Battle for Time Chapter One

Battle for Time



Chapter One

The starship Legnalo drifted through space on what seemed to the crew of the Fastalt a rather odd course. It seemed to be on a heading for a dead planet. The captain of the Fastalt stared out the main view port at the Legnalo. The drifting derelict ship was set on a course for a planet that had been uninhabited and uninhabitable for over three millennia. They had downloaded the starships records and had found that the captain of the ship had set the course not long before the end of the records. The last entry in the records reported a strange entity being on board and then it just suddenly stopped.
The captain of the Fastalt continued staring out at the dead ship. There was a knock on his door.
“It’s open.”
A woman walked in. It was Judy Sindle, the captain’s second in command. She looked out the window with the captain for a while before she said anything.
“We have prepared a party to go over and search the ship. See if there is anything over there that might help explain this,” she said.
The captain looked at her, “I still can’t figure out why the captain of this vessel would set a course for a dead planet without giving any explanation in the records. It is a good idea to go over there and take a look around it might give us a few clues as to what happened and as to why the course was set in the first place. Who is leading the party?”
“Sergeant Ulrich Bar will be leading the party sir.”
“Ulrich?” the captain asked with a slightly disdainful look on his face.
Judy gave the captain a look that seemed to be telling him to calm down. She waited for him to do so before she continued with what she wanted to say.
“Sir, Ulrich is the best we’ve got. If there is anything to be found there he’ll find it. We really need to find something sir so that we can figure this mystery out sir. This mission was given to us by the high council, we have to discover the reasons behind this or it will be our necks.”
“I know, I know. I still don’t like it, that man is…; I don’t know but doesn’t follow orders very well. I get the odd feeling that he might not realize that orders are meant to be followed not forgotten.”
“I’m sure that he knows that orders are meant to be followed. I think that he just doesn’t like you. He follows the orders of all of his other superiors, just not you sir.”
“Well if that’s the case then I don’t like him either. Send the party. Who else will be on it though?”
“That is entirely up to Sergeant Bar sir. We are letting him choose the ones he wants on this mission.”
“Alright well I want the party sent over within the hour, and I want constant updates on their progress. Do you understand? Tell him that it is your order that he does that too, that way it will get done.
“Yes sir.”
Judy saluted and walked out of the room. The door closed behind her. She walked down the hall to the gravdrop. She took it to the third level of the ship. From there she walked to the marine quarters. She opened the door with the press of a button and walked in.
There she found several marines, including Ulrich, getting geared up for their trip.
Judy waited a minute and then asked, “Are you all ready to go or what? You have to be on the Legnalo within the hour.”
Ulrich looked up at her with his usual smile. That always seemed to come out when he looked at her. Judy didn’t know if the smile was there because he liked or if he just liked to mess with her.
“So Judy, how’ve you been?” asked Ulrich with that smile on his face. “We’re ready though. So, whenever you’re ready to ship us out, we’ll go.”
Judy smiled at him, “First I have some extra orders for you. You are to report back here every half-hour and also you are to take me with you. These are both my requests no one else’s.”
Ulrich just continued to smile at her, “All right then, When ever you’re ready then.”
“Im ready now,” Judy said.

The party boarded the small marine transport vessel that would carry them all to the Legnalo and back to the Fastalt. When they were all boarded the small vessel gave a slight shake and lifted off the pad and drifted out of the hatch and into space.
Inside the ship Judy took a good look at Ulrich, something she did every time that she looked at him. He had dark hair, a rather interesting shade of brown. His eyes were a dark shade of amber. His skin was tanned and he had a large build. He was broad across the shoulders with a very large chest. He had a long goatee on his chin, a couple of inches. She liked the way he looked. She thought that he was rather handsome actually.
She looked away after a time and began to look at the other members of the group. There four others. Tim Jacobs was there, he was a computer genius. Phil Bass and James Wickmire were there as well. They were expert arms men, men trained to seek and destroy. She wondered why Ulrich had chosen them. The last of the four was Will Bettermen. He was a demolitions expert and Judy really began to wonder on that one. Why had Ulrich brought along two expert killers and a demolition man. She couldn’t figure it out. She decided that she’d just have to ask him.
She walked over and sat down next to Ulrich. She asked, “Ulrich, why did you choose to bring these particular men along on the search?”
Ulrich looked at the floor for awhile before he looked up at her and answered. When he finally did he said, “I have a very bad feeling about this ship and I just to be sure that we’re well protected, besides these guys are good at finding things.”
“What is this bad feeling that you have Ulrich?”
“It’s just a feeling that something bad is going to happen. I don’t know what is going to happen, I just get the feeling that something bad might happen. Let’s just leave it at that ok, and once were on the ship I want to keep talking to a minimum so if you have any further questions ask them now as long as they don’t pertain to my bad feeling.”
Judy sighed and just shrugged. She looked away and said, “I don’t have any other questions for you.”
“Ok then take your seat over there and wait for us to dock with the Legnalo.
Judy went and sat down in her chair and waited for their vessel to dock with the Legnalo. She really didn’t like the fact that Ulrich had a bad feeling about this trip. She had been told that when that man got a bad feeling it was best to be wary. Well, it was too late to turn back now; she was stuck with her decision.

Ulrich laid his head back and closed his eyes. He thought about that bad feeling he had. What could it mean? What could it be that was giving him such a bad feeling? He always worried when ever he got a feeling like that. The reason for that was rather simple. The feelings always came true in the end.
He sat there with his eyes closed until he felt the ship jerk.
That would be us docking with the Legnalo, He thought to himself. This is going to be a rough one, I know it is.
Ulrich stood up and stepped toward the hatch. His men fell in behind him with Judy right behind them. He really wished she hadn’t come along. He liked her and he didn’t want her getting hurt, and there was the distinct possibility on this mission that she was, heck there was a good chance that they all would. He could live with the idea of his getting hurt even his own death put not Judy. He shrugged and opened the hatch.
It was pitch black inside the Legnalo. Ulrich and company moved inside. Ulrich motioned for everyone to have their weapons at the ready; he wasn’t taking any chances he didn’t have to.
They moved forward their flashlights lighting the way for them in the darkness. Ulrich thought he saw something move just outside the range of his flashlight. He motioned for everyone to halt. He heard light grunt from behind him but he dared not look away. He figured it was Judy not understanding the motion of his hands and bumping into one of the guys.
Suddenly, a man stepped out of the darkness beyond. The man had a smile on his face and Ulrich thought that the man looked oddly familiar. Suddenly there was a bright white light and Ulrich couldn’t see. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was a strange yet familiar voices speaking.
“And so the chosen one has come and we shall see if he has the strength to fight this war across time as was prophesied”
“I doubt it. Not after we move him to where he can do no damage.”
“Do you really think that moving him back five thousand years to the planet of our ancestors will really work or do you just hope.”
“I have complete faith that this will work.”
“Well, there is always the possibility that he might find the sword.”
“Enough, we must hurry and finish this before it is to late.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Yes, we must.”
The four voices faded into nothingness and Ulrich lost consciousness.