Today was an odd day. I received a call, saying I was needed for a "project." A project to me meant a mission. I didn't know which type of mission to expect today, but boy was I surprised.

I will not disclose my real name, for if it was given out, I could be stalked and killed. I just go by "Fox." I am about 28 years old, and in the New Republic Navy (think Star Wars). I am called for the special things that need to be done, or the situations that require clever handling. I was ready for anything... or so I thought.

In the briefing I wasn't prepared for what was stated. An explosive, capable of destroying a Solar System, has been launched by an unknown craft, headed to the Coruscant system. They told me I would have to take command of an experimental cruiser, and reflect it back to the unknown source.

Impossible! How do they expect me to do that... Either way I would have to try, so I boarded and took command of our cruiser, entitled the Lusankya. There I met Captain Narcos, which had me tour the ship briefly and give me a good idea on how to command it. With all that done, we set off, in a blaze of blue fire spurting from our engines. We headed toward the predicted explosive impact site.

"What shields does this baby have?" I asked

"We have fitted this cruiser with A-12 Enhanced Reflector shields. We can reflect all that they throw at us," replied the Captain.

Great, I thought. It seems nothing can go wrong. We have one chance to do it, and everything is perfect. The explosive is coming slowly, and we had about 30 minutes to prepare. We were prepared way ahead of time.

*Warning* *Warning* *Space Fluxuations at sectors A1-A10 and sectors Z1-Z10*

Oh no! The explosive must travel through those fluxuations to get to us.

"What class fluxuations are those, Captain Narcos?" I asked.

"Class R sir."

Hmmm... That means the explosive will bounce off the fluxuations. And so will we! Hmm let's see, the explosive will head here after bouncing off. But we can't reach there without going around.

"Captain, head into hyperspace! Go to base and then shoot back to these coordinates. Can we do that in less than 30 minutes?" I asked.

"Err... barely, we will get there with one minute to spare." Captain Narcos replied.

Alright, we can do this! Come on... After the short time, we were back in the view of the explosive, but too much under it.

"Quick, put all power into rear thrusters and head to the impact site."

The rear thrusters burst into life, and soon we were heading to the explosive. We made it there, with 8 seconds to spare. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. A large jolt, and then suddenly it was over. The explosive bounced off us and was heading back to the unknown source! Our shields were holding and there was no major damage. The only change was the explosive; it seemed to increase speed with the hit. No matter though.

"Sir, an unknown ship is coming in view. They are not responding to hails." Captain Narcos stated.

As I watched the sensors, the other ship moved into the path of the explosive, and knocked it back our way! Oh no!

"Move back into the path of the explosive, Captain," I told him.

We turned on the thrusters and knocked the explosive back again. But what happened next was unexpected. The other ship hit it at an angle of 85 degrees, just enough to make it go just out of our range in the amount of time we had to get it.

"Put all extra power into thrusters Captain Narcos!" I ordered.

"Yes sir... it isn't enough! We need more power!" This isn't good... what should I do...

"Put shield power into thrusters! No questions asked." I said. The thrusters reared up and we headed down to the explosive's path. We made it just in time! After the large jolt, the explosive was heading towards the other side at a much higher speed.

"Sir, our shields are almost down from the impact... we can only survive one more impact." Captain Narcos told me.

"We better make this one count then!" The explosive hit the other ship and headed off towards us, a little bit above us. We could make it there, but we had to hit it at such an angle to not let the enemy ship reach it in time.

"Hit the explosive at the top of our ship, Captain. Make it bounce off the upper space fluxuations at a 45-degree angle. That way the enemy ship will head down, and right when it seems the explosive will reach them, it will bounce off the lower fluxuations and into enemy territory." I said. Good... we can only hope our shields hold and the enemy craft doesn't predict where it will go. The explosive was heading towards us now, almost here.

WHAM! The explosive hit us, sparks started flying, machines collapsed, and people were injured.

"Status, Captain Narcos."

"Shields down, hull is at critical. No people dead yet. Life support and thrusters are online. The explosive is going up... it hit the fluxuations, and is now heading down. And... You were right sir! The enemy craft is heading down now, and will miss the explosive." Captain Narcos replied.

"Good," I said. I watched the sensors. Hmmm.. What's this? The craft is heading upwards again! The explosive just bounced off the fluxuations. They can almost make it, it seems. The enemy craft headed upwards, and the explosive was heading for it. Impact in 3, 2, 1.

Huzzah! The explosive just brushed by the enemy craft, ripping part of the hull off, and is now heading towards the enemy system! Yeah! Another job well done...

Pong Summary:
-He hit the ball to me; I hit it back, repeat once.
-He hit it at such an angle I could barely get it.
-He hit it to me, and I managed to trick him by bouncing it off the top wall, then the bottom.
-This was a "first point wins" game.