A Little Secret

"Shape-shifters? HAHAHAHA!" Jake roared with laughter. "Yea I've *heard* of shape-shifters, I've also heard of Santa Clause and the Boogie-man, what's your point?"

Jake waited a moment but there was no response from Ice. "Hello? Earth to Ice, over." Ice just started at the wall. "Hmmm.... conspiracy theories? Check. Catatonia? Check. Alright Ice you been holdin' out on me long enough, where's the stash of Halids?"

"What? Oh uh.... sorry. I was thinking about something else. I'm really tired all of a sudden. I'm going to go lay down." He said glumly. He slowly rose from his seat and stepped out of the cockpit.

Jake was baffled. "Well that's a big ol' what the fuck." He said to himself. He was now alone in the cockpit, staring out into space. Alone with his thoughts. Jake hated being given time to think. Endless questions ruminated around inside his brain to which there were no answers. The endless speculation on things which there were little information available nearly drove him insane. What if Ice was right? How did the High Chancellor consolidate so much power? Who would be his replacement? How long would this war last? What were the Molin really like? Where did life originate? What is the purpose of life? It was like watching 50 different holo-vision channels at the same time but not really making sense of any of them. Jake wondered if he was the only person like this. It got so bad sometimes he had difficulty sleeping.

Jake looked up at the auto-pilot timer which read 20 hours remaining. Lots of time. He lifted up his foot and opened a small hidden compartment in his boot containing a small pill, and a small vial. "Plenty o' time for some aege." (Pronounced: A-Jee) Named that way simply because it causes you to age, sort of. It was a combination hallucinogen and sleeping pill. Knock you flat on your ass with wild dreams to boot. Sure you lose about 10 hours of your life in a coma-like state, but Jake felt it was better then listening to the shit running through his brain. He swallowed the pill down and the look on his face perfectly described just how bad it tasted. Then he took the small vial, filled with a balanced chemical concoction guaranteed to leave no trace of Aege in his system. After all, he wouldn't want to lose his job.

It took mere minutes for him to become groggy, and he soon passed out in his flight chair. His dreams were vivid. A space battle of epic proportions. Huge battle cruisers, swarms of fighters, lasers and missiles flying in all directions. He was locked in a dogfight with an enemy fighter right on his tail. Swerving, rolling, and diving he used every trick he knew to evade his opponent but he could not shake him. His palms were already slick with sweat when *Missle Lock* appeared on his heads up display. His heart sunk into his stomach. He quickly killed the main thrusters, tilted up 150 degrees and reengaged them. A maneuver that would have been an instant fail back at the academy for the strain on the ship more often then not would cause it to rupture. However in his dream the ship did not rupture. It shook, sputtered, rattled and whined, but did not rupture. He fired the anti-missile chaff just to be sure though he did not think any missile could make such a sharp turn.

Now the tables had turned. His enemy was in his sights and the adrenaline coursing through his veins. "Not as good at runnin' as you are at chasin' are you!" Jake shouted as he brought the ship into his sights, and fired. Suddenly time slowed down. As soon as his finger hit the trigger he took a second look. He had fired on a friendly target! In slow motion, his weapons cut the vessel in two. He could see the ships contents being sucked out into space. He could see the corpses being sucked out into space, convulsing. He could see his friend Ice, being sucked out into space. Dead.

He panicked. Shivers went down his spine as his ship rocketed on away from the battle. He was in a complete state of shock, not moving, not blinking, flying into empty space. But it wasn't empty. Something small was in front of him, getting closer, and closer. Finally he recognized the giant disembodied head of the High Chancellor. With piercing eyes and an evil grin it began to laugh. It was laughing at Jake. Then the face began to change. The skin turned purple and dry. The eyes became black as space and the hair became tentacles, twitching and dancing as if each had a mind of it's own. It was the face of a Molin. Paralyzed with horror, Jake could do nothing but watch as his craft slowly flew into the laughing mouth of the High Chancellor.