Chris was feeling anxiety. Something was not sitting right with him about the planet that they were about to explore in the morning. It was mainly that really, really big cubed shaped ship that was hovering over it that bothered him. Did it leave something, someone, or a great many someone’s down on the surface. There was only one way to find out and that was going down and taking a good look.

Running his hand through his thick raven dark hair he sighed as he walked the halls of the newly refitted Chernov. Smiling at the gleam and shine of the new parts and new rooms. He did wish to have the old battle scarred interior back. It was a way of showing visitors that, yes we have been through tough times and came out on top, and the polished look looked like we haven’t done anything. He knew that the guests on board would know that they were The Chernov and the greatest battlecruiser to ever leave a port and The Chernov was accompanied by an elite and highly decorated crew. He smiled at that and suddenly found himself in the arboretum. A new aspect of the ship where the crew could go to get a peace of mind, which was rare these days. It was filled with real trees and plants and the sent of it all brought him back to a time when he was a boy growing up in Bloomington, Indiana. Playing basketball in the very early part of fall for his high school. Memories he thought. Memories of friends and loved ones past and present, gone and still alive, just memories. That is all he had. He sighed again as he found a bench near one of the trees about to bloom. It had a flowering bud in the middle of its tulip shaped leaves. He smiled again. “A tulip Tree or otherwise known as a Yellow Poplar. It just so happened to be the State tree of Indiana.

He took a sip of his coffee as he admired the tree and looked out the bay window on the side.

Captain Chris Taggart, CO