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holding its position in space. I don't like it at all."
    As he said it, there was a glimmer of movement ahead of them.
    "Break, break!" Taylor shouted.
    Rains put all power down and banked hard as they saw a dazzling flash ahead of them, and a beam weapon almost the width of their craft narrowly missed them.
    "Jesus Christ!" Rains swore under his breath.
    He banked again, and another beam rushed past them. As they soared back towards the Warrior, a third beam struck their starboard side and tore off one of the engines and wing. They immediately lost most of their power, went into a spin, and continued to barrel towards the frigate.
    Taylor knew they were helpless now and could only hope they would not be hit again. Lighting began to fail, and they lowered their visors, expecting to be blasted into space any second, if they survived at all. The seconds went by, and they felt nothing. Finally, Rains broke the silence.
    "Well, that went well."
    "What can you do?"
    "Nothing, Colonel, it's out of my hands now."
    They felt an impact on the ship as if they had collided with something, but there was nothing visible out of the pilot's cockpit until he looked up and could see the lower hull of the other Mercury gunship overhead. They began to slow as they approached the Warrior and they were out of their spin.
    "They've got us," Rains said in relief.
    None of them said a word as they were escorted to the docking bay of the Warrior. The hatch opened, allowing the access to the ship, and they stepped aboard thankful they were still alive.
    "Abandoned my ass, Eddie," said Taylor.
    "Hey, I said it looked that way. I'm no expert."
    Taylor looked to Jafar. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but he could already see the alien was as surprised by it all as they were.
    "Let me guess, you have no more clue than us, right?"
    Jafar nodded.
    "Where the hell have you brought us?" Morris demanded.
    Jafar did not respond, but they all thought it, too. It was hard to think of what else they could have done, but that did not stop them from thinking on it over and over again.
    "Wherever the hell we are, it ain't home," said Taylor, "It truly is alien, and we need to start treating it with a little respect and a little caution. That was too close a call."

Chapter 3
     

    Taylor stepped aboard the Washington to find Huber waiting to greet him. As he did so, he could see the badly damaged Gerty being manoeuvred into a repair bay a little further long the landing bay. The Admiral opened his mouth to welcome Taylor aboard, but stopped and stared at the wreck.
    "What the hell happened out there?"
    "We got our asses kicked is what happened. Whatever that thing is, and whoever it was made by, it ain't too friendly."
    "Casualties?"
    "Thankfully not, but we came too damn close."
    "Well is it hostile, can we expect further trouble?"
    The Admiral looked to Jafar, then Rains and Morris, but no one had any answers.
    "From what I could tell, we just triggered a self defence mechanism. My advice, we keep on eye on it, but stay well wide."
    "So just ignore it?"
    "It's trouble we don't need, right now. It's out there in the middle of nowhere. Who cares? Leave it be."
    Huber nodded in agreement. It was just another uncertainty to add to the list of their new location. He paced over to the wrecked ship and Taylor joined him. Rains was close behind them and could only shake his head in despair.
    "Just when I thought I'd found my girl for life," he muttered.
    "Don't you worry, we'll get her flying again," replied Huber.
    Rains was shocked to hear it. "We can't afford to lose a single bird. She'll be patched up and repaired anyway we can," Huber continued.
    It wasn't quite the good news Rains had hoped for, as it was such a short term and desperate measure. Huber stopped before the gunship to take a good look over it, but Rains continued on. The Lieutenant carried on until he reached his ship and ran his hand along the fuselage, as though feeling some deep personal