, he slid down the ladder in pursuit of the alien slaver, and they entered engineering just seconds apart, but it was enough time for Tarsier to smash a vital part of the upgrade unit that he had added to the Ion drive. Looking at Mark with an energy weapon aimed at his heart, he smiled and raised his hands in surrender. Mark`s spirits fell along with the drop-in gravity, for the ship was now back down to its normal rate of acceleration.

Chapter Three

Europa

On resuming control of his spaceship, Mark noted the additional computer on his bridge; however, he had to control his urge to check it out, to look at its contents. Instead, he used the Navigational computer to determine their exact position, and on getting the co-ordinates, he refused to believe them. For he and his crew had not realised how fast they had been travelling, they believed that they must still have been within the orbit of Mars. Mark turned on the forward view screen and saw a galaxy of stars ahead of them, however, as he panned the camera around, they saw before them the planet Jupiter; somehow, they had arrived there in just three months. Tarsier, who had been brought to the bridge before being incarcerated with the other aliens, in hold number one, laughed at the surprised look upon Mark`s face.

"You may have taken your spaceship back Captain, but with the improvements to your Ion drive destroyed, your engine will take you ten months to return to Earth, so you see Captain, you will have to surrender control back to us. For even if you threw us out of the airlock, you would still not have enough air, water or food to return to Earth." Tarsier declared tersely. "However, if you will allow me to go down to the surface of Ganymede and use the relay station installed by my people, when my rescue ship arrives, I promise that you will be given enough of these essentials to see you safely back to Earth."

"Your upgrade was certainly something special Captain; I would never have guessed you could upgrade our Ion drive to allow it to accelerate at such a rate. I did not even notice the ship turning around when you used the Ion drive to slow our speed down so that we could go into orbit around Jupiter." Mark said.

"No, the change was made early in the morning Captain Blazer, when you were all asleep. Now are you going to free us?"

"I will have to discuss the situation with my crew Captain, in the meantime, you will be returned to number one hold." Mark said sullenly, his feeling of excitement quickly draining away.

With Tarsier back in their improvised prison, the crew of the Jupiter Express talked over their options.

"One thing is for sure, we cannot trust Tarsier to keep his word, he is a pirate, a slaver, he would promise the world if need be, but he would never let us return to Earth once he was back in command." Jean declared.

Mark smiled and said.

"In any case, Tarsier is not telling us the truth, if you look at these figures that I have drawn up, you will see that I have come up with some interesting numbers. Now we originally estimated that the round trip, including the investigation, would take 24 months, and with a crew of four that meant carrying 96 supply units, that is 24 x 4 people while a unit is the amount of air, food and water consumed. As far as fuel is concerned we have more than enough, especially since we have only taken three months to reach Jupiter." He broke off here to take a drink of water, but then he continued.

"So far, we have used 33 units, which is 3 x 11 people, leaving us with 63 units. For the homeward trip, assuming we take the aliens back with us, we will use 110 units. That is 10 x 11 people. Leaving us with a shortfall of 47 units." He said looking at each of his crew to ensure that they were all with him.

"Alternatively, without the aliens the four of us will consume 40 units giving us a useful buffer of 23 units. Therefore, it provides us with a moral dilemma, the death of the aliens. However, we can improve on these figures. We can mine the ice on the Jovian moon Europa, eat half rations and cut down on the daily exercise regime that had originally been part of our planned keep fit regime. This would reduce the amount of oxygen used by our bodies and make reaching Earth possible without the need to kill at least two of the aliens."

"If we mine the ice on Europa, Mark, we do not need to decide our next step until later, when the situation will either be clarified, or even changed in a way presently unknown to us." Peter replied.

"Agreed, then we head for the moon Europa, land there and mine the ice." Mark decided.

The crew accepted Mark`s argument and prepared to use the Ion drive, together with the liquid fuel rockets to move them away from their orbit around Jupiter. Soon they were heading towards the moon Europa, that was just about to pass close by to their position and they were soon orbiting the moon.

Mark took their spaceship down to the surface of Europa, using the powerful thrusters that were installed originally so that the crew could search for the source of the radio transmissions, they would not have to do this now. The ship stood upon its large fins, looking remarkable like the rockets ships depicted by Hollywood in the middle of the previous century.

Before they could start mining the ice, they had to complete their first bathroom duty, however, it was now the aliens who had to be taken to the bathroom, each being allowed just three such visits per day, Mark having to use three of his crew, one to operate the keypad and two to guard each alien. This was costly in man-hours, but he could not afford even one alien to escape as they could easily get the upper hand. Mark had no doubts as to their own life expectancy if that did happen, they would be shot out of hand and the Jupiter Express turned about and headed over to Ganymede.

With the bathroom duty attended to, their next task was to mine the ice. From the environmental deck, Jean unlocked the replenishment hose and allowed it to drop slowly down to the surface. Mark and Rob were down on the planetary landing level of the spaceship, situated between Engineering and Environmental. It had the second airlock in the tall spaceship, and it allowed the crew to climb down to the surface. They donned their lightweight space suits and then opened the inner door to the airlock. Closing it behind them, they emptied the airlock of their precious air and finally opened the exterior door of the airlock. Mark then pressed a button that released the ladder. A metal landing slid out from just below the airlock, then the ladder and its safety cage, to prevent an accident, moved out from the hull of the spaceship. Finally, the last stage of the ladder slid down past the large engine cowl of the spaceship to the planet`s surface, they were ready to leave the spaceship.

Mark and Rob were working the first shift, and they climbed down the tall ladder and on stepping off the last rung of the ladder, they enjoyed a moment, for they were the first humans to set foot upon a Jovian moon. However, they cut the moment short, for there was work to do, they walked fifty feet away from the Jupiter Express and then used the alien`s energy weapons to break up some of the icy surface of Europa in to small pieces. Carrying the broken pieces, which in the low gravity of the Jovian moon did not weigh anywhere near as much as they would have done on Earth, back to the spaceship in empty food containers. They then moved the end of large diameter vacuum hose over it. The broken ice was sucked up the hose, and during its journey hot steam was sprayed on it to partially melt it and turn the ice in to even smaller pieces. It was finally deposited into the near empty water tanks that lined the inner hull of the spaceship. After hours of gruelling labour, in which the other two members of the crew took their turn, both the water tanks and the oxygen tanks were filled to their maximum capacity.

It was as Peter and Jean stood on the ice that they saw a light in the sky, moving slowly against the background of stars.

"Could that light be coming from the Xavier?" Jean wondered. "Here to search for their fellow slavers?"

Peter used his helmet radio to tell Mark of the passing light, and Mark used their telescope to watch as a large spaceship moved slowly across the sky, however, it soon dimmed and finally disappeared.

"Thankfully, our vessel cannot be seen standing in plain sight upon Europa, partly because our white spaceship blends in with the colour of the moon, and then of course there is the vast distance between them and us. As far as their scanners are concerned, the amount of radiation emitted by the giant planet Jupiter, for Europa lies within the massive radiation belts of Jupiter, make them useless, even if they were searching for us."

"It must be the Xavier, but why is it here?" Rob said. "To search for the missing survey vessel or to raid the Earth?"

"They have probably been sent to investigate the disappearance of their vessel Rob, what bothers me more now is how it affects us and our safe return to Earth." Mark said grimly. "And we need to get back to Earth to warn the authorities about the alien threat."

When Jean and Peter returned to the Jupiter Express, exhausted, they discussed the appearance of the alien starship further, and finally, decided not to delay their departure for home, their foods stocks would not allow it. Therefore, they readied the spaceship for departure and one hour later, the powerful thrusters, helped by the Ion drive, pushed them off the small moon, they were on their way home, their mission a glorious success, assuming that the alien starship did not return to stop them, or their prisoners did not escape and retake the ship.

Thankfully, the fates were smiling down on them, for they did not see the alien starship on their way home, just Mars, the stars and finally Earth with its consort the Moon. Apart from their prison duties, Jean, Peter and Rob studied the alien technology aboard the Jupiter Express. Two weeks after they had left Europa, Jean walked on to the bridge, her eyes sparkling with excitement and spoke to Mark.

"Mark, as you know we have taken one of the alien energy weapons apart, and while in advance of our own technology, we reckon that on Earth, and with the right team, we could duplicate it. In fact, we should be able to make a larger, more powerful version, one that we could not only fit to our space craft, but also sight a bank of them on the moon, if the politicians of the world would allow it of course." Jean said. "Then using infrared scopes, we could use them to defend Earth against the aliens, when and if they return to Earth to loot it of its natural resources."

"That is great Jean, to be able to keep them away from our system, it makes our successful return to Earth even more imperative." Mark began. "Jean, have you looked at the alien upgrade to our Ion drive yet, if we could repair it then we could more than halve our journey time back to Earth."

"I looked at it yesterday Mark, and once again the technology is obviously far ahead of our own, but to repair it with what we have on board seems unlikely, but we will head down to engineering after lunch to have another look at it. It was fabricated out of things that were made on Earth, so who knows, maybe we will find a way."

Lunch was a Spartan affair now, to save their precious rations, and they had left the aliens their lunch at breakfast time, along with a bucket to cut down the time spent in bathroom treks. Tarsier had complained, but as Mark had explained.

"There are only four of us, due to your sabotage we now have much more on our minds than your comfort!"

"If you succeed in your ridiculous attempt to reach Earth, I will complain to your authorities about this gross infringement of our human rights." Tarsier had threatened angrily.

Mark almost choked at Tarsier`s words.

"You are slavers captain, pirates, thieves, raiders and probably murderers, you are lucky that I have not taken the easy way out and turned off the oxygen flowing in to your prison cell, if the situation was reversed, you would have already done just that." Mark replied just as angrily. "In fact, Captain, why not assist us by repairing the sabotage carried out by you to the Ion drive upgrade."

Tarsier looked at Mark sardonically and replied.

"Captain Blazer, as I have already told you, it is impossible to repair the damage with what you have available here on the Jupiter Express. Why not accept that and return to Ganymede, rescue would then be only a few days away, after I had made the call to my people?"

"Sorry Captain, but the uniform of a slave would not suit me, I have a better option that I might yet resort to, I might start to shoot your crew, I am certain that one of them would agree to assist us, for they are only pirates, slavers, and loyalty to any cause has never been in their make-up." Mark replied and he laughed as he left the pirates to think over his parting words.

**********

One month had crawled by on their return voyage to Earth, everyone was tired, irritable and wishing that the next nine months would pass at a faster rate than they currently were. It was bathroom duty time again and Peter and Rob were on duty. Peter stood at the top of the ladder waiting for Tarsier to arrive and Rob and Jean stood outside of hold number one ensuring that Tarsier climbed up not down to engineering or environmental, where he would attempt to sabotage the ship, once again. Tarsier reached the residential level and climbed off the ladder on to the deck, he stumbled, Peter foolishly put out a hand to assist Tarsier and had his energy weapon wrenched from his hand. Tarsier smiled grimly at Peter, put the nasty end of the weapon just inches from Peter`s head and asked.

"Where is your captain, tell me quickly and I will not kill you, hesitate and after killing you I will kill all of your crew, or die trying? From this distance, even the lowest setting that you have this weapon set to, will kill you."

"Kill my friend, Captain, and I will kill you, then I will switch off the air supply in hold number one, your entire crew will die because you made a grave error of judgment." Mark said at the entrance to his cabin.

Mark had returned here to collect some notes that Jean had made regarding the alien computer, once again he was attempting to discover its secrets.

Tarsier froze; however, he kept his finger on the trigger of his energy weapon, turning his head slightly he said.

"We have a stalemate captain, however, if you promise to return my crew and myself to our Ganymede base, then I will hand your engineer his weapon back."

"That would mean slavery for us, because the Xavier, or a starship much like it, would catch us up well before we reached Earth. No, Captain, I have a better idea." Mark replied.

Tarsier looked at Mark, his mind racing, his finger inadvertently moving off the trigger of his weapon.

"A better idea Captain, and what might that be." Tarsier asked curiously.

"Well, Captain, it seems that I must give you something, if I am to stop you from killing my friend."

This was as far as Mark got, for opposite him and behind Tarsier, Rob stood silently on a rung of the ladder, waiting his best opportunity. As soon as he saw Tarsier`s grip on his weapon`s trigger loosen, as Tarsier listened eagerly to Mark, Rob fired his own weapon at the same instance that Peter jerked himself away from the alien captain, ducking his head at the same moment. The energy bolt whistled noisily across the short distance and took out Tarsier immediately. However, Tarsier`s hand still jerked down on to the trigger of his weapon, firing it, its energy bolt striking the ceiling of the residential level, but the damage was only superficial.

On the floor below, Jean called up frantically.

"Rob, what happened, is everyone all right?"

"Everyone is fine Jean, except for Tarsier who will have a bad headache when he wakes up." Rob replied as he hauled himself up on to the residential level.

"I am sorry Mark, he stumbled against me and I simply attempted to help him." Peter cried out as his fingers explored his hair in fear that some of it had been shaved off.

"You`re tired, we all are, in hindsight it was an obvious attempt waiting to happen." Mark replied.

"We need to assure that it does not happen again, does anyone have any ideas?" Mark asked.

"Well let`s see." Jean began. "We can kill them, that would solve the problem, we could keep them short of oxygen, that would keep them weak. We do have some drugs, not enough to keep them docile for nine months, but enough for one month, maybe. Other than that, we will just have to be more careful."

Jean`s suggestions had lifted their spirits and on thinking the matter over, Mark said.

"More careful it is them, we can keep your other suggestions in mind, but only as a last resort."

Tarsier woke up to see four energy weapons pointed at his head, he shrugged and then said.

"Can I use the bathroom, I could do with a pee and a wash."

Mark smiled at the slaver and led the way, with Peter following behind him, his weapon aimed at the slaver`s back.

**********

Two months in to the return voyage, and Mark tried, once more, to get in to the alien computer, however, he could not find a program that would allow him to read it in the English language. He knew that to obtain the most out of the information contained within it, it would need Jean Warrior and the scientists of Blazer Space back on Earth. It was then that Peter came up to the bridge to speak to a very lonely Mark Blazer, for the others had been very busy in engineering since the voyage home had begun.

"Mark, we think that we have done it. Yes, it is a mess, and certainly not the nice neat job that the aliens managed, but then we do not have that much material available to use. However, using parts from what was left of the radio, one of the energy weapons and our entire stock of spare parts, we should be ready to test the upgrade to the Ion drive by tomorrow morning."

"That is great Peter, give the others my congratulations" Mark said adding. "If your upgrade is successful Peter, we should reach Earth in six weeks, which will put us in to the record books." Mark declared happily. "It will also be a smack in the mouth for the aliens."

The upgrade was successful, and their alien prisoners looked at one another anxiously as they felt the Jupiter Express surge forward. Six weeks later, in the early morning, the Jupiter Express turned around and used their Ion drive together with the liquid fuel engines to decelerate, and two weeks after that they were approaching the American space station. They had been away from it for six and a half months, and Mark could visualise the excitement there, on seeing the Jupiter Express returning home, early. Especially after hearing nothing from them for so long, he smiled as he used their thrusters to manoeuvre the massive spaceship up to the space dock.

When they opened their main airlock, which was on the accommodation level, they were met by a mixed group; however, the marines with their stun weapons stood out amongst the others, until Colonel Rick Jameson, the commander of the space station, saw Mark.

"Mark, what on Earth happened out there, are you all okay?"

"Yes Rick, although we had an interesting journey to Jupiter and back." Mark replied and smiled when he saw the puzzled expression appear on his friend's face.

"I will explain in your office Rick, however, first I have some very important prisoners that I need you to put under a high security guard." Adding swiftly as Rick`s gaze moved quizzically to Peter, Jean and Rob. "No Rick, not my crew." He said chuckling. "We had some uninvited guests who hijacked my ship, thankfully we managed to turn the tables on them and return home. Rick, they must be considered dangerous and we cannot allow them to escape, I will tell you more Rick, once we are in your office."

Jameson looked at Mark quizzically and said.

"You have had an exciting voyage Mark; just how many uninvited guests have you got and where have you stowed them?"

"Seven of them, they are in the number one hold, unfortunately you will have to bring them up to this level using the emergency ladder, and under guard at all times, that Rick, I cannot stress too much."

Jameson looked quizzically at Mark before sending his marines down to collect their prisoners, Rob accompanying them to input the code in to the keypad. Later, when the crew of the space station saw the aliens, they were stunned, they finally knew what happened to the missing scientists from Marduh, they were hijackers. Tarsier and his crew were taken to a quarantine area and held there under guard, to await whoever was put in charge of them.

Mark and his crew accompanied Jameson to his office and told him of their trip, of the hijacking, their winning back of their spaceship, and of the advances in technology that they had gained from the hardware that the aliens had brought aboard the Jupiter Express.

"You're kidding me Mark; you mean to tell me that the first aliens that I get to meet are space pirates?" Jameson asked.

"Not only pirates, they are also slave traders, the people of Earth have been lucky, we now have advanced notice of their peoples' intentions for us and we can make plans to counter them." Mark replied.

"I had better contact the authorities about this, they will not believe it, however, once they see your alien hardware they will have to believe it." Jameson said.

The next twenty-four hours were hectic, with an order coming from the White House forbidding anyone on the space station from mentioning anything about the aliens or the voyage of the Jupiter Express. This was followed by an order from the Pentagon ordering Mark and his crew to stay on the space station. They were to await General Jack Dance and members of his staff, who would shortly arrive there along with another squad of marines, and Marlene Houston, who was the deputy director of the DIA, that is the Defence Intelligence Agency. They came in two shuttles, one of which left immediately with the aliens on board, guarded by the squad of marines to ensure they arrived safely at a high security base in Middle America. Here the aliens were imprisoned below ground in three secure cells to await agents of both the FBI and the DIA, who would interrogate them.

On the space station, and after a second debriefing, this time carried out by General Jack Dance and Marlene Houston, Mark and his crew escorted Dance and Houston, together with the scientists who had accompanied them, aboard the Jupiter Express. Here they were able to view the alien technology; however, only the energy weapons looked impressive, as they could test fire them. The computer was simply a box with a fancy display screen, as for the Ion drive upgrade, it had been patched up with an assortment of spare parts and it looked nothing like a most important piece of advanced space technology.

Mark and the others were moved to the Kennedy Space Centre, and the next morning they were sitting in the headquarters building. Here they spoke with a Dance and Houston again, as well as some of the country`s leading scientists. They talked well in to the night, as they went over all that they had learned about the aliens, their technology and what they intended for the people of Earth. Then Mark mentioned the Pacifier, and all that it could do. It was this weapon more than anything else worried the assembled group. Finally, Mark mentioned the alien starship Xavier, of its recent trip to Earth, and of its chameleon stealth mode of operation. Worried by what they had just heard, it was decided that the crew of the American space station be brought back to Earth for a full medical and psychiatric check-up. The battered remnants of the Pacifier were handed over to an elderly scientist, who had top-level clearance, was brilliant, and worked exclusively for the pentagon. However, Mark made it clear that the other alien technology, which was now on Earth, and in his laboratory at Cape Canaveral, was the property of Blazer Space. Dance initially agreed to this, however, he had despatched a company of marines to ensure that it was not moved elsewhere or stolen by the agents of another country. The government realised just how important it was, not for use against aliens from space, but to ensure that America was safe against its use on them by their enemies on Earth.

**********

At the White House, the president spoke with his cabinet, the subject, whether they should notify the leaders of the permanent members of the UN Security Council. They comprised of the EU, which was reborn again and this time as one united nation, the UK, China, Russia, Japan and India. If so should they to tell them everything? That they now had proof that an advanced alien civilisation existed, and that they had visited Earth. About the presence of seven alien prisoners, of the aliens` intensions, of the Pacifier, of the alien starship the Xavier, and finally whether to tell them of the alien technology now in the hands of Blazer Space. It was finally decided that in the interests of the people of Earth, that everything should be disclosed. Then all he had to do was to decide whether to reveal this information to the leaders of the Democratic Party, and then there were the senior members of his own Republican Party to consider, the president felt a migraine coming on, he could always resign, he supposed.

Initially this disclosure was met with disbelief by some of the parties that had been notified, however, they were invited to meet the alien prisoners and inspect the remains of the Pacifier. Finally, they accepted that America had told them the truth, and a meeting of these permanent members of the UN Security Council was scheduled for the coming week, to give the leaders of the nations` time to discuss the situation with their advisors.

The first thing that they agreed upon was that the crews of the other space stations should be immediately brought back to Earth, to be checked by the leading psychiatrists of the countries who had people aboard the stations, they would also have to check past crews, ones who had recently returned to Earth. The next thing that was decided by the Security Council was that the rest of the world was not yet ready to hear of this new threat to its people, it would cause far too much panic.

**********

When everyone had gone their ways, except for the marines who now guarded his offices and laboratory, Mark called his crew together to speak to them.

"Jean, we have a lot of important work ahead of us, and I want you to head the team."

Jean was a little stunned, but he ignored her surprised look and continued.

"We must commence the initial research on a larger version of the alien`s energy weapon, I want one fitted to the Jupiter Express and powered by its nuclear reactor. On a smaller scale, we need to start production of the hand-held energy weapons. Finally, I want you to look at the device that upgraded our Ion Drive, one with more than just one setting. If we can travel around the solar system at anything approaching half a G, it will be good enough for most people." Mark declared in barely concealed excitement.

Mark then looked at Peter and Rob.

"Jean will need your help; your recent experience with alien technology makes you both important to the swift completion of all three projects. Is everyone okay with this?"

"No problem Mark, there are more women down here than on the space station." Peter replied with a grin.

"Sounds good to me as well Mark." Rob agreed smiling, for he agreed with Peter.

"Good, then can you start tomorrow morning?" Mark added to which they all agreed and then he said.

"A trio of generals from the pentagon are coming to see us tomorrow morning, I will bring them through to your laboratory Jean, I want you all there to meet them and then to run through everything with them. It is important to Blazer Space and to us three, and not just financially, because after our last adventure we are now the leading space exploration team on Earth, and I intend to keep us ahead of the rest. The other space faring countries are going to want to play catch up, I do not want them to catch us, I want us to stay number one, that way the best opportunities, whatever they are, will come our way."

"You can count on us Mark." Peter said for all the others. "I like the idea of being famous."

Mark and the others immediately laughed and beat him around the head with their baseball hats, they needed to let off steam now, tomorrow they would have to listen to generals, politicians and their lackies.

The planned meeting the next day went well, with the Pentagon promising to invest a substantial sum in to the three projects, if some of their scientists could participate. They also demanded substantial discounts on the subsequent technology designed by the Blazer Space science team. This Mark agreed to, he really did not have much choice, he needed their money and scientists. The deal ensured that their future looked bright, and with the patent rights in all four of their names, they financial futures were assured.

**********

In the UK, the authorities descended upon the small Scottish island of Marduh, as well as the intelligence men there was a psychiatric team, their job was to break through the alien conditioning, if it existed.

"During the first week they heard about the aircraft crashing during the storm, and of the strange helicopter that had brought their new colleagues to the island. However, the scientists and their house staff were confused as to when they arrived, was it after the storm or during it?

**********

In the UN building, the other nations that were part of the Security Council would not permit energy weapons to be based on the moon. However, they did demand access to the alien technology. Mark, who was invited along as an expert on the subject, responded to this demand.

"The alien technology was brought to Earth by the crew of the Jupiter Express, and so it belongs to Blazer Space and its crew."

This declaration brought protests from everyone at the meeting, but he waved them down and continued.

"However, Blazer Space will be happy to sell licences to all your countries to manufacture anything that comes out of our research, research that is already happening and by a team that has already proved themselves be highly successful, a Blazer Space team. Should you wish to send representatives along to inspect the alien technology, and hear of our plans, then I will be happy to meet them."

The meeting ran on for hours, with Mark standing firm on his previous comment. As he said later, to General Dance.

"General, possession is said to be nine tenths of the law, and they will have to accept that, or see those that do profit by it, while they are left far behind."

**********

Much was happening now, both on Earth and around it. The aliens had surrendered to their captors wishes, as otherwise it would have meant living forever beneath the ground within three Spartan prison cells. Now they could live above ground, in a luxurious house, even if the presence of the iron bars, the alarms, the guards, reminded them that it was still a prison. In return, they had begun to answer the questions put to them by their interrogators, for they were pirates, initially it seemed that they no loyalty to anyone, except for themselves.

In the Atlantic Ocean, deep-sea salvage vessels searched for the alien starship to the west of Marduh. With the assistance of the alien prisoners, who had agreed to help, the salvage vessels soon located the larger wreck of the starship. Scattered along its flight path was a multitude of fragments, these had been thrown from it in its death throws. There were also the fragments that had been torn off as it had crashed in to the ocean and plunged down to the ocean bed. The next day the salvage vessels continued the search for the lifeboat, and although it was further out, they finally managed to locate it, and it was intact. The lifeboat was the first item to be brought to the surface and then transferred to the island, then the various fragments of the starship, both large and small, followed. Fear for the safety of the salvaged items, due to the weather on and around North Western Scotland, had the salvaged items transferred to the mainland and taken to the outskirts of the town of Ayr. It was stored within a large empty factory and, with the assistance of Tulles Quadra, who had agreed to assist them, under guard; UK scientists began to unravel its wonders. In return for his help, the amount that the aliens were paid was doubled. Mark requested that a section of the outer hull be sent to his laboratory, so that the effectiveness of his planned energy weapon could be tested upon it, this request was granted, if a record of the results was sent to the UK.

The countries who knew about the aliens used their infrared telescopes to search space, they were looking for signs of any hidden alien starship that might be in orbit around the Earth, but without any luck, no one knew whether to be thankful for this or not.

The linguists sent to Cape Canaveral by the government found the translation app within the alien computer, although they had needed the help of the computer geeks employed by Blazer Space. Mark and his crew could now use the computer, however, apart from the translation program much of the remaining data was found to be damaged, missing or only partially there.

Finally, the Blazer Space laboratories began to produce the larger energy weapons, one of which was to be installed in to the Jupiter Express. The hand-held versions were already being manufactured, and not long after the team finished their own version of the upgrade to the Ion Drive. Jean tested her long-range weapon on the section of the alien ship`s hull plating, and after some revision was able to declare the weapon a success. As agreed, the countries who were part of the Security Council were now sold their licences to manufacture the alien technology.

All was going well; for the aliens had not returned, spaceships were being armed to meet them if they did, and the general feeling was upbeat. However, Mark felt that time would not be on their side; soon the aliens would be returning in an attempt to pillage the Earth. Only their new defences would keep them away from Earth and its spaceships, new defences that Blazer Space was in the forefront of producing.

Then General Dance called by, he had a proposal to make to Mark and his crew.

"We want you to go out to Jupiter, to Ganymede. We want you to bring back whatever alien devices there are out there, it is felt that the safety of Earth might well depend on it, will you make the trip a second time?"

Mark and the others debated the proposal for just one hour before deciding to accept, for they too felt that the safety of Earth would be better served by further investigation, rather than sitting back behind their defensive wall of the new energy weapons.

General Dance was relieved when they gave him their answer, and he professed open admiration for Mark and his crew.

"You are all ready to journey out to Jupiter again, when the danger of attack by alien pirates must be a distinct possibility, why not stay home and let others face the dangers this time around?"

"General, Jean and I, Peter and Rob, we all wanted to walk on Mars again, we were actually planning our trip when you asked us to travel out to distant Ganymede to investigate the strange radio signal coming from the moon. Well we never got to land on Ganymede either last time around, although we did get to walk upon Europa, and we were the first humans to do so. We were also the first humans to replenish the air and water that our spaceship required by mining ice on a moon far from home. This time General, nothing will stop us from becoming the first humans to step foot on Ganymede, we will also be the first humans to look upon whatever it is that the alien slavers built there. We will look and then we will bring it back here, this is our solar system, Earth is our home, they have to be taught to respect us and that means strength. Our strength will be provided by our scientists and our resolve not to give in to them, so we will go to Ganymede and bring home their technology to use against them."

Chapter Four

Ganymede

The Jupiter Express was finally ready for its second voyage, and she was indeed to return to Jupiter, to its moon Ganymede. To try to keep the voyage a secret from the aliens, only those who needed to know were in on the secret. Mark planned to find the aliens` communications system and return with it to Earth. It communicated through subspace, the fictional medium of science fiction writers; soon it would become science fact. He hoped that the science behind it would help them to develop a hyperdrive starship. One fact taken from the alien computer gave him hope, they did not build and design their technology, they bought it, or stole it. If the nations of Earth could pull together, then with this new technology they could ensure that the space pirates left their system alone. Then the space fleet of Earth could grow, move away from its cradle and explore the galaxy, they could journey to the stars and beyond in search of new friends, new medicines and new ways to meld their many nations in to one world, one stronger than its sum of its distrust and hatred.

Mark looked out of the observation window of the space station at the Jupiter Express, at its long cylindrical shape, not quite symmetrical, a new raised area now ran along the lower hull of the ship, from the engineering deck along to the bridge area, it was the new energy weapon. The energy that powered the weapon growing as it moved along its barrel until it exploded out from under the bridge of the Jupiter Express and destroyed those who might wish to destroy them. The redesigned spaceship now possessed two scanner dishes, set at both ends of its length, together with a communications dish they were all positioned upon the upper hull. Then there was the lift that allowed them to descend on to the moon of a planet. The ship was not designed to land on a planet, for their mass was too great, the gravity of the planets being too strong to allow the spaceship to be able to take off again, not without massive booster rockets to blast it skywards. There was now a third larger airlock, it had been installed in to the landing deck, on the opposite side to the second airlock, through it Mark hoped to be able to winch up the alien communications device.

The time arrived for the Jupiter Express to begin its second voyage, and soon they were moving away from the space station, from Earth, heading in to what to the crew was deep space, even if their destination was still within the sol solar system. The Ion drive accelerated them away at a greater rate than the last time they had left Earth orbit, providing them with more artificial gravity. Soon they were passing the orbit of Mars and approaching the asteroid belt, and here Mark decided to give his new weapon a field test, it was as they were approaching a large group of irregular shaped space rocks, asteroids.

"Jean, tell me about the smaller of those rocks ahead of us?" Mark asked.

They all look to be of the carbonaceous variety Mark, a mixture of clay and silica." Jean replied.

"Good, then no one will miss one if we destroy it." Mark said. "Jean, I want to give our energy weapon a field test, and one of those fast-approaching rocks will do nicely."

"Okay Mark, I will power the weapon up." Jean replied. "I wondered how long it would be before you wanted to play with it."

Jean smiled over at the others, her friends, and especially at Mark. He in turn smiled at her as she turned on the weapons system, wondering once again how he had not only won Earth`s top flight scientist to Blazer Space, but had also won her heart.

He turned on the defence program on his computer screen, then entered the energy weapon program and here he set the systems on to its automatic fire mode. Next, he zeroed in on one of the fast-approaching rocks and everything was set, the computer would take over from here. Rob and Peter were also anxious to see how their only defence against the space pirates performed, and so when they were close enough to the smaller asteroids, everyone was looking at the forward view screen. Then the weapon fired, and a bright powerful bolt of energy leapt from the bow of their spaceship, it shot across space hitting the small rock, less than a second later and they saw the rock glow, and then explode in to a thousand small pieces. Everyone aboard the Jupiter Express felt a little safer having witnessed the test and the result, even if the target could not fire back at them. With the field test a success, Mark practiced using the weapons system for the rest of the day, but without firing it. He now felt that if the need arose, he would be able to defend their vessel, if the odds were not too great and the target did not possess enough armour or shielding to stop their energy bolts from hitting the enemy`s vital parts.

In total, the journey to Ganymede took them three months, and soon they were approaching the Jovian system. Ganymede was on the father side of the giant gas planet and they watched, awed by its beauty as they approached it cloud filled atmosphere. They passed the moon Io with its erupting lava fountains, a moon larger than our own moon. Then they passed the smaller ice moon Europa, worlds that the scientists of Earth had long dreamt of visiting. Finally, Mark took them in to orbit around the moon Ganymede, searching its frozen wastes for the alien communications device.

"I have found it Mark." Jean said at last. It is in a large building that has been recessed in to the surface of the moon. Look at your navigational console Mark; I have transferred its co-ordinates to your screen."

"I have them Jean. Okay everyone, strap yourselves in, I am taking us down." Mark replied.

With everyone ready for landing, Mark applied the thrusters and the long spaceship moved down towards the surface of the moon. Soon, it was time for Mark to use the thrusters again, this time to turn the Jupiter Express about so that the spaceship could land upon the large tail fins. The surface of the frozen moon rushed up at them, however, Mark used the two solid fuel rockets to slow their descent and they gently touched down just thirty feet away from the recessed building, of which all that could be seen of it was a low wall that followed its hidden walls, and an entranceway down to the automated relay centre.

Mark, Jean and Peter left Rob in command of the small bridge and they took the elevator down to the landing level. From here, they donned their lightweight space suits and then opened the inner door of the airlock. Closing it behind them, they emptied the entire level of their precious air and finally opened the exterior door of the airlock. Peter then pressed the button that operated the ladder down to the surface. A metal landing slid out from just below the airlock, then the ladder and its safety cage moved out from the hull of the spaceship, and finally the last stage of the ladder slid down to hit the ground, they were ready to leave the spaceship.

While Mark and Jean began to climb down the ladder, Peter opened the second airlock and used the new overhead winch to prepare to send the items down to the surface of the moon that they would need, the first item was a small portable and highly mobile winch. When this was safely on the surface, Peter joined the other two on the surface where they once again took a moment to celebrate the fact that they were the first people of Earth to walk upon the Jovian moon Ganymede, then they walked across to the alien structure. On reaching it, they saw a flight of stairs had been carved out of the ice that together with the silica rock made up most of the surface of the moon. Seeing no sign of a security system, for its makers considered it safe as it was so far away from the locals, Mark led the way down. At the bottom of the icy staircase they came to a door, it was made of a composite material unknown to them, one that could withstand the extreme cold of the moon. A silver plate was situated on the wall beside the door, the outline of a hand imprinted upon it. Mark looked at his two friends who looked anxiously back at him. Seeing no other option, he put his gloved hand on to the plate and the door slid silently open, it was not locked, probably because at the time of its construction the makers had felt that once again it was unnecessary.

Once again, Mark led the way into an airlock, which closed behind them, the airlock filled with air and then the inner door automatically opened. They walked in to a long corridor with four doors leading off to their right and another four to their left. Choosing to try the left-hand corridor first, Mark opened the first door, here they saw that the rear wall was filled with three metal units covered in dials, screens and, in front of the central unit was a microphone.

"Mark, I think that we have found the communications relay unit." Peter said.

"Before we attempt to dismantle it, let's explore the rest of the building, see what else is here for us to confiscate." Mark said.

Walking further down the left-hand corridor they found that the second room contained a numbers of toilet cubicles. The third room held, according to Jean who had to resist whooping with excitement when she realised just what it was, a compact environmental system, one sufficient to keep a large number of people alive, and for an extended length of time. Mark decided that they would also take this back to Earth, it would greatly increase the distance that they could travel through space. The fourth room held a large generator, although what powered it they could only wonder, Jean was way passed wonder as she gazed lovingly at it, saying to him.

"Mark, I would dearly like to spend time looking at the generator to see what powers it, there is room on the landing level for it as well as the other items."

"I agree Jean, but first those other two items, it all depends on how our luck holds." Mark replied throwing an equally covetous look at the generator.

He too wanted to take it away for investigation, but first he made them check out the right-hand corridor, and they found it filled with cabins for officers and crew, the aliens meant to make a base here from which to raid the Earth. Feeling a little scared for the future of the billions of people on Earth, they returned to the communications room and discussed how they should dismantle the units there.

"Well obviously we should disconnect it from its power supply." Peter said opening the discussion.

It was then that the unit began to buzz, they turned to see what was causing the noise when they saw that a row off green lights had suddenly sprang to life upon the front of the unit.

"Mark, do those lights mean that a pirate vessel is nearby?" Peter asked anxiously.

"I do not know Peter, but the discussion is over, when the lights stop flashing we will unhook the power supply to the system and then we will start to move the units up to the surface." Mark replied just as anxiously.

Thinking about the generator, Mark wished that they could take it back with them and find out what powered it. However, the activation of the relay centre had worried him, he felt that it would be safer to take just the other units and leave the generator and its power supply behind for another time. The lights on the communications centre finally stopped flashing and buzzing, so they disconnected it from its power source and began to dismantle the system.

Thankfully, as the gravity on Ganymede was much less than upon Earth, they were able to manhandle the three units that made up the communications centre out of the building, and to the bottom of the stairs. They then used the small mobile portable winch to bring the units up to the surface of the moon. These were then moved to a position that was near enough to the Jupiter Express to enable them to use its powerful overhead winch. They waited there as Rob operated the overhead winch which telescoped out of the airlock and stopped near to subterranean building. The cable was then dropped down to the three people on the surface of the moon. Finally, the first of the units was winched up and taken into the landing level where Peter, who had returned to the Jupiter Express, positioned each unit over a large wheeled pallet. Lowering it down he unhitched the cables from the piece of valuable technology, Rob then sent the cables down for the next item. When the three units were safely stored, Peter returned to the surface to assist Mark and Jean dismantle the environmental system and they winched its parts aboard the Jupiter Express. All these units, now within the landing level, were moved in to their final position by Mark, Peter and Jean, who had returned to the spaceship. Then they had to tie all of this precious new technology down, so that it did not move around the landing level with each new change of course or acceleration. This all took up valuable time, however, the alien slavers still did not arrive and finally they were finished. Mark took them back up to the bridge and Rob, and once there he said to them.

"Whatever made the communications centre operate might soon find out that their relay centre is no longer working. How long it will take them to react and get here is pure guesswork, because we have no idea as to the speed of their vessels or the distance that they must travel. If it was a starship, then it is reasonable to assume that it is near to our system, it could turn up here in a matter of hours to investigate."

"So, we should probably leave now, while we can." Jean said in agreement.

"Much as I want to go back down to that building Jean, I agree with you, I think that we should hightail it right now." Mark replied grimly. "First though, Rob, prepare the spy satellite that we brought with us, but do not switch it on. We will only turn it on when we intend to return here, then we will be able to see if there is anyone here to greet us."

"Okay Mark, where do you intend to put it, they might just blast it if you leave it in orbit around Ganymede?" Rob asked.

"You`re right Rob, which is why we are going to leave it on the surface of Ganymede, when you are ready, we will make one last trip outside." Mark replied.

With there being no practical way to inspect, make safe and finally move the compact generator quickly, they left it behind for inspection in-situ at a later date. However, while Rob and Mark positioned the spy satellite, Jean spent part of the time photographing the generator and the rest of the time searching for its power source. However, she did not have the time to trace it, not with Mark calling to her and urging her to return. He could not afford to give her the necessary time, not with the chance of an alien starship coming by to investigate their faulty communications system, which was no longer there.

Ten minutes later and the Jupiter Express blasted off the moon and headed for home, Jean sending a full report back to Cape Canaveral, just in case their worst fears were realised.

**********

As the Jupiter Express passed through the asteroid belt, Jean looked over at Mark, and said fearfully.

"Mark, another spaceship is approaching us from behind, and it is moving extremely fast."

Mark immediately fired their port liquid fuel rocket for four seconds, which turned the bow of the Jupiter Express to point directly at the approaching vessel. He then used their thrusters to hold this position as the Jupiter Express began to slow as the Ion drive was now thrusting in the opposite direction.

"Power up our weapon Peter, we may have to give it a second field test." Mark said grimly.

The crew looked at one another, not one of them felt that they could win through, except for Mark who still trusted in the technology provided by Jean Warrior. Then their radio sprang to life, and a voice in perfect English said.

"Stop your spaceship and prepare to be boarded."

Then a powerful energy bolts leapt from the alien ship and shot across the bows of the Jupiter Express, the alien than added.

"If you do not obey my order the next energy bolt will destroy your bridge."

In response to this, Mark asked. "First tell us of your intentions."

His request was greeted with laughter, and then the alien said.

"We intend to take your ship back to Marsoon, earthman, you and your ship are now the property of the Raza, a Marsoonian privateer and a member of the Marsoonian brotherhood."

The bow of the Jupiter Express was pointing directly at the large alien starship, whose crew felt not even a twinge of fear, for they knew that the spaceships of this system were inferior to their own and definitely were not armed.

Mark had programmed the Fire program to fire a series of five powerful energy bolts each time he pressed the command Shoot. Hoping that his ship and his crew would come through unharmed, he reached out to his computer screen, prayed that his trust in his science team was not misplaced, and pressed the command Shoot, on the weapon`s panel. As powerful bolts of energy leapt from the bows of the Jupiter Express, the captain of the alien spaceship looked on shocked as the energy bolts shot across the short space between the two spaceships. He was in the act of reaching for his Fire button when the first of the energy bolt struck his bridge. One micro-second later the alien ship`s bridge erupted in a terrific explosion. More explosions followed as the thrusters slowly moved the bows of the Jupiter Express around. The expression on the aliens` faces, who were in the middle section of the alien vessel, and who were to be the boarding party, changed from excitement to fear. Had the Argolian navy come this far in a Q ship to trick them in to attacking them?

As the alien starship drew ever nearer, Mark used his thrusters to change their position in space, and when the bows of the Jupiter Express were correctly positioned, Mark fired five more bolts of energy. This time his target was middle section of the alien starship, and in doing so he killed the alien boarding party, which comprised the greater part of the alien crew.
Mark could see that the alien ship looked to be dead in space; his conscience smote him for killing so many, however, what choice had he other than the option that he had chosen. He watched the debris that floated away in to space, away from them, it included the bodies of many of its crew. He watched in horror at the fires burning in various parts of the ship, erupting through the jagged holes he had made in the hull of the stricken vessel. Mark did not know that most of the aliens were dead, that only a few who were left in engineering had survived because their crash door had sealed that part of the ship off from the terrible destruction still happening forward of them. However, a plan had leapt in to his mind, and it meant that he could not allow the enemy even an outside chance of success. As the bows of the Jupiter Express swung slowly along the alien vessel, his plan meant that he could not seek the moral high ground, not when the future of the people of Earth was at stake. He fired a single, and he hoped final, bolt of energy at what he assumed was the enemy vessel`s engineering section. The bolt of energy struck the alien ship, holing it, but not causing as much destruction as before, as he had switched from multiple shots to single shots on the weapon`s control. However, the remaining oxygen on the vessel quickly escaped from this new hole, and the many other holes. This he knew would kill any who survived the initial attack and finish the threat to his crew`s lives.

Mark turned away from their main view screen to look at his small crew, all were stunned by the speed of the destruction of the pirate craft, and seeing their horror, Mark explained his actions.

"We needed a quick and decisive action, or they may have been able to return our fire, or even have attempted to board us, and then we would certainly have been killed. In acting as I did, I accomplished two things. One, I gave Earth a demonstration of our weapon and how it is possible to defeat our enemy. Two, I intend to take the alien ship back to the American space station and strip it of its technology. I intend to use the large grappling hooks that you can see along the length of the alien starship, and if enough aliens had survived our attack, then they could have boarded our ship and still won the day. The final shot should have effectively expelled any remaining oxygen in to space."

The Jupiter Express followed the alien vessel, both spaceships moving nearer to Earth with every second. He had turned his spaceship around again, now the Ion drive was pushing them homewards, although at a greatly reduced speed. Mark felt an icy hand grip his heart as he then proceeded with the rest of his plan. He knew that many would call him evil for not rushing to the rescue of any survivors; but he was living in the real world. However, he did relent to some degree, he sent a spy drone across the darkness of space, and it entered the dead starship through the large jagged hole in the bows of the craft. From here, he sent it onwards, deeper in to the starship, to ensure that no survivors were waiting to revenge their dead comrades. However, it did not find any hot spots, which would have indicated a possible area within which there was air as well as heat, which were both necessary for any possible survivors.

With the ship dead in space, he took his ship closer to the wreck and the crew donned their space suits. They went out in to space, through the accommodation airlock, and manually attached the grappling hooks to the Jupiter Express, locking them in to place. Returning to their ship Mark ordered an increase to their speed, although they would still move at a much slower speed than they had originally planned, this was due to the extra mass of the alien starship. This meant that Earth was now six months away, and not just over two. Feeling a mixture of triumph and sadness, Jean sent another message to Earth, telling of the battle, their victory and their prize. During the remainder of the voyage they felt very vulnerable to another alien attack, coupled up to the wreck as they were, meant that they had reduced their manoeuvrability, another victory would be doubtful. Therefore, the sight of the space station was a great relief to the crew of the Jupiter Express.

"Rob, call the station and ask them for assistance in docking, the alien ship will not allow us to manoeuvre accurately enough for us to dare to try without assistance. Finally, though, they were docked, with their massive prize attached, thanks to the space tugs based at the space station. They had come out to nudge and push the two spaceships in to the correct position. There was much excitement, both on the space station and on Earth when they learned of their successful return. When the full details of the voyage became known, of how the voyage had swung from initial success to one of gravest danger and then finally, back to success, some on Earth trembled in fear and swore to prevent such a thing happening again.

Chapter Five

Proxima Centauri

The attack by the pirate starship on the Jupiter Express had also stunned the leaders of the permanent Security Council. However, when they were told how the Jupiter Express had come through it victorious, and thanks only to their new space weapon, the seven nations scheduled a meeting to take place seven days later.

In the meantime, the scientists from Blazer Space, along with those of the members of the permanent Security Council, began to gather on the American space station. They were there to work aboard the alien starship, to unravel the secrets of star travel and much more. First though, the parts of the starship that had been damaged in the battle had to be made safe, especially its bridge and mid-section. Also, the bodies of the pirates had to be taken away and buried down on Earth. Only when these sections of the starship had been repaired, so that they could access it safely, would the scientists be allowed to move in. Even before this, on the bridge, a partially damaged navigational computer was discovered, the one on the lifeboat had been damaged beyond repair. Mark had transferred the computer down to his laboratory on Earth, and after repairing any obvious damage, to ensure that it did not catch fire, he had it coupled up to the partially working alien computer. Once power was restored to both units, the navigational computer, the NavCom unit as it was to become generally known as, sprang to life. It was able to access parts of the main computer that had previously stayed hidden, on the view screen of the NavCom, a map of this galaxy began to unfold. It showed their own system, Proxima Centauri and a multitude of other planetary systems, however, as before much information was missing. Of the planetary systems that were still shown on the star map, some were designated as inhabited, others as having water-ice and finally some of these systems had a symbol added to their position, and it meant danger.

"These symbols here Mark." Jean began. "Do they mean that they are dangerous systems for pirates alone, or will we too be in danger if we enter one of them?" Jean mused. "There is still so much unknown about them, things that their computer will not, or cannot now divulge."

"There is also the fact that we still cannot locate the pirate bases on either the computer or the NavCom unit." Mark lamented.

"It may be among the data that was lost Mark, or it may simply be a security measure, in case one of their ships was taken by an enemy. Their captain and crew would know though, but our captive pirates are still holding out on their interrogators as far as this information is concerned." Jean replied. "However, we have learnt a lot, and when we add this new knowledge to our own navigational program, we will be able to travel across the stars without the chance of coming out of the Stardrive within a star or a planet."

**********

Back up inside the damaged alien starship, the scientists were finally allowed to board the alien spaceship. Soon they were all hard at work, even though they were forced to work in the new lightweight spacesuits, they had no choice if they wanted to be on board the vessel to discover its wonders. Then there was the problem of zero G, Jean was okay with this, but many of them needed time to adjust. They were able to spend time on the rotating section of the space station, where they could enjoy one G. Some of the technology could be taken off the starship and inspected within the laboratories of the space station, which also enjoyed one G. However, the inspection and discussion of the alien Stardrive engine had to be done inside the starship, and at zero G, it could not be dismantled, luckily, it had only been damaged superficially. No, the scientists appointed to delve in to its secrets had to do so within the mainly undamaged engineering section of the starship. Discussions filled the starship and the space station, such as the one that Jean Warrior was having in the starship, she was speaking to one of the scientists, Doctor Schweitzer.

"This spaceship must have so much to teach us Johan, it has a Stardrive, it could have artificial gravity, it does have the chameleon stealth mode to hide it from its enemies. Who knows what else might be hidden within the hull of this starship, and probably on its exterior plating." Jean said.

"It will take us ages to understand its Stardrive Jean, however, only after we understand how the power is generated, can we permit ourselves the luxury of dreaming about replicating their technology. As for their artificial gravity, the technology behind it may have been destroyed in your attack upon the vessel." Doctor Johan Schweitzer replied sorrowfully. "It promises to give you and me, and the other scientists here, an exciting future."

"If we had not attacked and beaten this spaceship Johan, then we would not be standing here talking about it." Jean reminded Schweitzer.

"No, I suppose not." Schweitzer replied and then hastily added. "I was not criticising Jean, I realise that your victory could mean that Earth is spared the attentions of the pirates for some time to come, if not forever."

Doctor Johan Schweitzer was one of the scientists working for Blazer Space and Mark had put him down as the man to lead the team that would design his next spaceship, the Galaxy Express. Helping him would be Jean Warrior, Peter Townsend and Rob Masters; people tested in space, people who knew what was needed to make the new ship a safer vessel.

**********

Meanwhile, spaceships, their design based loosely on the Jupiter Express, and already being built before the Jupiter Express had left on its second voyage, were being launched by the space faring nations, all were armed with the new energy weapon. However, these ships did not have the manoeuvrability of the alien ships, and Mark was worried, for should the aliens learn that all Earth spaceships were armed, they might change their mode of attack, making another victory by a vessel from Earth harder to achieve.

A year later, the alien base on Ganymede was taken over by Earth as a forward defensive position and manned by a crew comprising people from all the seven nations and defending by one of the new energy weapons. That they were able to agree on this, and then dispatch the initial team who would man the base, showed what the people of Earth could do when united behind a cause. They were able to use the alien generator and the alien environmental system was returned to Ganymede, after its secrets had been learned and copied.

There had been no further alien attacks made on Earth; Mark found this incredible, given the disappearance of two of their spaceships in this region of space. However, for Earth, this important length of time meant that they could prepare their defences, if or when the pirates decided to return they would meet a united defence.

The speed at which the scientists began to understand the alien technology was mainly due to the alien computer that Mark and his crew had brought back with them on their first voyage out to the moons of Jupiter. Mark was now busy with his scientists and engineers in designing his own starship, named the Galaxy Express. It was built in space near to the American space station, and those nations that could afford to, and who had the relevant technology and industry, immediately made plans to construct their own starships, the race was on. Blazer space had the superior expertise, however, some of their rivals seemed to have money to burn.

On Earth, the news of this new technology, and where it had come from, soon became headline news, for there was no way that either the remains of the alien starship, or the new shipyards in space, could remain a secret from all the amateur astronomers on Earth. The money necessary for such expensive projects also had to be accounted for, which some countries found easier to hide than others. NASA had two partners, Blazer Space and the UK, which could not afford to go it alone, even so there were some who were against spending so much new money with nothing material to show for it, except a starship. The result was that the speed of the construction of the new vessels increased as nations vied with one another. However, Blazer Space still managed to lead the way, with the aid of NASA. The UK and the American government, who saw in the Galaxy Express a relatively inexpensive way of testing the technology for the spaceships that they too were designing. When they decided to turn these designs in to starships, they planned to sidestep all the initial mistakes made by the other nations. The aid that NASA gave to Blazer Space did come with one proviso. For its first voyage, among the crew of the Galaxy Express would be three scientists from NASA: they were Mavis Judge, a young and promising biologist, Rena Gonzales, an experienced botanist, Michael Brawn, a noted physicist and one from the UK, Peter Singh, a celebrity and an astronomer of note. NASA was also involved in the planning of the newly proposed mission, the Galaxy Express would prove the new technology by journeying to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth. NASA also stressed that if any of the forces belonging to the Argolian empire could be located, the Galaxy Express must take time out to investigate, for it might prove highly advantageous to Earth, especially in their war against the space pirates.

**********

The Americans decided that to ensure the safety of everyone on board the space station, never mind the crews of the spaceships docked at it, they would fit the new energy weapons on to their space station. However, the weapons were all sited so that they aimed out in to space, not towards the Earth. This command decision was soon followed by the other nations who had a space station of their own, amid complaints from the rest of the world and the UN.

Time sped on, and soon the arguments petered out, the world even began to feel that the alien threat was gone. The time finally arrived for the launching of the Galaxy Express, the first of Earth`s starships, and still without any sighting of a Marsoonian spaceship. The reason why the alien spaceship had not returned to Earth was that they were busy fighting another enemy, and simply had no time to think about Earth, or the loss of two starships. The aliens were fighting for their lives against the Argolian Empire, for the empire wanted to eradicate them from every moon, planet or space station in their sector of space.

During the planning and construction of the Galaxy Express, the former crew of the Jupiter Express had all married, however, they did not let this change in their lives affect them as far as the planned journey in the Galaxy Express, in any case, it was just a short hop, time wise, compared to those undertaken in the Jupiter Express. Peter Townsend now had a daughter; Rob Masters had a son. However, Jean Warrior, now Jean Blazer, had decided along with Mark, that it would be unfair to leave a child behind on Earth while they travelled around the solar system, visiting its planets and moons. Their siblings all had children to carry on the family line, so they felt no immediate compulsion to have children of their own, maybe later, when the urge to travel in space had died down a little, then they too would settle down and start a family. The Blazer line could then add an off-Earth line to its family tree, maybe on Argolia.

**********

Being oblivious to this interplanetary war that was going on relatively near to Earth, the plans continued for the mission to Proxima Centauri and back, the mission was to last a maximum of just ten days, while they were there, they would take a quick look at the single planet that orbited it. This was to be the first long distance test of the Stardrive, however, first they had to test the second update to their primary propulsion, and this would occur within the Sol solar system. This update meant that the Ion drive did not use a nuclear reactor to power it; it used the Stardrive itself, but on its normal space setting, which Mark termed interplanetary drive so that there were no misunderstandings. They would use it to take them away from the sun and its planets, for it was thought that it could be highly dangerous to use the Stardrive nearer than at the system`s heliopause. This was the boundary marking the edge of the sun's influence, which was roughly 100 AU from the sun. Here, the solar wind from the sun and the radiation from other stars met.

The weapons` system used the nuclear reactor for power, however, it could also make use of the Stardrive, if their weapons were found to be underpowered against an opponent who possessed a strong defensive shield.

The Galaxy Express looked nothing like its predecessor in shape, it was a long squat box shaped vessel, and it now had retractable landing legs set along its long boxy hull instead of fins at its tail, as it would not land on a planet or moon tail first. Overall, it was ten times as large as its predecessor, and it had four levels, or decks. The bridge and stores were on the upper level together with their science department which included a large laboratory. On the second level was accommodation and a galley. The third level held their environmental department which had been upgraded following the unit that had been found on the moon Ganymede. Engineering was at the stern of the ship, taking up part of the middle two levels, within it was the Stardrive and a nuclear reactor. Finally, there was the landing level which incorporated another ship`s hold, the weapons system, that ran the full length of the level and a small hanger bay. Within the hanger bay stood two small shuttles, superior to the earlier model, the scientists of Earth had learnt much from the damaged one found upon the alien spaceship. The small nuclear engine of the shuttle had new lightweight shielding, making the engines more effective because of the reduced weight load, also the cabin space was larger. Also, in the hanger bay were two space chariots, which had been recovered undamaged from the alien starship.

The spaceship`s powerful magnetic defence shield had been boosted by a power of ten, for it had been connected to the Stardrive. Their main armament consisted of two energy weapons on this ship, one pointing forward and one pointing to their rear, both hidden within the ship, accept when in use, then two hull doors would slide open to reveal the nasty end of the energy weapons. They also possessed ten smaller energy weapons, five on either side of the ship, these were to deter any boarding party sent against them, as Mark had feared would happen on their last voyage.

The Galaxy Express also had artificial gravity, so they would not need to be under constant acceleration to produce this effect, a technology stolen from the alien spaceship. The chameleon stealth mode was also included on this vessel, they hoped that this would make it harder for the pirates to detect them; once again this was powered by their nuclear reactor. The spaceship had inertial dampeners, so that they would not feel the tremendous accelerations when either of its engines kicked in. It also possessed a real time communications system, copied from the one that they had brought back from Ganymede. Overall, it was a very real starship, and all thanks to two motley bands of pirates. Finally, there was its anti-personnel defence system, one that Jean had suggested in the design stages when Mark had said to her.

"Jean, when we are in deep space, or even in our own solar system, I believe that there is every chance of running up against another space pirate. That is why I am having ten smaller energy weapons installed, five on either side of the ship, to deter alien boarding parties, but we must allow for the chance that the aliens will get passed them and enter the ship through the airlocks."

"There are to be four airlocks Mark, the main airlock on the residential level, the one on the landing level, one for entry in to the number one hold and the final one, the inspection airlock, behind the bridge." Jean began. "Locking them down would delay them, but they might blow the doors making them unusable when and if we won the battle, no what we need are some small automatic weapons placed ship-side of the airlocks. I have already given the subject some thought Mark, and was about to raise the subject with you, they will have to be set in various positions depending on the layout of the level."

Mark smiled at her and said.

"Of course, Jean, in fact we could build the approach to each air lock to confine our enemy in to a small space and thereby narrow the area that the weapons would have to cover."

"The area around the hold and the landing level could have moveable walls Mark, either to confine a boarding party or large enough to allow us the load large sized cargo or equipment." Jean said.

**********

On this trip, they had a larger crew aboard their spaceship, Doctor Schweitzer had agreed to accompany them, to assist Jean if anything happened to their new and mainly alien technology. There were also the three scientists sent by NASA, a physicist, a biologist, a botanist, along with the British astronomer, all there to measure Proxima Centauri and its planet. There were two Blazer Space engineers to assist Peter, should anything mechanical or electrical break down. There was a housekeeper, to cook and clean for them, for it was felt that, and not only on this maiden voyage, that as the crew would be on a journey in to deep space, they would be needed full time to tend to their primary duties. The Galaxy Express had been built with more than the minimum cabins that were in the Jupiter Express, for if the maiden voyage was successful, the spaceship was going to be used primarily for exploration, and then it would have to carry an even larger scientific presence and a larger crew.

It was spring time in North America when the time of the launch of the Galaxy Express occurred. Mark was sitting in the pilot`s chair and with everything ready he called over the intercom to Peter who was in engineering for the inaugural launch.

"Peter, power up all the systems, let`s see how it feels and sounds."

For thirty minutes the ship hummed and gently vibrated until Peter, who was in engineering with his two crewmen to ensure that everything was running correctly, was indeed happy with everything, then he said.

"Mark everything is running smoothly, we are good to go."

"Okay everyone, I am about to move away from the space station." Mark informed everyone on the bridge, and the rest of the vessel, routing his remarks through the ship`s intercom. "Hang on, just in case." Mark added part in jest and part, well just in case.

The ship uncoupled from the space station and slowly edged away, using her thrusters only. Then, Mark moved it forward slowly, again using only the thrusters, then he called down to Peter.

"Peter, I am putting her in to interplanetary mode, slowly at first."

The ship now increased its speed to what would have been first gear in a car.

"Okay Peter, I am going to see how she runs, increasing power." Mark called out to everyone on the spaceship, to prepare them for any eventuality.

The Galaxy Express moved forward, gathering momentum as it went, but the people aboard did not feel the acceleration of the ship, they heard a low humming sound and felt only a gentle vibration. Mark took the starship up to top normal space speed, in three increments of power settings, at the end of the first day Jean called over to him.

"Mark, we have reached the heliopause."

"Okay everyone, let`s see how the Stardrive works on its top setting. Peter are we okay for the Stardrive?" Mark called out over the intercom so that everyone knew that they were about to change history and make it in to the record books.

"I am ready when you are Mark, put her in to the Stardrive mode." Peter replied while crossing his fingers.

The space technology of Earth had progressed so fast over a relatively small space of time, that all aboard the Galaxy Express could be excused for crossing their fingers, for they were about to enter science fiction. Therefore, with probably just about everyone aboard the Galaxy Express crossing their fingers, Mark changed over to the Stardrive. Not even their inertial dampener could prevent them from feeling the real surge in speed as they shot forward towards the rest of the galaxy.

The Galaxy Express reached the heliopause of the Proxima Centauri system the next day; and coming out of Stardrive they moved towards the sun at their best interplanetary speed. They did not turn on their chameleon stealth mode, for it thought that it was more likely that they would encounter a friendly vessel, if they did encounter a vessel, for there must be more prey than hunters around, or the hunters would soon die out. Finally reaching the star, which was not much to look at, for it was just another red dwarf, the next day. However, it was the first star, other than their own, that they had seen close up, and everyone took a moment to gaze upon it. It has a radius of only one tenth of our sun, with a brightness, some 1000 time less than our own sun, which explained why its only planet could retain its small atmosphere and keep its liquid water, when it was so near to it. The scientists aboard the Galaxy Express took hundreds of measurements and photographs, using instruments of every sort, including a spectrometer, one to measure ultraviolet, and one to analyse its thermal and energetic particles. They could have brought more, but they were only due to stay for a day before returning to Earth, unless they found life on the planet.

They found that its planet, Proxima Centauri b; was indeed an ocean planet, as had been speculated by some of the scientists back on Earth. It had a maximum temperature of 30 degrees centigrade and of a radius of 5543 miles. It was very close to its star, just 0.05 au, and had a mass of 1.3 Earths. The ocean was 87 miles deep, with its deeper levels being composed of a thick layer of high-pressure ice that went down to a rocky core. The scientists again took hundreds of measurements and photographs, and again they wished that they could have stayed longer.

Mark now took the Galaxy Express down through the thin atmosphere of the planet and hovered two hundred feet above it vast ocean. This allowed the scientists to get a closer view of the planet and to see if life had evolved there. With Peter as their pilot, Jean and the other five scientists took one of the two shuttles down and hovered just fifty feet above the surface of the ocean, and here they began their search for extra-terrestrial life.

They did find life beneath the ocean waves, but deep, away from the solar radiation bathing this planet. The scientists did not notice time passing, however, Mark did, and he was relieved when they returned to the Galaxy Express, for until they learned more about the alien threat, they had to be constantly on the alert. Mark took the Galaxy Express back up in to its original orbit, here he wanted to discuss the situation with his crew and the scientists. Whether to stay for the maximum six days permitted by their mission plan or to leave now and return to Earth. In the meeting Mark spoke first.

"To start off the discussion, I will remind everyone of the threat posed by the alien pirates. Yes, we have learned many things from the alien computer taken as a prize from the first alien pirates. However, it was badly damaged, and a lot of data was erased. Therefore, we have scant information about the alien pirates themselves, and almost all the information on the computer covered the Argolian people and their home world. Whatever data regarding the alien pirates` bases, and their proximity to Earth and of course Proxima Centauri, was missing presumed destroyed. We did learn some other facts from the captive pirates, however, they would tell us nothing about their bases. We should also bear in mind that what they have said cannot be trusted, not until it has been confirmed."

Here he was correct, for the pirate brotherhood did mean something to Tarsier and his crew, and they did their best to keep back whatever they could from their jailers.

Of course, Jean and her fellow scientists wanted to extend their visit to this new world, and Mark felt likewise, even if there were risks to take in to account. He and his crew were adventurers, their journey to the stars was one of discovery, he had no desire to scamper back home, not when their journey had just begun, and the scientists were of the same desire. However, the discussion was suspended when their main computer detected the arrival of another spaceship in to the Proxima Centauri system.

It was travelling with its chameleon stealth mode turned on, which they were not, that much was obvious, for their telescope had difficulty in detecting it. It was only because of the new computer program added by Jean that their computer had detected it. Using the telescope on it widest range setting it constantly looked for stars that winked just the once, and then if another star near to its position, as seen from their spaceship, then winked, followed by another in a linear progress, then it alerted them. So far, Jean had found five large asteroids close to their position and six planets that orbited another star. This time though she thought that the offender was a spaceship, and one that was approaching their position.

"Mark, I believe that we have a guest moving in towards us, they are forty million miles away from us, however, they appear to be slowing down fast." Jean said anxiously. "Most probably they want to talk."

"They can probably see us against the backdrop of the planet and its sun, and they are probably wondering about us. I will move us away while you try to identify the type of craft from the pictures taken by our new CCD camera."

Unlike traditional cameras, the CCD camera uses a small, rectangular chip of silicon called a Charge-Coupled Device, and this provides a much better photograph than ordinary cameras.

"Peter, power up our weapons and prepare to take us out of here at our best normal space speed."

Finally, Mark engaged their chameleon stealth mode, as the alien ship had not disengaged their one.

**********

On the alien ship, its captain was looking at the Galaxy Express, that was slipping away from its bright backdrop, could it be merely heading away, or had its captain somehow detected them and had decided to seek the blackness of space to come to his aid. It certainly did not seem to be in a hurry, so whether it was a civilian craft or a naval one, he powered up the vessel's weapons, and then he turned on the intercom and called out an order

"Boarding crew to the hanger deck, suit up and prepare for battle, we have what looks like a small freighter in our sights." Then he added. "Be warned, they have engaged their chameleon stealth mode."

Turning to his first mate Captain Tysack said.

"Maric, did you identify the spaceship before they hid behind their chameleon stealth screen?" He then added. "They are pretty good Maric, they saw us coming from a long way off, something they should not have been able to do, not when we had the chameleon mode engaged."

This should have set alarm bells ringing in the captain`s brain, it did with the rest of his bridge crew. Maric now replied to his captain`s question.

"No captain, it is of a new design, however, as it is using the chameleon stealth mode, could it be an Argolian Q ship, there were reports circling around the brotherhood about the loss of two ships close to this system."

"Maric, those reports are five years old; no Argolian vessel is going to hang around here that long, not when we stopped sending vessels in this direction after they began their campaign against us, one that is costing us valuable ships and their crews." The alien captain replied angrily and then repeated what he had previously said. "However, I would be interested to know how they had seen us so easily, seeing as how we`re are in our chameleon stealth mode."

Tysack then turned to his communications officer.

"Rylan, call them up, tell them we are a simple Abrasion freighter and want to know who they are, send it in the Argolian language."

Rylan looked across at Maric as if he was questioning the order. Maris too was questioning the order and he tried to argue with Tysack.

"But captain, no freighter would have the chameleon stealth mode, it is too expensive for small freighters, it must be a new design of an Argolian warship."

Tysack looked scornfully at Maric and wondered if the man was losing his nerve, then he repeated his order to Rylan while adding a warning.

"Rylan, do as I command, call them up, tell them we are a simple Abrasion freighter and want to know who they are, send it in the Argolian language." Tysack then added. "And next time I give an order do not look to Maric to confirm it or I will send you to the brig for a month with only survival rations to keep you alive."

Maric tried to hide himself on the small bridge, even though he thought that the captain was making a grave error of judgment. Meanwhile a very pale Rylan sent the message to the Galaxy Express while vowing to follow his captain`s orders no matter what, or how illogical.

The Argolian language was the interplanetary language of choice amongst the planets in this sector of space, only the pirates, outcasts and free miners still spoke their own language. However, the Marsoonian pirates could transmit in any language, all thanks to the wonder of Argolian science.

**********

On the Galaxy Express, Rob looked across at Mark and said.

"The alien ship says that it is an Abrasion freighter, it wants to know who we are Mark."

"They are not an Abrasion freighter Mark, according to the pirates` computer; freighters simply do not have the chameleon stealth feature, it is too expensive. In any case all Abrasion vessels have been constructed to resemble one of their sacred objects. They should be cylindrical, with two long engine housings attached to and standing off from the stern, a prominent dome above the mid-section of the ship with a humanoid face painted on their bow." Jean replied and then added. "That vessel looks more like a long range Marsoonian pirate vessel, probably out looking for an easy victory against a gullible enemy."

"In that case Jean I will turn us about so that our weapon points directly at them." Mark said and then turning to Rob said.

"Tell them they are a stinking Marsoonian liar, tell them in Argolian, let`s see how that grabs them." Mark said defiantly although secretly worried about the outcome, if the pirate did not turn and leave.

Over the last five years, the bridge crew had all managed to learn and then speak the Argolian language fluently, using the alien computer as their tutor. Their alien computer had also told the scientists somethings about the rest of the galaxy, including the local super power. In using the Argolian language, Mark hoped to call the pirates` bluff in such a way that he would scare them away, if indeed they were pirates.

The crew waited anxiously, if this was a pirate ship, would they come through the coming battle unharmed, or could it actually be a freighter whose captain would scuttle away from them. However, one member of the crew, the biologist, Mavis Judge, was not happy with the way Mark was handling the situation, and she moved forward and said.

"Mark, this not how I saw my first contact situation, one with what could be a friendly race. If we meet every stranger with fear, we might as well stay put on Earth. I demand that you call them and ask if we can send a party across to talk to them. I thought that was the reason why we put the two shuttles in the hanger bay down on the landing level."

Mark did not appear to have heard her, instead he busied himself with turning the bows of the ship towards a possible enemy. Only when the ship was correctly positioned did he turn to look up at an angry biologist, one who now appeared ready to make the argument physical.

"Mavis, I do agree with some of what you have said, however, this time I believe that we are facing a pirate vessel, they possess the chameleon stealth mode, no small freighter does, according to the alien computer. Should they turn away, then I will call them, and you can talk to them, however, if they come towards us, then I will give them a final warning, just before I open fire upon them."

"Okay Mark, thank you." Mavis replied and was about to say more when the alien ship began to move.

**********

On the pirate ship, their captain, had decided that the starship was just a harmless Argolian freighter, one who possessed the stealth mode and who had puffed himself in an attempt to scare the big bad wolf away. Therefore, he turned to the helmsman and ordered.

"Attack plan three Bartok."

Tysack finger hovered over his weapons controls as the starship began to pick up speed and moved so that it would be parallel but above the Galaxy Express.

**********

Mark watched as the alien starship began to move, noticing its course and speed, he knew instinctively that the alien ship was beginning its attack, it was not moving away as an innocent freighter would have done. As he engaged the port and vertical thrusters to swing his ship`s bow round towards the enemy, Mavis Judge launched herself at Mark saying.

"No captain, you must not fire on them, I know that they are friendly."

Knocking Mark out of his chair she struggled with him just as the pirate vessel began to turn and make its attack run. With the computer screaming out a warning, and before his bridge crew could move to assist him, Mark struck Judge on the chin, knocking her out, regaining his chair just as the enemy fired two energy bolts at the Galaxy Express, meaning to just disable the vessel. At the last second, and back in his chair, Mark saw the energy bolts streaking towards them. Mark immediately used his starboard thrusters in an attempt to evade the energy bolts, and due to this sudden change of course by Mark, one energy bolt did miss them entirely, and the second bolt only struck the ship a glancing blow amidships. It only damaged the upper level of their vessel, where the stores were kept, and not engineering where it was originally heading.

As the crew of the Galaxy Express steadied themselves after the explosion, one dozen, two-man space chariots were preparing to swarm from the alien ship, their mission to head for the airlocks on the Galaxy Express, and it was at this point that Mark fired his forward weapon.

**********

Captain Tysack screamed in anger when he saw one of his energy bolts streak over the top of their prey and the other hit the upper levels of it, missing engineering entirely. Then he screamed in anger, coupled with fear and disbelief, as the defenceless freighter fired three energy bolts at them, and with the distance between the two ships much closer than when he had opened hostilities, he knew that one at least would strike his ship.

**********

Mark watched as the three energy bolts streaked towards the pirate vessel, with the bows of his ship still turning, he fired three more energy bolts at their enemy. As one of the first bolts singed the upper hull of the desperately turning pirate ship, the other two bolts struck, taking out her bridge and a section immediately behind the bridge.

It was now that the twelve chariots were launched from the rear of the pirate vessel, their crews eager to board their chosen victim, especially when they saw that their own spaceship was so badly damaged. What they saw as they turned towards the Galaxy Express was three more powerful energy bolts heading straight at them. The pilots swerved violently, two colliding with each other as the three bolts screamed past them and struck the engineering department of their starship, making their current mission even more important, it was one of survival now. As the chariots closed in on their intended victim, the Galaxy Express was moving away, away from the burning hulk of the stricken pirate vessel. The chariots were closing fast, however, they were intended for use against a disabled vessel, as the Galaxy Express was supposed to be, they could not match the speed of a vessel powered with a Stardrive, even if it was only powering their interplanetary drive at the time. The twenty-four pirates watched, their fear mounting, as their intended victim picked up speed and then moved rapidly away from them. They watched, in terror, as it headed away, passed the red dwarf, and then it disappeared from their view.

**********

After leaving Proxima Centauri far behind them. Mark turned to look down at the unconscious woman at his feet and then he turned to Jean and said.

"Jean, you and Rob take her to her cabin, and lock her in, she could have killed us all by her stupidity, thankfully the pirate captain did not realise that his intended victim had teeth."

"Okay Mark, will do." Jean replied.

Mark then went to the ship`s hold to inspect the damage, leaving Peter in command on the bridge. The crash doors were down in the section where the energy bolt had exploded, and had contained the hull breach, even so he would only be happy when he was back in space dock and the damaged repaired.

Jean and Rob returned from locking a still unconscious Mavis Judge in her cabin, after Jean had made sure that Judge was only unconscious without any serious injuries, and this freed Peter to trace Mark, he was gone down to the hanger bay. Mark was suiting up, preparing to take out a space chariot.

"Do you want me to accompany you, Jean and Rob are back on the bridge?" Peter asked.

"No, Peter, I want you to check the entire section out, both on this level and the accommodation level, I believe that we were lucky, however, we cannot afford the damage to spread in to other sections of the ship." Mark replied.

With that Mark called Jean on the intercom.

"Jean, I am going outside in a space chariot to check on the hull breach, will you bring the ship out of hyperspace."

"Take care Mark, you should really take someone with you, just in case." Jean replied.

"I will be fine, I just want to have a quick looksee, Peter is checking from the inside."

With Peter safely off the hanger deck, Mark emptied it of air and then climbed aboard the chariot.

"Okay, Jean open up the hanger bay doors, I am ready to go." Mark said through his space suit transmitter.

The large doors slowly opened and Mark took a slow ride out of the hanger bay, up to the upper hull and checked on the damage. Thankfully, there were no signs that it was anything but a glancing blow, no ugly looking cracks speeding towards other parts of the ship, so after a quick look at the galaxy, he returned to the hanger bay. Once he had landed he asked Jean to close the hanger doors and to re-pressurise the hanger bay. Peter was there to meet him, he reported that the inside of the ship was okay, no signs of any damage apart from the hold. While Peter walked up to engineering, to check on his two crewmen, Mark walked up to the ship`s galley and this was where Jean found him, pouring coffee in to a large mug.

"I could do with a whisky Mark, but I will settle for one of those." Jean said. "I really thought that we were done for when that stupid woman hurled herself at you."

"She had me worried for a moment, when she grabbed me while the computer screamed out its warning." Mark replied with a grin on his tired looking face.

Jean took the mug of coffee from Mark, and after taking a sip she said to Mark.

"This has been both an exciting and a worrying mission, for are we to assume that we might be attacked whenever we journey in to space, or should we just try the opposite direction."

"I think that all of our starships should be armed Jean, and that they should be crewed with military men who are ready to defend themselves. As for the other direction, who can say how far the pirates range, maybe we are at the outer limit of their hunting ground or maybe, they accidently bypassed Earth and have now found it."

"There is also the question of what to do with Mavis Judge, when we tell her how she nearly caused our destruction, will she be repentant Jean, or should she continue the rest of the voyage locked in her cabin?" Mark wondered.

"One thing is certain Mark, from this point in time, only the bridge crew should be allowed on the bridge, we should visit them in their laboratories if we need their advice, or they need to speak to us." Jean replied.

"Agreed, will you see that everyone understands this?" Mark said and then added. "Jean, when Mavis Judge wakes up, we should speak to her, see if she does understand how near to death we all were because of her action, and, just how wrong she was, this time."

Putting his mug of coffee down on the work surface, Mark moved closer to his wife and put his arms around her, he needed her more than ever to help keep his spirits up.

"A larger, faster spaceship seems to offer up as many problems as it solves." Mark lamented. "When there was just the four of us we knew that we could trust each other, now that there are eleven of us, it seems that it`s not so simple."

"The rest of the crew are fine Mark, don`t allow one stupid, and frankly dangerous person to colour your perception of the rest of the scientific community." Jean replied as she looked in to her husband`s eyes.

Putting her mug of coffee down too, she kissed him and everything seemed okay, they had come, seen and conquered, they now had to decide on their next mission.

Later that day, they did speak to Mavis Judge, but there was something about her that creeped them both out, so they decided that for the next two days she should be confined in her cabin. Jean had learned something during the attack by the pirate vessel, and she told Mark.

"The bolt of energy that struck us Mark, I noticed a slight deflection when it struck our magnetic defence shield, it was not great, however, if we built in localised turbo power boosters, we could defend ourselves against a single attacker. Of course, if we came up against a fleet of pirate ships, they would quickly drain our power, but against one ship we could minimise the damage to the ship and her crew, giving us a great advantage that the pirate ships that we have so far encountered, simply do not possess. Mark, we no longer have to fear an encounter with them, we can stop them in their tracks."

Chapter Six

In Search of the Argolians

On their return to Earth, Mark and Jean met up with General Dance, it was as soon as they stepped foot on Earth, and they talked together long about the dangers that the crews of Earth spaceships faced when leaving the safety of Earth. However. During their talk with him he seemed distant, finally, he got around to what he had really come about.

"Mark, Jean, there are some people in the government, ones that I have termed Ostriches, that is because these individuals believe that by hiding away from danger, any real dangers will conveniently disappear. It is the result of your voyages in to deep space, and the dangers that you met and thankfully, overcame. They think that we should not travel further than our moon, and that the new colony on Mars should be closed, the base on Ganymede too, and our people brought home. As for the asteroid belt with all the riches that it is thought to hold, it is considered too dangerous to visit, let alone to actually mine." Dance said to them.

Mark and Jean were astonished to hear such words coming from Dance, they began to wonder where he was leading to with this information, was he about to tell them that they were grounded and after their very successful mission.

"That is ridiculous General, the alien pirates will respect only one border, that of the strength and ability to stop them, and we have shown that our starships are quite capable of beating them." Jean protested. "It is they who should be afraid of us."

"Maybe Jean, however, the Ostriches argue that a defensive perimeter would be safer for our people, they propose that it should be set up at 300,000 miles away from the Earth. They want to ring the Earth with unmanned weapons platforms and install similar weapons on the far side of the moon." Dance replied. "However, you should know that this view is in the minority, so far. However, if the pirates appear again in the vicinity of our solar system, if they succeeded in an attack against one of our spaceships, their numbers might grow."

"General, these unmanned weapons platforms could be taken and used against us, the aliens have the chameleon stealth mode, did no one mention that to these fools." Jean said angrily.

Jean turned to look for Mark for his agreement, who nodded but stayed silent leaving Dance to reply to her question.

"That point was raised Jean, however, it was brushed aside. The merely pointed out that a failsafe mechanism could be put on board the platforms to prevent such a thing from happening."

"General, is this talk just to warn us of the possibility of being shut down, even before we have told the world about the ocean planet in orbit around Proxima Centauri, and of the marine life that we found there. Or do you have another mission that you want us to prepare for, one that will commence sooner rather than later?" Mark asked.

Jean looked at Mark and smiled, yes of course, the American government wanted them to risk their lives again while the president and senators sat back safely in their nice warm houses. Let Blazer Space keep Earth safe, they enjoy danger, they can fight for the world, then, whatever happened, whichever side won the argument, they could side with it. General Dance instinctively knew what she was thinking, for he also smiled.

"Mark, Jean, you are correct, I do need you to ready your vessel for another mission, one that will be both dangerous and very urgent, it could save everyone on Earth. However, we do not want the next mission of the Galaxy Express to be a scientific endeavour, we want you to find the Argolians, to see if they will sign a treaty of friendship with Earth. A treaty that will result in their coming to aid us in our war against the pirates and ease the minds of the Ostriches. We will put ten marines, two trained astronauts and two young lieutenants aboard your vessel to help you. The lieutenants have both performed well in their astronaut training, and their stint with you should round them off nicely. The marines will be there to help prevent the pirates from boarding your ship, if you run in to them again. The astronauts will allow the two of you to lead any landing parties that you will need to make on this new mission." General Dance explained. "The astronauts have been training for two years, they were to fly the first American starship, now they will complete their training under you two. What about it, will you do it?"

"General, NASA foisted Mavis Judge on us and she almost killed us all, now you want us to take ten marines, two NASA astronauts and two young astronauts with us. General, before I agree to take them I want the answer to one question, will they obey my orders, or will they attempt to take control of the Galaxy Express, should my wishes contradict some secret orders that you or someone else has given them?"

"I give you my word Mark, that Mavis Judge screwed up all on the own, she did not have any secret orders, neither will the marines, the astronauts or the lieutenants. They will go with you because we cannot afford to lose your ship, because if anything happened to you while you were away from it, it would be stranded half way across the galaxy. Listen up, this is for you two only, the Galaxy Express may be Earth`s only starship ever to travel outside of the sol solar system. It is not just in America, the political will all over the world is on the verge of a 180-degree flip, and the starships being built around the world may end up travelling between the Earth and the moon. The only way to ensure that this is not a permanent change is for your mission to succeed."

"If we agreed General, there would be the four members of the bridge crew, two engineers, one housekeeper, Doctor John Schweitzer, two experienced astronauts, two inexperienced lieutenants and the ten marines aboard the Galaxy Express. That is twenty-two air breathing, water drinking and eating human beings." Mark began and then went on to explain the problem. "The Galaxy Express is not the starship Enterprise, to survive the journey we would need to find new sources of water in any of the planetary systems that we passed through, so that we could refill our tanks. Yes, it is possible, however, there would be risks in stopping off at each system that we come to, risks of running in to either an enemy, or an alien who decides to fire first before asking questions." Mark argued but then added. "However, General, the possibility of increasing our knowledge, and discovering new planets capable of supporting life, is very tempting." Mark mused with a gleam in his eyes. "What do you think Jean?"

"The dangers are real Mark, but as you said, the possibilities are simply mind boggling." Jean replied with the same gleam in her eye.

General Dance looked at them and said.

"You two are either completely mad, or you are the bravest pair of human beings that I will ever meet." Dance began. "You will have to leave as soon as the damage to your spaceship is repaired, before the Ostriches attempt to prevent you from leaving. How about Townsend, Masters and Schweitzer will they agree to leave their families and go on such a dangerous journey of undetermined length?"

"I do not know General, we have only just returned to Earth, for Rob and Peter to leave their families in one month`s time, or sooner depending upon how long your people take to repair the Galaxy Express, will be a difficult decision for them to make. There are also Lawson and Seinfeld, our two new engineers, Ms Jefferson our housekeeper, all of them will have to be insane to agree to sign up for this mission." Mark replied and then added. And talking about Ms Jefferson, she will be able to cater for the enlarged bridge and engineering crew, however, the marines will have to care for themselves."

General Dance looked at Mark and Jean and said.

"I am sure that the marines are quite capable of doing just that Mark. Mark, Jean, you do not have much time to gather your crew together, the marines, who are all volunteers, are already training for the mission, let me know your decision by this time tomorrow. In the meantime, the repairs to the Galaxy Express will begin, they will be complete within the week, not a month, you must be ready to leave the day after. Oh Mark, remember to tell them that this is yet another top-secret mission, nothing is to be said to anyone who is not part of the actual mission, apart from their wives of course."

"Oh, General, one more question for you. What happens if the Argolians prove to be hostile?" We will have alerted them to our presence here on Earth, they might just come calling."

"If they are Mark, then you two had better find us some more aliens, ones that like us." Dance ordered. "And don`t return until you do." He finished, but here he was only joking.

**********

Peter Townsend, Rob Masters and Doctor Schweitzer did not even have the full week to make up their minds, they had the same day that Mark and Jean had, so that replacements could be found if either of them decided to stay on Earth. Also, their decision was much harder, for they had to decide whether to leave their young families behind or agree to go on a dangerous mission in to deep space, one full of so many unknowns. Mark and Jean had told them all that they would be probably be away for a minimum of two months, depending on their luck. Doctor Schweitzer had agreed immediately, for the chance to make new scientific discoveries was too tempting not to agree. Ms Jefferson had no family, she had lost her husband in an automobile accident just two years previously, and she looked upon the crew of the Galaxy Express as her new family. As for Lawson and Seinfeld, they were both single and wanted adventure, which is why they had signed up for the previous trip, so they immediately agreed.

However, even though the dangers were real, when General Dance called upon Mark and Jean the next day, he was informed that they, and all their crew, were willing to be a part of this new mission. With their agreement, the general ordered that all the stores for the mission, which were already being transferred up to the space station, should be loaded aboard the Galaxy Express.

The team of workers around the Galaxy Express was larger than ever seen before, as they repaired the damage done by the alien energy bolt. First the auto repair mechanism was repaired, this feature was to fill any holes made by micro-meteorites. Of course, these were now mainly a thing of the past, thanks to the alien defence shield that had been installed on all space craft after its successful testing on the Jupiter Express.

Mark and Jean, after informing General Dance about their planned improvement to the defences of the Galaxy Express, asked for and received even more engineers to assist them in installing Jean`s localised turbo power boosters. At the time, it seemed as if all the people on the space station were working for Blazer Space. After seven days, Mark and Jean were exhausted from working sixteen-hour days, however, the project was finished and ready for testing, which would happen on their way out of the solar system.

The workers that Dance had provided had also completed the other repairs to the Galaxy Express, the damaged inner hull plating had been replaced and the outer hull plating. In the promised seven days the Galaxy Express was ready to set out across deep space, the stores were all aboard and stored away within the repaired hold of the ship. Then the new members of its crew arrived, ten marines comprising Captain Heinz Muller, Sergeant Shultz Riesman and eight privates. The four astronauts, Colonel Neil Glenn and Lieutenant Sheila Perkins, and the two lieutenants had all reported and were on board the starship.

Mark greeted the marines and then he called the two astronauts to join him in the ship`s galley, and he spoke to them regarding their duties aboard the starship.

"The three of us will each pilot the ship for eight hours per day, that time will be split in to two four-hour watches. Neil, you can have the first four-hour watch, so it will be your duty to take us away from the space dock, Sheila, the second four-hour watch is yours, I will take over for the third watch. Any questions?"

"No that is fine Captain." Neil replied while Sheila merely nodded.

"Good, and please remember, we are normally on first names here, this is not a warship, my name is Mark. There will be times when I will use my rank, but we are not at battle stations now. Okay Neil, Sheila?"

"Yes Mark." Neil and Sheila replied.

Mark knew that he had not told the whole truth here, the Galaxy Express was both a ship of discovery and a warship, however, he the captain was a civilian.

Rob was the Communications officer, however, on this trip, Lieutenant Jackson Roberts would take over the 2nd watch and Lieutenant Michael Chandra the 3rd watch.

Jean of course had been his co-pilot on the previous trips, however, Mark had decided that with two astronauts aboard the Galaxy Express, they would take over her post allowing her to carry on with her scientific duties. If past cruises were anything to go by, they would probably need her skills full time.

The last people that Mark greeted were Lieutenants` Jackson Roberts and Michael Chandra, two of the younger astronauts in the US space force. After greeting them and telling them their duties and watch, Mark returned to his cabin to catch up on the latest news coming out of Washington. Excitement was now at fever pitch on board the starship, at the pentagon and at NASA. General Dance came by to wish them well on their mission, and as he was about to leave he said.

"One more thing Mark, Jean, once you leave Earth, do not attempt to make radio contact with us. If the Ostriches come out on top, they will order you back home, you might disregard such an order, but I cannot speak for the marines or the astronauts, they might feel compelled to obey such an order."

These were hardly the words that they wanted to hear as they prepared to leave, but minutes after news came in from Washington. For news of their mission, and their imminent departure, had leaked out, and the Ostriches were moving heaven and hell to have the mission cancelled and the starship impounded. Fearing that this would happen, Mark informed all on board the Galaxy Express that they were leaving that very moment, with a radio blackout being enforced for security reasons. This cast a black cloud over the entire crew, who wondered what could be behind such an order. Mark and Jean told Peter and Rob, of course, and they were going to tell the others, once they had entered, what he termed hyperspace, for want of a better or more exact term. Even so, the situation forced upon them had added to their stress levels and Mark once again thought about his crew of four, back on the Jupiter Express, when things were all black and white.

**********

Colonel Glenn sat in the pilot's chair with Mark standing at the back of the small bridge, and Mark said.

"Neil, make a heading towards our first star fall, the system with the ice planet. Then take us out and make for our system`s heliopause at our best interplanetary speed."

The starship moved quietly away from the space station and then Neil set course for the heliopause, at their best interplanetary speed.

"Neil, look out for asteroids and pirates, I will be in my cabin if you need me, the bridge is yours."

"Right, Mark." Neil replied.

This time their course would take them by Saturn, and Mark hoped that by doing so they would not run in to any more pirate vessels. As before, as they were passing through the asteroid belt they tested their new technology, the turbo charged defence shield. Moving uncomfortably close to an asteroid, one looking to weigh at least ten tons, they turbo charged their magnetic defence shield, and they were agreeably surprised to see it move away from them, and on a slightly different course.

"It certainly made a difference Jean, maybe it will give us some defence against our enemy's weapons." Mark remarked.

After arriving at the heliopause of their own planetary system, they entered in to full Stardrive and travelled for ten days to a planetary system that the NavCom had labelled as containing water-ice. According to the NavCom, it was in the centre of the Argolian Empire, in this way Mark hoped to bypass much of the area of space where there was a chance of encountering a pirate vessel. The ten-day journey was about the maximum possible for the ship before the air became bad, the ice rings and ice planets seemed to have been put there to allow star travel to be possible. Mark did explain their radio blackout to the crew, adding some thoughts of his own.

"Everyone on board must have realised that it had been a possibility, when General Dance had first mentioned the mission, even if they only admitted it to themselves when the blackout was ordered. However, you will be happy to know that so far, no recall orders have been sent to us. As far as everyone on board the ship is concerned, nothing has changed from the time that they volunteered for the mission up until now, nothing except that our success has just got more important to us and the people of Earth."

His message did make everyone on board feel a little better, some had feared that the news blackout was because of something far terrible, instead it was just politics and left-wing liberals. A ten-day space cruise is a long period of time to keep the larger crew confined and increasingly bored within the starship, however, it had allowed everyone to meet everyone else. They got to know each other, and bonded with their crewmates, and this was important on this type of voyage. The Galaxy Express came out of hyperspace, just before arriving at the system`s heliopause. Mark then crossed the line slowly and headed in towards the third of the gas giants, it was just another ringed planet, and here they refilled their water tanks, sucking up the smaller pieces of ice with their hose. It was as they were retracting the hose that another starship appeared on their scanners, it was heading directly for them, coming from their port quarter.

The ship was much smaller than the Galaxy Express and Mark thought that it looked to be a fast attack vessel of some kind. Its speed had quickly slowed and finally it was just hanging there, motionless in space, Mark assumed that it had only just seen them. It did not engage its chameleon stealth cloak, so he refrained from operating their one. However, he did have the computer keep a look out for cloaked ships, the fast attack vessel could be there to deter them from looking elsewhere. However, he immediately powered up his weapons` system, and then he turned to Peter.

"Have the engines ready for maximum acceleration and be prepared for some swift manoeuvres Peter, if they turn out to be pirates we will need to act instantly."

Peter sighed, every time they came in to deep space they encountered trouble, maybe the Ostriches had a point. Mark smiled at him, reading his mind, he smiled, shrugged and then he turned on the intercom and said.

"Listen up everyone, a spaceship has appeared off our port side, at the moment I do not know if it is friendly or not. It could just be after refilling its water tanks, as we have just done, you had better be ready for anything. If the Galaxy Express was a battle cruiser I would have already ordered battle stations, however, we are only a research vessel. Even so, I want everyone ready to react to whatever happens, so be ready to go to your duty stations. I will let you know more when I do, over and out."

Mark turned to Rob and said.

"We came out here looking for friends Rob, let`s see if we have found one. Tell them, in Argolian of course, who we are and that we are on a peaceful mission of discovery, let`s see how they respond to that."

After Rob had sent the message they sat and waited for a reply, it soon came.

"I am Captain Zima of the Ramarian police cruiser Scimitar. You are currently within the area of space claimed by the people of Ramaria. You are under arrest for having refilled your tanks without first applying to do so at the space dock in orbit above the planet Ramaria. Prepare to be boarded and taken to Ramaria under arrest."

"Rob, link me up to Captain Zima, let`s put him straight about a few facts." Mark said angrily, however, he spoke in a voice that he hoped conveyed both strength and trustworthiness.

"Captain Zima, this is Captain Blazer of the Earth starship Galaxy Express." Mark began. "We apologise Captain, if we broke a local law, however, we had no idea that permission was required, being strangers to this area of space, and especially as our people would never lay claim to the ice in systems nearby to our own one. However, you will not board my ship under any circumstances, any attempt to do so will be seen as an act of piracy and we will open fire upon your vessel. We will however, follow you to Ramaria and speak with your leaders. We, the flagship of the Earth space fleet, extend our hands in friendship to you and your planet and wish to make a treaty of trade and assistance between our two peoples."

Silence followed his speech and Mark prepared for everything and anything. On board the police cruiser, Captain Colm Zima was stunned by the reaction of the alien captain, however, he did not fire upon the Galaxy Express, as its configuration did not resemble any known pirate spaceship. The starship was much larger than his and obviously armed and thereby dangerous, and not wanting to go to war over such a trifling matter, Zima decided against pushing the matter. Especially, Zima decided, as what its captain had proclaimed was probably the truth and his people were always in need of new allies in their war against the Marsoonian pirates.

On board the Galaxy Express, Zima`s voice filled the bridge, and in commanding tones he ordered.

"You will move your ship to a position opposite my ship and on our port side but keeping a 1000-mile space between us. Once you are in position, I will send you the coordinates of our planetary system, as well as the schedule you will keep to. I will speak to you again on your arrival at our space dock."

Mark duly manoeuvred the Galaxy Express towards the alien starship while he spoke to his crew.

"We came out here looking for friends, I am not sure that these will be perfect ones, but we must comply with their request and follow them to Ramaria, that is if we are to find other planets who will help in our war against the pirates. We may even end up finding friends out here, ones whom we can trust and with whom we can trade. They may even help the people of Earth unite together, so that we can be proud of ourselves, especially when matched against advanced alien civilisations."

Having received the coordinates of the planet Ramaria, Mark followed the police cruiser to the system`s heliopause and then entered in to hyperspace. The alien captain obviously realised that the Galaxy Express could keep on going at this point, and that he could not stop it, however, as Mark had explained to his crew, he was not prepared to do that. Mark came out of Stardrive and entered interplanetary drive well before they had reached the heliopause of the Ramarian sun, he then edged across this invisible line and headed towards the inner part of the system. Way ahead of him Captain Zima initially thought that the stranger had reneged on their agreement and had absconded, however, he soon saw the alien starship moving up on his stern. Feeling vulnerable he manoeuvred his vessel so that there was room to react, if the vessel made to attack him. Soon the two spaceships were once again side by side, all be it with 1000 miles of space between them, and they moved in this formation for the next 24 hours before Mark saw an Earth-like planet ahead of them, and in orbit around it was a large space dock, he immediately informed his crew.

"Be aware everyone, we have arrived at the planet Ramaria, our first meeting with another intelligent race, not including the pirates that is, this is one more for the record books, soon they will have to give us a chapter all of our own. I will keep you informed as to what is happening, Captain out."

Captain, not Mark, you could be too informal and on a voyage such as this the wrong sort of informality could kill, and so he had decided to remind everyone of his rank. One hour later, and both craft were docked at the space dock, Captain Zima hurried along to airlock 5 where the massive form of the Galaxy Express hung in space. On asking permission to go aboard, Mark happily agreed to his request. On meeting Mark, Zima said.

"Captain Blazer, it is good to meet a brave and honest man. You see, when you agreed to accompany us, I decided that if you did then the charges against you would be dropped, however, if you had absconded, then you would have never, in the future, been granted permission to enter our system and use its facilities." He then added. "Also, Captain, we always stop alien starships, it is to ensure that the Marsoonian pirates do not return to our area of space, and so far, this practice has worked."

Mark was astonished that both of the intelligent species that they had encountered so far could easily pass for earthlings, however, he did not pursue the thought, he had other things to attend to, ones which were far more important. Therefore, he replied to the alien captain.

"I do understand Captain Zima, we have run in to two pirate craft in a relatively short period of time, and have had to fight them both, unluckily for them as we came away intact while they were both destroyed."

By mentioning the power of the Galaxy Express he sought to ensure their safety, however, he was beginning to feel good about the Ramarian spaceman, even so, the alien`s superiors were another matter altogether, politicians were probably the same throughout the galaxy, not to be trusted when they were out of your sight. Captain Zima went on to talk about Ramaria, about its great advances in robotics, of which he seemed to be proud **.**

"The factories and farms on Ramaria are all automated, this allows the people time for other pursuits, such as discussing what they deem to be the most important matters of the day. Only the more important tasks are reserved for our people, such as keeping our space free for all our people and our visitors."

"It all sounds grand Captain, I would like to see your world." Jean replied suitably impressed by what she had heard.

They had all come to see alien worlds and in truth they all felt excited at the prospecting of going down to the surface of one, to walk upon it, to mingle with its people, to listen to alien discussions. That was until they noticed how Captain Zima was looking rather awkward and he explained.

"My friends, I may have painted too rosy a picture of Ramaria. Yes, many of the factories and farms are automated now, however, I may have exaggerated the benefits that our people were able to accrue from it. Come, we will leave for the surface of Ramaria, the Grand Council wants urgently to meet you. It is early in the morning in the capital city, so I suggest that we walk from the shuttle landing park, across Freedom Square, and there at one time you could have listened to many fine discussions, even at this time of the morning. However, much has changed upon Ramaria, but come we must hurry, the Grand Council, they are the leaders of Ramaria and nominally of the Ramarian Federation, await you."

Before accompanying Captain Zima, Mark turned to Peter and said.

"The ship is yours Peter, look after it."

"We will Mark, oh ask the Grand Council if the crew can enjoy a little shore leave, we have been cooped up in the ship for almost two weeks now and I for one am beginning to get a little cabin crazy."

Mark smiled and then nodded.

"Will do Peter, you do look a little peaky." Mark said smiling and then he turned to accompany Jean and Captain Zima out on to the space dock.

Once out on the space dock they ambled across to airlock ten where they boarded a shuttle craft that took them down to the planet Ramaria. Mark took this opportunity to discuss the real reason why they had journeyed so far from their home world.

"We entered your area of space Captain, in search of intelligent life forms to befriend, to make trade agreements with, to exchange ideas and to learn from you." Mark said and then added. "We also seek allies to help us in our war against the pirates. When our world learned of the Argolian Empire, and that the Argolians were the major power in this section of space, we hoped to enlist their support. For you see we are new to space, forced to learn quickly, to build new weapons with which to fight to defend our planet against the pirates."

Zima looked at Mark and frowned.

"The Argolians have been fighting the pirates for decades, if you do find them they are more likely to try and enlist your help in fighting the pirates. Unfortunately, Captain Blazer, the people of Ramaria have not seen an Argolian ship for eight years, not since the Argolians decided to upgrade their war against the pirates and wipe them from the galaxy. It was after the pirates had killed the Argolian heir apparent, it happened when the pirates launched a raid upon the star liner in which he was travelling." Zima explained and then added. "Unfortunately, the Ramarian leaders sent a message urging the Argolians to try to make peace with the pirates, rather than to wage war upon them, adding that they deserved to have their rights respected above all else."

Mark smiled and said.

"I can see how that would have gone down on the Argolian planet. Am I right in saying that the Argolians sent a very angry answer back to your Grand Council?"

"They broke off diplomatic relations and cancelled all trading arrangements between the two planets."

By the time that they had landed on Ramaria, they were speaking with one another on a first name basis. Mark always felt that this was a politer form of speech in which to hold a conversation, especially with someone who had shown their worth, and he found that it also brought about more positive attitudes, providing better results. Colm now spoke to them about politics.

"There are two main political groups on Ramaria, the present group have been in power since just before assassination of the Argolian heir apparent, they are the reformist party who have swept away many of the past governments` ways. Their opponents are the reactionaries, who governed our world, on and off, along with the commune party, that was before the rise of the reformists who promised much and were swept in to power on the back of their promised reforms. Now both of the old parties are attempting a come-back. Unfortunately, they may attempt to use your inopportune arrival to assist them in this aim. You should take care in your dealings with our present leaders, with the coming election, they may see you as a danger to their way of thinking, so beware what you say to them, it could meet with an angry response if they consider you to favour the reactionaries."

These ominous words dampened the spirits of Mark and Jean, and their first impressions of the planet caused further misgivings as to the wisdom of coming down to the planet`s surface alone and unarmed. For the capital city looked to be in a mess, the buildings were in urgent need of renovation and the roads and pavements were filled with potholes. It reminded them of ancient pictures of the old eastern bloc countries in twentieth century Earth. One surprise however made their spirits rise, the vehicles were covered with solar panels, except for the windows of course, and many of them were also driverless, being operated by a computer. Ramaria was obviously a highly technical civilisation, however, one in trouble, maybe Earth had found a possible new trading partner, it certainly was in need of help.

As Colm had suggested, they walked across Freedom Square, it was a large paved square set in front of the old palace that now housed the Grand Council. The square however, was almost empty except for a few people hurrying about their business, it was not filled with small groups of people discussing many important issues and Jean and Mark were disappointed. Colm seeing their disappointment explained.

"The present government, the reformers, decided that for discussions to be held in the open could cause problems if opposing sections came to listen to a speaker. So, they banned open air discussions and now they must take place within a hall. Each topic under consideration is held in two separate rooms so that the views of the one will not cause the other group anxiety. Then the highlights of each discussion are sent through to the other room and they can then consider the opposing views. The result is that few discussions arrive at an agreed policy, however, peace is maintained. Political speakers can obtain a license to speak within Freedom square, such as the politician speaking to her voters up ahead of us. We will stop there for a moment to listen to what is being said."

The political rally at which they stopped momentarily, comprised of a campaigning politician, a middle-aged woman of the reformist party and her prospective voters, most of whom were mainly women. She was stating angrily that the term, Ramarian was abusive, because Ramar referred to the male of their species, while the word Loramar referred to the female. She proposed that a new word be found to describe both their species and their planet, and she felt that Lo-Ramar fitted the bill. Her words seemed to find favour amongst the group who cheered her every word, no one arguing that their world needed more than a change of names to cure its many ills.

There were other politicians canvassing for votes on this side of the square, mainly reformist politicians who were also vocalising their ideas. How they were in favour of this new way, or that new way, stopping momentarily only for the silent clapping to end before continuing with their speech. Their speeches were amongst the most pointless, however, they were well received by their audiences, although why, Mark and Jean could not fathom.

"Mark, Jean, what you are witnessing is surely a break down in the mental health of a growing segment of the Ramarian people. When the Argolians broke off all relations between the two planets and their assorted colony planets, the Ramarians took it badly, to be insulted in such a way was almost too much to cope with. The government decided that no one on Ramaria should have to feel such anger again, and so modern Ramaria came in to being. A liberal government ruling an increasingly liberal minded people. Many amongst them now demand to be protected against supposedly offensive behaviour, even when it does not exist except in their own minds. Others see immorality in anything, however inoffensive the situation is. Even our universities are not immune to this disorder, self-righteous students compete to pose as victims of every conceivable kind of prejudice, delighting in upstaging each other. Not long ago they demanded that trigger warnings be inserted in everything, to protect those who have been traumatised in some way, or not. A trigger warning at the start of a film, a play, a book, a discussion, even a song is fine, so that people can chose whether to proceed. However, they also want them before the actual scene, you can imagine how this affects the ratings, the number of trigger warnings demanded constantly interrupt the film, ruining any dramatic impact built in to the next scene. It is making many of the public switch off in anger and frustration, but they are powerless to act, for the new Ramarian politician or bureaucrat believes that they always occupy the moral high ground and so they have right on their side."

Colm thought that further explanation was required so he continued.

"This phenomenon became noticeable some sixteen years ago, around the time of an earlier election. Unfortunately, there was no politician or leading academic at the time who was willing or brave enough to speak out against it. Now, I fear that the situation will get worse before it improves. However, the question that I am afraid to ask, is how much worse it must get before the situation begins to improve, to right itself."

Mark smiled sympathetically as he made to move passed a young woman who was sitting on the ground meditating, the woman immediately jumped to her feet and complained to him.

"Excuse me, you are invading my space, are you blind, can you not see the large yellow square painted on the ground. Are you stupid, surely you know that men are forbidden to enter such a coloured square?"

Colm quickly moved forward to explain.

"Please excuse them, the fault is mine alone, my friends are strangers from another world, they simply did not know."

With the woman partially placated, Colm continued speaking to Mark and Jean.

"That is another reason why I visit the city so infrequently, what would happen if a barbarian entered her space, does she not realise that it is only safe from those she need not fear."

Colm then changed tack and returned to the state of the city.

"As you can see from the buildings around the square, nothing gets done anymore, all we have now is talk and demonstrations. To make matters worse, President Rohm has now begun to change the meaning of words, and I am certain that it is to bring about an agenda that we do not know about, so far. He is even able to accept two mutually contradictory beliefs as both being correct."

"On Earth a writer had a term for that, George Orwell termed it Newspeak, in a fictional society the rulers there stated that War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength." Jean said interrupting Colm`s flow for a second.

With the opportunity to complain about the wrongs that were happening in his world, to open minds, Colm continued to voice his anger at the new Ramarian.

"Exactly Jean. That is what they want to saddle us with, rather than to discuss how to rebuild our cities that you see in disrepair, or to improve the lot of the ordinary citizen. They seek to enslave our minds, and that is why I live on the colony planet of Namur. Nothing is accomplished here by the Ramarians, and why, because the permission that they need to obtain for even the smallest of tasks must be agreed to by up to ten different groups, all headed by some of the fools that you see here in the square. Each has a separate agenda, and all must agree before any permit is granted, it makes it very expensive and so very time consuming. To carry out a repair on your house you must first get a permit, however before it can be granted the local council must canvas your neighbours to see if they have any objections. With your permit in your hand you must then find an approved worker to carry it out, and always one has to use an approved supplier issuing only approved materials."

Jean sought to change the subject, Colm`s description about the state of Ramaria was depressing her.

"You say nothing is done, but Colm, your spaceship seemed to be working very efficiently, and you said that your space fleet keeps the pirates at bay?"

"I do not live here on Ramaria, as I said, I live on the Ramarian colony planet of Namur. Our planet is quite near, astronomically speaking, a mere two light years away. The colony provides the crews and the expertise to police the small Ramarian confederation, manning and repairing the spaceships, and in return we are paid and supplied by the home planet."

By the time he had explained this, they had arrived at the building that housed the Grand Council.

"They have asked me to report to them, I will see you both back at the shuttle landing park. You must go to the reception desk and tell them who you are and that the Grand Council are expecting you both." Colm said and then hurried up the wide steps and disappeared in to the building.

Mark and Jean were asked to wait while the Grand Council finished speaking to Colm, so they sat down in the grand hall, as it was termed.

"Poor Colm, his need to talk to a friendly stranger about all that he finds wrong with Ramaria was so strong, Mark surely it cannot be as bad as he has painted, not in such an advanced civilisation?"

"Probably not, away from the Capital city it is probably okay, but maybe this is, or was, where he spent most of his time, when not on his ship, or on Namur." Mark surmised.

"Is this what the Ostriches plan for Earth, if so what is happening here must be reported back to our planet`s leaders I would scream if we had to live in such a world." Jean complained. "Oh Mark, this so un-alien, this could be Earth, the people could be from Earth, it is so disappointing." Jean complained.

Mark laughed and said.

"I agree Jean, they could at least have an antenna or two coming out of their heads, or a green tinge to their skin."

Jean looked at him and added.

"Have bug eyes and weird fingers."

"Their space craft are not even saucer shaped, they look like something out of Flash Gordon." Mark complained.

They both laughed, however, then, Mark became slightly more serious.

"To find the Marsoonian pirates and the Ramarians both looking like us is a little surprising, but we should be happy about that, if they were bug eyed monsters we might have trouble concealing our dislike of their appearance, certainly of trusting them."

"If only the people in the square could have been more advanced intellectually than our own, to hear them talk, well they could have been dolts, rather like the Ostriches who tried to stop our trip." Jean lamented.

"To have journeyed tens of light years to meet an alien civilisation, and then to find this, it is rather disappointing." Mark Agreed. "However, they cannot all be like this, surely?"

**********

The time had finally come for Mark and Jean to be shown in to the council chamber, there they were met by a panel of thirteen people sitting behind a long desk, they were all similarly dressed in grey suits and all looking very serious. They comprised of the twelve elected members of the Grand Council and the president of Ramaria, President Rohm. There were also two guards present, who were standing idly by, seemingly bored by their work, looking as if they were only waiting for their working day to end. The scene reminded Mark of a movie he had once seen about the Russian communists, a grey panel of people seated within a grey room. Earth-like caricatures for an Earth-like planet, how disappointing, he just hoped that the similarities would end here and that he would be faced by intelligent people, not the people that Colm had described.

Rohm was a tall greying man, pun not intended, and he was sitting in the centre of the group. He looked up at Mark and Jean, and after greeting them, he asked them why they had come to Ramaria. Mark explained why they had come to the planet, and after, he asked if the council could supply them with better star charts that showed the inhabited planets and more importantly, Argolia. The Committee looked at each other, and in whispered voices began to discuss the matter, a middle-aged woman opening the discussion, her words however were poisonous and filled with fear.

"If we agree to help them in this matter, the reactionaries would use their arrival to push forward their own agendas. They would spread misinformation about the aliens, explain how their system of government is preferable to our own. This would result in delays to our progressive reforms, our party might even be voted out of office and our world plunged back in to evil."

"What you say fills me with dread, we must ensure that it does not happen." A young man opined. "We must act quickly and decisively."

"We must treat them as enemies of the state, we must imprison them indefinitely without trial." President Rohm declared grimly.

It had taken the council less than five minutes to come to this evil decision, and President Rohm turned back to Rob and Jean and in a pious voice gave the council`s answer to their offer of friendship.

"Captain Blazer we are worried about giving you the information, to begin with it might infringe the rights of the people living on the other inhabited planets, and so we feel that we must refuse your request to provide you with better star charts."

Mark and Jean were disappointed by the council's decision, however, the meeting now turned decidedly ugly.

"However, there is another reason why we have refused your request. Before we saw you, we spoke to Captain Zima. He reported that your crew comprised of at least twenty people, we find this surprising for so small a vessel. We believe that there can be only one reason why you require such a large crew, you are a pirate ship from Marsoonia, the number of men aboard your ship prove this, for they are obviously your boarding crew." Rohm declared angrily. "You came to Ramaria so that you could worm your way in to our confidence, before attacking the spaceships and the planets of our small federation."

Mark and Jean were stunned by this accusation, however, Mark attempted to explain.

"The soldiers, are only aboard our vessel to prevent pirates from boarding it, we are not pirates, my ship is the flagship of the planet Earth, we are here on a diplomatic mission to meet you, and to open up diplomatic relations between our two great peoples."

However, the Grand Council simply laughed at his explanation, and Rohm called over to the two guards.

"Guards, arrest these criminals, take them to the lowest level of dungeons beneath the palace. They will be interrogated there at our leisure."

Then Rohm turned back to Mark and said.

"As for the crew of the Galaxy Express, they too will be arrested, a squad of state police will be despatched immediately to the space dock to arrest your crew and impound your vessel."

One of the two guards in the council chamber, the one just two feet away from Mark, took a second to realise that he was to react to whatever the president had said to him. In the moment that he took to understand what he was expected to do, and to react, Mark had crossed the space between them, and as the guard pulled out his energy weapon, Mark acted. He knocked the weapon from the guard`s hand, the weapon sliding across the tiled floor to end up at Jean`s feet. Picking it up she saw the second guard running to assist his colleague, however, no one had appeared to notice that the weapon was now in her hand. Checking to see that it was set on its low power setting, she fired at the running guard, a bolt of energy whistled softly across the room and stunned the running guard, knocking him unconscious to the floor. Meanwhile Mark had knocked the first guard to the floor, he moved over to the other guard, and relieved him of his weapon. Mark spun around and looked angrily at the bewildered council, who were still attempting to make sense of what had occurred before their startled eyes, this was not supposed to be happening. Mark knew that he and Jean had to act immediately, before the council reacted or anyone else came in to the council chamber. Seeing a door set in to the nearby wall, he wondered if they could make use of it. For a plan had flashed in to his mind, for he had noticed that all the doors in the building were made of metal.

"Members of the Grand Council, put your smart phones on to the table in front of you, now." Mark ordered.

The council members looked at one another, however, when Mark and Jean raised their energy weapons and pointed the weapons at the council threateningly, they had all complied with his order. Mark then said.

"Now please hurry over to that door." He said pointing towards the door. "You are all about to spend a little time inspecting the room behind it."

Amid a myriad of protests, they all obeyed, heading straight towards the door while complaining that they were the Grand Council and should not be treated in such a manner. Jean hurried over to the door and opening it, saw that it was a large storage cupboard, without any windows or other means of escape, she smiled for it would do nicely. When the council and the two guards were all safely in side of the cupboard, Mark closed the metal door and sealed the lock shut with his energy weapon.

"Jean, let`s try the door over there, it should eventually lead us out of this building without returning to reception."

They rushed over to the door, and on opening it they saw that it opened in to a long corridor.

"Come on Jean, there is no time to speculate where it will lead us." Mark said walking in to the corridor just as two guards walked out of a room further along the corridor.

"Halt, what are you doing here, this is a restricted area." Guard number one cried out while he reached for his weapon.

Unfortunately, for the guards, Mark and Jean already had their weapons in their hands, raising them they both fired together. Two bolts of energy whistled softly down the corridor and struck the two guards before they could react. Mark and Jean were already running towards them as the guards` bodies slumped to the floor in a heap. At the end of the corridor was another door, opening it they saw a guard sitting behind a desk, and beyond him a glass door that opened out on to a carpark. Hurrying along this new corridor they reached the guard before he had even noticed them, for he was busy reading a newspaper. When the guard looked up he froze, for he saw the two weapons pointing directly at him.

"Guard, you are coming with us, say nothing and you will survive to tell your family about your experience. Put your weapon in to the draw of your desk, then put your smart phone in with it." Mark ordered.

The guard hurriedly obeyed the order and then stood up and followed Jean to the door, with Mark following on behind him, his weapon pointing directly at the guard to ensure that anything he tried would be his last act.

Jean opened the door and looked outside, a large yellow MPV was parked there and this vehicle possessed a driver who stood beside the vehicle looking at her, or to be exact at the weapon in her hand.

"Get in driver, you are taking us for a ride." Jean ordered the small woman who had begun to shake in fear.

"Please, do not shoot me, I will do whatever you ask of me." The driver pleaded while walking backwards in to the vehicle.

Jean followed her and sat behind the driver, her weapon aimed at her. When Mark and the guard were safely inside Jean said to the driver.

"Drive to the shuttle landing park, quickly now, we need to be away from here, else you might end up involved in a firefight."

The driver did not need ordering twice, she pulled out of the council cark park and headed for the shuttle landing park.

On the way, Mark called Peter Townsend on his own smart phone.

"Things have gone horribly wrong down here Peter, power up the engines and the weapons, then move away from the space dock and prepare to open up the hanger doors, Jean and I will be coming back in a Ramarian shuttle, we will need to leave this planetary system fast, set a course for the opposite end to our entry point."

Peter did not waste time on asking time consuming questions, he merely followed orders. Minutes later the vehicle with Mark and Jean inside pulled up alongside the shuttle that had brought Mark and Jean to the planet, standing next to it was Colm. Colm began to greet them until he saw their weapons, Jean quickly explained.

"Colm, they think that we are pirates they were about to arrest us, please take us up to our ship. If you do so without arguing, no one, and that means you and us, will be hurt."

"Okay Jean, come aboard, I will do as you order." He replied with a twinkle in his eyes, for his words were intended for the driver`s and the guard`s ears.

Mark ordered their two prisoners in to the shuttle. The door to the shuttle closed and it moved quickly away from the ground, it`s engine screaming as Colm powered away at high speed, soon they were above the clouds and heading up to space.

Ten minutes later and the shuttle was moving slowly through the open hanger doors of the Galaxy Express, and it landed inside the hanger bay with a gentle bump. As the hanger door closed, Colonel Glenn took the Galaxy Express away at high speed, accelerating up to their best interplanetary speed. No one on the space dock objected to their departure, Colm`s fast attack spaceship did not come blasting after them.

In the hanger bay, now re-pressurized, Mark turned to Colm and said.

"Thank you, Colm, for your help, we are grateful and will be your friends from now until hell freezes over. However, I hope that we have not put you in trouble with your superiors." Mark said.

"No Mark, it was a pleasure to put one over on the fools who are our Grand Council." Colm replied with a smile on his face. "You arrived just before an election, had it after then you might have been treated as ambassadors, rather than as criminals. If you come this way again, be sure to visit my home world, we know how to treat visitors."

"We will remember Colm, next time we will land on Namur. We had better let you go, otherwise your shuttle journey will be a long one. As soon as we are on the other side of the airlock Colm, we will depressurize the hanger bay and you can return to the space dock. Please take our guests with you for they look to be a little space sick." Mark said.

"First though Mark, I have something for you, for I suspected that the fools would not give you what you needed to complete your mission."

Colm then handed over to Mark a sheet of paper.

"Mark, these are the coordinates of other ice planets that you will need as you move away from Ramaria..."

Colm stopped here for a moment and then went on to add.

"I have erred Mark, I believe that the last ice planet is in fact an inhabited one, Marguerite, so please do not infringe their rights by stopping off there."

This he said tongue in cheek, for he had added this coordinate to help them, seeing no harm in doing so, the Margueritens were quite capable of looking after themselves, should they feel it necessary. However, Colm did not think that the Margueritens would find much to object to, Mark and Jean were okay.

"I wish that I had been able to give you the coordinates of Argolia, unfortunately, they have been deleted from all our computers." Colm said as he turned away and walked back to the shuttle."

Mark and Jean both thanked their new friend and minutes later they watched as the shuttle with Colm, the driver and the guard inside, left the hanger bay and flew back towards Ramaria. With their new friend safely away, the Galaxy Express headed towards the system`s heliopause, and once there they entered hyperspace.

Chapter Seven

Marguerite

As they approached the large outer planets of the Margueriten planetary system, their scanners picked up a spaceship moving towards one of the moons of the gas giant that they too were nearing. It ignored them, so they ignored it and they continued towards the inner planets of the system. Here they found an assortment of rocky planets, one of which was blue and white in colour and had an assortment of spaceships flying to and from it. Then they saw a large space dock in orbit around the planet, and leaving from it they saw a spaceship, and it turned and headed towards them at speed. It was followed by two more ships, their arrival had been seen, the spaceship approaching the moon in orbit around the gas giant had informed the authorities of an alien starship headed inwards towards the centre of the system. The three ships passed them by at speed and then turned back towards them. They kept 1000 miles of empty space between themselves and the Galaxy Express and continued to follow astern of them, moments later they were hailed. Admiral Shang of the imperial fleet commanded the small squadron of the three Margueriten fast attack spaceships, and he called the Galaxy Express and said.

"State your name and business here in the Margueriten planetary system."

Mark responded as before and finished by asking permission to stop at the space dock and then to meet the leaders of Marguerite so that representatives of the two worlds could talk.

Admiral Shank gave his permission and ordered them to proceed on to the space dock that was in orbit around their home planet, while his squadron followed behind to ensure that the alien ship was truly there on a mission of goodwill.

On board the Galaxy Express, Mark had been feeling concerned for his wife`s safety, after the trouble the authorities on Ramaria had subjected them to, and he now voiced his concern.

"After what we experienced on Ramaria, maybe you should stay on board the ship Jean, at least for our first contact trip with the Margueritens."

"Think again Mark, I came on this trip to find and to meet new civilisations, not to cower away like a Victorian maid, I am coming with you, someone has to hold your hand when the big boys attempt to bully you." Jean replied heatedly.

"Why not take a couple of the marines Mark, to ensure your safety." Peter suggested however, it was Jean replied.

"No, if we found ourselves in such a situation that required their presence, their being with us could aggravate the situation." Jean argued. "Our minds will be of more use, in any case, they were sent along to ensure the safety of the Galaxy Express, not us."

"Peter does have a point though, maybe he and Rob should accompany us this time." Mark said.

"That sounds good to us." Peter and Rob said together.

They finally arrived at Marguerite and manoeuvred in to an empty berth at the large space dock. Thirty minutes later Admiral Shang came across to offer to escort them down to the planet`s surface. Knowing the offer was more of an order, they accepted. On the way from their ship to the shuttle, they noticed that once again the locals could pass for the people of Earth. One day they would have to investigate this puzzle in depth, it must have a very interesting explanation behind it. They walked past several janitorial workers, they were dressed in poor quality clothing that required patching or replacing, and Mark thought it strange for the people of an advanced civilisation to look so scruffy, especially when they would be noticed by ambassadors from other systems. The locals always hurried out of their group`s way, eyes looking down at the floor, rather than at the strangers as Mark would have expected. However, after Ramaria they did not voice any queries about their condition, just in case it got them in to more trouble. Having to run away from a second system would not be a very good recommendations for two new ambassadors to have on their report sheets.

Once they were all in the shuttle, the journey down was fast, and as the shuttle neared the capital city, they saw flying vehicles moving between the buildings, this planet was not in decline. They soon see that the city was ultra-modern, for they were taken to the governmental palace in an air taxi, and the ride afforded them a good view of the city. On arriving at the palace, they soon discovered that the leaders were assembled there to meet with them. The leaders appeared to be very keen to open talks, and even to speak about exchanging embassies between the two worlds, trade was mentioned as were possible medical advances.

They were very different people to the grand council of Ramaria. The president was General Basheer, ex-commander of the Margueriten defence force. His advisers had all been members of the force and had willingly followed him when he had told them of his plans to make Marguerite great again.

However, on Mark asking if they could provide them with the coordinates of Argolia, they come up against a problem, for it was now against the Margueriten law to travel to the planet. However, President Basheer did promise to have their officials look in to the matter. This first meeting soon broke up soon after this, with another scheduled for the next day. However, they were invited to an official reception that night, it was to celebrate the founding of the Margueriten Federation. They were given an escort, Lieutenant Muller, who was ordered to take them to their suite of rooms in the Capital hotel, where they could rest until the party. Muller was in his early twenties, tall, handsome and his uniform well turned out. A typical young lieutenant, eager to please, he pointed out all the nearby tourist attractions, proud of his people and of their creations, buildings or artwork.

As they walked across the parliament square, they realised that there was the same undercurrent of fear amongst the working classes as there was on the space dock, it was very discernible both from their actions and their demeanour. They were midway to their hotel when they noticed one of the poorer of the local's trip over and knock against a most affluent looking man, who just happened to be one of the leading politicians of Ramaria. The politician immediately snapped at her and then struck her, hard, on the face with his open hand, making her stumble and then fall to the ground. Rob was not the only person to be enraged by this action, but he, being the nearest one to the event, took what he deemed to be the appropriate action. He knocked the politician to the floor with a perfectly timed upper cut, and then stood over him, daring him to move. Once again, the situation on an alien planet turned nasty, as unseen by Mark and the others, an undercover security patrol was in the square and they surrounded Rob and the others. The first Mark knew about their presence was when he saw the patrol`s energy weapons aimed first at Rob, and then covering the rest of them, when they had moved to intercede on their friend`s behalf.

Unseen by almost everyone, of importance that is, all around them the workers of Marguerite had looked at Rob and at his friends. As Mark and his friends were led to a nearby security station, they followed, all be it at a distance. Rob had not only struck down a bully, he was the spark that had awakened those workers that had witnessed his act and word of his action soon sped across the capital.

Within the police station they were all questioned, and Mark complained to the senior officer who had taken a personal interest in the case.

"I would like to protest about your behaviour officer, we have diplomatic status, on a goodwill mission, in fact we have only just left the palace after speaking with the Grand Council."

"If I understand it Captain Blazer, your status is not official yet. There is also the fact that you are not merely in our sector of space on a goodwill mission to meet us. No, you are also here to ask for directions to another world, one of which with we have broken off diplomatic relations." The officer replied angrily.

How the officer had learned so much, so fast, Mark could not even begin to guess, actually he had been briefed on them and asked to follow them to ensure that they did not encounter any problems while on their planet. Unfortunately, this officer had a hatred of all aliens, after losing his parents during an altercation they had with an Argolian gangster while on the planet Argolia.

The situation could have grown from bad to worse, however, Admiral Shang arrived and ordered their release, for Lieutenant Muller had called him and informed him of their arrest. However, their interrogator only released them after instructing them to not interfere in local arguments, otherwise, they would certainly meet again.

The atmosphere outside the police station was electric, and Jean both saw it and felt it, yes, the workers began to disperse when they saw the aliens released, but Jean felt that what she alone had witnessed was the harbinger of great things for the underclass of Marguerite. Their visit to Marguerite looked unlikely to be a very diplomatic event, they would need to try better or face being run out of Dodge, or in this case Margueriten space.

On regaining their freedom, Mark contacted the ship to report on their current situation and on the recent events. Colonel Glenn who was in charge, while Mark was away, had a question to ask.

"Now that everything is sorted out, what about shore leave, if the crew promises to be careful? Everyone on board is eager to walk upon their first alien planet, one that is light years away from Earth?"

Mark was not so sure that Marguerite could be termed an ideal day trip location, however, he understood his crews` desire to see a new world, so he replied accordingly.

"I will bring up the subject tonight, if the locals agree then it should be okay, as long as everyone promises to stay away from trouble, unlike their Captain and his officers, and not to intercede on behalf of anyone."

Admiral Shang escorted them to their hotel suite, and once inside their suite of rooms he showed them the hidden microphones that had been put in that very day. Shang was an ardent critic of the abuse of power by the secret police and he was anxious that the aliens should fully understand the situation on the planet, otherwise, they might easily end up back inside a police station.

"Captain Blazer, until you are familiar with our ways, you and your people should be more careful." He began. "The woman on whose behalf you protested, was only a low-class worker, a sub-human with limited intelligence. They are only able to carry out the most menial of duties, ones beneath a full citizen of Marguerite, who occupy their time with work that the woman could never hope to do, or even to understand. All they are fit for is breeding, at which they do very well. In fact, to keep their numbers under control we must add chemicals to their water, otherwise, there would be no room for us on this beautiful planet."

Mark and the others were stunned by what they had heard, and he was forced to reply.

"Admiral, even such a low ranking individual as she is, deserves the same rights, the same respect, as anyone else. Equal rights on a planet that has advanced as far as Marguerite has, surely it must be the norm? As for forced sterilization, surely it must be the last resort of a desperate race, why not just provide them with a contraceptive of some sort?"

"Captain, as far as contraceptives are concerned, they would not use them, their females like being pregnant. As for equal rights for all, yes there was a time when everyone enjoyed the luxury of equality, however, events in this part of the galaxy have put an end to that luxury." Shang broke off here for a second to gather his thoughts, as he sought to defend his planet, he then said.

"The Empire was in trouble, collapsing in upon itself, every planet began to suffer shortages and funding was almost non-existent. The Marsoonian pirates exploited this weakness and began to raid all the planets. Living conditions fell year after year, then eight years ago the Argolian space fleet was rebuilt, but only after Argolia turned in to a military dictatorship. It was then that they decided to rid the galaxy of the Marsoonian pirates, pushing them probably towards your area of space. I believe that the Marsoonian pirates will soon be exterminated, and the planets of the former Argolian Empire can then begin to rebuild, to restore the freedoms of our past to all."

Shang went on to explain about the conditions on Marguerite.

"Here, we too had to become a military dictatorship, it was the only way to stop the steady decline, one that all the planets experienced, after the Argolians left their colonies to themselves and the pirates moved in. We already had the makings of a space fleet, although they were unarmed. However, after upgrading our existing vessels, and then building new custom-built craft, we finally had a large fleet of fast attack spaceships, which soon drove the pirates away from our planet. However, the cost of upgrading the craft meant that the government had to limit the services they provide to our population. Finally, the military decided that only those who attained a certain level in their education would have the right to be a full citizen, the others would not only have their rights taken away, but also their wages were cut and rationing was brought in. Our civilisation is finally advancing now, soon we will be able to reduce the number of items rationed and raise the wages of the workers. Unfortunately, you arrived too early, within ten years, if everything continues to improve, you will find Marguerite a different planet from what you see now."

With that Admiral Shang left them to rest, and while doing so, Mark took a moment to review their situation and their progress. They still did not have the coordinates of the planet Argolia, although the authorities here on Marguerite had promised to have their legal teams look in to the matter. However, a number of thoughts occurred to Mark.

The planets of Ramaria and Marguerite had been allowed to deteriorate to the levels they were currently in, one in sharp decline intellectually, while the other possessing a ruling class and a servile under class, which appeared to have no rights whatsoever. If they finally found the planet Argolia, would they find that the remnants of the Argolian Empire were in a similar state to Marguerite. Mark was feeling depressed, he wondered if they were fated to fail in their mission, with the chances of ever finding a planet that would come to their aid, almost nil.

With the room full of hidden microphones, Mark wrote down his fears and passed the note to Jean, who replied that she had found herself thinking along similar lines. They then passed the note to Rob and Peter, who on reading it both agreed. However, they decide not to mention their depressing thoughts to the others, not yet, as it would do nothing for their moral and it would make discipline difficult to enforce with many wanting to return to Earth.

**********

The party went well, the four friends enjoying their first relaxed evening for a long while, they met many people, some of whom they felt were nice, however, they could never put the underclass on the planet far enough away from their thoughts. Even so it was a diplomatic success and President Maritsa agreed that his crew could enjoy shore leave in the capital city, if they controlled their actions and emotions. Mark purchased some of the local currency, using gold that they had brought along for just this sort of occasion, this or to purchase spare parts should they run in to trouble in space.

The crew, local currency in their pockets, came down to the planet in two batches, keen to enjoy their first shore leave on an alien planet. Mark, Jean, Rob or Peter was always down on the planet, to translate if needed. However, the crew were just content to walk around the streets, look at the shops, or stop off at a cafe. Not one of the crew ran in to trouble, for all were keenly aware of the trouble they would be in, both on the planet and back on board the Galaxy Express. All in all, they had a good time and went back to the ship feeling rested. Jean and Mark had spoken about what she had felt in the square, and what Admiral Shang had said, and Jean finally said.

"I am not so sure that the admiral agreed with everything he said to us in the hotel suite, I believe that he was just marking our cards, so that we would not get in to more trouble, however, with all the surveillance, he could not openly tell us. To do so could easily see him dismissed from his position as admiral of the fleet."

**********

A series of attacks by pirate vessels on the outer edge of their federation sent Admiral Shang and his ships away from Marguerite, however, unknown to the admiral, they were a feint to lure his fleet away from the home planet. With the rest of their space fleet patrolling the other areas of their federation, the home system was left temporarily without any of the Margueriten space fleet to protect them. It was then that a single pirate vessel moved in to take advantage of this unusual situation and it landed on the colony planet Largs. With its colony there under attack, and with no spaceship to hand, President Maritsa called Mark on the radio.

"Captain Blazer, the people of Marguerite are in desperate need of your help, for it now appears that Admiral Shang`s fleet was deliberately drawn away from our home system so that the pirates could launch a raid upon our home system. The pirates are as much your enemy as they are ours, you have said as much. We have two squads of our troops all ready to launch in two shuttles, please take the shuttles in your starship to the colony world Largs. After allowing them to land, we want you to stand off in orbit and be ready to destroy the pirate vessel, but only when the ground commander gives the word, or if it prepares to leave the planet. Not before Captain, as they may have already taken some of the colonists on board their vessel as prisoners."

Mark immediately decided to help them, not only because it was the correct thing to do. But as a bonus because of the political value it earned them in agreeing to help the Margueritens.

"Of course, Mr President, we will power up our engine immediately, and as soon as the two shuttles are aboard will head to your colony planet. Please have the planetary coordinates sent up to my ship."

Mark immediately spoke to his crew over the intercom, luckily none of them were currently on shore leave.

"Peter, President Maritsa has asked for our assistance, power up the interplanetary drive, we are heading for one of their colony planets here in their home system."

Mark then informed the crew all President Maritsa had said.

"Listen up everyone, a single pirate vessel has landed on one of the Margueriten colony planets, we are going to ferry two Margueriten shuttles filled with soldiers to the planet, so that they can rescue the colonists. Captain Muller, I will meet you and Sergeant Riesman in the hanger bay, the locals just may need your help."

Mark now hurried down to the landing level to meet the two marines, Captain Heinz Muller and Sergeant Shultz Riesman. The two marines did not need to move, for they and their men had been exercising in the hanger bay when Mark had asked for the meeting. On arriving there, Mark explained why he had called them.

"Heinz, Shultz, the locals will probably want to rescue the colonists unaided, it will be bad enough that they had to call on our help in the first place. However, I believe that in the interests of our primary mission, that you should stand by in one of our shuttles, as a strategic reserve. When their commander arrives in the hanger bay, maybe you could talk to him, see how he feels about it."

"Sounds good to me Mark, my men could do with a little workout against some pirates, make our being here count for something." Heinz replied.

"I will send Jean down to translate for you." Mark said before hurrying back to the bridge.

**********

As soon as the two Margueriten shuttles arrived, Astronaut Sheila Perkins took the Galaxy Express away from the space dock, and with the coordinates of the planet Largs already set in to the navigational computer, she took the starship away at its best interplanetary speed. They arrived at the colony three hours later and went in to geostationary orbit around the planet. It was early morning where the pirates were, and three shuttles left the hanger bay and headed towards the planet. They arrived in silent mode coming in low over the horizon, then the two Margueriten shuttles split up and moved low over the tree tops to land one mile away from the small town and the pirate spaceship. Captain Muller took one of the starship`s shuttles, with Mark piloting it, as Muller could not speak the local language, with Mark was Lieutenant Chandra, there as his aid. He landed midway between the two shuttles, he was their strategic reserve, hoping that they would not be needed, that the local soldiers would be up to the task.

As for the Galaxy Express, it waited in space, with Jean in command, and with Colonel Glen in the pilot`s chair while she sat at the science station, her computer tuned in to the weapons` program, for she would fire upon their enemies when the time came. It may not have been the USS Enterprise, however, all the crew were at their stations, ready for battle, if it was forced upon them. The forward energy weapon of the Galaxy Express was trained on the pirate vessel, the sensors of the starship were searching space for signs of any other vessels, pirate or otherwise. Jean kept her mind on her immediate task, not upon the fears she had for her husband`s safety, down on the planet`s surface. The crew too were tense, for many of them this would be their first battle, what kept then from panicking was the knowledge that this vessel had already destroyed one pirate vessel, the senior members of the bridge crew were tried and tested.

Down on the planet`s surface the Margueriten soldiers moved in on the small town, the ones on the western edge of the town would have to cross an open space, before they entered its dusty streets. They stopped as Commander Virden surveyed the buildings before them, it sounded very quiet, perhaps too quiet. From the other side of town, he heard a sudden burst of firing, his other team had encountered the enemy, he called his young lieutenant up on the radio.

"Virden to Olsen, what is your situation?"

Five seconds later Olsen answered.

"Olsen here, we have then on the run sir, we took out four of them before they even realised that we were here."

"Take care Olsen, they may just stop running and fight back." Virden replied

"Will do sir." Olsen replied and then rang off.

The last thing that Virden heard was the loud whistle of energy bolts and the cries of exultation from Olsen`s men.

"Okay men, Olsen seems to be doing well, let`s see what we can do. Sergeant, take two men and recce the three-storey building, we will give you covering fire." Virden ordered.

Sergeant Toola chose the oldest and most experienced of the men to accompany him, then taking a deep breath he rushed forward in to the grassy area before them, he had almost made it when the air was filled with the loud whistling of energy bolts screaming through the still morning air. Micro seconds later and the three men lay on the ground dead, seconds after that and the pirates fired upon the area where the three soldiers had emerged from. Virden died first followed by two more soldiers, with half of their men dead, the remaining six soldiers retreated in panic, calling on whoever would listen to them for help.

**********

The pirate captain, on hearing the whistling sounds of the many energy bolts that screamed through the air, realised that their decoy attack on the far side of the Margueriten federation may have failed, so he sent his scanners searching the heavens for the vessel that had conveyed the Margueriten soldiers to Largs. On failing, because the Galaxy Express had its chameleon stealth mode engaged, he decided to run. To take the time to search for the warship could see his starship destroyed and himself killed, for they would see his heat trail as his spaceship climbed up through the planet`s atmosphere and this would give his enemy a clear target to aim at. With no regret at leaving his raiders behind, the pirate ship rose up from the ground, the heat signature made by its Stardrive engine giving Jean a clear target. Just then Mark called up to her, for he could both see and hear the pirate vessel attempting to escape.

"Mark to Jean, take them out now." He ordered in English.

Moments later he watched as five powerful energy bolts screamed down from the sky to hit the rising pirate ship. The rear of the craft exploded in to a million pieces, and then the craft crashed back down to the waiting ground. The captain was killed by a beam crashing down on to his head, knowing nothing about his death, as for his crew they were killed by a further energy bolt that Jean sent down on to the bridge of the ship. However, the prisoners that he already had taken aboard all escaped the crash, and with the door to their cell having burst open, when a bulkhead sagged sideways. Some of them staggered out from the craft, and in to the arms of the Margueriten soldiers, others had to be carried out, but at last they were safe.

**********

Mark heard their fearful cries of the troops of the dead Commander Virden, they were coming clearly over the radio, but he did not reply, instead, he and the marines ran towards the town, leaving Lieutenant Chandra to guard the shuttle. They were aiming for the flank of the retreating soldiers, otherwise the soldiers in their panic might decide to fire upon them. They came to rest on a small hill, they could see the town before them, then the retreating soldiers rushed across their view, closely followed by the screaming pirates. The pirates knowing that they were stranded on the planet, were seeking to take the soldiers shuttle, and so escape from the town and hideaway from the Margueriten military. To accomplish this, they had to kill the fleeing soldiers, or risk losing the shuttle to them. The raced on, driving the soldiers ever nearer to the shuttle, killing any who turned to fire, firing at the heels of those who fled. It was this scene that met the eyes of Mark and the marines, and he stood back and watched as Captain Muller cried out.

"Take them out."

As the pirates crossed their field of fire, the marines opened up on them, seconds later and the pirates lay dead before them. Mark now changed the frequency on the radio and called Lieutenant Olsen.

"Olsen, Virden is dead, Captain Muller of the marines from Earth will take over his part in the operation, look out for us, we are coming in to the town."

The six surviving Margueriten soldiers, on hearing the sounds of battle, both near and on the other side of town, returned to survey the dead pirates, and to greet their new friends. Mark greeted them, and the soldiers fell in behind the marines. With Captain Muller leading the way, they walked back towards the town, over the grassy meadow and finally in to the town, to find that the five surviving pirates were holed up in the school house, with hostages.

They held thirty children and three teachers' hostage, and seeing no way out, for those that surrendered could only look forward to death at the hands of the Margueriten government, for that was the punishment for piracy. First Mate Barson was in command and he called out to those besieging him and his comrades. Outside and encircling the school house were the ten marines, eighteen soldiers and the citizens of Largs, all of whom wanted revenge.

"We need a way out if we are to let your children go, get us a shuttle, fill it with food, water and fuel and we will leave your children behind, unharmed, taking only the three teachers as our hostages. Do it now, before any more of your ships turn up, and we will contact our people and have them meet us in the outer reaches of your system. Your teachers can then return here in the shuttle, unharmed, otherwise we will kill everyone inside the school and then die while shooting as many of you that we can before succumbing to your weapons."

One of the school teachers held captive, was the daughter of the mayor of the town, and he could see the families around him agreeing to this offer, however he came out against it.

"And what about my daughter, is she to be thrown to the wolves, for we know that the murderers will not release them when they are rescued. And what of the other two teachers, I see their families amongst the crowd, they too know what fate will befall their loved ones. No, before we are rushed in to agreeing with the scum inside the school, we must first use our brains, to see if there is another way. Only then will I allow my daughter to be sacrificed to save your children."

Mark turned to Captain Muller, and after explaining what the problem was he said in a hushed voice.

"Heinz, did you bring any Malin gas grenades with you."

"Yes, but they are back on board your ship Mark, and before we use them we must first find out the positions of the five pirates, to give the hostages the best chance of survival."

"I was not thinking of taking them out within the school, but in the shuttle that they desperately want. Could we not set the grenades off by remote control, in the confined space of a shuttle we will be able to take them all out?"

Malin gas was a fast acting clear and odourless gas weighing about the same as normal air, so that it would easily mix in the enclosed confines of the shuttle.

A local standing was standing behind them, and even though they spoke in English, he believed that they were preparing a plan to save the teachers, and so he walked hurriedly over to the Mayor, and forced his way through the crush of angry parents that now surrounded the mayor.

"Malik, those two aliens over there." He said pointing to Mark and Heinz. "They have a plan, listen to them first before surrendering our friends."

The mayor, followed by the angry parents now came across, and on asking if the local was correct in his beliefs, Mark explained his plan. On listening to it the mayor asked.

"How long will all this take; the pirates will soon become impatient to hear something?"

Mark nodded and replied.

"First off, the pirates must not suspect anything, have everyone speak only in hushed tones, otherwise the pirates will kill everyone within the school. The necessary gear will be here in just twenty minutes, I will call for it now, then I will tell you what to say to the pirates to placate them."

"Okay Captain Blazer, you are now in charge of rescuing the children and their teachers." The mayor said and then added a threat. "However, alien, do not let them down."

Mark looked at the mayor and had to stop himself from saying, 'I do not take kindly to threats, you save the lives of your people, if you believe you can do so.' However, he had come in to contact with many politicians, and so he simply called Jean and after explaining the problem said.

"Send down the Malin gas grenades Jean, Heinz has told me that they are in the stores on the landing level, on the third shelf in, that is the shelves against the left-hand wall. Then we need a way of detonating them by remote control, and we need everything in a hurry, or else the pirates might panic and carry out their threat."

"No problem Mark, I will send Sheila down in the second shuttle, Peter will accompany her, he has already thought of a way to make the best use of them."

"Great, then we should all be back aboard the ship soon." Mark replied and then signed off.

Mark then told the mayor how to stall the pirates and smiling the mayor called out to the pirates.

"You in the school house, this is Mayor Malik, we provisionally agree to your offer, however you cannot leave just yet, Margueriten bureaucracy back on Marguerite is delaying giving us a firm decision. The military there are arguing against your plan while the president`s cabinet is arguing for it. However, the president has promised to come back to us soon, with his answer. Until then the captain of the vessel in space will not allow you to leave in a shuttle, not without our president`s permission. He has told us that he will open fire, should you attempt to take off without it.

Twenty minutes later and the shuttle landed by the larger shuttle belonging to the soldiers. Peter went aboard their shuttle, being familiar with it having gone aboard it during the journey from Marguerite and Largs. He was wearing a gas mask and after ordering everyone out, he went across to the environmental unit and closed the filter. The air would still circulate, but not be filtered in any way. Then he carefully pressed the trigger on each of the gas canisters in turn, sending their contents down in to the outlet pipe. He closed the unit, with the Malin gas safely inside, where it would stay until the environmental unit was turned on. Now Peter went to the computer and entered the environmental program. He told it to operate as soon as the outer airlock door closed, but not to reopen the filter. Finally, he went in to the propulsion program and told it that following the command 'Plank' the maximum height that it was to lift off the ground was three feet and then it was to hover there, without moving in any direction. He then called Mark.

"We are ready, tell the pirates that I will hover near to the school and wait for them to release all of the children before landing."

He then flew the shuttle, with the airlock open, and when he reached the school house he hovered in plain sight of it.

On seeing it the mayor called out to the pirates.

"You inside, the president has agreed with your proposal, and as soon as the children are released, the shuttle will land in front of the school."

The pirates were relieved that the locals had caved in to their one demand, as they had not wanted to harm any of the children, for not one of the pirates was a sadistic maniac who thrived on the torture or murder of innocents. However, the pirates were not saints and any adult prisoners were considered fair game, especially if the prisoner was a man, of course women had other things to fear from them. The first mate now answered the mayor`s call.

"Be sure that it does, because we will kill the teachers if you attempt to trick us."

The pirates then released the children, who immediately fled from the school and in to the arms of their parents, who were sobbing with relief. However, other colonists were not sobbing with relief, they were tense, waiting to see if the alien starship captain could save the lives of the three teachers.

Peter now took the shuttle down to land it in front of the school house, with the airlock pointing towards the school. He then entered the command Plank and quickly left the shuttle to the pirates.

The first mate was still suspicious, and so he sent one of the pirates in to the shuttle to ensure that there were no hidden soldiers hiding within it. When he called to his comrades that it was okay the other four pirates led their three captives out. The teachers looked to be calm, and they walked out of the school house and in to the shuttle without breaking their stride. However, they did search the area around the shuttle with their eyes, for signs of their loved ones, and when they caught sight of them, if only for a moment, tears did come in to their eyes, which were quickly wiped away.

The first mate immediately closed the airlock door, to prevent any last-minute rescue attempt, and then sat down in the pilot's chair. He felt a surge of relief as the shuttle left the ground and hovered, and as he prepared to take it up in to the sky, he, and all the others on the shuttle, fell asleep.

Mark had everyone wait for one minute before he allowed them to rush to the airlock, but only Peter could enter, for only he had an oxygen mask. Opening the airlock, he pulled the first mate from the pilot`s chair and took over control of the shuttle. First, he landed the shuttle and then he carried out the three teachers and gave them in to the arms of their loved ones. Finally, he dragged the bodies of the pirates out, one at a time, obviously, and dropped them in the front of the soldiers, who bound them. When all the pirates were bound, Peter went back inside the shuttle and opened the environmental filters, which quickly purified the air, then he deleted the Plank order.

Mark and his crew were now the heroes of Marguerite, and after the Galaxy Express returned to Marguerite, the whole crew were praised and honoured. A grand feast was thrown in their honour, and the coordinates of Argolia were handed over to Mark, with thanks. Although the system of government was considered undemocratic in the extreme, they were willing to sign a friendship treaty with Earth, and because of the raid were willing to cooperate in any way to defeat the pirates, he only had to call.

Mark was feeling better than before, then, after their arrest, he had felt that everything was hopeless, now, his, and the crews, spirits were on the ascendant.

Chapter Eight

The Argolians

After giving the crew another two days shore leave, it was time to continue their mission. With everybody back on board the Galaxy Express, and the spaceship about to leave Marguerite, Mark called everyone together, gathering in the only space large enough to hold them, the landing deck. He told them of his earlier fears for the future, however, he went on to say.

"Although this is hardly the sort of space that we hoped to find, more Star Wars than Star Trek."

Recently, both of the science fiction series had just been re-made with new actors and more special effects.

"I believe that we will win through. If it was not for the Ostriches back home, I would say that we could take on the pirates simply by building more spaceships based on the fast attack craft that we have seen in this area of space. Unfortunately, we cannot contact Earth, for we might be ordered home to hide away from the future that should be ours. Therefore, we have no other option open to us, we go on and complete our mission. We find and join the Argolians, and then together we eliminate the threat, only then can we return home and tell the Ostriches where to stick their heads and it is not in the sand."

His speech went down well, and as they left the Margueriten Federation behind them, everyone on board the starship felt positive about the future. They travelled for a week before they approached the coordinates given to them by the Margueritens. It was here where they should find the planet Argolia and coming out of hyperspace they crossed the system`s heliopause. Needing to replenish their stock of water, they stopped off at an ice planet to refill their water tanks. Water was used for drinking, washing and extracting its oxygen, if they could not easily replenish their supplies, they could not travel the long distances now possible, thankfully most planetary systems possessed an ice planet. It was as they moved away from this ice planet that two large spaceships suddenly appeared on their long-range scanner, and the ships were heading straight towards them. Two battleships of the Argolian space fleet had found them. Mark turned to Rob and said.

"Call them Rob, tell them who we are, that we are on a peaceful mission to their planet and that we want to join their war against the space pirates."

As Rob called the Argolian ships, Mark turned on the internal intercom and spoke to the crew.

"We have been approached by two warships larger than anything that we have ever seen, they should be Argolian, we are waiting for them to respond to our message of friendship. I will keep you updated. Captain out."

Two minutes followed their radio call, in which the two massive spaceships continued their approach. Mark decided to use his thrusters to move the bow of their starship, if the spaceships decided to attack them, they would not die with a whimper. Then the radio sprang to life.

"Greetings, aliens, Argolia awaits you, keep moving nearer to the centre of this system, you cannot miss Argolia, it is such a beautiful planet. To prove our good intentions, we will all go there in line abreast."

Mark and the others on the bridge gave a sigh of relief as they watched the bows of the two massive ship turn away and come alongside the Galaxy Express. There was only one mile between each vessel and as the two Argolian ships picked up speed, they matched it. Mark now informed the crew what had occurred and that they were heading for the planet Argolia. Mark smiled as he heard the cheers coming up to the bridge from the crew, they too had seen a positive end in sight for them and for Earth.

As they sped deeper in to the Argolian system, it seemed likely to Mark that the alien craft would soon draw ahead, for the Galaxy Express was nearing its maximum interplanetary speed, so he said.

"Rob, tell them that we have reached out maximum speed, we will fall behind them, should their speed continue to increase."

Not wanting an unknown alien craft in a possible attack position, the two battleships did not increase their speed any further and after they had travelled for twenty hours, they were able to see the blue and white planet ahead of them. Argolia, 'at the end of their personal yellow brick road' and there in orbit around it was a large space dock.

Sheila was piloting the ship as they slowed down and commenced docking manoeuvres, the ship coming to a full stop just feet away from the space dock. Then she sent out their docking tube and attached it around the alien airlock. Five minutes later, a call came over their radio.

"Greetings Captain Blazer, please open your airlock so that we might come aboard your vessel to arrange for you to meet with our leaders."

Mark turned to the bridge crew and said.

"I do not need to remind you that we must all be on our best behaviour. Rob, Peter, Neil, you`re all with me. Sheila, give us one minute to get down there, then open the airlock on the residential level."

The air lock opened to allow five Argolian officials to board the Galaxy Express. Just as the pirates, Margueritens and the Ramarians were, the Argolians could have passed for humans from Earth. All but one looked to be over fifty years in age, however, the similarity ended here. Neman Bails, the man who had led the way on to the residential deck of the Galaxy Express, was tall, slim, Caucasian in colouring, with greying hair and piercing blue eyes. He smiled when introduced to Mark, who hoped that Neman Bails was as reasonable as he appeared.

The second in line was a woman, Regalia Taurus, was tall and slim with a slightly darker colouring, similar to the people of the Indian subcontinent. Her hair was long and black; however, she had a hard gleam in her green eyes and she did not smile, her face did not even twitch when introduced. Mark felt that she would give nothing away, not without much more being offered in return.

The third Argolian, Christos Madr, was a black man of medium height, going bald, with smiling brown eyes. Mark wondered if he was as he appeared to be, or did his smiles hide a hard interior.

Number four, Trope Towans, was stocky in build, Caucasian in colouring, he had grey eyes without a trace of humour, however, Mark thought that he would be on their side, for he wore the uniform of a military man, Unknown to Mark, Towans was an admiral in the Argolian space fleet and he would appreciate their offer of help.

Number five was the youngest member of the group, Regis Matron. Mark thought that she appeared to be in her late twenties and was the groups` scientific advisor. On Earth, she would be seen as an oriental, she had black eyes and hair to match and with a personable smile. Seeing her smile, Mark hoped that she too would be on their side.

With the initial introductions over, the Argolians were shown in to their briefing room. It had a large table in it, with twelve chairs set around it, and was meant for any kind of meeting where a large number of people would attend. Otherwise, Mark used the galley with its ready supply of coffee and snacks. After introducing the officers of the Galaxy Express, Mark invited the Argolians to sit down around the table. Along with Mark was Jean, Rob, Peter and Colonel Glenn. Mark opened the proceedings.

"Thank you for allowing us to meet you, we are from the planet Earth, a world that is many light years away from your planet. Our technology took a leap forward following an attempt to hijack one of my spaceships by Marsoonian pirates who had foolishly got themselves marooned on our planet. Following on from this we encountered two pirate spaceships, both of which we were forced to destroy. We took much from all three encounters with the pirates and these leaps forward brought us to your planet." Mark said. "We are here to offer you our hands in friendship, to ask if you would consider signing a treaty between our two planets, and originally, to ask you to assist us in ridding the galaxy of the Marsoonian menace. Originally, because we learned from one of the other two worlds that we visited on the way here, that you began this task some eight years ago. Now, we just want to assist you in your task."

Neman Bails answered for the Argolian delegation.

"Captain Blazer, which two planets did you visit on the way to our own?"

"Ramaria and Marguerite. The leaders of the planet Ramaria we found to be rather evil and we were forced to leave the planet in a hurry. As for Marguerite, we met with a better reception there, mainly because we were able to destroy yet another pirate ship that had landed on one of their colony planets and we helped the Margueritens to save their colonists. It was the Margueritens who gave us your coordinates."

Regalia Taurus now asked a question, this time of Jean.

"Doctor Blazer, tell me, what did you think of the leaders of the planet Marguerite?"

Her eyes had given nothing away, as to whether she approved or disapproved of the Margueritens, or even knew anything about the current situation there, so Jean decided that she should answer honestly.

"We found them far more preferable to the Ramarians, however their treatment of the working classes was not as we would have wished. They are not permitted to vote in the elections, and seemed scared of their own shadows, mere serfs, and their leaders treated them as sub-humans, deserving of only what they bothered to give them. We were informed that this was about to change for the better, however, I imagine that it will take a world-wide protest by the workers to get them in to a position approaching par with their leaders."

Christos Madr now asked a question of Jean.

"Doctor Blazer, you said approaching par, do you not believe that everyone is equal under the law?"

Jean turned to him and smiled, sensing a trap but seeing nothing on his face to indicate one.

"Wealth and power, Mr Madr, keep the owners of both ahead of the rest of the population, and nothing except a Utopian world will ever change things, here, on Marguerite, Ramaria or on Earth." She replied.

"Do you not think that the leaders of those worlds deserve more than the followers, after all Doctor Blazer, they probably worked hard to achieve their status?" Neman Bails asked.

"They deserve, respect, a position in society that reflects their rank, and a salary that reflects the hard work that they put in. However, politicians need to remember that they serve the people, the people are not there to serve them. As for the leaders in the world of commerce, they deserve more than the workers, however, the workers provide the leaders riches and should be treated fairly, both in remuneration and their rights as human beings."

Regis Matron now asked.

"And what of us, Doctor Blazer, have you formed an opinion on the Argolians based on the five of us?"

"No, Ms Matron, that would be impossible, especially in the short time that we have known you."

What Jean did not say that as Argolia was a dictatorship, it did not bode well. Admiral Towans then asked a question of Mark.

"Your knowledge of our language Captain Blazer, is excellent, not having visited our fare planet before, or even the others that you have just visited, how did you learn to speak it so well?"

"Thank you, Admiral, it has been a hard, long slog but Doctor Blazer, myself, Mr Masters and Mr Townsend, all took it upon ourselves to learn your language, the computer that we took off the marooned pirates has an excellent dictionary, which luckily had not been destroyed when they crashed landed on to Earth." Mark then added. "Colonel Glenn has been learning your language, along with three more of our officers, but only since the beginning of this voyage, soon they too will be fluent in it."

"That is excellent Captain Blazer, it is so much easier to talk directly, and faster, than to rely on a computer to translate, with all the delays that incurs." Neman Bails replied and then went on to ask. "Captain, may we see around your vessel?"

"Of course." Mark replied standing up. "Doctor Blazer and myself will be delighted to escort you."

On visiting the bridge, Admiral Towans asked pointedly. "Surely that computer and NavCom unit are the models used by the Marsoonian pirates?"

"You are quite correct Admiral, the computer is the one that we took off the marooned pirates, using it we learned about your empire. The NavCom came from the second pirate vessel that attacked us, we took the vessel in tow and learned much from it, even though it was badly damaged in the battle. From the NavCom we found the coordinates of the other two worlds that we visited, unfortunately, it did not show the coordinates of Argolia.

The Argolians were impressed by their leap forward in space travel and ended up their tour of the Galaxy Express in the hanger bay where they saw the two space chariots taken from the second pirate vessel.

"Captain Blazer, are these two space chariots more of the items that you took off the second pirate vessel?"

"Yes, they are Admiral, we thought they would come in useful if we needed to travel around the exterior of the ship whilst in space, both for speed and safety." Mark replied.

After two days the Argolians were convinced of their good faith, and Neman Bails came back on board the Galaxy Express to explain their system of government.

"Captain Blazer, unlike what you all witnessed on the planet Marguerite, a large degree of liberty has been retained by all of our people here on Argolia and our colonies. However, as a people our energy, and much of our budget, has been focused on our space fleet, with many new capital ships launched. A special force of soldiers has been created, they are trained to fight on both on class M inhabitable planets and on planets ranging from semi-inhabitable down to toxic ones and airless ones, which included moons and asteroids." He broke off here to take a drink of water before continuing.

"We are still using a great deal of our budget to fund the war, however, the restraints on the many other uses have been eased, and the lot of our poorer citizens has improved. That is not to say that they ever suffered hunger, or suffered severe financial problems, for many state charges were put on hold, which are only now being reinstated. Soon, with the defeat of the Marsoonian pirates now in sight, free elections will again be held, once more we will be a government of the people." Bails now spoke about the arrival of the Galaxy Express.

"When our people heard about your arrival, your willingness to fight alongside us and your own victories against the Marsoonian pirates, they felt that a great load had been lifted off their backs. To demonstrate our joy at your arrival please accept a gift from the people of Argolia."

Admiral Towans and Christos Madr now entered the briefing room, they were carrying a smaller, but more powerful NavCom device.

Admiral Towans approached Mark, reached out and shook his hand and said.

This is the latest thing in NavCom units Captain, it incorporates an up to date star atlas, and the whereabouts of the other known inhabited planets."

Towans now demonstrated the unit to the bridge crew of the Galaxy Express, and a delighted Mark Blazer asked.

"Admiral, does this unit show us where the main pirate base is located?"

"Their original base on the moon of Marsoon has now been destroyed, but at the loss of two of our powerful capital ships, whatever one may say about them, they are certainly not cowards. We temporarily lost the use of a third capital ship when the pirates crashed an unmanned freighter in to it, however, its captain and crew managed to bring the starship back to our space dock where it was fully repaired. You can imagine how the loss of these ships affected us, and even more the loss of their crews." Admiral Towans explained. "Even though the base was destroyed, the mines shut down, the slaves freed, eight pirate ships destroyed, and three freighters returned to their rightful owners, we feel that we lost the battle, for the rest of their fleet escaped unharmed."

Admiral Towans then added. "Since that terrible battle, we have destroyed many more pirate vessels. "You say that you have personally destroyed three pirate vessels, four if you include the recce vessel, that means that there are at least ten other pirate ships still operating somewhere in the galaxy. We are actively searching for their new base, if it exists, so that we can destroy it and as many of the pirate starships as are there at the time."

**********

The next day the Argolians agreed to allow the crew of the Galaxy Express to enjoy shore leave on their planet, in their capital city and for the next two days the crew did just that. On their visits to the great city, they saw that Neman Bails had not lied. Certainly, the workers looked a little tired, their clothing showed it had been repaired rather than replaced, but they carried their heads held high and always, on seeing the crew of the Galaxy Express, approached them, welcomed them and even forced them to accept their hospitality. Although, the crew did not need much forcing, after their long voyage, to be welcomed by all of the people of an alien world, reduced their own stress load.

**********

The following day, Admiral Towans visited the Galaxy Express, and he said.

"You have said much about wanting to join with our people in eradicating the pirate menace, now Captain Blazer, I will give you the chance to prove that what you have promised are not merely words. One of our remote drones has found the new pirate base, it is on the other side of your own planetary system, set out with us and we will destroy it before the pirates can begin to mount raids upon your world."

"Admiral, we will be delighted to join your expedition against the common enemy of all the civilised peoples in our galaxy." Mark replied.

Mark and Jean were taken to the Argolian starship Freedom, here Admiral Towans and the captains of the two Argolian capital ships went over the journey and the plan of battle. After they had finished Mark had one reservation to make.

"Admiral the journey will take our ship fifteen days, therefore we will need to stop twice, to replenish our stock of water."

Captain Yon of the battleship Freedom smiled and replied.

"We will take you in tow Captain Blazer, then although our own speed will be reduced, we will still arrive at the new pirate base within seven days. For our capital ships all have a power energy clamp, and with both of our ships towing you, it will put no strain upon our engines."

"In that case we will only need to stop the once, so that we are ready and able for anything that happens when battle commences." Mark replied and then Jean added.

"Our course Captain, will take us close to our home world, if all goes well, maybe we can show you off to our world."

She hoped that the presence of two alien, but friendly, capital ships, would defeat anything that the Ostriches had managed to accomplish on Earth.

**********

The journey to the pirate base was uneventful, they stopped off at an ice planet, where they all replenished their stocks of water, the crew of the Galaxy Express were well practised and the task was soon accomplished. After the planned seven days, the two Argolian starships and the Galaxy Express arrived at the area of space where the Argolian drone had reported finding the new pirate base. Before approaching too close they all switched on their chameleon stealth mode, to make them all but invisible to their enemy. The base was built on an ice moon, giving them unlimited water, oxygen and hydrogen and while still small, there were signs of construction around the base. Near to it stood a large freighter, it would have brought the slaves to the moon and the necessary equipment to construct the base. In space above the moon they could see five pirate ships, with no sign that the pirates had noticed the arrival of a powerful force of enemy starships. The Argolian ships had already turned off the energy clamps that had towed the Galaxy Express across many light years, now the Freedom veered to starboard, but always moving towards the pirate starships. As soon as the three starships were in range of their enemy, the Freedom sent a powerful energy bolt speeding towards one of the pirate vessels, then the second Argolian battleship sent an energy bolt towards a second pirate ship. Both energy bolts struck the two pirate ships at about the same moment, destroying their engines and making them powerless. With most of their crews down on the moon, they could not make use of them and send their space chariots out, either to attempt to board the enemy vessels or to simply confuse their weapons computers.

Then calamity struck the attacking force, from behind the nearby moon a freighter sped out and crashed in to the rear of the first battleship, the Freedom. Although it was only a glancing blow, as the Argolian captain had attempted to veer out of the freighters way, the freighter damaged the giant ship`s engine and it limped back on minimum power behind the Galaxy Express, for safety.

The Galaxy Express was itself attacked by two more of the pirate ships, Mark tried to steer the Galaxy Express away from the incoming energy bolts, however, two bolts struck them. Mark had set their turbo charged defence shield to automatic, and it worked, limiting the amount of damage to the starship to a severe shaking and two smashed glasses. This was much to the surprise of both the pirates and the watching Argolians aboard the Freedom.

Mark cried out in joy as their energy bolts destroyed the leading pirate vessel, destroying its engine and sending it careering powerless out in to space. The second pirate vessel, took fright when its saw the strange alien vessel shrug of the energy bolts that had been sent against it. It attempted to speed past them, however, the secondary weapons upon the Galaxy Express raked its port side and as the pirate ship was on the brink of getting away, Mark, who has set their stern weapon on automatic fire, took out the second pirate ship. Another pirate ship was now left without power, their crews doomed to die in the coldness of space unless the victors rescued them. The remaining pirate ship also took fright, for it was all alone against two powerful adversaries, and it moved off at speed in an attempt to escape, however, the second Argolian battleship moved off in pursuit, Mark knew that escape for the pirate was impossible, but with death or life imprisonment awaiting them if they surrendered, what choice did the pirate captain have.

Mark turned the Galaxy Express about and stood guard over the damaged capital ship, their victory over five pirate craft had given the base to them and the Argolians. Three large ground attack craft emerged from the hanger bay on board the battleship Freedom, they carried ninety troopers, their destination, the pirate moon base. The troops would free any people who had been enslaved by the pirates, they would be put aboard the freighter and taken back to their homes. The pirates who surrendered would be imprisoned, the length of time dependent upon the judge who tried their case. Those that did not surrender would be killed by the troopers or the powerful attack craft, a fitting end to slavers who thought so little of the lives of their captives.

Captain Yon of the battleship Freedom requested to come aboard the Galaxy Express, when he arrived, the meeting this time was within the starship`s galley, he was filled with curiosity.

"You were hit twice by the attacking pirate craft, but it did not even seem to affect you, what is this wondrous defence shield that you possess, and how come that we, who are in advance of you technologically speaking, do not have it?"

Mark and Jean were stunned by the question, for Jean had developed her turbo charged defence shield from the Argolian technology. How could Jean be in advance of the Argolians. Requesting to speak to Mark, Rob and Peter first, before answering the captain`s question, Jean declared that they should present this technology to the Argolian people, for the technology belonged to the Argolians, it would be a fitting gift to mark their friendship. Mark agreed with her, however, only when a friendship treaty had been signed between the two worlds. Returning to the galley, Jean informed Captain Yon of their decision, who was happy with this, he now spoke of their victory and finally about the damage to his vessel.

When the Argolians received Captain Yon`s report regarding the defence shield, their leaders were more than eager to sign the treaty, now, to get their hands on the defence shield. Before finalising matters Mark sent a long message to General Dance, telling him of the three alien civilisations that they had encountered and their victory over two groups of pirates. He then mentioned the new defence shield developed by Jean, of the Argolian desire to get their hands upon it and of the Argolian desire to sign a treaty of friendship. This would incorporate an alliance against the remaining pirates and any other enemy that either world might encounter.

After acknowledging the message and asking Mark to wait until the security council had discussed the matter, the crew of the Galaxy Express sat guard over the stricken capital ship. However, its engineers soon patched up its engine enabling it to move, all be it at a much-reduced speed, allowing the two starships to head back to Argolia with the freighter. The alien base was no more, the pirates had either been killed or taken prisoner.

One day later the second Argolian capital ship returned, having destroyed the pirate vessel and with the Galaxy Express, stood guard over its consort and the freighter. The four ships were finally back at Argolia after a journey of fifteen days, the longer time due to the damage inflicted upon the Freedom and the maximum speed of the freighter and the Galaxy Express.

Earth finally sent them an answer, it gave Mark the official rank of Galactic Ambassador, and the permission to sign whatever treaty that he thought would be to the advantage of all the nations of Earth. Earth was coming together as a world, itself a seemingly impossible action before the arrival of the pirate recce spaceship.

**********

With the Argolians down to two active capital ships, for their other two capital ships were in the Argolian space dock undergoing repairs, Mark decided to extend their stay at Argolia. The Argolian fleet was actively searching for the remaining pirate vessels, and it finally did find a lead that took them away from their own federation. Therefore, on the day after the two capital ships under repair were returned to active service, they determined to rid the galaxy of the Marsoonian pirates for good. It was also the day that saw the arrival of two other starships from Earth, one was Chinese and the other was Indian. They both carried ambassadors on board, from all the nations of the security council, and they dropped them off at the space dock from where they travelled down to the planet`s surface. Mark wondered how this affected his position, but he would never have chosen to be a diplomat, so he was happy to allow the other nations of Earth to shine. The Chinese and Indian starship captain`s offered their assistance in the coming battle, eager to show the Argolians that all of the nations of Earth would rush to their assistance. Even though they did not have the turbo defence shields installed, their offer was accepted, the Argolians not wanting to leave them behind, not with their home world only guarded by four small fast attack craft. The three Earth starships left the next day with the four Argolian capital ships, all of which possessed the new defensive shield technology. Their destination was a far off planetary system, for the pirates on their remaining starships had decided to leave the Argolian Empire behind them, finally succumbing to the obvious, they no longer had the power to go up against the empire and its new ally, Earth.

The final battle against the pirate vessels, there were nine of them, was a complete and utter victory for the allies. With five vessels defended by the new shields, and two powerfully armed starships without this latest technology, the result was obvious. The allied craft only suffered minor damage, and the Indian and Chinese starships even managed to get on to the scoreboard, their starships both taking out a pirate vessel. As for the Galaxy Express it added another pirate vessel to its tally and took out the engine of a freighter heading straight for the Freedom, earning them the eternal friendship of Captain Yon, who had only just got his starship back in full working order.

**********

The three starships returned home to Earth, the crew of the Galaxy Express apprehensive as to what sort of world they would find, even though they had been gone for a comparatively short time. They returned to a hero's welcome, with Jean earning herself a Nobel prize for science and Mark a prize for peace. The Ostriches were routed, the future for the exploration of space was bright, all that was needed now was for peace to be declared by the nations of the world, otherwise it would be a dangerous place out there, a diplomatic minefield, even without the Marsoonian pirates to worry about.

The End

If you enjoyed this story then please leave a positive revue, your support really does make a difference.

Also, why not visit my author page by clicking on the link. Smashwords Books.

About the Author

I was born in London, England. Like most of the world, I had to work hard to pay my mortgage and all the other bills, so I only had the time and the energy to write some short stories. My wife and I have a son who is now married to a lovely wife and they have five children of their own. Since retiring to the Greek island of Crete, I have finally found the time and the energy to write some full-length Science Fiction stories.

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Other Books by the Author

Colonies of Earth Series in order

Galaxy Spies

Time Storm

Rebirth

Trial by Ordeal

Horror Stories

Strange tales; three short mild horror stories

Rob Hinds black magic stories

Kidnapped and Bound for Hell

The Satanists

Dreamscape

The Return of the Bitch from Hell

David Charlton stories, a science fiction series

Rescue Mission to the Stars

The Treasure of Altaraus

Return to Mazere

Other science fiction stories

Quasar

The Venetou

Invasion Earth

Lost, and Far from Home

Short children`s stories

Three Journeys of the Scary Kind

