Reaching For The Stars

The engines were switched off and as Peter opened the main door automatically from the flight deck, four policemen stepped forward. Their uniforms were similar to that worn by the flight crew, only minus the flight wings and shoulder rank badges. The senior man, a sergeant, wore four inverted chevrons on his right sleeve. Their caps also had yellow tops. Chris opened the door leading to the cells and as he did so, the robot guard automatically unlocked and opened the cell door and led the still handcuffed prisoner out. He was taken outside and handed over to the waiting officers. The robot then went back inside the cell area and parked itself by the door of the now vacant cell, closed the main door by remote control and switched itself off. As Peter handed over the prisoner’s papers and property, a vehicle came to a stop behind the police transport vehicle. It was painted silver and had `Space Port Control` emblazoned on its sides in bright blue lined with orange. The young girl driver got out and walked over to where the police officers were talking.

“Sorry to butt in sirs, but I’ve been sent over to convey you and your crew over to the control tower”.

“Thanks”, Chris replied, “we’ll be with you in a minute”.

They quickly finished their handover and then walked over to the waiting control car and were quickly whisked away to the control tower in the central area of the spaceport. On arrival they were ushered up to the fifth floor and to the office of the senior control officer. In answer to Peter’s knock the door silently opened and a large red haired man got up from behind his desk.

“Come in all of you; take a seat if you can find one. I just wanted to thank you personally for a very daring and successful rescue. You saved the lives of nearly three hundred people who were on that aircraft. Very well done. Your superiors will definitely be hearing from me shortly, I’m going to recommend you for some sort of award for this”.

“It’s the young lady you should be thanking, sir, not us”. Chris said, “if it hadn’t been for Miss Brevitt`s observation spotting that the aircraft was in trouble, it may well have been a different story”.

“I see, well done indeed Miss Brevitt. Your name will feature strongly in my report”.

“Thank you, sir”. Maureen replied, blushing intently.

After a little more idle chatter, the controller shook them all by the hand and ushered them out of his office. As they came out of the elevator on the ground floor, Peter noticed a familiar figure standing across the foyer. The girl turned as they approached and came running over to Peter. She threw her arms round his neck, kissed him and then stepped back with tears running down her face.

“Hey, what’s up, Fiona”? Peter asked as he playfully ruffled his sisters’ hair.

“I’m so glad you were around”, Fiona answered through her sobs; “I thought I was going to die”.

“What have I done to deserve all this sis”?

“You saved my life that’s what, bird brain. I was on that plane you just rescued. I honestly thought my time had come. You’re my guardian angel from heaven, big brother. I could kiss you again, but I’d better not, Mo might not approve”!

“Oh, I see. Anyway we’d probably have missed even seeing anything until it was too late if it hadn’t been for Maureen. She spotted the plane first.”

“Thanks Mo, I owe you a lot. So does everyone else on that plane”.

Maureen was still bright pink with embarrassment and didn’t reply.

“What are you doing now, Fiona”? Chris asked.

“Nothing really. We’ve all been released from duty to recover”.

“I reckon we could all do with a coffee after that lot”, Chris stated, “Do you want to come over to our office for a cup or two”?

“Yes please, that’d be great”.

Moments later they all left the control tower and walked to a waiting police minibus for the ride back across the spaceport to the police headquarters. The journey only took a few minutes and then they were gliding down the ramp to the underground car park. On, going up to the main reception area of the building they found themselves the centre of attention with everybody shaking their hands and offering their congratulations. Maureen had a permanent blush on her face as Peter, Chris and Bill repeatedly told everyone it was all down to her. They went up in the elevator to Peter’s office and on sitting down, Peter pressed a yellow button beneath the video screen, which gave him a direct link with the canteen.

“Lieutenant Gresham here, could you send five coffees and some buns or something up to my office please”.

“No problem sir, about five minutes if that’s okay”.

They had just finished their coffee and refreshments when the desk video came to life again.

“Lieutenant Gresham, please bring your crew, including your sister, who I believe is with you at the moment, to my office.”

“Right boss, we’re on our way.”

They all went down the corridor to the office of the duty commander. Peter knocked, and after a short pause the door slid open silently. The duty commander, from Varianne, was a large man who almost seemed to dwarf his desk, which he rose from behind as they entered.

“Come in, sit down somewhere and make yourselves comfortable. First and foremost let me congratulate you all again on your successful rescue. I understand that Miss Brevitt here is in line for most of the praise. That will be particularly mentioned when I send the full official report to H.Q. on Varianne. There’ll be certificate recommendations for all of you with special mention of Miss Brevitt`s part in all this”.

All this was just too much for Maureen and when Peter glanced at her she had tears streaming down her face.

“Hey c’mon love, cheer up”. He put his arm round her shoulders and she turned and buried her face against his jacket. The commander smiled.

“You’ll have to get used to a bit of fame for a while. By now practically every news agency around the world has got hold of the story and the major part you played. Anyway, onto the next topic. As of this moment in time, you’re all released from duty until Monday morning, and then you’re off on a long trip. There’s a group of student researchers up at the University of Lincoln who are researching life on other planets. They’ve won funding and time to undertake a voyage covering quite a few planets, all federation members”

“Why sir, is the police doing this which is little more than a civil sightseeing tour, and why us in particular”? Chris asked.

“The galactic fleet of the civil airlines have declined the job, saying it was a waste of time and resources, and the only other group of people, other than the military, who as you know are forbidden to carry civilians, is the police. In view of this and the fact that the police are getting extremely well paid for the job by the university, we’ve grudgingly accepted. It`s down to me to find a suitable crew and I`d like to nominate you for the job. If you definitely do not wish to undertake this mission, I’ll endeavour to find someone else, but you’re the best I’ve got and my first choice. By sending the best, I know you’ll do an excellent job, and it`d very good for the public relations people as well.”

Peter looked round at his crew and knew by their faces that they were taken with the idea.

“Okay, boss. Looks like we’re agreed. We’ll go”.

“Good, I’m really glad you made that decision. I’m assigning Miss Brevitt to your crew to complete her training, providing of course that you have no objections”.

“None sir. I was going to ask you that anyway but you’ve beaten me to it”.

“Agreed then. You’ll be flying a pathfinder class saucer, which is the civilian equivalent of the military vanguard rather than your usual ranger. You two”, he pointed to Peter and Chris, “will be promoted to Captain with immediate effect, but you will still be in overall charge, Peter, or should I say Captain Gresham. By the time you get back to your office your new jackets should be waiting for you. Bill, you’ll also receive accelerated promotion owing to this expedition and your excellent records, to Lieutenant, missing out a rank completely, so don’t let it go to your head, not that I believe that it will. You’ve also got the extra rank to put you above Miss Gresham who has also been given permission by the galactic fleet to travel on this voyage if she wishes to go. I thought we’d try and keep you all together so I took the liberty of approaching her bosses when I first got wind of this taking place. They were happy to allow her to go, as it would be considerable extra experience for her, which probably would take several years to attain. As you know, a civil rank of Senior Navigating Officer is equivalent to our First Officer, so you’ve got to be above her Bill, as you’re regular crew. Miss Brevitt, you’ll be made up to Second Officer as opposed to cadet, which you’ve been since joining this division several months ago. You’ll complete your training during this voyage. Your exams will be done on board and all the paperwork will be audited on another federation planet, where you’ll also undertake your practical examination. Providing you pass, and I see no reason why you shouldn’t, you’ll receive promotion again to First officer when you return. I take it Miss Gresham that you would like to go on the trip”?

“You bet I would”, Fiona said with her eyes sparkling, “Thank you for pulling the strings for me, sir. It’s the chance of a lifetime. I’m sure I can manage to put up with my soppy, gangling bird brained big brother for a while”!!!

Everyone laughed and Fiona squealed when Peter playfully dug her in the ribs. With the formalities over they took their leave of the commander and went back to Peter’s office.