2467 Epsilon Indi Star System - CE-309-8- The UNSC Blue Phoenix – Captain Tanya Degurechaff

a great grey ship could be seen exiting slip space making it out from a bubble of space-time, the distortion made into a halo of blue light engulfing the ship in a shining hue, the ship was a notable big one, expected to be passed on from captain to captain as the old lady was nearing it retirement, she was old but composed, experience making her glare resolute and firm, but caring as meticulous as her special touch,

"Sier, can you tell me more about the composition of this rare jewel, a charming surprise for my last voyage?"

People from the crew woke up and were surprised by how cheerful Tanya was, now in their posts, not believing how the inaugural flight from the ship in the hands of their experienced captain who made them orbit in deep space from synchronous orbit for an entire three weeks reluctantly against their will, had paid off unexpectantly.

The hologram displayed a lady with shoulder hair and a cap wearing a Victorian dress in a green hue, making her seem more like a porcelain doll than an IA, and an older one at that at which topic she avoided answering any commentary making her go into the defensive stance more akin to an offended person than a IA. Making sure to the crew to never question certain red flags to their special assistant.

-Yes, captain, we are 12 light-years from Earth, the second planet exhibits composition and electromagnetic field orbiting an orange dwarf star of category K5V, there are some mountainous regions and rolling hills but not as prominent as the large plains that compose the majority of the planet, it also seems to have large bodies of water. composition of atmosphere and water could be done to determine the suitability, but even from here it seems garden type, you can expect warm temperate climate and some variation of climate but nothing mayor, the star system features a gas giant, moons an asteroid belt, but nothing notable without probing-

The deck on the bridge got loudly with cheers and making the captain smile as she got a sip of her dark moka coffee, making it more sweet than never before.

"any real numbers that can you make me happier about sier"

-Yes Captain-

Diameter: 4,012 kilometres (2,493 mi)

Gravity:0.998 G

Length of day:17.5 hours

Surface temperature: -19°C to 42°C (-2°F to 108°F)

At which point made astrograph Lawrance Lawford whistle loudly, at which point made Tanya stand up her seat and make reverence to her crew, as she proudly said

"And sheer for Lawrance that got a full 12 hours work shift scanning stars at my order in deep space, at which point I paid triple out of my pocket"

A young lieutenant Luisa Violette, entered the deck and said, "Beer hall ready, and waking up the architectural civil planning mam"

The crew froze for an instant and did not hesitate to shut up and saw at their captain with her sight showing cat eyes, not believing it like she expected them, how good of an old lady they misinterpreted her actions to be, she drifted them from a path, she trained them, they were roundabout in their destination but she did not waste time it was totally unconventional, but their effort following their captain got compensated tenfold, they could be working their ass as of now but following her technique was swift and effortless compared to the large jumps others crew made exploring from star system to another, and after their training, she got it right in the second chance making hers glorified.

At the visage, Tanya said "Do you believe all that effort was because I was an old and witty old lady that wanted to torture you, how dare you!, it was for your true future!, I am retiring but will surely leave a well-trained and functional ship, that's why the brass chose me, and that is why I hand-picked each of you, now relax and celebrate with the planning team and say to them all your ideas, remember we are building the future but each stone will be there forever "

Tasha Desjani second in command was seated with her captain at the table for officers overseeing how good of chemistry the crew was tagging along joyfully and playing, she was a freshman when assigned to her captain not different from the crew only knowing Tanya a little bit longer than the crew but not by much and being a pupil means she was personally tutored by a sea fox how to hunt and be cunning so being in the receiving end of asking was out of place.

"so you are from the same moon academy as mine truly, I guess it was a good choice to pick you up from among the bunch, I hope to leave the work in good hands"

"mam, I am honored but how did you get to do amazing stuff time and time again? , you are not only fast phasing but rushing in at quick stride at everything you touch, at this point I will not marvel if you have the top records of the fleet"

"well I am not at the top, but I have two or more scores on the tap, but that is also why I had been demoted and promoted time and time again, it was a fair and tried process and that is why I needed to teach people my all and every trick, a sea fox need to teach it cubs how to hunt don't you think"

"that is also my concern, I may have heard as much scary and good stuff, that I was more confused than afraid and I think the entire crew was like that the entire trip, who is the true Tanya who is our captain, are you a legend or a force of nature, it hard to believe such a caring person could have a temple of steel in times of need, and know archaic stuff like you do, even if we are in space ships and not in sea vessels things does not match up, at times you sound like a granny at times you go by the flow"

"I know, I was well,,, very foolish when young, I wanted to prove myself in everything, I thought that the value of people was in their merits and results but when faced with the harsh reality well, my world was upside down, the script that was my life was tossed away and that is why I was searching to loss myself in deep space, but doing this job, developing the colony effort filled my heart in joy, you know being out here with much more time by yourself is not for everyone, too many free time, too many solaces but that is why I made hobbies and time worth it, I was never a good musician but after one year there was not much of a difference then I simple go on and in ten years was an expert, then I picked one instrument after another, and well the rest is history, I may not be famous in what I wanted but I made merrier people out there, and that is was I believe is why I want to be back with my family, and is why I wanted to leave some meaning in this harsh reality"

"I never thought you had such a harsh past did you lose a husband before joining the navy or lose a child"

At this point, Tasha saw the eyes of her captain drop a tear and change her demeanor to a meeker, something she never expected to see on her.

"I,,, yeah,,, I lost a husband, think I married him at only 18 and miscarried a child,,, then after seven years of marriage he thought about separating, something like him being to old ten years apart, saying I was never open up to him, or that I lose my edge, saying that if he ever wanted a young wife at home he would not choose me, that he loved me with all my smarts and wits, that he did not wanted me to be meek and shy, after that, well we got into a car accident with twins in my belly never able to face solace at 25 I was a single mother of a brother as sister twins and thought about ending my life but life traced a path before me, after that well I buried in my job, until by chance at 32 meet with an incident in slip-space were I meet my second husband, we got stranded without our cryo capsule working and worked to repair the ship until finding the culprit, a long out-off-phase stick of space debris which he secured removing it from the in fusion reactor using his engineering marvelous mind"

"that is hard to believe, mmm, I think I saw a movie called 'if I could soar through the stars' Wait… is your husband?"

"yes, he was a civil engineer and writer his name Erich Rerugen, fitting, seeing I keep falling in love with the name"

At the same time, the second in command could not believe the drama of her superior's life, the guy from development were greeted by the crewmen and things started to get livelier, and concerns evaporated from her mind as she asked.

"and why me?, why choose me as second of command and tell me about stuff like you would fade away?"

At this point, Tanya realized that this was sounding more like a confession grieving session than a chitchat, so she responded jokingly.

"Well, being honest your name was the same as Mother's, and thought to have another Tasha in my life at least for a last goodbye, I planned to retire back home and live an early retirement as seeing I must raise my ten years old second daughter, I simply was too often far away."

At this point the puzzle in Tasha was finally fixed in her mind, Tanya was not as strong of a woman as she was making it to be, she wore a façade for the exterior, and left the interior for the very important ones because she doesn't want to be left.

"As I going to teach you, do not think everyone is one facet, and also do not underestimate or downgrade people, be ready for mistakes but be ready to not see only black and white, the world is grey, only that way you will triumph being in command"

Lawrance Lawford got onto the stage and faced the balcony with a good speech that everyone applauded finalizing with a suggestion from the deck crew.

"And now with this beautiful guitar, I ask our esteemed captain to marvel at us with her fantastical voice"

Tanya walked down the balcony and readying the mic and guitar faced back at the public singing a cover of a cover (Jeff Buckley style – Hallelujah)

Luisa Violette seated next to Tasha as the ethereal performance commenced, making a soft nod as she watched her friend whipping tears off her face.

"So, was the chat of passing the baton a good bait, did you make her spill the beans"

"Luisa, we misunderstood her a lot (she hugged her best buddy) she even had a late husband and a home to be back to, the movie we saw back at base was about hers and her current husband, she misses being at a home and the kids"

"huh, what are you talking about she has only been married once with a daughter at home, it was at the end of the credits, it says, in the biography of Hans after his trilogy, it where written she says 'I only will love one an only one man' the dates you are giving does not match up"

At the realization of the news she broke, her tears were wasted, but she realized that the expressions Tanya did were genuine, was her captain having impostor syndrome, a slip-space lunacy, she did not know the only thing sure was that she was trying knots, and leaving the navy to raise a child but now she has more questions muddled with answers,

At that moment, Tanya started playing 'my sweet lord ~ by George Harrison' and raised a question, how a devout person could lie so blatantly?, or was she?, And why did she choose old folk songs?