“Hello Captain Pedersen.” Said D’Silva. “Void Marshal Bates requests your company in his office at your earliest convenience. It is a matter of serious concern that can only be discussed with you in person.” Carried on D’Silva.
“I can leave this afternoon and be on the next cosmic-ferry.” Confirmed Captain Andreas.
“Let me thank you on behalf of the Void Marshal and also apologies for cutting you and your crew’s shore leave short.” Said D’Silva sincerely.
With that D’Silva ended the call and left Captain Andreas with the task of saying his goodbyes to his family
He made his way back into his parent’s home, located in the old town of Taastrup, being a suburb of Copenhagen, where they noticed his demeanour had gone from joyful to serious.
“What is it son, who was that on your communicator, has something happened to the Fortress?” Said his dad with concern because he had seen this face from many of his own men when they got serious news.
Captain Andreas’ wife, Astrid Pedersen, who was Astrid Jensen, who had met Andreas Pedersen in the Academy, being in the same classes as him but who also passed astrophysics, unarmed combat and Literacy. The 2 had fallen madly in love, then had helped each other to pass the academy with honours and then they both went on to serve aboard the patrol spacecraft The Surprise, until they both got married, made a home in Andreas’ hometown of Taastrup and would go on to have 3 children. They then went their separate ways to serve aboard other spacecraft, Andreas aboard the Warlock and Astrid went on to serve aboard the Fortress. She would quickly catch the eye of the captain for her quick thinking, resourcefulness and calm demeanour and she would rise to the rank of commander when the previous commander took command of his first ship. Sadly with the death of her captain she would be promoted to captain of the Fortress.
Captain Astrid was the captain of the large 200 crew spacecraft the Fortress, this is the E.D.F’s Ambassador, Diplomatic and Dignitary ship that they would use to transport Dignitaries and Ambassadors from one galaxy to another. The ship is found to have 12 levels with housing for 600 passengers, with advanced energy shields, armour plating and with the most advanced Ion and Byzentonium drive. Captain Astrid, who at 45 years old, is the youngest Captain to serve aboard The Fortress, when she successfully saved The Fortress and the life of King Ezlund and Queen Ssarly who were Korrelein Dignitaries from Earth 2, when she was the first officer and they were attacked by Talligon Raiders on their way back to Earth 2, and the captain had been killed in the attack.
Seeing their father’s face looking grim, his three children, two boys August 5 years old, Aksel 7 years old and his oldest daughter Luna 12 years old, all came running up to him, giving him hugs.
“Is it mum?” Said Luna with tears starting to form in her eyes.
“No, it’s not, mum is fine, in fact I have just been talking to her over Vid-link, she is in the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy on the planet Fin-fire celebrating the wedding of the King and Queen of the Dekeke nation, so we don’t her to worry about her.” Comforted their father. “I have requested to appear before the Void Marshal himself because he has an important mission for me and my crew.” Added Andreas.
This got an ‘Ooohh’ out of his children and then the three went back to sit with their grandmother.
“Can you tell us anything?” Asked Andreas’ father.
“ You know as much as I do. All D’Silva said was that the Void Marshal would like my attendance in his office as soon as possible.” Said Andreas
Andreas spent the rest of the day playing with his children, spending time with his parents and siblings. He then shared a lovely lunch with his family before he went up to his room to change into his captains’ uniform and to pack the rest of his belongings.
When he came downstairs his children were waiting at the front door to see their father off.
“Please be careful and safe, and know that we are going to really miss you, we really wish you didn’t have to go.” Said his three children, while giving their dad the biggest hug they could.
“Yes, please be careful, you are just as important to us, then you are to the E.D.F” said Andreas’ Mother.
Before Andreas left he took his father to one side so he could have a quiet word.
“What is it son, you have a worried look on your face.” Said Andreas’ father.
“It’s Just that recently I’ve been thinking about grandfather and what happened to him, when he was in command of the StarCryer. I keep wondering if something like that might happen to me and if it’s something to do with the StarCryer.” Said Andreas
“Look! You can’t let what happened to your grandfather get to you. Your grandfather had a psychotic break, what he did to his crew and then bombed Listening Post 4. Murdering 6 of his crew while 1 survived, was a terrible thing to happen, but then killing 253 on that station is utterly unforgivable. He was tested by 3 of E.D.F’s best psychotherapists and they all agreed that it was him and no external influences. So please stop worrying about it and we know that your Dr. Cross is keeping a close eye on you, making sure that that sort of thing won’t happen to you.”
“I know dad, but thank you. It’s just something that has been bothering me. I will try to not think about it and keep my mind on whatever missions I may be on.”
Andreas kissed both his parents, his four sisters and gave a bear hug to his two brothers. He then turned to his three children, gave them a big hug and kiss and said “I am going to miss you all too but sometimes I must go and help out in the galaxy too. You only must wait a few days and then your mother will be back, and she will take you over to see Nana and Grandpa and then you three can be spoiled by mums’ family.”
That brought a big smile from the trio and after giving them another kiss and hug, he boarded the cosmic-ferry that would take him up to the E.D.F base.
When his cosmic-ferry got closer to the moon and to E.D.F, there came an announcement over the speaker informing captain Andreas that they would be docking in 15 minutes.
Captain Andreas came awake immediately, stood up and smoothed down his uniform, combed his hair and beard, slipped on his waist coat and utility belt and then sat back down ready to embark.
The cosmic-ferry docked at the E.D.F station and captain Andreas entered the bustling E.D.F terminal, with all the new recruits, the patrolling guards and the other captains and crew.
Captain Andreas was making his way to the command centre and to the Void Marshal offices.
He was just coming off the lift at the command centre when he saw Captain Francis coming towards him and the two of them gave each other a hearty handshake.
“Good to see you Francis, I hope you are well and you will be getting your new ship soon.” Said captain Andreas.
“It’s a pleasure to see you too, Andreas,” replied Captain Francis. “My crew and I are doing very well, thank you. We’ve just been assigned to a new ship called the Vibrant Sun II. It’s equipped with experimental advanced scanners installed in the cargo bay. These scanners are designed to detect any foreign substances, lifeforms, or matter that could pose a threat to the ship. If they prove successful, they’ll be integrated into all newly constructed spacecraft and potentially used as valuable trade assets in other systems.”
“That is fantastic news, I’m really pleased that you have gotten all that sorted out. I hope we can work again in the future and hopefully not at the expense of you losing your ship.” Said captain Andreas.
“I would like that very much, not losing another ship, but to working together again.” Said captain Francis with a smile. “So, what are you doing here at E.D.F. command?”
“I have been requested by the Void Marshal to come to his office.” Offered captain Andreas. “But that is all I was told.”
“Well, I hope it is something good and you are not being demoted or even fired.” Said captain Francis. “I am so pleased that I have bumped into you like this, but I really do have to go and break in my new ship.”
“I hope all goes well with your new ship and I hope to see you again soon.” Said captain Andreas.
They both shook hands again and then captain Francis entered the lift and captain Andreas turned and made his way to the Void Marshal office.
Captain Andreas made his way past the many offices of this part of E.D.F, the offices of the many staff of the Void Marshall’s and the Sol Admirals, up to the desk of Carlos D’Silva.
“Good day Mr. D’Silva, I’m here at the request of the Void Marshall.” Said captain Andreas.
“Good day to you too, Captain.” D’Silva then pressed the button on the intercom, so he could inform the Void Marshall. “Void Marshall, Captain Andreas is here.”
“Thank you D’Silva.” Said the Void Marshall. “You can send him in.”
D’Silva got up out of his seat and opened the door, allowing captain Andreas into the Void Marshall office.
Void Marshall Terrance Bates is a physically imposing man, standing at 6’ 5”, with what many people thought was fat, was actually muscle. He started out as a scrawny lad from the poorer side of Wales in the UK but by the age of 14 he grew to an extraordinary height and it looked like he had put on a tremendous amount of weight but it turned out to be pure muscle. He was able to get a scholarship from his school to the London Academy because of his size and strength and how well he did in his school wrestling team. He became his class president and captain of the debate team. He mastered the political side of the Academy and was soon noticed by the E.D.F intelligence branch. He quickly rose to the position of Assistant Void Marshall Stanley Cleer’s Aid and then became Assistant Void Marshall to Void Marshall Arthur Wells and then when Wells retired he was the first choice to take over as Void Marshall, and he brought about a vast change to the intelligence side encompassing the defence force and the search and rescue in to make it one whole department, run by one group of agents.
“Thank you for cutting your shore leave short but a matter of some urgency has come to my attention, and I need your expertise and the crew of the StarCryer.”
“I don’t think I need to explain to you the story of the disappearance of the Pioneer, do I captain.” Said the Void Marshall.
“No sir, every student that ever went through the Academy knows of that famous ship. It disappeared near Pluto on its maiden voyage to colonise space and there was no evidence to be found when a search and rescue ship was sent out.”
“That is the story in a nutshell but we all know there is much more to that story. Why I have asked you here in person is because it has come back. It reappeared in the exact location from where it disappeared, right down to the micrometer.”
At this captain Andreas had to sit down because this was news that was beyond belief. It had been over 900 years since this happened, then for the Pioneer just to return.
“I don’t know what to say to this news, Void Marshall. I gather that you want me and my crew to go and investigate what had happened to the Pioneer.”
“It’s worse than that captain. The signal from the Pioneer came back to us 3 weeks ago and the closest ship that could investigate was the Titan, who was 2 days out but we haven’t had any response from the Titan in all that time. So that is why I would like you and the StarCryer to go and find out what has happened to those 2 ships.”
“The ship is in dry-dock sir, getting an upgrade to the shields, scanners and engines, and we were told that it would take between 8 and 10 weeks to accomplish.” Captain Explained, Captain Andreas explained.
“I have already had a word with the Space Dock captain Dock, captain, and they have pulled all available hands to speed the operation along. Even your own engineer has come off shore early, like yourself, to help with the upgrades. It all should be completed in 3 days giving you enough time to get your crew ready and leave as soon as possible.”
With that the Void Marshall saw the captain out and gave the order to D’Silva to contact the rest of the StarCryer’s crew and get them to the Space Dock at their earliest convenience.
Captain Andreas made his way back down to the Cosmic Ferry terminal and boarded a ferry over to the Space Dock.
The Space Dock was a large space station that could house 4 Colony Class star ships. These star ships were 45 floors high, 650 m long and were able to support a total of 1030 people, making up of 400 crew and 630 colonials or passengers. The Space Dock could house the 500 mechanics and their families up the central column and then the top 10 floors of the central column are the markets, the admin and the offices that could be used by the members of the E.D.F.
When Andreas had finally made his way over to the Space Dock, he used the lift to make his way to the top floor where he could use these offices to have a conference with his crew.
He used the computer to find out the status and location of his crew, as he had already been informed by D’Silva that his crew had been contacted and they were making their way to the Space Dock.
He contacted his crew via video-link, Thonggar was almost there, he would be with the captain in 2 hours. Dee Dee and Harper, who were coming from Mars, would be there in 8 hours but they had caught the same Cosmic Ferry and would arrive together. Jenkins, already Jenkins already on the Space Dock, was Dock was just finishing fixing the air scrubbers on the Dauntless, and would make his way up in around 3 hours. Dr. Cross had only just caught the Ferry and would be there in 5 hours. Drake for some reason couldn’t be reached but Andreas was able to speak to his sister and she assured him that Drake would be there in 10 hours.
With his crew all contacted and he now knew when they would be there, he turned his attention to the StarCryer. Knowing that this would be only his second mission while being in command of the StarCryer, he considered all the worries that concerned him, he thought about being a good captain for the crew, how he didn’t want to end up like his Grandfather, and that this mission was a big one, not only was he investigating the reappearance of the Pioneer and all that might have happened to her but he also find out why the Titan had gone dark and why there was no communication from them. He spent the next hour dwelling on these subjects and thinking about how he can handle each situation and then when he was happy, he pushed them to the back of his mind and would deal with them when he was ready.
He next brought up the StarCryer, on the vid-link which occupied the entire wall, along with the status of the upgrades.
Andreas stood there looking at the StarCryer which took up the whole screen. To Andreas the StarCryer was one of the sleekest looking ships in the E.D.F search and rescue, the 150 m long and 82 m wide rounded body of the ship, compromising over 3 floors which had the cargo bay/passengers quarters on level 3, the airlock, engineering, medical, the cockpit which navigation and communication sat behind were located on level 2, and then at the top of the ship was located captain quarters and the crews quarters.
The ship looked well cleaned, as the lights were shining off the hull and the guns and missile pods looked clean and well oiled.
Andreas was proud that he was chosen to be captain of the StarCryer, even though what had happened to his grandfather and he hoped that it was just his mental health and not something to do with the StarCryer.
Andreas noticed that it says that the upgrades would be ready in 2 days time, and he was happy that they had set up sleeping quarters here for E.D.F employees that would require this facility while waiting for their ships to be finished
