4 Captain Argentear (2/2)
On the monitors, a massive battleship several kilometres in length appeared from the nightscape heading toward the Poseidon. It had large arrays of XMP multi-barrel torpedo launchers, 155mm Anti-Mechanoid Impulse Guns, and a pair of Armstrong Mk IV Positron Cannons for direct annihilation of anything made of matter.
An incoming call appeared on the monitor which Ivan hastily accepted. An image of a regal captain in his early thirties appeared on the screen. His short black hair made a sharp contrast to the two silver stripes on his shoulders. A pair of pointed ears and aesthetically pleasing face told him that he was a human specie 'elf'. Despite his looks, he could be seen as a young captain though, and Ivan felt an instinctive jealousy toward just how young he was.
”This is Captain Grant Argentear of the Galactic Fleet. You are currently in a restricted area, state your purpose immediately.”
”Captain Argentear, this is Captain Ons under orders from my direct superior to patrol through the surrounding several galaxies in order to draw out any pirates hiding. This is a tactic proposed by the latest movement against the scourges.”
Captain Argentear frowned slightly before replying, ”Your vessel is not registered to the military. I also have not heard of such an operation taking place, nor have our radars detected any fleet destroyers or battleship nearby to support the destruction of any potential pirate fleets. What is your military personnel identification number, Captain? We need to verify your identity, please be aware that impersonating any military personnel is a crime punishable by up to ten years of incarceration.”
”My identification number is E47-MF915A-B337,” Ivan said resolutely and prayed the video quality wasn't good enough to see the sweat on his forehead. ”We are aware that this is a dangerous operation, but it is the politicians above that make these decisions. Our ship has been customized to have most systems automated in order to reduce crew requirements. This way we still follow the orders of the higher up, but also protects our comrades.”
The video and sound cut off as the Galactic Fleet battleship ran a verification before unmuting the channel Captain Argentear replied, ”You're identity has been verified, Captain. I pray you remain safe during this mission, this is going to be a dangerous year. Should you require reinforcements, send out a distress beacon and we will come immediately.”
”Many thanks for your concern, Captain,” Ivan nodded his head slightly before closing the communication line.
”You did well, you must have been quite successful before stasis,” Mazur nodded in admiration before moving back to his controls and making several minor adjustments to the ships vector depending on the responses of the long-range scanners.
”You have no idea,” Ivan sighed helplessly and also continued to monitor from the commander's chair.
The star at the center of the solar system gradually got closer, and Ivan saw the outline of a brown and blue planet against the light. The planet only magnified as they got closer to the point it became a massive giant orbiting everything below the Poseidon.
”Ahh, truly beautiful,” Mazur sighed as he looked at the life planet.
”Earth was beautiful, this is… somewhat decent,” Ivan couldn't help but rebut.
Mazur rolled his eyes and simply stated, ”The birthplace of the human race? That planet became nothing but a barren, dry rock fifty thousand years ago. It was sucked so dry scientific analysis can no longer deem it as a 'life planet'. This planet however is full of life. Extremely valuable, life extending life.”
Ivan felt that Mazur's ideal of beauty somewhat differed from what he was imagining, but stayed silent and aided Mazur in flying the ship to descend through the planet's atmosphere. The artificial gravity system also doubled as a gravity neutralization device, so the Poseidon descended safely with only a minor amount of friction with the atmosphere. The main cause of the friction is the fact that Oberon II had a very dense atmosphere, to the point the sun burned red through the atmosphere and the sky was yellow for most of the day.
The artificial gravity within the ship was turned off and replaced with the gravity of the planet. Ivan had already seen on the planetary monitors when entering the atmosphere the gravity here was 1.6G, but it was still a massive burden to suddenly be placed under such pressure. Mazur meanwhile was perfectly fine and seemed unaffected, but this is precisely what he meant when he said Ivan, as a pure human, was considerably weak.
The Poseidon's landing gear operated under an automated systems and several legs extended from the base of the ship as it landed on the dusty planet.