A multitude of twinkling lights shone brightly. The sun, the most intense of them all, sent its healing rays down to a colorful planet: earth. Everything was quiet; peaceful. It’s a peace that doesn’t last. Several black, ugly spaceships lumbered past, surrounded by a cloud of small space fighters. Behind them was a gargantuan ship, larger than all of the rest by far: the Vortex Alliance Control Ship. The first space assault ever was about to begin: Vortex Alliance vs. United States. And the battle would decide whether peace known to the human world would continue to exist or not.

“All pilots ready for battle, on the double! This is not a drill!” blared several loudspeakers. The Space Academy was never quiet, but this was unusual.

 Nathan jumped out of his bunk. What’s happening? he wondered. Blinding red lights flashed throughout the halls, bathing the scene in eerie color. A light thump made him whirl around. It was just his good friend and fellow pilot, Tek, jumping off the top bunk. Nathan and Tek had been fast friends every since childhood and both had encouraged the other to go to the Space Academy.

“Any clue what’s happening?” asked Tek, face grim, “This doesn’t look good.”

Without waiting for an answer, Tek strode out of their quarters. As much as they didn’t want to believe it, they both knew what had happened; war was upon them.

Pilots were running back and forth, bumping into each other like confused chickens. They all looked as bewildered as Nathan and Tek did. Suddenly, a loud, commanding voice made everyone jump.

“SILENCE! Pilots, stop running around, or I’ll have you punished! Our radar has detected a large mass of enemy ships. Squad A, go report to your leader, double-time. The rest of you, prepare your ships for battle.”

The speaker was Kent Steel, the Commander. The pilots scattered to do their various jobs. Nathan turned to leave, when the Commander addressed him sharply.

“Nathan.”

“Yes sir.” replied Nathan.

“Nathan, I don’t want you to fight with the others. You know why. I don’t want it to happen…again,” the Commander’s voice softened as he spoke.

“But sir, you don’t understand how much I want to…” The look the Commander gave him cut Nathan short.

“I’m sorry Nathan, but you have to understand. You can stay at the training post.” Saying this, the Commander turned and left. Nathan bitterly walked away, to no particular place. The last place he was going was the training post. The loudspeakers boomed out again,

“All pilots, prepare to take off at 22:15. Repeat, prepare to take off at 22:15.”

Nathan looked at his chrono. The time was 21:30. Nathan glanced around. He was at the ship bay. He saw various different pilots, including Tek, preparing their ships for battle. All the pilots were nervous; unconfident. Never had any of them been in a real battle; the most experience pilots were rookies in war. Suddenly, an idea began to form in Nathan’s mind. What if I just slip off with all the other pilots? he thought. I doubt anyone would notice one more ship, and even if they did, it would be too late once I took off.

Nathan hurriedly dashed over to his ship. He began the daily check that all pilots had to do. Confirming that each part of a ship was working took awhile, and he started later than everyone else. His sleek grey ship took the shape of a bird, with the wings studded with weapons. An Iron Bird, thought Nathan, remembering the name of his ship.

“All pilots prepare to take off in 5 minutes. Repeat, all pilots prepare to take off in 5 minutes.” the loudspeakers went off again.

Nathan hastened checking. The engines were all in proper order, as well as the weapons systems. The last to check was the life support system. It was in proper order. Nathan dashed around to the entry of his ship. He opened the quad-lock door, and quietly shut it and shut each lock. He strapped himself into the pilot’s seat.

“Take off time. Squads B and F take off first.”

Nathan quietly prepared his ship for takeoff. He’d have to get off the planet quickly in order to be unnoticed. He slowly steered his ship to follow the two other squads ordered to take off. The first and second ship took place and blasted off. Nathan gulped; it was his turn. Would anyone recognize his ship number and stop him? Nathan directed his ship over the launch pad. Then, he prepared the boosters. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the launch button. A deafening roar filled his ears as he was pressed into his seat, and he and his ship shot off into the sky. Blinding light filled the cockpit. The earth got smaller and smaller. Then, everything was quiet; Nathan was in space, the place he most wanted to be in to fight, and the place he most feared. Nathan shivered, remembering what had happened: the event that made it so that he dreaded ever being in space. He quickly located the rest of his squad, who were getting into formation. On his radar, Nathan saw the menacing fleet coming closer. America’s small ships looked insignificant compared the Vortex Alliance’s huge battle cruisers. The U.S. made one last final attempt to keep war from breaking out: a message to the enemies pleading for peace. The message was met with scorn.

“If you want peace,” announced the alliance, “then surrender!”

America refused. Both sides in space were tense, like a piece of ice seconds from cracking. In each of hundreds of spacecrafts, the pilots held their breaths. Each side didn’t know who would fire the first shot, yet every ship had their weapons aimed at another ship. Everything was silent as a graveyard at midnight. A split second later, a Vortex Alliance ship fired a missile at a small American fighter. Nathan watched helplessly as the missile hurtled by him, and annihilated the target. Shouting, Nathan turned his engines on full and fired full force at the ship that had fired the first shot. Utter chaos followed. Ships hurtled back and forth everywhere, some with a purpose and some with none. The very stars seemed to be darting around every time Nathan turned. Nathan fired again and again at ship after ship, obliterating countless enemies. Yet there were always more. There’s no way we can destroy all of them, Nathan thought. What should I do? And each time he saw another ship blow up, Nathan finally remembered the same event that made space his deepest, darkest fear. He remembered watching the television proudly at the age seven. His mother was an astronaut, and she was in a spaceship, about to take off. Nathan remembered watching the announcer and saying, “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! We have lift off!” He remembered cheering when the spacecraft, in a halo of flaming rockets, rose up and started its battle against gravity. And he remembered watching the ship go higher and higher. Instantaneously, a bright flash filled the sky, and fiery red smoke rose; the spaceship had blown up because of a fuel leak. The world was shocked. Nathan remembered little more than that. Nathan was quickly pulled out of the past as a enemy starfighter whizzed past him firing. Streaks of light shot past him; the bullets had missed his ship by inches. 

Then Nathan saw the Vortex Alliance Capitol Ship; a huge ugly machine filled with destructive weapons. It coordinated all the attacks of the smaller ships, and was extremely powerful itself. If I can destroy that, all this mayhem will stop, and we’ll win! Nathan thought furiously. Gunning his engines, Nathan got into firing range of the ship while dodging enemy fighters. Grimly, he turned the thrust on his engines to 100%. Facing the Capitol Ship and flying toward in at a breakneck speed, he fired every weapon he had. Missiles, rockets, bullets, all of them he shot. None did any damage. The capitol ship, finding this new annoyance, fired its guns at Nathan. A hailstorm of bullets and rockets hit Nathan’s ship. The computer beeped urgently.

“Shield at 19%”

Another barrage of artillery slammed against the shields.

“Shields at 3% Critical damage! Critical damage! Critical damage!”

Four alarms went off at once, filling the small cabin with glass-shattering noise. Nathan, almost unaware of anything else, slowly pushed the throttle of the ship past its limit. I can’t let it happen, Nathan thought, I can’t let it happen again! With that thought giving him strength, he raised his hand and pressed the eject button. The cockpit opened and the seat Nathan was sitting on shot out of the ship with such velocity that Nathan’s senses blacked out for a moment. Then, his eyes snapped open. He saw his ship hurtling toward the capitol ship. The capitol ship, alarmed, tried to move out of the way, but to no avail. Nathan’s ship smashed into the power generator of the Vortex Alliance Capitol Ship. An instant later, an explosion ripped through space. Then Nathan blacked out.

Nathan woke up to find himself in a medical frigate, heading back toward earth. He had been picked up by a friendly fighter, who had found him floating in space. A soldier walked by.

“What happened? Am I captured? Did we win?” asked Nathan anxiously.

“You,” said the soldier, “have won the battle for us. The moment the capitol ship was destroyed, all the enemy ships got completely confused, and surrendered shortly after. America is still a free country, thanks to you!”

Nathan grinned. He had saved all of America! Suddenly his thoughts turned to Tek.

“Hey,” he said to the soldier, who had turned to leave, “Do you know where Tek is?”

The man instantly lowered his voice.

“Tek, your friend,” he spoke slowly, “was killed when the Capitol Ship blew up.”

Then the soldier quickly left. Greif hit Nathan like a brick wall. Then guilt came. He had disobeyed the Commander’s orders, and as a result, Tek had died. He hadn’t won freedom for America; he had disobeyed orders, and as a result, killed his best friend. Nathan closed his eyes and wept. He fell asleep curled up, trying to forget the world.

Nathan’s eyes slowly opened. He was looking at someone in a grey uniform. It was the Commander. Nathan quickly tried to sit up.

“No, Nathan, it’s okay. You must be tired.” the Commander said gently.

“I’m so sorry!” blurted out Nathan, “I shouldn’t have ever disobeyed you!”

“Nathan,” the Commander faltered, “I didn’t want to hold you back. I wanted to let you go fight for our country.” “But I couldn’t let it happen again. I just couldn’t…” he broke off, then continued, as if renewed.

“I decided to let you become a complete pilot. I will not restrict you anymore.” he finished.

“But no matter what you say, I still shouldn’t have disobeyed you,” said Nathan, still terribly guilty.

“Yes,” said the Commander, “But I forgive you. I forgive you with all of my heart.”

Nathan looked up at the weathered, tough face that gazed at him. It was a stern face, but a kind, gentle one; one that he knew well.

“Thank you.” said Nathan, with tears in his eyes, “Thank you, father!”