11.Increasing experience

The incident in Sector 13, a few standard weeks earlier

Commander Franak ToÖren was suddenly startled from his vain self-observation - he was standing in front of the large screen with reflector function that filled a wall of his private room. The reflector showed a tall, broad-shouldered man in the nicely cut Federation Patrol uniform with long, wavy, blond hair and a thick, light, well-groomed beard - his reflection filled him with deep satisfaction. Then the alarm sounded - a hideous, up and down signal, the screen turned milky for a moment and then gained depth again, but behind the screen there was no longer an image of the room in which it was standing; the background was much larger and equipped with windows that looked out into a rolling landscape, so almost inevitably showed a sea beach. There, apparently two meters away from him, stood a slender, dark-haired man - Avatar actually - in a bland gray suit, a paradox, a kind of civilian military clothing. The man came closer, stepped sideways past him and through the surface of the screen as if it didn't exist. He stayed entirely in Franak's private room, exactly at the distance that he found comfortable.

“Well, Nadar. What's the noise? ”Franak spoke in a tone of superiority, of master, although the Avatar, of course, had no military rank.

“Commander SeFrin wants to see you, sir! She passed the alarm on to us. Will you take the call? ”

Franak knew that this was just a polite phrase. With such an urgent contact, it was impossible to refuse. "Of course!" He replied. A curvy, long-legged, long-haired blonde appeared abruptly in the mirror room, gazing at him deeply and confidently through long eyelashes with large, blue eyes with half-down lids. She was wearing a feminine version of his own uniform.

“Commander SeFrin, I assume”, Franak remarked impressed, “well, what's so urgent?”

“Commander ToÖren, we receive a call for help,” she answered in a soft voice, “a signal from sector 13. We are the patrol that is closest to the source of the call. He apparently comes from the mining planet Yssar. Two standard days ago, the central station was attacked by a squadron of a pirate who calls himself the 'Morning Star'. At least that's what the head of the ward said shortly before personal contact broke off. Only the automatic help signal was sent on for a while. It is possible that there are no more survivors.

Anyway , this planet belongs to the Federation and it is our job to free it! " " Of course, "Franak agreed," Commander SeFrin ... "

" Araissa ... "

" Well ... Araissa, I'll help you Of course, if necessary. ”

“ It is, Commander ... ”

He hesitated only briefly:“ Franak, call me Franak. ”

“ We assume that both the pirate ship and the station are manned ... Franak. We must therefore attack both at the same time, as we can hardly surprise the pirates. Do you have experience in such missions? ”

“ Yes, yes! ”Franak lied to impress her.

"Excellent!" She smiled at him in amusement. What amused her so much remained hidden from Franak. "Then we'll meet in the orbit of Yssar - in ...", she hesitated and probably looked at a screen that Franak could not see, "... about two days. She smiled at him again, then she was gone. Franak stared for a while at the spot where the seductive woman had been seen a moment ago. He found that he was already looking forward to seeing Araissa again and even more looking forward to meeting her in person. This meeting would bring some life to the boring everyday life of a patrol commander, he hoped. The upcoming military action was also gratifying. He was confident of victory, did not seriously expect losses and had absolutely no doubt that he in particular would get away with it. He was confident and young. Nothing could harm him except boredom.

Franak left his cabin and headed for the command room. As he knew, he would meet the entire crew of the "Dakmatar" there, because the statutes of the patrol service stipulated that in the event of an alarm - alert level 3: urgent action without immediate danger to the ship - the crew had to gather in the control room. The crew consisted of eight "men", four of whom were women. In addition, of course, there was Nadar, the avatar, the operating system of the ship's computer and actually the only one who was needed to control the “Dakmatar”, a medium-sized patrol ship. The crew of experts not only served for emergencies - which was not so unlikely in armed conflict - but also for contacts with people who were too diverse to be mastered even by the best software. Such a contact was now imminent, pirates had to be captured or even eliminated, if possible without harming the miners - if they were still alive. Araissa had spoken of a squadron, so the pirates would be outnumbered.

Franak entered the headquarters and seven heads turned to him. He paid particular attention to Sitha, a racy dark-haired woman who beamed at him. His interest in her went beyond professional matters. Unfortunately, she was of the opinion that one must strictly separate business and private matters.

“What's up?” She asked.

"A pirate attack on a mining planet," he replied.

A broad-shouldered, short man next to her replied: “Something new.” That was it, because in the past eight years the “Dakmatar” had mainly had to settle interplanetary trade disputes. A saber rattle had been enough to calm the warring parties. Blood had occasionally flowed, but members of the patrol had never been physically attacked. Franak's service had started in the center of the Federation and more and more - with increasing experience - shifted towards the periphery. His team was good, excellent in fact, he was convinced of that and would probably also be able to deal with attackers from outside the Federation. Still, it was a first.

“Yes,” he confirmed, “it may well be that this time the rockets will fly around our ears and that we will have to kill. I think we are prepared for it! This will be our first real mission and I have no doubt about the success of our mission. ”