Admiral Briggins walked fast, the tall clean-shaven man walked with pride and a stoic expression.
From afar, one could think the man could not be bothered by anything in the slightest, yet internally, the man was scared, an entire task group was lost and they had yet to sight an enemy.
How would he report this to his superiors? As the admiral in charge of the North Western Frontier, everything fell on him, which meant he had to keep calm, lest the troops lose morale.
The admiral walked to his personal office located in the centre of the GNS Athena, walking into his room after dismissing the guards outside.
The admiral approached the holo table, a large glass table with a blue screen on the surface. He had previously arranged a secret meeting and was waiting for a response.
A minute later, a large 3d screen appeared which showed multiple admirals as well as the head GOE officials seated around a large round table.
"Your report Admiral Briggins." A tall broad man who appeared to look in his 40s but was actually over 80 years old spoke. He had short black hair and a trimmed beard and wore an extremely decorated uniform.
"Yes, Admiral Corvus." Briggins answered nervously as he spoke to the head of the Navy.
"The task group we sent to scout the Sulla system was completely wiped out." Briggins spoke and hung his head in shame.
"What! Was it the Astrillith Republic?" A GOE official spoke in shock and anger.
"We don't know sir, I have sent the initial battle reports and scans, while we are still investigating, however, we did not encounter or sight the enemy." Briggins spoke professionally and no one cut him off and quietly listened.
"From the black box data reports, it seems that high energy beams were shot at our ships. It was from quite a long range yet it shattered the shields and melted the armour on our corvettes and frigates in seconds.
We also believe that they intentionally targeted our ammunition and fuel storages in order to instantly destroy our ships.
Judging by the attack, it seems they may have also disrupted communications before the attack leading us to believe it was a trap from the start." Briggins spoke.
Briggins waited silently as the men in the room quietly muttered to themselves for a while until Corvus spoke.
"Were there any survivors Admiral?" he asked.
"Yes sir, fortunately, one of the SRB teams which were accompanying the GNS Athena was kept in reserve. Luckily for them, their compartment was not hit and they only sustained minor injuries." Briggins answered Corvus.
Corvus paused for a few moments, assessing the situation before speaking again "Admiral, I want those men to be on the next flight out to Earth, we will conduct our investigation here while you assess the debris field.
Until our investigation is complete, I want the entire North Western Expeditionary fleet on high alert. There will be no advancing until we figure out who or what attacked us.
I will also be sending the 9th and 12th fleets to nearby systems to provide support in case of an attack.
We cannot let this get out to the public, do you understand Admiral?" Corvus spoke, relaying his commands to Briggins.
"Understood Sir." Briggins answered with a salute.
"You are dismissed, Admiral." Corvus spoke as the feed ended.
"Haaaah" Briggins let out a sigh before sitting in his chair. He placed his hand on his head and used the other to ring his Second in Command.
"Yes, Admiral." A woman's voice was heard.
"Send a message to the entire fleet."
"Ah, you're back!" Elizabeth spoke as she spotted Jake entering through the front door with Iris sleeping on his back.
Elizabeth smiled as she spoke softly "Lunch is almost ready, put Iris to bed and wash up." as she continued to cook in the kitchen.
"Okay, mom." Jake spoke before walking to the bedroom.
He slowly put Iris down as she tightly held onto his arms.
"Hey, dummy, I know you're still awake, you hungry?" Jake spoke to Iris as she with her eyes still closed, shook her head.
"Stay." She mumbled to Jake.
"I am not going anywhere, lunch is almost ready, so when you're hungry call me and I'll feed you myself okay?" Jake softly spoke to Iris as he gently rubbed her head.
Iris had a big smile on her face as she nodded.
Jake stood up before leaving the room, with soft footsteps so as to not disturb his younger sister.
He then went to the Kitchen, wanting to know where the girls were.
"Hey mom, where's the girls?" He asked his mother who was still busy with the stove.
"I think they're in your room. Your aunt has to go to the office today but she'll be home early." Elizabeth answered him as he walked towards his room.
'Why would they be in my room?' He wondered as he spoke to the Atlas.
(Maybe they were looking for you, I mean you did leave with Iris early on and if they found out you took her to the park, they might get angry.) The Atlas warned Jake.
Jake walked to his door, before slowly opening it.
His room was decently sized, with a workstation to the side, a large cupboard and a small sofa to the left.
In front of him lay two girls silently sleeping on his bed. It seems they might have been waiting for him and had fallen asleep.
Jake stopped moving in case they woke up and as he took a step back, Lyra was the first to wake up.
She had fallen asleep hugging one of Jake's pillows while Aria slept with her entire body sprawled out on the queen-size mattress.
"Jake, you're back." Lyra spoke in a groggy voice as she woke up from the bed, wiping her eyes and walking towards him like a zombie.
Jake chuckled at Lyra's antics as she walked towards him and hugged him.
"I missed you." Iris said, still groggy as she yawned with her eyes closed.
Jake was stunned at Lyra's direct behaviour. He knew she wanted his attention too and would find ways to inadvertently get his attention, but now it seemed like she was not hiding anything anymore.
'Is it because of yesterday?' Jake wondered if Aria's behaviour the day prior affected Lyra.
(Definitely, I think Aria's beauty may have struck a little jealousy and worry into Lyra's heart. She knows she can't directly compete with your sister in that regard, which is why I believe she's trying to act cute to get your attention.)
'I mean she is cute, and she doesn't lack beauty either. But the Lyra I know would be completely embarrassed in doing something like this.' Jake spoke, not noticing that Lyra's eyes were wide open and she was blushing furiously as she held on to Jake.
'This is so embarrassing!' Lyra thought to herself as the only thing running in her mind was to run and hide in her room as she couldn't bear to look at Jake's face, lest he find out she was completely embarrassed after all.
"No Lyra, you can't back down now, if you do, Jake might lose his attention for me and pay more towards Aria." Lyra tried to encourage herself.
Aria opened her eyes and realised Lyra was not there, she had come to Jake's room to see him in the morning but he was not there, so she waited for him to come back.
She thought she could wait a while for him but instead, Lyra had the same idea entering the room while Aria pretended to be asleep, not wanting to speak to her.
In the end, she had fallen asleep and noticed Lyra had also joined her, both girls did not want to confront each other, so they simply ignored each other.
Aria woke up and noticed Jake had probably seen her embarrassing sleeping habits and she immediately woke up, her face red as her eyes darted to Jake hugging someone else.
An annoyed expression appeared on her face as she then turned her attention to Jake, peering into his eyes with her gaze.
(Uh oh, she saw you.) The Atlas spoke in a comedic tone.
Jake turned to look at Aria, whose annoyed eyes darted between Jake and Lyra and Jake immediately knew why she was angry.
Jake promptly let go of Lyra, who still clutched into him. After a few seconds, she let go and Jake quickly walked over to his sister to hug her as well.
"I was waiting for you." She whispered into his ear, her anger visible in her tone.
Jake shivered a bit, as Aria was generally caring and sweet towards him, however, when she was serious, she could be scary at times, something the Atlas couldn't do anything about, well it could, but somethings were better left untouched.
"I uh, am sorry, Aria." Jake spoke as she hugged him tighter, hoping she wouldn't smother him.
"It's okay Jake." She whispered again, "but you only took Iris with you to the park?"
She was pissed at Jake and he felt chills at her words.
'What happened to her?' Jake asked the Atlas for help.
(Hah, this is just the beginning.)