It is an age of scientific revolution and unprecedented exploration, a golden age where humanity has finally delved from their home planet, Earth, and into the vast abyss of space. It is an age where humanity has taken to the stars under one, unified banner, the Federal Systems Alliance. The Federal Systems Alliance governs a vast, diverse empire that extends several galaxies, each galactic region separated by vast oceans of space. Its frontier is plagued with piracy and rumors of extra terrestrial aggressors spread throughout the colonies.

The Federal System Alliance Navy (FSAN) has been tasked with the most difficult task ever transposed to a single organization. To protect mankind. The FSAN is comprised of nearly a hundred million servicemen and women and is the most formidable military that mankind has ever lay eyes upon. Its space fortresses stand vigilant watch across the galaxies, its ships patrol the stars and its personnel serve as its life blood.

It is the year 2449, humanity has unified and reached across the stars...

---

"This is Shark Lead! All units break off formation and engage! They have us surrounded!"

The super cruising Typhoons whirred to life, their afterburners punching through space and sending the formation hurling forwards. Blue streaks of light trailed off as a single Typhoon broke off from formation. Yellow warning lights blared across a holographic screen, warning the stoic, masked pilot that stood behind the integrated displays. "Shark Two. Breaking off." The softly spoken words traversed through his helmet and into his radio. The Typhoon plunged sideways and into space before yawing to the side, the fighter pilot moved the agile superfighter with grace, pulling backwards on the stick and skillfully aligning the interceptor to engage the foreign targets that were firing upon them.

As the lone fighter broke off from formation, the yellow warning lights hued to a crimson red, warning the pilot to multiple radar contacts, "Confirmed. Seven Coyotes. Engaging." The pilot calmly called. Slowly, his thumb trailed over to a nearby switch before gently manipulating the unit upwards. "Weapons armed." A robotic voice resembling a female cooed over his integrated heads up display.

A sharp whirring sound emitted within the cockpit of the Typhoon, its automatic, hyper kinetic cannons winding up before unleashing a flurry of shots across the abyss. Streaks of light emerged from the darkness as an enemy fighter dove out of formation and spiraled out of control before tearing itself into oblivion. Judging by his enemy's incompetence, he could easily tell the sort of enemy he was engaging. Space Pirates. A ruthless group that controlled much of the sector, they were numerous and unrelenting. Where there was one, there would be many, many more.

The lone interceptor danced with his enemy among the stars, weaving in and between six enemy fighters, the superiority of the Aurelian HI-09 Typhoons matched with the pilot's prowess made him an unprecedented force to behold, and before long, six enemy wrecks lay among the stars, destined to be swept away by the galactic abyss. As the fighters were defeated, several waves of enemy fighters replaced them, creating an endless cycle that would break them down, causing the elite squad of Federation fighters to eventually wither and die.

"This is Shark Lead, enemy frigate spotted! It's the Black Ship! How the fuck did they get the drop on us?!"

Off in the distance, a pirate flagship emerged. A behemoth of great scale that rivaled the largest of Federation crafts at the time. Of course, attacking it with such a small fighter squadron would be a suicide mission. Akula knew that, and so did his squadron leader. "I advise disengaging." The stoic pilot remarked into his radio, his hands never ceasing to pitch his fighter back and forth, engaging the multiple enemies that were assaulting his squadron. Everyone in the squadron knew that it was too late to break off and escape, their only option was to fight to the death.

"This is Shark Lead. All units, engage the enemy frigate. For the Federation!"

The Typhoons whirred once more in unison, breaking off from their current dog fights and assembling into a wedge formation, It was a desperate suicide rush to knock out the ominous black frigate that stood before them. The Typhoons were interceptors, not bombers, and therefore had no missiles or heavy ordnance to knock out the frigate with. It was then when one of the fighters decided to break off from formation.

"Shark Two, where are you going?! Shark Two! Get back in formation! AKULA!" The radio blared as a lone fighter pulled backwards, soaring up and above his squadron before pivoting back downwards.

"I'm sorry. But I can't die today. Not here. I still have something that I need to attend to. But do not worry. I will give you all the glorious deaths that you seek."

---

"All registered personnel to Unit Code 32-97-42 report to Hanger Bay Alpha. The Vigilance is now making final preparations for departure."

Lieutenant Akula woke up abruptly in his officer quarters, the sounds of gunfire and engines still blaring in his ears. He was aboard the Auroria, a space fortress that floated just outside the atmosphere of humanity's homeland, Earth. The space fortress was a massive complex, rivaling that of some of humanity's largest cities. The Vigilance, a new Chevalier-class battlecruiser that was docked at the space fortress was preparing for departure, a dreadnought of unprecedented scale, the Vigilance was already famous throughout the three Federation galaxies, and it hadn't even been deployed yet. For three months, the ship had been docked in space, making final preparations and organization before the crew would be allowed on board.

The grizzled war veteran pulled himself out of bed, quickly washing his face before turning towards the MK. 7 helmet that he always wore in public, slipping the robotic unit over his head before gathering the few belongings in his quarters. With that, he would soon leave the Auroria for good, traversing down the hallways of the space station and towards the alpha hangar bay, where the Vigilance remained docked. As he made his way to the hangar, personnel awed and gossiped at the sight of the infamous pilot, the pilot that was known only as Akula.

Slow, deep breaths. Slow, deep breaths. Henry stared up at the ceiling, or perhaps it was the floor. It was always difficult to tell the orientation of the rest of the base while he was in the zero G training room. There was something about being weightless that just made Henry feel at home. While most Landers took nearly a week to become comfortable with zero gravity, it was as if Henry was born into it. Henry had a couple of weeks off from his last assignment on the light cruiser Calgary. His next assignment was to be on the newly Christened Vigilance. It was quite an honor to be selected for this new behemoth of a ship. Somehow he didn't feel he was quite good enough to be selected for this mission. Although his service record was outstanding - aside from several sealed formal reprimands, he still had the feeling that he had pissed off enough officers that nobody else wanted him on their ship or base.
Henry looked down - or up - at his watch. Just as he did he heard the call over the PA system, "All registered personnel to Unit Code 32-97-42 report to Hanger Bay Alpha. The Vigilance is now making final preparations for departure."
Henry smiled and whispered, "Good timing." He reached down to his hip and pressed a small button, causing a short gust of air to push him towards the nearest wall, ceiling or floor. Turns out it was a ceiling. Henry spun himself around and planted his feet on the ceiling before pushing off towards the door. Henry landed and walked with the momentum out the door, the sudden intrusion of normal gravity was something he was quite used to. Henry nodded to the nearby pfc on guard and went into his locker. He had everything prepared, and most of his gear and a few personal effects was stowed into a large duffel bag. Henry threw it over his shoulder and winced at the weight.
He made his way towards Hangar Bay Alpha, seemingly unnoticed by just about everyone. The fortress was just as busy as it always was. Nearby a small squad of landers were doing laps around the base followed closely by what appeared to be a drill sargeant. Henry scoffed, looks like one of the kiddies had pissed off some power-drunk officer. Henry was stopped at the entrance to the hangar for the typical security check. After standing in line for a few minutes he reached the front of one of 6 lines. He placed the duffel bag on the counter and produced his identification. A few scans and some questions later he entered the Hangar, where numerous Navy and Landers had already arrived

Space Fortress Auroria, essentially a floating city in orbit around Earth. This massive military installation was Earth's primary bastion of defense, the complex was a multi-role military platform, staging area, shipyard, and command center. Within this massive installation sat a similarly massive ship, preparing itself for its maiden voyage. One of the six brand new Chevalier Class Battlecruisers, The Vigilance, would begin its journey soon.

"All registered personnel to Unit Code 32-97-42 report to Hanger Bay Alpha. The Vigilance is now making final preparations for departure."

It was about time too, the pilots of the 53rd Wing were getting restless, In the relative safety of the Sol System, there wasn't much for the pilots to do other than fly routine, empty, patrol runs. The sound of the PA system had torn Dominic away from the restless wanderings of his mind. He was laying on his bed in his now-bare quarters, hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling waiting for time to pass. He sprung off the bed almost instantaneously and grabbed his jacket from the corner of the bed. He pulled the flight jacket on, the skull patch that was his squadron emblem on his shoulder prominent and clean. All of his belongings had either already been moved onto the ship, or was in the duffelbag that sat in the middle of the room. Easily looping the duffel around his shoulder and behind him, Dominic went to the door and paused, turning around to give the room that had been his home for the last age a last look over. He spat into the center of the room and smirked. Good riddance.

Not soon later, Dominic was walking into Hangar Bay Alpha, where the Vigilance sat waiting. To call it a hangar bay was a bit of an understatement. Hangar Bay Alpha was fully capable of fitting the entire warship inside of it, with plenty of space for people to walk around and do work. It was probably able to fit a pair of Sagittarius Class destroyers comfortably inside of it if the Vigilance wasn't in there. Near the entrance of the hangar, Dominic saw several individuals with flight jackets, marking them as fighter pilots. Several had the skull patch that Dominic did, marking them as members of his squadron, whereas a few others had red emblems marking them as of the other squadron. There was a bit of a light hearted rivalry going on between the two squadrons, and the pilots were joking and jostling one another when Dominic approached.

"Hawkins!" one of his own pilots called out, walking over to greet the squadron leader. "Its about time we finally got off this fucking station huh?" the pilot said, holding out his hand. The pilot was young and fresh faced, but the pin on his jacket marked him as a veteran, on his breast, his nameplate identified him as Loch.

"Ryan," Dominic greeted him as he clasped the pilots hand firmly, "Looks like you boys are getting along rather well." Ryan Loch was a good pilot, he was approachable, competent, and responsible, and had the makings of a leader in him. Ryan's brow furrowed for a moment and he leaned in a bit closer.

"I was talking to Donnelson, from Red Squadron," Loch said in a hushed tone. "Guess who's replacing Britt as Squadron Leader?" Looking over Dominic's shoulder for a moment to make sure who he was about to name wasn't there, he looked back at Dominic was serious eyes. "Akula. Fucking Akula. Every squadron he's been a part of has been torn apart and ripped to shreds. But guess who always makes it out alive? This guy's bad luck man."

Dominic clapped Loch on the shoulder and gave him a grimace. "That's all superstition Loch. We make do with the hand we're dealt, we take care of our own, Red Squadron included."

A single man walked into the hangar, dressed in a spic and span Lander uniform, with the green and blue colors flaming through the crowds. His face was that of a war veteran, with the smallest of a stubble, each hair almost unseeable, but enough to give his mandible the gray tinge. His maxillae was perfectly smooth, as if just recently shaved, with not a single appearance of a mustache, as that would be unbecoming of any modern soldier. As you moved above his imposing jawline, one would notice that the square face had low cheekbones, giving the image of an eternally angry man, with a straight and pointed nose. The man's iris's were black as space itself, and were covered by wide and short, but not unnaturally short, eyebrows that were scrunched up in a frown, emphasizing the frown lines on his brow. To complete the face, on his almost atomically small haired head sat a red beret of a Lander officer.

The face of a constantly angry man, one would truly say. Upon his entry, the first thing that the rest of the men and women in the room did was glance at his uniform chest, which was covered in medals and campaign ribbons, outdoing most of the younglings in the room. The second thing that was done was a quick snap to attention, and a "officer on deck!", each and every marine on this side of the room's hand going straight to their forehead in a salute. The rest of the crew only stood at attention, as they did not have to actually salute to him, unlike the marines, although some did, which was quite usual.

He returned the gesture gracefully, and barked, "As you were!", giving the people some rest, and he walked forward, into the hangar, and towards the entrance of the ship. He was early, wasn't he? As if to answer his statement, the call went straight over the intercom, which seemed quite the coincidence to the officer.

The Vigilance had been sitting in port making ready for the five year journey that lay ahead of it. While most of the crew and the attached armed forces had never even set foot on the Vigilance the engineering staff had already spent the last two weeks working with the shipyard personnel. There were two reasons for this, the preparations were behind schedule so the extra help got them back on track and it was also a good chance for the engineering staff to familiarize themselves with the ship's many complex systems. Lieutenant Commander Delilah Dominique Delores had already memorized the entirety of it's blueprints, this in itself was an accomplishment due to the massive size of the battlecruiser.

Despite it being a new state-of-the-art battlecruiser it had suffered many hiccups in the weeks prior to launch day. It was like a new born fawn struggling to make it's first steps and start walking. At the very least Delilah's obsessive passion for engineering had forced her to insist upon working on the Vigilance despite the reluctance of the Shipmaster. It wasn't against any regulations to request such duties and it wasn't even uncommon for this to happen but the Lt. Commander and the Shipmaster were both proud people. They couldn't help but butt heads the moment they met. Over the few weeks that they worked together the Shipmaster, Commander Forest, and Lt. Commander Delores had gotten to respecting each other. They were both competent engineers in their own right and both had plenty of experience to draw from.

Currently the two of them were taking a shortcut through a small zero-G maintenance tunnel, about one meter in diameter, towards Main Engineering. "... it's the only problem you'll never be able to fix..." Grumbled Commander Forest. "...It takes so damned long to get anywhere in this place." Delilah cracked a smile as she drifted along the tunnel behind him. "At least I have a good view." The Commander chuckled slightly.
"I really don't envy you. Out on the rim for five years... and you don't even get paid vacation time."
"Will you miss me?"
"I don't reckon I'll have time to miss you between all the hot showers and fine meals."
"It's a wonder you never married."
"Actually I've been married three times."
"Is that right?"
"Yeah... none of them liked my jokes either."
"It's their loss."
"Looks like we're finally here."

After drifting through the maintenance tunnel they finally emerged in Main Engineering where commands could be sent to all critical systems on board the Vigilance. A handful of shipyard personnel were dotted around doing final checks. Just then the message came through that the Vigilance crew would be boarding soon. "I suppose I'd better head over to launch party." Delilah gave a crisp salute the Commander Forest returned in kind. "See you in five years Lieutenant Commander." With that she started on her way to the designated hangar bay.

Eric steadied himself on the railing leading to the Hangar bay. His duffel bag filled with his gear and a few mementos from home, he watched as other people kissed loved ones goodbye, some pointed at the majesty of the Vigilance itself or just walked nervously around. He touched the Skull patch on his flight jacket, which was coincidentally fitted over the skull tattoo his old gang had placed upon members that succeeded initiation. His other arm was filled as well, mostly juvenile bullshit that he got to make him look tougher, the only one he didn't want removed was that skull. It was always nice to remind oneself where they came from. He looked upon the vessel he was about to board, suddenly frightened of how many years he would be away, how many years since Cerol itself. He shook his head and regained his nerves, striding past a family that were saying goodbye to a father or brother.

He looked back at the other personnel too. Landermarines, Engineers, Officers, grunts. All of them look bewildered as they approached the behemoth of the Vigilance. Eric was still an Ensign, lowest officer class that got to fly, and the only reason why he still had the ability to was from his skills piloting S6-Supernovas while back in boot. His record was an open book of reprimands, warnings and suspensions, all of them for stupid things a normal person would learn from. As such while all his other buddies were promoted, he would stay behind in the promotion race. Still no one could touch him when he was in the cockpit of an interceptor, and many people said he had the makings of a great leader. Eric didn't care for things like that, he just wanted to fly amongst the stars, meet beautiful women and blow up Pirate fighters like it was a Freedom day fireworks display back on Cerol.

He remembered how he even got this gig, he was playing poker with a few of his buddies back at boot. One of them had thrown down the last of his chips, and Eric did as well. When the Ante came the other man threw in a chance to serve on the Vigilance, Eric threw in a half flask of Jorgun Whiskey. Four aces and a bar brawl later, Eric walked out with a cool three hundred credits, a smashed bottle and papers to finally get into space. After a quick trip to a Forger and then back to an Authenticator, Eric had processed the papers and received his tickets to head to the Space Station, he had only gotten here a few hours previous.

Eric grunted as he lifted his bag onto his shoulder, and it was filled to the brim with items that probably get him reprimanded from senior staff. Although there were a few restrictions on bringing things in, Eric had the guile to bullshit his way past the security check and flirt his way past the more of the obvious questions. He was about to produce his identification when the loudspeaker blared to life.

"All registered personnel to Unit Code 32-97-42 report to Hanger Bay Alpha. The Vigilance is now making final preparations for departure."

Eric dropped his identification and swore, bringing his head up to meet the edge of the desk, gripped the back of his head and handed it to the Check-in girl, who was stifling a giggle. Eric flashed her a smile and joined the rest of the crew that were making their way in. He found others that wore the same skull patch and dropped his bag next to him, trying to feel his head to see if there was any blood. He looked at his hands and saw that they were clean, he breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled to himself.

"Great, all I need to draw attention to myself is to drip blood onto the newly polished floors, that and ruin the safety days wouldn't that be a nice fine start to this journey"

He said this to no one in particular, more so for himself. He touched the skull patch once more and stood up waiting to head on into his five year future.

Hangar Bay Alpha was quite possibly the greatest scene that mankind has ever created. A massive superstructure that stretched 3,500 feet long and 1,800 feet wide, it was an area of space constructed to hold the Vigilance in its entirety. Certainly one of the largest ships that had ever been constructed. The 2,600 foot battlecruiser was three times longer than any battleship to ever sail the seas of planet Earth, and probably weighed almost ten times as much as well. It truly was a sight to behold, a scene of technological marvel that humanity would remember for the rest of its days.

Inside the Hangar Bay, large congregations of service personnel socialized with one another, each clumped up like highschool students in their respective social circles. The Landers were in their own, with the fighter squadrons in another, and the ship personnel in many more small groups. They were all cogs in what needed to be a well-oiled killing machine. The space on the frontier was dangerous and unrelenting, and despite the size of the Vigilance, would need to have an ace crew if it ever desired to return home to Federation Space.

"ATTENTION ON HANGAR! ADMIRAL ON DECK!" An officer shrilled. The sound of eight thousand personnel snapping out of their social interaction and into formation caused the room to rumble for an extended moment. Everyone's eyes searched for their Captain when a younger woman revealed herself from the West Entrance, flanked on both ends by an entourage of her officer staff. The eyes of officers darted about, inspecting the personnel before they were to board the Vigilance. Miranda however, had her eyes only set on the Vigilance.

"It's beautiful." She cooed under her breath as she stepped up to the bow of the ship. Standing on the edge of her toes, she reached up and placed her hand onto its protruding armor, running her fingers along the side, almost as if the ship was a great beast that she was calming. Of course, she had been on the Vigilance before, but this was after the final touches had been placed onto the ship. It was finally ready to be commissioned and sent into war.

Rear Admiral Miranda Chevalier stepped away from the ship and towards one of the many docking ramps which led inside the Vigilance. Before she entered the ship, she turned towards the servicemen and woman that were standing at attention for her.

"Men and woman of the Federation! I expect each and every one of you to serve your stations with the greatest capacity you can muster. I will accept no less than one-hundred and ten percent. We are the forefront of mankind, both it's spear and shield. We are the vanguard of nearly twenty-five hundred years of human evolution. We are not here for show, to fulfill some political doctrine or impress some old men sitting at their desks. We are here to protect and serve humanity with pride, honor and superior firepower!"

With that, the Admiral stepped inside the ship, the first of many Federation personnel that would enter the ship for the Vigilance's first combat operations. "Alright! At ease everyone! All personnel are to board from the East and West docking bays. Report to your combat stations immediately and prepare for combat inspection!"

The subtle sounds that played over Jodi's earpiece belayed to the others around her that she was not paying attention but it was the exact opposite. Jodi was paying attention to everything around her while listening to her earpiece. "Whatch ya listening to there?" came a inquisitive voice to Jodi's left. When Jodi turned her head to answer she noticed two subtle facts about the inquisitive person, he was a E-3 and was comissed to work in her medical bay. "Oh, well. I like to listen to books while I am sitting around. Your name is Vincent Young, correct?" Jodi said to the Hospitalman. The young man looked a little puzzled after Jodi's question, which was somewhat understandabe.

"Oh, uh yeah that is me. Why do you ask and how do you know my name?" says Vincent to Jodi as he resettles himsef in his seat. Jodi looks over the Hospitalman Young once before noticing his uneasyness. "Oh, well I remember your name from the roster. You are working in my medical bay after all. I am Commander Jodi Winters by the way. No need to be so tense." Jodi tells Hospitalman Young with the last part being put in because of the notable tenseness he took on when Jodi told him who she is. It took a few minutes of silence between the two until Vincent began to speak. "I... am glad to--" the hospitalman trails off as the speakers click on.

"All registered personnel to Unit Code 32-97-42 report to Hanger Bay Alpha. The Vigilance is now making final preparations for departure."

"Oh, well we will need to get moving then. I will see you on the Vigilance Hospitalman Young." Jodi says as she turns off her earpiece and walks to the hanger bay. There were plenty of people wandering around the hanger bay when she arrived. Jodi stopped in her tracks as soon as she noticed the Vigilance. It was such a beautiful ship in the lighting of the bay. There wasn't a scratch on the battlecruiser but Jodi knew that it might not stay that way for long. Jodi nearly tripped as she walked over to a group of medical personele but a firm hand grasped her shoulder and held her upright.

Jodi looked over at the person who helped her stay upright and noticed it was Hospitalman Young. "You almost fell there Commander, you should watch your step more often." Vincent says to Jodi as he lets go of her shoulder. Jodi was about to say thanks with a voice called out, "ATTENTION ON HANGAR! ADMIRAL ON DECK!" Jodi ran in to the formation as quickly as possible and awaited orders from her Admiral. After listening to the short but insperational speech made by the Admiral. Jodi started to move to the line of people boarding the Vigilance and waited to get on. This was the first step in something big for Jodi and possibly the world.

Ray rubbed his eyes as he stepped through into the long hallway full of people, taking a deep breathe as he looked through the crowd then started moving, avoiding walking into anybody or accidentally shoving people, he lugged his possessions in a duffel bag wrapped over his shoulder. Not like he was carrying anything that great in the bag, mostly spare clothes, a few pictures, requisition forms, identification, nothing that when they searched the bag would force him to not bring onboard. He hadn't gotten much sleep since learning he was placed on the Vigilance for its maiden voyage, mostly just nerves coupled with that he usually didn't sleep that much, but he had managed to sneak in a nice power nap on the ride over to where he was currently, so he wasn't that tired, he was used to not sleeping much, it didn't bug him like it used to.

"All registered personnel to Unit Code 32-97-42 report to Hanger Bay Alpha. The Vigilance is now making final preparations for departure."

He heard come over the speakers inside the base, which caused him to pickup the pace as he moved towards the hangar, finally passing through it where the sight that greeted him made his mouth drop open in surprise. The Vigilance, it was huge, a hell of a lot bigger than he had been told, his eyes scanned it over, taking in the thrusters, weaponry and finally the crowds of people entering the hangar alongside him. He continued walking, coming to a stop where the other landermarines had gathered, these were his people, a grin almost came onto his face as he leaned against a wall, waiting for the commanding officer to show up, which she did very shortly which caused him to pop off the wall and snap into attention besides his fellow soldiers.

He listened to her speech, getting a good look at her as she spoke. He hadn't ever seen or talked to her before, he only was briefed on her, an admiral, but the captain of the Vigilance. She gave the usual rousing speech that a captain would give to their crew, then once she finished speaking all personal were ordered to finally board the ship, which Ray did as he picked up his bag full of items and got into line with the others, which started moving as they all began to fill the ship, him waiting his turn.

Jin exhaled slow as she tried not to be jostled by the throng of officers and crew around her. She was nervous. Even though it was probably completely normal that she was freaked out about her first deployment, that fact didn't make her feel any less ashamed. Why should she feel so cold in the pit of her stomach? It was going to be fine- she'd be doing the same thing she always did: fix things. Of course, now she would have a uniform, a boss, and one hundred rules to keep in mind...

She clutched her bag of standard gear with a shaking fist. It held uniforms, grooming supplies, and things like that. Her other hand clung to a metallic toolkit that had obviously seen better days. It was scratched up and worn, and in one corner had 'Jinayah' written in barely-legible scrawl. The brass had offered her a new tool set when she'd gotten her assignment to the Vigilance, but she wouldn't trade her case for anything in the universe. Her hands knew these tools like they were her own fingers. When she held them, she didn't have to think. A new set would have been too much change. Sure, she was leaving the planet, and anyone who had ever known her. People were people, though, and there were going to be plenty on the ship. There wasn't a soul alive on Earth that she would miss. These tools, though, were unique, and treasured, and hers. Nothing could replace them.

As the throng of people moved closer to the door, Jin switched her bag to her other hand, and subtly scratched beneath her breast band. It was just a bit tight, but it was working well. With the looseness of her uniform and the natural slim shape of her body, she looked very masculine. Just yesterday, she'd cut her black hair into a neat buzz, a standard military cut- for males anyway. She thought it worked on her. Her hair was always kept short. A few stray hairs could ruin a delicate motherboard, and she wanted her work to be perfect. She had earned this job, and she was determined to do it right.

"Alright Skull Squadron, lock it up!" Dominic called out, raising his voice as the admiral finished her speech. She was a lot younger than he had imagined. Yet at the same time she managed to command the presence of the some-eight-thousand personnel that were now her charges. She gave a short, rousing speech and then the crew began to board the ship.

"You heard the lady, combat inspection!" He called out as he shouldered his duffelbag, and led the squadron through the throngs of people, the stark black of the squadron flight jackets standing out in the sea of dull FSAN uniforms. It was difficult to get through, it felt like boarding a full luxury cruise, instead of people entering by importance of role, they had decided to let people on in the order they arrived. As a result, some people lagged around, plenty of people stopped to talk, and the entire process was generally inefficient. Luckily enough, the docking bays were wide enough to let enough people through if they pushed enough.

---

The Vigilance's hangar bays were small works of technical marvel. A wide central walkway and catwalks, individual cells for each squadron fighter, a small engineering crew for each machine. At one end of the central walkway were the squadron lockers, on the other end was the bulkhead to the rest of the ship. Across the floor, engineering personnel walked around busily, carts with people and equipment drove by, and loud machine arms moved around as the hangar made moves to prepare itself for the ship's first combat inspection. Skull Squadron occupied the Starboard Hangar Bay, and above the locker rooms a pair of engineers were pulling the stencils off a freshly painted skull.

Dominic breathed out, satisfied. As far as he was concerned, this was his little piece of the Vigilance. Or at least, him and the floor's engineering crew chief. As the team walked into the hangar, Dominic turned around to address his team. "Alright boys and girls, take a moment to put what you need in your lockers, and then get to your assigned fighters. Make nice with your crew, and prepare for that combat inspection."

As the pilots went about their own business, Dominic called out, "New Guy!" he said, waving to Eric, as he gestured to another pair of pilots. "Delaney right? Looks like you're pretty fresh outa flight school. Scores look good enough though. You fly any combat missions yet?"

Clapping his hands on the shoulders of the two pilots that joined them. He first gestured to the male pilot, he was tall, with a strong jaw and hard face, he was wide set, a burly man. "This is Rick Klein, he'll be your wing leader." Rick grunted at him and nodded. Next Dominic gestured to the girl. Where Rick was a large, almost bear of a man, the girl comparatively was tiny, just over five feet tall. "This is Sarah Lin, our squadron ace. She'll be your wing mate." she gave Delaney a smile before walking off to her own fighter.

Shouldering his duffelbag, he began to walk off. "You'll have time to make proper introductions after the inspection."

Eric stood at attention and listened to the Captain give her speech. She looked good enough, but Eric let that thought cool off in an instant. Protocol and all that would get in the way, and if she had someone else....well Eric didn't want that drama to be added to his already overfull folder of problems. He brought up his bag after the speech and ran through his combat inspection protocol in his head. Cerol militia wasn't too keen on following all of the necessary protocols and when he went to Fed boot, they were more concerned about combat scores and drills then the actual inspections. Eric was lucky enough to have kept tally on what he was supposed to do, and running through the mental checklist eased the pain that his head was having. Eric listened to his squadron leader call out to follow him, and Eric wasted no delay in hurrying away from the large mass of people. He felt that if he were to properly make his name known here, he would shut up and follow orders, of course this was followed by a chuckle and a small wonder as to what card games he could play to gather extra equipment amongst the jarheads and the other flyboys. His duffel bag rustled as he pushed past a group of jarheads and he heard one of them mutter something about "stick Jockeys". Eric waved the comment off and continued into the hangar.

Hangar

Eric saw that his Squadron had their own private sector of the Vigilance and he was impressed by it. Even this hangar could fit the Cerol militia building inside of it, and hell probably half of the boots' airstrip. He sidled up to a locker and shoved his bag in there, giving it a definitive push to make sure it was all in there. He would have to come back after inspection and set up his locker properly, but for now it would have to make due. He traced the stencil that adorned his locker with his finger, admiring the small power hidden within that symbol. He casually touched his shoulder where his tattoo was and felt like a small fire was going on inside him. He looked around him and saw that the Squadron leader was waving to him. "Shit, he probably knows everything by now and he is personally going to escort me off the ship....shit shit shit." but when the wave was followed by a friendly greeting, Eric played it cool, hoping that he would be able to play along until after the ship took off.

"Delaney right? Looks like you're pretty fresh outta flight school. Scores look good enough though. You fly any combat missions yet?"

Eric grinned and shrugged. He dusted off one shoulder and put his boot on the bench in front of him, giving off a small cocky stance.

"Flew one against a small thing of bootleggers near Cerol, other then that I haven't done anything too much combat related...Sir..."

Eric wasn't lying there, he actually did fly a combat mission against bootleggers, although it was only in a small shakedown mission and there weren't any casualties....it had been a mostly boring experience, Eric watched as his Squad leader clasped the two pilots on the shoulder, the man looked intimidating, more of a brawler then a pilot, the girl was cute, a small looking thing with a nice smile and possibly smaller hopes of finding a good guy to lay around with Eric hoped. He smiled back at her and started walking towards where they would gather for inspection. Eric fixed up his jacket and cracked his knuckles.

"Alright, lets get this over with so I can find a place to nap."

He flicked his head over to where Sarah was and gave her a wink. This trip was going to be a life changer, maybe even fun.