“Enemy ships arriving from the rear.” Tia had announced. “They are read as small scout drones. They’re non-piloted, and have a low threat.”

     “Consider this target practice!” Dienna yelped as she aimed her guns at the enemy.

     “How many of them?” Corazon asked.

     “About twenty.” Tia replied.

     “Doesn’t sound like they’re just scouting.” Dienna said as she shot down two of them.

     “Boost engines to fifth degree.” Twilight said over the intercom.

     “Engines boosted.” Felicia said, after a short pause.

     “Another wave of the enemy is approaching.” Tia said. “They’re coming from all directions. It’s a bunch of scooters, level one fighters and level two fighters. All unmanned.”

     “I’ve got ‘em in my sights!” Dienna yelped.

     “The engine!” Felicia shouted. “Giselle come here! An engine’s been hit! It won’t slow us down, yet, but if we try to go above a 30degree, we’ll be in trouble.” Then she quieted her voice as she gave instructions to Giselle.

     “Can you fix it?” Tia asked.

     “Probably, but it’ll take some time, spare parts, and an alternate rout from the power crystal.” Felicia replied.

     “Tia, send a janitor drone down to help them out.” Twilight said.

     “Got it.” It took a moment for Tia to figure out how to do this task. “Janitor drone on its’ way.”

     When the second wave ended, Twilight asked about the engines. They were fully functional again, and the third wave of enemy crafts was about to attack.

     “Let’s speed it up to tenth degree. I hope you gunners can fire at that speed.” Twilight said.

     “The forward right primary’s out.” Corazon spoke up.

     “Switch to the back primary.” Tia said. “I’ll have the forward reloaded by the time the back runs out. Dienna, you do the same thing if it happens to you. I’ll be notified by the computer and have you restocked as well.”

     “Got it.” Dienna said.

     “Switching to back primary.” Corazon added.

     “The engines are now at tenth degree.” Felicia said.

     “Can the next jump be to hyper drive?” Twilight asked.

     “I think so, but it’ll take five minutes to make the jump.” Felicia replied.

     “Good. Start booting up to hyper drive.” Twilight said.

     “But the third wave’s coming in!” Corazon protested.

     “Deal with it!” Twilight yelled. “We’ll be out of here in five minutes.”

     “We better be.” Tia muttered under her breath. Then said, “The third wave is in. It’s the same things as before, only bigger in numbers and there’re level three fighters out. All unmanned.”

     “Great.” Corazon said sarcastically.

     “Excellent!” Dienna was enjoying herself.

     After five minutes of blowing up fighters, monitoring engines, and listing damages as they came in, the five friends were holding on for their lives while the space ship entered hyper drive. When everything finally stopped, they were near a spaceport called “Kaleidoscope”.

     “What a ride.” Dienna breathed.

     “Tia, give me a status report.” Twilight said.

     “We’ve used up a total of 30% of the fuel, and all exterior damages come to a total cost of 300 gig going by the Drenks tradition. Whatever that means.”

     “Engines?” Twilight moved on.

     “All engines are functioning properly, excepting the one that I had to reroute. That one will need minor repairs.” Felicia said.

     “It comes to 50 gig, according to this computer.” Giselle said.

     “Weapons?” Twilight asked.

     “We’ve used 20% of the ammo and lost no guns.” Dienna said.

     “Good. That’ll be about 500 gig at the most.” Twilight Wisher thought out loud.

     “Are we going to stop and get repairs?” Tia asked.

     “Yes, but not here.” Twilight said. “I haven’t done anything sneaky for a while, so we’re going to leave this port and go to a nearby port. That’s just what the Bandaa won’t be expecting. Tia, set a course for the Hannah Bay Spaceport.”

     “Yes, sir.” Tia said.

     “Once that’s done, everyone return to the main control room.” Twilight Wisher said. “I’ll set the ship on auto pilot.”

     When everyone was present, Twilight Wisher told them what had been happening. There had been a war between the Bandaa and the Drenks for several years. The Drenks were supportive of democracy and the basic principles that make up the United States of America. The Bandaa were bent on autocracy. They thought that one person should have supreme power over all and that whatever that person says, goes. About thirty years ago, when Twilight was fifteen, the Drenks were in bad need of help. So, they turned to other beings that were like themselves. They searched the earth for someone who would fit their needs. That person was Twilight Wisher.

     “I asked them why they didn’t just go to the president and get help from the whole country, or even the world.” Twilight continued. “But they said that they only needed one human who could get inside and stop the Bandaa that way.”

     Twilight wound up agreeing to help and he did stop the Bandaa. The only problem was that, in the process, twenty-three DTD’s (Dimension Transition Devices) had been lost through a dimensional portal. Twilight agreed to go after them because, if he didn’t, there might have been even more threats to the earth than ever before. So, he took off with a group of four others and made the trips to twenty-three separate dimensions and collected all of the DTD’s.

     “The whole thing had taken twenty years.” He said. “And when I came back and wanted to go home, no one believed me when I told them who I was. I also didn’t even have a high school diploma. So, I wound up going back to stay with the Drenks. They’re my family now.” He paused a moment as he thought about the family that had forgotten him.

     Two years later, the Bandaa made a surprise attack on the Drenks, and defeated them.

     “Now we have an incredibly small resistance.” Twilight shook his head. “Just the staff and a few pilots, like myself. We barely escape the claws of the Bandaa every time we attack.” He turned to the five girls. “When I heard that the Bandaa were turning their focus on Earth, I had to do something. Even if no one remembered me, I had to try to save what had once been my home. I guess I failed.”