There I floated, rotating ever so slowing from left to right. Our instructors had warned us not to make any sudden moves in the suits. I rolled my shoulders, that’s all. Now I get to watch the stars parade by.

They don’t twinkle in space, you know. Just little points of light. Some President used that analogy.

It could be worse. I appear to be rotating in only one axis. And I don’t get space sick or any of the other maladies rumor talked about.

They had asked for volunteers from the Earth’s special forces community. We are the best of the best, the forlorn hope. When the enemy sends its ship to sterilize the planet, it will be up to us to locate, board, and stop that process. I’m personally hoping to take the ship but I’m a cheerful sort to begin with.

We came up in shuttles, then were dumped at the jump point. A thousand of us, adrift in space. Limited air, the radios in the suits disabled for security, and our only hope of survival is seizing and holding an alien warship.

They told us the radio thing was for security. It wasn’t. It was so we couldn’t hear the screaming of the guys that went crazy from space. There were a couple in my shuttle, before we even got dumped. Poor bastards.

Round and round I go. The guys I trained with were all good mothers. Most of the group was us and the Brits, but the other nations managed a few contributions. Even Tonga. There was a lot of speculation where they found a suit to fit him, all two hundred kilos. Nice guy, if he didn’t sit on you.

We didn’t get a lot of practice in the suits. Heck, some were being fit just before launch. They told us that the suits should all last until we got aboard the ship. You know, hold oxygen and all that. Yep, I feel lucky.

The drill is that we were seeded all around the jump point. When the alien ship comes out of warp, we go for it. The jets will last a minute or two or three. If you’re too far away, well, I’m not planning to be too far away.

I’ve got a pack of toys drifting around my ankles, things that ought to go boom in a vacuum. Everybody got something we hope will be useful. Never having done this at all, it’s the geeks and their ideas we’re betting on.

I don’t even know where the jump point is. It’s not marked, and my rotations means that I am clueless even if it were. I should see a shimmer when the ship drops out of warp, and the ship, if it’s close enough, ought to block out a bunch of the stars.

I’d twiddle my thumbs but I’d probably start rotating on another axis. I’d hum but my ears are plugged from the pressure. The damn toy bag is getting wrapped around…

HOLY MARY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!

The freaking ship just came out of warp all of about twenty feet in front of me. I damn near shit myself.

OK, Ollie, time to go to work.