…

"Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do."

(Potter Stewart)

…

MFV Rayya, February 1st, 2:21 PM, 2185

…

I sat quietly in a featureless cell aboard the Liveship Rayya, with nothing more than a small cot to lay on as I fiddled with the OSD I had found in the lab. My omni-tool had been confiscated by the brig guards, leaving me with very little to do. I didn't get any visitors yet, though I was very well aware that there had likely been a freeze on any calls or visits. I knew how Gerrel operated, and was very well aware of what a sore, hot-headed loser he could be. To be fair, I could be a hothead myself, but that never stopped me from doing my job properly.

Gerrel on the other hand… he just liked throwing his weight around. In my eyes he was nothing more than a bully, and no single moment better demonstrated that than how he had treated Dan down there in that lab. I could only imagine what might had been said behind my back.

I stared at the door out of sheer boredom, watching the small window on it for any signs of movement outside. Considering a few hours had passed since my "arrest", I knew people were likely asking a lot of questions about where I was or what had happened. I'd be disappointed otherwise.

Part of me kept asking if "what I had done was going too far" or "if there had been a better way to handle the situation". While I understood what some might think, I still couldn't help but feel good about what I had done. I knew Gerrel's type, and considering his position in the Fleet, I imagined it had likely been years since someone has laid a finger on him.

In short, I didn't feel a single ounce of regret.

My meandering thoughts were cut short as I heard muffled voices on the other side of the door, followed by it sliding open. Much to my joy and horror, it was both Koris and Mal.

"Hello." I greeted in a practiced monotone, sitting up straight as Mal nodded and the two walked in.

"Hello Sean." Koris said in an exhausted tone, sitting down next to me on the cot. His body language suggesting much had been said between him and Gerrel the last few hours. "Um, I heard there was a bit of a… disagreement between you and Gerrel a while ago."

"That's one way of putting it." I shrugged, not really knowing how else to state things. "He didn't exactly come in extending an olive branch, you know."

"Heh… yeah." Mel chuckled, failing to keep himself fully composed. "Sean, we're not going to mince words here. Gerrel is out for your blood."

"He's not going to let any of this go, but we don't have to tell you that." Koris mumbled, fully aware of how vindictive Gerrel is. "But… we might have an alternative to a long, public trial. An option that would absolve you of all charges, but at a price."

I was surprised to hear such an offer being made, and it immediately put me on the defensive. Part of me was worried, but another part was also curious at the same time.

"What this "alternative"?" I asked with a cautious tone, making sure they were both able to pick up on it.

"We've spoke with Gerrel regarding your altercation and his charges, and we've come to a sort of… compromise." Mal remarked, sounding unsure with his own words. "Here's the deal… you'll be sent out with a crew of your choosing in Dr. Nemo's new ship on a two month survey mission into uncharted space."

"I already know what you're thinking, and you're right." Koris nodded before I could speak up, sounding almost worried. "To put it bluntly, he wants you away from Reach for a few months."

"That seems like quite the leap in logic if you don't mind me saying so." I jeered slightly, feeling almost as if I was being forced into a corner. "How does this arrangement benefit Gerrel?"

"I believe he wants you out of the system long enough to restructure CASTLE Base and its staff to his liking." Mal theorized, crossing his arms. "We've been in talks with him, and he seems to believe that your facility staff have been deliberately neglecting his projects."

To be perfectly honest, he wasn't entirely wrong in that regard. Considering how all of Gerrel's current projects and Rael's old ones almost exclusively revolved around countermeasures to combat the Geth, we hadn't been giving his project ideas very much consideration. Especially after what happened in that private research wing Rael died in.

"I think that is an awful claim to make, but I can see I'm not in much of a position to argue with the man." I shrugged, reluctantly acknowledging my situation with a bit of sadness in my voice. "But… don't you think this is a bit much? What about my assignment with Shepard and the rest of the Normandy crew?"

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to make him budge on that." Mal apologized, sounding disappointed. "If you accept this deal, you'll be leaving within the next twelve hours."

I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about this. I knew I was in the right and could very well win my case against Gerrel, but it would be an embarrassing public spectacle for me, my wife, friends, and other associates. If I left with charges dropped, I'd spare my family from all of that, but at the cost of my projects being toyed with while I was away.

I also knew it wouldn't be right to take Mara and Elle with me. Such an assignment was too risky.

"Fine… I'll accept the deal." I said with reluctance, feeling a surprising amount of shame wash over me. "When do I get to choose my crew?"

"You can choose them right now if you'd like." Koris nodded, opening up his omni-tool.

"In that case, I'd like to invite Dan, Dimitri from below, Lenlo, Kirva, and Biss, my three crew members, and Dixon, Tony, and Morgan, the three new members of my team we recently picked up." I listed off, getting Koris and Mal to exchange glances. "The maximum crew complement for that ship Dan designed is twelve, so that should allow us to get a better balance of space and resources, right?"

"I suppose that is true." Mal nodded, rubbing the underside of his helmet. "We'll begin prepping the ship for its "shakedown run" within the hour. We'll inform Gerrel that you have accepted his terms. Meanwhile, it's your job to gather these crewmembers and speak to whoever you need to."

"Good luck, Captain." Koris said with finality, standing back up.

With that, they left me to my own devices, a guard behind them removing the tracking bracelet from my arm and sending me on my way.

I was incredibly worried about the state of things now. Despite logic telling me to trust Koris and Mal, my instincts were screaming that this was some kind of setup. Why would Gerrel try to remove me from the situation so quickly after declaring his intention to charge me for so much? Part of me wished I hadn't taken the deal based on how badly twisted my gut felt.

I suspected Koris and Mal were attempting to win back some favor with the pedantic Gerrel. I knew they were trading the freedom of my facility's staff for my own, and thinking about it in terms such as those served only to make me feel worse. I was surprised I had gotten anything out of this whole raw deal, let alone a brand-new ship designed by my best friend. I wanted to worry about shoddy workmanship and all that jazz, but I knew Dan. During the prototype stages especially, he watches everything like a hawk.

That was the other thing I found odd about the whole "deal". Not only were they trusting me with a new ship, but they were letting me choose my own crew too? After everything that had happened, I would have thought Gerrel would have forced an "observer" or someone of a similar title to accompany us. While I wasn't complaining, I suspected this was also some form of appeasement on the part of the Admirals.

Part of me knew I was likely just overthinking the whole situation. I trusted Mal's prediction that Gerrel was going to use the time that I was gone to accelerate his own weapons research. It was unfortunate that it had to come to this, but there's no taking any of it back now.

I had a lot of explaining to do, especially to Shepard... and Mara.

She was going to be pissed.

…

Serenity Valley, February 1st, 6:41 PM, 2185

…

Having talked to everyone in detail over the past four hours, I was surprised that everyone except Biss had agreed to join me on this "expedition" of ours. Biss explained in rather "eloquent" terms that he didn't want to travel on another starship for awhile, and had decided to stay on Reach and work in CASTLE Base instead. I couldn't blame him, that fight over Fehl Prime had nearly killed him, Lenlo, and Kirva, and had shaken him up quite badly. It didn't stop me from being disappointed, but I wouldn't try to convince him otherwise.

Lenlo and Kirva had been quite enthusiastic about my offer. I knew both had felt kind of "out of place" aboard the Normandy, and were itching to find a new place to inhabit and make their home. Lenlo in particular was happy with my offer. I knew he still blamed himself for the destruction of the Explorer, and was looking to prove his worth again. While that was unnecessary, considering I never blamed him in the first place, I appreciated that both of them had agreed to come.

Dan and Dimitri were both happy at the idea of joining me on a two-month assignment to the middle of nowhere. Dan in particular was excited, considering Gerrel had hounded him in particular since both him and Dimitri arrived back on Reach. Richard had promised him that the problems with the synthetic tissues would be solved before we returned, meaning Dan would hopefully have a new leg waiting for him when he returned. Dimitri was simply sick of the politics being flung around, and wanted to escape for a while.

Dixon, Tony, and Morgan had been the most interesting choices in my opinion. Since they'd be joining my team at CASTLE Base anyway, I figured I'd test them by putting them on the ship. Even though they didn't really have a choice, I knew I'd likely get to know their personalities better over the course of the mission, giving them a chance to learn some things. I was curious about Dixon in particular, given the initiative he showed back on Pragia. He knew more than he had let on, and was curious just how knowledgeable he really was.

Shepard sounded more disappointed than anything else when I had informed him of my situation. He had heard about one of the Admirals being assaulted, but hadn't expected me to be the perpetrator. He cleared my three new crew members for their transfer to Dan's ship, and said he'd have all my personal items transferred over discreetly too since they were already docked to the station. I thanked him profusely, and wished him luck with his mission if I didn't get the chance to talk to him again before leaving.

All that was left was to say my goodbyes to everyone and wait until the next day came. I had said everything that I needed to say to everyone except Mara.

I wasn't going to lie, I was fearful. Walking up the stairs to our housing unit, every step I took felt like I was dragging a bag of concrete with me. I wasn't even sure if I would be able to speak by the time I was face-to-face with her.

Finally, I made it to the door, hesitating for one final moment before pulling it open, seeing Mara standing with her back turned in the kitchen feeding Elie in her high chair. As she turned around to face me, Elie let out a quick, excited squeal, yelling out "Dada!" repeatedly. I did not receive as enthusiastic of a response from Mara, who's expression turned sour.

"Don't worry, honey, Momma and Dada will be right back." She reassured to the small child, feigning a smile before turning to face me again. She gestured to me to step back slightly as both of us ended up on the landing outside overlooking the entire homestead. She shut the door behind her, staring at me with an unamused expression that did not fill me with much confidence.

Suddenly, before I could say anything, she reeled her hand back and slapped me in the face as hard as she could, hard enough that I briefly saw stars in my vision as pain suddenly shot through my face. I fought to regain my composure.

"...I deserved that…" I said softly, trying to fight off the pain as I grit my teeth.

"Damn right you did!" She yelled back at me, putting her hand on her hips as she spoke. "You have some nerve to pull this kind of nonsense. Getting yourself involved in a freaking war, losing our ship, getting us in hot water with the Admirals again… and after all of that, you don't contact me for weeks! Why?!"

"Because I was afraid this was going to happen." I answered, still feeling the needles in the side of my face as I forced myself to stand straight.

"Well congratulations, you were right!" She chastised with a huff, her expression softening before she looked down at her feet, hair falling into her face. "You're such an idiot sometimes, you know that?"

"Yes ma'am." I acknowledged without being facetious, biting the inside of my mouth to distract myself from the pain and heat now radiating off of my face. It was a mixture of physical pain and embarrassment being felt all at once.

She then looked back at me, fatigue now clearly seen in her eyes as she stared back into mine. Without either one of us saying a word, she then stepped forward, giving me a tight hug which I slowly accepted. We held that hug for a full minute, sharing each other's warmth in the chilly air before she released me, tears pouring from her eyes.

"Look at you…" She lamented, gently running the tips of her fingers along the nearly-healed glass cuts on the side of my face. "Why do you put yourself through this? There's no reason to go out and get yourself mauled."

It was my turn to look down at my feet, feeling an ever greater sense of shame. I knew she was one-hundred percent right, but another part of me kept tugging at the end of my gut. I had that blind sense of duty and honor ingrained in me from my childhood so deeply that I knew I'd make up any excuse to put myself in harm's way before anyone else.

"I do it because I think it's the right thing." I answered in a soft tone to match hers, taking in a deep breath as I lifted my head back up to meet her eyes. "I'm a stubborn idiot, you're right… don't know when to pull my head out of the fire."

"I heard there was a fight between you and Gerrel in the labs, Powell told me." She said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "And now he says you, Dan, and Dimitri are being sent out on some kind of survey mission. What is going on?"

I began to lower my head again before Mara placed her hand under my chin, forcing me to keep eye contact with her.

"The Admiral wanted to have me put on trial aboard the Rayya, charge me with treason, theft, and all this other nonsense." I explained, making sure not to slip into any raw details. "The other Admirals, looking to try and salvage the situation, convinced him to offer me an alternative. In exchange for him dropping all charges and sparing me an embarrassing public trial, I'll be forced out of system for two months with my own small crew and ship."

"That's… odd." She assessed, now looking more worried than anything else. "It seems like an awfully specific offer. There must be some other motive behind it."

"There is, if Mal is to be believed." I nodded, taking a deep breath before locking eyes with her again. "He thinks Gerrel is going to use the time I'm away to accelerate his anit-Geth research programs at CASTLE Base, likely ending up with a lot of the staff being restructured."

"This is because we haven't been pursuing his ideas, isn't it?" She correctly guessed, getting me to nod in acknowledgement. "That man is such a bastard… how long do you have until you leave, then?"

"About eight and a half hours." I answered, getting a small smile to slip onto her face. "Do you mind if I spend the night?"

"I wouldn't mind at all." She smiled, rubbing the side of my face that she had slapped, getting me to wince in pain slightly. "Come on, I'll get you a gel pack for that. We can continue this conversation inside, it's too cold."

"That would be appreciated." I agreed, walking inside to the thrilled squeals of Elie filling my ears.

Standing next to her, I got a good look at her face, specked with small bits of food that hadn't managed to stay in her mouth. She cooed wildly, holding out her arms towards me.

"Hey there, spud!" I said, plucking her out of her seat and into my arms. "Man, you're getting big, aren't you?"

"She still eats food faster than I can blink." Mara remarked, placing a freezing cold ice pack against the side of my face, causing it to surge with more stinging pain. "Keep that on there for a while, should keep any swelling down."

"Thanks Mom." I replied with some strain in my voice, the cold beginning to soothe the large, hand-shaped mark on my face.

"I am sorry about that… it's just been stressful around here lately. Not knowing what's going on, having to hear what's going on by who leaves or comes back… it's taxing." Mara explained, taking a pack of freeze-dried food out of the cabinet and putting it in the rehydrator.

"You know I don't mean to worry you so much." I said, trying not to sound condescending as I looked up from Elie to my wife. 'We both agreed that they could use my help."

"We didn't agree to you being a front-line soldier." She rebuked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Dimitri told me what you were doing on Fehl Prime. Being attacked by a swarm of aliens, heading off with a Geth of all things to try and stop them… you wonder why I get so upset."

"We saved that colony, and in no small part to all the extra equipment we brought along." I defended, gently placing Elie back in her high chair. "Don't you think that means something?"

"Of course I do! I just don't understand why its always you doing it!" She shot back, not at all ready to budge on the issue. "I know you're a Captain and all, but that's still no reason to put yourself in danger."

Once again, I knew she was right. I was always forcing myself to do too much, getting into trouble that in all likelihood could be easily avoided. Still, it was hardwired into my brain by my parents that if I wasn't doing something with my time, nothing would get done. While there was obviously more to that viewpoint, it would always be there, nagging me.

"Well, in that case, maybe this survey mission is a sort of blessing in disguise." I suggested, the rehydrator beeping as it finished its process. "We'll be in the Terminus, sure, but none of the systems we've been to before. There won't be any shooting, any Cerberus, and most importantly, we'll be making a difference all the same."

"I know, but there are still certain risks involved in mapping out undiscovered systems." Mara countered, putting the pack of rehydrated food on a plate and pushing it towards me. "Here, it's the Pasta Alfredo."

"Ooh, one of my favorites." I smiled, opening up the piping hot package and pouring it onto the plate, steam rushing off of the Alfredo sauce and rotini pasta.

"As I was saying, you know there'll be risks." She repeated, taking out another pack of food and sticking it in the machine. "Remember what happened with the Bocage? How they just went missing and were never found?"

"If you're suggesting that we might suffer some kind of massive engine failure during this, I can reassure you that we're in the best hands imaginable." I said, feeling rather good about our odds. "Dan designed that ship himself, he knows it from head to toe."

"Dan designed that ship in a sleep-deprived, medicated state over the course of seven hours." She shot back, irking me just slightly. "I know he's your best friend, but he hasn't been in the best state of mind since he came back from Fehl Prime."

"Which is exactly why I invited him to come with us." I smiled, pouring her and myself each a cup of water as I waited for the food to cool off slightly. "Two months away from all the work here with close friends should be good for all of us, but him in particular."

Thinking back to that moment when I peered into the remains of our Dragoon mech, seeing him on the edge of death's door, missing half of his leg and unresponsive… it was hard enough for me to see, but his experience going through it must have been horrifying. There's no way of knowing what kind of psychological damage my best friend might have after that.

Mara let out a huff of acknowledgement, seemingly finding nothing wrong with what I said as she pulled her own pack out of the rehydrator, sitting down across from me as I leaned over to feed Elie more baby food.

"I just want to see all of you come back without any extra scuffs, scratches, or "interesting stories" as Dimitri likes to call them." She remarked before taking a sip of water, plunging her fork into the Chicken Fried Rice she had made for herself.

"Ah yes, did I tell you about Skyllian Blitz?" I imitated in his voice, sitting up straight with my chest pushed forward. This managed to break the atmosphere, and even got a laugh out of Mara. "Man, Dimi really can be something."

"He certainly has that air about him, doesn't he?" Mara smiled as we both began eating our respective meals.

I enjoyed the silence, occasionally broken up by Elie as she occasionally failed to swallow all her food. While we both had our doubts about what was going to happen, I was confident we'd be able to do some good out there.

I hoped we'd be able to prove that soon.

…

Cairo Station, February 2nd , 2:24 AM, 2185

…

I rolled my neck as I walked towards the docking cradles on the Cairo, carrying a few extra items from my house in a duffel bag and trying to keep myself awake after only three hours of proper sleep. It was too early in my opinion to be doing this kind of nonsense, but then again, this isn't the first time my sleep schedule had gone to hell. It had been like this ever since my college days. It didn't help that the standard jumpsuit I was now wearing didn't feel entirely comfortable yet.

Walking into the long hallway that featured all the cradle airlocks, I spotted Dan standing at attention, looking through one of the few reinforced view ports on the station. He wore the same jumpsuit as me.

"Hey man!" I greeted, holding up my hand as Dan turned, smiling and returning the gesture as I neared him. "How much sleep did you get?"

"Not much. Was t-too busy still laughing at that gut punch you gave Gerrel." He smiled, returning his attention to the ship docked outside. "Still not ent...entirely happy with your choice of c-crew, though."

"Don't start." I shook my head, turning dead serious as I looked out the window with him. "I told you, they're clean."

"Nobody who's worked for Cerberus is c-completely clean." He shot back as I forced myself to ignore him.

The ship was indeed quite beautiful. I comparison to the hard edges that made up the Phantom-class frigates we had designed together, this Galleon-class was much rounder and bulbous in some places. It was almost like a mix between an old Space Shuttle and a Humpback Whale. Parts of the engineering section were clearly visible between plates of armor, including what appeared to be a novel cooling system built in just for the plasma engines.

"I'm starting to think you can't think of any original ship designs, Dan." I playfully mocked, giving him a sly grin.

"Hmph, you're one to talk." He shot back in a disinterested tone, though with a smile to acknowledge the look I had given him. "You're the one who d-decided to rip off the Swordfish II for your Viper project."

"Good point." I nodded, briefly making eye contact with him. "I'm still shocked they managed to build something like this in just two weeks."

"There were already plenty of c-components sitting around to use from pre...previous retrofitting jobs." He explained, holding his hands together behind his back. "As for the d-drive core, we actually managed to sal...salvage what was left of that wrecked carrier's own core to make it."

His smile was infectious, and I couldn't help but grin alongside him. He had outdone himself, and he unabashedly aware and proud of it. Looking out the window at the compact ship, I knew this would be an interesting little mission. It had been a while since we last did something like this.

"You come up with a name for her yet?" I asked, leaning to the side toward him slightly.

"I have. She's c-called Discovery." He smiled as I looked at it harder, spotting the name freshly painted on the side of the ship in big, bold letters. "Like it?"

"I just hope we don't run through all the Space Shuttle names in our lifetime." I sneered, getting a delayed chuckle out of him. "Its a great choice."

"I thought you'd like that." He nodded, both of us standing there in silence for a couple more moments.

"Well...let's go." I finished, following him into the cradle arm. I knew that this place would be my new home for the next two months.

After going through decontamination, I finally got my first good look at the interior of the ship. Dan wasn't kidding when he told me how bare-bones and cramped this design was, it was akin to the interior of an old German submarine in World War II in many aspects. If it were any more cramped, people would be bumping elbows. There were only two main sections fit for any prolonged "organic activity" as Pistis would say, the Bridge and Crew Quarters, with Engineering in the rear. Like the Lewis and Clark from Event Horizon, the three sections were loosely connected, with access to the airlocks and hardsuit storage between the Bridge and Crew Quarters where they could be reached quickly.

The Crew Quarters in the middle were sparse, featuring twelve of the same "capsule-style" bunks that Dan and I had designed for the Phantom-class. The minimum crew complement of this design was a comfortable twelve souls, though eight collapsible cots could also be deployed to accommodate extra people. in the center of the room was a small seating area with a Y-shaped table for eating or other activities. A single thirty-inch viewscreen, some weights, and a treadmill were all the accomodations the crew had to keep themselves occupied, apart from their omni-tools. A single automated medical bed sat in the back of the room inside its own little compartment.

Engineering was more or less a small hallway that formed a U-shape around the ship's Gravity Drive, sealed off by wardrobe-sized airlocks on either side. It offered minimal protection from heat or radiation due to the excess bulk of the reactor being exposed directly to space, but did feature plenty of ducts that could be used to inspect the finer parts of the ship's core systems. While bare-bones even compared to the rest of the ship, it was still perfectly safe for the most part. Even still, we'd be wearing hardsuits in this part of the ship.

The Bridge was actually one of the most spartan parts of the ship, being emerald-shaped with a ceiling that cut off at nine feet in terms of height. Eleven individual stations lined the sides of the room, with an ceiling-suspended, elevated chair for the captain in the middle that would allow him to view what each crew member was doing quickly. At the bow of the ship, there were three segmented view ports that allowed us to view the cold expanse of space, and were capable of being secured with armored plates at the press of a button.

Everyone was currently gathered in the crew quarters, either lounging around, taking inventory, or decorating their spaces with their own little things. The most unique item in the room was a infant Polock, one of the trees native to Reach. It was about the size of a shoebox currently, and fixed firmly to the center of the y-shaped table in its own little pot. Dimitri had brought it aboard to spruce the room up a bit.

Everyone turned to look at me, going completely silent as I set my bag down and let out a huff of approval.

"Well folks, I'd like to thank you all for accepting my invitation. I know this might be a new kind of experience for some of you, but I'm sure you'll get used to all of this very soon." I began, crossing my arms over my chest. "We're going to be sticking to the dark parts of the Terminus for the duration of our trip, avoiding all contact with systems attached to the Relay network as we make our way to Vallhallan Threshold.

"Now… there's no telling what we might come across out there. Cerberus has had access to our drive tech for a few years now, so there exists a chance we could accidentally stumble upon them." I warned, beginning to pace slightly as I put my hands behind my back. "If we do, we're going to immediately leave, then contact the Fleet to have them bomb the shit out of them. Any questions?"

Tony quickly threw his right hand up, his left still wrapped around the arm of his chair.

"Yes?" I asked with no nonsense, focusing completely on him.

"What are the rules aboard this ship?" He asked, looking a little more confused than anything else. "I'm not sure how these sorts of operations work."

"Eh, just basic things. Don't touch other people's stuff without permission, label your food… basically any dorm rule you can think of applies here." I explained, cracking a small smile as I spoke. "The only big rule specific to this ship is that only Dan and I get to play our music out loud. If you want to listen to music, either use headphones or listen to it in your capsules. Any other questions?"

This time Lenlo threw up his three-fingered hand, getting me to nod to him in acknowledgement.

"Sir, what will our contact with the Fleet look like during this mission?" He asked, surprising me yet again.

"We'll be dropping micro buoys in each system as we go, creating a private hotline back to Reach in case there's an emergency." I answered, leaning against the table with both hands. "Given the smaller size of the buoys and distance factors, we'll have roughly three or four hours of delay."

Looking around the room for any more raised hands only to find none, I nodded to everyone and smiled.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road." I said with enthusiasm, nodding towards the bridge behind me. Everyone sprang into action jogging past me as I walked through, climbing the ladder to see the Bridge being staffed by my new crew.

I walked over to my new chair, inspecting it closely. It featured plenty of its own controls, allowing me to monitor and override any station I wished, and could give me real-time updates of all the ship systems. It was even comfortable to sit in, keeping my feet off of the deck.

"OK, pre-flight checklist, make sure all stations are ready for departure." I ordered, watching everyone spring into action at their respective stations. I knew Dixon, Tony, and Morgan were going to need some lessons, but all good things came with time. "Alright, all stations look good… helmsman, do your thing."

Dan was going to be our pilot for the duration of this trip, rubbing his hands together quickly in anticipation. He then pulled a chopped pilot's mask over his face, covering only his eyes in a straight line.

"Cairo, t-this is Discovery, requesting permission to depart, over." Dan spoke as clearly into his mask's microphone.

"Roger, Discovery. You're departure has been authorized by the Admiralty Board. Good luck out there." The voice on the other side replied, giving off a brief burst of static as the line was cut and the cradle disengaged from the side of our ship. A gentle thump vibrated through the ship, giving us our first real taste of what this ship felt like.

"Thank you, Cairo. See you t-two months." Dan finished, giving the engines some power as a hum went out through the hull. I found it strangely relaxing. "And we're off."

"Let us see what there is to see out there, da?" Dimitri remarked with a big smile on his face, looking back at me as I found myself smiling too.

"I couldn't have said it any better." I nodded, leaning against my right elbow as I looked back to Dan. "Fire up the FTL, let's get to our first set of coordinates."

With that, Dan gave the engines full throttle, spooling up the Gravity Drive and sending us off into the great unknown.

I was finally starting to feel enthusiastic about all of this. Who knows what's out there, waiting to be found.

Time for another adventure.

…

A/N: HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! I hope no one got too drunk while they were out pretending they had resolutions already lined up. Personally, I just ended up falling asleep at home because I'm a lazy S.O.B, but don't let that distract from the fact that I'll eventually be getting my backpay at work. Hopefully it'll be enough to buy a brand-new computer.

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, I know its a bit of a bait-and-switch in regards to what some of you may have been expecting. I tried to do a whole court drama chapter for this one, but I ended up scrapping it because I couldn't figure out an interesting angle to take it in. Either way, this was going to be the end result, but I hope no one is upset at the change. I think it ended up working out much more nicely.

As always, I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!