Chapter
4: The Emerald Valiant.
Spacelog Entry 20116-765:
What a fine ship this was. I never imagined I would set afoot aboard such a piece of art. Only a handful of these were created, unfortunately, since it were created for long range missions, instead of the ones given to smaller craft cruisers.
What it intrigued me the most was the crew it held, however. In all my life as a soldier I have never seen such a group. Leave it to Corneria to supply one of their best ships with a colorful crew.
-Martyr Desertfox
The Emerald Valiant was the first of five EM-78 starships built by now resigned Admiral Kanmeros. Its size was twice as big than the Great fox and could hold complete squadrons of Arwings of various types and designs. Its capabilities included vortex jumping, which saved energy when traveling into the furthest of galaxies, and a stealth device that allowed it to appear invincible not only to the naked eye, but also by space radars. Because of its enormous size, the Emerald Valiant didn't had the need for a fleet, its defenses where as good as a well-sized armada.
The inside of the starship was a living city. Crew would live their formal lives inside a small city built for their own needs, living inside apartment buildings built along each other. Pubs and clubs were built inside as well, so it would get lively during off duty times. The Emerald Valiant would dock from spaceport to spaceport to replenish fuel and supplies before every jump into space.
Its size also was a bit of a problem however, since it would barely let it dock into any spaceport around the Lylat sector. Docking the massive frame took a great deal of even the skillful of navigators. Alura Radinov, chief navigator of the ship, was also assigned as a tactics strategist, a job she slightly liked better than a navigator. Since the former navigator was killed in the line of battle, and there was no one to replace him at the time, Alura accepted the position.
Alura prepared herself for another chance at the wheel of the ship, thoughts of publishing her works into a complete novel filled her mind as she strapped on the last insignia of her rank into her steam-cleaned uniform. Every night, she would add a new chapter written in her portable computer pad. Writing was one of her preferred hobbies, and would practice it every time she was by herself. It was a great escape from the solitude she endured at times.
The black-furred Tervuren collie finished strapping her insignia, and walked towards the exit to meet a new day of work in her life. The door opened with a hiss, and the various sounds of the city greeted her ears. Her yellow eyes gazed upon the colorful community and then up to the ship's ceiling. The mechanical structure of it often made her realize she was inside a starship instead of inhabiting a nearby planet.
Alura removed a flock of hair covering her left eye and began walking to the teleportation unit, which would transport her straight to the bridge. Avoiding large crowds, the female quickly inhabited a teleportation room and her body disintegrated in a flash of particles from view, and into the bridge of the colossal starship.
At times, she felt this was the most troublesome part of her job, which was actually trying to get there without having to be drowned by a flock of personnel in their off time.
It was a short time before Alura entered the bridge of the Emerald Valiant, in there, a vixen officer greeted her warmly. The bridge, like most sections of the ship, was a vast place. Ten officers inhabited it, and each one held a different responsibility for the ship. She nodded with a smile to the vixen and walked towards her post, which was right beside the Admiral's chair. Her section sported a small computer screen set on a vertical pedestal. She keyed in her identification, and began working on a simulation file that allowed her review her next move in undocking the Emerald Valiant. A female skunk reared her head and looked up at the collie. The place were the skunk was working for was the systems check and weapons engineering. Besides her, there was another female skunk, with her features reversed of white fur over black. These were twins, and worked together with a psychic link to get things done faster.
The rest of the crew included a young blonde-haired vixen located at the weapons control and targeting section of the bridge. To her left side was yet another female chipmunk, who worked the communications system of the ship. Both were pretty young, and were the highest of their rank chosen for this task. They all were punching into their respective keyboards, looking as busy as they could ever be.
Alura continued with her own task, concentrating with the virtual emulation without paying attention to any sort of distractions around her. She heard the hiss of a door behind her, followed by a thud of metal against something soft. A few seconds later, there was a low groan, and a giggle from one of the young officials at the front of the bridge.
"Seems the Admiral has arrived," the Gazelle said, Alura turned her head around to see him. He was a tall, handsome male husky with black over white fur patterns, his eyes as they visible, were ice blue, with a look of stern and seriousness into them. He bore a navy-blue naval uniform, with crimson outlines that ran all the way trough the sides of it. His hat was navy blue as well, with a golden pin on the center of it. Medals and small tokens of honor decorated his left breast, where his nameplate lay underneath.
The Admiral took off his hat and massaged his forehead. His height was too big for the doorframe, and he kept forgetting this, always having a close encounter with the steel frame of it. The last ship he was in control off had the same perk, and he asked that the next ship's door dimensions could fit his physical appearance. However, that was not the case, and he had to deal with the same ordeal in this ship.
He replaced his hat and walked towards his seat in the ship. The Gazelle gave him a warm smile and nodded to him, Alura gave a slight bow. The Admiral sat down and surveyed the area. Everyone seemed to be doing their part of the job, and there could be no problems getting into orbit once again. His nameplate shone by the light given from the panels everywhere, the name "Cornfern" distinguished trough.
"Alright, good morning ladies. Let's begin with the check-up procedures."
"Weapons and engineering check." the twin skunks said in unison.
"Targeting controls all check, sir." said the vixen.
"Communications and network systems all are check and confirmed." The chipmunk replied.
The Admiral gave a satisfying nod to all and turned his head towards the female gazelle.
"Miss Carmela?"
"Thrusters are at 100% of their capacity and are ready to launch, sir." She replied, "we are clear to go, we are just waiting to undock at your command."
Admiral Confern nodded once more and turned his gaze towards Alura. He observed closely at her screen. She was still working on the virtual assignment.
"Hrm, I hope this is not much trouble for you, Miss Alura." He said respectively, "I am grateful that you could help us to get our ship into space."
Alura turned her head and smiled, her eyes bright and attentive. "There is no problem at all, sir," she said with a heavy accent, "I am glad to help out on what I can."
"Alright then," the Admiral replied and relaxed back to his chair. "Miss Lily, please open up a communication port to all speakers in the ship, we are about to launch."
"Yes sir," the chipmunk replied and began typing in an open port for the Admiral to speak. A few seconds later she stopped and looked on her screen.
"Communication link has been activated, sir."
***
"All ships check in, and do not make me repeat myself."
Falco Lombardi exclaimed in his headset to the rest of his team. The Starfalcon squad was formed after he retired from his former team, Starfox and allowed him to have a bit more freedom leading his men on his own, rather than following the orders of another.
"This StarFalcon AR- 67, standing by and waiting for new directives."
"StarFalcon AR-68, standing by."
"StarFalcon, AR-70, standing by sir."
"This is StarFalcon wingman, AR-69. We are approaching the Lylat sector alpha-16. We will come in contact with The Emerald Valiant soon. Be prepared to dock inside the CEF Starcruiser at my command."
An affirmative came in his headset with their respective "sirs" and "rogers".
Falco felt alive.
***
Ramirez drank the last gulp of beer in his mug, and set it down gently on top of the bar. Besides him there were a couple of officers keeping it to themselves in a table besides a wall. The Sly Kitten was the tavern built within the Emerald Valiant to entertain its crew, as well as any other passengers that are transported inside the ship. The tavern was quite small, but it compensated by offering a variety of drinks and snacks. Ramirez was contented with just beer and the occasional peanuts, however.
He was transferred shortly after an incident in Macbeth. One on which he really wanted to forget about. His attention transferred from his mug to a female panther, the bartender who came to refill his drink. She looked to be in her later teens, fur black as night and outlined red as neon lights shone upon her. Her eyes, green emeralds that glittered from a distance. She wore nothing more than a white shirt(which outlined her incredible bust), and faded denim jeans, tight as they could ever be.
"Would you like this to be in your tab as well?"
Ramirez' eyes blinked and affixed from her body to her face. He didn't knew how long she was standing there until she said anything. He cleared his throat and nodded.
"Yeah, that will be fine...what was your name again?"
"The name's Thorne," she said, and leaned over while touching his nose with her index finger. "That'll be the third time I had repeated it, Captain."
Ramirez felt the slight warmth of blush inside his fur. The female panther smiled and refilled his drink, then walked away once more. The panther stopped just before a door and picked up a remote control from the counter. Pressing the buttons on it, she turned on a holographic screen just above the mirrors that were mounted on the wall. With some other buttons pressed, the screen switched to an intergalactic channel featuring news across the Lylat sector. She then replaced the remote and walked inside a small cabin trough the door. Ramirez refrained from going back to his problems, instead, he drank from his mug, swallowing a good-sized gulp that washed down in his throat. He looked up at the screen, featuring a female rabbit with her fur neatly groomed and her ears doubled behind her head. She wore a dark hued dress, which was all that was seen since the colors of the screen were limited to dark hues of green and yellow.
"Authorities of the Lylat sector have escorted the space police's spaceship holding former wingman and renowned CEF traitor Marx Velldale."
Ramirez took another sip as the reporter continued.
"Marx Velldale served 3 years in the galactic prison after he was found guilty of smuggling ammunition from Corneria to the planet Venom. His trial lasted six months, on which evidence of his actions were gathered to make a final decision on his case."
"Hey, is that avian who made news in the last couple of months..." one of the officers exclaimed on the back of the bar. Ramirez simply kept his eyes on the screen. The image changed and blurred from displaying the female rabbit to a photography of the felon, a male falcon with a look of anger on his face.
"Former wingman Marx Velldel served five years in CEF's military air force. In archived documentation, it reveals that his family was destroyed during the attack on Corneria by Venom. Rumors state that this led him to go berserk and quit CEF entirely. There are still shady speculations as to why the convict helped Venom. When asked about this, General Pepper declined any information about it."
Again the screen faded and was recreated in the form of Pepper's canine outline. He was looking straight at the side of a camera, with a set of microphones surrounding his face.
"I have no comment about this. CEF does not wish to disclose any information about this incident. No comment."
With that, the image faded out, and the reporter's face appeared once more.
"Marx Velldel will be transferred to Sector Z, a new reinforced galactic prison of high security. This will take place within the following hours. Stay tuned for more information at the eleven o'clock news. This is Diva McKensy, signing off, have a nice evening."
A cheery fanfare and he news were over.
Ramirez turned his head towards the door as it opened, and noticed a humongous silhouette framed against he source light of the city outside. The door closed behind the hulking figure, revealing a tall wolf, which walked inside the bar with a slow pace. He had gray fur that shone red against the neon lights, leaving traces of silvery strands around his frame. He wore a black shirt and denim jeans as well as a pair of shades covering his eyes. Ramirez has seen this male before, it was a regular of the bar who told him of the bouncer that guarded this place.
Ramirez felt a bit of tension as the massive frame walked towards his direction. The wolf stopped inches away from his seat, and Ramirez found himself pulling his body backwards involuntary, ears flattening to the back of his skull. He looked up at the wolf, which retrieved his shades. His eyes had a red tint to them, which glared down at the startled canine.
"Have you seen the bartender?" he asked in a tone of voice that betrayed his rough features. Ramirez felt a lot relaxed when he heard this, and pointed to the other end of the bar, just near the door that led to the cabin. The wolf nodded and jumped over the counter to walk towards it. Ramirez saw him opening the door, and then closed it behind him with nothing much done.
After this event, Ramirez snapped back to reality, he found that his other hand was hooding the mug with an iron grip. What the hell was that all about...?
He shook his head and drank another gulp.
A siren was heard outside the building, which made Ramirez' ears perk up once more.
"This is Admiral Confern addressing all personnel onboard active and off-duty. The Emerald Valiant will take off in one hour. Every crew moment off duty must remain inside quarters at this point, if you are not within your own quarters' reach, seek refuge inside the nearest shelter located within the city. For all operational crew onboard, make the necessary adjustments before taking off, again, this ship will undock in approximately one hour. That will be all."
Ramirez finished the rest of his drink and set the mug on the counter with a loud thud. He stood up and walked outside the bar in a hurried manner. The other two officers watched him go with indifference, then resumed their respective drinking manners.
A few seconds later, the cabin's door was opened and the panther walked out shrugging off the massive arms of the wolf in a playful manner.
"...hold on, Seth! I gotta check on something..."
She affixed her shirt and walked around with a rag on her right hand, dusting and cleaning any spills she found on the counter. The officers at the end made-believe they didn't heard anything, they knew better than to confront the bouncer in any manner. She found Ramirez' seat empty, mug stationed in the same condition.
She raised an eyebrow and retreated to the cash register, she shuffled around money cards until she found the Captain's.
Well, at least his tab will be paid for.
"Hey panther...somethin' the manner?" The wolf said, while closing the cabin's door.
"Oh nothing, wuff...just scanning the last round before we close the place."
She swiped the card trough the reading scanner, and then checked out Ramirez' account. That being done, she slid the card into the back pocket of her jeans, and waltzed back to her lover.
***
"Communication link offline, sir."
"Very well, let us commence our scheduled routine, then. Miss Alura?"
Alura nodded to him and turned to her monitor screen. She punched the commands onscreen, making the frame of the Emerald Valiant appear in a three-dimensional pattern. A few seconds later, the entire structure on which the vast ship was docked appeared. Sins of various shapes and forms appeared surrounding the ship, indicating the best way to undock it without creating any physical damage to both ship and the space station.
The main screen at the bridge flashed the visual of the original ship in real time, allowing the Admiral to evaluate the process. This image was coming from a direct connection with the space station's cameras.
She breathed slowly before any attempts of undocking the ship were made. Alura took the manual navigation controls, which override any automatic settings that the ship's computer offered. She turned her head to the Admiral and nodded once again.
"I have control over the ship, sir. Awaiting your orders to undock."
"Make it so, Miss Alura." He said. Alura returned her gaze onscreen, and moved her fingers in an array of memorized switches and buttons that allowed her to turn on the thrusters, which responded immediately after her manual command was acknowledged. A faint rumbling sound came from the speakers located at each side of the main screen.
Carmelia's screen flashed a faint glow of green, replacing all the yellow bits surrounding the ship. "Thrusters are now active and in full power, we are set to go."
Alura moved the control stick sideways, then to the left. On her screen, the frame moved slowly, parting from the dock that were it was parked. On the main screen however, the massive ship seemed motionless, thrusters burning in a flare of reds and blues. Alura was grateful that she did not had to pay attention to that optical illusion.
She moved the controls to the right as a yellow light blinked on the left corner of her screen. This meant that the ship was getting closer to a foreign object, continuing in this direction might of create a collision. If the light turned red, it would be too late for her to turn and evade the space station successfully.
Admiral Cornfern rubbed his chin and nodded with satisfaction. So far so good.
Alura stopped the controls after all the lights turned form yellow to green. She turned on the automatic pilot after such lights blinked blue. The ship was now leveled and could undock by itself without any danger of crashing with the space station itself.
"Ship balanced, sir." Alura reported after taking a short gulp of air.
"Understood, Miss Alura. Miss Carmelia, allow full power to thrusters."
"Yes sir," the Carmelia replied. "All thrusters now at their full power, we are go."
With that, the Emerald Valiant made its wondrous voyage into the stars, leaving an inspired Alura wondering what will she be able to see before they reached their fateful destination.
Spacelog Entry 20116-765:
What a fine ship this was. I never imagined I would set afoot aboard such a piece of art. Only a handful of these were created, unfortunately, since it were created for long range missions, instead of the ones given to smaller craft cruisers.
What it intrigued me the most was the crew it held, however. In all my life as a soldier I have never seen such a group. Leave it to Corneria to supply one of their best ships with a colorful crew.
-Martyr Desertfox
The Emerald Valiant was the first of five EM-78 starships built by now resigned Admiral Kanmeros. Its size was twice as big than the Great fox and could hold complete squadrons of Arwings of various types and designs. Its capabilities included vortex jumping, which saved energy when traveling into the furthest of galaxies, and a stealth device that allowed it to appear invincible not only to the naked eye, but also by space radars. Because of its enormous size, the Emerald Valiant didn't had the need for a fleet, its defenses where as good as a well-sized armada.
The inside of the starship was a living city. Crew would live their formal lives inside a small city built for their own needs, living inside apartment buildings built along each other. Pubs and clubs were built inside as well, so it would get lively during off duty times. The Emerald Valiant would dock from spaceport to spaceport to replenish fuel and supplies before every jump into space.
Its size also was a bit of a problem however, since it would barely let it dock into any spaceport around the Lylat sector. Docking the massive frame took a great deal of even the skillful of navigators. Alura Radinov, chief navigator of the ship, was also assigned as a tactics strategist, a job she slightly liked better than a navigator. Since the former navigator was killed in the line of battle, and there was no one to replace him at the time, Alura accepted the position.
Alura prepared herself for another chance at the wheel of the ship, thoughts of publishing her works into a complete novel filled her mind as she strapped on the last insignia of her rank into her steam-cleaned uniform. Every night, she would add a new chapter written in her portable computer pad. Writing was one of her preferred hobbies, and would practice it every time she was by herself. It was a great escape from the solitude she endured at times.
The black-furred Tervuren collie finished strapping her insignia, and walked towards the exit to meet a new day of work in her life. The door opened with a hiss, and the various sounds of the city greeted her ears. Her yellow eyes gazed upon the colorful community and then up to the ship's ceiling. The mechanical structure of it often made her realize she was inside a starship instead of inhabiting a nearby planet.
Alura removed a flock of hair covering her left eye and began walking to the teleportation unit, which would transport her straight to the bridge. Avoiding large crowds, the female quickly inhabited a teleportation room and her body disintegrated in a flash of particles from view, and into the bridge of the colossal starship.
At times, she felt this was the most troublesome part of her job, which was actually trying to get there without having to be drowned by a flock of personnel in their off time.
It was a short time before Alura entered the bridge of the Emerald Valiant, in there, a vixen officer greeted her warmly. The bridge, like most sections of the ship, was a vast place. Ten officers inhabited it, and each one held a different responsibility for the ship. She nodded with a smile to the vixen and walked towards her post, which was right beside the Admiral's chair. Her section sported a small computer screen set on a vertical pedestal. She keyed in her identification, and began working on a simulation file that allowed her review her next move in undocking the Emerald Valiant. A female skunk reared her head and looked up at the collie. The place were the skunk was working for was the systems check and weapons engineering. Besides her, there was another female skunk, with her features reversed of white fur over black. These were twins, and worked together with a psychic link to get things done faster.
The rest of the crew included a young blonde-haired vixen located at the weapons control and targeting section of the bridge. To her left side was yet another female chipmunk, who worked the communications system of the ship. Both were pretty young, and were the highest of their rank chosen for this task. They all were punching into their respective keyboards, looking as busy as they could ever be.
Alura continued with her own task, concentrating with the virtual emulation without paying attention to any sort of distractions around her. She heard the hiss of a door behind her, followed by a thud of metal against something soft. A few seconds later, there was a low groan, and a giggle from one of the young officials at the front of the bridge.
"Seems the Admiral has arrived," the Gazelle said, Alura turned her head around to see him. He was a tall, handsome male husky with black over white fur patterns, his eyes as they visible, were ice blue, with a look of stern and seriousness into them. He bore a navy-blue naval uniform, with crimson outlines that ran all the way trough the sides of it. His hat was navy blue as well, with a golden pin on the center of it. Medals and small tokens of honor decorated his left breast, where his nameplate lay underneath.
The Admiral took off his hat and massaged his forehead. His height was too big for the doorframe, and he kept forgetting this, always having a close encounter with the steel frame of it. The last ship he was in control off had the same perk, and he asked that the next ship's door dimensions could fit his physical appearance. However, that was not the case, and he had to deal with the same ordeal in this ship.
He replaced his hat and walked towards his seat in the ship. The Gazelle gave him a warm smile and nodded to him, Alura gave a slight bow. The Admiral sat down and surveyed the area. Everyone seemed to be doing their part of the job, and there could be no problems getting into orbit once again. His nameplate shone by the light given from the panels everywhere, the name "Cornfern" distinguished trough.
"Alright, good morning ladies. Let's begin with the check-up procedures."
"Weapons and engineering check." the twin skunks said in unison.
"Targeting controls all check, sir." said the vixen.
"Communications and network systems all are check and confirmed." The chipmunk replied.
The Admiral gave a satisfying nod to all and turned his head towards the female gazelle.
"Miss Carmela?"
"Thrusters are at 100% of their capacity and are ready to launch, sir." She replied, "we are clear to go, we are just waiting to undock at your command."
Admiral Confern nodded once more and turned his gaze towards Alura. He observed closely at her screen. She was still working on the virtual assignment.
"Hrm, I hope this is not much trouble for you, Miss Alura." He said respectively, "I am grateful that you could help us to get our ship into space."
Alura turned her head and smiled, her eyes bright and attentive. "There is no problem at all, sir," she said with a heavy accent, "I am glad to help out on what I can."
"Alright then," the Admiral replied and relaxed back to his chair. "Miss Lily, please open up a communication port to all speakers in the ship, we are about to launch."
"Yes sir," the chipmunk replied and began typing in an open port for the Admiral to speak. A few seconds later she stopped and looked on her screen.
"Communication link has been activated, sir."
***
"All ships check in, and do not make me repeat myself."
Falco Lombardi exclaimed in his headset to the rest of his team. The Starfalcon squad was formed after he retired from his former team, Starfox and allowed him to have a bit more freedom leading his men on his own, rather than following the orders of another.
"This StarFalcon AR- 67, standing by and waiting for new directives."
"StarFalcon AR-68, standing by."
"StarFalcon, AR-70, standing by sir."
"This is StarFalcon wingman, AR-69. We are approaching the Lylat sector alpha-16. We will come in contact with The Emerald Valiant soon. Be prepared to dock inside the CEF Starcruiser at my command."
An affirmative came in his headset with their respective "sirs" and "rogers".
Falco felt alive.
***
Ramirez drank the last gulp of beer in his mug, and set it down gently on top of the bar. Besides him there were a couple of officers keeping it to themselves in a table besides a wall. The Sly Kitten was the tavern built within the Emerald Valiant to entertain its crew, as well as any other passengers that are transported inside the ship. The tavern was quite small, but it compensated by offering a variety of drinks and snacks. Ramirez was contented with just beer and the occasional peanuts, however.
He was transferred shortly after an incident in Macbeth. One on which he really wanted to forget about. His attention transferred from his mug to a female panther, the bartender who came to refill his drink. She looked to be in her later teens, fur black as night and outlined red as neon lights shone upon her. Her eyes, green emeralds that glittered from a distance. She wore nothing more than a white shirt(which outlined her incredible bust), and faded denim jeans, tight as they could ever be.
"Would you like this to be in your tab as well?"
Ramirez' eyes blinked and affixed from her body to her face. He didn't knew how long she was standing there until she said anything. He cleared his throat and nodded.
"Yeah, that will be fine...what was your name again?"
"The name's Thorne," she said, and leaned over while touching his nose with her index finger. "That'll be the third time I had repeated it, Captain."
Ramirez felt the slight warmth of blush inside his fur. The female panther smiled and refilled his drink, then walked away once more. The panther stopped just before a door and picked up a remote control from the counter. Pressing the buttons on it, she turned on a holographic screen just above the mirrors that were mounted on the wall. With some other buttons pressed, the screen switched to an intergalactic channel featuring news across the Lylat sector. She then replaced the remote and walked inside a small cabin trough the door. Ramirez refrained from going back to his problems, instead, he drank from his mug, swallowing a good-sized gulp that washed down in his throat. He looked up at the screen, featuring a female rabbit with her fur neatly groomed and her ears doubled behind her head. She wore a dark hued dress, which was all that was seen since the colors of the screen were limited to dark hues of green and yellow.
"Authorities of the Lylat sector have escorted the space police's spaceship holding former wingman and renowned CEF traitor Marx Velldale."
Ramirez took another sip as the reporter continued.
"Marx Velldale served 3 years in the galactic prison after he was found guilty of smuggling ammunition from Corneria to the planet Venom. His trial lasted six months, on which evidence of his actions were gathered to make a final decision on his case."
"Hey, is that avian who made news in the last couple of months..." one of the officers exclaimed on the back of the bar. Ramirez simply kept his eyes on the screen. The image changed and blurred from displaying the female rabbit to a photography of the felon, a male falcon with a look of anger on his face.
"Former wingman Marx Velldel served five years in CEF's military air force. In archived documentation, it reveals that his family was destroyed during the attack on Corneria by Venom. Rumors state that this led him to go berserk and quit CEF entirely. There are still shady speculations as to why the convict helped Venom. When asked about this, General Pepper declined any information about it."
Again the screen faded and was recreated in the form of Pepper's canine outline. He was looking straight at the side of a camera, with a set of microphones surrounding his face.
"I have no comment about this. CEF does not wish to disclose any information about this incident. No comment."
With that, the image faded out, and the reporter's face appeared once more.
"Marx Velldel will be transferred to Sector Z, a new reinforced galactic prison of high security. This will take place within the following hours. Stay tuned for more information at the eleven o'clock news. This is Diva McKensy, signing off, have a nice evening."
A cheery fanfare and he news were over.
Ramirez turned his head towards the door as it opened, and noticed a humongous silhouette framed against he source light of the city outside. The door closed behind the hulking figure, revealing a tall wolf, which walked inside the bar with a slow pace. He had gray fur that shone red against the neon lights, leaving traces of silvery strands around his frame. He wore a black shirt and denim jeans as well as a pair of shades covering his eyes. Ramirez has seen this male before, it was a regular of the bar who told him of the bouncer that guarded this place.
Ramirez felt a bit of tension as the massive frame walked towards his direction. The wolf stopped inches away from his seat, and Ramirez found himself pulling his body backwards involuntary, ears flattening to the back of his skull. He looked up at the wolf, which retrieved his shades. His eyes had a red tint to them, which glared down at the startled canine.
"Have you seen the bartender?" he asked in a tone of voice that betrayed his rough features. Ramirez felt a lot relaxed when he heard this, and pointed to the other end of the bar, just near the door that led to the cabin. The wolf nodded and jumped over the counter to walk towards it. Ramirez saw him opening the door, and then closed it behind him with nothing much done.
After this event, Ramirez snapped back to reality, he found that his other hand was hooding the mug with an iron grip. What the hell was that all about...?
He shook his head and drank another gulp.
A siren was heard outside the building, which made Ramirez' ears perk up once more.
"This is Admiral Confern addressing all personnel onboard active and off-duty. The Emerald Valiant will take off in one hour. Every crew moment off duty must remain inside quarters at this point, if you are not within your own quarters' reach, seek refuge inside the nearest shelter located within the city. For all operational crew onboard, make the necessary adjustments before taking off, again, this ship will undock in approximately one hour. That will be all."
Ramirez finished the rest of his drink and set the mug on the counter with a loud thud. He stood up and walked outside the bar in a hurried manner. The other two officers watched him go with indifference, then resumed their respective drinking manners.
A few seconds later, the cabin's door was opened and the panther walked out shrugging off the massive arms of the wolf in a playful manner.
"...hold on, Seth! I gotta check on something..."
She affixed her shirt and walked around with a rag on her right hand, dusting and cleaning any spills she found on the counter. The officers at the end made-believe they didn't heard anything, they knew better than to confront the bouncer in any manner. She found Ramirez' seat empty, mug stationed in the same condition.
She raised an eyebrow and retreated to the cash register, she shuffled around money cards until she found the Captain's.
Well, at least his tab will be paid for.
"Hey panther...somethin' the manner?" The wolf said, while closing the cabin's door.
"Oh nothing, wuff...just scanning the last round before we close the place."
She swiped the card trough the reading scanner, and then checked out Ramirez' account. That being done, she slid the card into the back pocket of her jeans, and waltzed back to her lover.
***
"Communication link offline, sir."
"Very well, let us commence our scheduled routine, then. Miss Alura?"
Alura nodded to him and turned to her monitor screen. She punched the commands onscreen, making the frame of the Emerald Valiant appear in a three-dimensional pattern. A few seconds later, the entire structure on which the vast ship was docked appeared. Sins of various shapes and forms appeared surrounding the ship, indicating the best way to undock it without creating any physical damage to both ship and the space station.
The main screen at the bridge flashed the visual of the original ship in real time, allowing the Admiral to evaluate the process. This image was coming from a direct connection with the space station's cameras.
She breathed slowly before any attempts of undocking the ship were made. Alura took the manual navigation controls, which override any automatic settings that the ship's computer offered. She turned her head to the Admiral and nodded once again.
"I have control over the ship, sir. Awaiting your orders to undock."
"Make it so, Miss Alura." He said. Alura returned her gaze onscreen, and moved her fingers in an array of memorized switches and buttons that allowed her to turn on the thrusters, which responded immediately after her manual command was acknowledged. A faint rumbling sound came from the speakers located at each side of the main screen.
Carmelia's screen flashed a faint glow of green, replacing all the yellow bits surrounding the ship. "Thrusters are now active and in full power, we are set to go."
Alura moved the control stick sideways, then to the left. On her screen, the frame moved slowly, parting from the dock that were it was parked. On the main screen however, the massive ship seemed motionless, thrusters burning in a flare of reds and blues. Alura was grateful that she did not had to pay attention to that optical illusion.
She moved the controls to the right as a yellow light blinked on the left corner of her screen. This meant that the ship was getting closer to a foreign object, continuing in this direction might of create a collision. If the light turned red, it would be too late for her to turn and evade the space station successfully.
Admiral Cornfern rubbed his chin and nodded with satisfaction. So far so good.
Alura stopped the controls after all the lights turned form yellow to green. She turned on the automatic pilot after such lights blinked blue. The ship was now leveled and could undock by itself without any danger of crashing with the space station itself.
"Ship balanced, sir." Alura reported after taking a short gulp of air.
"Understood, Miss Alura. Miss Carmelia, allow full power to thrusters."
"Yes sir," the Carmelia replied. "All thrusters now at their full power, we are go."
With that, the Emerald Valiant made its wondrous voyage into the stars, leaving an inspired Alura wondering what will she be able to see before they reached their fateful destination.