Young Writers Society

Here's a story ive been workin on for a while. it's been through a lot, revisions, cancellations, and now a remake. and now, im hoping i can stick to this and i think ill be able to. please enjoy and hope you like it (it starts off with almost no scifi, but around chapters 3 and up, it gets to be more scifi-ish).




Time Flight: Pilot

There they were. She could see them through her cockpit. A fleet of gleaming enemy ships was heading straight into an unprepared United Nations fleet of sky ships. She flew past the Japanese, the British, and finally the Americans, all guarding the Hawaiian Islands, until she gained a full view of the impossible opposition. Completely outnumbered, outgunned, and outwitted, she still complied with her orders to charge the enemy and engage the fighters.

As Jaclyn Chance noticed her wing of fighters come up on her peripheral vision, she ordered, “form up, Wing One on me. Wings Two and Four, protect the fleet. Three, take flanking positions and fire on my command.”

All wings acknowledged. Her heart pounded faster as the enemy fighters came closer to her wings.

“Tone and locked!”

“Lock established!”

“Target locked!”

Jaclyn listened to the voices of her wing and watched her HUD turn red.

“And this will start the very short battle of Hawaii,” she muttered. “I have lock, firing, everyone open fire!”

Tens of missiles soared out toward the enemy fighters, and Jaclyn broke position with her flight. Watching a successful wave of missiles plunge into the enemy, she ordered, “Alright everyone, light ‘em up! Attack fighters only, the sky ships will take care of the rest!”

“Wait, sir, check you three!” called a pilot.

Jaclyn looked to her right and spotted at least twenty enemy heavy fighters. A light flashed and sounded in her cockpit and she looked to her left to see another wing of enemies.

“Flight, this is lead, we’re being zeroed in! All wings maintain flanking positions!” she ordered. Looking at the skyships, she exclaimed, “We need help here! Wings Two and Four, break and attack!

A voice came from the skyships, “acknowledged lead, on our way!”

Fighter after fighter was blown apart. One missile was not enough to destroy one enemy fighter because of its advanced technology. The sky ships also had trouble. It appeared that cannons, explosives, and missiles were no match for lasers, disruptors, and other advanced weaponry.

All Jaclyn could see was fire, and all she could hear were the screams of her fighters. Firing her last missile, she caught an enemy on the port thruster, igniting the rest of the ship in the gallant blaze of red.

Switching to auxiliary cannons, she squeezed the trigger and hoped for the best.

All sky ships were heavily damaged and the life pod bays were emptying extremely fast.

Jaclyn watched helplessly as her weapons depleted and her fighter wings were destroyed.

Jaclyn spoke through her radio, “If anyone’s still alive out there, I’m making a run for it! Join me if you want!”

=============

The leg press seemed all too easy for Rebecca Larson. She must have done it a million times by now. She was a woman of average height, had an athletic body build, and was very attractive.

After finishing her third set on three hundred pounds, Admiral Gregory Wallace appeared on the exercise room’s main viewer.

“Lieutenant, good morning. I’d like you to attend our meeting in the conference room. I’m sure you can get washed up and in uniform in twenty minutes?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied.

The viewer returned to a view of a magical sight of a sunrise over the Rocky Mountains.

Rebecca sighed and she slung her gym bag over her shoulder. “Meetings, meetings…”

=============

“How are you doing on fuel Gerald?” Jaclyn asked.

“I’m just below half. Are you sure there is a sky ship in the Rockies?” Gerald asked.

Jaclyn checked her records, “yes. Admiral Gregory Wallace is in command.”

“Wallace, huh? I heard about this guy. He splashed twelve heavy fighters in under five minutes in the Battle of Los Angeles, right?”

Jaclyn grinned, “Yeah, that’s him. Let’s hope he wont send us somewhere else. I’m looking for some payback against Diron 8 after what just happened over Hawaii.

=========

“As you all know, we just lost Hawaii to the Dironians. That land was vital to the war, providing tactical information from their bases on the moon.

The Dironians have this type of technology we as a world cannot match. How did they develop that technology so quickly once they became a communist nation?” Greg asked.

It was probably isolationism. The world thought it would be just perfect to send all of our convicts to our facilities on Antarctica. They end up rebelling and starting a new nation. Well, now look what it has done to us, he thought.

“Anyway, two survivors from the battle are on their way here to join us. Their names are Lieutenant Commanders Jaclyn Chance and Gerald Andark. They will be arriving very momentarily and I want you all, as a crew, to treat them like they are welcome. They are American soldiers who just escaped unbeatable odds. They are not new to the military, so treat them with respect as if you would if they were here as long as you.”

“Sir?” an officer appeared at the conference room door. “Chance and Andark are aboard. They are waiting in the hangar.”

“Good, show them into the briefing room.” Greg turned to his associates, “we are concluded here, thank you.”

The room was empty, but Rebecca remained.

“Larson?” Greg asked.

“I’d like to meet them with you. I think I know Andark. The name rings a bell.”

“Alright, come with me then.”

The two walked outside the conference room into a long corridor. Neon lights bordered the floor line and plenty of natural light illuminated the path.

“Where do you think you’ve met him? Old friend? Wing mate?”

“No, sir. I’ll prolly remember when I see him.”

It was love. She was hiding it from Greg because she did not want him to have her transferred off the ship due to personal conflict. Rebecca and he were once lovers until the war began. After Gerald was shipped off to Midway, he promised to call her. However, when he arrived at his base, he decided getting drunk and going AWOL was the best way to enjoy life. Once he finally got a call through, Rebecca ignored it and wanted revenge for his actions. Dating other men just to make him jealous, she gained satisfaction in knowing that their relationship was over.

When the two arrived at the briefing room, the two survivors were present. Jaclyn was not much different in appearance than Rebecca aside from Jaclyn’s blonde hair. Gerald also had an athletic build but was at least three five inches taller than the two young women.

Once Gerald spotted Rebecca, he immediately stood.

“I’m sorry Admiral, I cannot work here,” he turned to Jaclyn, “let’s go.”

“Wait,” she exclaimed, grabbing his arm. “What are you doing?”

He stopped and looked at Rebecca, “preventing trouble.” Extricating himself from Jaclyn’s grip, he saluted only Greg.

Greg looked at Rebecca, “I’ll see you in the conference room after this?”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

“Wait, what’s going on here?” Jaclyn asked.

“It’s a long story Jacky, I’ll tell you later. Right now, we must discuss what’s about to happen.”

Greg raised an eyebrow.

“There is a…” Gerald was cut off.

Jaclyn interrupted, “hold on, this is all to fast.” She sighed and saluted Greg and Rebecca, “I’m Lieutenant Commander Jaclyn Chance and this is Lieutenant Commander Gerald Andark. We are honored to be under your command sir.”

Greg looked at Gerald and Rebecca, “I like her.”

Gerald spoke again, “well sir, the fleet we outran tracked us to this location.”

“How do you know?”

Gerald pulled out a small device from his pocket. It was a circular, disk-like object that had a light that blinked in the center.

“It’s a tracking system, I just found it on my wing as I arrived here.”

Time Flight – Chapter One

Sector 4/ Rocky Mountains/ 24 March 2268

Sky Ship Hawk was massive. Primary and secondary armor plating, twenty heavy cannons, two-ton engines, and a thirty-fighter wing.

The bridge was of standard design among all American sky ships. All primary controls were directed toward the center while leass vital systems were placed against the walls.

Admiral Wallace, Lieutenant Larson, and Lieutenant Commanders Chance and Andark entered the bridge.

The bridge looked like any other sky ship, tall view ports, wall computers against the entrance area, vital computers placed in a lower part of the bridge, and the admiral’s chair was located directly in the center.

Greg asked, “anything on scanners?”

“No, sir,” replied an officer.

“Be alert, we were tracked. We’re expecting a fleet of advanced Dironian military. Start signaling all nearby sky ships to rendezvous with us.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Still nothing?”

“Nothing, sir.” Are you sure we were tracked?”

Greg nodded, “I have the device in my pocket right now if you want to see it.”

The officer grinned, “sorry, sir.”

A few moments later, the sensors beeped a soft signal.

“Sir, we have multiple bogeys on approach on our nine, mark one fifty-eight degrees!” the officer reported.

“Give me visual,” Greg ordered.

The central view port was replaced with an image of a gleaming advanced enemy attack force whose formation had a wide span like the wings of a condor.

“All hands to red alert!” Greg ordered and suddenly the ship’s lighting was illuminated with a red pigment. “Ready the main guns, fire when ready.”

“Aye, main guns loaded…aiming…and firing!”

A deep rumble rippled throughout the Hawk as the artillery units launched their weapons.

“Sir, primary weapons fire isn’t getting through,” reported the weapons officer.

Greg looked at tactical, “what is their distance?”

“Enemy is five minutes from firing range and closing at a constant speed.”

Greg turned to Rebecca, “Larson, launch your squad and take Chance and Andark with you!” Greg ordered.

“Sir, I have a better idea, what about Alpha 9?” Rebecca suggested.

“No, sorry, launch now.”

“Sir…”

“Launch. Now. That’s an order.”

Jaclyn came forward, “wait, what’s Alpha 9?”

“It’s a nuke we have hidden in the mountains we were using as a last resort incase something like this happened,” Rebecca explained.

Confused, Jaclyn asked, “Then what’s the problem? This is one of those situations.”

“Because it’s not ready. The missile isotope is very unstable and our boys down there are not yet done fixing it,” Greg replied. He turned to Rebecca, “Now, am I gonna have to shove you in the brig where you can die a sad life? Or are you gonna go out there were you can die fighting?”

“Yes, sir,” Rebecca confirmed. The three pilots left the bridge.

Walking down the main corridor and into the hangar, Rebecca ordered all her pilots to launch, and instantly, all of them were already climbing into their fighters.

Gerald heard Rebecca’s voice over the radio, “Alright Gerald, this is my flight and we do things my way.”

Gerald sighed and replied a bit angrily, “Know what? Keep your damn mind on business and let’s get the hell outta here!”

Instantly, all thirty fighters were in the air. The squad was divided into two groups, and each took flanking positions. The formations were similar to spearheads with the lead fighter flying in front.

“Lieutenant Commander Chance, you are in command of wing two,” Rebecca informed.

“Yes, sir,” she replied. Opening a private channel to Gerald, she asked, “do I call her sir? I’m higher ranked that she is. If not sir, then what?”

Gerald replied, “See, I told ya she’s clever in getting her ways.”

Rebecca came over the radio, “fifty eight enemy fighters at twelve, all fighters prepare to enter firing range!”

Keeping her thumb on the trigger until her HUD went from yellow to red, Rebecca ordered, “All fighters, open fire!” she ordered.

All fighters fired one missile. Each spiraled across the neutral area and slammed into their targets. However, a blue shielding technology that protected the enemy in an oval barrier thwarted each explosion.

“Lock and fire!” she ordered. “We have to break their shields!

Another set of missiles plunged, but the shields remained.

Rebecca saw the fighters gun ports open and she said, “break off! They’re in striking range! Repeat, all units break!”

Just the first shot from the Dironians splashed seven fighters. Their particle weapons ripped into the engines, which engulfed the rest of the fighter.

Rebecca could only see missiles and particle weapons through her cockpit window. “Two flight, I want you to take the enemy on the left as we work the right!”

“Affirmative,” Gerald replied.

Firing a missile into a fighter, Rebecca noticed that when the shield protected her target, it was dim.

“Flight, this is lead, they’re loosing their shields. Keep it together and we’ll get through this!”

“Lead, we have inbound on the Hawk!” Jaclyn warned.

Rebecca checked her sensors and saw that the main fleet was cruising right above the battle zone.

“Lieutenant Commander, there’s no way the Hawk and its reinforcements can defend against that, I’m going to execute Alpha 9. Chance, you take one, Andark you take two,” she ordered as she broke from the combat zone and toward the Rocky Mountains.

“What, is she crazy?” Gerald asked, “It’s not even safe!”

After Jaclyn fired her last missile and it ripped apart her opponent, she replied, “I don’t know, just let her go, we have work up here!”

“I can’t let her kill herself!” Gerald shot back. He rolled to avoid several laser shots from grazing his hull, and he fired a missile that exploded upon the enemy’s shield. Locking on again, he fired and was rewarded with the sight of a colossal explosion.

“Fighter two, you have command of this wing!” Gerald stated.

“Sir!” two’s voice came over the radio, panicky, “I’m only a first-year!”

“Well, you’ve been promoted!” Gerald said, breaking off toward Alpha 9.
================

Entering the missile room, a worker immediately approached Rebecca.

“Can I help you?”

“Yeah, just incase you don’t know, we have a Dironian fleet headed right for the Hawk and a few others, I just thought I’d like to use this missile,” she stated.

“Well, we can’t allow you, it’s not safe at all. The isotope…”

“Will stabilize,” she assured, cutting him off. “Fire it.”

“Wait, how the hell do you even know? What, are you a scientist or something?”

She pulled out her pistol and pointed it directly at his head, “fire it!” she yelled.

“No,” Gerald stated, pointing his pistol at her. She did the same at him.

“Becky, put the gun down. We’re just wasting time,” Gerald said.

“Yes, I know we’re wasting time! Time to destroy that damn fleet before it kills us all!”

“And how do you know it this wont kill us all?”

“It’s a chance we have to risk! If we don’t try this, we lose, if we try this, we win or lose! At least that gives us a chance. C’mon Gerald, you know we have to do this.”

Gerald stood in place, gun at her forehead. He lowered it and he stood for a moment. “Fire the missile.”

The worker replied, “Sir! What the hell are you thinking?”

“Fire it!” Rebecca yelled, pointing her gun to his head again.

“Fine, I’ll fire it, but if we die, you’re going to Hell and I’m going to a much more dandy place!” the worker replied.

===================

“Sir, we’re reading weapons fire from the surface of the Rockies. It’s Alpha 9,” reported the tactical officer.

“Let me see!” Greg ordered.

It was true; the missile was fired and headed straight for the approaching fleet. Greg ordered, “fly us out of here, get us clear of the blast!”

“Aye, sir.”

After a few moments of waiting, off in the distance, all that was visible was a massive wave of and exploding Dironian legion.

Time Flight – Chapter Two

The wine was flowing on the luxury liner Venus. Everyone was dressed in formal attire. Even the military men and women were in tuxedos and dresses instead of their uniforms.

“Presenting Ms. Lieutenant Commander Jaclyn Chance and escort, Mr. Lieutenant Commander Gerald Andark,” the announcer presented.

Gerald noticed that Rebecca was already among the crowd. She wore a black, one-piece gown with no straps and it extended only to her ankles. Jaclyn wore a similar gown, only it was blue and she wore clear colored high heels with it.

Gerald wore typical male attire of a tuxedo with a bow tie. Not being much for formal getups, and events, he could care less that his jacket was too big.

When Jaclyn saw Rebecca, she was instantly reminded of the conference room incident. Rebecca walked away once she spotted Gerald, and Jaclyn whispered into his ear.

“What was that all about?”

Gerald sighed and took her to a lounge area, “alright, I’ll explain.” He closed his eyes for a moment until he looked at her. “She and I dated for a long time before the war. We were in our late teens and we really hit it off. We partied, hung out, and basically had great times together.

“Once I was drafted into military service after the depressing Battle of the Skies, I was devastated. I wondered if I would ever see her again.

Upon my arrival in the military, I promised her that I would call her. But, I became stupid and realized that if I were to die; I’d go down with some fun. I became a rebel within the time frame of one month. I even went AWOL that month! Once I finally pulled myself together, I had the courage to call her, but it was too late. A Dironian attack force bombed my bas and all communications in the area were out. Not only that, but they decided to take prisoners. Once I was rescued, I found out that she also became unfaithful.”

Jaclyn looked at him, “I’m…sorry, I din’t know that.”

“It’s alright. I just don’t see how I can work with her.”

“May be you should talk to her tonight?”

Gerald chuckled, “Ha, no. We’ve tried that.”

“Heh, well you better do something lover boy because Wallace is putting us three together as a permanent team and I don’t want some trouble while I’m up there getting lasers shot up my ass.”

Gerald laughed, “Yeh, me and Becky on the same side…that’s a good one. Don’t start on that wine, you seem impaired enough!”

She rolled her eyes, “Gerald! I’m dead serious here!”

“Look, Jacky, it’s harder when you’re the one involved in this.”

“Well, as I remember it, you’re the one who dropped out on her first!”

There was silence.

Gerald spoke, “Alright, look. I came here to celebrate this victory with you and have a good time. Not to argue about a mistake I made more than three years ago.”

Silence again.

Gerald sighed, “Now, would you like to dance?”

Jaclyn gave a faint smile, “yes.”

As the two began a flow waltz, Rebecca took notice. She knew that he could see her, but he kept his eyes on Jaclyn the whole time. For the first time in a lonig while, she felt jealousy against him. However, this jealousy was odd because Jaclyn is just his friend and she knew that. Any woman would understand, but not this one. She knew there was something else, but she couldn’t place it.

Jaclyn’s grace only made Rebecca’s jealousy worse. She landed every step and perfected each turn. Once the music concluded, she ended in a perfect dip, and was held tightly in Gerald’s arms that drove Rebecca away from the dance floor in anger.

Several people watching the couple applauded.

While enjoying their glory, Rebeca found Greg and he turned to her.

“Lieutenant,” he said. “You look very lovely this evening.”

“Thank you, sir. I just couldn’t take another moment with beauty and the bastard over there,” she remarked.

“Well, I’m glad to have found you anyway. I just received some information about today’s events.”

“What sort of information?” she asked.

“Well, that you disobeyed my direct order to avoid Alpha 9, you infiltrated a federal weapons site, stun-shot four guards, and held a scientist at gun point,” he reported.

Rebecca swallowed.

“And also that President Yang personally congratulates you on your effort that defeated the Dironian fleet. He also requests that you be promoted to Lieutenant Commander.”

Rebecca’s eyes widened.

Greg said, “and I approve.”

She was speechless, “I…umm… thank you sir!”

“You deserve it. If it weren’t for you, we’d all be dead right now.”

“Wow, sir, thank you so much!” she said again.

Greg poured two glasses of wine and gave one to her.

“This is to your promotion. Cheers.”

Time Flight – Chapter 3

Sector 4/ Rocky Mountains/ 25 March 2268

The weight room door hissed open just to reveal Rebecca to Gerald. He sighed, walked in, and found the farthest machine away from her.

Behind him, he heard three hundred pounds of weight come crashing down. Then he heard Rebecca’s voice.

“You don’t use the bike.”

Still facing away, he said, “Of course I do.”

“No,” she insisted, you don’t.”

“Well I do now,” he said, still calm.

“Heh, whatever,” she commented.

Gerald heard the sound of the leg press continue. Thoughts crossed his mind left and right. Once he noticed he was alone with her, he stood up from his bike and faced her.

She saw him through the many mirrors in the room and set the weights down.

“Why, Becky?”

In utter anger, she rose and yelled, “Why me? Me? What about you?” You were supposed to keep your damn promise!”

“I!” Gerald paused, “did.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes, “Right. And I suppose my call from you somehow did not reach me. Oh, oh, I know…you lost my number.”

“Becky –” Gerald said softly.

“Dammit, Gerald, you could have given me at lease one clue that you were still alive! That you actually made it to your base without being ambushed by the Dironians!”

Gerald shot back, “you have no idea what it’s like to be drafted! They force you to pick up a gun and shoot a guy.” He sat down by her, “Do you have any idea what that feeling’s like?”

She was silent, only looking at her weights.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. That’s why I went AWOL. I joined the Air Navy after that. Thought it was better to see a plane explode instead of watching a human being die slowly in front of my eyes.”

Rebecca spoke silently, “but that still doesn’t explain why you din’t call me later. Even after you joined the AN.”

“Becky, I tried, I really did. The night I got situated, it was very late and I thought if I were to talk to you, I should do it when I had time to talk.”

“Then it happened. Four hours later, my wing mates woke me up and told me we were under fire. After it was over, all our communications systems were destroyed and several sentries informed us that the Dironians had blockaded our bases in the area.

“Once I got a call in, it was too late,” Gerald tried to keep his rising emotions in but he failed, “I mean come on Becky! What the hell were you thinking screwing other guys!” he yelled. Immediately it struck him that what he just did was the wrong thing to say.

Rebecca shot up, “What? You did the same thing!”

“What?” he asked. “I did nothing of the sort!”

Her fists clenched, “Yes, you did!”

“How would you know? Besides, we didn’t even have any women on the base!”

“But you admitted it to me!”

“What are you talking about? No, I didn’t!” Gerald exclaimed, almost laughing at the absurdity.

“Gerald, this war’s done many things to you. May be it gave you Amnesia as well,” she said, gathering her things and getting up. Once she turned around, she noticed several people had entered the room and they were staring.

“What?” she snapped and exited to the ladies’ locker room.

A ship-soldier about Gerald’s age came next to him and sat down.

“What kinda crap jus’ happened here?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Gerald responded, lifting several weights.

“Hey, I’ve had trouble with a girl before, if you some advice?”
“No, thanks. If this is to be resolved, the last thing she’ll want is another person involved. Thanks, um –?

“Jensen. No problem, sir.”

--- --- ---

“G’morning Jacky,” Rebecca greeted as she entered the ship’s mess hall.

Jaclyn turned and said, “Hey, congrats on your promotion.”

“Oh, yea, thanks,” she smiled.

Jaclyn asked, “Um, now that we are all the same rank, can we call each other by our names?”

“Heh, yeah, that’d be nice. Wanna get some breakfast?”

“Sure, I’d—” Jaclyn was cut off by Greg’s voice over the ship’s intercom.

“Larson, Chance, Andark, report to the bridge.”

--- --- ---

Thought he main monitor showed a small Dironian ship just sitting in the middle of the sector. It was not of any fighter class that Greg could identify and it showed no signs of weaponry. There were no wings, only two thrusters, and it had not obvious indication of a bridge. It was also even more advanced than other Dironian crafts.

“How’d it get here?” Rebecca asked.

“It just entered the sector. We opened weapon ports but they have not responded to our threat, even when we disabled their engines. Contact was also denied. It could be a trap,” Greg said.

“We can check it out, sir,” Gerald offered.

“Good. Remember, no fancy stuff. Just observe it, take the crew, and it back here and we can take it from there. We’ll send some teams of the ship-soldiers to assist you in any opposition. Dismissed.”

Time Flight – Chapter 4

Sector 4/ Rocky Mountains/ 25 March 2268

“Engines confirmed disabled. We’re not going to go anywhere,” Jaclyn stated.

“Thanks Jacky, we’re landing now. Swing around and join us in,” Gerald answered.

“We need to blow the hangar doors if we’re going to board. Becky, form on me, fire one sidewinder on the left core while I take the right,” Gerald ordered.

As they moved in position, they fired the missiles and the hangar doors blew open completely in the first shot.

Rebecca gazed at the explosion suspiciously, “This isn’t right. They usually have shields. This is too much of a setup.”

“Well, we should still look at the ship. After all, we’re not going anywhere,” Gerald ensured.

As the three pilots landed inside the hangar, the ship-soldiers followed them in.

“Alright, remember the mission, we go in, figure out what’s going on, and get back,” Gerald said, loading a magazine into his pistol.

The soldiers poured out of the transport shuttle and took positions around the hangar’s main entrance from the ship’s interior. When all positions were taken, Jaclyn opened a pocket on her vest and removed a small explosive.

“Everyone stand back,” she warned. Moments later, she blew the door and the soldiers rushed in, with weapons up.

The room they entered looked almost like a storage room except many vital units were present. No crew occupied the room and the lighting was at a dim level.

“Hey, look at this,” Gerald said to the two women. “Sleeper tubes.”

“Can you identify the contents?” Jacky asked.

Gerald looked at a control unit beside the tubes. He tapped a green figure that looked like a symbol of a man like one on a public bathroom door. To his surprise came endless biographical information about the person inside.

SPECIES: HUMAN
SLEEP PERIOD START: 24 MARCH 2268
SLEEP PERIOD END: 26 MARCH 2268
DESTINATION: CREEGA, DIRON 8
OCCUPATION: HISTORIAN

The occupation caught Rebecca’s attention the most and he noticed.

Several ship-soldiers waved their direction of intention to Jaclyn and she confirmed their procedure. The soldiers cautiously, with weapons up, proceeded down a corridor that was on the opposite end of her position.

“You majored in history back in college before the war, right?” Gerald asked.

Rebecca nodded, “but why would they need individuals with expertise in this area?” she asked as she noticed every sleeper tube had the same occupation.

“Wait, there’s more information,” Gerald said. As he read, he stated, “they are American. The Dironians kidnapped all of them.”

“They could be interrogation prisoners. Whatever, we need to get them outta here, they are officially POW’s,” Jaclyn said. Right after she finished, the three pilots heard the sound of gunshots down the corridor. Several seconds afterward, they heard what could have been laser blasts, and the guns stopped.

Drawing their pistols and moving with the remaining four soldiers, they proceeded down the corridor to find six dead soldiers. Rebecca looked all around but saw nothing at all. No signs of assailants.

Immediately after the discovery, they heard gunshots, laser blasts, and shrieks in the previous room. Everyone turned three hundred and sixty degrees at the sound of the first shot and double backed instantly.

Upon return, the three soldiers who guarded the area were all dead. Again, there were no signs of any attackers.

Gerald said, “Let’s get the hell outta here! Everyone move!”

“Wait, sir!” a soldier said, “Check your six!”

Gerald turned to face three robotic soldiers. They looked very human aside from their bird-like legs, they had no necks, and several bullet holes were drilled into them.

“Let ‘em have it!” Gerald yelled.

But before the four soldiers could dump more than twenty bullets into the machines, the robots had fired their blasters and killed off all but one of the remaining soldiers.
Taking cover, the three fired several futile shots into the metallic defenders.

The robots did not mind to take their own cover, for they continued the assault, firing countless shots, setting many machines around them on fire.

Dispersing from his position to avoid the fire, Gerald leaped to his side, dodging various laser blasts, and fired a shot which hit a crystal-like structure in the core, transforming the robot into a flames.

Observing this, Jaclyn and Rebecca hit the last two dead on and they became scrap metal.

They gathered at the entrance but realized a force field had been installed. The soldier fired short bursts into the field but every shot was disintegrated.

“Private, contact the Hawk, let them know we have a problem here and we’re gonna need them to disable the ship’s shield array,” Rebecca ordered.

A moment later, the soldier reported, “Hawk is in position, confirm fire?”

“Yes,” Gerald confirmed.

The Hawk fired a missile on a direct course for the ship’s shield array. As the missile glided through the sky, the ship’s shields immediately tore the missile apart.

“Sir, primary weapons fire isn’t getting through,” the soldier put in.

“And I’m not reading a fluctuation in their shield grid,” Jaclyn added.

“Fire again,” Gerald ordered, talking into the communicator.

A second missile flew out to the same target. Again, the shield caught it.

Jaclyn shook her head.

“Admiral, can you hack into their systems?” Gerald asked.

“Negative, their shields are still too strong and are blocking out our data,” Greg replied.

“Ok, we’re going to try to disable it here. Strike One, out,” Gerald said as he walked toward Jaclyn. “What’s going on?”

“Well, they have an encrypted code on every system. It can take a very long time to break.”

“Can you locate any escape pods?”

“Yeah, just gimme a second.” Jaclyn punched in several keys into the high tech monitor and a map came up on the sensors. “Gerald, they right there,” she said, pointing to a metal-sealed room to their left.

“Private, C4,” Gerald ordered.

“Yes, sir,” he acknowledged.

Before he could remove the device from his compartment, two laser blasts seared into his flesh, killing him.

Gerald turned to face the attacker, fired two shots and watched them disintegrate into a small shield protecting a man in the uniform of a high-ranking Dironian officer.

It was a man, about as tall as Gerald. He was medium built, wore a black uniform with the Dironian military symbol attached to it, and looked to be around his mid thirties.

The three pilots felt the ship jerk forward, to the side and into an incredibly fast speed.

“Lieutenant Commander! They have enabled a secondary thruster system, do you copy?” It was Greg’s voice coming out of the communicator.

The man took aim and fired a shot into the unit, blowing it out of Gerald’s hands.

“Where are we going? Who are you?” Rebecca demanded.

“I am Ligell. And you are going to Hell.”

Ooo... I'm glad to see that you posted this up here... It's more likely that I'd read it here than on the YWG because I spend so much time here...

But I don't have time to read this all today (I've gotten through the first post, and it looks really good) but I promise I'll come back and read the rest later. I'll give it a good critique too, if you want. Just let me know if there's something (anything) you want me to be looking at specifically.

um, im not really looking for much except story flow, if everything makes sense as the chapters continue. that's what destroyed the story last time, a lot of things didnt make sense and i even lost track of my own story. so yea, that's pretty much all cuz i dont really wanna restart this again

Time Flight – Chapter 5

Sector 4/ Rocky Mountains/ 25 March 2268

“Why did they stop there in the first place?” Commodore Nakai asked. He was Greg’s most trusted foreign ally and every time he was in a tight spot, he would turn to Nakai. The rather short man appeared through a holographic monitor that covered the view of a noon sky above the Rocky Mountains.

“We don’t know. For now, I’m assuming it was a trap to capture my finest pilots,” Greg replied.

“Do any of your pilots aboard that ship have any significance to their needs, Admiral?”

Greg thought for a moment and an idea hit him, “Before the war, Lieutenant Commander Larson was a historian. And then, when one of the soldiers on that ship spoke to me, and he mentioned sleeper tubes that were all marked as historians.”

“May be they are using Larson for something?”

“I think you’re right. Thank you Commodore. Please inform me if that ship enters your area. If it does not, we can assume it went straight to Diron 8 in Antarctica. Hawk, out.”

--- --- ---

Rebecca fired a shot at Ligell just to find herself ducking for cover. The bullet ricocheted off a shield protecting Ligell and then the titanium plating around the room.

“Our shields are tricky. You see, they have different defense settings. You can choose either to dissolve your opponents attack, or send it back at them,” he boasted. He grabbed Rebecca’s arm and she dropped her gun when he tightened his grip on her arm like an anaconda.

Immediately, Gerald and Jaclyn held up their pistols.

“Let her go!” Gerald yelled.

“What are you going to do, Andark? Shoot me? You’ll only end up killing her and yourself it you haven’t already gotten the gist of what this shield can do.”

“Andark,” Gerald said quietly, “how do you know my name?”

“I know more than that. ‘Gerald’ Andark, drafted into the army to defend the Western Wall which was attacked several months later, then you switched to the air navy, became a hero at the Battle of Toronto –”

“Shut up!” Gerald yelled, cutting him off. “How do you know this?”

Instantly, a ship-soldier from the Hawk appeared standing at the corridor, weapon down, and shield up.

Ligell continued, taking Gerald’s attention away from the soldier and back to him, “And then you had some trouble with your love life.”

Gerald began to swell with anger, he said quietly but angrily, “Stop.”

“This young lady here,” Ligell said, looking at Rebecca, “dumped ya. Oh, what a shame. Then she got laid with a few other guys, and then all you can think of was,” Ligell imitated in a very annoying tone of voice, “Oh no, I screwed up my damn life because all I could think about was my party life!”

“Shut up dammit!” Gerald yelled, furious with rage. He lunged at him but the shield threw him back to the hard metal floor.

Throwing Rebecca toward where Jaclyn stood, he told the soldier, “Private, shoot them if they move. I’ll take care of Andark right now.”

“Aye, sir,” responded the soldier.

Turning his attention toward Gerald, he kicked his pistol out of his hands and forcefully disarmed the two women, throwing their weapons to his side of the room. He turned to Gerald again, who just got up from the floor. “C’mon Andark, you wanna hurt me do you?” Deactivating his shield, he stood in a boxing-fighting stance.

Gerald lunged at him again, but Ligell grabbed his arm and lifted Gerald’s foot with his own, sending him again to the floor. Dodging Ligell’s assault of a stomping foot, Gerald picked himself up just to come face to face with Ligell’s fist right in the nose.

Not yet bleeding, Gerald knew he had to plan his next move or he would probably never hit him. Sending a fist to Ligell’s stomach, it was instead caught and Gerald was forced to block a kick to his kidney. Successfully thwarting that maneuver with his own leg, Gerald sent his left fist flying toward Ligell’s cheekbone but it was blocked by the Dironian’s left arm. With no available limbs, Ligell threw his head forward which crushed against Gerald’s sending him spinning toward one of the ship’s walls. Collapsing, Andark was beginning to see stars.

“Andark, I am disappointed in you. I thought a many slightly more built than I would at least stand a chance,” Ligell taunted.

“Heh, you think I’m losing? I’m just trying to make you look good in front of my trator,” Gerald shot back.

Ligell came at him with a kick to the mid-section which hit dead on against Gerald’s unprepared abdomen along with a second kick, with the same leg, that flew into Gerald’s left rib cage.

Managing not to fall, Gerald dodged a third kick that was intended for his face. Countering that maneuver, he spun around to face Ligell’s back where he sent one hard fist into his back. The force shoved the Dironian against the same wall and Gerald further drove him in with a heavy kick to the same section the fist hit. Turning around, Ligell blocked a second kick from his opponent and shortly after, a third. Then Gerald went all out and attacked him with an unending flow of blows to his upper section. After taking several hits, Ligell reactivated his shield and Gerald was blocked out. Ligell turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees and planted his foot against Gerald’s chest with a heavy force.

Once again returning from the floor, Jaclyn and Rebecca helped Gerald up.

Ligell caught his breath and said, “Now, you see Andark, we have all sorts of technology at our disposal that allows us to listen in. Private Jensen was recruited to the marines and assigned to the air navy after the Battle of the Skies when we occupied southern California for a while. During that time, we managed to steal someone’s military files before they were destroyed. Then we replaced it with Jensen’s here. That man never died.”

“It’s a shame, though the Hawk’s best pilots are all prisoners of war. We only needed Larson.”

Rebecca began to worry, “Why?”

“Because, Miss Larson, we need you to help us destroy the world. You see, we need the minds of ten historians to do it, and you’re our tenth.”

“What are you going to do with me?” she demanded.

“There is a vital aspect in World War Two that I need that none of these have been able to provide. I put them in sleeper tubes to preserve their knowledge of a vital part of history. What I need from you is information from that war. Only you know about.”

Everything Ligell had said thus far was true. Jensen had taken over the life of a former soldier via recovered information documents, and Rebecca was to be used to locate a significant historical aspect.

“Wait, why do you even need historical information?” Rebecca asked.

“Through years of fighting, we realize we are not going to win anytime soon. It’s better to remove you from time.”

Her heart sank.

Jaclyn asked, “Why are you even telling us all this?”

“Because we only need Larson. She’s not going anywhere, and neither are you. Good bye.”

After he finished, Jensen fired two shots, one per person, and hit the two pilots. The weapon he used appeared to be a particle blaster instead of a projectile weapon.

Falling to the floor, Gerald and Jaclyn both felt more pain than they ever did in their entire lives.

As Jaclyn was taken down the corridor, she was resisting Ligell’s direction, screaming her protest of the attack.

When her screams grew softer, a large steel door slid across the corridor entrance.

Gerald’s vision began to blur but he managed to notice that Jaclyn was still moving. “Becky,” he gasped, “you all right?”

She nodded once she realized it pained her to speak.

“We gotta get to the escape pods. They’re right behind us.”

She managed, “but they the hatches can only be opened from the bridge.”

“Yeah, on the Hawk they can. This is a different ship.”

She inched her way to a keypad near the pods. “You’re right, this controles them,” she observed. “Any idea what code?”

“No,” Gerald answered, “but I think I can hotwire it.”

more coming very soon