Starship on frontier patrol. Suddenly attacked by unidentified ship. Heavy damage. Loss of weapons and defensive capabilities. Engines off-line. Life support has failed. They've missed supper. Disaster seems inevitable... Starbase 14 wasn't exactly the ideal pace to start your career. Lance-Corporal Thomas O'Blivion proceeded down the corridor, tugging at the tight collar of his tunic. It had been designed, he reflected, by someone who had known with some degree of certainty that he would never have to wear it. Launch into space, the future and beyond! (And get a humorous look at life in space through the eyes of some colourful characters in this compilation of 5 sci-fi short stories spanning everything from adventure to suspense to comedy and then back again.)