The Rose Fleet pt. 1

Phoenix orders me into the captain's quarters for me to take a breather. I was confused and angry. I didn't know what to think or say at that moment. My heart was racing, beating out of my chest like a drum. I fell against the wall with my right hand on my chest. It was getting harder to breathe, like air was escaping from me with each passing breath. A memory flashes before me. The last one I have of him. He has flown away with the military and I am left crying into mom's arms. It felt like hours had gone by and the sadness I felt that day overwhelmed me all at once. Phoenix enters the room and quickly charges toward me.

"Demi!" He says in a panic. "Hey, hey, hey. I am here. Take a deep breath."

"Phoenix, I.-"

"-Don't talk, breathe."

He holds me upright as I take deep breaths, slowing down my breathing until it is back to normal.

"You ok?" he asks.

"I…I don't know."

"Come, sit down."

He walks me toward a coach and sits me down. Then he heads to a fountain and gets me a cup of water and hands it to me. He sits down next to me as I take a huge gulp of air.

"Demi, I think you need to breathe for a moment-."

"-They told me that he died in a shootout gone wrong."

"Demi."

"How the hell was he alive here?" 

 "I don't know, Demi. I am just as confused as you are."

"Why are we just now getting a distress signal after all this time?"

"Demi, we'll figure this out, but breathe first."

"Ok." I said, taking another deep breath. "Ok."

"We'll start from the beginning. Find the source of that blue mist. Something was here before us, we need to find out what that was."

"Ok."

A ping sounds off in the room. A notification from the bridge. It was Marcus.

"Captain." He says. "We need you on the bridge. Message from the Admiral."

"Very well." He said before turning back to me. 

The doors open behind him and he reaches out his hand to me. He helps me to my feet and follows behind me back to the bridge. A video plays on the front screen as we enter. It was a repeating message from the Admiral.

"This is Admiral Han." It said, "All ships are to report back to the Rosa, this is not a drill."

All eyes turned to us as we sat down in our seats. Phoenix calls out to the crew.

"Marcus. Status report"

"Sir, the ship is already en route to the Rosa."

"Good, how far out are we?"

"60 seconds out, sir."

"Very good, comms?"

"Sir," The comms officer says, "The Rosa said they need a few more moments to clear a ship but hanger bay eight will be open when we get there." He said.

"Perfect." he says, turning his attention back to Marcus.

"Marcus, how long?"

"10 seconds, sir."

"Okay, let's do this people, red alert…"

The bridge flashed red as sirens echoed throughout the ship. The shaking starts and Marcus begins the countdown.

"Exiting jump space in five…four…three…two…one."

As fast as we enter jump space, we exit with the same force. Our travel puts us back where we started. The Rose still awated us. The massive flagship of the famous Rose fleet, packed with enough firepower to take on an entire fleet of ships single-handedly. Its hangars are located at the top of the ship so we can see all of it in its full glory. The ship stretches on for miles and I honestly have no idea what the actual size of this thing is, but as we pass over the "Rose" written into the ship, I could almost say our entire ship could fit into the letter "O". Straight ahead was the command bridge. It towers high above the ship and doubles as a traffic control tower for nearby ships. We arrive at hangar eight and everyone straps in for landing. There was a little bit of some jostling at first but Marcus is a pro. The ship came in for a smooth landing. He was super focused. His eyes were locked in place, making sure he didn't make the slightest mistake. The closer we got to the ground, the more focused Marcus became.

"Three…two…one…touchdown." He said

There is a loud thud followed by a bang, shifting all our weight up and down as we landed. Marcus, proud of himself, retracts his seat. The metal blinders began expanding along the windows blocking the view. He exits from his seat and takes a bow. The rest of the crew give a round of applause. Phoenix, unamused, cuts in and starts dishing out orders.

"Alright everyone let's get to work. I want everything. Food, supplies, ammunition, if we're missing it, I want it. Marcus, you are in charge, I want all of this done!"

"Yes sir." he said

"Demi, You're with me." He continues.