Date: 6/23/2673

The windows of the room were cleaner than ever. Anyone who walked near them could see the space clearly…

That's what Dave "Wizard" White did in the last minutes. He was sitting on the chair near the bar, and gazed at the beautiful space. For a moment, he forgot he is sitting, and felt like floating. Then, he heard a shout behind him. He turned around, and saw too goons starting a fight between them. 'If I was still a confederation officer, I would have kicked them out of here… but now…' He thought.

"Give me a Dreammare…" He turned around and said to the bartender.

"Dreammare right away!" The bartender turned around, took a glass, and mixed two weird looking drinks. Dave took the glass and started drinking.

"That would be 2 Credits…" The bartender said.

"Yeah… sure…" He gave his credit-card, and the bartender deducted 2 credits from it.

"Have you seen someone weird around here?" He asked.

"If you ask me… everyone is weird around here…" The bartender replied and started laughing. White smiled. He turned around and started looking everywhere, as he was looking for someone. Suddenly, a man entered into the room. He wore an expensive suit, and he looked calm. He walked toward White and smiled.

"You must be the famous Colonel Dave White!" He said.

"I'm retired." White replied "and you are…"

"I'm Ilan Rosenfeld, the director of this station. A business friend of mine asked me to arrange you a meeting with… a friend." Rosenfeld said.

"Who is…?" Dave immediately said.

"Mr. Shnitzer. You are probably familiar with him… both of you served aboard the legendary TCS Gypsy 5 years ago…" Rosenfeld said.

‘Ahh… the Gypsy…’ thoughts raced through his head, remembrances of a time not so long ago...they were so close to death, but never felt so alive...

"And, exactly, where is he?" White asked.

"He should be entering any moment now…" Rosenfeld smiled. They waited a few seconds, until they heard a shout coming from the corridor. At first, they thought it's someone in trouble, but after a few seconds, the voice cleared up, and a man entered the room, and stated shouting. Dave noticed that he held a bottle of "Absolute" Vodka in his hand.

‘Cannibal is he still in service?! if not, why is he here, acting drunk?!’ Dave thought. ‘If I know him as good as I think, he’s now going to sing with everyone…’

"…One lonely Sunday morning, her long hair flowing in the mid winter wind . ALL TOGETHER: Ah ha ha…" The man sang. He smiled and approached White. They shook hands and smiled.

"Cannibal, you haven't changed!" White laughed.

"Wizard, you DID… Ha Ha Ha!" They both laughed for a few seconds.

"I think I'll leave you two here." Rosenfeld left the room quickly. Shnitzer and White sat down on two chairs, one in front of the other.

"So, what's bringing you here, Cannibal?" White asked.

"You might not believe it, but the answer is… YOU."

"Huh?" Dave didn't understand what is all of this about yet. He was not all there yet... he was still thinking of the Gypsy....

"It's confed… they want you back! Is it true that you became a farmer after the war?!" Boris laughed, taking another sip from the Vodka bottle.

"They want me back?! why?" White still didn't understand what is Boris talking about.

"They are building up the team again! They want all the Heepsters back in service…" He laughed and took a huge sip from the bottle.

"You mean, everyone? Including you?"

"Yep! They want the whole bunch! Me, you, Mac, everybody!!! I guess Confed has a lot of troubles lately… there are rumors that the Kilrathi are revolting, and they wanna make us extinct! They need us..." He moved the bottle closer to his mouth, but when he tried to drink, he found out that the bottle is empty.

"You’re kidding, right? ....." but he could see that his old friend was not... ‘Well, being a farmer didn't give me much money…anyway...’ he thought. He looked in his long time friends eyes, and just nodded...they both knew what it meant...

"I’m not kidding Dave… we’re all joining back to the confederation, and we don’t have any other option. Apparently, a part of the Kilrathi is revolting…" Boris’ voice turned serious.

"Again?! I thought that after we destroyed their homeplanet they’ll leave us alone for ever…" Dave sounded surprised. ‘all of what we worked for… the whole war was a waste… the Kilrathi are back’ he thought.

"I thought so too! And you know what is the worst part? They are still drinking cocktails and listen to that horrible music… what did they call it…" Cannibal made a sour looking face.

"Umm… M-something, right?" Dave made a very similar looking face.

"Yeah! Now I remember: It was M.T.V!" Cannibal almost spitted the word.

"YUCK!!!!!!!" Wizard shouted.

"They can’t appreciate a decent Vodka, Beer or Dreammare. They just drink that Vak’qu cocktail… yuck…" Cannibal laughed suddenly "I never understood those cats…"

"Me too…" Dave laughed.

"Anyway, confed has just developed a new weapon to stop their revolt - the SD74 CD. It’s the initials for: Sound Direction 74000 Compact Devastator." Cannibal laughed an evil sounding laugh.

"What’s that?" Wizard asked, noticing Boris’ evil laugh.

"That’s a weapon that HQ invented… For US!!! It’s a Capital Ship loaded weapon… it generates 74000 dbm of Heep sound in the direction of the target… he he he… it is so powerful, that it can destroy a capship on one hit! It’s powered by KBFH - Kinetic Battery Force Heep. And you know who was the leading officer in the research? The retired Admiral Hensley!" He laughed again.

"Wow! That’s great! And that SD74 CD is POWERFUL… you said that it is a Capital Ship loaded weapon… you mean, we get a capital ship of our own?! It’s great!!! Just like old times, huh?" Wizard said.

"Sure we get a capital ship. We get the TCS Pilgrim, a Conquest class carrier. It’s the newest confederation carrier. Space Marshall Box himself commissioned the ship for us!" Cannibal smiled.

"YOU MET SPACE MARSHALL BOX???" Wizard sounded admiring and even jealous.

"Umm… Not me… it was Alex." Cannibal sounded disappointed. They both admired the space marshall and dreamed of meeting him.

"OK, so what’s our first mission?" Wizard asked.

"Well, a few days ago, some pirates attacked our base at the Alpha Centaury system. They stole information about the SD74 CD… out intelligence claims that they are planning to sell it to the Kilrathi… if this information will fall in their hands, they would be able to make their own SD74 CD, and maybe even a more powerful version… if the intelligence is right, we are in very serious trouble. Our orders are to go to a shuttle docking in this station, fly to the 119CE system where we will meet the TCS Pilgrim. After we’ll dock in the Pilgrim, the ship will jump to the Padre system, where confed-intelligence suspects the pirates are in." Cannibal finished the small briefing.

"Understood, Mr. Shnitzer!" Wizard replied and laughed.

"Now, we have a shuttle waiting for us! And by the way…" He smiled and then started whispering "I have more bottles in the shuttle!" They both got up, and headed toward the shuttle. On the way to the shuttle, they bought some beers, and sang a few HWSs (Heep War Songs) like "Bird of Prey", "Shadows of Grief", "a Year or a Day" and "Simon the Bullet Freak" until they arrived to the shuttle, and launched from the station.

"By the way, are you planning to stay in your position as clown of the ship?" Dave asked suddenly, in the middle of their space flight in the shuttle.

"Why shouldn’t I?" Cannibal replied, and they both laughed.