Catherine Ellington was just standing there, looking at the brand new Pine Ridge Carrier from the observation deck of Washington Shipyard. The Pine Ridge had been equipped with the latest technologies of the Republic and some others recovered from "undisclosed locations". She was staring at the void, thinking about the objectives of this operation, but moreover the harsh consequences failing this mission would cause. A man approached Ellington, without her noticing him.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" said a man in his thirties with short brown hair. "Dear God Johnson you scared the hell out of me." answered Ellington. "Just doing my Quartermaster job, Commander." "Are we good to go?" she quietly said, with a concerned tone. "That we are. I'm a little more worried about you to be honest, this is quite the trip, and there will be questions." "Oh that I know, Lieutenant. I'll handle that." she paused, with a sigh. "Alright... time to head to the unknown."
The two were now aboard the Pine Ridge, looking behind them at the docking bridge between the Pine Ridge and Washington Shipyard with an inch of nostalgy, like a long lost friend. The first stop was the Fourth Deck, Docking Bay Three.
The docking bay was still a mess, filled with a giant mess of various hastily loaded crates, but also with a lot of people that seemingly had no idea why they were here.
A group of soldiers approached Ellington and Johnson, introducing themselves with a formal military salute.
"Commander. Major Davis reporting for duty. This is my platoon leaders." "Greetings Major, and you all. I'm Commander Ellington from Special Operations, I'm in charge of this operation." she said, extending her hand. "I'm aware you have not been given any detail about this operation, in fact you have not been told anything and I know you never like this. We had to set up this operation in a very short amount of time and not even the High Command has all the details yet. I assume you already understand this is not going to be a walk in the park." she paused.
Davis chuckled. "Yeah we figured that out when we saw this little gem." he said on a humorous tone, pointing at the big satellite a group of engineers were working on. "Hm hm. At any rate, you and your platoon leaders will receive a detailed briefing when we reach the Alaska system, but first, I need to get that ship moving."
They saluted each other. The soldiers were not really happy to head to the unknown with no information at all, but at least they knew they were going to receive a briefing shortly.
The Commander and her Quartermaster were now on their way to the bridge of the Pine Ridge.
