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 #53.

It's been a long time since we came out here, and nothin' much has happened. Earthlings haven't come after us. 'Course, we took all their orbitals and most of their ships, so it might've taken them some time to do so.

But I can't help thinking that someone back on Earth would be fighting mad at us over that, and they'd want to come get us and teach us a lesson.

Now there's rumors about the new ships. The ships we've got are the leftovers from when we left, har! But now we've actually got new ships set up, ships with stronger hyperdrive, more efficient fuel, all that stuff. Problem is, nobody'll actually say anything about why we need these new ships. Oh, there's the usual stuff: we need to replace our aging fleet, standardize that same fleet, you know the drill. And of course there's the defensive measures.

But I'm not stupid. I can't be, I'm an Androsynth, har! We've still got thousands of Earth ships left. And most of those are still in good shape. Yeah, bunches of 'em are cobbled together if you get down to the weapons parts of 'em, but they're still good. So why make a whole new bunch of ships?

So one possibility is that they really are serious about replacing and standardizing. And that's pretty believable, 'cause it would make the mechanics and repairs loads easier. But – I dunno – we also seem to have that old "If it ain't broke" mindset. Well, some of the time – I heard some of the bio boys can't stop tweaking DNA no matter what.

It's not like they're expecting to have a sudden increase in spacers, I figure, unless the whole planet intends to get up in arms. And I guess that's possible too, if the Powers That Be think the Earthlings are gonna come after us in force.

Now that's a scary thought. We could give 'em as good as we get, but Earth's got like I don't know how many billion people, they could afford a huge spacefleet. Man. Maybe that's why they're putting all this effort into ships.

'Course, the PTB haven't said anything about increasing spacer training or anything. Not for us who already have it, of course, though I'm sick to death of shooting up stray asteroids for target practice – it gets pretty boring – or running simulations of combat. But it doesn't sound like they're planning to run anyone else – that is, anyone not already a spacer – through training.

And Jeff said – though of course he didn't say where he heard it – that they're looking at some new exploratory missions. Stuff that, frankly, would be a welcome change from the stuff we're doing already, namely, patrolling and target practice and defensive maneuvers. But nobody'll officially confirm 'em, at least for now. Maybe after the new ships are ready. At least we've got something concrete there: the new ships'll be called Guardians. Oh, and crews are gonna get to name them by vote. That'll be funny if a crew picks something rude. Wonder if they'll allow stuff like that anyway?

Hey, maybe the missions'll be against Earth. I'd sign up for those in a heartbeat. 'Course, they might just watch everyone and look at records and just cherry-pick which crews they want. Got no worries there, though – my gunnery speaks for itself. With a lot of noise, har!

Comments? Email me: laridian at aol dot com