ZEC: PRIMARY

"Fighter Control, this is Prima Draft 7, ready to launch," Caras Zec announced into his helmet microphone. He looked around his cockpit making sure everything was in order whilst awaiting a reply, ;despite having triple checked his equipment already, it was all he could do to quell the nerves growing and multiplying inside.

Of all the times he had flown in space, this was to be his first time alone, with no escorts, other trainees nor instructors to keep him company. Deep down he was well aware of the uniqueness of his particular situation as Fighter Control, a branch of the Naval training division, very rarely concerned itself with the training of individual pilots, preferring instead to instruct an entire group at once,. fhis didn't always make for highly qualified or specialisedtrainees, but it did produce a lot of them fast, so what was lost in quality was made up in quantity. However every rule had an exception and in this case if a particular individual showed some degree of natural talent - or was suspected as such - Fighter Control would then authorise the altering of certain training procedures, as in Zee's case now.

In this instance, the Recruiting Officers of Fighter Control - who often decided who was to be given preferential treatment and who was not - had the foresight to see Zee quickly becoming a squad leader because of his unique aviationalupbringing, once he had completed his time at the Academy, done some interstellar flight training through Fighter Control and seen some actual duty. The Recruiters were anxious to see the results of their latest 'hopeful' and for that reason gave the go ahead for this particular mission which was also a perfect opportunity for Zee to accomplish three tasks; Qie tff whi^L was to improve himself and his flying ability, another was to see how he handled long solo flights, and the third, and the most important, was to answer some lingering questions of doubt that had thus far plagued some of the Recruiters concerning Zee's ability to follow
precise orders. It was this third factor which had remained unknown to Zec.      meticulously cold voice of Fighter Control replied. Zee had grabbed the "Stand by Prima Draft 7." #he Recruiters not by who he was, but where he originatqdspecial attention of the —from. At a youthful sj4xyet^still handsome in a boyish waY, Caras Zee was born and raised totally gaseous composition. on Opranas, a planet of\ a Having over 600 independently serf supporting floating its atmosphere, the only method of cities dotted around Opranastravel though the maze of these structures was by air, and as such, ' offspring were taught to fly various craft from an early age. Considering the population practically spent most of their living years in flight, it was only natural that many fine pilots would be turned out from this system, so whenever Opranas' civilians showed interest in the Recruitment Centre - permanently based on Home City - normal recruitment channels and protocols were hastily bypassed as any new candidate was hurriedly sent to the Academy and then to Fighter Control to begirt a proper interstellar pilot, immediate training as

ffiey~woulid"e^eT3t> All of tlu^tSoTT place under the watchful eyes of The Recruiters, who were more important in this process than most people realised. They openly admitted wishing they could send the entire population to Fighter Control, but their one major drawback was that Opranas was a very insular/and protective world, and it was very rare to have members of its population leaving the confines of the planet, even the outer atmosphere was off limits. But the biggest hurdle for The Recruiters was that these people were important to the successful operations of the FalTech Corporation, who specialised in the construction of these floating metropoli for the Empire, thus it was not possible for The Recruiters to simply conscript people at will, so whenever a person did sign up, Fighter Control would not hesitate to steal them away and quickly adopt them as one of their own.

Zee sat quietly in the cockpit, reluctantly forcing himself to stop checking his instruments over and-ovet;. again for fear of overlooking something zgffi K)oka&_flut_ his cockpit window for the first pfeepCr time. Outside the bright glistening stars radiated all around, beckoning for him to join them. A smile came to his face at the thought of finally realising his ultimate dream, being alone and free to roam the heavens. Oh how he so wanted to be with them. For a moment he thought of life on his home world and how he used to fly for hours on end4ust-fjar_the_^hear_ joy of it< ^yen from an early age he felt the overwhelming urge to escape Opranas, to break free of the confines of the atmosphere. He knew in his heart he had to expand^ Opranas, lovely as it was, would eventually consume him as his need grew stronger. The stars that shone above him at night when he used to launder the open sky constantly paraded themselves for his pleasure and he often felt them calling for him to join them, even though the strict Opranas culture dissuaded such feelings, preferring instead to remain planet bound and insulated from other civilisations. But this was not for Zee/ ^he time finally arose when, on the verge ofadulthood, he had to decide what to make of his life^herealised then that he needed to expand more than he heeded to remain on Opranas, so one day, with the burden of a heavy decision in his heart, he visited the Recruitment Office on Home City, which he had done so often he was on a first name basis with everyone stationed there, but this time instead of just gazing at all the pictures and asking endless questions, he signed himself up. They had at least promised to fulfil his dreams to become one with the stars, and now his dream was almost reality, IjUP stared out of the viewscreen in a reflecting daze until the cold voice of Fighter Control jolted him back to the present.

"Prima Draft 7 this is Fighter Control." Zee listened with baited breath for the words that would send him into his life long desire, "Tractor Beam window has been opened, you are clear to launch."

A brief wave of euphoria swept over him as he knew he was so close now, within moments he would experience the ultimate freedom. "Copy Fighter Control," Zee replied with a broad grin, yet with an abrupt motion he knew it was time for business, ^within a moment all his
joy was briefly put aside as he prepared for launch, oa his front panel a small green light illuminated without sound, giving him the clearance to depart, and then following the complex procedure which had been drilled into him over and over again, he switched his internal communicator
over to that of Docking Bay Delta K3 for release
countdown. On his mark the two grappling arms that
supported his panel struts and thus his ship suspended off
the docking bay floor would release him as hf^ccelerated
away simultaneously. Then Zee would_xSflally' realise his
dream.              " ™~~~-——————"

"Docking Bay Delta K3," Zee commenced the
launch procedure with the authority of one who had done
this hundreds of times before, whereas in fact it had only
been just over a dozen, "on my mark ... 3, 2, 1
disengage!" In the span of a heartbeat, the clamps let go
as he moved the throttle forward all in perfect
synchronisation. His ship, momentarily free,, fell as he
accelerated forward out of the docking bay. In training
school, launch and landing were the most paramount
things for all pilots to learn as many accidents had
occurred through poor timing. But not for Zee, his launch
was, and always had been, perfect, a fact that had been
quietly noted by The Recruiters and Fighter Control. As
Zee watched, the docking bay walls abruptly vanished
from his viewport at he shot out alone from the massive
hanger.                                       " >•/''-'

No sooner had he cleared the bay when the voice of his superiors burst through over his comm channel. "Prima Draft 7 this is Fighter Control, you are reminded not to stray from you 0496 flight path, Tractor Beam window will close at end of your launch run."

"Copy." He said without thinking, he really didn't need to be reminded but it was still a good thingjjjf he was to drift off the window line into the beam, which was pulling in his opposite direction of travel, his fighter would be torn to pieces in an instant and his dream would be over before it had begun. He quickly checked his gauges, and reassured himself that he was flying right up the middle of the invisible window. He glanced up for a moment to look into the rear projection unit inside his helmet as the station started to fall back away from him. It took over three minutes for him at high speed to reach a distance where the whole Death Star was in total view such was the immensity of the thing, and despite his overwhelming desire to be free in the limitless bounds of space, he just could not tear himself away from the rear view image as his initial brief glance turned into an awe inspiring stare.

"Prima Draft 7 this is Fighter Control, readouts indicate you are drifting off window line."

Zee's head abruptly snapped back to his controls and his forward view. "Copy," he said calmly, not wanting to sound as though he wasn't aware of his actions. Taking a deep breath he instantly made his corrections without making it look like he was over reacting, or at least trying to. Once done, he quietly cursed himself for momentarily losing control of his^e^aft whilst under the watchful eye of Fighter Control, (6ven now he could visualise someone back there making a note of the error. With this in mind he continued on berating himself for his carelessness although in his own defence, he had to admit that TIE Fighters of this calibre were-scr ultra sensitive.

He spent a quiet moment studying the visuals from two of the three projection screens inside his helmet, these showed the views of port and starboard respectively with the rear^yiew containing the shrinking Death Star in the middle* piswas the compromise for having a cockpit design that only allowed a forward view. Space, nothing but blank and empty space, save for the stars and himself. He felt a great joy at the moment but knew that he would have to save these feelings for a later on when he would have more time to devote to thenv firsTInongh-he- Jjad

As a training TIE Fighter pilot, he had
responsibilities to his ship and his impending mission,
and now that he was inflight, he swiftly ran through his
targeting specs and weapon charge as per standard
operational procedure. Although he had joined Fighter
Control primarily to fly among the heavens, he also knew
that he had to give something in return, and he had long
since decided that if Fighter Control would grant him his
one wish, then he would be willing to devote his entire
being into the service of Fighter Control and the Imperial
Navy as his repayment. Throughout his time at the
Academy he had learned of the Imperial Empire and of its
importance to the stability of the galaxy. He took all of
this information in with great interest, but when it came
down to it, he was not interested in politics, all he wanted
to do was fly their ships, so once he had graduated, and
taken up his training position with Fighter Control, it was
they who he felt he served as he had more direct contact
with them than anyone else. He knew that once he had
finished training with them he would officially become
one of the Imperial Navy's fighter pilots with all of
Fighter Control's recommendations for the Navy to look
over, and then his career would really start. He had
already heard whispers from his fellow colleges that he
was destined for a high promotion because of his unique
abilities and hearing this only strengthened his
determination. He was going to be their besl/^Fighter
Control was putting all this faith in him, then he would
not stop until he had proven his worth, especially if all his
results were to be passed on to whdever he would be
serving later on.                                                                         fV)

Zee felt this mission was actually a special t^ist, and it was one test he was determined not fail,*and with this in mind, he glanced in his rear view projection screen showing the massive space station shrinking into a dot.

"Prima Draft 7, this is Fighter Control," the familiar stone voice erupted "you have cleared Tractor Beam range, launch window has now closed."

"Copy Fighter Control," Zee said with a little too much enthusiasm. Now he was free! After all his life wanting to be alone with the universe, now it had become reality, yet there was something that distracted him from his feelings, his mission. Despite being in heaven, his main thoughts were directed toward his mission, the fighter pilot within him would not allow him time to absorb his surroundings, the mission had to come first, pleasure would follow later. With that he keyed in his mission specs which scrolled inside another smaller screen inside his helmet. The report said a recent disaster had taken place in this sector resulting in the destruction of a rather unusually large asteroid body. The asteroid had sent debris hurtling through the cosmos, with one of the largest pieces currently heading at high speed toward the densely populated planet of BirusII. It was Zee's mission to track this asteroid chunk, target and destroy it utterly, thus his mission would serve two purposes, one to save the Birusians from impending doom, and the other to test his handling and firing abilities at a large fast moving object, which when shot at would turn into a lot of fasti-moving objects, testing his skills even more. However he wouldn't be able to dawdle around with it, as he was due to report to the Imperial Star Destroyer Interrogator when it docked with the Death Star in a ten hours.

Zee had originally thought this was an unusual mission to be assigned to, after all, the fighter simulators he had been in had been very realistic and he had proven his worth in simulated combat many times. Also this fragment was a rather long distance from the station, at least two hours flying time at high speed, he was surprised that Birus II simply didn't dispatch a task force to remove the threatening rock themselves. But no matter what his own personal thoughts said, Zee reminded himself that as a training pilot, he was privileged to be given this mission to act un-aione. If what his fellow pilots said was correct, Fighter Control had big plans for him and for whatever the reason, he knew there was /qmethingmore to this than just blowing up an asteroi4^"was definitely a test, he didn't know what for specifically, but now he was sure of it.

He set his scanner to search ahead, and within a few moments at high magnification he picked up the fragment on his screen/|ne fact it could register it at all meant that it must have been a very large piece indeed, as he still had over an hour and 45 minutes flight time left. He spent the next few moments programming the asteroid into his targeting computer and watched as the distance metre started counting down at high speed. With this done, all he could do now was sit and wait and this finally provided him with the perfect opportunity to realise his ambition. Freedom, this what his life was all about. His internal helmet views showed him that there was nothing around him. Soon he would be out of radio contact from the Death Star and then he would be truly alone with the heavens^ Ije^quickly passed masses of stagnant debris floating in space from the destruction of the main asteroid body.

* * *

"I've got a visual," Zee said to himself enthusiastically as the floating mass he was chasing suddenly became visible, though only as a bright dot in the extreme distance. He took a moment to check his distance metre, which was still counting down rapidly, and found to his amazement that he was still quite some distance away. Starting to feel slightly concerned he looked back at the tiny dot growing larger ever so slowly "Boy this piece must be huge," he muttered to himself "it'll take ages to destroy all this." He strainiAjg his eyes  desperately trying to make out some details of the shape that were impossible for him to read from this distance.

He rested his attention for a moment conceding that he could not deduce anything from this far out. Although one thought refused to leave his mind, if this threat to the Birusians was so great, he could not conceive why they hadn't undertaken the mission to destroy it themselves already. This fragment was large enough to obliterate their planet completely, and as far as he was ? concerned, he would have expected them to dispatch an * entire fleet to remove it without hesitation. Zee shook his head in bewilderment, Birus II certainly had the technology, and yet someone somewhere arranged to dispatch a single TIE Fighter to fly all the way out here to get rid of something that they could have dealt with themselves/^his only reassured his thoughts that there was something more going on here than its simple destruction. Suddenly as an afterthought, Zee hastily checked his schematics on the asteroid to find out one very important factor which he had overlooked completely. What if he didn't have the firepower to blow it up? He desperately hoped somebody jtt_Figbte—Control had, thought of that before he^departed. Quickly scanning his gauges, Zee tried to get a structural reading on the rock as he continued on a steady approach of the mass. In the flurrying midst of checking multiple readouts and scans, to Zee's relief he was able to get a structural reading on the object which stated that although large and intact, it was in fact highly unstable and reaching critical structural collapse, meaning that Zee could easily finish it off despite the basic TIE Fighter laser weapon system he would be using.

Zee blew out a sigh of relief and berated himself for a second time on this trip as something he should have thought of earlier. It was then that something on his control panel caught his eye, he glanced over to the distance metrereading and found that it had counted down nearly all the way to zero, it took his mind a brief second to understand what that meant and when it did he quickly looked up to see the huge rock right in front of him.

"Dammit!" he yelled out to himself as he quickly
diverted himself from the direct path to the rock and
slowed his speed down just keep that up Zee old boy and
you'll out of the service in no time. In a bout of frustration
he angled his ship back to face the asteroid and prepared
to fire without lining up angles or preparing shots^rt was
only then that he noticed it.                                             ^

From his first vantage point way out in space, all he could see was a bright orb in space, but now that he was right next to it, he could see things that he never expected. The most bizarre was that it was spherical and certainly didn't look like a broken off piece of a larger asteroid at all. It was also covered in ice, which meant that it must have had water on its surface, perhaps even an atmosphere, very unlike any normal orbiting body of rock, but even more unusual than the ice, was the strange shapes that followed regular symmetrical patterns appearing on the surface in sporadic sections, Even though they too were covered in ice Zee knew without hesitation that this asteroid had in fact supported life, whether it had been indigenous or settlers he could not be sure, but one thing he did know, this asteroid had been colonised.

"But this asteroid was supposed to be the blown off part of another one, so how can anyone have built settlements on a piece of debris?" He asked himself quizzically "unless it wasn't a piece of debris to start with." He looked at the white mass in a new light "If I didn't know any better," he said quietly "I'd say it was a tiny moon."

In a moment of insecurity he reconfirmed his orders, by accessing his order commands from his computer. Within a second the confirmation appeared on the screen.

FLIGHT CONTROL MISSION: TIE FIGHTER Prima

Draft 3: CarasZec

Transport to sector 84863 Birus 345 at maximum speed

Locate current asteroid body identification 676949.3834

Target and destroy 676949.3834 and all ensuing debris

Do not attempt fly bys or inspections!

Return to base

He read his orders carefully and looked back at the floating mass. Unable to think of any answers to the questions which were now starting to come out faster than explanations. Had Fighter Control lied to him about the asteroid? Were they mistaken? Did they know about the settlements? Did they care? The questions mercilessly attacked him from all directions, giving him no course to think straight. Until one clear possibility found its way through the jumbled confusion that was in his brain, "Perhaps Flight Control should be informed of this?" fre~-^/ thought to himself "they may not know that anyone was based here! This could be a very important discovery." His mind raced on this track as he grew hopeful that he was nearing a possible course of action. He tore himself away from the distraction of the white mass and looked down at his targeting computerjthe moon thing was in range, his weapons were fully charged, his targets set, and yet he still wasn't sure what to do. He took a deep sigh as the nerves were making his hands shake, he desperately wanted to remove his helmet to give himself more freedom to think but he knew that was not possible in a vacuum environment. "What do I do?" he spoke out aloud. "How can an asteroid fragment have life on it?"

Underlining his whole thought process was the nagging admission that he was still only a trainee pilot and was only given orders to carry out, it was not his place to question them. This factor had been drilled and re-drilled into him time after time at the Academy, tefusal to obey the orders of superiors was looked at as being the^^/. second worst crime possible. This was leaving Zee iri a state of confusion ,$$/as to give him a headache. Suggestions and counter suggestions kept coming at him, but despite all his internal conflicts, he knew what the bottom line said; no matter whether the fragment was of a monstrous asteroid or some kind of moon he still had his orders. But this did not stop him from just dumbly looking at the rock, his finger not even resting on the fire control button. It was then a clear spark of inspiration hit him.

"What if I went back and told them of this, would they be pleased? They might." he though with a ray of hope, until the dark side quashed it. "On the other had it would take two hours to go back and if they reconfirmed the order to destroy the moon it would be another two hour trip here and yet another one to return for a second time. Eight hours wasted to destroy one asteroid fragment." This left a sour taste in his mouth as even more negative thoughts came to him the main one being if the station had to leave its current position they wouldn't be able to wait for him to come back a second time! He thought about his order "find it, destroy it, return." Simple as that. He looked at the floating mass feeling he would just sit there forever, when all of a sudden the answer finally came to him.

"This is part of the test!" He said with a huge wave of relief descending over him "It's to see if I can obey orders without any doubts setting in. This rock is a set up, the whole thing is a set up." He started to laugh at the notion that it was all so obvious. "They want to know if I'll carry out my orders and shoot the thing up or return empty handed. A success or a failure. This is why they sent me, it's a leadership challenge." By now he was laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face with a slight pain producing itself in his stomach. It was all so plain and simple now that he knew, "that's why Birus isn't acting on the threat, there isn't any." he cried out in delight. Even now he knew that monitoring devices were currently watching him just sit there like a fool, no doubt someone back at Fighter Control was having a good chuckle at his distress wondering would he do it or not, could he pull the trigger. He could see now why this was the kind of test all TIE Fighter squad leaders would have to face, he could not imagine what happened to those who decided to return home with their objective not completed, thinking they were doing the right thing. But they would only be looked upon as failures, with everyone looking down upon them. YOU FAILED TO CARRY OUT YOUR MISSION! The ultimate crime.

Anger began to gnaw quietly at Zee for being so close as to actually not go through with it. He had almost reached a verdict to leave the asteroid alone and return back. He had almost failed the test. Failed to carry out his first mission, this first real examination of his abilities. Well Zee old boy, you've made some major mistakes on this run already, but this... he stared hard at the white block, hatred of it beginning to seethe inside is one test Car as Zee is not going to fail.

Without any further hesitation, Zee set his targeting sights and fired. The powerful green energy bolts impacted with the giant mass as it crumpled in on itself instantly. Zee, propelled by ever growing hatred for the thing, was so determined to do the job properly that he blasted every piece of the ruined planetoid until it was dust, leaving not a trace behind. Once finished, he took a quick survey of the area, nothing bigger than his ship remained. He quickly scanned the area, certain there was a monitoring device in the area measuring his progress, well it would only say success. Caras Zee had what it took to be a leader.

With a broad smile on his face and satisfaction in his heart, he turned his fighter around and plotted a course back to the Death Star.

"Anyway how could it have been a moon?" he laughed at himself again, "There was no planet in the area for it to orbit around." He abruptly stopped laughing."A test, it was a damn test, a good one too|; Ihskt have to commendate his superiors when he returned, and with that in mind, he hit his thrusters.

* * *

After the long flight back, Zee was about ten minutes away from the Death Star, his senses saying it was close but still unable to see it yet* isn't it amazing how something so big by human standards was still infinitesimal in comparison to space he thought to himself, having long since calmed down while pushing all thoughts of the asteroid test to the back of his mind to be recalled later in the presence of his fellow pilots, jffit |tfr now he was quietly relaxed, taking in the wondrous sights of the stars. He had entered radio range earlier and contacted Fighter Control to say the mission was a success. They had not sounded either excited or surprised. "I thought so" Zee said to himself sarcastically "it had been a set up." Yet next to his sarcasm was the relief that Fighter Control had responded at all, it meant they hadn't changed position since he left for his mission, which they could have quite easily have done, after all he had been gone for over four hours, and it would have be hard to , stop the station leaving on a missioa~«H»ply-_on_ the \,

\

account of one Fighter pilot, even it was Caras Zee!

He tried to flex his legs as best as he could in the confines of his cramped cockpit. TIE Fighters were not designed to be in flight for such long periods of time and after four hours, all Zee really wanted to was get out and walk around and have a stretch. He loved the stars and the heavens and travelling among them, but when your legs ached from lack of use, the enjoyment of the it all started to wane. Still, he reminded himself, he was nearly there, in just a few short minutes he would signal the Death Star that he was entering his final approach fazq, j^ he wanted to do now was just see the thing to give him something to aim towards. His attention was briefly diverted from looking for the station, as he began quietly dodging the remains of the dead asteroid which he had passed originally. Passing the endless lines of rocks only increased his resolve to get home, he was tired, his legs were beginning to ache more, and he so wanted to get out of this flying box. He quickly checked his gauges and decided to redirect all remaining power to his thrusters, increasing his speed to maximum acceleration. The briefest of moments had barely passed when seemingly in protest to this new request, a warning light and buzzer went off next to him. He turned his helmet to see that his proximity alert had gone off, meaning that something was approaching his position.

"Damn, malfunction," he thought shaking his head lightly. TIE Fighters were primarily designed for short term flight operations, whether they be in combat or on routine patrols - a factor all too obvious in the cramped design of the cockpit - so if they were inflight too long or pushed too hard, something would invariably start giving out. TIE technicians and mechanics were always fixing something on them as they were just not built to go the distance. Zee looked at the light again, feeling glad that it was only this and not something major, like his engine transmission or power converter going out on him, he didn't relish the thought of having to spend any more time out here than was necessary. Having to wait for an emergency pickup was definitely not on his planned agenda. Zee studied the light and its incessant buzzing, it had to be a malfunction, he thought with mild concern, after all how could anything be out here?

Suddenly and without warning it stopped, the light went out, the sound ceased.

Zee just looked at it, how about that, it fixed itself. With a gratifying snort, he turned his head back to see if the station was in view yet and abruptly went into a blind panic.

Directly ahead was a ship travelling in his direction. It had literally materialised from nowhere right in front of him! The shock was so much that he barely lifted up his nose in time to avoid collision, sailing right over its starboard side. As he made the pass, he felt a light thump on his fighter's rear.

"A shot! He just shot at me!" Zee cried out, his heart thumping wildly as he quickly checked his structural integrity readings and found it had just been a rebound, no damage sustained. He looked in his rear view screen seeing the large flat vessel in full pursuit.

"It's a freighter of some sort!" he said to himself, but it moved far faster than any freighter should be able. Zee looked at the ugly beat up craft for a second then made a decision. If anyone insisted on attacking a representative from the Imperial Navy, then that person was deepied as an enemy and immediate action would be taken, jbtit before he could play hot shot pilot, he knew his first priority was to inform Fighter Control.

"Fighter Control, this is Prima Draft 7, have encountered a hostile craft bearing 467 mark 89, request permission to engage!"

No response, Zee waited for what seemed like forever for a reply then looked at his communication scanning net and found it moving crazily about its scale.

"What the..." he said bewildered, yet even as the words came out he knew what had happened "Jammed." He didn't know how much information had gotten through, but what he did know now was the realisation that it was just him and the unknown enemy. He quickly put all his combat training to the test, with a fluidity which would have made his instructors proudHie charged up his weapons, targeted the alien vessel and programmed it into his targeting screen. He quickly looked back to see it was still there, it was, and if anything it seemed to be catching him, bringing on a feeling of surprise until the reason presented itself. Of course it's only natural, I'm using thruster power to charge up my lasers. With a deadly determination setting in, he,prepare^ to turn and attack the ship when it hit him. i ^^ CX~O

A blood curdling cry screamed from his lips as the searing pain shot up his left leg like a rocket. In an instant all thoughts of the deadly freighter bearing down on him were lost as his hands instinctively went to his leg. The cramp was the worst he'd ever experienced. After four hours with no movement, coupled by the sudden appearance of the alien ship, he hadn't been aware of the sudden tensing that finally made it give in. Through the tears following free from his eyes, he could see in his helmet screen the big ship on his tail constantly getting closer, knowing they would fire on him as soon as they were in range. He was a sitting duck flying straight like this. Zee looked away from the viewer, focusing on his throttle, ntslonly option now was to move position but his leg screamed agony, commanding his full attention. He tried everything he could to ease the strain, he wanted so badly to straighten it out but there was just no room.

"Don't let it end like this he screamed out!" pounding his fist into his leg as the tears finally blotted out his view of the Ship of Death as it closed the distance to put it in firing range of his fighter, thus ending the bright, but very brief, career of Caras Zee.

"Damn you!" he cried for what he was sure was the final time in his life, but there was a delay. In his agony he waited to die, but it did not come. Time seemed to stop as he tried to ascertain why the enemy had not killed him. Puzzlement turned to sudden realisation that he could feel his ship moving sightly faster. In a brief span of confusion, Zee looked up through bleary eyes to see the orb of the Death Star in the distance* jt- was then he knew his mission was finally over, the Tractor Beam held him in its unbreakable grasp. Any notion he had of taking on the freighter to prove his combat ability passed with a wash, the moment had escaped him, but at least he was still alive.

He blinked his eyes to clear his vision and looked in his helmet screen to see the mysterious ship still in pursuit, though it too had been pulled into the Beam. Zee continued watching in fascination as its occupants suddenly realisedtheir predicament and began an attempt to slow down and escape the gravitational field. Zee watched the unknown freighter begin to back off from the chase to deal with the upcoming disaster. But even Zee could see he was trapped. The Death Star Tractor Beam held the ship firmly in its grasp and there was no way this tiny bug was-gping to break free of this massive web.

Zee's le£ began to slowly subside as his attention was diverted on the ship behind him getting smaller as it resisted the Death Star with futility.

"Whoever you are," Zee said to himself in a feeling of sudden sorrow "my life was yours to take, and you didn't accept it, I will remember that."

Suddenly the suprisingly agitated voice of Fighter Control broke through the jamming.

"Prima Draft 7 this is Fighter Control, slow down immediately and prepare for docking approach."

Zee suctdenfj; broke away from his rear view screen to look up and see the Death Star filling his entire view. With his attention focused on the strange ship, he'd forgotten all about it. With haste he shut off his main engines and began to descend into the docking bay^ ^ quickly gave one last glance into his rear view finder to see the now tiny freighter heading below to one of the equatorial docking bays Zee guessed.

Even though he still didn't know what it was, or where it came from, or more importantly who was inside it, he had a strange premonition that he would see it again one day. With this in mind he switched oxer his communication to Launch Control and docked his fighter with out incident.

With his thoughts centred totally on the events of the past few minutes, he climbed out of his fighter still thinking about the ship who had let him live rather than kill him when the opportunity presented itself. He so much wanted to know why it had done so. With a brief yawn, he removed his helmet and promised to give the matter more thought later on, but first he had to report in, have some rest, and then prepare to depart on the Interrogator, \wilhoutfurther delay he moved his exhausted body toward the hanger doors subsequently forgetting every thought or question he had about the tiny moon of an annihilated planet spinning helplessly out of its orbit that he had so promptly destroyed two hours previously.