A Story within a Story

            The young and handsome captain, Captain Apollo, son of the battlestar’s commander, shook off the last of his admirers from the bridge where he had been congratulated amidst the cheers of the battlestar crew and headed back to his quarters. He had pulled off a historic heroic exploit to destroy the pulse weapon that the Yulkans had built on their outpost which is endangering the Galactic Federations’ planets nearby and, not to mention, the large trade crafts and battlestars passing that way.

When he entered his room, he saw a small boy of 10-years in age who was sitting patiently on his bed.

The boy looked up when Captain Apollo came in and shouted, “Brother, you’re safe!”, before jumping into his big brother’s waiting hands.

“My little cute bro, are you okay?” Captain Apollo asked when they broke from their brotherly embrace.

“Sure I’m not okay! I’ve been stuck here for like ages! Can you tell me about your adventure?” The boy asked. “Dad won’t tell me. He said it is ‘adult’ stuff that little children shouldn’t be meddling in.” He said, making a sour face.

Captain Apollo looked thoughtful for a moment before breaking into a full grin.

“Sure, why not? I’ve got plenty of time before my next mission, not counting the emergencies, of course.”

“Alright!” The boy shouted enthusiastically. He jumped onto Apollo’s lap after Apollo sat down on his bed.

“Okay, where should I start? Oh, right. Do you know the mission objective?” Apollo said while trying to tickle the boy. The boy gave a playful giggle and dodged his finger before replying, “I think so. It’s quite widely publicised around here even though it was supposed to be classified.”

“That’s good and I needn’t waste more time explaining it. Alright, my story started like this…”

“I was launched from the battlestar with two escort space fighters.” Captain Apollo said, “And we head for the movable ice planet which the Yulkons had tried to make it invisible from us. This is supposed to be a solo mission, you see, so you can say that I’m nervous as Hell. The success of this mission depends on me and I don’t want to disappoint everyone, especially father who had a reputation to uphold.”

“I understand that.” The boy who was sitting quietly on his lap said solemnly.

Apollo gave him a grateful look before continuing, “I was supposed to launch from an escape pod through the ‘hole’ which our engineers had penetrated on their defence and camouflage shield. I mean, this is ridiculous right? Those Yulkons, if they had detected the presence of a Federation escape pod entering their precious outpost, will certainly shoot me down. As an escape pod doesn’t have any weaponry, I will be as helpless as a newborn baby in hostile lands. Our engineers were pretty sure they had done all they were supposed to do correctly, so what choice do I have but to trust them. Anyway having second thoughts when you are about to undertake a mission is definitely not going to help you to rise your spirits.”

The boy chuckled. Captain Apollo ruffled the boy’s hair and continued, “Anyway, I was launched according to plan and I was equipped with an assortment of weaponries ranging from explosive weapons a.k.a. demolition devices to smaller hand-held laser guns. The good thing is that they had given me a laser sniper gun of the best quality. I was ecstatic - sniping enemies is my favourite hobby, you see.”

The boy shifted a little on Apollo’s lap and urged Apollo to return to the story.

“Okay, okay. As I was saying, I had landed on the planet and, so far, was not detected by their radar. According to my training in the Academy, I sniped off those soldiers who were stationed at the cliffs near to the humongous pulse gun of theirs before going there. The cliffs are the best spot for any sniping activity as it gives a very good and, sometimes, pretty view of the ground, you see. From there I sniped off all the soldiers guarding the pulse gun before they could reach for their alarm button.”

“What happened then?” The boy asked.

“Well, I had to carry out my mission to demolish the gun even though I longed to stay at the cliffs to take out more soldiers. I sneaked into their base inside the mountain which housed the gigantic pulse gun through a secret pathway that I had found when I scanned the surface at the cliffs.”

“That’s very lucky of you to find that path.” The boy said.

“Yeah, well, you can say that my lucky star or my fairy godmother had worked overtime to look after me on that day.”

“Or maybe it is the god who helps those who undertake very risky and suicidal missions.” The boy said with a giggle.

“Yeah, maybe it was him.” Captain Apollo said, smiling kindly at the apple of his eye.

“Anyway, I had managed to sneak in without anyone noticing me and I took the stairs up to the gun emplacement on top of the mountain.”

“Why don’t you take the elevator? It’s easier. I’m sure those Yulkons have them too in their base of operations.” The boy asked curiously.

“I had thought of that before but had decided against it as, you see, you might accidentally meet some aliens before you can reach the top of the mountain. They have lots of levels there, you know.”

“Then, won’t running up the stairs be a little too tiring?”

“It was tiring, but I managed to overcome my fatigue. It was also lucky of me to not encounter any unwanted beings there. I must be incredibly lucky that time.”

The boy nodded, showing that he thought so too.

“Okay, continuing to my story, I dashed up the stairs, hoping to take the aliens by surprise before any of them found the dead bodies of the aliens that I had sniped. Again, I was lucky. When I opened the door from the stairway, I found myself in a deserted corridor of magnificent blue colour. At the each end of the corridor stood a door, but the door in front of me is made from a type of brilliant purple-coloured metal.”

“Where does the door leads to then, brother?” The young boy interrupted.

“Wait, be patient. I’m just getting to that.”

“Naturally, like you, I’m curious about that door. It is, obviously, a more ornate one, which most probably means that something of value is behind the door; if not, it may be the office of someone who holds a pretty high rank among the Yulkon Military Department. I prepared my laser gun by setting it to stun, then I opened the door.”

“What happened? What happened then?” The boy asked. He jumped excitedly on the bed until the springs beneath the bed groaned in effort to support the jumping boy’s and Apollo’s weight.

“Sit down, little brother. I don’t want you to make a wreck of my bed.”

The boy made a face but he sat down beside his brother, imitating his brother by crossing one leg over the other.

“Alright, I opened the door and saw a narrow stairway which was spiralling upwards. This peculiar stairway does interest me, but pity that I don’t have enough time to inspect it. Cautiously, I ascended the stairs. The stairs lead to another door - a normal looking, metallic one. That’s when I started to become suspicious.”

“Why, brother?”

“This is too easy, that’s why. I changed my setting to acid and burnt a pin-sized hole on the door before peeking out using a robotic eye aid. My suspicions had been confirmed - there were about 10 Yulkon soldiers, who were wearing the red band showing that they are one of the elite operation teams. I’m in for big time if I had not checked for any ambush.”

“Lucky you.” The boy commented.

“Yeah. I used a silent bomb to take care of them. Blast them to pieces, I did, and I asure you, it was not a beautiful sight. Purple blood was spattered everywhere. I was thoroughly shaken. Suddenly, I had half a mind to abandon mission and call for my escape craft which was waiting for my call right above the atmospheric layer of the planet.”

“But you didn’t call for them, do you? It’s pretty obvious as you had managed to complete the mission.” The boy said in a matter-of-in-fact tone. Apollo gave him an exasperated glance and argued that he was trying to make the story more interesting. The boy waved his arguments away and said, “Go on, brother. I’m anxious to know what will happen next and I don’t want us to have a dispute over something silly.”

“Anyhow, I pulled myself together and advanced stealthily towards the gun emplacement that was, now, right in front of me. Luckily I had finished off all those Yulkons guarding the gun or I’ll definitely have more trouble. I rigged the demolition devices to the gun and call for my escape craft to land on a small piece of flat land on the mountain to get me well away from the gun when it exploded.”

Apollo cleared his throat and helped himself to a cup of water before continuing, “My plan almost succeed but only I had forgotten that the rest of the Yulkons who were patrolling the base of the mountain will be able to see the craft landing in plain view. I was shocked when I saw laser blasts shooting at my escape craft - that’s when I had realised my first major mistake.”

The boy looked thoughtful for a moment and asked, “If your craft is destroyed, won’t you be stranded on the planet?”

“Yes, that’s exactly my thought when I saw my mistake. However, luck must be holding, strongly, onto me, because I not only managed to get on board the craft unscathed but I also managed to pilot the craft away manually so I can avoid as many laser blasts as possible. When I’m at a safe distance away from the pulse gun, I activated the bomb. With a tremendous boom, the mountain had lost its top and the soldiers at the base scrambled fro safety as the blast had triggered a huge landslide.”

“Wow! That’s amazing! You surely had showed them all!”

“But,” Captain Apollo said, lowering his voice for a more dramatic effect, “While I was struggling with the ground troopers, the Yulkons Space Army launched their own crafts to chase after me and to bring my plane down as a ball of flame. Nevertheless, I managed to escape from the planet with an armada of space fighters behind my tail.”

Suddenly, a siren sounded.

“Battle stations everyone! On the double! Go!”

Apollo was surprised as he jumped to his feet, ready for action - a reflex that he had posses ever since he had been sent to the frontline of the Federation’s territory fresh from the Military Space Academy.

“Well, the Yulkans seemed to be attacking us. No doubt of it.” Apollo said.

“But you haven’t finished your story!” The boy protested as Apollo started for the door.

“Well, you can guess the ending, couldn’t you? As you can see now, I had survived besides completing my mission.” Apollo said, smiling gently. With a quick two fingered salute, Apollo marched off to the bridge leaving an awestruck little brother behind.

"As usual, no plagiarism~ ask me first if you want to use my materials or quote me." S.Y.