Reaching For The Stars

The distance between the two craft was now closing rapidly and Maureen gasped again when she realised just how big the intruder was. It was close on a thousand feet in length and about a hundred and fifty feet in diameter. She went pale as the alien turned again and another laser beam shot out from its side. The saucer rocked violently and she gripped the armrests of her seat so hard that her knuckles went white.

“Don’t worry darling, they won’t hurt us. The materials these things are made of are laser repellent. It’ll make us jump about a bit but it won’t do any damage”.

“I reckon it’s time we retaliated”, Chris said with a grin. He operated a red button on the side of the panel and sent a beam across the bows of the alien ship. The fire was returned, again causing the saucer to buck madly.

“Oh well, I guess he’s had his fun”. Chris said grimly. He adjusted his aim and fired again. A section of the long aerial on the nose of the alien ship disintegrated in a shower of sparks.

Maureen, in spite of being a bit scared was not too worried as knew by now that she was in very capable hands. She felt a strange excitement at actually being involved in a space battle, a thing which until now, she had only read about in reports with both feet planted firmly on the ground. Now out in space the whole concept took on a new meaning with its own kind of compelling fascination. After what seemed an eternity of shots being exchanged between the two craft, six more blips appeared on the radar screen, and seconds later they appeared on the main viewing screen.

“Nice lot to come to our assistance”, Chris remarked, “Vanguard class, they’re armed to the teeth”.

“Hello Ranger Two, Elberg again. Back off we’re going in, and we’ll put a boarding party on board and sort this out once and for all”.

“Peter, how do they put a boarding party on board? Do the boarders have to wear space suits like the old fashioned astronauts and what happens if the other ship refuses to open its air locks to admit them”?

“These military craft have things called matter transporters”, Peter explained, “it’s like a beam of light when you see them operating. Actually they’re atom gadgets, which disintegrate things, people included, into all its component atoms, which are then beamed through space and re-assembled at the destination. The whole process takes only seconds and the units have range of one hundred miles. The men don’t need space suits as for those few seconds they actually don’t exist. Each unit takes fifty men or the equivalent in stores or equipment, and they work as soon as the covers are lowered. It sounds a bit scary but it`s okay really. It’s just like thinking about a destination a hundred miles away, blinking your eyes and being there when you open them again”.

The Vanguard class military saucers were a lot larger than the rangers at two hundred feet in diameter. Their construction was the same, and in spite of the extra weight could travel just as fast as the smaller rangers. Each one carried a crew of eighty and each had a fully equipped hospital on board. The armament consisted of laser units of varying strength and intensity, space missiles that carried a variety of warheads ranging from atomic bomb heads to various biological ones. The atomic warheads had code 50 markings, which in old Earth terms was the equivalent of 500 megatons. Most crews were mixed, both men and women and came from many different planets. As Varianne was the founder of the federation and was naturally the senior planet on the supreme council, most commanders came from there, and Elberg was no exception to this rule. Just then he came back on the video.

“We’ve actually succeeded in identifying the enemy. It comes from Wyso, which as you know has been refused entry into the federation because of its general aggressiveness. We’ve managed to get onto their radio frequency and my second -in- command is at present telling them that we are placing them and their ship under arrest and that we are putting a boarding party aboard their ship. I’ve told Captain Rogers to tell them that if there is any resistance we’ll blow them to pieces. They know we mean it and I don’t think that they’ll be any trouble. One thing’s for certain, I won’t give them a second chance”.

Almost at once there was a flash of light from each of the Vanguards, which struck the enemy ship at various points along its hull, remained visible for only a few seconds and then disappeared completely.

“Those beams were the matter transporters in action, love”, Peter explained, “I should think there’s probably about three hundred military personnel on board now”.

Within minutes of the boarding taking place, Elberg reappeared on the screen.

“Boarding party was one hundred per cent successful. We’ll head back to your moon base six and impound the ship there. The entire crew is under arrest and they can also be held there until we arrange a military transport to take them to Earth for a preliminary hearing. We will then get them transferred to Varianne for judgement and punishment. We’ll be charging them with unprovoked firing on yourselves and us and being in a zone prohibited to them under the laws of the federation and probably a few other things as well. It should send the entire crew to prison for a considerable stretch. Are you going to come with us back to moon base six”?

“Yes”, Peter replied, “we’ve got a prisoner to pick up there anyway”.

Peter changed the video frequency back to the Pluto base and almost at once the face of the Wolfan scientist reappeared.

“Hello again, just to let you know we’ve got your mystery ship. It’s a craft from Wyso in the Crab Nebulae. The military gave us some assistance and now the ship and its entire crew is under arrest. We’re taking them all back to moon base six and they’ll be transferred later, initially to Earth and then later on to Varianne. There was a bit of a scrap until the military put a boarding party over, but there’s been no trouble since.” Peter told the scientist.

“Well done. We’ll be glad to see the back of that thing I can tell you”.

The formation was by now changing course, with the Wyson craft at the centre, surrounded by the Vanguards. The remainder of the military craft also joined up and Chris bought the saucer into line behind the military craft, following the course instructions on the panel. Maureen had provided the course setting this time under Bill’s watchful eye. One of the Vanguards suddenly left the formation and went streaking away towards the surface of Pluto.

“Where’s that one going”? Maureen asked.

“Down on the surface I expect”, Chris, replied, “they’ll make a detailed inspection to try and establish what the Wysons were doing in this area to start with. All that will be required when it comes to the court case”.