PACKETS STORY

Harris felt a sudden trembling run through his entire body.

Harris opened his eyes, Predling was shaking him by the arm.

" Time for the morning briefing. " said Predling.

Harris sat up suddenly. 'thump' He banged his head against the bulkhead. Holding his head down Harris swung his legs over the side of his bunk. Much to his surprise Harris found he was dressed. Then remembered the had not got undressed. He must have just fallen asleep on top of his bunk.

Harris jumped down into the passageway and stretched, he put on his boots then followed the direction Predling had gone, which led to the control room. Raftos and the others were gathered round the large table looking at star charts of the sector they were now in.

Packet had done some calculations and Raftos was marking these on the charts. Mick who was sitting between Raftos and Packet was scribbling down numbers and working with a small hand computer.

As Harris entered the room Raftos looked up and nodded to a chair. As Harris sat down he noticed an additional bit of equipment had been added to the room, a three dimensional Navigon unit, this however sat in the corner, silent and off, its twin screens blank.

The scene at the table was rather like being back at pilot academy trying to work out navigation positions by hand on old paper charts. Harris noticed the charts were of an area bordering the fifth sector.

Raftos made a few final marks on one of the maps and drew a line between them. Raftos then explained how they were now going to proceed. They would select a likely area to go to. Packet would use the long range scanners to survey the area and then Mick would make the necessary calculations. If the area was deemed to be within the safety factors they would jump. The area selected for a jump would have to be fairly empty for the calculations needed to make the ship move could never be totally accurate, part of it would always rely on luck. There main safety factor was the precaution that they were not going to jump further than they could scan, however that was still quite a long way.

Raftos said he intended to make two jumps from their current position on the edge of sector five, to a point deep into sector five, their aim was to get to the area where the old planet of Aganoon had once been before it had blown up. Raftos moved his finger along the line he had drawn on the map indicating two jump points and the last point on the map marked as Aganoon.

Harris suggested that perhaps it would be too dangerous to go to the actual system where Aganoon had been destroyed. He pointed out that it would be full of small and uncharted debris from the destruction of the planet. Every one at the table agreed this was a very pertinent point and Raftos redrew the final line on the chart to end just outside the Aganoon system.

Finishing the session Raftos announced they would make the first jump toward sector five after breakfast then start to scan for the next jump point. Raftos pored a drink for himself into one of the glasses on the table from the whisky bottle, he pored two extra glasses and gave Harris and Packet one. Mick it seemed did not drink.

" To success." said Raftos.

They toasted to success, it was bit early for drinking thought Harris but toasted anyway. Harris did notice the bottle was quite a bit emptier than it had been yesterday.

They made there way to the food storage area. This was now in part of the ship that did not have any gravity and it was much easier to move around. Harris's decided to read the inventory to see what food there was on offer rather than use Mick's random method of opening the first locker he came to. Harris got some breakfast to his liking and anchored himself to the wall near a hydration point. Packet came and locked himself near by.

" After we have made the first jump." said Packet heating up a box of food in the micro oven. " I'll take you to the communication pod where we'll scan the next sector. You'll like some of the kit we've got there."

Harris said he'd look forward to that.

Harris, Packet and Mick watched the dials in the small switch room and waited for the generators to reach operating power.

Mick had made all the adjustments and they were ready for the next jump. Raftos had disappeared. Harris looked up at the jump switch. It was now on the number four. When the generator power indicator was three quarters the way over the green area of the dial, Mick unlocked the Jump button and opened the little door. He gave one last quick look round at all the dials and the pushed the big red button. There was a small tingle as the power levels in the small room dropped.

Harris tried to look out of the small porthole as they made the jump but it was all too quick, he could not tell if he saw the stars jump or not.

Packet pulled Harris's arm.

" Time for us to get to work." he said. " Follow me."

Harris followed Packet through an array of link passage tubes, as they went Harris began to realise the ship was far larger than he had been imagining, it would be unlikely he could find his way back on his own.

They arrived in a large room with thirty percent gravity. This place was more like something Harris had been used to, there were computers and screens lining the walls, navigation systems, scanning detectors and communication equipment, all looking very modern and ready for action.

Harris ask why with all this equipment on board were they controlling the ship through an ancient switch room. Packet explained this was part of the new equipment he had put on board, it had absolutely no connection with the original ships control system they were totally separate. Nearly all the modifications Harris had seen being done to the machine in the past few days were so Packet could provide Mick with enough correct data to calculate the jump control positions.

After Harris had spent some time inspecting the equipment Packet opened a pressure door at in the side of the room.

" Lets go look at the stars." said Packet pointing through the opening.

Harris ducked his head through the small door. The door led to a small semi round chamber. There were two seats and a large instrument panel, behind the seats were the sensing instruments and transmitters. more spectacular however was the view in front of the seats. From the top of the panel right over the seats and down to the side access door was a single dome of Plexiglass.

Harris sat down in the seat furthest from the door, Packet climbed in and sat down, he shut the outer door and then the inner pressure door. Packet touched a switch and with a hiss the pressure in the cabin was reduced.

Harris looked around, nice as the glass dome was they could not see much only the dark shadows of the LightStars superstructure surrounding them. Packet dimmed the internal light and pressed a button. With a low throbbing sound the pod began to move away from the main structure of the craft.

Packet explained this was one of the main modifications, the pod was fixed to the ship by a long hydraulic arm. This was needed to get the sensing and communications equipment away from the distorting affect of the magnetic jump rings. If you did not scan away from all interference the readings would be inaccurate and it would limit the distance the scanners could penetrate.

Slowly the pod crept out into the vastness of open space. The stars began to shine like diamonds in the blackness of deep space. It was always surprising the amount you see with the naked eye when confronted with open space. To the right side of the pod the stars streaked across the sky in a dense mass which was the Eastern sector of the empire. To the left were fewer stars, fewer points shining into the dark night, there were some dust clouds illuminated from the inside giving an eerie glow like fog, this was sector five. As Harris looked at the vastness above him, Harris could not help feeling that the chances of ever finding a single habitable planet were almost nil.

There was a slight judder as the extending arm reached its full limit and locked into position.

" Its almost mesmerising." said Packet who was himself looking at the array of stars. " We're isolated here from the main ship, if you want to send a message back to central command you can."

" Is that why you invited me along." said Harris.

" Not really." said Packet. " I just wanted to get to know you and thought you might be interested in this stuff, I think it is more in your field. We've all got to work together on this trip, the chances of success of slim even at best but if we all start arguing they will be zero."

" I suppose I could tell central were alive and about to jump to sector five." said Harris.

Harris adjusted his chair to sit closer to the control panel, it was all standard equipment. Harris entered a code and transmitted a Ping, a small signal to see if the line was connected. The communication satellite system was working well and within seconds the Ping returned. Harris entered the short coded signal and received acknowledgement.

Packet began to scan the sky's toward the position they were to jump into next. Harris used a narrow beam scanner to look for organic life forms, it was always remote you would find anything this way but there is always a chance.

The work they were doing was fairly routine so they could chat while they were working. Harris ask how Packet had go involved with Raftos on this mission, as Harris did not think Packet was the sort of person who would normally hang out with someone like Raftos.

Packet then told Harris the strange story that had led him to being linked up with Raftos on this mission.

It seems Packet had been chief communications officer on a fleet of survey ships operating from a small planet in the Draftor system.

A distress call was received on Femmon from one of the mining colonies in the outlying systems. Their reactors were failing as the supply of Irrudum Fullerite they had been supplied with was contaminated and was burning out too fast. They had only a few weeks supply. Without the reactors the colony could not survive. Irrudum Fullerite was a valuable material and was usually shipped by military fleet, however there were no military fleets within two weeks flying time of Femmon so the survey fleet Packet was serving with was ordered to take the cargo. Security was tight and the fleet took off on an uncharted route, there should have been no problems.

Three days out they were attacked by pirates. Survey ships carry limited weapons and they were no match for the fully armed pirate vessel. Only thirty man survived out of a crew of over three hundred.

Packet mind was increasingly filled with the memories of his fallen comrades. He eventually found out that the raid on his ships and others were masterminded by Endafelt a political leader in the Draftor itself. He had found evidence to prove it but knew the authorities would not take action. He had to do something dramatic, he chose his moment of revenge well, at a public conference Packet shot Endafelt through the head, although not a fully rational move at the time, he knew the file he held would exonerate him. Unfortunately the files were deemed inadmissible evidence as they were of an unknown origin. The security forces did however take them seriously and made allot of arrests. Alot of top people disappeared suddenly on there luxury space liners. This did not stop Packet however being sent to a prison colony for life.

While in a prison colony, a particularly rough one, Packet met a prisoner called Shako, who for some reason took quite an interest in Packets story and told Packet that had friend on the outside who could help prove his case against the Endafelt corruption ring. They could show that his trial was rigged to allow certain people in the government to escape. Packet did not know whether to believe this or not but he knew could not do anything on his own stuck on a prison planet. Packet would do anything to clear his name, what ever strings were attached, what to the deal Shakos friend was offering Packet would go along. An escape was arranged and Packet was taken to a rather dingy base on some remote moon.

Waiting there with a big smile was Raftos.

"It seemed." said Packet finishing his story. " He wanted the best communications person in the business and I was on top of his list. What ever it took to get me he was prepared pay or do, including anything he could do to clear my name. There was no question he has the contacts to do it. It was this mission he wanted me for." Packet paused. " All I hope is that if we are successful I will be able to clear my name."

Harris had stopped scanning the sky, he was thinking. Something about this mission did not add up. Some one was not telling everything there was to know and that somebody was Raftos.

Suddenly there was a long beep. Packet and Harris jumped slightly taken by surprise. Packet looked down at the receiver console.

" Incoming signal and it is for you, a long one." said Packet.

Harris put the message through the decoder, the displayed result slowly scanned up one of the screens.

" Looks like and an error somewhere in translation." said Packet looking at the screen full of jumbled up letters.

" On the contrary." said Harris. "It is in Arolloan, the old language used by the ancestors of the Aganon, it is a very dead language which very few people now know. I only learnt the language so I could translate some very old records in the archives. It looks like somebody did not want anyone else reading this message. What is somewhat odd." continued Harris. " Is how would anyone one at Central Control would know I could read it, I only studied it as a hobby, so that information is not on my military file, most odd."

" Who sent the message, perhaps there is a clue in there." ask Packet.

" There's no name." said Harris starting to read the file. " Point of origin, central command. But who in central command knows me that well."

" What's in the message, perhaps its very personal for yours eyes only so to speak." said Packet.

Harris studded the message then looked at Packet. " I wish I knew what was going on." said Harris. " This message is a complete deployment plan of all the survey ships and all the battle fleets heading anywhere near sector five. All of them not just central commands, there seems to be information here not even Central would know." Harris paused. " Why send this to me coded this way. Why should we need to know where the other fleets are, unless." Harris paused again.

" Unless what." said Packet.

" Unless we're in some danger." said Harris