Lone Patrol

The expanse of space stretched on to infinity and all that separated Kairi from the endless void was bits of metal and a forcefield in the form of a small shuttle rocket.

The blue-skinned woman with the elfin ears in the Star Patrol jumpsuit regarded her reflection in the reflective crystal instrument panel, her red hair primped up. She’d gotten used to that image, but usually in the company of others on a big ship... not alone in a small shuttle on autopilot.

A quick glance at the dimly glowing instruments told her she was slowly approaching her destination: A lonely outpost on the edge of Planetary Council space.

It definitely wasn’t the most glamorous assignment but her appointed ship - the Endurance - was undergoing repairs, and Kairi didn’t want to be idle. Besides, things weren’t the same without her captain in command. She had chosen to temporarily fill a vacant spot while repairs progressed. Things had changed, he was promoted, on a special assignment. And with a special someone.

For the time being the Endurance was under the command of the former first officer, a good leader, but Kairi had grown used to her captain’s command style, and the trust he placed in her and her abilities.

Things had changed so much in a short amount of time and Kairi was still trying to catch up. Her thoughts turned to Danny, what had happened to him? So many unanswered questions. Perhaps helping fix a few systems at a sleepy outpost would be just the thing the Altheaten woman needed.

She would return to the Endurance it was just a short temporary assignment. Or was it? Maybe she’d intentionally chosen such a small insignificant outpost because she felt she had become insignificant. She’d joined the patrol to make a difference, but lately it seemed like she couldn’t make a difference. Everything was falling apart even though things seemed to be getting better for the galaxy at large. The team she’d dedicated herself to was splintered, the man she admired so much gone to loftier places.

As she settled into her Sudoku puzzle book, an alarm began to chime. Kairi furrowed her brow: it was a distress signal, and it was her duty as an officer of the patrol to respond so she did just that.

“This is Lieutenant Faas of the Fifth Star Patrol.”

A thin voice responded. “Oh, blessed be the maker of all planets. Thank you for responding so soon.”

Kairi smiled slightly. “What seems to be the problem?”

“We have crashlanded on a planetoid... No atmosphere... our oxygen reserves are low.”

“Roger that - I need coordinates, are you able to provide that?”

A pause before they answered. “I am not a navigator.”

Kairi sighed. “Alright, turn on your emergency proximity beacon it should be standard with every ship: large and orange, can’t miss it.”

Silence and then the voice spoke. “Ok, I got it.”

“Scanning frequencies now... got you.” Kairi reported as she honed in on the emergency signal. She sent out a message of her own for any ships in range that there was an emergency and she was responding, she hoped others were enroute she had just herself and a small ship.

“You mentioned there were others with you?” Kairi asked her contact.

“Yes, they’re unconscious but breathing.”

“Okay, just keep them still and monitor the situation, I should be there soon.”

Kairi wasn’t much of a pilot but she knew enough to plot a course, she only hoped she didn’t find herself in a situation requiring manual control. She paused and thought for a moment, there was no telling what she might run into, in her experience the simple things rarely stayed simple. Kairi patted the raygun on her belt for a bit of reassurance.

The planetoid came into view, it was little more than a meteorite-impacted hunk of rock. Kairi saw bits of metal strewn about where the other vessel had impacted the surface.

Kairi initiated the landing sequence and grabbed the medical kit from the emergency compartment, before donning a spacesuit and sealing the helmet. The patrol officer unsealed the hatch and stepped out into the barren lifeless world. As she drew closer to the downed rocket she recognized the class. Selles class, older model, but affordable and with all manner of aftermarket upgrades. Anyone could be operating such a craft.

“This is Lt. Faas, do you read me?” she asked on her shortwave.

“Affirmative!” came the response - worried and on high alert.

The voice didn’t have to answer her Kairi could already feel their anxiety and hope, being an Altheaten gave her empathic powers, she could sense the emotions of others.

Through a hole rent into the hull of the ship Kairi entered, ducking her head to avoid a beam that had collapsed. Within, she found two suited figures, one cradling the other.

“Thank goodness you’re here!” the voice spoke, she could see they were a human male.

“What were you two doing out here?” Kairi asked.

“Mineral prospecting,” the man replied.

Kairi nodded, her suit lights illuminating the dark interior of the spacecraft. The only sounds were the air recyclers working and the hum of a generator.

The Altheaten woman reached over and took the pulse of the figure lying on the ground. She was an Ancarahn: a camel-like species. Breathing, but unconscious.

Kairi spoke. "How'd this happen?"

"We got hit by something. Didn't see any debris on the scope, so I have no idea what hit us," the man responded.

Kairi nodded and opened her medkit, "Okay, well, you two seem fine, and the oxygen is getting thin in here, let's get out of this ship, we can talk when we're safe.”

The man nodded and they carried the camel girl out and to the safety of the Star Patrol shuttle.

Once they had settled inside and the cabin had repressurized, Kairi checked on the Ancarahn again. Her eyes fluttered open and Kairi felt a spike of alarm come from her.

“Easy,” Kairi said softly. “You’re safe now. Patrol shuttle.”

“Fatasim!” the woman grunted.

“‘Fatasim’?” Kairi asked.

“Yes… the thing! The creature!”

“What creature?” Kairi asked raising a brow.

“Just an old spacehand legend,” the human grunted. “Oh, name’s Rosh by the way, and that’s Tillina.”

“Right, well we’ll get underway soon and you can both fill out reports on what happened. I’ll drop you both off at a hospital station.”

“It’s still out there! The Fatasim!” Tillina wailed.

“Calm down Tillina,” Rosh tried to calm her. “We just hit a rock we didn’t see.”

Kairi could empathically sense the panic rising in the Ancarahn.

“Hey,” Kairi said warmly, “it’s going to be fine. We’ve got backup enroute. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

The woman shook her head. “It will find us! It will sense the engines!”

“I didn’t encounter anything landing,” Kairi suggested. “Maybe it’s gone?”

That thought seemed to install a slight bit of calm into her.

As Kairi fired up the engines though she sensed something else, another emotion, a primitive one. It wasn’t complex, it was primal. It had to be close, close enough she could sense it, yet there was nothing on her sensors or out the viewports.

Perhaps there is something out there, she thought to herself. There was only one way to find out for certain.

Kairi was not much of a pilot - she knew the bare minimum - but she was going to have to do the best she could. Fiddling with the controls, she set maximum thrust and mapped out a course.

“Please strap yourselves in,” Kairi said to the rescued prospectors as calmly as she could.

Kairi took a breath and steadied her nerves, she checked her comms and scope one last time hoping to see some good news, like a patrol cutter. But there was no such luck. ‘Fatasim,’ or whatever that creature was, was out there, lurking, waiting: coiled to strike like a Tesavan Viper.

She could only hope her takeoff would be quicker than its strike.

Slamming her hand on the launch button the ship suddenly shuddered and shot up, the sudden acceleration forcing all occupants into their seats. Kairi jerked the controls to the side as something snapped where the ship had just been, a barely perceptible blur outside the viewports. Kairi readjusted, zig-zagged, avoiding whatever it was they faced. Though her shuttle rocket had rayguns mounted on it she didn’t think they would be quite enough to stop the creature they faced.

Open space loomed before her and Kairi punched in the stardrive coordinates. Tillina screamed as a massive maw loomed over the pitifully small craft.

This was it.

The end had come.

“Ahh, thrache!” Kairi swore and grit her teeth just as the stellardrive kicked in.

The jaws were gone, the stars blurred and then resettled. Kairi blinked, she felt the terror from her passengers which had been so fiercely acute fade away, replaced by a refreshing feeling of relief.

“We made it!” Kairi grinned.

She was even further from her destination now, but she didn’t care.

“All in a day’s work,” Kairi beamed. The male returned her smile, but the female had passed out from shock.

“She’ll be okay,” he said, a little worried but not too much.

“Something tells me this isn’t the first time you’ve had a close call with her.” Kairi smirked.

“Don’t get me started.” Rosh sighed.

“Got some time before we reach the medical station.” Kairi giggled.

Kairi was moving in the complete opposite direction she was supposed to be going, but for now it was ‘okay’ to her. She’d get there. The outpost would be fine for a bit longer without her.

The Endurance would carry out her missions even without her longtime captain, and Kairi had proven herself a capable member of the Patrol, doing what she was supposed to be doing.

Maybe, as indifferent and as vast as space could be, things had a way of working themselves out. This was it, this was what she’d forgotten. She could still make a difference, even if it was something small like saving a couple of careless prospectors.

She would stay in, she would go as far as she could and apply herself. Maybe someday she could be captain. The next day, she wrote the Admiralty to apply for the captaincy pathway tests.

When she hit send, she had a little smile as her heart fluttered.