“We have a Code One violation!!” shouted Ivan amongst the flashing red lights and blaring sirens. “What should I do?!”

A blubbery middle aged man sidled his way across the main control room of the Home of the Electronically Developed Guardian for Excellent Defence of the Outer Galaxies (HEDGEHOG), wiping the sweat from his greasy forehead with the white sleeve of his lab coat.

“What have you done?” he asked, an accusatory tone in his voice. “This is probably the biggest first day cock-up ever made. You're so going down for this,” he smirked.

“I've done nothing!” protested Ivan quietly, dismayed. He wasn't sure what he'd done to make Duane dislike him so much. In fact he was pretty sure he hadn't done anything. If it hadn't been Ivan's first day he would know that Duane didn't like anyone, and that quite frankly, nobody liked Duane either.

Smirking at the trouble Ivan was going to be in for all of this, Duane flicked lethargically through the different screens on the computer.

“You're really in for it you know,” he laughed. “Do you know how long it's been since we had a Code One violation? 10 years, that's how long! Hell, do you even know what a Code One is?”

“No,” admitted Ivan, starting to wish that he'd taken the graduate job he'd been offered at the bank instead.

“Code One means that our defences are down. The shields, the tractor beams, the radar, everything. And by our, I don't mean just Timorea, I mean the whole of the Outer Galaxies.”

Timorea was the planet on which Ivan now lived, having just finished his studies at the University of Chung, a satellite a mere three light years away. The hugeness of the problem was immediately evident to Ivan. Taking down the military defences of a quarter of the known universe on his first day at work would be quite an error. The thing was, he knew he hadn't done anything.

As Duane flicked through a variety of screens full of data and maps, his nonchalance began to fade, first to confusion, then to worry and eventually to panic.

“Duane!” barked Captain Scheider. “It's a Code One Violation! Why haven't you shut this down by now?!”

Captain Scheider was one of the most respected men in the whole universe. His brash manner of authority and clear presence of mind had seen his rise to the very top in record time. Few people were as important as the man who headed HEDGEHOG, operators of the Outer Galaxies Defence System, save maybe the Head of the Empirical Fleet, the Head of the Justice System and of course, the Emperor. He was not a man you would want to lose your composure in front of, but this was exactly what was happening to Duane.

“I.. Sir...don't know,” he stuttered. “The usual things don't work.”

“The usual things?” spat Captain Scheider. “A Code One Violation isn't usual. Have you followed the protocol?”

The blabbering mess that came out of Duane mouth, combined with the sweating redness of his face was a clear sign that protocol had not been followed.

Captain Scheider calmly moved Duane out of the way and stood in the centre of the control room so that he could see all the screens clearly and process all of the available information. He looked despairingly at the flapping ball of lard standing weakly nearby. Duane was going to be no use to him.

“Boy!” he snapped at Ivan. “What's your name?”

“Ivan,” replied Ivan. “Ivan... Sir.”

“Oh…. Ivan. It's your first day isn't it?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Welcome to the deep end. You are going to help me save the day. Speed is of the essence. You drive, I direct. OK?”

“Erm.. Yes Sir,” said Ivan, feeling that the rhetorical nature of the question overrode the fact that he had only a couple of hours experience of the computer systems.

“Good,” affirmed Captain Scheider, launching quickly into instructions of what screens to check and what settings to change.

Captain Scheider's instructions were good, and Ivan quickly processed them. Technicians behind them were frantically working at the same time, each one looking at a variety of different screens. There were over fifty people in the control room and they were all investigating something, occasionally shouting to Captain Scheider to direct him to something Ivan should locate.

One by one, the red sectors on the giant screens in front of them dimmed back to green. Eventually the laser shields that surrounded the Outer Galaxies were back on line and all of the alarms had stopped ringing.

“Captain!” a lady shouted from the back of the room. “I've traced the source of the Code One, a virus called Aliens.exe. Opened from Duane's emails.”

The relief poured into Ivan as quickly as the colour drained out of Duane's face. He looked up at Captain Scheider, unable to speak except for releasing a pathetic whine.

“I'll deal with you later,” said Captain Scheider. Everyone in the room knew it wasn't an empty threat.

“It's gone! I've killed it!” called the lady who had found the virus, as the control room screens flickered, and began to reset. Planets and galaxies appeared one by one on screen, surrounded by a neutral green border, peaceful looking as usual.

“SUBRETANUS. DEFENCES LOCKED. RADAR LIVE. PEACEFUL,” flashed up on screen.

“HAWL. DEFENCES LOCKED. RADAR LIVE. PEACEFUL.”

“COREUS. DEFENCES FAILED. RADAR LIVE. UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT DETECTED IN SECTOR 3.”

“DOMINICUS. DEFENCES FAILED. RADAR LIVE. UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT DETECTED IN SECTOR 2.”

“HALDA. DEFENCES FAILED. RADAR LIVE. UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT DETECTED IN ALL SECTORS.”

Captain Scheider looked around at the rest of his crew as the messages of unidentified aircraft continued to filter through. The radar on the screens in front of them showed hordes of spaceships ringed around the edge of the Outer Galaxies. For the first time in their lives, the people in that control room had a split second where, if they had been looking closely enough, they would have seen a momentary lapse in confidence from Captain Scheider. He knew exactly what was coming next.

“HEXONUS IS UNDER ATTACK. RED ALERT. PLANET HEXONUS IS UNDER ATTACK.”

For the first time in thousands of years, the Outer Galaxies were at war.