[Deck A, Gunning Station A, Flagship Mercury]
United Earth July 23, 2520, Standard Time 1005 Hours
Kenneth catches his breath and returned to his assigned station. He was assigned at the gunning station, a room heavily guarded by UE marines and full stacks of computers.
This is where the thirty huge metal guns were installed called "laser-guided railguns" which are manned by either humans or computers.
He wiped his sweat and sigh, obviously nervous at the punishment he will receive when his superior appears.
"Where have you been Sergeant Vasquez?, You are ten minutes late!" his superior glare at him, obviously annoyed.
Kenneth scratched his head and couldn't answer, one wrong word can increase his punishment.
"I will overlook your violation for now Sergeant Vasquez, when we arrive on our destination, you will be punished," his superior wickedly grinned which sends a chill to Kenneth's spine, "I will think about that later and now settle at your assigned station, after your shift you need to clean the entire Deck A restroom or else, you can't take a break! Is that clear?"
"Sir, yes sir!' Kenneth stands straight and salutes to his superior acknowledging his punishment "for now".
He sighed, relieve but preparing himself for the heavy punishment that soon he will receive. Base on his superior's sadistic personality, he's sure he will get intense disciplinary training. Well, he's still lucky cleaning an entire restroom is piece of cake compared to no dinner.
"Just wait Nicholas, you will pay big time when we meet again fucker! " Kenneth whispers cursing Nicholas deep inside.
Minutes later…
Kenneth's superior leaves to patrol. He gazes at the spaceship's glass window, He can't feel the pulling gravity inside but they're sure gradually elevating from the ground's earth spaceport. Gravity control devices were sure amazing.
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[Command Center, Bridge, Flagship Mercury]
United Earth July 23, 2520, Standard Time 1335 Hours
On the vastness of space, four giant steel ships are sailing together. It's been three hours since the fleet left the earth spaceport.
There is a darkroom on these giant steel ships which is only illuminated by the holographic screen's light. This is the command center where every crew is busy monitoring their respective station and spaceship parts.
You can hear the crew's reports, not missing even one single defect. They're actively monitoring the whole flagship from the engine to plasma circuits. One unreported flaw means death to thousands.
Communication Officer Von is one of the monitoring crews. He was focus on his holographic screen checking all crucial parts of the spaceship. When he was sure that there are no faulty parts, he widely smiles from satisfaction and sends a report towards the Captain's terminal.
"Sir, all status are green and no flaw has been sighted and also, we are already near the moon's orbital space station," CO Von said as he sent the data.
Captain Tae-Joon goes to the middle of the command center and sits on the captain's seat, earnestly read the communication officer's report.
"Good," Captain Tae-Joon nod in satisfaction and continuously read the report, "Okay, relay my order and proceed to the next phase".
"Yes Sir!" the comms officer straight his posture and salute.
He instantly sent the advance signal towards the moon's orbital space station. This signal will allow them to pass the space station without delay which the space station immediately does.
The space station also hands them permission codes. This code can be used on one of the three cosmic superhighways that the space station occupies.
The superhighways will allow the fleet to speed up their voyage in space towards the nearest warp station standing by in the middle of the Lagrange point.
Lagrange point is a type of location where one celestial body's gravity balances another. In the center of the lagrange point is where the warp station was built and can be activated. Because the gravity is balanced in this area, it's the most suitable place to open a portal called the hyperspaces.
These are the main means in space transportation since it was invented causing the travel time from earth to pluto instantaneously shortened, from five years to one day and twelve hours.
As the four giant spaceships receive their respective permission codes, they hasty sailed towards the cosmic superhighways. Small vibration can be felt inside the Flagship Mercury from the sudden acceleration but it immediately returns to normal due to their gravity control devices.
Their space voyage will take a day before reaching the lagrange point causing Captain Tae-Joon to decide to go back to his captain's cabin and rest until tomorrow.
July 24, 2520, Standard Time 1400
The command center pocket doors burst opened and Captain Tae-Joon immediately enters. The crews are still busy but still stood from their chairs and salutes simultaneously.
"At ease" Captain Tae-Joon orders and immediately asked, "are we close to the langrage point?".
"Yes Sir in fact, we're already sent the permission codes towards the warp station. For now, we're just waiting for their approval to activate the hyperspaces" Comms Officer Von's enthusiastically replied.
He sent the ship's view to Alex's terminal that the secretary instantly approved and the Captain's holographic screen changes. The screen view changes into the darkness of space with one large metal ring in the middle, attached to the warp station.
The Captain was satisfied, tries to sit on his chair but the alarm suddenly rang and a woman with a monotonous tone speak.
[Permition code has been scanned!]
[Hyperspace activation permitted! ]
[Activating in 3 2… 1 Hyperspace activation complete please activate your gravity control devices]
Captain Tae-Joon looks back to his holographic screen. One wormhole is starting to form but to his horror, the same red circle from his dream also began to appear. He froze in shock as the red circle surrounding the metal ring let out its runic letters.
"It can't be," Captain Tae-Joon unable to process his brain, "Shit, this red circle is similar to my dream!"
It was a magic circle, but the species in this world will never guess what it is.
"Alex, connect my screen to the other spaceship captains now!" Captain Tae-Joon's said as his hand starts to rapidly tap Alex's shoulder.
"Pardon?" She can't comprehend the sudden change in the Captain's action.
"Quick!" The Captain roared and his sweat continuously drips on his face.
Alex nods and sets the Captain's holographic screen towards the other spaceship captain's terminal. As a normal reaction, the three Captains we're surprised by Captain Tae-Joon's sudden appearance.
"Why sudden call Sir?"
"Retreat! Don't come near that warp station" The three Captains frowned and asked a follow-up question but they're immediately cut off as the sudden light swallowed the four spaceships towards the magic circle.
Since then, there's no information has been gathered from the sudden disappearance of an entire fleet. Several rescue mission has been carried out but not even debris of the broken spaceship has been found. Scientists are still baffled and trying to understand what had happened from the four gigantic spaceships.
The conquest on the other side of the galaxy has been canceled. Politicians and citizens said it was a complete waste of taxpayer's money.