Chapter 4

Once stepping onboard the ship Edmund looked around for his second in command, when he couldn’t find him, he radioed him “neokov where are you” the reply came almost instantly “on the bridge, sir.”

Knowing where to go, he went to a lift and pressed the top floor, there was a ‘whoosh’ sound as the doors closed, and the elevator rushed up to the deck.

Upon reaching the bridge, he went to the viewscreen and looked out at space.

He thought it was beautiful the freedom of space and the ability to go where he wanted.

The bridge had a sterile look to it with clean surfaces with a sleek design; displays were everywhere with people sitting or standing in front of them, going over different systems, and preparing last-minute checks for departure.

Neokov walked up to him and stood beside Edmund “sir, what is our mission?”

“We’re going to scout a new planet we’re most likely settling on” clicking his tongue he had a frown on his face as he stood there “from the meeting they made it sound as if intelligent beings are living there, and-” he paused shaking his head “I have a bad feeling about this, we ran from one war, I’m wondering if we are running into another”

“Sir I can’t answer that, just know we get orders, and we follow them, if they bring us to war, then war it is”

Edmund laughed lightly “yeah I suppose that’s one way to look at it”

Neokov kept a straight face but he could see a small smirk on his lips before he once more stood like a statue.

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“Emma,” Edmund said

A hologram appeared in the middle of the room, showing a girl in her early twenties with long brown hair a cute face with blue eyes and pink lips, she had a small but athletic body with a big smile on her face that could melt men’s hearts, she gave a salute before speaking.

“Captain, what do you need me to do?”

Emma that was the ships ai, looking very human in the hologram but she truly was a machine, that showed in her ability to operate different systems on her own and even if needed being able to pilot the entire ship herself if something were to happen to the crew, even though she was a machine she still had feelings and dreams of her own, she were connected to the fleet network spanning all the ships in the fleet each with their own ai’s and information servers.

“I want the fastest course to the planet we are meant to scout”

“Yes sir, piloting the fastest course to beh6547883, estimated travel time 6 hours and 46 minutes”

“Thank you, Emma, how have the pottery classes gone”

“They are going wonderful captain, thanks for asking”

The ai’s had access to digital worlds where they could live any life they wanted, the personalities in the ai’s were designed to be separate from the information processing powers to simulate a human mind and thus making them more ‘human’ and accessing the vast information databases when needed”

“Good, pilots bring us to our destination, get us there as fast as possible” Edmund shouted out.

“Yes captain” was, shouted back and the ship started moving at a brisk speed

“The ship stabilizers make you believe you’re actually not even moving, you need to look on the sensors to know you are,” Edmund said, neokow only making a grunt in acknowledgment.

Turning on his heels he swiftly turned around and started walking towards the briefing room neokow silently following behind. Walking down the corridors there were a lot of activity people walking and talking and even some sprinting by, the environmental systems kept everything smelling and looking pristine.

They walked to the ready room where they met the rest of the squad.

They all stood up and saluted “at ease” Edmund wawed them down

They smileed and sat down “so cap where we going?” Sarah asked he looked at her, she was a lithe woman in her early twenties with long blond hair and a pretty face he looked in her blue eyes and said scouting a new world.

She smiled and noded.

The two other in the room except himelf and neokow was mike a muscle clad man and Tim a tall man with medium build and visible muscle.

“We are going to go down in 6 hours, so are going to take these skill things now.