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She
had the kindest of smiles, and her hands were held out in front of
her, clasped around some kind of blue orb.

The
orb was glowing—the sole light source illuminating the room—and the
nearer she got to it, the more the glow caught her
attention.

Something appeared trapped in the orb, something that danced
and writhed like bodies through smoke.

She
reached the statue.

She
stared up at it, her mouth agape.

In an
instant, she forgot all of her pain and agony.

She
stretched a hand towards the orb.

On the
very first day at Galactic Coalition Academy, they told new
recruits two things. Never leave your team behind, and never do
anything stupid.

Space
is, quite frankly, not a safe place.

Given
the chance, it would throw everything from spatial anomalies, to
menacing aliens, to booby-trapped planets your way. So if you
wanted to survive, you had to live by the rules—stay with your
team, and most of all, be smart.

Now,
she knew it wasn't smart to reach her hand out to touch the
orb.

It was
glowing with such a peculiar energy that even a newborn baby would
realise it wasn't something you should touch.

Yet
she couldn't stop herself.

Her
fingers were drawn towards it.

Then,
as she turned her face up to look at that beautiful smiling statue,
she touched it.

She
stood there for a second before anything happened.

Her
fingers registered no heat. In fact, her fingers registered nothing
at all. It was as if she wasn't touching anything. As if the blue
orb was nothing but a hologram.

Then
something happened.

She
heard a crack, almost like a rip in space.

Then
something slammed into her chest and forced her
backwards.

It had
more force than anything she had ever felt.

As
soon as her head struck the floor, she lost
consciousness.

But
just before she did, she thought she saw a blue light bursting out
of that globe and rushing down towards her.

It
sunk into her chest as her mind turned black.

Carson
Blake

Well
that had been a waste of time. Though he had been excited at
finding that staircase, it hadn't led anywhere. Through a couple of
hallways and to a few empty rooms, sure, but he certainly hadn't
found what he was looking for.

Still,
it was interesting that the stairwell hadn't appeared on the
blueprints. Before the mission had come down to this planet, their
ship in orbit, the Orion, had done an extensive survey. In fact,
this planet had already been mapped by several other teams. And
none of them had ever located this staircase.

So of
course he'd been hopeful when that awkward cadet had mentioned
she’d found it.

But
the reality was it didn't contain any secrets. Just cold stone
walls and sparse, empty rooms.

He
indulged in another sigh as he walked up the last step and stood on
the dusty surface of the planet.

Commander Sharpe was beside him, holding the scanner and
checking over the results. “Nothing interesting, I'm afraid,” he
said curtly.

Blake
hardly needed the report; he'd been there. But he nodded politely
anyway.

“I
guess this planet really doesn't have any secrets any more.,” Blake
managed as he tipped his head back and looked at the glorious night
sky above. You could see every damn star, every constellation even.
If he’d had the time, he would have sat back to enjoy the
view.

He
didn't.

They'd
already been down here long enough, and they had absolutely nothing
interesting to show for their efforts.

It was
time to head back to the ship.

“It's
not a complete loss,” Sharp tried from his side.

Blake
had to smile at that.

Sharpe
was not a compassionate man. He could in no way be referred to as
nice. In fact, he was the terror of the Academy. Back when Blake
had been a fresh, new cadet, he’d unfortunately had a few run-ins
with Sharpe. But now the two of them got on well. Though Sharpe was
hard on the surface, if you earned his respect, he was your friend
for life.

“Yeah,
sure, we got a couple of mineralogical surveys,” Blake
quipped.

“And a
broken scanner,” Sharpe added with a sigh. “Cadet Nida Harper is
the worst recruit in 1000 years, I swear. I have never come across
someone as incompetent.”

“You
mean the woman who found the staircase?”

Sharp
sighed laboriously. “Yes, that’s the one.”

Blake
smiled.

It was
clear from the overwrought frustration twisting through Sharpe’s
tone that he had problems with Cadet Harper. And Blake felt very
sorry for the woman.

“She
found the staircase though, and that’s something. Even though there
was nothing down there, it is interesting that it didn't appear on
any of the scans,” Blake said, feeling he should try to defend her,
even though he didn’t know her at all.

“That's a particularly charitable description of events,
Carson. By the sounds of it, she was walking along, not looking
where she was going, and she tripped down those stairs. That's
hardly a fact to be proud of,” Sharpe shot back.

Blake
just chuckled under his breath.

They
were heading back to the compound, and though the night wasn't
completely pitch black, considering the stars cape above, they
still had to navigate by the light of Sharpe’s scanner.

While
the scanner threw out bright light, wherever its illumination could
not reach, it only served to make the shadows longer and
darker.

If
Blake hadn't already seen the reports confirming this planet was
completely devoid of life, he would have been sure to survey his
surroundings far more carefully. He would have also taken some
proper armour down to this planet.

But as
it was, it was clear this place no longer had any
secrets.

This
mission had been a wild goose chase to begin with, and nobody would
be particularly surprised he hadn't found anything down here.
Still, it was disappointing to go back empty handed.

“Ready
to get back to the Academy?” Sharpe asked perceptively from his
side.

“Something like that,” Blake said.

Then
something caught his eye.

A dark
lump of a shadow about 10 meters to his left.

“Come
on,” Sharpe mumbled over his shoulder as Blake slowed
down.

“Hold
on,” Blake took several steps towards the shadow, his eyes
narrowing.

Then
he took several more steps, and then another.

Slowly
he realised it wasn't an ordinary shadow; the closer he got, the
more the dark shape resolved into the hunched form of a human
being.

He ran
the last several meters, sliding to his knees when he reached
it.

As he
scrambled around in front of the body, he realised it was Cadet
Harper.

She
had a particularly memorable head of messy dark hair. And right
now, that hair was splayed around her, covering her cheeks and arms
and back.

“Cadet, are you alright?” he snapped as he reached her,
placing a hand gently on her shoulder.

She
didn't move and she didn't answer.

“Sharpe, get that scanner over here,” Blake barked as he
checked to see if she was alive.

“What
is it?” Sharpe ran up. He dropped to one knee. Then his eyes
practically bulged out of his head. “Harper,” he moaned, “what the
hell has she done to herself?” He brought the scanner to his face,
typed something into it, then huffed. “One broken rib, a
concussion, a sprained ankle, and several cuts and abrasions,” he
quickly answered his own question, letting out a relieved sigh as
he did.

Even
though Sharpe clearly did not get on well with Cadet Harper, the
man was responsible for every recruit under his command, and Blake
knew he cared for them all, even the crappy ones.

“So
she is alive, then?” Blake found himself confirming
needlessly.

Sharpe
gave a hard nod. “Yes, she is, but she is going to have one hell of
a headache when she wakes up.” Then he leaned right down to
Harper's ear. “Harper,” he shouted.

She
stirred slightly.

“Harper,” Sharpe snapped again.

Blake
watched as she slowly blinked her eyes open.

For
the briefest of seconds, he fancied he saw a light flashing deep in
her pupils. But he dismissed it.

Because it was impossible. Nothing more than a trick of the
dazzling starlight above.

Even
though he didn't know the woman, he let out his own breath of
relief and shifted back, removing his hand from her
shoulder.

She
tried to sit up, but immediately groaned and latched a hand to her
chest.

“You
have broken your rib,” Sharpe noted with disdain. “Given yourself a
concussion, sprained your ankle, and sustained numerous cuts and
abrasions. What exactly happened?”

She
stared at Sharpe, her lips parted gently, her eyes out of focus.
Then she shook her head.

“She
is confused,” Blake said quietly to Sharp. “Let's just get her back
to the cruiser. Once the doctor has checked over her on the Orion,
you can question her then.”

“Question her? Who am I kidding? I don’t need to question her
to know what happened,” Sharpe pushed a breath through his clenched
teeth. “She fell over. She is a basket case. She’s in the infirmary
every other day for scrapes and bruises,” he added as Blake got to
his feet.

One
broken rib, a concussion, and a sprained ankle from falling over?
Blake doubted it, but then again, he didn't know Harper.

From
the brief interaction he'd had with her, she did appear to be
pretty clumsy and awkward though, so maybe she could injure herself
that much by simply tripping over a stone.

She
tried to get up on her own, but quickly fell flat on her butt when
she put weight on her ankle.

“Here,
I’ll give you a hand,” Blake offered as he leaned down and helped
her up by the shoulders.

“I'm
fine,” she squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

“You
are not fine,” Sharpe noted curtly. “Now get back to the cruiser
before you trip over and lop your head off.”

She
let out a little sigh, then hobbled forward.

Blake
pushed his shoulder into her, supporting her as best he could. When
he offered to pick her up, considering how slow her progress was,
she squeaked a no.

Soon
enough they made it back to the compound, and several people walked
over to see if they were okay.

When
the rest of the team asked what was wrong, and Sharpe blatantly
pointed out that nothing was wrong, and Cadet Harper had just
fallen over again, his comment was met with several knowing
laughs.

Blake
felt Harper tense against his shoulder, and she shook her head
slightly.

“I'm
fine,” she said one last time, now pushing away from his
grip.

Though
she swayed, she stood, and he watched as she stared solidly at the
ground, ignoring everyone as they continued to laugh at
her.

Again,
he found himself feeling sorry for her.

Okay,
so she didn't exactly seem to be Galactic Coalition Academy
material, but she’d just injured herself badly, and surely deserved
people's sympathy.

Instead, Sharpe snapped at her to get to the
cruiser.

Soon
Cadet J’Etem came rushing up to Harper to give her a
hand.

J’Etem
was stunning. She was Barkarian, and she was beautiful from her
lustrous blond hair to her plush purple lips.

She
smiled down at Cadet Harper, and the two of them leaned on each
other as they made it over to the cruiser.

Well.
Hadn’t this been of royal waste of time.

Not
only had Blake found nothing at all, but one of the cadets had
injured herself too.

Dipping his head back, he forced a steeling breath as he
stared up at the stars above.

This
planet was meant to hold secrets. That’s why he was here. Though he
didn’t know the full story—as his superiors hadn’t deemed to share
it—his mission brief was to search this barren rock for any signs
of the civilisation that had once existed here.

Though
it wasn’t unusual to be sent on missions were his superiors only
partly told him what was going on, he really felt like this was a
wild goose chase.

What
the heck was meant to be down here that could garner the full
attention of the Force?

Barbarian warriors? Powerful alien weapons? Some spatial
anomaly?