Stabby comes home

The Destroyer exited hyperspace above the ecliptic of the Sol system with a brief flash of light. They scanned the surrounding space for any danger before orienting towards Earth and starting the hours long trip to get home.

But no one on board was celebrating returning home. This was a somber trip because a beloved crew member was traveling home for the last time.

‘Captain, I have a large fleet on the scanners coming towards us. Intercept is in 23 minutes.’

‘Do you have ID on the fleet?’

‘Yes Captain. This is the home fleet with the 4th and 7th fleet carriers and escorts. All ships are displaying running lights and are in escort formation.’

‘How many ships?’

‘Six carriers with their full compliment of fighters and bombers, 12 dreadnoughts, 23 battleships, 50 cruisers and 10 destroyers and frigates. They are broadcasting respects to us and request the honor of escorting us to Earth orbit sir.’

‘Return respects and acknowledge their request to escort us. Pull into formation and match speeds.’

The escort fleet and their guest of honor arrived at Earth orbit in a massive display of honor and took up orbit close to the main space station/shipyard in orbit. They were waiting for a shuttle of specialists to arrive so they could escort Stabby over and then eventually down to Earth.

Once the shuttle had a tight seal with the airlock, the specialists arrived and were shocked to find every crew member lining the corridors from the airlock to the robotic service bay where they were to escort Stabby down to Earth.

As they were rolling the cart carrying Stabby along, the Captain called for honors to the departing crew member and everyone saluted as Stabby moved past them. Some crew members broke and called out farewell to Stabby as he moved past.

A squad of marines were waiting at the airlock along with the Captain and they quietly escorted the specialists as they passed through into their shuttle.

The trip back to the station and then down to the surface was a quiet trip and everyone was lost in their own thoughts as the time passed.

Eventually the shuttle landed at it’s destination and the marines formed up around the cart and Stabby. When the specialists started to complain the Captain interjected and told them that they would be escorting Stabby and there was nothing to talk about.

It was a somber sight, seeing a squad of grizzled marines and their Captain escorting Stabby through the corridors towards their destination. Everyone who encountered them was shocked to see the faces of the squad and the tears in some of their eyes.

Eventually they arrived at their destination: “Robotic repairs”

As they entered the room, their demeanor caused everyone in the vast space to stop what they were doing and stare at them and their cargo.

A group of technicians came forward and their leader asked what they thought they were doing.

‘We have a cleaning robot called Stabby who stopped working and we want you to repair him because our repair crew are unable to fix him.’

‘Why don’t you just use another cleaning robot and scrap this one?’ a technician asked.