The mission

Part 2

"Mrs. Reyes." Lieutenant Stelvio and mechanical engineer Reyes stood side by side in a line of four. After the conditions and promises were made, they said goodbye to General. To her right was Grim, but Reyes had her first interaction with the lieutenant, who stood to her left. "The wife of a famous pilot who ended his success with a sudden death," the lieutenant quoted old news that had caused grief all over the planet.

Reyes gritted her teeth and joined her lips in a thin line, resisting the lieutenant's provocation. "If your personal details said you have children, the general would certainly not have called you on this mission, or better yet, you would not have dared to agree." The engineer now gave her a cold, sharp look. "Did you dig through my life?" She asked in the same tone, acting rudely.

"You don't seem like a person who is interested in someone else's lives." She looked back at the general who were shaking hands with the Captain. Stelvio just smiled coolly and added, "Yes, I checked everyone. I think it's important to know who I'm dealing with." Reyes definitely didn't expect a direct and honest answer, so she was surprised. However, she found the move quite clever.

"Excellent fliers do not question their lives during exercises." The lieutenant certainly did not decide to stop she was consciously adding salt to the Reyes's wound. Morgan knew there was something behind her husband's death, she just didn't have the strength to do anything. The truth won't bring him back anyway. "I was there," Stelvio added. "My first flight," she looked at the floor, remembering that day. Although Reyes wanted to continue this conversation, but she decided to cover up her curiosity. Her wound has healed after a long time and she doesn't want it to open up again. "I recommend you not to play detective," she muttered in a cold tone that lost her interest. Stelvio smiled coolly. "Of course, there's a mission ahead of us, let's focus on that." The lieutenant's gaze was now in the distance.

The chosen ones stood in front of a large monitor in the main control room of the spaceship.

The general had his last speech and he pointed out the problems: "First you overcome the atmosphere of the Arma, this is the first critical point. Reports on the condition of the spaceship is in charge of Degea's artificial intelligence, which you can contact for information. It is designed as the brain of a spaceship, i.e. it is a control interface that you can talk to. She will guide you further when you leave the atmosphere. There will be a problem of higher fuel consumption due to the gravitational force of our sun, so when you get out of our solar system wait for the ship to regenerate. This is a good time to gather your heads and think about further movements, that is, Cryosleep. From then on, I will no longer be of use to you, nor will you to me. What I want from you and for this mission to be successful, is accurate planetary data, everything you can collect will come in handy." He spoke quite quickly as if someone would interrupt him every second. "Good luck." The general finished with a quick goodbye, and the crew responded that they are ready.

˝Lieutenant Stelvio, The front row is yours." The captain took over, nodding at the chief pilot's seat. "With pleasure, Captain." The lieutenant's expression was like pure fun, like she was going to watch a good movie. She sat rubbing her hands while studying the commands in front of her. "Reyes, Grim, you'll join me in a side check." He looked at her, who nodded resolutely and headed for the command post. The chief pilot's seat was at the head in front, and the side ones were behind him. "Tie up, this could be shaggy." The Lieutenant Stelvio studied her commands and prepared the ship for takeoff.