Old Friends - Part V

The view from the cockpit was outstanding. In hyperspace, the view of the stars would turn into a spiral of blue light, as going faster than light-speed warped the perception of the galaxy. Werdna Elbee didn't care about the physics of it though, as he preferred to think of it as something of beauty rather than the technical marvel that it is.

In fact, Werdna was so hypnotised by the light, he didn't even notice the fight going on behind him in the corridor of the YT-1300. Nor did he move out of the pilot's chair when Tom and Ravnos came bursting into the cockpit shouting.

"Werdna," shouted Tom, calling for his attention, "WERDNA!!! Snap out of it!!!"

"What is it?" Werdna asked, without ever moving his eyes from the show outside the ship.

"Will you tell Ravnos that I'm the one who's in charge of the turret if we get into any bother?" demanded Tom, "After all, I'm the only one here who can shoot straight."

"Go ahead, Tom," replied Werdna, still distracted by the light, "You can have the honour."

"WHAT?!?!" shouted Ravnos, "How could you not give the job to that disgrace of a pilot?"

Werdna didn't answer the question as Tom skipped out of the cockpit yelling, "WHO DA MAN???"

It was only until Tom was long gone that a reply came from Werdna, "Because the turret doesn't work. If we do get in any bother, at least he'll be out of the way." A slight smile appeared on Werdna's lips as he continued looking out into space.

"You wily old piece of shi…" Ravnos stopped mid-speech as beeping came from the ships sensors. "Is that beeping good or bad, Werdna?"

"Good," Werdna answered as he jumped up and began messing around with the controls, "This ship is rigged to beep whenever it's time to drop out of hyperspace. I find it's the only way that I can snap out of my little hypnotism thing at the right time." 

Outside of the cockpit, the pretty blue spiral slowed and finally disappeared, leaving only the sparkling stars of normal space. The ship turned to its left, as could be seen by the way the starts appeared to be moving. In a second, a small, orange planet came into view… Nergea.

more next month (hopefully)

CPT Werdna Elbee