AJ's Stories

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 23

Buck looked up seeing another alien wrestled into a cell and locked. It screamed a bit in whatever language it used, but ended up as gibberish to his ears.  He watched, looking it over as it was dressed in black and seemed to be some sort of flight suit, had two large eyes and seemed to have no nose or ears but a mouth similar to a humans.  Its skin was a bit more black color as it raged for a few more minutes before finally quieting down.

“About time, you have a grating voice,” Buck said to it not moving from the lounging on the bed. It looked over at Buck apparently seeing him for the first time.

“Human,” it said in the same grating voice.

They looked at each other for several seconds before the alien finally turned and looked around the room obviously looking for some way to escape. Buck too this time to study how it moved.  It was very controlled, but didn’t seem that powerful, more fluid than a few other races. Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 22

Buck made his way back to the hanger of the squadron the next morning having had a good evening, and a nice dinner with Wilma where they didn’t talk about work, but he learned a lot more about her. He had to admit, he found himself attracted to her and wondered if there was some sort of rule or regulation forbidding him from dating her.

He turned the corner only to have his communicator go off indicting he had an alert. Turning it on he looked at the screen and almost groaned at the sight, once more he was wanted in the Council chamber.

Making a U-turn he made his way to the government building trying to think of what they might want this time. He hadn’t done anything lately which they already didn’t know about.  The trip over went quick as not many were traveling at this time, the peak time had already passed.  He nodded at the secretary who merely waved him inside.

“Welcome Captain Rogers,” the Chancellor said as Buck walked inside. “I apologize for calling you in so early and without warning.” Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 21

Buck looked around at the many different stores and such wondering where he should go first. He had come here on a whim and now had no idea what to do.

“Hey, never thought I’d see you in a place like this,” A very familiar voice said causing him to look over to see Princess Ardala walking towards him. He glanced around seeing a few of her guards but no one else seemed to have even looked their way at her loud voice.

“Princess,” Buck said mindful of her title.

“So respectful, its nice,” Ardala said stopping next to him. “So, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, just getting out of the apartment,” Buck replied to her. Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 20

Buck was jolted from his napping in the lounge by an alarm. He paused trying to think what it might mean, it was the normal alert alarm he was used to hearing when they were to scramble.  He got to his feet seeing no one else in the room and headed outside seeing a few people who were making their way down the hallway.

“What’s going on?” Buck asked.

“Ready alert,” the man replied back to him.

“Right,” Buck said, recalling the different stages and ready alert was similar to yellow alert in that everyone was to be ready and several defenses were to be manned. As a pilot he was to be ready to go which usually meant heading to the briefing room so he headed off down the hallway.

Inside all the pilots of the first squadron were assembled looking around at each other. To Buck he realized that no one knew what was going on and everyone hoped someone else knew.  He fended off a few questions with questions of his own as Wilma came into the room. Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 19

Buck relaxed in the lounge back on Earth surrounded by other pilots, all of whom asked questions about the trip. He weathered the storm of questions and finally people either had their questions answered or ran out of steam and now he sat quietly in the lounge.

“Finally settled down I see,” Wilma said walking into the room startling Buck.

“Yeah, took long enough,” Buck said. “I think I went through the entire trip about a dozen times, not like there was anything to tell.”

“Well, most people still haven’t been off world like you have,” Wilma replied. “Despite our technology interplanetary travel doesn’t happen that often between the races.”

“What about trading?” Buck asked. Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 18

Buck made his way to the council room once more unsure why they wanted to speak with him this time. He had no other information they might need and walked in seeing several familiar faces already sitting down.

“Thank you captain, have a seat,” the Chancellor said, which Buck walked over and sat down. It was becoming almost routine and this time he felt none of the nervousness of the past couple of times.  “Its been an exciting twenty-four hours.”

“Yes sir,” Buck replied, going for respectable for now.

“We had contact with the Rizonian Empire regarding your appearance. They are satisfied with the findings, and it seems the scientific community is more than excited over what happened once the information was released.  We haven’t seen so much chatter in years,” the Chancellor said. Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 17

Buck sat as the group continued to theorize over what happened during his test flight.

“A very interesting theory,” Jeelax stated. “I don’t think anyone has ever heard of such a thing, if it turns out to be correct we’ll have to re-evaluate our theories on the Thu’lue drive.”

“It’s a tremendous discovery, but something which will be extremely difficult to test,” the other Rizonian said.

“I fear we’ll never know for sure what the real cause was of your survival,” Jeelax said. “I will state that it appears what happened was because of a series of unexplained and unparalleled decisions and designs upon which were carried out at exactly the right time which ensured your survival.  Any deviation of these events would have resulted in your destruction.” Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 16

Buck raced to the hanger as the alert rang though out the building. He had a feeling this one was a training alert based on how some other people were acting around him.  He ran up to the fighter where the ground crew were already prepping it for launch.  Jumping up into the cockpit he took the helmet put it on and watched as the fighter’s system booted up.

The fighter taxied out of the hanger and onto the runway along with several others as he felt his adrenalin pumping throughout his body. He got clearance to take off and he pushed the fighter’s engines to the limit and pulled back on the stick feeling it climb up through the atmosphere and into space.

“All right, everyone form up,” he heard Wilma’s voice say. “Time to do some training.”

“There was no alert?” another voice asked.

“Of course not idiot, if there was she’d be telling you where to go,” another voice said as Buck shook his head. Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 15

Buck exited the simulator and headed to the debriefing room along with several other recruits, most of whom already knew his name.

“Where’d you learn to fly like that Buck?” someone asked from behind him. He turned to see one of the recruits making his way down the hallway and Buck noticed the name on his uniform, ‘Smith, Allen’.

“Would you believe the air force, and computer games,” Buck replied.

“Must be something from your time,” Allen replied.

“Yeah, computer games were big back in my day,” Buck said, feeling like some old man discussing the past. He felt a sudden urge to say young whippersnapper for some reason but felt the man beside him wouldn’t get the joke.  “What do you do for entertainment?” Continue reading…

Buck Rogers

by AJ Marks

Part 14

Buck landed the Thunderfighter back onto the runway once again back in the NAA after quite the ordeal in the UEA. He shut down the fighter after rolling it to its spot and jumped out as the maintenance crew made their way over and begin looking it over and servicing it.

“Welcome back Buck,” one said taking the helmet from him.

“Thanks,” Buck replied watching as another fighter rolled in and stopped.

“Heard you had quite the adventure over there,” the head crew chief said.

“Almost blown up and got kidnapped, not sure that’s an adventure or not,” Buck replied.

“Compared to what happens around here, that’s an adventure,” the man replied back. Continue reading…