Jack Morris entered the "Command Information Center" tucking his light blue, but torn uniform to make it look as nice as he possibly could. The C.I.C. was a narrow room that was cluttered with equipment. Most of which was broken or on fire, as was the result of a space battle with ice pirates.

The Star-ship Legacy's sensor grid had never detected the approaching pirate ship till they had gotten well within firing range of it. The pirates had designed their ship for concealment and operation in this area of space.

This concealment had apparently allowed them to hijack three cruisers that Jack and the Legacy had been sent to find.

Every star's solar "wind" had it's own unique characteristics depending on what mixture the star was made up of. Not unlike the uniqueness of every human's DNA. This system's signature could be used to conceal the whereabouts of a ship from all modern detection equipment if the crew knew what it were doing.

But Morris already knew that. He'd been in one of the sister systems as a Lieutenant. That also means he knew that the particle signature could also provide nearly endless propulsion fuel within the range of these systems, and frequently did.

He'd quickly ordered a feed energy surge at a precise frequency that he knew would do serious damage to the kind of engine that he guessed they were using. the gamble paid off.

Once released through the Legacy's solar sails. The energy surge short-circuited the pirate's ship for the most part. But now that Jack had been distracted by a boarding party, the pirate's ship was returning for another go'round.

The first person Jack noticed in all the activities of the various officers trying to regain control of the situation was his friend Prince Raymond.

He was a reddish blond officer, the medal indicating his royal rank hung from the outside breast of his light blue uniform. A uniform that almost exactly matched Jack's save for the two six-point-stars indicating Jack's commander status.

They'd gone to the academy together. They both were in many of the same classes and, and served with each other every chance they got.

Later they both served aboard the escort "Star-ship Excelsior." But after that posting Prince Raymond went back to earth to serve on the "Arctic Orbital Loft." Jack had gone on to the Star-ship Freedman to pursue a command career. (A position forbidden to the Prince.)

"The enemy troops have been contained." Jack reported to his friend.

"It's about time you got back up here!" Prince Raymond replied, "That little stunt of yours may have bought us time, but nothing more!" He was clearly annoyed by the enemy's ability to turn the situation back on them.

Jack glanced at the monitor to his left. The Pirate ship was not nearly as stream lined as their ship. Nor did it have the magnificent Golden wings that Legacy boasted. But it did have expandable solar sails of it's own and would present a dangerous adversary in Legacy's present condition.

Their commander appeared to be very resourceful, because it seems he found a way to get his drive system working again: Maybe by cross-connecting with another drive system jack speculated.

"We're going to have to turn and fight!" the Prince suggested. Jack tended to rely heavily on his counsel, so he had a tendency to state his opinion freely in Jack's presence.

"We can't do that while we're in this solar stream, your Majesty." interrupted the lieutenant who was serving as tactical adviser on this cruise, "Lieutenant Officer Lamar Trevor." He was tall and slender, a descendant of one of the proudest and most ancient of tribes on Earth's African continent. Jack trusted his judgment in these matters, but he rarely got along with Prince Raymond. "Our space jets were damaged in the cross fire, we're no match for them at this point!" he finished.

"We can control which way they push us to a degree, using our Rockets!" Raymond suggested blowing Trevor off.

Trevor shook his head as if he knew what Prince Raymond was thinking, "Using our repulsor beams to push us ahead of the enemy, was a pretty standard maneuver. But at these speeds they'd have a huge advantage if we turn."

"But if we don't get out of the stream or repair our space jets before they're in weapons range, we're done for." Raymond rebutted coolly, "They'll overtake us in a matter of hours, we should at least try to fight our way out of this."

Jack turned to Trevor, "Lamar, how long till you can fix the jets?"

Trevor looked over to the monitor he was sitting at. "Buzzard scoop number two is holding us up," he read, "it'll be about six hours.... "

"But they'll catch up with us in less than four." Raymond interrupted. He gave a look to Jack as if to add: Something need to be done and soon.

Jack skipped the middle of the three steps taking him up from the C.I.C. to the control center in the adjoining room. He looked over the navigation table, then turned to Cadet Mills, the nineteen year old officer who was monitoring the console. "Is that planet inside the same solar wind current that's currently powering the enemy ship?"

"Yes sir" was her reply. "If we adjust the repulsor beam to our port within the hour, we might be able to use the star's gravity to 'drop' down to it." Both Raymond and Trevor exchanged concerned looks.

"Maneuver us toward it then!" Jack ordered as he turned back toward Raymond and Trevor who were still standing on the C.I.C. level about a foot below him. "This planet has a tail like a comet. If we can hide in there, that might buy us a little more time for repairs."

After nearly four hours the planet "Charbonneau-Brown" was finally drawing near. It was much less than the mass of Jupiter, but because it had an extremely close orbit to it's sun, it was swelling to a radius 35% larger than Jupiter. More importantly Jack was right, about it having a tail.

Unfortunately the the pirate ship was drawing nearer too. The legacy crew had done and redone the calculations but weren't sure if they'd make it in before the ice pirates could get a clean shot. After all the time spent with little to do but worry about their disposition, Jack had become acutely aware that he'd been awake far too long to be really effective as the ship's commander.

Finally Mills reported that they had made it to Charbonneau-Brown. The good news was the pirates had not geared to fire. This probably meant that they couldn't fire, but Jack didn't look as if he was buying into that idea.

Raymond still looked worried, "If we go in there they'll swing around and cut us off as we exit."

"Not likely." Trevor replied, as though he were explaining a simple fact to a child. "That tail is more than 200,000 kilometers long. We could exit at any point up or down it. Their best bet to get us, would be to follow us in."

"It's still a big gamble, Lamar" Jack reminded him, with a look suggesting that he should back off. "If this commander has another trick up his sleeve then..." Jack didn't need to finish the sentence.

"I can't argue with that," Trevor agreed.

Jack leaned up from the navigation table behind the ship's pilots at the front of the control room. "Take us in." They all watched the monitor nervously as the pirate ship disappeared behind the clouds of the planet's tail. "We've lost sensor contact." Mills reported.

"Take command up here till I return, Lamar. The jets should be repaired in about two hours, we'll exit the tail in about three." Jack instructed. "I'm going to try and cat nap till then!"

"By that time I'll have the cadets in class up on the sensor platform." Raymond said to Jack. But he was more than informing Jack of his whereabouts, with a mere look Raymond was communicating with his friend that he would like to meet him there after his nap.

The next morning Jack was applauded as he arrived in the Command Information Center. His gamble had paid off. They'd emerged from Charbonneau-Brown's tale to find that the pirates weren't interested in fighting on Legacy's terms. But they couldn't just go back the way they came either so they were making a run for a Vortex zone at the edge of the system.

With their special engine still intact though damaged they could go faster than light once they make it to the zone. Worse still, they could escape.

Fortunately the pirates were running on their Graviton Trail Generator engines for extra speed. This meant Jack wouldn't have to over-think his next orders his training told him exactly what to do. "Full power to the space jets, get us into that Graviton trail." He directed the navigation team in the control center next door. "Once we're in their stream we'll be able to gain speed on them. Maybe we'll get to them before they can go Hyper."

He turned to Trevor, "Leave lieutenant Scott in charge of the command platform while I head up to Ray and the cadets, I want you to get some sleep before we engage the pirates." He also didn't want to risk Trevor coming in on him and Raymond.

When Jack got to the sensor platform the Cadets were huddled around the main terminal with the prince. "We'll get them now!" one blurted to the commander.

"Maybe," Jack replied, "But first we have to catch them."

"Will we then go searching for the Nova?" Cadet Jackson asked with concern. He was referring to his brother who was on the crew of one of the missing ships.

"I'm hoping that if we capture them we'll get a quicker idea were the Nova is." This information satisfied young Jackson, as Mills put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

Raymond dismissed the cadets. As soon as the last one left the room Jack turned to his old friend. "You wanted to see me?"

"I'm concerned about Trevor's recommendations to you." Ray said.

Jack chuckled almost dismissively, "When did you become the great warrior?" he asked with a fair amount of sarcasm.

Ray raised his reddish-blond eyebrows, "When did you?" He asked. Jack had always referred to himself as more a pilot and meteorologist than a great leader or military strategist. In fact military strategist was exactly the job that the lieutenants were supposed to be trained for. "Besides his condescending nature suggests overconfidence!" Ray added to express his problems with Trevor.

"He's just following his instincts." Jack said, but with a little less confidence in his voice than before. "He knows, like I do, that the other commander is up to something."

Jack had started to turn and leave but he stopped mid-way and faced Raymond again. "Besides you can be little condescending yourself."

Ray looked as though that was the last thing he'd ever expect to hear from Jack.

"Don't worry." Jack reassured, "Between the three of us we'll figure this out."

"But I am worried." Ray added as Jack was leaving. After they'd followed the pirates for more than an hour they began to realize they could get into firing range before the pirates could escape through the vortex zone.

This left a huge problem. Following another ship's graviton trail is a fairly standard maneuver. A maneuver that all three officers seemed to be growing increasingly certain that the pirate's commander could and would have easily predicted. This led Trevor to protest seeing out their original plan to completion.

Raymond seemed angered by that, "They're not going to defy the laws of physics and turn on us." He argued, "We need to get them while we still have the advantage."

Trevor rolled his eyes, "Your majesty," Making the title sound almost as it were an insult. "Do you really think they're just going to let us fly up their rear-end and blast the hell out of them?"

"I don't think that if we let them escape they'll cease to be a threat." was Ray's sharp reply.

Jack didn't seem clear about what it was exactly that Trevor was suggesting, "Are you saying we should run?" he asked.

"What I'm saying sir," He replied, "Is that we've fulfilled our orders in finding out why those ships disappeared. I'm suggesting that our ships may be in need of immediate assistance, while we're expending time here. But most of all I'm saying that this commander is almost if not as good as you. That makes him dangerous, sir!"

It was a difficult decision indeed. Ray was right that letting them go would present far too many problems to just ignore. But Trevor was right that taking this commander down would involve a lot more than just catching up and shooting. Add to that the fact that Trevor had missed. If or when they leave the stream the Pirate ship could then follow and switch back to their star engine and they'd be in their pre-comet situation all over again with no way to make it back to the planet.

The Repulsor beam and graviton stream were both fairly standard maneuvers and the Pirate commander had easily predicted them. So their next move would seem to depend on what Jack's decision would be.

As Trevor had predicted the pirates did have another maneuver ready to go. As they entered the vortex zone they extended their sails and managed to leave their own graviton trail without disrupting or adjusting the trail.

This would've left the Legacy unable to react if it had not been for Jack's ingenuity. He'd had the crew spend the last three hours of their journey priming the space jets with solar particles. This allowed them a burst of speed out side the trail that the pirates were unable to compensate for.

In the end the pirates chose to destroy their own ship rather than be captured, thus leaving Ray feeling terrible about his performance in advising Jack.

You see, even Jack had no way of predicting that the pirates could improvise such a maneuver. But Trevor had somehow seen the danger. Add to this the fact that the Pirates destroying themselves left the last part of their venture (The part Ray had insisted on.) useless.

Thanks to his insistence that they follow the pirates they were almost killed by them, and with no real gain in finding their missing ships. That is why Ray had made up his mind that he was going to resign as Jack's flight officer and go back to the A.O. Loft.

"No, you're not!" Jack exclaimed as Ray handed him his resignation.

" I have to, my analysis has been wrong all around." Ray replied, "That makes me a danger to the ship.

Jack took a deep breath, "Not really!" he said, "You and Trevor both understood the danger, you just had different ideas on dealing with it. You saw I didn't follow his advice either... Not exactly anyways."

Ray started to say something but Jack cut him off. "Look you know as well as anybody that the tits and tats don't matter between officers, that's why we have the chain of command. My job was to listen to the best of both your advice and come up with the most effective solution.

Trevor was right that they would not just go down without a fight. But you were right that if we had let them go they would not cease to be a threat, and I knew that too. I chose to follow them, and because of that they won't be hurting anyone else. In the end you had a part in this that was just as important as Trevor's"