Earth Defense Base Delta - March 3, 1982 07:04

Captain Edwin Morris was in the canteen getting breakfast when the sounds of the base were replaced with the one sound everyone feared.

The klaxon sounded the warning whoop as the loudspeakers in every room and hall came alive: “Attention all hands! This is a General Alert! We have incoming meteors! Crews for X-1, X-3, X-4 and X-7 to your rockets! All other crews to standby. This is not a drill!”

Major Williams had been eating breakfast when the alert sounded and he bolted up and started giving orders to the personnel hurrying them off to their tasks. “You heard the man, lets go!!!”

Captain Morris pushed his way through the scattering crowd. “Major. I’m still down one crew member. We lost radioman Hill when he was reassigned last week and no one has shown up to replace him yet.”

Major Williams pursed his lips. The system was supposed to have a replacement lined up and ready to report as soon as any transfer happened. He hated when the paper pushers upstairs screwed up orders and left crews short. “Get to your ship, Ed. I’ll personally get a replacement down there if I have to put a qualified secretary in a suit and walk her down there myself. Go suit up and I’ll solve this.”

Captain Morris didn’t like the idea of getting an emergency replacement during a deployment, but he had little choice. He gave the Major a quick salute and hurried off to the space lockers.