Erika sat with her hands on her lap watching the launch ceremony unfold. The expedition was being heavily advertised to the rest of the galaxy. It was a historic event which obviously needed to be thoroughly documented. No doubt behind the hovering cameras were millions of UTN commentators broadcasting to billions more across every protectorate in the Free Exchange.

She shifted in her chair. Erika sat on a raised platform with the rest of the senior officers facing the crew. They had all gathered in a gilded auditorium. On the ground floor was a sea of grey and black uniforms with young faces staring back at them. Raised above were balconies of the privileged who had enough influence to get a seat to the ceremony. Even further above, a holographic ceiling had been changed to a view of the Hyperion from below. From all practical standpoints, they were holding the ceremony from beneath the ship.

Erika’s eyes drifted over the crew. The rows of seating were divided based upon rank and position. The first portion was seated to the left and contained around a hundred scientists. Virtually every profession was represented down to even esoteric fields such as xenobiology. Another hundred and fifty were placed in the middle, the standard personnel needed for the operation of the ship. They were engineers mostly, with a sizable complement of turret operators and a pilot crew. She noted a ridiculous man who had chosen to wear a cowboy hat among them.

And most importantly, to the right were approximately a hundred dedicated marines. One hundred of the deadliest soldiers the Free Exchange offered. Trained in both hand-to-hand combat and gravity-based warfare. These she had taken the time to memorize each and every name. Her eyes checked over all of them, looking at their faces to reaffirm her memory.

“Humanity stands at a crossroads.” Some Exchange official blathered on. “What we do now will affect the next ten thousand years of human civilization.”

Erika suppressed rolling her eyes. She felt downright bored with the ceremony. It was all pomp and circumstance with nothing actually being said. Officials had been coming and going for the past hour without end. All of them talking about this special moment of history without the slightest hint of originality.

No one needed men in suits to tell them of the importance of this expedition, and yet every bureaucrat in the spiral arm felt the need to crawl out of their hole and say it just one more time. Erika felt as though she would strangle the next weasel who went up to the podium next.

“The responsibility of the future lies upon of all of you.” The official addressed the crowd. “You will go out into the stars and carry the banner of our people. Our hopes and our dreams lie will fly with you.”

Erika tried to distract herself by looking for Glen Tannis on the upper balconies. The man had to be there somewhere watching the proceedings. He had more or less stepped into the background since the encounter at the cafe. It wasn’t too surprising. His role in putting together the expedition had now come to an end. The die had been cast. It was now only a question of what they would find at the signal.

Giving up on trying to find Tannis, she slightly turned to see Klyker sitting on her left. They hadn’t spoken since the conversation on the rooftop, not that she expected him to pay another visit to her last night. But the man seemed just as on edge as she was. He clenched his hands tightly and stared straightforward.

He didn’t have the same poise as Erika commanded, and it was clear he wasn’t paying any attention to the speech. She wondered what plans he had with the information she had given him. Tannis had done well to set up this rivalry—though he would certainly deny it. Regardless, she needed to be on her toes. Perhaps I’ll have his cabin bugged. She privately mused.

Tannis hadn’t left her any personnel secretly loyal to her or any of that sort of backup. In their line of work, such forces often actually worked to the detriment of their own goals. Matrioshka theory worked best with as much of a homogenous group as possible. Not necessarily by race or gender standards, but by what information was available to people. What incentives each group had and what decisions they were presented with.

Splitting the crew with a secret division meant calculations for how that information imbalance would affect the interior group, as well as the interactions with other factions already present. It added only unnecessary uncertainty to the equations. No, it was better to have a single individual with complete knowledge manipulating the models.

Besides, Erika needed nothing as inelegant as a secret force. She was second-in-command after all, already on top of the chain of power. A task such as bugging Klyker’s room needs only a naive enough ensign and a little pressure from herself.

And then there’s our beloved Captain. Her gaze finally settled on Singh to her right.

The man seemed completely calm, even in the face of the galaxy watching. She couldn’t see any anxiety, only a serene expression patiently waiting for the official to finish his speech. Like all the other crew members, she had her own profile on him. Granted, it wasn’t as complete as the rest of them. Singh had gone completely dark from the public sphere for seventy years, and there was simply no accounting for how that would affect the man.

It was an acceptable risk, and if that should fail, there was always the sabotage Tannis had given her.

Stolen novel; please report.

“The fate of humanity rests with you as you sail into the stars,” the official spoke a little too loud in the microphone.

If only they would let us leave! Erika allowed herself the indulgence of casting an annoyed glance towards the man. She was about ready to jump from her seat and pilot the Hyperion herself. Her impatience was getting to her. She barely paid attention as the official spouted off some final remarks and returned to his own seat.

To her surprise, Captain Singh stood up next. Oh no. She had thought Singh had gone up before. Erika had lost count of who was giving what speech, but if Singh was going up, that meant they were only halfway through. A stupid decision made by some committee they’ll never see.

She watched as the older man took the podium. His hands opened a folded paper, which caused Erika to raise an eyebrow. Most people simply read off the holographic prompter. You better be interesting. She silently warned the man. Though she knew some of what to expect. A call for peace and prosperity followed by some tangent on his faith.

Erika knew that any such platitudes would not go over well. The crew were mostly secular with some pockets of Catholic-Orthodox and a few other religions tossed in. Yet there was a silence that fell upon the auditorium as Singh spoke. The whispered conversations happening in the background came to a still as everyone strained to hear what the Butcher of Three Systems would say.

She found herself captured by a similar sentiment. Erika leaned forward a little to get a better look at the Captain.

“You have already heard so many fine speeches.” Singh began with just the slightest hint of sarcasm. “I will not waste time on what you already know. You have seen the great opportunity which awaits us. The possibility of first contact.”

Erika would’ve sighed if not for the fact the hovering cameras capturing her reaction every moment. Singh was not off to the best of starts.

“A great chorus of voices call to us, speaking of the potential. The glory to be earned. The riches, the technology, the culture. But as is my custom as a soldier, I must add my own voice to remind you of the unknown. Of death.” The word rang in the auditorium, and a coldness fell about the room.

Erika almost choked as she watched Singh say those words. This was far from the naive platitudes of the bureaucrats before. Such a topic had been scarcely talked about. The feel of the room turned from bored to serious. What is he doing? Trying to scare the crew away? She didn’t know what to make of it. It was certainly a mood killer.

“As a soldier, it is my duty to inform you that you may die. Possibly many of us will never see these stars again. We are about to enter the unknown, and we will go alone. There is every chance that none of us are coming back. You have all been through the training simulations. You have seen what happens to a human body exposed to vacuum. That is the risk every one of us is taking.”

One could hear the faint crackling from the holographic display above. No one took their eyes off Singh. Erika could only watch with skepticism. The way Singh spoke those words, fear settled into the room. It was true—as part of standard space training, one had to watch what would happen if suddenly the ship were depressurized. How little time one had to trigger emergency shielding. Even though she had her training centuries ago, the image of a dead man silently floating in space came to her mind.

Singh’s voice resonated through the room. “If you are not willing to give your life for the sake of this expedition, I ask you now to please step away. Let me assure you, it is not an act of cowardice to choose what you give your life for. I have spoken with the Free Exchange and anyone who wishes to depart will find commission on any ship of their choice.”

And somehow that temptation suddenly became real. They were going alone into the void where absolutely anything could be waiting for them. That thought had never quite sank into her mind before, and from the reactions of the crew, neither had it to them. One never quite understood the vastness of space until it was shown before them, and even then, the mind could never fully grasp it. If they got into trouble—no one was coming to help for decades.

To her surprise, someone actually stood up from crew and walked away. Then another and another. Twenty people in total simply got up and left.

She blinked. This was not the speech she had been expecting—not even close. Well, if Singh wanted to make an impression, he made it. She snorted. He had convinced twenty people to leave.

The Captain nodded his head, looking out at the crew. “What we are facing is the unknown, but I can think of no better crew to face it with.” Singh looked out and it appeared as if his eyes passed every face in the crowd.

He even gave a sideways glance to the senior staff. For a just a moment, Erika’s eyes met with his. The old man stared back with determination. His face beckoning them all forward. Even her. Singh turned back towards the crew.

“For eons, humanity has confronted the frontier. For millennia, we have confronted the challenge. Will you sail with me, and see it through? To whatever end we might face!?”

And then the tone suddenly switched again. There was an excitement in the air that wasn’t there before. Singh commanded an honesty that none of the other officials had, and it more than showed. Even with the risks involved, he was willing to lead them through it. Whereas before, there was a dull mood, now there was energy. People perked up in their seats and even she felt taken by it.

Singh’s voice raised. “Will you stand with me? And confront the greatest adventure in human history!?”

A number of cheers resounded back from the crew, and Erika realized that Singh had truly lost none of his edge in retirement. Perhaps I underestimated you, Captain Singh. She smiled a little.

The Captain pulled out a string of beads. It took Erika a moment to recognize that it was a rosary, a holy object of the faith. Singh kissed it and raised his voice once more.

“Then follow me! And we shall see this to whatever end we meet!” He stepped away from the podium.

Instead of walking back to his seat, Captain Singh instead moved to the steps of the raised platform. He went down the steps and towards the exit. It took everyone a moment of stunned silence to realize what was happening.

Lt. Commander Klyker was up first to follow him off the stage and towards the ship. Erika felt overwhelming relief and she couldn’t help but beam as she stood up as well. One-by-one grey uniforms stood up to join them. The official who was up next to speak looked dumbfounded as the crew all stood up and filed out of the auditorium. The Captain lead swiftly from the front, and all the men and women of the Hyperion followed just shortly behind.