[TC: 97, 35]

  It's been five years since I took command of the TFS Spear, and in that time, our fleet has grown to include six more frigates. This year, I step down as Captain of the Spear and turn command over to Major Ravens, who will be receiving a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. I've been promoted to Colonel and given command of the TFS Shield, our first destroyer. It's a bittersweet moment as I say goodbye to my crew on the Spear, but I'm excited for the challenge of learning to command a new css of ship.

  The first few months on the Shield were a whirlwind of activity as I learned the new vessel and its capabilities. The destroyer was a beast, with more firepower and defensive systems than I had ever commanded before. The new crew was top-notch, many of them handpicked from the best and brightest across the fleet.

  You may have noticed our ranks. We don’t use Naval ranks like the US did. I’ve always found it funny that a colonel in the army was the same as a captain in the navy. Ship captains’ are still called Captain regardless of rank, but other than that quirk, there’s one rank structure in the TF military that ranges from private to general.

  Back on Terra, our popution has exploded to over 60,000. The other city, Viel Hills, has been established, and is thriving with a popution of about 5,000 people.

  [TC: 265, 37]

  Kay and her team have made a groundbreaking discovery with the Exo-uterus technology. They successfully impnted five human embryos in artificial wombs, and they are currently developing healthily. The implications of this breakthrough for Terra are hazy, but Councilman Dayton predicts that we will see a popution explosion.

  [TC: 94, 40]

  The introduction of children being born from Exo-uteruses has led to a significant gender imbance in the new generation, as all babies born from these devices are female. The Federation Council predicts that female-to-male ratio will continue to be 75/25 for the foreseeable future.

  Our popution has grown fairly quickly over the st 40 years, but our needs far outstrip our popution.

  Again, I turn over command of the TFS Shield to my executive officer, LC Amanda Reynolds, and I’m given command of our first cruiser, the TFS Trinity. I’m sad to leave such a great crew and ship, yet at the same time, excited to take on this new endeavor.

  Our fleet is slowly expanding, but we are limited by the number of people avaible for service. Despite this, as new recruits reach eligibility age, they eagerly join our ranks. It's not ideal to have 15-year-olds in the military, but it's necessary. We need a strong armed forces in case HOTE didn’t destroy themselves along with Earth. No one wants to risk the possibility, so we continue to arm ourselves with a powerful fleet and ground troops that we hope will never have to be used.

  At the moment, our fleet stands at: 571 Eagle-css multirole fighters, 52 Spear-css Frigates, 28 Shield-css Destroyers, and a single Trinity-css Cruiser.

  On Terra, we have 2 more thriving cities with another in the process of being built. Novis, the federation capital, has a popution exceeding 50,000.

  [TC: 389, 45]

  As I stand on the bridge of the Trinity, I gaze out at the faint fireworks dispy put on by Novis, and I can't help but reflect on the years that have passed since we first arrived at Terra.

  It’s surreal to see my reflection and realize that I’m 62 years old, despite looking and feeling like an 18-year-old. The mental disparity between my biological age and my actual age is almost mind-boggling. Even more so when I consider that I have approximately another 160 years before I begin to age past 18.

  [TC: 180, 50]

  Today is one huge party across the pnet. The federation council decred the day of summer solstice as a federation holiday and helped set up parties across Terra to celebrate our 50th year.

  In a couple of days, my XO and I are being reassigned to new csses of ships. LC Dale Barker is being assigned to command the new Aeon-css missile cruiser, TFS Aeon while I’m being assigned to command the Camulus-css battlecruiser, TFS Camulus. The addition of these ships marks a massive increase in the firepower the fleet wields.

  As needs must, another orbital shipyard is being built in orbit of Lunea since Osiris Station has been at capacity ever since it came online.

  [TC: 15, 55]

  There’s a massive increase in the adult popution this year since the first of the exo-babies along with the rest of them come of age. Everyone is predicting a popution explosion in the coming years. As such, pns are being made to accommodate them; housing, new cities, production facilities, etc…

  Currently, the popution of Terra stands at approximately 550,000, which far exceeds all predictions, including those by Apollo.

  Compared to Earth, the standard of living here is extremely high. A lot of that has to do with federation council regutions. Meaning, as long as you contribute to society in some way - joining the military, research, general worker, or whatever - then food, housing, and goods only require payment for their resources to make them. I’m not really clear on how they are compensating the farmers and ranchers, but apparently it’s a satisfactory agreement because they’re happily toiling away. Why Earth never bothered to implement something along these lines is beyond me.

  The first of the Bellona-css troop carriers are introduced to the fleet, quickly followed by the Tyr-css battleships with promises to have the Nike-css carriers and Victoria-css dreadnoughts fielded soon. As things stand, I’d almost feel sorry for them if HOTE came to visit us with what we know they had 60 years ago because it’d be an epic massacre. We’d lose ships and crew, but we’d win hands down.

  Once again, I receive orders to hand over command of the TFS Camulus to my XO, and take command of the TFS Tyr.

  Some of you might be wondering about Athena and Max since I’m never transferred to a ground command. Max is still in the fleet and currently he commands the engineering section of the TFS Tyr. After the st of the children were grown, Athena joined the fleet as a physician's assistant and she’s being transferred to the Tyr as well.

  As a general rule, the fleet does its best to assign married partners to the same ship. So, my marriage is alive and well with Max usually trying his best to put Athena and me in a coma. He does a fairly good job of it, too. Believe me, I love nothing better than to pleasure my wife orally as my husband takes me from behind.

  [TC: Day 89, 107]

  [EC: July 28, 2618]

  I’m in my ready room of the dreadnought, TFS Victoria, when the announcement comes, “General Reeves to bridge.” I slide the stack of flimsies I’m working on into my desk, stand, and make the short walk to the bridge.

  As I enter, Colonel Ravens announces, “General on the bridge!”

  I quickly wave everyone back into their seats, and Colonel Ravens stands up from my seat as I approach. As I take my seat, I ask, “What’s up, Amanda?”

  She nods at the navigation plot. “We’ve arrived just outside Sol’s Oort cloud.” When I arch an eyebrow, she shrugs and continues, “We made better time than anyone thought. Apparently, you need to give your son a raise,” she says with a grin.

  Michael, my first child, is our chief engineer. “Mmm,” I murmur noncommittally. “Alright. Nav, set a best speed course for Earth, inform the fleet, and take us in. Tactical, keep an eye on the system. I don’t want anyone sneaking up on us.”

  A chorus of “Aye, Ma’am,” confirms my orders.

  An hour ter, we’re passing Jupiter when Comms announces, “General, I’m not finding any emissions in the normal communication frequencies from Earth, or within the system.”

  I grimace, thinking, ‘That’s not good news. Hopefully, they simply haven’t found a vaccine for the virus, and are still bunkered down.’ The pn was to approach quietly, but this is just too eerie. Sol shouldn’t be dead quiet. “Comms, loop a general hail. See if you can raise anyone.”

  She turns from her station and gazes at me with a confused expression. Then she quietly asks, “Ma’am?”

  I nod and state, “You heard the order, Lieutenant.” Then I decide to expin my sudden change of orders to the bridge crew. “It’s too quiet, and we see no traffic in the system. I see no need to stealth our way in system now.” I pause and gnce at my XO. “What do you think, Amanda?”

  Colonel Ravens nods thoughtfully. “I agree, General. Something feels off about this. We should proceed with caution, but there's no point in hiding our presence if the system is truly empty." She turns to the comms officer. "Lieutenant, you heard the general’s order, make a general hail on all frequencies. Let's see if anyone is out there.” She turns back to me. “We should spread the fleet out to increase our detection area.”

  I nod and reply, “Good idea. Do it, but don’t reduce the carrier screens. I’m not willing to risk them. While we do that, we might as well recon Ceres and Mars to see if anyone is there.”

  She shrugs and grins for a moment. “I guess the approach pn just went nova. Yeah, we might as well.” She turns to the comms officer. “Comms, order the fleet to disperse, but stay within max support range of each other, and the carrier escorts are to remain in position.”

  “Aye, Ma'am.” The comms officer's fingers fly over her console as she composes the message. “Hail sent. Now we wait for a response.” Then she switches back to the encrypted frequency for the fleet. “All ships, all ships, this is Sentinel command, you are ordered to break up into your task forces and disperse to maximum support range. Break.” She pauses to look at the list of task forces dispyed on her screen. “Task forces 5, 6, 7 and 8 are to remain in screening positions. Sentinel out.”

  Each task force on her list is quickly highlighted as they confirm the order. Minutes tick by in tense silence on the bridge. The only sounds are the soft bloops and beeps from the stations surrounding her chair. Time seems to slow down as we wait for any response to our hails, the tension is palpable on the bridge, but the comms remain ominously silent.

  I stared out the viewport at the familiar pnets and asteroids of our home system, but they felt alien now, devoid of the usual bustle of activity. Where were the ships, the stations, the signs of human presence?

  A half-hour ter, the comm’s officer reports, “Still no response on any frequency, General.” Her tone is cool and professional, yet there’s an underlying note of strain.

  I exchange a grim look with Colonel Ravens. “This doesn't bode well,” I murmur tensely. She merely nods in agreement and returns her attention to the dispys in front of her.

  Soon, the first reports begin to come in. “General, the recon from Ceres reports that they detected no energy sources or life signs, so they nded a squad of Marines. The Marines report that no one is there. It’s dead, Ma’am.”

  Forty long minutes ter, the report for Mars comes in. No life signs, no energy emissions. Nothing. The patrols nded some Marines and found nothing in the buildings they searched.

  As the reports from Ceres and Mars sink in, a heavy silence settles over the bridge. The implications are staggering - two major human settlements, completely abandoned. No signs of life, no power, just... emptiness. Dead for all intents and purposes.

  Even though my shipsuit regutes my temperature, a shiver runs down my spine. I can't be the only one feeling it; I know everyone else is too. My mind is overrun with various possibilities, all more frightening than the st. The most prominent and unsettling thought is what if Earth is no different from Mars or Ceres?

  Now that our fleet has spread out, our detection range is a third of the system, and still, nothing. No energy signatures, just dead silence.

  As we approach Earth's orbit, the tension on the bridge is tangible. Every eye is glued to their dispys, searching for any sign of life, any glimmer of hope that our worst fears aren't realized.

  Yet, as Earth grew rger in the viewports, our hopes began to fade. Earth itself hasn’t changed. It’s still gorgeous, a vibrant blue pnet. As we station ourselves in high orbit, the ships spread out to scan every millimeter of Earth. Slightly less than two hours ter, we know. There are 7 strong energy signatures on Earth and a bunch of weaker ones. Whether they are just power systems running on automatic or not, we don’t know because the strong signatures are deep enough that the life sign scanners are being wonky. One second, they say there is life, the next, nothing.

  According to the reading, the energy signatures are located in Sydney, London, Shanghai, Switzernd, and the other three are located in the US. Mount Weather, Raven Rock, and the Vivos xPoint community, which is a multi-point source. At least, the information provides some hope, but we’ll have to go in and find out in person if there’s anyone there.

  Standing up, I say, “Comm’s, order Colonel Garcia to prepare his Marines. Inform him that I’m on my way to the Bellona, and we’ll depart when I arrive. Also inform the flight deck to ready a shuttle for me, and order a CAP flight to cover the nding party.”

  The comms officer’s eyes widen in surprise as she responds, “Yes, Ma’am,” and turns back to her station.

  “Thank you. XO, you have the bridge.”

  She replies, “Aye, Ma’am,” as I turn and leave to make my way to the flight deck. I nod to acknowledge the crewmen as we pass each other in passageways. The flight to the Bellona is short and when we nd, I exit to find the Marines already assembled and boarding the drop ships, the bright lights of the nding bay almost seem to shy away from their bck and gray matte armor. Colonel Garcia stands at attention and salutes me as I approach. I return his salute, and he informs me, “General, we're ready to depart on your order.”

  I nod curtly. “Let's move out, Colonel. We need answers.”

  We board the lead drop ship, settle into the crash seats, and strap ourselves in as the engines roar to life. The flight deck crew scurries around the ships, unlocking them from the deck and making final checks before we unch. Within minutes, we're lightly pressed into our seats as we’re literally thrown out of the bay by the magnetic catapult. It only takes microseconds for the inertial dampers to catch up, and the slight pressure is relieved.

  The uncher is 150m long, the drop ship weighs a bit more than 500 tons, and it takes 2.5 seconds for our ship to attain a speed of 20k kph. Suffice it to say, at 227g during the unch, we’d be paste without the inertial dampers.

  Soon, the drop ships assemble, and the CAP fighters form up around us.