Vanessa and Nathan's parents have been saying for years that they would wind up together. As best friends this seemed unlikely. But when the novel Nathan's been working on scores him a publishing contract, he decides to move back home after spending...
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Colonel Taggert sat at his controls, tapping the grips with his fingertips. It was nervous energy that wouldn't keep his hands still. It had been nearly 10 minutes since the hailing message went out and the new arrivals sat there in their towering transports. If only he could figure out why they made no attempt at communication he could at least rest easy in his ship.
The visiting flotilla of ships were suddenly swallowed up in the shadow of their reason for waiting. An enormous ship of incredible scale emerged from folded space behind the alien craft. He checked his sensors to see why he got no notice of this ship; the display was flashing error messages back to him in reply. Whatever energy it took that craft to bend space to make a faster than light jump to Earth had overwhelmed his sensing arrays.
In the face of such a huge vessel, he called out a general order for the wing to form up on him. The alien ships were clustered; they could at least focus their defence. As the Wing formed up around him, the transports started forward. As they flew, smaller craft jettisoned from the back side of each one.
"They're drone carriers!" Taggert called out to all points. When he received his orders, he knew he didn't want to be the man responsible for a war between Earth and their first interplanetary visitor, but they had other ideas.
One of the lead transports fired a bolt of bluish confined energy into the massed Wing. Within moments, ship after ship, drone after drone spiralled off, floating in space with no power. It was no small miracle that Taggert was still flying when he found himself alone with his drones flying at the transports. Using his remaining drones as a shield, he passed between them long enough to fire off a volley of missiles at the two ships.
He couldn't tell if they were successful; he was barely past them when an energy field enveloped his craft and started dragging his craft toward the enormous vessel that had to be a command craft. Without the ability to manoeuvre, he could only wait to be brought on board.
The bay was as large as all the hangars of the 1st Wing put together. Large enough that it had the space for the small company of soldiers to take him into custody as his ship landed. He was taken through the cavernous ship that was laid out more like a city than a ship of battle. Pedestrian passageways, ship sections that were more like districts, civilian and military personnel in equal measure, it all seemed less threatening now.
Finally, he arrived at a command deck where a feminine looking commander stood waiting. The Colonel was taken before her where she slapped his face. She was on the verge of tears as she pointed at the smoking ships out the forward view screen. While he couldn't make heads or tails of the language, the intent was clear: "How could you?"
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