Tyger walked into the cockpit and sat behind his pilot. Jage was a young jaguar, wearing a gray shirt and black pants. He turned to his commander. “So how did he died?”

Tyger sighed. “He blew himself up.”

“What? How?”

“I am not sure. He could plant a bomb inside him in case he got captured.”

“Geez… That would suck if he blew up in here. It would take a week to clean up this place.”

Tyger smiled a little. “Better out there than in here.”

Jage chuckled.

“Can we take off now?” Red asked as he walked in. “I need a drink.”

“Didn’t you have enough to drink before the mission?” Rila asked as she strolled past him.

Red sat at his seat and smiled at him. “That mission took my energy away. I need vodka!”

Maya sat next to Rila near her panel. “It is unfortunate. Perhaps the admiral will forgive us for our failure.”

“I hope so.” Tyger turned to his pilot. “Take us back to the starbase, Jage.”

Jage nodded. “Roger sir.”

His fingers danced on the panel and he pulled the two flight handles back.

Tyger watched the windshield as the view moved up to the sky. The sky grew dark until the stars appeared. At the bottom of the window, the white atmosphere of Chione rose into view.

Space. It was full of wonders even if the human colonies had spread across the galaxy.

“Beginning the teleportation drive now.” Jage typed on his keyboard and pulled the lever down.

In a few seconds, everything flashed, and then the window displayed Star Base 17, floating above the blue atmosphere of Planet Bellona.

It looked like a giant needle with a dome-shaped structure on top. Along lower thin structure were many docking tunnels where starships docked.

Planet Bellona was a nexus for the Star Alliance military. It has many star fleet industrial facilities and shipyards. The planet looked similar to Earth with weather-beaten forests and open valleys near towering mountains. The colony lived in pre-planned cities near the coastline that has beaches and warm weather. The military controlled the mainlands where their spaceports and bases were located.

They allowed only families who have military relatives to live on Bellona to increase its military population. With more militarized worlds under the Star Alliance control, there would be enough defenders to keep the galaxy in peace against any possible threat. Anything was possible because the galaxy was very big.

“Home sweet home,” said Red.

Jage pushed the com-link button near his flight handles. “This is the Star Cats unit, requesting to dock.”

“Copy sir,” said the speaker.

As the ship flew closer toward the station, Tyger could see the people, walking around through the windows in the station. They must be busy since many starships arrived for different assignments.

Tyger still wondered how their admiral will react to their report.

***

“What the hell happened?” Admiral Patterson shouted while sitting behind his desk inside his office.

Tyger cleared his throat and placed his hands behind his back. He knew the Admiral would be angry at him. “Snork committed suicide when I caught him.”

Patterson widened his eyes. “How in the hell did that happened?”

Maya gave the admiral a quick review of the events during their mission. She told the old man how they attacked the camp, Snork using a battle mech, and his escape on a jet bike. Tyger explained the rest and how Snork blew himself up.

Patterson slammed his fist on his desk. “Goddamnit! You could have been fast enough to stop him from blowing himself up!”

“But sir, it wasn’t his fault,” said Rila. “He didn’t know Snork had planted an explosive device inside him. Tyger was only unlucky.”

“That is correct,” said Maya. “Although Tyger didn’t expect Snork to self-destruct himself, it is common most of the space mutant pirates would die than surrender their intel. They value none life, not even themselves.”

“I know that,” said Patterson. “Many of them used suicide bombers to inflict their terror among the civilians. But losing Snork will make things tougher for us to find more of them.”

He stood up and turned around to face his window, which was showing the view of space. “We still do not understand how they are entering our quadrants, undetected. There could be millions out there now, harming our colonies. They hate us because we exiled their people into the outer rim where they could never touch our perfect genetic inheritance. Now they want payback, and they won’t stop until we can find a way to secure our systems.”

“I understand sir,” said Tyger.

Patterson punched his desk again. “Then perhaps you should have sneaked in to capture him without blowing your cover!”

“I said my bad,” said Red.

“No excuses! I’m removing you from your duty, until further notices!”

Jage dropped his mouth. “But that is not fair! It was only one mistake!”

“Mistakes can cost lives, furball! I already told you how important it is to capture Snork.”

Jage growled until Tyger placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Affirmative sir,” he said with a sigh.

Patterson sat back down behind his desk. “You are dismissed.”

After the Star Cats saluted, they marched out of Patterson’s office. Patterson pulled out a bottle of red wine and poured some into his glass cup. “I need a vacation…”