The captains log:

Some things just don’t turn out as planned. The first contact with the Nurgada for example. We said hello and they tried to shoot us to pieces. It is now the fourth year, we are at war with them.

The time was long and painful for both sides. Just in the last few months we managed to get the upper hand.

The enemy has retreated to his solar system. We will gather the whole fleet in the Quendan Nebula, to end this war once and for all.

This morning we had breakfast without pancakes. We ran out of eggs. I hope this is not a bad omen. We should definitely get new ones, once this war is over.

Captain Haiton sat in his comfy chair on the bridge of the spaceship Celisto. He had short, white hair and a trimmed full beard. Haiton had already seen so many battles, that another one didn’t unsettle him.

“Captain, we will reach the Nebula in three, two, one.” The hyperspace dispersed and they got greeted by violet glow.

“Ah, the Quendan Nebula”, said Captain Haiton and leaned back in his chair to enjoy the view.

The majority of the fleet was already there. Every now and then a hyperspace portal flashed up, when a new spaceship joined the group.

“How is the condition of the fleet?”, Captain Haiton asked his First Officer.

“Except some minor damage from the last battle they are all ready to fight, Sir! Oh and the Brellius ran out of spaghetti.”

“Yes, we should have brought more supplies onto this long journey”, said the Captain. “We still should have some spaghetti in storage. Send some of them to the Brellius. We can surely trade them for eggs.”

“Good idea Sir!”, said the First Officer and pushed some buttons to get everything on its way.

“How is our ship doing? How well have we weathered the hyperspace flight?” asked the Captain.

His First Officer checked some data, before he answered: “It looks like nothing fell off Sir! The repairs seem to hold. The Celisto is one brave little ship.”

“Yes, that she is”, said the Captain dreamily. “How are the cannons doing?”

“Cleaned and ready to fire, Sir!”

“The shields?”

“As good as loaded and ready!”

“As good as?”

“Yes, Sir! Sadly our shield generator was slightly damaged in the last battle. We can not charge the shields to their full capacity without overloading them. The generator can only handle ninety percent”, said the First Officer.

“Hm, that should be enough,” said the Captain.

“Yes, Sir!”

“Ah, it looks like the eggs are on their way back. Please ask the cook to make some pancakes. Without them it's just half a breakfast and that is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, after all!” said Captain Haiton.

They were not in a hurry. A couple of spaceships were late. So they had the time to serve the pancakes, on the bridge, in peace.

As everyone had eaten up, the last ship arrived as well.

“That was delicious! My thanks to the cook”, said the Captain. “Now, pilot, please get in line for the last jump into enemy territory.”

“Yes, Sir!”

The Celisto moved into position and on a signal, all spaceships went into hyperspace.

The last journey before the battle.

It was only a matter of minutes until the fleet reached enemy space. As the Celisto dropped out of hyperspace, the first hundred ships were already in combat with the aliens. Laser fire and rockets everywhere.

“So lets do this”, said Captain Haiton cheerfully. “Shields up and fire away!”

“Eh … what should we shoot at?” asked the Weapons Officer.

“First shoot everything that comes too close and does not belong to us. Then we should try to find their commanding ship. When we disable that, we should have an easy time with the unorganized rest”, said the Captain.

“Keeping an eye out, Sir! That shouldn't be hard to find”, said the First Officer. It was only a matter of seconds until he reported: “I found it. It is hiding close to that small moon.”

“Excellent!”, said the Captain, “Pilot, set a course!”

The Celisto flew right through the battle. The pilot had difficulties to dodge all the rockets and laser fire. Sweat was building up on his forehead. The commanding ship was nearly in shooting range, when a huge explosion shook the ship.

“Any damage?”

“A rocket hit the left engine. It stopped working! Sir!”

“That's okay. We still have the right one”, said the Captain.

They weren't able to get very far before they were shaken by another explosion. This time on the right side.

“Let me guess. The right engine?” asked the Captain.

“Yeah, Sir! Exploded into a thousand bits and pieces”, said the First Officer.

Captain Haiton tried to figure out the course of the ship by using his thumb and the big screen in front of him. “Hm”, he moved his head a little to the side, ”not a problem. We still have enough speed to reach the command ship and the course should be fine as well.”

Another rocket crashed into the Celisto.

“The shield is down to twenty percent”, said the First Officer.

“Twenty percent is more than enough”, said the Captain. “We are nearly there. Load up every rocket and canon we have! We will only get this chance!”

A couple of laser projectiles slammed into the side of the ship, but even those couldn’t stop the valiant Celisto.

“Prepare to fire!”, shouted the Captain. “Fire in three ... two ... one ...”

“Simon!”, it was his mother calling. “Put your toys away. It's time. Your sleeping chamber is ready.”

Simon came to a halt. He was sitting on the floor. All his toy spaceships were scattered around him. Slowly his eyes moved from the alien spaceship, that he was holding in his right hand, to the Celisto in his left and tried to figure out, what to do. “Oh, mom! I am so close to defeat the aliens! Can I not go on a little longer?”, asked Simon.

“I'm afraid no”, said his mother. She hunkered down beside him. “We are already a little late. You can still defeat the aliens, when we get there.”

“No. In ten years the fleet of the aliens will be ten times bigger! It was so much hard work to get this far!” said Simon sadly.

“Why do you want to defeat them so desperately?” asked his mother.

“They have started it!” said Simon.

“Aha”, said his mother. “Have you ever tried to find out why they have started it?”

Simon thought about that for a little before he answered: “No.”

“Perhaps it was all just a misunderstanding and the aliens are actually quite nice”, said his mother.

“Hm”, said Simon, thinking about that, “oh well, I'll ask them. But if the Celisto gets shot down while trying, it is your fault!”

He's mother smiled: “That's a risk I'll have to take. But don't ask them now, my darling. You have to go into your sleeping chamber. Come on, I'll quickly help you to get your toys into the box.”

And so it happened, that the Celisto, the fleet of the humans and the fleet of the aliens, all together, loudly rattled into a box.

After they had put the box securely away, Simon and his mother went over to the sleeping chambers.

“Do you believe there are aliens too, where we are flying to?” asked Simon as he entered his sleeping chamber.

“Perhaps. This part of the galaxy is not so well explored”, said his mother.

“Nice aliens?”

His mother smiled. “For sure! Perhaps you will soon have an alien friend or girlfriend.”

“That would be cool”, said Simon excited.

“Sweet dreams my darling”, said his mother. She kissed him softly on his forehead, before she gently closed the sleeping chamber. She turned it on and stayed there for a short moment until Simon was asleep. “Sleep well”, she said before heading for her own sleeping chamber.