As the captains of the many ships in the fleets boarded their shuttles back. I was summoned.
"Calling the attention of Captain Oliver Lawson of the HSS Guidance and First Lieutenant Ivory Weber of the HSS Explorer, please remain in the Atrium.", the monotone voice of the ship's computer. Ivy and I stared at each other questioningly, then at the Admirals. They were waiting for us, their eyes cold and like almost never blinking.
"Captain Lawson, greetings."
"Greetings, Admirals."
"The HSS Explorer and HSS Guidance will be the first ships to land on Ascens III before the planetary survey is conducted. Once it is, the two ships will seperate and land and assess on the possible sites for settlement based from preliminary scans. The rest of the fleet will be waiting on the planet's orbit. A thousand lives are at stake here..", says Admiral Amari. His eyes never leaving me. "All data has been sent to your ships' computer."
"Understood Admiral"
"Next, Ascens III has a moon, Ascens IIIA. The HSS Guidance will also do a survey for possible minerals and easily accessible caches for our miners to gather..", Admiral Hatanaka stood up while saying. The two admirals stood next.
"The Explorer is not coming with?", Ivory asked.
"No, the Explorer will help with scientific analysis about the surrounding environment and help solve the issue of food, water and power."
"Tch. We're all discussing this like we've seen the planet surface. Scanners dont give 100% accurate data. The last time Hatanaka mentioned about something like this was that toxi--", Admiral Meknikov again was protesting but..
"And again, we have no choice. We nee--", Admiral Amari was about to stand until..
"I know! I just dont want the people to be given false hope. People I knew have died from maintaining the hulls! I --", he stopped, looked down and sighed.
"You are dismissed, Captain Lawson. Thank you.", Ad. Hatanaka finally said as she sighed too.
...
I saw the Earth, vivid green and calm blue. I saw the trees, its leaves, I heard the grass as I walked on it. The birds flew by..
But then I blinked, and opened my eyes once more. I was on a balcony of a building, I saw other people too, just staring at the horizon, tears down their faces. Below, some stood still, some ran and screamed. I heard more screams as a guy jumped from his balcony. My eyes followed him as he fell. But fire engulfed him before the he hit the ground.
I blinked again, and once more my eyes were open. I was back again in the forest, but the leaves were no more, the wood burning. The soil charred. There were no more birds, not even bones. I looked up and saw hell itself fall. About how bright it was, and the elegant lines of smoke it left as it hit. I saw a wall of flames coming towards me..
"Captain to report to the bridge.", that damn monotone computer voice woke me.
Ughh. I got up
"Captain to report to the bridge."
I looked outside my tiny window. I saw the ships in formation, i recognized the Foothold, and around it were the other civilian freighters. Thorn fleet was in front, in spear formation, their turrets however, faced down, saving power I guess.
My door beeped. "Come in"
And my second in command came in, First Lieutenant Jakobi Flint. "Cap, its time. We're about to jump. All stations are operational and the crew is well. The Warp Drive is powering up..", he gave me a salute. I gave it back.
"Good, report back to the bridge.", I said as he walked off.
...