My Stab at Sci-Fi

I am in a mastermind group for writers. One thing we do every other week is to write a scene in a particular genre from a prompt, taking turns to be analyzed in front of the whole group, as a way of honing our craft.

As a non-fiction writer with a more concrete brain, I find these exercises particularly terrifying. I have mad respect for fiction writers with brilliant imaginations, able to build whole worlds from nothing! My scene for public critique ended up being science fiction. I like Star Wars and Star Trek (I believe I have seen every Star Trek: The Next Generation episode and movie), but I don’t think I’ve ever read a sci-fi book.

To gain inspiration for my scene, I binge-watched the entire first season of Picard. It was very nostalgic. I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever binge-watched a whole season of anything, by the way. I guess maybe I have binge-watched Mr. Bean. But I digress.

I've written almost no fiction, let alone sci-fi.  But here’s the prompt: Meeva pushed the craft as hard as it would go. She checked the monitor and realized that Lord Forgan’s attack squadron had closed the gap to 0.3 parsecs.

It reminded me of the day before my 14th birthday when I was running up the street with my younger sister, trying to hide from the cops. So using my own story as a starting point, I wrote the following scene. (If you haven’t done so already, you can read a free sample of my book, with the aforementioned running-from-the-cops incident, by signing up HERE–and I recommend doing so before or after reading the scene below.)

See if you recognize elements of my own story within this sci-fi scene. Enjoy, and if you’re a die-hard sci-fi fan, I am sorry. Don’t laugh TOO hard at me.

The Flammas Portal

Meeva pushed the craft as hard as it would go. She checked the monitor and realized that Lord Forgan’s attack squadron had closed the gap to 0.3 parsecs. Senua, Meeva’s young flight trainee, clung to the body straps that secured her in her seat, eyes wide with terror.

Thirteen fighter ships, at least. How many more are on their way? If Meeva didn’t do something fast, they would capture or destroy them by the end of that stardate.

Meeva did a mental scan of the sector, grasping for options.

Space stations. Probably out of the question. They would be identified and tracked the moment they entered any of them.

The Flammas Portal. The very idea of going through the infamous ring of fire washed a wave of nausea over her, and that was just the thought of the passage. By the time they even reached Flammas, which required a trip around a vast and perilous asteroid field, Lord Forgan’s forces would have caught up to her–or worse, followed her and discovered the Freedom Confederation’s largest stronghold. She would be leading the enemy straight to them and could be responsible for destroying the entire Confederation. No way.

Planets. The few in range would probably be just as bad as a space station.

We could make it to Tharus. The thought made Meeva shudder. Getting there would be no problem. Lord Forgan would never expect the two young pilots to go to a gang- and mafia-infested prison planet where even his own forces rarely set foot. Planets all over this sector of the galaxy sent their worst criminals to live on Tharus. The line between guards and prisoners on the planet had been blurred by decades of corruption. Nobody on the planet much cared who came in. In fact, the more the merrier. Especially if they came with weapons and valuable goods.

The problem would be surviving once they arrived…and leaving. Even if they were lucky enough to be alive and still have their ship, anyone leaving Tharus had to practically sell their soul to the devil to get out–especially if they crossed paths with Lady Tiffany or any of her henchmen.

But at least we wouldn’t be risking the entire Confederation.

Another idea came to her. I can do this.

Meeva glanced at Senua. “Stay calm,” she said, in the steadiest voice she could muster. “I need you to help me navigate. We’re going to take a shortcut to Flammas.”

“The Flammas Portal?” asked Senua, her voice an octave higher than normal. “But…”

“I know,” Meeva said. “It’s one place we have a chance to escape from Lord Forgan.”

Meeva banked her craft hard and headed toward the dangerous asteroid field at full speed. Normally they stayed well clear of this. The ship’s sensors, overwhelmed by the sheer number of objects, didn’t always alert the presence of the space rocks until it was too late, but Meeva knew the large field would help her hide from the fighter ships and get to the Flammas Portal undetected. Meeva would have to rely on the agility of her craft, her own expert piloting skills, and Senua’s help.

As they approached the asteroids, Meeva’s mind reeled. I’ll never see my friends again. She took a deep breath. Don’t think about that right now, Meeva. Just get out of here and think of a way to help Captain Aaron. We need to let someone know where we are…and warn the others.

“Senua, open a secure communication channel to Lieutenant Armstrong.”

Senua tapped a few buttons and nodded at Meeva.

“Lieutenant, this is Meeva,” she said. “Do you copy? We are under attack!”

No response.

“Lieutenant Armstrong,” she said again, “Captain Aaron has been captured. Do you read me?”

“Maybe they captured him, too,” Senua said.

A few more seconds passed with no response. “Open a secure channel to JC,” said Meeva.

“Can we trust him?” asked Senua.

JC, a massive cyborg, notoriously tested the limits, made up his own rules, and never expressed full loyalty to any cause or leader. But he had been incredibly helpful to the Freedom Confederation in recent years.

“We don’t have a whole lot of options right now,” Meeva responded.

Senua punched the buttons on her console with a quivering finger, nodded at Meeva when she had finished, then looked ahead.

“Watch out!” she cried, just as the speakers overhead began emitting a fast beeping noise. A whale-sized rock hurtled toward them.

“We’re getting close to the asteroids,” Meeva said as she banked a hard left to evade the space rock, and the beeping stopped. “Our sensors don’t always pick up the smaller rocks. Keep watching.”

“Meeva? What’s this about asteroids?” a voice came over the craft’s speakers. “Where are you?”

“JC!” shouted Meeva and Senua together.

“Lord Forgan discovered our identities,” Meeva said. “His squadron has already captured Captain Aaron, and maybe Armstrong, and they are after us right now. We’re headed to Flammas. We need to warn the others before he captures us all and kills us or throws us into his labor camps.”

“Flammas? And through the asteroid field? You are crazy,” JC said. “I’ll alert someone near Flammas. JC out.”

“Does he know people in every sector of the galaxy?” Senua wondered aloud.

“You’d be surprised at the connections he has,” said Meeva. “We definitely need to keep him on our side.”

Senua scanned the monitors and visual screen, cracking her knuckles, helping Meeva watch for space rocks and asteroids as they began to enter the field. As they approached the asteroids and space rocks, the sensors emitted beeping noises..slowly at first, then faster as they got close. Meeva maneuvered expertly as they hurtled on toward the Flammas Portal.

For the moment, at least, they were safe from the searching eyes of Lord Forgan’s squadron, and the challenging maneuvers through the asteroid field kept their minds from dwelling on the fact that they were on the brink of losing everything the Freedom Confederation had worked so hard for over the previous years—freedom for the billions of innocent captives taken by Lord Forgan to build an ever-more-powerful force with which he sought to control the entire galaxy.

“I sure hope Captain Aaron finds a way to escape,” Senua said, as they reached a more open area in the field and enjoyed a moment of reprieve while the incessant beeping stopped for a moment.

Impossible, Meeva thought bitterly but had no time to reply as the beeping resumed and they entered another patch of asteroids and space debris, nearly missing another elephant-sized space rock.

The asteroids and space rocks began to thin out as they reached the far side of the asteroid field, and the Flammas Portal now loomed in the distance. Meeva and Senua sat in silence and took it in.

The huge black circle, devoid of any light except for its fiery rim, was a wormhole that could instantly transport those who entered it to a point 32.8 parsecs away—close to Planet Zartahn—the largest secret stronghold of the Confederation. But it wasn’t an easy ride, and not everyone survived it. All but the most desperate chose instead to take the three-week-long journey to Zartahn the conventional way. The few ships who dared enter the Portal rarely made it through unscathed. Even Lord Forgan’s forces shied away from it. Nobody would have guessed the young pilot and her even younger trainee would venture there.

“We might not survive, but if we do, we’ll be able to join the Confederation on Zartahn and continue our work,” said Meeva.

As the craft slid closer to the Portal, Senua suddenly pointed at something in the distance to their left. “What is that?”

Meeva gazed out and saw a small movement in the distance. She squinted, trying to make out the shape of the object.

“The monitors aren’t picking it up at all,” Senua said, scanning the screens in front of her.

Was it one of Lord Forgan’s fighter ships, employing some kind of cloaking device? As it grew closer, Meeva gasped.

“It looks just like Ray and Laura’s ship. But it can’t be!”

“We have an incoming communication request,” said Senua.

“Open a channel,” replied Meeva.

Ray and Laura’s tall, slim faces appeared on the screen.

“I can’t believe it!” Meeva said. “We thought you had been captured last year! What are you doing here? You would not believe what is going on right now.”

“We know,” Ray said. “JC contacted us.”

“So all this time he knew you hadn’t been captured?”

“It’s a long story,” said Ray. “We also got a brief message from Captain Aaron.”

“Captain Aaron?” Meeva and Senua repeated together. Meeva’s mind was reeling.

“Wait, he knows you’re here, too?”

“We’ve been running a secondary underground operation, top secret. Even most members of the Confederation don’t know about it,” said Ray.

“So did Captain Aaron escape?”

“We think he escaped at least quickly enough to send a message, but we don't know what's going on,” Laura said. “We haven’t been able to reestablish contact, so he may have been recaptured. But we were able to track the signal from Captain Aaron’s transmission. He’s on Smithia. We’re organizing a rescue mission right now to get him out of there. How did Lord Forgan track you guys down?”

“I don't know,” Meeva said. “They just showed up. Senua and I were able to get out of there and gain some distance before they noticed we were gone; we were lucky. There were at least 13 fighter ships pursuing me, and that was just what I could pick up on my monitor. If we go back, we’re dead!”

“We’ve been building up a good force of our own,” Ray said. “We need to get Captain Aaron back. He’s the best commander the Confederation has ever had, and I’m afraid without his leadership, our entire organization will fall apart. But we could definitely use some backup.”

“We’re heading to Zartahn right now,” Meeva said. “We will alert the Confederation and ask Commander Sachi to organize some ships for battle…if we make it there alive.”

“May the galaxies align in your favor,” Laura said, and Ray and Laura held up their long hands side by side with their palms facing Meeva and Senua, in an expression of well-wishes and good luck for the two young pilots.

Meeva and Senua returned the gesture. “And may you be swift and victorious in bringing Captain Aaron back to us,” Meeva said.

Then Meeva took the controls, and carefully guided her craft toward the center of the Flammas Portal. The blackness of the portal stretched out to meet them. In an instant, it sucked in Meeva and Senua’s craft, and the enormous round portal lit up in intense flames, burning like a jet engine for a few seconds before abruptly returning to its former state: a deep black circle with a fiery rim.