He ducked under the fireball, which expanded right next to him, and held on to the console. The guy next to him was not so lucky, since he was consumed by the expanding heatwave. Right before he could orient himself again the whole ship rocked again and sent him sprawling onto the bridge floor. Alarms wailed all the time, mingling with the screams of wounded and dying people, while the computer voice stated again: “Shields failed – Core breach immanent.” While trying to upright himself he looked to the main screen in front of him. The shots of the chain fired guns of the Fighter racing towards the ship, towards him, brightened the inside of the destroyed command center, shaking his world, consuming him. His ears were filled with the alarms, becoming unbearable loud, dominating everything…
Theobald Franklin sat bolt upright, drenched in sweat. The alarm persisted, but it was only the beep of his communication pad, announcing someone wanted to reach him. Theobald held his head with one hand, while reaching out to the pad with the other. He tried to shake off the lingering aftermath of his nightmare. Not a single night passed without these dreadful dreams and they always left his head foggy for several minutes after waking. He squinted and looked at the pad and then pressed the receive button. Instantly the face of Stevan Jester filled the screen. "Hey Captain," he laughed, “sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, but you wanted to know when something interesting happened here.”
Franklin grunted and Stevan continued: “I think our Junker friends arrived. At least an old and somewhat mangled looking Liner pulled in a short time ago. Don’t ask me what type this ship is, I never saw anything like it, but I would bet it’s the Junkers.”
Theobald rubbed his eyes and inhaled deeply: “Alright, thanks Stev for the info. I will just get dressed. Where did you say the Junker Ship is docked?”
“Not far away, I think on the other side where we are moored.”
“Okay, I will take a look,” he said and cut the connection.
Twenty minutes later Captain Franklin walked out of his rooms, dressed in his spare OS&C Livery. Now he was glad that he always kept at least one spare set of these clothing stowed away in his Arrow. One could see that he did not get enough sleep the last nights if one would look closely. Otherwise he looked as smart as always. He aimed his steps towards the main docking hub, where his ship is docked and the newly arrived Junker ship in question should be. Stopping in front of one of the large windows he took in the sight of the new Liner. She looked strange, nothing like he was used to. He didn’t know why, but he simply was not able to detect what kind of class this ship was. She made him feel uneasy and he didn’t like this a bit, but still he was unable to look away. “I need a drink now,” he thought and turned around. The “Dockside Bar” right next to the main hub has become a too good friend to him and so he automatically went there. He was greeted immediately by the friendly barkeeper, a skinny woman but with a winning smile, with a wave of her hand. So he simply ignored everybody else in the room like always, walked straight up to her, sat down and got his drink served. “Thanks Sandra,” Theobald mumbled, looked up to her and smiled. Sandra, the barkeeper, nodded and left him to his drink, knowing he wanted to be rather alone.
