@barney_fife
@Generik
"Ma'am, we have received word from the
Deliverance." One of the communications officers said. He was seated on a comfortable, ergonomic chair that was slightly turned in order for him to directly look at his superior. His face lit by a blue-ish gloom due to the bridge's reflective materials as he waited for the captain to acknowledge his 'announcement'.
The captain; a lean and tall women with shoulder-long ashen hair turned her face towards the officer, using one of her slender fingers to put a rogue strand of her hair behind her ear. Her intelligent-looking, emerald green eyes then focussed on the officer's as she spoke; "Let's hear it, bridge only."
"To all of those who joined us on the journey of our lifetimes:
It delights me to announce that right now, on this very moment, the last of the Exodus-ships have taken flight and are en-route to our destination. I repeat; all of the Exodus-ships are en-route!
My name is Alessaxedes Faye Vindicat, and I look forward to personally greet - and welcome - all of you on the ground. But first, let's get to work. Until we meet again.”
The expression on the captain's face was one of pure delight; her eyes twinkled joyously and her thin lips were pointing up into a bright, white smile. She seemed happy to hear her leader's voice again; a voice drooling authority and power, yet soothing to the soul and calming to the mind. An audible sigh went through the bridge as the captain clapped her hands together and said; "Well then, it seems our Exodus has begun." She looked around; glancing over the many faces depending on her. She recognized quite a lot of them, some more familiar than the others. Amongst her bridge crew, she personally knew the officer who had brought their leader's message under her attention; he had a name she couldn't remember, which was the reason why she always referred to him as 'officer' rather than try and guess his real name. She wouldn't confess this, obviously. She shouldn't have to, actually. At that moment she realized there were quite a lot more people that depended on her on other decks. Her eyes stopped when they glanced over the face of one individual, one she had known since he was a mere infant. He was standing behind a holographic, blue screen that showed the positions and different statuses of connection to- and with the
Exodus-fleet's vessels. With joy in her voice she spoke to him:
"She's doing good work, Aiden. None of our previous leaders managed to secure a new home for us, yet your mother did.” Her voice was pride-filled. She wasn’t part of the Vindicat family, yet retained quite a powerful position as strategist in Alessaxedes’ inner circle. Her cunning and skill was something those around her were envious of, which annoyed her extremely.
“So are we all, for that matter. Let's get back to work everyone." The latter she said whilst looking around again, nodding to several officers, whom saluted respectfully and re-focussed on their previously assigned duties. Aiden too nodded in the direction of the captain, and soon after his lithe fingers flew through the air in front - and on - the holographic screen. His movements were accompanied with several beeps that increased their pitch as he went up with his fingers. The sounds indicated the distance between the Vindicat ships; obviously the higher the tone meant the closer they were. He moved his left hand’s index finger to the outline of the largest ship, and it’s name appeared on the screen along with the Vindicat family emblem. Seeing it filled him with new hope; the sign of his family meant strength and unity; but also acceptance - the latter a thing not many Imperial families held in such a high esteem like the Vindicats did. He then quickly swiped it away. Seconds after he did, the low-pitched sound of a alert notification sounded in his earpiece, startling him. Normally the sound would notify him of both impending danger and the arrival of new ships in the fleet’s immediate vicinity. This time however, it notified him of the latter and soon after two new signals popped up. He hovered over them and then touched their outlines in rapid succession; pulling up their detailed information. His eyes dashed from left to right as he processed the information. Realizing it would be important to notify the captain, he reduced his earpiece’s volume - severely blocking out the majority of the sounds the screen made, except for the warnings - and spoke;
“Captain, two corvette-class vessels just emerged from hyperspace and are hailing us.” he said, quickly checking the holographic screen for any updates regarding the corvettes. Normally the communications officer would notify the captain of any and all inter-fleet communications and nothing else. All of the other high-priority detections and communications were expertly handled by Aiden.
“Activate the pre-recorded message and send it back to them.” The captain started, smiling as she made a gesture to one of the other officers on-deck; whose fingers soon after began gracing the soft surfaces of his illuminated keyboard. The captain watched him before turning her head towards Aiden again, following with; “Oh, and put it on repeat. I do not want your attention focussed solely on something that could be easily handled by someone with… less skill and education.” She winked at Aiden, before her attention was once again claimed by the officer who had previously begun searching.
“Ma’am, it seems the corvettes are of Vindicat design, but i am having trouble with confirming their clearance and fleet designations.” the officer began, his eyes quickly darting back towards his workspace, after which he must’ve realized he should remain focussed and looked back at the captain.
“I see. Have we notified the
Deliverance yet?” She asked before putting yet another strand of ashen hair behind her ear.
The officer flushed a little at the captain’s question, and reached back with his left arm whilst still focussed on the ashen-haired woman. A slight beep echoed throughout the bridge, accompanied by a nervous giggle originating from the officer. “It has been, ma’am.”
“Ah, we all heard it. Thank you.” She said and playfully winked at the officer, who sighed audibly and turned around before sinking down on his chair again.
Aiden had already resumed his duties as lead communication- and navigations officer. The moment he turned his earpiece’s volume up again, several beeps found their way into his ear. Frowning due to the sudden loud beeps Aiden swiped his hand over the console, shifting it’s focus to the signal’s point of origin. Aiden grinned slightly as he looked at the location that the ship’s computers had already managed to pinpoint. The grin turned into a frown as the ship’s systems were unable to determine the type and class of the ship from which the signal came. Standing up, Aiden began to notify the captain of his most recent discovery;
“Captain, i have once again detected a ship’s signal. Our systems are unable to determine exactly what type and class the vessel belongs to and i personally advice a state of alert.” He then nodded, stepping back and sitting down again. His blue eyes were already flashing over the holographic screen he was working on as the captain answered;
“Thank you, Aiden.” She said without turning her face to look at him, as she already knew he would be already at work. She then turned towards the other communications officers and gave them their orders; “You there,” she nodded towards the man who had previously spoken to her about the message from the
Deliverance. “-send a high-priority message to the
Deliverance and tell then about our discovery. You’ll be handling all communication from- and to the
Deliverance.” She then looked at the two remaining communications officers and gave them a different set of orders;
“As soon as Ludyn receives wordt from the
Deliverance, i want you two to relay that information to all the other Vindicat-vessels.” Her facial expression then hardened as she suddenly barked;
“Understood?!”
Aiden watched how the three communications officers saluted the captain and spoke on unison; “Yes ma’am!” Suddenly they looked stern and extremely professional as they immediately got to work setting up their workstations and readying communication equipment for their respectively-assigned tasks.
“Well then, let’s see what this is about…” was the last the captain said before relaxing a little. With that being said, Aiden overruled the bridge’s main monitor and pulled forth exactly the same data shown on his own screen; the unidentified ship’s orange outline, along with the missing type and classification information.
“Yes ma’am.” He said as he went through the constantly, in real-time updating fresh information.
“Some of the people aboard the Exodus ships gave up everything they previously had for this dream; let’s hope it wasn’t for naught…” he thought as he switched his own screen back to the overview that showed every Vindicat ship and their precise positions. And now, the unidentified ship’s as well...