Welcome to the Journal of Now and Forever. This Journal is a collection of my Star Control and Star Control 2 fiction. Note: Some of this material is, by necessity, extrapolation from the slim information provided by canon sources.

New fiction is posted first at My Livejournal before it appears here. This story is in response to 15 Minute Ficlets' Challenge #95.

They'll be going out again soon, and the excitement is contagious, not just among the spacers but also among those of the Starbase crew and even some of the ground-pounders who have need to leave Eta Vulpeculae 2. At last the Hierarchy had judged the Androsynth fleet acceptably upgraded. Now it's time to get out there and see how the new Guardians fare.

Otto finds himself happily amazed to learn that he's still piloting, even after his alleged 'seizure' on the Hierarchy ship, even after the spacers in their entirety were deemed suspect because of that episode. But it comes down to numbers: there are not enough Androsynth to do everything. The labor pool is too small. And supposed problems aside, Otto is a good pilot, a very good pilot; perhaps someone pushed hard to keep him in the ships rather than on the ground.

He knows he needs to repay his benefactor (presuming there is one, and it wasn't simply a case of "we need every warm body we can put into a pilot's seat") by behaving properly now, and he fully intends to do so. He can wait another thirty years to experience a full ecstasy if he needs to. After all, he did it once, and he's still satisfied by the results.

The crews are all jumbled up, though. Nobody knows for certain whether this was by Hierarchy or Androsynth decree, but the old crews are rearranged, and they'll all have to re-learn how to work with one another. Still, the spacers were a small number of people, and everyone knew everyone else after thirty years in the same fleet, so the actual adjustment shouldn't be too hard.

But one thing bothers some of the spacers, which is the presumed attack on Earth. No one knows how much of the battle the Androsynth will be expected to shoulder, or exactly what the conquest fleet will be comprised of. There's been no word at all, and on this topic, even the leaders of the Androsynth don't have any information; they've said so. The Hierarchy appears to be taking its time. Of course, it took a couple of decades for the Hierarchy to finally make its move against Eta Vulpeculae 2 after discovering it - that much is known – mostly because, it's said, the Ur-Quan had bigger fish to fry during that time, and a small colony planet wasn't high priority on the conquest list.

Earth probably ranks about the same; it was barely spaceworthy even seven years ago, and they can't have done much since then, Otto thinks. Perhaps the Hierarchy will do another survey of Earth, but even then they're more likely to use their own ships, aren't they, rather than send the Androsynth to do it? That would be Otto's plan. Use the proven slaves first. But he's not in charge of such a thing, and the Ur-Quan are very alien, so trying to imagine their plans is probably a waste of time.

He's happy just to be in the pilot's seat again, even as the first Guardians leaving Starbase attach themselves to the flagship of a Hierarchy patrol group. Now that the ships are upgraded, the next stage of Hierarchy integration is learning maneuvers, protocols, procedures; various Hierarchy ships will take Guardians out to teach them these things. Otto's confident; he knows he's a good pilot, and the rest of the crew seems competent as well. There should be no trouble in adjustment.

There are, of course, occasional murmurs of anti-Hierarchy sentiment, but Otto doesn't listen, and most of the spacers don't tolerate it. This is the only way they can travel in the stars; why upset the boat? Why show disobedience, when the penalty for it is death?

Perhaps that's why the crews were split up; maybe there were one or two ships' companies that might prove troublesome if they were kept together. It doesn't bother Otto much one way or the other. As the flagship's hyperdrive twists a hole in space to show the pulsing red maw of hyperspace, he wants to concentrate only on remaining in control, enjoying the bliss by degrees. It's as beautiful as it ever was.

Comments? Email me: laridian at aol dot com