text: [Themes: sci-fi]
  
  You do, in fact, appear to be safe on top of this rock; even without the handlight the beetle-crabs are clearly unable to climb up to your position. They have you surrounded though, leaving you nowhere to go.
  
  The commander becomes quiet after you have rid her of the creatures, but she is clearly not well. For the remaining few hours of darkness she acts like someone sleeping through a nightmare, agitated by the disturbing imagery in her mind. You are exhausted yourself by the ordeal, but her restlessness prevents you from sleeping very much at all. You take her rucksack, and especially the plasgun, for safe keeping.
  
  By dawn her situation becomes worse. You awake to find her sitting on the edge of the rock, her back to you.
  
  "Where is the water?" she growls.
  
  "Those little creatures were injecting you with--" you start to explain, but she is consumed with an unexplicable rage.
  
  "I. WAS. HAPPY!" she shouts. "But now the pool is gone--ALL GONE!"
  
  "It was never there!" you protest, but there is no reasoning with her. She lunges toward you and knocks you off the rock. You get up before she can strike again. Andrade seems murderous, as if the toxins in her body have moved into a deadly new phase. She picks up a loose chunk of rock, and seems ready to lunge at you once again.
  
  > If you run, turn to page 97.
  You can't bring yourself to stun the commander, who just hours ago was such an inspiring leader. So instead you start climbing up the rocky slope above you, making a strategic retreat to higher ground.
  
  You turn frequently to see if you're being pursued, and indeed after a few minutes you catch a flash of red darting between the rocks below you--the tunic of Andrade's officer uniform. She seems like an anger-filled zombie in a single-minded pursuit. You resolve to run as far as you can, and resort to the plasgun only when all other choices fail you.
  
  The ridgeline rises no more than a hundred meters above the desert plain, an irregular spine of rock with no shortage of small ledges and free-standing boulders. You have no map, and no idea where you're going, except that for the moment you are simply heading for the highest point.
  
  But then you come across something unexpected: an ancient building built into the side of the ridge!
  
  You scan the terrain behind you, and sure enough Andrade and her red-and-gold uniform stand out amongst the rocks; her pace is slower than yours, but she is still on your trail.
  
  > Page 77
  The building appears to be a medium-sized bunker, partially buried on the windward side by a massive pile of sand, but otherwise intact. What appears to be an abandoned road, also covered with sand and dust, leads right to it, probably from the colony site. A large door across the front of the building suggests this was a hangar of some kind.
  
  There is a smaller door to the side, but it seems to be rusted shut from centuries of disuse. Your cracked rib is already throbbing in pain, so instead of trying to force it open with your body you blast it with the plasgun. The polysteel door jolts open, squealing like a Keltan walrus as it swings on its antique hinges.
  
  The inside is so dark you need the handlight, but the dusty lightbeam illuminates something awesome: a small spacecraft, parked exactly where it was abandoned more than 200 years ago! You walk around it, examining its condition. The landing struts are all bent at an odd angle, as if an earthquake once nearly knocked it over. There are no hyperspace field generators, so this ship was not designed for interstellar travel.
  
  But it otherwise appears in good shape. Might it still fly?
  
  > Page 114
  You are so preoccupied with the spaceship that you don't hear the footsteps outside the hangar, or see Andrade's shadow as she enters and briefly eclipses the daylight coming through the door. But her unintelligble scream sends a shiver through you, and you turn to see her making one more bloodthirsty thrust toward you in the darkness.
  
  Now you feel you have no choice but to stun her with the plasgun. The beam lights up the hangar in a strobe-like flash, and you hear Andrade slump to the floor. And when the immediate danger has passed, you turn the handlight in her direction.
  
  Yes, the commander has finally been subdued. There is no telling what effect this stun blast might have had on her, so if she has any chance of surviving this day you know you need to get her to help soon.
  
  But now you start to feel like you have options--especially if this ship you've found proves to be spaceworthy. Recognizing you have no time to spare, you pick the commander up despite the painful protests of your cracked rib, climb the steps up inside the ship, and drop her down in the first seat you see. Then you find the control that activates the power. The ship's systems are slow to respond after so many years of inactivity, but when the computer comes online you see that although the power levels are low, the vessel otherwise appears to be functional.
  
  > Page 79
  You find the bridge and seat yourself at the pilot's station. What was this ship, and why was it parked way out here so far from the colony? Nothing that you see suggests this was a naval vessel; more likely, this was someone's private transport. The inside was kept spotless.
  
  Not all of the controls come to life, though. The functioning displays inform you that with the limited power, you will probably only get one lift-off.
  
  Your first thought is to get Andrade back to the crash site, and let the other survivors know about the dangers of the beetle-crabs--if they haven't encountered them already. There seems to be a compelling wisdom in returning to the others, and who knows, maybe the engineers can find a way to re-energize this old ship.
  
  Then you check the comm unit. The system is operational, but with the limited power any signal you transmit through hyperspace would be very weak, at best. You might have better luck transmitting from a low orbit, but that would almost certainly be a one-way trip.
  
  While the controls looks more or less familiar, you've never really piloted a ship before--from any century. But you give it your best shot. As you navigate through the spaceflight computer protocols, you come across an autopilot feature. Indicate destination, the artificial voice says.
  
  > If you fly the antique ship back to the crash site, turn to page 98.
  You state the coordinates of the crash site, and the artificial voice acknowledges the instruction. The main hangar door slides open to reveal the vast desert, and the ship glides out of its hiding spot into the light of day.
  
  You hardly have to do a thing as the autopilot follows your command, swooping over the plain before shifting course. Despite the length of time it took you to cover all of this distance by foot, the smoke from the crash site is visible as soon as the ship turns in that direction.
  
  It was nighttime when you left, and so you were unable to see more of the ship than was illuminated by the fire. Now, as you approach the wreckage of the EWR210819 from the air, the view is much more alarming. In addition to the burned-out fuselage and the detached cargo hold behind it, yesterday's crash left a long streak of debris and scorched earth stretching for several kilometers across the desert.
  
  You can see the other survivors rushing out of the cargo hold and waving their arms as you circle overhead. The autopilot system identifies a place to set down, and the landing thrusters fire. Warning! the artifical voice says. Power levels low. Please recharge all power cells before attempting lift-off.
  
  > Page 78
  Lieutenant Nimjey is surprised to see you emerge from the antique ship, which has come to rest at a slight angle on its damaged landing struts. "Where in heavens did you find this?" he asks.
  
  "In a hidden bunker halfway to the colony site," you say. "But it doesn't have enough power for another flight."
  
  The trio of engineers accept your statement as a challenge; Lieutenant Oviedo-Nandez had already been circling the craft and giving it a visual assessment, and he calls over his two men to start inspecting the power cells.
  
  "Commander Andrade is on board," you say to Nimjey. "We only made it a short distance last night before some bizarre wildlife attacked us. I think they infected her with some neurotoxins, because she started acting strangely. First she thought she was swimming in a pool, and then this morning she wanted to kill me. I had to stun her with the plasgun."
  
  Along with Dr. Munro, you enter the ship and find Andrade starting to stir again where you left her in the passenger compartment. Dr. Munro removes the WristComp and uses it to scan the commander. "Yes, her system is pumped full of some pretty potent stuff. The best we can do for now is to keep her sedated."
  
  > Page 126
  Nimjey turns to you, concerned. "Wildlife," he says. "Tell me more."
  
  "Well, they were small, but there were thousands of them," you say. "They crawled out of the ground in the dark, but ran off when I shined the handlight on them."
  
  "Any idea what they were trying to do?" he asks.
  
  "Only that I strongly doubt it was an act of friendship," you say. "I was concerned they attacked you guys here, too."
  
  "We never saw a thing," Nimjey says. "But if these creatures don't like light, then the fire would have kept them at bay."
  
  At that moment Oviedo-Nandez and Chief Ibanz find you. "The starman is correct, this bird doesn't have enough power to lift off again," the lieutenant reports. "And I doubt even solar chargers will work in this dusty atmosphere. But there should be plenty of energy to shoot off a distress signal into hyperspace."
  
  Nimjey smiles, and looks at all of you. "That's the best news I've heard since landing on Giri Minor!"
  
  That evening, as the Girian sun is about to set and you worry that the darkness will bring the beetle-crabs back out of hiding, Chief Ibanz runs out of the antique spaceship. "Guys!" he shouts. "We've just made contact with the Starship Orion. They're on their way to rescue us!"
  
  > proceed to Epilogue
  That night, the Orion dispatches three shuttles to the crash site. Ibanz has shared with them your warnings about the light-sensitive creatures, so the incoming craft land as close to your camp as possible, with external lights a-blazing. It is difficult on your eyes, but it seems to work; the beetle-crabs are a no-show.
  
  Several medical teams spill out of the shuttles, as well as a security detail to set up a periphery. The medics rush to Dr. Munro's improvised "Med Bay," and quickly come to the conclusion that the best option is to transfer all of the injured people up to the Orion, which is awaiting in high orbit. Without further delay, they begin to load the patients into the nearest shuttle.
  
  Meanwhile someone with a medical-grade WristComp comes up to you and gives you an on-the-spot diagnosis, but it's nothing that you haven't known all along: you have a broken rib. It's a relatively minor injury, and the medic is able to repair the fractured bone in a matter of minutes.
  
  With all of the commotion, you never notice when the broad-shouldered man with the captain's stripes on his uniform tunic exits one of the craft. He finds the doctor who is evaluating Commander Andrade, who says something to him that you are unable to hear. He then seeks out the next highest-ranking officers on site, which are Lieutenants Nimjey and Oviedo-Nandez. Nimjey seems to be providing the captain a status update, and at several points he nods in your direction. Upon the third nod, the captain turns and sees you.
  
  You are surprised when the captain strides over in your direction. Like most command officers, this man exudes self-confidence. He walks through the chaos of the crash site like he is the director of a holo-drama, and everyone here are his cast members and hired stagehands. You are a little confused, because you're not sure why such a person would be interested in you.
  
  But he approaches you with his right hand extended. "I am Captain Ynthramanni from the Starship Orion," he says. "Lieutenant Nimjey tells me that it was you who found a way to communicate with us."
  
  "Well, sir, what I found is this old ship," you say, gesturing to the 200-year-old space yacht you found. "It only had enough power for a single flight, so I figured the best thing to do was to bring it here and let the engineers work on it."
  
  "Smart thinking," Ynthramanni says to you. And then regarding the ship: "Whooh, would you look at that. A Dartani Cruiser, if I'm not mistaken. Where did you find this?"
  
  "There was a hangar hidden up on a small mountain a few kilometers from here."
  
  "That's outstanding. And you found this and piloted it back to the crash site, while Commander Andrade was incapacitated? I'm impressed."
  
  "Thank you, captain."
  
  "But if you don't mind, let's head back to the Orion. It's getting chilly here, and these people need food and medical attention. Come. You can ride with me."
  
  > Page 24
  As you approach the captain's shuttle, the two Belson children run to join you. After so much time camping out in the chaotic space of the cargo hold, the clean orderliness of the shuttle interior is a refreshing sight. You step inside, with Yiggy and Easa holding each of your hands. But when the kids see a sack of fresh oranges on one of the shuttle's seats, they let go and run for the fruit.
  
  "Help yourself!" the captain says. "There will be plenty more to eat when we reach the Orion."
  
  Nimjey, Oviedo-Nandez, Gunder, and Ibanz take seats alongside you. As you settle in, you see that this humble little craft is far more sophisticated than the transport vessel you had served on for so long; rather than a standard helm, this ship is piloted with a holo-virtual control system. A heavily-tattooed pilot stands at the ready.
  
  "I think we're good to go, Hinju," Captain Ynthramanni says, and the pilot engages the controls. With a holo-virtual system, the ship is piloted not by pressing buttons, but by the skilled motions of the pilot's body. It turns out to be quite the expressive performance. With a lifting of his shoulders, Hinju commands the shuttle into the air, and then forward across the landscape by thrusting his arms just so.
  
  The Orion is in a high orbit around Giri Minor--hopefully high enough to avoid the debris. You have seen her moored at Star Base Ishtria on occasion, and she is always a breathtaking sight: the spherical main hull; the ring of hyperspace field generators circling the multi-tubular engineering section, which trails behind the sphere like a giant bundle of conduits; the red-and-white design scheme, common to all naval vessels in the Fifth Fleet; 650 meters in length with a crew of five hundred.
  
  The shuttles enter a large flight deck near the rear of the ship, and your pilot ends his artistic performance with a graceful landing. A support crew is on hand to assist the survivors, with a special focus on Commander Andrade, as well as Dr. Munro and her collection of wounded personnel.
  
  > Page 34
  Several days pass. You do not see Captain Ynthramanni again, and you are sure he has gone back to doing whatever it is a starship captain does, forgetting all about you. You are on board this starship, but you are not a part of its crew; no one assigns you any duties, so you assume you are on some kind of leave status.
  
  The Orion wastes no time in returning to Star Base Ishtria, and most of the survivors are transported off the ship almost as soon as you arrive. You hear that the two Belson children, Yigaro and Easa, were already reunited with their parents before you even had a chance to say good-bye. With Ander Dyo's leg now mostly healed, he and Dr. Munro are in a rush to reach Folvan--the "Grass Planet" as they call it--so they can begin their study of the indigenous population. Oviedo-Nandez and his men are eager to put Giri Minor behind them and get their project started on the Khubu homeworld.
  
  Once again, you have the feeling that everyone around you has important things to do and places to go, while your future is a great big unknown.
  
  That just leaves you and Lieutenant Commander Andrade as the last two people rescued from Giri Minor still aboard the Orion. From what you understand, the medical staff was able to pull up the historical records and determine a course of treatment for her. Dr. Tetro Asmeld, the ship's Chief Medical Officer, has not been allowing visitors, so you have not seen the commander since you stunned her in the ancient hangar. But Dr. Asmeld insists she is recovering swiftly and will be ready to report for duty very soon.
  
  In the meantime, you have been assigned quarters down on J Deck that are about the size of a closet--in accordance with your low rank, you suppose. You realize that you must come to grips with the fact that despite everything that has just happened, you are still what you were before: a starman of no particular significance.
  
  > Page 138
  But while no one seems to need you for the moment, you take the opportunity to explore the ship. The galley is one of the first places you hit up, so that you can stuff yourself on real food and forget all about NutriRations. Then you head down to the spherical Gravity Gym at the center of the ship, where you are able to let yourself drift in the zero-G workout space located where the Orion's artificial gravity is null.
  
  On the fourth day after your arrival, you decide to sleep in late in your bunk. But the door alarm chirps at 0800 hours. Still a bit groggy, you get up to see who it is, expecting to find some nobody here to hand you the reassignment orders you know are inevitably going to come.
  
  But to your surprise, Captain Ynthramanni and Commander Andrade are standing on the other side of the door.
  
  "Starman," Andrade says. This is the first you've seen her since arriving on the ship, and you are impressed by how revitalized she looks.
  
  "I see you're not dressed yet. Why don't you take a few minutes to get cleaned up and join us in the galley at 0830."
  
  Surprised, you rush to get cleaned up and dressed in a proper uniform.
  
  > Page 139
  At the appointed time, you find the two senior officers sitting at a round table in the far corner of the galley. There is an urn full of coffee and a platter loaded with food before them.
  
  "Ah, there you are, Starman," Captain Ynthramanni says. "Sit down, help yourself."
  
  The two of them make a striking duo: his bronze complexion, as if chronically tanned from a life spent outdoors; her faded-mahogany tone and graying hair; both of them nursing their steaming mugs of coffee. The captain has a half-eaten omelet that he has set aside while he greets you.
  
  There are lots of tempting things to eat on the platter, so you indulge in some Ishtrian egg rolls and a bowl of cadaberry yogurt.
  
  "Commander Andrade has been telling me a lot about you," Ynthramanni says. "You clearly made an impression on her back on Giri Minor, particularly in the way you took charge, got people out of the burning wreckage, and basically took a leadership role."
  
  "Thank you," you say, hoping that you're not blushing under the weight of all this high praise. "I did what I had to do. It's not like there was a crew of people to take over for us."
  
  "Starman, I was there," Andrade says. "People were stunned after the crash, but you leaped into action. I saw fully-trained commissioned officers following your lead that first night."
  
  "So I'm curious," the captain says. "What is your background?"
  
  Without going into much detail, you tell him about Usul, your family's gava rice farm, and how you wanted nothing to do with any of it. You don't think it's much of a story, just ordinary stuff, and you have no idea why a starship captain would even care.
  
  "So you enlisted because your family couldn't afford a higher education. I get it. But were you content serving on board Siggo's transport vessel?"
  
  "Don't get me wrong," you say. "I'm still processing the fact that the captain is gone. I miss his songs. But I hated being on that ship."
  
  "Why is that?"
  
  "I felt like I was stuck there with no future."
  
  "Well, we may be able to help you with that," he says. "That is, if you're interested.
  
  "You see, Commander Andrade strongly feels that you have command potential. I personally interviewed several of the other survivors, and every single one of them mentioned you as one of the main reasons why they're still here. Dr. Munro and Ander Dyo, Lieutenant Oviedo-Nandez, Lieutenant Nimjey--all of them.
  
  "I'm very proud of my ship and my crew. As far as I'm concerned, the Orion has one of the best assemblages of personnel in not just the Fifth Fleet, but the entire service. And I'm always on the lookout for talented new additions. This is why I recently took on Dionysya here as my new communications officer. I pride myself in my ability to spot people with a natural talent for leadership. The ability to inspire others into action is not a skill anyone can learn; it's a gift you are born with, and trust me, not everyone has it.
  
  "Now it just so happens that Star Base Ishtria has a small officer candidate school, graduating newly commissioned officers on an accelerated schedule. Commander Andrade and I have reviewed your profile, your aptitude ratings, everything about you, and we feel you'd be an excellent candidate for this program. You would spend three years on the Star Base, and your fourth year here on the Orion. And from there, who knows? But you could permanently put away that starman's jumpsuit and earn the right to wear an officer's uniform.
  
  "Assuming that's agreeable with you, of course," he is quick to add.
  
  You have been transfixed by this entire speech. Of course you're interested! This the type of break you've been waiting for all these years!
  
  Captain Ynthramanni stands and extends his hand. "Well in that case," he says. "Let me be the first to welcome you, Ensign."
  
  > Preview of the Orion Chronicles Part II
  It's been four years since you were rescued from Giri Minor, and because of your heroic actions you have been commissioned as an officer in the Astral Navy. Your first assignment as a newly-promoted lieutenant aboard the Starship Orion: search for the noted xenoanthropologist Dr. Lori Munro and her husband Ander Dyo, who have gone missing on the planet Folvan. As you explore the so-called "Grass Planet," known for its expansive prairie environment and bronze-age civilization, you will find that not all is as it seems.
  
  Now available on ChooseYourStory.com!