Alyssa sat in awe. She had never dreamed that anything man-made could be so vast. The gun barrels on some of those cannons were bigger than their ship!


    “Impressive, aren’t they?” John pointed towards the pride of the Terran Federation fleet.


    Alyssa could only nod her agreement.


    “It doesn’t feel quite the same when you’re fighting something that size though…” He paused, suddenly ovee with memories from what seemed like a lifetime ago.This content is ? N?velDrama.Org.


    Fear, pain, loss… emotions spiralled over their empathic link and Alyssa quickly moved to John’s side, leaning down to kiss him. Her distracting presence broke his introspection and his mood lifted immediately. He kissed her back before he noticed that the ship had entered the docking bay and was about to touch down.


    “Oops, we better go! Don’t want to leave our weingmittee waiting!” he smiled at his young shipmate.


    They walked quickly to the cargo bay, feeling a tremor through the ship as itnded at the shipyard. John pressed a button on the wall mounted console and the airlock spiralled open, the servos in the door whirring in eagerness to perform their task. The couple stepped out of the freighter into the huge cargo bay, the extensive floor lighting illuminating their surroundings in a warm glow.


    A young naval officer approached them quickly.


    “Commander ke, the Vice Admiral sends his apologies, he’s in a meeting at the moment. If you would like to follow me, I’ll lead you to his office.”


    John nodded his assent and they followed the navy officer as he led them through a series of corridors before ushering them into a reception room. He walked briskly to a desk, pushing a button on the inte. “Vice Admiral, the Commander is here to see you.”


    There was no reply and then a door on the other side of the room opened. A uniformed figure strolled over to meet them and Alyssa studied him as he approached. He was a man in his mid tote 50’s she guessed, his stern face sporting a bushy grey moustache.


    “Vice Admiral” John saluted the man, his face showing a wry grin.


    The manughed and returned the salute “Commander ke! It’s good to see you, how long has it been?” The man’s stern face rxed into a warm smile.


    “Retired 11 years now” John replied as he shook his old friends hand vigorously.


    “Sorry I couldn’te to meet you personally, damnable meeting overran” The Vice Admiral apologised. .”.. and who is this lovely youngdy?” The older man enquired, his hawk like eyes locking on Alyssa.


    “This is Alyssa Marant, my Executive Officer” John grinned happily.


    He turned to his beautifulpanion. “This is Vice Admiral Charles Harris, we served together a long time ago.”


    “Call me Charles, please” John’s old colleague shook Alyssa’s hand, smiling at her cordially.


    “Nice to meet you Charles” the slightly intimidated teenager replied.


    “Civilian life seems to be treating you well John” The perceptive older man looked at his friend spectively.


    “Come join me in my office and let’s catch up” Charles offered, leading the way. They followed him into his office and sat down infortable leather seats surrounding a coffee table. The seats were ced in a semi-circle facing a huge window that overlooked the iing and outgoing traffic of the starport.


    “That’s one hell of a view Charles” John said, watching a massive Terran Federation Carrier as it slowly made its way to the Nav beacon.


    “Isn’t it just” Charles replied. “Now tell me John, what brings you to see me after all this time? I can’t imagine you came all this way just to relive old war stories” He smiled good naturedly.


    John turned to look back at his old friend. “Tyrenium… 10 tons of it.”


    Charles looked startled before he whistled appreciatively. “Civilian life really has been good to you John.”


    John nced at Alyssa, before nodding emphatically.


    Charles tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I’ll take the whole cargo if you’re willing, just name your price.”


    “250 million credits” John replied without pause.


    “Holy fuck!” Alyssa squeaked.


    Charles ignored the teenagers outburst and studied John shrewdly “Done. You know very well this conflict with the Kintark has the T-Fed over a barrel, don’t you?”


    John smiled and shrugged his shoulders, his hands spread, palms outward. “A man’s got to make a living.”


    Charlesughed, shaking his head. The two men shook hands to seal the deal. “Congrattions John, you can retire for real now” Charles said, genuinely pleased to see an old war buddy do so well for himself. John grinned back at his old friend.


    Meanwhile Alyssa sat wide eyed, stunned at the insane sums of money these two men were discussing so casually. She thought back to her previous life of abject poverty, the years of scraping around for the odd couple of credits here or there. The sometimes horrible things she had had to do just to get by. Now here she was, listening to a deal for a few tons of rock that was worth more than the whole hollowed out asteroid she had grown up in. For this kind of money, you could buy the entire ce and still have enough pocket change to feed its inhabitants for a lifetime.


    John and Charles chatted amiably for a while, leaving Alyssa lost in her thoughts.


    “How do you want the money John?” Charles asked. “Credit transfer ok I presume?”


    John nodded agreeably as he finished the ss of whiskey his oldmanding officer had poured for him. The two men stood to shake hands once more, making promises to stay in touch.


    John ced his hand on Alyssa’s shoulder, gently rousing her from her thoughts. “Time to go” he said quietly. Alyssa stood to join him and the pair turned to leave the office.


    “Before you go John” Charles voice called out from behind him “I thought you might be interested. The Invictus has been dmissioned, I’ll be putting her up for auction soon.”


    John stood frozen, half turned towards his old friend.


    “She’d make one hell of a fine ship for a wealthy young trader” Charles smiled. “It would be nice to see the old girl staying in the family so to speak.”


    “What’s the Invictus?” Alyssa asked her handsome friend, puzzled that it should stir up such strong emotions in the man.


    John was lost in his thoughts, his mind turning over the possibilities.


    Seeing that John was distracted, Charles answered for him. “It’s our old ship, Alyssa. I was transferred to the bridge crew back in oh… 2748. John joined the Ship’s Marinepany 9 yearster. I eventually made Captain and John retired after 10 years service on her.”


    Alyssa nodded her thanks for his exnation.


    “Why is she being dmissioned?” John asked.


    “T-Fed Navy has changed its doctrines since you served John. It’s all about dropships on Carriers now.” Charles replied, rolling his eyes. “There’s no ce for Assault Cruisers in the new Fleet”


    John was shaking his head. “She’s too big, what am I going to do with all that space? Besides, there’s only the two of us, how could we crew her?”


    Charles waved his friend over to his desk as he pushed a couple of buttons on his console. The lights in the office dimmed slightly and arge holographic disy of a spacecraft sprung into being in the centre of the room.