The fleet movement
It was a cold day on the bridge with the majority of the ship life being played out in the mess hall the captain of the GRN Nova had little to do almost alone as he gazed out to the stars. It had been three months since his ship saw action and an additional four months since he had orbited on the home planet. Life in space was long and dark when wars weren't being fought and even longer when fleet movement has ceased. His ship was the flag ship of the GRN armada but sadly the 56 million souls that called their ships home have little effect on the comfort of the captain. The captain stood out of his seat that was in the center of the bridge with a console that commanded the attention of anyone who entered the bridge. The 70 by 50 meter room consisted of consoles running down both side walls, a command console and chair in the center, navigation in the most frontal position, and radar placed to the left of the captain complimented the dark empty space with the little light that existed in the room itself. Well at least at the present moment it was dark. Usually the lights in the ceiling supported enough light to brighten the room and the mood. The bridge was unpopulated currently because it usually is the hottest room in the ship but the heat didn't effect the captain in the slightest. As a matter of fact it only drew him into the room. Something about the room made him feel at home.
He slowly moved forward to the navigation post that was lite up as he placed the tip of his index finger down on the screen. A circle appeared on the screen with silver lining on it edges with the hint of a metallic gray pulsing from the lining a red line appeared horizontal in the center of the circle. After a few seconds the red line came to life as a voice mimicked by the red line began to speak to the captain. The circle recognized the captains touch, "Greetings Admiral Flink, what brings you to me today?" The personality of the screen was designed to make it more humanly. The designer Winslow made the partially AI to sound like a female. Research had shown that men and women responded better when the AI was a women.
The gray haired captain continued to move his hand across the screen as pop ups appeared on the edges of the screen around the AI. "Winslow, can you hack into communications and open communication with Keyes?" The AI responded immediately and a screen popped up above the console with the image of a phone with a green haze surrounding it pulsing every 3 seconds this would continue until someone picked up.
After 10 pluses the imaged changed to the view of a man standing in a bridge looking like the one the captain was in. "Greetings Admiral how can I be of service?" The man on the screen bowed as he waited for a response. The captain thought for a second of why he called.
"I would like to know if the cruisers are ready to move. I am going to start preparing a move back to the main allied blob and would like to know if all repairs were complete." The captain tried to make a calm smile as he waited for news on the cruisers.
"Yes sir the repairs are complete they have been so since yesterday. All ships are clear to move I'll make one final check bu I have a green from all that were being repaired. It has been three months so I suppose everyone needs to do something." The captain nodded and he ceased communication with Keyes. The captain began to touch the screen again as he centered in on the one that read A33:99:92:00. It was the most secret one but he felt safe sending his fleet from his current location.
"That will take 5 days and 32 minutes to complete the move," the AI responded to the captains highlight of it. The captain accepted the time it was not to long but quick enough especially since it was a secure location. "I will begin to alert other ships of the move. I was doing a scan seems a scout has made its way on our location would you like me to fire the weapons?" The captain nodded in response. The ship began to become alive as the attack console lite up. Then within seconds a plasma shot shook the ship and the space lite but for a second.
"The beauty of a kill. We must move soon place time for departure in 12 hours." The alarm system started to go off at the captains command alert all to go to their stations. The captain slowly turned around to see the faces of his young crew looking at him. "We move tomorrow morning at this time. get a good night sleep for tomorrow we enter slip space." The captain then looked down and slowly made his way to the chair. His crew respected him enough to not question the fleet movement. "Winslows make sure the order says battle formation main attack force followed by the recyclers and then the capitals.
Story sent by Lord Ted for the AE Stories event