Mission To Trost Station

Chapter 2

I'm laying in my bunk, in the quarters I share with a good friend of mine, Armin Arlert. My eyelids are already heavy, it's been awhile since I've had good rest. I look over at his sleeping form, across from me, within 7 feet, in his own bunk. These quarters are cramped to most people, but I found it cozy. He snores softly. That brings back my focus. Speaking of, a little bit about Armin. We're the same age, same rank, and same quarters. Strange. I met him during the war. We, the ODSTs, had to drop in to defend the evac a base on the surface of some far gone planet. He was there, and we met again in officer training. We became great friends, still are. He loves books, caught him paying more attention to some novel than to the lessons we were learning on more than one occasion. He's intelligent, very much so. He's also one of the navy's better pilots, but doesn't want to go out in a fighter. I don't blame him. He's a nervous one as well, when lots of pressure is put on him. We ended up on the same ship, and we haven't left each other's side since. I like him a lot... He has smarts where he's lacking in strength. I feel my eyes slowly close...

An alert wakes me up in the middle of the night. Did I go to sleep that quickly? I get up and stretch, putting on my uniform and waking up Armin by shaking him gently. The captain has called for us, and it has to be important if he's waking us up at midnight. I exit out of the room and into the dimmed hallway, then make my way over to the elevator, with Armin stumbling in right before it closes. I hit the button for it to go up, and we are moving.

"Why do you think Woermann is calling us up so late at night?" Armin says groggily as he rubs his eyes and yawns.

"I don't know, but it better be good, I was nice and warm when it came in," I reply, looking over at him.

"I bet you were, Jean...it's hard to get there in these beds."

The elevator comes to a stop, then we get off, heading down the bare hallway to the bridge door, entering and saluting.

"Captain Woermann!" I address while saluting, as it has been ingrained in me to do so. On the elevated platform was the captain's chair, and in it sat Kitz Woermann. He looks over at the both of us, motioning us to come over. We drop our salutes and move forward. He had in front of him a mission briefing, a classified mission briefing.

"Gentlemen, HIGHCOM has ordered this vessel and her crew to Trost Station. Command lost contact with the refitting and docking station several days ago. We are to investigate and report our findings to HIGHCOM and ONI. Hopefully it's just a communications issue, but expect the worse. I want you two leading the squad inside" He explained.

I look over at Armin, then back at the captain. "Yes sir! We are prepared to carry out your orders on your command, sir!"

"Gather your soldiers and gear up, gentlemen. We dock in 30. Dismissed."

And with that, we leave to gear up and gather the team.