Star Missions - Book One - Part I

Chapter 1 - Hawkins & Soliski

HAWKINS & SOLISKI

He felt great.

Marcus Hawkins' increased acceleration pressed against him. His adrenaline brought all of his senses to life as he soared effortlessly through space in his Hopper class fighter. In moments, the rough, cratered surface of Nova's moon would vanish beneath the canopy of his ship as he adjusted its thrust, maintaining close formation alongside the box-shaped XR-Class transport ship, Diego.

Escorting ships to and from Angel's Gate had once been routine, even dull—a task he'd handled countless times when he had first arrived in the Strolla System. But today was his first day back at the controls of a non-simulation craft since the accident almost two years ago.

Before boarding the oval-shaped and beautifully streamlined older space-fighter ship, Marcus had stared at it for some time. He felt apprehension, even anxiety, thinking it might take some time, maybe even weeks, to get back into the groove he'd once enjoyed. But after only minutes into his flight, Marcus was already there. He didn't even need to adjust to his arm's software upgrade mentally. It was as if he had never left the cockpit. Smiling, Marcus marveled once again at the quiet beauty of space and the bright points of the distant stars that now surrounded him.

A blue and white marble amongst the stardust swung into view—Planet Hydra, which was about as close as its orbit allowed, and was just visible past the brightness of Strolla. For a fleeting moment, he felt as though he was back in the Solar System, gliding above Luna. From his vantage point, Hydra bore a striking similarity to home to Terra of the past. After the discovery of Gate, some on the Leadership Counsel believed it best to abandon Terra and start over in the Strolla System, on Hydra. Colonizing it, to them, was an opportunity to atone for past failures. Massive as those failures had been, Hawkins felt confident that those errors would not be repeated - at home, and certainly not here.

The swiftly-approaching blinking red beacons that marked the boundary of Angel's Gate pulled his attention back to his mission. Marcus activated his communicator.

"Hopper One to Transport Diego. We are approaching the Gate. Please request clearance from Nova Station for your jump."

"Understood, Hopper One," came the immediate response.

The gate controller sounded bored. However, it was hard to hear vocal inflections over the comm device. Diego's captain, on the other hand, was an experienced pilot who was still enthusiastic about taking vessels through the Gate. He had traveled between the Solar and Strolla Systems countless times. For operators and pilots, having a hopper escort jumping ships was a regulation, nothing more. He slowed his fighter and waited for clearance. He left the comm channel on to hear the usual chatter from the controllers.

In the Hydra-corps, he used to fly every day, but now he was a civilian. Marcus consoled himself with the fact that he was still working in the Strolla System even if he was on Nova Station and not Hydra. Nova Space Sciences acquired the small mined asteroid and repositioned it to have the same orbit as Angel's Gate. They turned it into a state of the art Space station and control gate traffic. Still, Marcus didn't want to be anywhere else.

As his gaze took in all the wash of stars and nebulae around him, he thought that he had better enjoy it while he could. Dr. Mallik, the Station Commander, was a passenger on the Diego, headed for a month-long family visit on Terra. Marcus was to assume many of Dr. Mallik's duties while the doctor was away, meaning that flying time would be limited.

It would be his last opportunity to fly a spacecraft for a while. Besides, Marcus ran the technologies lab on the Station, building robots and drones. That kept him busy as well.