My Grandfather's Spaceship

Just inside the orbit of Pluto a small escape pod speeds toward Earth, its only occupant a young girl. Her grandfather has programmed the pod to issue a distress call in hopes the message would reach one of their friends living on Earth. He hoped Admiral Jasom Kingston would come and save her, but the lone pod had not traveled far before colliding with a chunk of space debris. The pod had reached its fastest velocity as soon as they were far enough from the mother ship. But after the unexpected collision it could barely correct the pods course, failing soon after. Not only were the pods propulsion units damaged, but the chance encounter sprang the seal on one of the access hatches. It had taken the pods lone occupant nearly an hour to find and plug the leak, leaving her usable air supply nearly depleted. All she could depend on now was the distress beacon and hope someone would find her soon.
Within the pods small cabin the muted sound of her beating heart was the only sound breaking the suffocating silence. A small light showed the distress beacon once more being broadcast toward Earth. She knew it would take several hours before reaching its destination, but would anyone hear it in time?
Outside the pods small view port she sees nothing but distant pinpoints of light; one is her destination. She wipes the tears from her eyes, there is nothing else she can do but crawl into one of the stasis units and go to sleep. Within the stasis unit, her body will lie suspended until someone can rescue her. With luck, someone will come before time runs out.
The young girl’s name is Alicia LeOnard, the only child of Elo and Pandor LeOnard’s son Milo. By Earth standards Alicia may be 21 years old, but she had grown up on the planet of Evenset, and like her grandparents before her, received more scientific education than a normal Earth graduate of the same age.
Upon graduation from the university, her grandparents asked if she would like to accompany them on a trip to, a new agricultural colony settled less than thirty years ago by a large group of farmers. This new colony was named Landovar, and Pandor was tasked with upgrading the colony's communications equipment, and to offer advice on future improvements to their present system.
On their return from Landovar, Pandor would file his report, then he and Elo would retire to the ranch her father so dearly loved. Alicia would then spend another month with them before deciding if she should continue at the university or go to work for her father.
Overall, the trip had been uneventful. Within two weeks Pandor had completed his mission, leaving them another week to spend exploring. With Earth being only a few light-years away, Pandor talked the captain of their ship, the Lisdon-Si, into stopping to visit their old friend Admiral Kingston, and perhaps pick up a bushel of apples to take home with them. Pandor just loved apples.
However, as their ship entered the outer fringes of Earth’s solar system, an unknown ship had attacked. While the Lisdon-Si lay helpless, the invading ship attached a powerful tractor beam and hauled the ship away.
Being the only passengers aboard, Pandor convinced Alicia that one of them must get help. As the youngest, she was the logical choice. He gave her the coordinates of Admiral Kingston’s farm located in Montana.
Pandor programmed the navigation and distress beacon before releasing the pod, hoping the invaders would be to busy to interfere with it. Her mission was to find the admiral so he could rescue her grandparents and the crew of the Lisdon-Si. Her quest was dire, as the ship had been attacked by a suspected Qweryl ship!