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to separate the pair after their last fight.   Shaking his head in
despair that he would never understand the inner workings of the female mind he
focused his thoughts back on the task at hand.
    “A simple escort mission, nothing more Lieutenant,” Jon
clarified.  “We escort Princess Aurelius to Eden Prime, hand her over to Senate
security to take over her security detail then high-tail it back to the fleet; a
cake-walk,” Jon exclaimed confidently.
    “Will you be returning with the squadron or remaining on
Eden Prime with the Princess?” Elsie inquired uncomfortably, refusing to meet
his gaze.
    “My place is at the head of the Praetorian’s, at the side of
the Emperor,” Jon announced firmly. “I’ll be leading the 58 th back
from Eden Prime,” Jon insisted, wondering at the strange question.  Jon was not
sure if he imagined it or not but he thought he detected a slight blush on his
second-in-command as she nodded in understanding.
    “Understood Commander,” she acknowledged “The Praetorian’s
will hold escort position until we reach safe FTL distance.  ETA twenty
minutes.” 
    Jon acknowledged the response and cut the communications
link.  Leaning back in his chair, as the ship was now under computer guidance he
thought back to the unusual conversation with Elsie.  Jon had known for some
time that Elsie was developing a crush on him, however being her direct
superior he refused to acknowledge it.  Thinking back over the past few months
Jon came to realise that Elsie’s bad-attitude to Sofia coincided with the
increasing amount of time that he had been forced into spending with her.  Eyes
narrowing in sudden suspicion, Jon came to the conclusion that Elsie was
jealous of Sofia!  What with the increasing rumours that had been spreading
through the fleet about the Princess and himself Jon came to realise that it
would be good to have some separation from Sofia.  Jon had been, for a while,
unfairly holding Elsie back from promotion for his own selfish reasons.  Elsie
was long overdue her own squadron and at that point chain of command would no
longer be an issue...  Perhaps Elsie would help him overcome this emptiness
that Jon had discovered within himself when he was around Sofia.  Decision
made, Jon leant back to relax waiting for them to reach minimum FTL safe
distance from the star that the fleet had been orbiting.
    *****
    Jon was roused from his thoughts by an alert from the
communication system.  The fleet had suddenly started to broadcast on the
emergency channel, before going dead.  Mystified Jon checked the ship’s sensors,
which confirmed that all was fine.   The fleet, now many hundreds of kilometres
astern was continuing to orbit the distant star, with no other ships or objects
detected on the scanner.  So why the sudden broadcast on the emergency
channel?  Assuming it was just an accident, Jon opened communications to the
flagship, the Imperial Star … to which there was no response.  Even more
confused now, the Commander instructed the ship to run a self-diagnostic of the
communication systems. All of which was working fine. 
    Another communication channel opened up from Elsie.
“Commander, we have lost contact with the fleet,” she reported in an equally
bewildered tone.
    “Hold position here until we can re-establish
communication,” Jon ordered as the door to the flight deck slid-open to reveal
Sofia.  Jon noticed Elsie’s gaze flicker to Sofia, for an instant, before
darting back to Jon’s.
    “Acknowledged sir, squadron will hold formation at this
position until we re-establish fleet communication.”  Turning away from the
communication channel Jon noticed Sofia’s gaze fixed stonily on the now blank
communication monitor. 
    For God’s sake, get over it you two! Jon thought to
himself before inquiring of Sofia.  “Something I can do for you, Princess?”
    “I’ve lost our data-link with the Imperial Star ,” she
explained, “I was reviewing the