“Admiral! I beg you,” pleaded Blake. “We have to go after her!”

The admiral nodded. “We’re going in hot, lieutenant. We won’t be stopping. Once we drop from the jump, you need to be ready with your team to launch the fighters to the surface. We’ll take out the planetary defenses before you launch. Get down to the planet, make the extraction and rendezvous with the Texas on the other side of the star system.” He paused for a moment to stare Blake in the eyes. “Let’s bring our girl home.”

“I hope yoo’re not too uncomfortable in that box,” said the Gahjin leader. “Fret not, little one. There’s a transport due to arrive in the next few hours to take you to our home world where you will communicate with the Princess on our terms, not hers.”

I banged the palm of my hand against the side of the cage. “Let me out! I want to return to my ship!”

The Gahjin laughed. “Even if I wanted to, yoor ship has moved on without yoo. Maybe they didn’t realize yoor the Oracle. Stoopid hoomans. But I’m curious. I have a question for you though. Yoo look, dress, and act like a hooman female and yet our scans show that yoor actually a male hooman. Why? Oracles are always female.”

I frowned at him. “It’s complicated. I’m technically a stowaway.”

The Gahjin laughed. “Now that’s funny. The single most important hooman on that ship had to sneak on board! Hoomans are more stoopid than we thought.”

Captain Jennings said over the comm. circuits, “Planetary defenses are destroyed Lieutenant Anderson. It’s your show now.”

Several Gahjin rushed up to the breach and fired energy weapons. Blake and his crew had projectile weapons, which seemed to be more accurate. It took only a moment to clear the room.

Through the metal box inside the Gahjin building, I could hear several ‘womp womp womp’ sounds. Could it be explosions? Was this a rescue? The Gahjins around me were suddenly agitated and running around. I could hear shots and explosions outside the building.

Without any warning, part of the wall exploded inward, taking out a few Gahjin soldiers in the way, I saw three men in environment suits jump through the hole and started firing at Gahjins. In a minute, all the Gahjins in the room were dead or close to it.

The men ran up to the box I was in. Through the slots in the box, I could see Blake’s face through his faceplate.

“Blake!” I shouted. “Thank God you’re here!”

Blake banged his fist a few times on the box. “Tyler! We’re taking you home.”

To the other two men, Blake shouted, “Let’s drag this box near my fighter and we’ll force it open then. She won’t have an environment suit, so she’ll have hurry.”

It seemed to take forever, with lots of grunting from the men, but they finally dragged the box through the hole and across the loose sand to Blake’s fighter. One of the men went to his fighter and extracted something that looked like a large heavy axe, which seemed completely out of place on a space ship.

Blake rapped his knuckles on the box to make sure I was paying attention. “Tyler. Listen up. You don’t have a suit, so when we crack this cage, you’re going to have to hold your breath and double-time it up into the cockpit of my fighter. Ready? Okay. Suck in a deep breath and hold it.” I saw Blake nod to the other man.

The man took a deep breath, raised the axe high in the air and with a mighty blow, brought the axe down on the latch, utterly obliterating it. The door fell open and Blake reached in and grabbed my arm. He shouted, “Go! Go! Go!”

My eyes stung in the toxic atmosphere as I ran to Blake’s fighter. As I was climbing up into the cockpit, I turned to see a Gahjin coming out of the hole in the building, raising a pistol at me. Doing so meant losing some of the breath I was holding, but I shouted, “Watch out!”

The man with the axe turned to see the Gahjin. He threw the axe, which caused the Gahjin to turn just as he fired, striking the man in the leg. The axe impaled the Gahjin’s head.

The Gahjin shot burned through the suit and left an ugly burn to the bone on the man’s leg. Blake opened a suit pouch on his own suit leg and pulled a square shaped piece of material. He placed it over the burned hole in the man’s suit.

Blake said, “We don’t have time to triage this here. Let me help you up to your ship.”

The man waved him off. “I’m fine, I can make it. You need to get to your ship and close that canopy before the girl runs out of breath.”

Blake turned to look at the ship and shouted, “Shit!”

I had lowered myself into the rear seat and was fighting desperately to hold my breath. My lungs were on fire as I gritted my teeth. I thought I was going to pass out just as I saw Blake climb over into the cockpit. He hit a button and the canopy began to close. Just before it sealed, I couldn’t hold my breath any longer and let it out. A few moments later, a cool jet of air blew into the canopy. I coughed a few times.

Looking out the canopy, I saw the injured man slowly get into his fighter. The other man was already in his ship and ready to go.

Over the comm. system, Blake said, “Package retrieved. Returning home.”

I was sitting in the back seat gasping for air. Finally I sucked in enough air to speak. “Thank you, Blake! I knew you’d come for me!”

Blake nodded. “I couldn’t leave you here, baby.”

All three ships blasted up through the planet’s atmosphere and into space. I gasped as we approached the Texas. Our proud ship had definitely been through hell. I felt the only thing holding the ship together was the dampening field surrounding the ship. The sides of the Texas were blackened with burn streaks, pits and pock holes. I could clearly see the large hole in the side of the ship where the Gahjin vessel had breached the bulkhead. Whole sections of our small defensive system were just a black, mangled mess. The main turrets were still sound, but they were beaten and battered. The conning tower was gone. It had been manned for observation. Being inside, none of us were aware of just how much punishment the ship had taken.

When the fighters were secured inside the ship, Blake helped me down from the fighter. He pulled me close to him and held me tight, “Oh Tyler! I was afraid I’d lost you forever.

I nodded. “I thought I was a gonner for sure.”

Blake brushed some stray hair from my face and bent his head towards me. I closed my eyes and felt his lips press against mine. We held each other close for a moment.

The announcement over the 1MC said, “Ensign McAdams and Lieutenant Anderson to the bridge, immediately.”

I smiled softly and slowly disengaged from holding Blake. “Thanks for rescuing me.”

Blake grinned at me. “You are my girl, after all.” We turned and hurried to the bridge.

I brushed some dirt from my clothes as we entered the elevator. “I must look a mess.”

Blake looked at me and smiled. “You look beautiful.”

I frowned at Blake. “Did you hit your head during the rescue?”

As we exited the bridge elevator, Admiral Yamato walked towards us. He held out his hand. “Welcome back aboard, ensign. You gave us quite a scare.”

I shook his hand and giggled. “I gave myself quite a scare too, sir.”

“Did you see anything of military value, while you were in their custody, ensign?” the admiral asked earnestly.

I shook my head. “No admiral. I didn’t. I spent most of my time there inside a box. The rescue team killed all the remaining Gahjins at that facility. They were expecting a transport to arrive soon and take me somewhere.”

Blake sat at his console. “My guess is that they’re going to be pissed we got Tyler back.”

The admiral nodded. “Most likely. Make sure all the Flex cannon are fully charged. This close to the home world, they might have a welcoming committee when we exit the jump.”

The admiral announced over the 1MC, “Attention all personnel. Battle stations. I say again Battle stations.” A klaxon sounded. He looked over to Blake. “As soon as the jump coils are fully charged, make the jump lieutenant.”

Blake set his jaw as he pushed the lever forward. “Jump in five… four… three… “