Chapter 2

Johnny said "one hour till we enter wherever this thing pops us out of." Hopkins replied "okay Johnny, thanks". Hopkins decided to go check out the rest of the ship and see if everyone has settled in yet. As Hopkins was walking to the elevator from the control center, he was stopped by his command center specialist Julia Thompson. "Hey Hopkins, I just wanted to let you know everybody is ready."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, when have I ever lied to you Hopkins?"

"I know Julia, but there are things that you can't see about everybody." Julia ended the joking tone real quick by asking "How do you feel about your promotion commander?"

"I'm surprised and still shocked about it all, but I'm ready for what's up ahead."

"That's good to know." Julia said.

"How do you feel about this new mission we're on?" Hopkins asked. Julia hesitated for a second, then said "I find it strange that the Alliance choose this crew for the job. I mean, they just put you under command and it seems that they would give this assignment to a more experienced commander."

"That's a good point Julia, I didn't think about that. We'll talk later."

"Okay commander let me know if you need anything"

Hopkins went to the elevator and went down to engineering. Engineers Brown and Johnson were setting calibrations to the ship and checking the gauges. Hopkins asked "how do we look guys?" Brown smiled and said "we're good to go Hopkins, glad to have you on board Commander." Putting some emphasis on the commander part, "I know you won't let us down." Carry on Brown and Johnson"

Hopkins went up to the crew deck and looked around, a lot of the crew members that were with him from before were here bustling around. It was good to see a lot of the same crew members from before. Hopkins spotted Amy sitting off to the side with a drink in her hand, Hopkins couldn't tell what she was drinking, a margarita maybe, or just a wine cooler, but it was definitely alcoholic. Hopkins approached her and said "Seems like you're settled in already"

"yea; Nice ship you got here" Amy commented. Hopkins responded "it gets you from point A to point B." I feel like you want to talk about something else." Amy said .Hopkins decided to say "I wanted to talk about you. How have you been? I haven't talked to you in a few years."

"It's been good. Not really much has been going on. I've been assigned to a few different ships in the last few years. Fire fights here and there. The only reason im a lieutenant is because I was one of the best shots for each crew I served." Hopkins recalled "yea, I remember in the academy, you even had a better shot than me."

"I wonder if you've improved since then commander. You couldn't even handle the recoil on the sniper rifle" Hopkins replied "I would hope so". Amy came so close to Hopkins that he didn't know what was happening. She whispered in his year "we should test it out sometime." Hopkins asked with surprise "are you trying to play games with me lieutenant?" Amy started to walk away from him. She turned around and said "possibly" she gave Hopkins a little wink and turned the other direction. Hopkins thought to himself "man I don't ever remember Amy like this. She's always been cute, but now she's just flat out sexy" he watched her as she walked away, with her hips swayed back and forth; Hopkins knowing that she was purposefully trying to tease him. Hopkins thought to himself again "she does have a pretty nice ass, I must say"

Hopkins returned to visiting the rest of the crew. He stops by to see Justin, the weapons specialist. Hopkins and Justin have been good friends since they have been assigned to the Phoenix. They almost know each other inside and out. Justin was cleaning out his assault rifle when Hopkins comes in. "How are you doing" Hopkins asks. "never better" Justin says, not even taking his eye off of the rifle. Hopkins asks "what do you think about this mission?" Justin finally looks up as Hopkins and says "it seems strange that they would send us into the pit. You would think that they would at least send in other ships to join us. Whatever is on the other side when we come, out its probably not going to be a smooth ride.

"I agree, but well be prepared, right"

"seems that way. I like that new girl Amy. I was talking to her. Shes a real good shot, even better than me. I saw you talking to her before u came over here. You know her?"

"yea, we went to the academy together."

"I see you thinking about her dude, u should get with her, she real hot."

"is that what you think?"

"dude she has the hots for you. I can tell by the way she talks to you and everything.

" I don't know man."

"it would make my day if you got with And the best part, there's no long distance relationship involved. I already have my girl on the ship so im not interested in her at all.

"all right dude, you've convinced me. Besides im already thinking about it."

"sure you are"

"Ill talk to you later."

"okay, ill be here"

Johnny came on to Hopkins' earpiece "Commander were about three minutes out, you might want to come up here" Hopkins replied "okay Johnny, coming up right now"