Galaxy Among Us: General

A Game Of Risks

Felix looks at me with a proud expression. He is neither smiling nor frowning. His approval shows in his blank, yet emotional face." Well done Vice Admiral. I needn't repeat what anyone else has stated so let me ask you a question." I nod to him, but he would have asked regardless of what I would say to him." Thod question at times causes a dilemma in many Admirals minds so I will go easy on you. Why did you join?" I look back at dad who nods in approval." Well sir, In all my honesty I felt pressured at first. I wanted to fulfill my fathers expectations and wanted to make my mother proud. After basic I found that I loved the fleet and stayed after the required years. I admit that even now I feel pressured. Sir, have you ever felt the lives of an entire military are soley in your hands, all the while you are responsible for civilian lives and important leaders too?" Felix's eyes narrow as he focuses on me more. I continue." I am afraid I will fail but have no choice but to try and prevail. I dont want to fail. I know what I am capable of but in all honestly I lay awake at night wondering if I was worthy of the position of Commander, yet here I am being addressed as a Vice Admiral. I guess I feel as if my success is due to my Fathers actions, not my own. I guess-" Before I can finish my statement Felix cuts me off. He pulls out a card from the right pocket of his pants. He then places it in my hand. I look down examining the offical seal on what seems to be an ID to enter restricted areas. While I examine it he starts giving me advice." Young man, you are human and that is a good thing. I wake up everyday feeling as you do." I can't contain myself and intercept his statement." What? really!" A smirk brushes across his face." Yes Sanchez! The best advice I can tell you is to believe in yourself and your comrades. Your record shows that you haven't been in command of a ship for 5 years. This was due to the orbital station program you attended to boost your leadership skills. Right?" I am surprised that such a man has read my files. I answer back at him rapidly." Yes, yes sir." Felix continues." Then it is settled. You will not lead the 2nd Fleet." Everyone in the room is shocked when they hear this. Dad even tries to say something but Felix will have none of it. Due to the fact that I can be foolish at times I sigh in relief. Felix in his ever lastingly deceptive wisdom plays me like a violin." Instead I will be forming a new fleet. You will train them, you will lead them, you will personally get to know them and their history. I will do you a favor however, all who were apart of todays test, have officially been assigned to your new fleet."

My eyes open wide, So much that I feel like I am getting a headache. The entire room erupts with claps and cheers. Dad laughs and shakes me while I stand with my mind wandering. Felix laughs and gets close to my ear." You are lucky you weren't forced to protect the Council against terrorist for your first test. The previous man in charge forced me to do that at age 22. I only had one mission. Never flew a ship. You have training and have been taught well by your father and friends. The only way you will lose most or all doubt, is by taking the initiative. We are never ready. It is best to remeber that you will fail sometimes and that is perfectly acceptable." Felix proceeds to recall war stories and jokes for the rest of the celebration. I try to relax and enjoy the rest of the event but I am too shocked to do so. I stand tall, nod to my fellow comrades and leave my own celebration.

I find myself reflecting on his words for the next few days. I even asked several other people for their input. I replay all the advice from worse to best. One man told me to stop being a pussy. When I attempted to explain that I had all these emotions building up for years, he would laugh and mock me. A veteran told me his relative from the 21th century was a veteran for a war among many nations. He explained how he wasnt ready for another war but had to because his nation was attacked and his loved ones were in danger. I lay thinking on my bed. I am not sure if this new fleet is my blessing, or my fatal curse. I can't sleep and refuse to get up. My mind feels like closed flood gates that are overflowing and aching to open. Its my day off however so I lay in be trying to deny that the morning sun has come up to purge my sleep. After procrastinating in bed I finally decide to get up. The city as always is noisey and restless. Merely viewing the people from my home causes me to get a minor headache. As I watch millions of strangers cross the road I breathe out slowly. I notice dads car is in the drive way, which is odd, yet despite this I continue to look out into the endless world of endless possibility's. Even the homeless man singing Rock a rock by Daman Gurland is interesting to me. As he sings I find myself singing." Oh baby girl, you can be my rock a rock, sleep top, hop bop, popin lock a girl, Oh baby, my spin top and rock a rock." As I sing the homeless man proceeds to dance like a fool which prompts me to laugh. After staring out the window for a few minutes I finally decide that my stomachs emptiness is unbeatable and I must obey the desire for food! I put on some semi dirty pants and a decent t shirt and open the door to my room. The door creeks a little due to the hinges that lack oil. as the door creeks and croaks I run downstairs as a smell hits my nostrils. The smell of pancakes quickly infects my nostrils like a bee infestation in a home. The sound of laughter and tv assults my ears too.

When I finally reach the living room I see Hayden, along with my Father, and a few of my friends all from the military. A young guy who is also my age gets up and tackles me." Sebs!" I grunt as I push him off of me." Dante, fuck off!" Dante laughs, his chocolate eyes as mysterious as ever. His brownish black hair as flawless as rare jewels. He mumbles something as he helps me up. Two other friends, Mindy and Nova greet me as well. Finally I am hugged by one of my best friends, Kiba. Mindy's blonde curly hair makes her beauty explosive, like fireworks in the sky. Her green eyes remind me of the training camp we first met. Nova laughs as he and Mindy argue over the controller for the tv. His black hair is hidden under his hoodie. He never takes it off when he is off duty. He even used to wear sunglasses that would hide his blue eyes. He was born with eye problems that were mainly felt when the eyes were exposed to too much sun, but after his eye surgery and change of diet his eye problems resolved in 4 weeks. Kiba fixes his hair that can resemble the slope of a mountain depending on how he styles it. Today he styled it exactly like a slope of a mountain. He runs his hands through his lightly gelled jet black hair. His caramel eyes evaluating mine. I smile while attempting to steal the controller. While I attempt to reach for it Nova gasp as Mindy curses me out. We all laugh as Dad enters the room. He brings a big plate of pizza bites to the living room and we like savages devour the pizza bites like our prey. Dad chucks as he wears an aprin, which sends me into a laugh. Cheerfully we all catch up and have quick conversations. Mindy mentions how she just got promoted and Kiba mentions how he hates being single. Moments after he says this Nova and Mindy wink at me, in turn making me feel awkward, so for a while we all sit watching tv and eat pizza bites. Occasionally we begin talking about what we've been doing for the past month again. Dante mentions how he saw a dolphin a Water World. He proceeds to mimic dolphin noises. We all laugh. Hayden then stands on the couch and mimics a shark. We laugh again.

Nova who isnt known for careful word usuage breaks the thin ice that we all feel in the room." Kiba, you found any data on our parents?" I nearly choke as Mindy gives him an agressive look. She stands up and grabs him by the chest." Dont fucking ask it like that you piece of shit." He reacts," Shut up! We all lost our parents just like Sebs! Mindy, it was Kiba's job to look for information, so why is everyone trying to avoid the topic? Our parents are...They..." He holds his tongue and stays silent. Hayden coughs as a way to mask his desire to know. Kiba finally grabs his bookbag as the silence creeps in. The red bookbag resides behind the couch. As Kiba reaches effortlessly for the bag he eventually pulls out a silver tablet, silver like the moon or sand on a beach. The tablet has documents on the planet Cerfect and the expedition team. He hands it to Nova who lost his parents, an aunt, and his brother on the mission. We all squish together in hopes of finding new evidence that would help us find our families. Even dad who made it clear we could be suspended for looking at restricted data is now peaking due to my new status as a Vice Admiral, which allows us to view confidential things like classified reports for publicly known missions. Nova puts the tablet down after fearlessly searching the documents. we all move to our original seats in shame and disappointment. The documents contain no new data. Kiba looks down as if he is responsible for this." Kiba." I nudge him,"Good try." His frown turns into a half assed smile." I miss my parents. I know I always say this but thanks mr Sanchez for taking us in." Dad lifts up the fork he is holding in his right hand into the air to show that he is pleased to take care of all of us. I was the only person who didn't lose both parents. The scientist who went missing had an escort from the Fleet which happened to have everyone elses parents stationed on one of the Fleets ship. My dad was just promoted and his dream of going to Cerfect was shot down like a duck in Hunting Season. Hayden noticing our disappointment quickly stands up." Well Sanchez, good news! We all got assigned to your fleet! And I got promoted to Vice Admiral too!" I nearly choke again when he says this." What do you mean you too!" The others laugh as I begin to protest." Oh come on! Just when I thought I had bragging rights!" Kiba stands up too." Actually, your dad recommended we'd be assigned to your command crew, and that Hayden be promoted to Admiral." Dad hearing himself being mentioned can't hell but smile as he makes pancakes, so with that, I sit down and accept it.

As we channel surf we find less things to watch, we are too bumbed out to even watch Fleet Fighters, a tv show about the Fleet in a war against rogue humans who want to subjugate Earth. Its our favorite tv show. Mindy makes the first attempt to lighten our mood agaim, she takes out a deck of Uno Plus cards and looks at all of us." Who wants to play?" Kiba and I lift up our hands, while Nova shrugs. Hayden nods his head with such grace. Dante, who is laying on another couch in the room lifts his index finger in the air and waves it side to side to indicate that he doesn't want to play. Just as she is about to give us our first card, an aggressive nock shakes the front door like an earthquake.