Mitchell's Revenge
The Zond, asteroid belt, Laika System

It had taken hours to get throughthe asteroid belt without further incident. Pavel was exhausted. Anja wasasleep on the floor nearby. As soon as they were in clear space Maximdespatched Elena and Sergey to the damaged section of the ship to repair the breachin the hull again.

Nadezhda monitored their progressfrom her command board. The piece of debris lodged in the skin of the ship wassmall, but it was heavy and radioactive. The radioactivity threatened tointerfere with their instrumentation during their final jump towards Tarasov. Removingit would cause more damage to the Zond, so they elected to leave it where itwas. Sergey adjusted the filament composition to take this into account. He andElena worked swiftly to seal the breach and secure the fragment into place.

“I think it will hold, Captain,”said Nadezhda. “The filament has doused the radioactivity enough that ourinstruments should be unaffected during FTL flight. This is only a short jumpanyway.”

“We’ll just have to risk it,”replied Maxim. “I want to get home. We all need a rest. Look at Pavel!”

He pointed to their pilot who wasslumped back in his seat. His eyes were closed and his mouth was wide open, arumbling snore came from his throat. Anja was now curled into a ball on the floorby his side.

“We’re almost done,” came Elena’svoice through the coms. “Do you want tore-pressurise down here and see how it is?”

“When you both get back up here,we’ll take a look,” replied Maxim. “I don’t want to risk anything happening toyou.”

Half an hour later when they wereback on the bridge, Nadezhda ran final checks on the hull integrity. Elenastood near Pavel, looking down at the sleeping man and the child on the floor.

“We still can’t close the shieldsover that part of the hull,” Nadezhda advised. “But we are in our home galaxyand we should be safe. It’ll just have to do for now. Better wake Pavel up sohe can plot our last jump home.”

Elena squeezed Pavel’s shoulder andleaned close to his ear, suggesting quietly that he should wake up. Anothersnore erupted from him in response. She shook him this time and he snorted ashe opened his eyes. He stared at her. Elena laughed.

“What, where?” he stuttered. Heshook his head and blinked. “I fell asleep.”

“You sure did,” said Elena. “Youneed to pilot us home. We’ve re-sealed the hull. I’ll get you some coffee.” Shedisappeared in the direction of the galley. Pavel sat up and stretched.

“How long was I asleep?” he asked. Helooked at Anja who was still curled up in a ball on the floor, unmoving.

“Long enough,” replied Maxim. “It’stime to get us home. Nadezhda’s sure the hull will hold for this last jump, solet’s get going. We have to deliver the child to Achernar spaceport as soon aswe get back.”

“Sergey, take the girl back to her cabinand lock her in,” Maxim went on. “She can sleep there out of our way.”

Anja stirred slightly as Sergeyscooped her up from the floor. She settled her head against his shoulder as hecarried her back to the cabin. Elena returned from the galley with extra strongcoffee for Pavel, who got to work on getting them home.

“You know that kid should be inflying school, don’t you,” he said quietly as he worked. “She’s a natural.” Nadezhdaand Maxim nodded in agreement.

“I’ve heard the brother is atalented pilot too,” said Maxim. “It obviously runs in the family. But Yurimust have plans for her and we must do as we’re told if we want to get paid.” Hesighed as he turned to his command board. Sergey returned to the bridge.

Anja lay completely still on thecot in the cabin where Sergey had placed her, feigning sleep for as long as shecould. She knew Nadezhda would be watching for her to wake up. Her mind racedas she thought about the information Maxim had let slip thinking she was fastasleep. She had heard of Achernar. She knew it was the largest city on Tarasov,which was the headquarters of the IGM. It was galaxies away from EQ2 and she nowhad no idea how she was going to get home.

She turned over onto her stomachand cried softly into the pillow. She realised with a stab of fear that shemight never see her family again. She turned her face to the wall of the cabinand let tendrils of her long blond hair fall across her cheek. She hopedNadezhda would not see her crying.

The Zond lurched as it exited FTLflight some hours later. They were as close as they could get to Tarasovwithout entering the atmosphere of the planet. When they settled into ageosynchronous orbit above Achernar, Elena went to fetch Anja. Theirinstructions were to send her in the ship’s landing drone to the spaceport atAchernar. She would be met by Anton Orlov and escorted to the family compoundat Noo.

The door of Anja’s cabin slid opento let Elena in. She was shocked to see the tear stained face of the child whohad been so brave, so far. She sat on the edge of the cot next to Anja and puther arm around her shoulders. She drew her close and whispered to her soquietly that Anja had to concentrate hard to hear.

“If I ever see a chance to help youget back to your family, I will take it,” Elena said. “Don’t repeat this toanyone. None of us agree with what Yuri is doing. We think you are incrediblybrave and should be in flying school, not doing whatever he has in mind for you.Be brave. We will help you if we can.”

Anja reacted by burying her head inElena’s shoulder and sobbing loudly. Then she pushed her roughly away and satup straight on the cot. She rubbed her eyes and tugged at the hair which hadcome loose from its ponytail. Tears ran down her cheeks as she secured the escapedstrands of hair back into its fastening.

In a more normal tone of voiceElena went on to explain what their instructions were. She showed Anja an imageof Anton Orlov on her handipalm so that she would recognise her escort and notrun from him. As the child studied the image, Elena reflected that they couldbe brother and sister with their blond hair, blue eyes and fine features.

Anja took her jacket from therobing unit and pulled it on over the too big shipsuit. She zipped it up. Shechecked that her shoes were securely fastened. She wiped the tears from herface with the back of her hand. She stood facing Elena in the small space infront of the cot.

“Can I get my handipak back now?”she asked.

“When we get to the drone,” Elenareplied.

“I’m ready then,” said Anja.