Fear and Aggression by Dane Bagley

and he drifted into
a peaceful, though shallow, sleep.
    The alarm blasted at 4:45 AM and it felt as
if his eyes had just shut. At the same time his heart raced with
excitement. His full crew, mission, and all the details he desired
would be on his email in fifteen minutes. He hurried and showered,
then got dressed. Overall, things seemed quiet around him, and he
figured that he was just getting an earlier start than most of the
Captains. At 5:00 AM the email had not yet arrived, so he finished
his hair, shaved, and made sure that he was all together. 5:07 AM,
it arrived and he sent it directly to the printer. His grandpa had
returned his email from yesterday, and they were awaiting his phone
call later. The reports were printed for each crew member, and he
grabbed the stack and headed to the Skylab. He certainly wanted to
be early, and was hoping to beat everyone there this time.
    He was out of luck again. He arrived at 5:20
AM, and everyone was there in full uniform, sitting on some sofas
near the back observation window. The planet and moon were not in
sight through the large window, but instead, the most perfect
star-scape imaginable was in full view. The men stood to greet him,
and he quickened his pace to hand them each a packet with the
details.
    “ How does it look?” asked
Kenny with a smile and some enthusiasm.
    “ I just got it printed and
headed up here; I haven’t had a chance to look,” he said as he
handed Kenny, then Mike, and finally James their papers.
    James raced past the crew information, and
started to read the details of their mission. Steve went right to
the crew info: Steve Jenners, Captain, okay, skip, Kenny Spearman,
Pilot, uh-huh, skip, third ranking officer, Navigator - Bob Merick,
never heard of him. Promoted to Navigator date—today?—three
previous missions as Secretary? Well-liked, no Navigational
experience, twenty-six years old. He looked up to see what the
other men thought of their navigator, but they were much more
concerned with where they were going, than who they were going
with. James had what appeared to be a look of despair on his
face.
    Kenny, the consummate team player, said as
cheery as possible, “Looks like were headed to an uncharted
region.”
    “ Not analyzed, either,”
interjected James, trying to sound unaffected. “It looks like they
want my skills put to the test again. I thought I might get to take
it to the next level this time.”
    “ With this distance, it
sounds like they want to put my engine to the test, also,” Mike
said with some excitement.
    “ What do you think of our
Navigator; new guy we're training?” asked Steve.
    Kenny rummaged through the papers and then
got a concerned expression on his face, “Bob Merick, huh?”
    “ Do you know him?” Steve
inquired.
    “ Yeah, I know Bob. He was
Secretary on a mission of mine, six…seven months ago,” he
answered.
    “ What’s he
like?”
    “ Oh, he’s a real nice guy.
I’m just surprised to see he’s a navigator.”
    “ He may be surprised, as
well,” said Mike. “He just got promoted today, and he may not be up
yet.” Mike continued to scour the papers.
    “ Do you think he will be
alright?” asked Steve wanting the full story, not just the
abstract.
    “ He’ll have to be. It’s
just that he didn’t seem interested in that sort of thing. He was
so excited to be in the Space Force, and on a mission; but he was
never interested in the technical details.”
    “ It’s not easy navigating
in areas that haven’t been analyzed. You have to watch what’s going
on almost without blinking,” stated James. “We’ll all have to be on
our toes.”
    “ Looks like you are going
to have your strange life form to analyze, James. We’ve got a
civilian on board,” said Mike.
    “ I can see that. And it’s
a female of the species. So this could be interesting—a Ms. Tammy
Rogers, of the medical and research division. She’ll probably be
running the lab, but without some specimens, she’ll