PEGASUS (FARSIDE SAGA: BOOK TWO)

STATION 2040 A.D

"I bet I get to that cup of coffee before you do!!" Samantha said over the helmet com as she powered up her single thruster star jumper.

"Is that a challenge?" Mike asked as he did the same. Strapping himself in, he brought up navigation control and plotted his course, already expecting her answer.

"Last one has to buy it." She said, the luminescent joysticks flickering into place at her sides as the internal systems booted up.

"You know, dad's gonna wonder why you're spending 300 credits on coffee every time you come up here." He said with a slight chuckle as he powered his sub thrusters halfway.

"It'll be our little secret." She said as she released the docking clamps.

The light at the end of the long framework tunnels lit up, clearing them for departure. They both took off at breakneck speeds, Mike's star jumper slowly inching ahead in the next tunnel over. They had no visual sight of each other due to the gravitonic walls between the tunnels protecting them, so Mike had no idea that Samantha had cut through the framework in the ceiling and was traveling between the lattices of the inner and outer hull of Station. Shortcut she thought as she veered around the hidden barrel of one of the retractable cannons and followed its power line until it looped above Mike's tunnel. She timed it perfectly so that when she cut the sub thrusters, inertia and the stations gravity let her fall right through the service hatch just ahead of Mike. She hit the main thruster just before hitting the bottom of the tunnel and shot out the opening, then hitting the first jump point. From there it was smooth sailing, or so she thought. Just as she was about to relax, her communication board lit up with two messages. The first one from Mike, calling her cheater. She laughed slightly as she wished she could've seen the look on his face when she dropped down in front of him. The second was from Station. Instantly the smile faded as she read the two red flags. One for exceeding departure speeds and the other for violation of flight safety. She didn't think the pressure sensors were operational yet since her husband and his team were still working on the shell for this new stardrive system they're supposed to be sending over, but she just had to take the new route she so precariously studied for the past two days just to find a way to beat her son.

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MIRONOV

"J Pod 1 to Jupiter Station...." The quirky but energetic pilot said over the commlink as he piloted the small craft towards the station. The communications officer directed the transmission to operations.

"Mironov, go ahead." The Operations manager said as he sat up in his chair. 'Jupiter Station'? He thought to himself. 'oh lord, this is going to either be weird funny or embarrassing.'

"The Icarus is fit lit and ready to split." The pilot said as he veered around a freight shuttle carrying three large pressurized containers behind it. The Operations manager chuckled.

"Darryl, this is a military channel. Try and be professional." He said as he shook his head smiling.

"And? Like we don't hear THEM farting and telling jokes. Hey, I got one for ya..." Darryl said, angling downward towards the lower docking bays.

"Oh no, no more jokes." The manager said. Darryl's jokes are funny as hell but very inappropriate. Most of his staff is female and he knew this wasn't going to end well. Wasn't a point in cutting him off, he'd just hack the feeds and text it to every screen and holopad on the station. Better to let him get it over with.

"What do you call six point nine?" Darryl asked, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know Darryl Macintosh. What do you call six point nine?" He said exhaustedly, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Geez Justin Bailey, just like you, its a good thing ruined by a period....ha!! Double punch." He said as he threw a fist in front of him, then brought it back to his side.

"Oh god, somebody shoot me." Justin said, wiping his hands over his face. Surprisingly, half of his staff actually laughed. Probably at his expense for walking into that one. He had to admit, it was a good one though.

"Yeah yeah yeah, cleared for docking bay three." He said with a slight chuckle. Disconnecting the line, he sent the pod its clearance codes, then stood his 5'9" potbellied self up and walked over to the command station. Almost tempted to use Darryl's line, he opened a channel to the Pegasus.

"Alright Pegasus, Icarus is primed and ready. As soon as you're cleared, you can head to the rendezvous point." He said.

"Thank you, Mironov. Just waiting on the R&D lead and I think Mrs. Tilly is missing a student." The captain of the Pegasus responded. Just then, Justin saw two small cloud burst appear out of nowhere about three kilometers behind the Pegasus. A small craft emerged out the center of each, trailing some of the smoke behind them as they approached the side of the ship and docked.

"Seems the Dodge family finally decided to join the party." He said to the captain.

"Got em locked in now. Heading out to rendezvous point 32 Beta. Talk to you when we get there." The captain said.

"Course locked and logged. Good luck fellas." Justin said as he disconnected the line. The Pegasus's two main thrusters ignited, slowly moving the massive ship past the lane lights. On the other side of the Mironov, the Icarus did the same. Justin thanked everyone for a job well done, then placed his second in command in charge as he left for the mess hall and a much-needed shower. An hour and twenty minutes later, he was awakened by the chirp of his commlink.

"Yeah." He said, reaching up hitting the button above his head.

"Ummm, boss? You might wanna get up here."

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ICARUS

"I can't sir, the release clamps are jammed." The officer said over the ship's klaxons.

"Sir, the warp matrix is building into a gravitonic pulse. It'll rip us apart if we can't eject the core." The engineer said worriedly as he fiercely worked the console trying to bypass the locking mechanism.

"How long do we have?" The captain asked.

" At this rate... twenty-three minutes." The engineer said.

"Ok, send a distress call, launch a warning buoy and abandon ship. Tell the Pegasus we're coming over for dinner." The captain said as he released the locks for the escape pods. The Icarus shook violently as different parts of the ship exploded. Seventeen minutes later, the Icarus was emptied, all but the captain and his bridge crew. He ordered the crew to move the ship away from the Pegasus. Just as the maneuvering thrusters ignited, the Icarus's warp core exploded. A gravitonic bubble formed around the ship, crushing it to a condensed ball of metal before detonating into rings of rainbow-colored fire. The Pegasus rear left main thruster was hit by one of the rings as it tried to get away. Tilting backward, the Pegasus's warp matrix was somehow activated and sent the Pegasus and its crew at an upward angle in a bright white streak of light.

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MIRONOV

"What the hell happened?" Justin asked as he watched all 127 tugs and a single short range collection shuttle returning back to the station.

"Don't know, but this, and a student is all that's left." A pilot responded. The first few rows of tugs were towing pieces of debris behind. One large piece he spotted, had RUS stamped on it along with the foot and wing emblem of the Icarus. Justin's heart dropped. Suddenly out of nowhere, a large cloud burst appeared to the right of the station. The cigar-like flagship of NSA'S High Command, the Juggernaut, emerged from the center. Turning the large ship, it angled itself alongside the Mironov and docked with it's extended boarding shute. No warning, no communication, not even a request for clearance codes, yet somehow, the Juggernaut accessed everything it needed to allow three NSA Commanders to enter the Mironov. Four minutes later, the command tower was cleared out except for Justin and the three commanders. He stood in the center as they ejected data chips and erased all files of the Icarus and Pegasus from the station's memory core. After a while, two of them left, as the last shut down the station's computer systems. He pulled out a data chip and inserted it in the slot next to the server access port. He turned and bid Justin a farewell as the computers booted back up before leaving. Curious, Justin walked over to the computers and brought up today's logs. Surprisingly, everything was still the same, until he got to the end. It was then he knew to keep his mouth closed, not because of the big red letters saying:

ACCESS RESTRICTED: CLASSIFIED LEVEL SIX CLEARANCE ONLY

but because one peep and the world will never see him again. He looked out the window as the Juggernaut disconnected and headed back towards Earth. A rear cargo bay door was closing just before it jumped.