Pace reluctantly points to a s.p.a.ce in the loading bay where they can store the crate. Tom and his men walk past, laughing and sn.i.g.g.e.ring at Pace until out of ear shot.

"d.a.m.n it!" cries Pace. "I knew it. I just knew it. They are a devious lot of politicians and cant be trusted. Well if they want to play games, so can I." Pace walks in behind the troops and watches them carefully until the crate is stowed. "Right, you lot may have got that on board my ship, but you will follow my orders here, is that clear. We all work as one here, no slackers, so I expect you all to pull your weight." Pace, not giving anyone a chance to respond turns and heads to the lift. "I will show you to your rooms." They all follow Pace with duffle bags in hand and they enter their rooms, the three men in one room, and the woman trooper in a room sharing with Nova. That will be a pleasant surprise for her, as Nova never gives ground and can fight better than most men can, thought Pace. "Dinner is at 1700 tonight, you can meet the rest of the crew then."

Pace leaves the troopers to their own devices and meets up again with Megan, this time in med lab. "Hey Megan, we need to get the word around to the rest of our guys, about what just happened downstairs. I want to be honest from the start with the crew. They need to know what we will be living with, plus, I want to see whats in that crate, but we will wait until we are up in s.p.a.ce for that. Now here is my plan." Pace spends around twenty minutes talking over a few things with Megan, and she then hurries off to inform the others of the plans.

Chapter Fifteen.

In the loading bay, Anc is loading some supply crates when one of Toms men finds his way into the room via the lift. He is talking to someone on his gauntlet and half paying attention to where he is going and drinking a can of beer, he b.u.mps into Anc.

"Get out my way, junk bot, and watch where youre going."

Turning around and looking at the man, Anc replies. "Im sorry, sir, I believe it was you, obviously having had your senses dulled by alcohol, that walked into me. I, myself, have fully operational motion sensors, which can detect my precise movement and direction. I don't believe we have met. Im Anc, pleased to meet you."

"Im Briggs," replies the man, looking at Anc with hateful eyes. "What! Anyway, why am I talking to a hunk of metal on my last night of RNR before we leave? Stupid robot." Briggs throws his can, along with the last dregs of beer, at Ancs head before laughing and walking out towards the door of the dock. Anc turns back and continues his work thinking. Why are some humans like that towards others? Is it their quest to be different, or to be considered a threat, or is it simply because they feel out of place in the world, so they create a new world just for them with their rules and ways.

Moving from out of the shadows Padley approaches Anc. "I am sorry for the way that man treated you, why did you not retaliate?" Padley touches Anc on the arm and turns him to face her. Ancs sensors, taking in the view and fizzing a little, scan Padleys body and although they had seen each other around the ship, this is the first time they had communicated.

"If I had chosen to fight him, he would have died, and wasting his life and his future would have meant nothing, and he would not have learned anything." Still scanning Padley, Anc notices that Padley dresses similar to Megan. She wears a skirt and a short top and also has a bust, so whoever designed her must have had something pleasing to the eye in mind. With bright blue eyes and white coloured metal with vents of ears and a small mouth, Padley would be a good choice to sync with, if they were allowed, he thought and she seemed to like him, but robots on Foloss were not allow to sync, through fear that robots could become too intelligent and then control humans.

"That is true, Anc. I wonder after all the sick and injured people I see, why do they not learn from their mistakes. I guess we will never know. Do you need any oil?" Padley looks over Anc to make sure he is running well.

Anc checks his systems and replies, "No, I appear to be fine and running at 100 percent, thank you, Padley." Padley begins to help Anc with his work and after a few hours, with the last crate in place, they both return to their bays, where they rest for the night.

Chapter Sixteen.

In the living room, the remaining troopers sit and play cards, drinking 'Stim, the drink for warriors. It was just a high energy drink packed with lots of vitamins, and laughing away, they arm-wrestle and poke fun at each other. Tom smells food, and the other two follow when he walks into the canteen, expecting his food on the table.

"Hey man, Im Rusty, and Ive cooked corned beef hash tonight. There should be enough to go around. I would expect you guys are good at cooking too, so your turn tomorrow night to impress us. Now grab a seat and prepare your taste buds."

Tom and the others sit, and every one turns up to the table and Pace introduces the crew to Tom and his men and then waits for Tom to do the same. There is an atmosphere in the room that you could cut with a knife, but none the less Tom begrudgingly introduces his troops.

"Well, Briggs has gone out. This is Stephen Hanks and that is Talia Kovalev. They are the best, so no worries there and Im Chief Tom Mortis. Now, I know you all dont want us here, but we are necessary to this mission, whether you like it or not. So, we will try to stay out of your way as much as possible, but when it comes to the crunch we will be there."

Everyone tucking into the hot food, the table goes quiet once again, eyes wandering around the room, checking each other out, and opinions being formed in peoples minds, like dark storm clouds waiting to explode with lightning.

"I am surprised that you guys are not out with Briggs getting drunk and laid, tonight being your last night." Sam says, making a break in the silence that seemed to have lasted an eternity.

"Well some of us would be, but we are on blooming guard duty tonight. It sucks, Chief!" Talia is not looking very happy at having to spend the night on the ship, when she could be partying.

"Less of your moaning, Talia." Tom signals with his eye brows to Talia to shut up and Nova spots this out the corner of her eye.

"What you got to guard then? Not us I would say, and so it must be something valuable for three troopers to be stuck in doors all evening, and why only one of you has gone out. Does he get special treatment or something?"

Talia nods and smiles at Nova and then looks back at Tom. "Yes, Chief. Why did Briggs get to go out and not me or Shanks. Thats not fair, sir."

Tom laughs and first responds to Talia, "Need to know basis, Talia, thats it." Tom looks at Nova, not fooled by her in the slightest. "In answer to your question, Nova is it? Well, we have a lot of expensive gear on this ship, not to mention the ships themselves, and tonight is the last night for anyone to be able to steal things from them, so thats why we are still on duty, but rest a.s.sured you wont get much past us."

Pace leans forward in his chair and leans on the table. "So do they have security on the other ship too then, Tom?"

Tom nods, "Yes, they do. We are in comms with them, so all is safe there too. So have you met their captain yet? He is a real ballbreaker, not like you. He would even get me shaking in my boots." Laughing with Shanks and Talia, Tom then explains that the other captain was ex-trooper and a good friend of Toms, and that things were very safe all round.

"No, I have not met the other captain. I have been far too busy here to worry about the other ship. Besides, if you guys say he is ok, then that is fine with me, and maybe I will pop around in a while to say h.e.l.lo, who knows, or I can wait to see if he will extend me the same courtesy first." Pace pours another cuppa and leans near the sink. "I think it is also only fair that you guys wash up tonight, seeing as we cooked for you, as that would also be showing courtesy." Pace looks at the pots and pans, then over to Tom and his men. "We all pull our weight around here and work as one."

Laughing under his breath, Tom deep down knows neither himself nor his men will be doing the washing up. Thats beyond their duties. "We got no time for washing up, thats for civvies, and we are far too busy protecting things to waste our time doing petty ch.o.r.es. So Captain, what I am saying in a polite way is, if you want it doing, do it yourself."

Pace turns around, as he walks out the door and smiles back at Tom, "I knew you would say that. Well, thats an order trooper. Each one of us has several different jobs to do, and several skills if needed, to step into roles if someone falls ill, so you better start getting used to it around here, because its your turn to cook tomorrow, and I want dinner on the table at 1700 sharp. I want the washing up done within the hour. I hope that is clear." Pace walks out of the door before Tom has chance to say anything else.

Tom laughs once again and facing his men he winks. "He can want on, is all Im gonna say." Megan, looking serious pipes up, and in a forceful voice says to Tom. "I would do as the Captain ordered if I were you. Remember, we all have to live here, and he has a bad temper once he gets started, but first he warns you and then, well, never mind, just hope you dont find out." Megan also stands up and walks out of the canteen. One by one, all of the crew get up in disgust and go about their final preparations.

"Was it something I said? Ha, well, now they are all gone, how is the missile doing." Tom looks and asks the question to Shanks, who is their explosives and weapons specialist.

Shanks looks around before talking at all, and leans in and whispers to Tom, "The PD1 is in a stable condition, Chief, and will still need the activation codes to arm her, but other than that all is well, sir."

Talia leans in along with Tom, and huddled together she too whispers, "Sir, I take it Briggs is out getting the codes from the Prime Lady tonight, and not just out getting his jollies?" Tom nods, but does not answer straight away, as Rusty comes back into the room. He picks up his half mug of tea he forgot to take with him down to the engine room. "Sorry to disturb you guys from your important guard duty. Ill just grab this and go." Rusty shakes his head as he pa.s.ses the back of Tom.

Tom continues to talk after Rusty leaves the room. "Yes, he is retrieving the codes tonight, and what I have got him to do is put a ship controller under their pilots seat, so if we need to commandeer the ship, we can do it in another room. We have a few tasks ahead of us, I believe. We will find out more later, when Briggs gets back. Until then, check the perimeter and make it look like we are on guard duty, and you will have all the leave you can wish for when this blows over. Now jump to it." They all jump up and take up their posts around the ship patrolling the area.

Chapter Seventeen.

"Yes, Prime Lady. I fully understand the situation, and you are sure this is what you want, and our families will be with you when you leave?" Briggs is in shock to hear the plans, but a new start on a new planet sounds promising.

What are 20,000 deaths? They had lost more life on Dalgen 9 when the meteors. .h.i.t, and this time the planet destroyer, or PD1 as the military called it, would vaporise anything up to two miles deep on Foloss. The people there would not feel a thing, and not to mention there would be more resources to share, thought Briggs, mulling it all over in his mind while he waited to be handed the codes.

Prime Lady Eve Thorn explains to him that families of the security crew will be safe as promised, but there will only be room for 10,000 aboard the Fahrenheit, her flagship, which was one of 100 ships built when resources were ample. However, most of the other flagships were also destroyed when leaving Dalgen 9. A few ships hopefully found life on other planets out there somewhere. She also mentions that there will be a round-up of materials, and the selected crew will be aboard before she leaves for Falvus, the new planet where she hopes to start afresh, with better resources and a better type of people.

Eve hands Briggs the codes, and also warns him of the disasters that befell the previous ships. "Like I said, we have a small base on Falvus, but have not heard from them in some time, so we need you to head towards that and recon it before we set off." Eve returns to sitting at her desk and picks up a litepad to examine stats and results.

"Thank you maam, a pleasure as always, and the crews on the two ships, what if they dont agree with what we are doing? Will it be termination as usual?" Eve looks up from her pad and gives a simple smile without saying a word. The message is a clear one.

Chapter Eighteen.

Pressing hard on the buzzer to Paces room, a worried Rusty is at the door looking around, hoping not to be seen by the security team. A couple of seconds and the door slides open and Pace is sat at the desk. "Do come in, Rusty. What can I do for you? Please sit. I just have to finish this a second." Typing frantically away, Pace finishes what he is doing and then rubbing his eyes with his fingers he asks Rusty what was wrong.

"Well sir, a short while ago I went back into the canteen to grab my drink, because its thirsty work in the engine room, and Im not talking 'drink drink before you ask," Rusty makes air quote signs over the word drink, and Pace raises his eyebrows. "Anyway, I overheard part of a conversation after I left, because I sneaked into the living room and sat under the serving hatch. The security team are up to no good sir, Im afraid to say." Rusty takes off his woollen hat and scratches his head before putting it back on.

"Go on, Rusty, tell me more." Paces face becomes flushed red with anger. He is becoming more and more incensed with Tom and his team.

"Well, there was talk about codes or such like, and a ship controller under the pilots seat and a few other bits that I could not hear, as the air purifier kicked in, but I thought you should know, sir and just to say we are all behind you. To be quite honest, that Tom needs to be taken down a peg or two." Rusty begins to rub his hands together nervously, worried about what he has heard.

"Firstly, dont worry, Rusty, I can see that you are, but youve done the right thing. We have to let the others know, and I would suggest keeping your gauntlet hidden nearby, as I have a feeling this could be another trick by our prime lady once again. I dont think they will be getting control of my ship that easy." Pace presses a b.u.t.ton on his gauntlet and has a conference call to the crew, the security team excluded.

"Ok, listen up. We have not even taken off yet and they have started scheming already. Nova, I need you to check the bridge for a controller box, probably under the pilots seat, and then I need you to trace where it is controlled from. Once we find that out, we will lay a trap for these sons of, well you know what I mean. There is a mention of codes, so I can only a.s.sume its a bomb or something big, so if there is a chance of taking a look at that crate they brought on, then take it. We need to know whats in it. Other than that, keep your gauntlets near and hidden, and act normal. I will need all of you to help me with a surprise in due course. Pace out." Paces screen goes black and his attention is turned back to Rusty. "So act normal, Rusty, and keep your ears to the ground for me. Thanks." Pace pats Rusty on the shoulder and Rusty then gets up and smiles and leaves the room.

An incoming message flashes on Paces gauntlet. Its Nova. She has found the control box and traced it back to Toms room, just as first thought. "I have disabled the control mech, Cap, and other than that she looks good. I also found my way into their comms easy enough. I will monitor them when I get chance and report back, a.s.a.p." Pace, feeling once again in control, thanks Nova.

As he walks down the stairs and past the door to the bridge, Nova pops her head out, "Oh, Cap. You had a missed call from Eve Thorn. She left a message that she is busy today, and will not be here for lift off tomorrow due to a meeting, but to wish us all luck out there." Pace wonders for a moment why Eve did not contact him on his gauntlet, but instead on the ships console, knowing he would not be there to answer. Ah, that was it; Eve knew I would ask questions, thats why. The fun would really start tomorrow evening in s.p.a.ce, Pace thinks.

Chapter Nineteen.

Briggs tiptoes back in to the dock area for his planned rendezvous with Tom. He fills Tom in on the missions, and after a short while he heads for the ship, pretending he is drunk and making a lot of noise as he goes. He takes a swig of rum, from a bottle in his gear bag, so that he smells of drink a little, in case he b.u.mps into anyone, and heads for the canteen. He walks through the door and Sam and Nova are still awake and chatting over a cup of hot chocolate, so he stumbles and falls to the ground in the attempt to look drunk, which does make Nova and Sam laugh.

"Wha ya allz laughing bout, neer seen a drunk trooper before, eh? Well, I cah still beat ya in a fight. Im still 63 percent combat ifflec, iffec, eee-ffective, so whoz laughing now, eh!" He puts his fists up to simulate a boxer.

"Briggs, get to bed before you hurt yourself. You are making enough noise to wake an army." Sam helps Briggs up in his imagination, and then lets him fall flat on his face again, just to laugh out loud. Briggs picks himself off the floor, and sways left and right before disappearing back towards the rear of the ship and his room. He opens the door and closes it behind him, this time the door makes a clicking sound as it locks, but it goes unnoticed. Briggs stands up straight and sober, and pulls out of his gear bag a small robotic device called a nanite drone. It was like a pet to him, as it was the only thing he could call his own while growing up. It was a self-autonomous drone when turned on, which could fly about without making a noise, and spy on unsuspecting victims, before stinging them with a sleeping toxin, or whatever Briggs chose to load it with.

"Come on boy, there is work to be done." Briggs turns on the drone and it fires up a tiny generator, and starts to fly around, getting its bearings. Once it had done this, Briggs tells it what to do, and it silently sneaks through the air vent and soon uploads an image to Briggs gauntlet. He sits down on the bunk bed, happy with himself. He remembers the bottle of rum in his gear bag, and as it is not going to drink itself, he thinks, he untwists the cap and starts to chug on it, until the burning becomes numb and numb becomes good. Shanks enters the room around an hour later, and finds Briggs asleep, with the bottle three quarters gone. Shanks picks up the bottle and polishes off the rest, before undressing for bed. The drone returns and lands and powers down. It has spent the last hour spying on everyone, and now its mission was over.

Chapter Twenty.

One by one, the crew of the Invictus climb into their beds, and the ship is all locked up for the night and everyone, apart from Megan, is asleep. She lies in her bed, mind wondering and pondering thoughts, thinking about the day just gone, and thinking about how strange the room still feels to her, not being used to such luxury. She is tired after a busy day and is begging her eyelids to close, until she hears a slightly m.u.f.fled sound of Pace screaming himself awake. She launches out of her bed, fearing the worse. Had someone got to him in the night? Using the override code for his door, she enters the room to see Pace, b.u.t.t naked stood before her, glistening in sweat. Her eyes drop down for a moment and she is pleasantly surprised, before she quickly looks back up at Paces surprised face.

"Whoa! Dont you knock girl?" Pace quickly grabs at the sheet from his bed and wraps it around his waist to cover his dignity.

"Oops, sorry. I heard you shout and I, well ... glad I saw, I mean, oh nuts, I mean ..."

Bursting out laughing, Pace relaxes at Megans embarra.s.sment. He drops the sheet, grabs his shorts and turns, revealing his bottom to her. She stares at it with a mesmerising look of l.u.s.t, her heartbeat getting stronger in her chest, like a thumping piston of an engine in overdrive. She too begins to laugh, until Pace turns and approaches her, a coy smile on his face.

"So, I was just thinking, perhaps you should stay tonight, you know, just in case I have more bad dreams. The thing is I only have one bed in my room." Megan smiles and her heart skips a beat. Finally he has invited her to stay, and she knows it will be a wonderful night. Without saying a word, she takes Pace by the hand over to the bed and sits down, and begins to kiss him. The yellow light in his arm softly lights the room and has a romantic feel.

Chapter Twenty-One.

The sound of running water flowing fast, splashing a tiled floor, wakes Pace. He reaches out beside him for Megan, but she is taking a shower. He can just make out her body shape in the mist that envelopes her. Pace feels content, and for the first time in a long while, happy, all the stress has gone and it is a new day, full of new things to happen. He reaches out for a gla.s.s of water and takes a sip, half sat up still watching Megan. She begins to sing a little. She too is happy this morning, which is all that matters. Pace sits up and dangles his legs off the side of the bed. His feet touch the cold floor and retract a little until they are brave enough to stay there. He walks over to the towel rail and then walks to the shower where he opens the door and surprises Megan.

"Hey morning sweet, here is a towel for you, did you sleep well?" Megan takes the towel and wipes the soap from her eyes.

"Oh yes I did, thanks. I think your bed is far more comfy than mine." She smiles up at him, going a little red in the cheeks. She walks out past Pace and dries herself, and begins to put her clothes on.

"You can keep my bad dreams away again anytime. I would not want you sleeping on a hard bed, so you can use mine again tonight, if you like."

"Cheeky boy!" Megan smiles and walks past Pace, and runs her hand along his cheek. "I will see you on deck, sir." She exits the room, leaving Pace all hot under the collar. Pace quickly grabs the chance to shower, and also dresses, thinking about the night before. It was going to be a busy day today, and so much to do. He finishes getting ready and pulls on his gauntlet, then leaves his room and slides down the banister of the spiral stairs, to the bridge floor, where he is met by Nova.

"Orders, Cap?" Nova is very excited to get started. She follows Pace onto the bridge.

"Systems check, and anymore on comms yet?" Nova heads over to her seat with a skip in her walk.

"It has been very quiet, Cap, but will keep my ear to the ground and get back to you later." She begins flipping switches and the console lights up yellow and other lights begin to flash. Pace leaves the room, knowing things are all in hand on the bridge, and does a tour of the ship, making sure everything is fastened down and ready to go. People are eating in the canteen and are generally doing their last minute checks. The ship is a hive of activity and as Pace enters the loading bay from the lift, there is a man talking to Tom next to the crate. They are on guard duty 24hrs a day, so he walks straight over to see who is on board his ship without his invite.

The man turns to face Pace as he approaches, and looks Pace up and down.

"You must be Pace." The man says in a deep voice.

"Its Captain Pace to you, and everyone else aboard my ship. Who are you, and why are you on my ship?" The man is now standing opposingly, with his hands on his hips. His short crew-cut blond hair and his dress sense spells military to Pace.

"Well, I am Captain Miles of the Robur, for your information, and I hope you run your ship as well as you run your mouth, Captain, because if you do we may just have a chance out there." The two captains stand silent for a few moments weighing each other up.

"So why dont you take your ideas and your captaincy back over to your ship along with Toms special crate, and put it with your special crate and have a party over there, and stop getting in my way on my ship!" Pace walks up to Miles and his face is just inches away from the other mans. "Or do I have to have you removed." Pace, with disgust in his eyes has made it clear, and Miles knows he has outstayed his welcome, so he turns and begins walking out of the loading bay onto the dock.

"Oh, its been a pleasure, Captain. Im sure we will see each other again soon, under different circ.u.mstances, and Tom, remember what I said." Tom stands in front of the crate, with crossed arms, not saying a word.

"You are meant to be my security, yes?" Pace raises his voice so Tom can hear well. He does not respond, just stays quiet. "In future no one comes on board my ship without my say so, am I clear?"

Tom stands defiant while the words wash over his head. He replies with a simple, "Yes." Pace storms off in a mist of red, with eyes shooting daggers at his back as he leaves.

An hour goes by and everything is set. Captain Pace takes his seat on the bridge just behind Nova. He has a great view of the whole bridge, as he is sat a little bit higher that the rest of the crew. To the left of Nova sits Megan, and to the right sits Sam, both on their own consoles and at the ready. Rusty is sat in his own seat in the engine room, and the security team are sat safely in their rooms. The two robots finish their hatch and airlock checks, and magnetise themselves to the floor. They can still move around the ship with ease, without any problems, should they be needed. The crew had all had a small drink and smashed a bottle of wine on the ships bow to give them luck, and she was named The Invictus and now they were ready, all seated in antic.i.p.ation of take-off.

Pace flipped a switch to talk to the whole crew. "This is the Captain. In a few moments we will lift off into the stars, not knowing what lies beyond our planet, but what I do know is that if we stick together and help each other in times of need, we will overcome any obstacle, no matter how challenging it may be. Welcome to your home, The Invictus." Pace flips the switch off and braces himself like the others.