I was suddenly awakened as the radar panel beeped. I looked down to see that a ship was entering the system, then another, and yet another. By the time they all arrived, there were three Rebel Cruisers and two Destroyers.

"Greetings, Riprock," said the captain of the head cruiser. "Rebel Command received your message and has sent us here to tow the disabled ship back to Beeblebrox. It seems that the original fleet you were traveling with has disappeared completely. They entered the system containing the objective and have not been seen since. Rebel Command is already grouping forces to prepare for a retaliation. We'll have to check your internal sensor logs to verify why you were separated from them."

"Is there any clue as to why they disappeared?" I was shocked at this news. It is somewhat startling to find out that you escaped death because of a malfunction.

"Not yet, but it would have taken a huge force to take out a fleet of that bulk so quickly. They didn't even have time to let out a distress call." The captain looked down at his panel. "It's getting late, and we have a deadline to meet. We will take the pirate vessel to Beeblebrox, and you have orders to return to Palshife.

Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." I watched as one of the cruisers captured the ship in its bright yellow tractor beam and towed it along as it entered hyperspace. I set my auto-pilot to Palshife and prepared the rejuvenation chamber. I sincerely doubted that the same malfunction could occur in one day.

When I awoke, I was in the Satori system, just as I had planned. I crawled out of the chamber and stretched, hoping to relieve the soreness caused by so many days' sleep. I contacted Palshife military landing control and was given permission to land on my usual pad. When I exited my ship, I was greeted on the landing

deck by a representative from Rebel Command, or so I was told.

"Glad to see you made it back, Lieutenant Riprock," He told me, extending his hand.

"Lieutenant, sir?"

"Don't seem so surprised. Your talents have been noted with the Command, and we have decided that you are capable of some more advanced duty aboard another vessel. You will be reimbursed for any additions you may have made to your current fighter."

"By 'another vessel' do you mean a capitol ship?" Though that would be quite safe, I did not like being so helpless when in a battle. Speed and maneuverability are just as important as weaponry and armor, to my opinion.

"Not precisely. From what I have been told, you will be assigned to an experimental fighter of some sort. I am of low-level security, so I have not been briefed in these matters. You will have to report to Rebel mission control at..." He searched through the folders that were under his arm. "Ah, here it is. You are to report to that building at fifteen-hundred hours. " he used his free arm to point towards a gray building about thirty meters away.

"I'll be there. Thank you."

"No problem. Good luck." He began to walk off towards the row of military buildings.

I checked my watch to find that I had less than five minutes. I'd better hurry if I was going to make it on time. One could easily lose their sense of time after three or four days in a rejuvenation chamber.

I approached the building to find that it was actually quite small. I walked through the door and was greeted by the secretary at the desk, who looked slightly perturbed that I interrupted the filing of her nails.

"Do you have an appointment?" he inquired.

"I think so. Dash Riprock." I looked around the room. It was actually quite nice, with carpeting and a few padded chairs.

"Ah, yes. The General can see you now. Through that door please."

I did as she said and pushed the glass door aside, walking into another, somewhat smaller room. Across a large desk sat an older man in uniform, looking through a brown folder.

"Glad to see you Riprock. Take a seat." He nodded towards a tall, leather chair not unlike his own. "I've heard some good things about you. It's not everyone who brings in a menace to the Rebellion such as William Gates a.k.a. Greenbeard the Pirate."

I was completely caught off guard. "So that's who that was? I had no idea that it was anyone more than an everyday pirate."

"It makes sense. He would have been dead years ago had he not tried to evade and confuse us by keeping his name a secret. Bounty hunters have been trying to capture him for decades, but he was just too good."

"I suppose that is true. I was told by the messenger that I am scheduled to be reassigned. Is this true?"

"Yes, Lieutenant, you are to be a tester for a new class of fighter, if you wish. Rebellion policy prohibits me from ordering you to do this, but if you don't agree I'm sure we can find someone else for the job. There could be a bit of a financial incentive as well."

"Enough said. I hereby volunteer. What kind of fighter are we talking about?"

"It is actually a modification of the Manta Light Fighter and the Rebel Destroyer. It attempts to combine speed and maneuverability with strength and weaponry. In doing this, there must be sacrifices in each, but the simulations indicate it to be incredibly efficient. It is equipped with a cloaking device, but it should be used sparingly, as it will drain your shields and fuel each time you use it."

"I will try to heed your advice. When can I get it?" I was anxious to try out a new ship for once. It had been a while since I was in any truly powerful ship.

"Immediately, if possible. Your first test run will be to destroy a fleet of arms merchants, heading for the Yemuro system. Though this is now a neutral planet, the Confederation plans to sell these weapons to them and seal the contract. Once they have been received, Yemuro plans to turn to the Confederation. If we can prevent their arrival, we can possible persuade Yemuro of the Confederation's inefficiency. If they do arrive, Yemuro will not only be a Confederate world, but will also be armed and capable of attack on nearby Rebel systems. It is rare for a Confederate system to be beside a Rebel one without an independent system in between, as this could lead to complete chaos. Neither world would have a moment of peace should this occur. You now understand why we bring a ship class so early into it's development into battle. All of our warships are busy at the time, or else we would simply dispatch a few destroyers." His face grew grim. "This is a matter of the utmost importance, Lieutenant Riprock. The Confederation is planning to take the independent worlds one by one until they have us in a stranglehold. We don't want to fall into another slump like the one after Great War. This could be the key. Well, I think that's about it. I'll take you to your new landing pad." He motioned for me to follow him as he stood up and walked to the door.

We soon reached the pad where a short, thin man stood. "This is Sergeant Gordon, head of naval research," the General said. "He will take things from here."

"Greetings, Lieutenant. I'm glad to meet you," he said, saluting me.

"Likewise," I replied, doing the same.

"I suppose I should get down to business. This is the Sabre Light Fighter, the only one of it's kind that is fit for battle." He was pointing towards the very large vessel behind him. It wasn't the most attractive thing around, but from the wide angles of it's figure, it was heavily armored. "It is equipped with four internal proton guns," he pointed to the small holes in the front, no larger than six inches wide each. "A nice extra to this one are the specialized Javelin launchers. The Javelin rockets inside are equipped with booster rockets to increase the range, as well as a guidance system. It is a rather poor one, however, as a good one would use up too much space and be too heavy. Even now, it slows the rocket to less than it's normal speed, but I suppose this is the price you must pay for a better weapon." He then led me around to the back of the ship. "Here you can find the enhanced thrusters. These are necessary to ensure the high performance of the ship, as you could guess. They are far superior to even those of a Manta, but because of the bulk of the ship, the acceleration is lessened slightly. You may also notice when you test it that the hyperdrive engine requires very little fuel. The advanced design allows large quantities of energy to pass through the conduits with little loss by supercooling them to temperatures just above absolute zero." The engineer seemed very proud of his creation.

"Looks good. I'll be sure to take care of it." I was ready to end the talking and launch. I had a deadline to meet, but he was intent on showing off his achievement.

"I believe you will. I think you should like it. Well, I've got to get going. You were briefed by the General, right?"

"I was." I was glad that he finally decided to leave.

"Ah. Well, good luck!"

"You too." I was finally on my way. I searched around the outside of the vessel, looking for a door, until I found a panel. I pressed the release button and a door slid open with a hiss. Crawling inside, I realized that this ship was big enough to hold at least five or six people. Very unusual for a fighter. I approached the control panel and requested permission to lift off.

"Permission granted, Sabre-1. Prepare for takeoff." The flight control worker told me.

I activated the atmospheric thrusters and flipped on the auto-pilot. Once I had exited the atmosphere, I did a check on my weaponry stock. I was equipped with one hundred fifty enhanced Javelins, four proton guns, a built in afterburner, a cloaking device, and fifteen jumps worth of fuel. The engineer must have been right when he mentioned that the engines were more efficient. You didn't have to make any unnecessary stops this way.

I pulled the ship back around and tested it's turn rate. It was definitely slower than that of a Manta, as were the acceleration and speed, but it was much preferable to a Destroyer, or even a Corvette. I then pulled my ship out past the non-jump zone and started the hyperspace engines. I programmed the computer to take me to the Yemuro system. I then prepared the rejuvenation chamber. I was not yet tired, as I had awakened only hours earlier, but it would be days before I reached my final destination. I crawled into the capsule and immediately fell asleepƒ

I awoke with a jump as the computer warned me that we had arrived in the Yemuro system. I rushed to the control panel and ensured that the merchants had not yet arrived, and they hadn't. That would give me a few minutes to get ready. I ran a quick systems analysis on the shipboard computer and checked the weaponry systems. A misfire could mean my life in a situation like this.

Suddenly, I heard the red alert siren as enemy ships entered the system. I readied my Javelin rockets and waited for them to enter firing range. From what my targeting scanners read, there were three couriers, two Argosies, and two Corvettes.

The sound of firing torpedoes startled me, and I panicked. I pressed the cloak button immediately, and without thinking. With it, the shields automatically dropped, and my fuel gauge slowly began to drop. The torpedoes' guidance systems became useless as my ship disappeared, and they straightened their courses.

I easily evaded them and they made no contact. Assuming that I had been destroyed by their weapons, the fleet proceeded towards the planet. As soon as I could make it behind them, I pulled in as close as possible to one of the Argosy's aft. Once I decided I was close enough, I disengaged the cloaking device and began to fire the Javelins upon the back of the ship. It began to fire back, but it was belated, and my firepower and armor were highly superior. Once the shields had dropped below twenty percent, I began to fire the proton cannons. The ship was soon disabled and then destroyed by another round of proton bolts. I then recloaked and moved towards the next target, narrowly escaping the missiles and torpedoes of the two Corvettes. With each destroyed cargo vessel I managed to cloak and escape from the Corvettes just in time to attack another vessel. I soon had destroyed all five of the targets and proceeded to the jump point. The Corvettes were not part of the mission-they were simply there to guard the cargo ships carrying the weapons. As soon as I was far enough away, I disengaged the cloak for the final time and entered hyperspace. I set my navigation system to return to Palshife, and once again, set up the rejuvenation chamber.

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