1 All weight left behind

Within a small apartment, in a lovely neighborhood near a city seemingly gigantic by comparison.

A person rouses heavily from a familiar and all to melancholic dream, fading within seconds. Young but already rough hands drift along his chin, feeling every stubble along the way - proof of the stressful days past with no time to even shave.

He slowly rises and with a slight wobble lurches towards the bathroom.

The guzzling sound of water streaming down on his trained but worn out body recalls the night and he rain. The heat infusing his muscles down to the bone, lulling him in a daydream of depression.

With an abrupt almost desperate turn the water showered down with a shocking chill, waking him finally, allowing him to shake the feeling of sadness.

Heavy and wet steps on a towel, followed by the electric buzzing of an automatic razor and the rhythmic scrubs of a toothbrush.

With the soft smell of fresh coffee flowing from the kitchen, he finished his hygiene and stepped out into the first rays of dawn that fell through the silently opening window sills and onto his mostly naked body that was only veiled by a slightly wet towel loosely bound around his waist.

Carefully stepping through small crates full of books, small models of starships and other belongings. Neatly packed full of everything personal, they made the apartment look almost like the first day.

Sipping on a cup filled with bitter delight, he picked up a small chrome triangle, about the size of a thumb and lightly put it towards his left temple where it stuck like a magnet to metal and a neat line along its center turned into a fluorescent cyan signalling its activation.

With his basically nonexistent breakfast he idly scrolled through daily news and old messages, congratulating him to his new post.

His eyes stopped their rapid reading for just a smidgen, stuck to the magnificent hologram of his dream, the first of mankind's FTL capable vessels. A prototype to lead a new age. And the place he truly belongs now that earth has only useless weight left for him.

Finishing his cup, he stood up and finally dressed himself in a casual manner, calling a car with a thought and closing the last black crate by softly putting down a picture frame with a small black ribbon on its edge.

Stepping out of the apartment, and closing the familiar door for one last time, he released an almost inaudible sigh seemingly trying to let his emotions behind with the building. Turning around, he knew that this was truly the the end and start of a chapter in his life, as everything was already scheduled to be put for sale, stored or disposed of according to the green, yellow or black color of the crate.

Entering the faintly humming car hovering in front of him and giving the thought towards the central spire of the city he lives next to, a building not only magnificent but also quite literally the highest on the world as it stretched up to meet a station in orbit.

The car receiving his thought closed the doors and accelerated towards the city following invisible lanes in the sky that only the A.I. would know.

Looking through the clear window-like screens on its side and down on the city that he lived in for so many years he indulged in the feeling of melancholy.

He remembered his childhood filled with dreams of space and technology,

his youth with interesting although embarrassing memories of school and his years in University filled with hope and later love.

When his thoughts turned to the next chapter in his life, the chapter that he was about to finish he forced himself to stop and focused on the endless seeming pillar that he felt to represent his hope and future.

Upon his arrival he paid his car with a short thought and stepped in the grandiose and luxurious halls in front of him.

With determined strides he turned away from the civilian path that's paved to the highest level of comfort and entered a almost hidden side entrance with no pause as the scanners were of the highest level and gave their approval within fractions of a second.

Moving through hallways reserved for personell and military only he connected his Hud to a terminal embedded in a door that opened shortly after entering his security code and scanning his entire body for almost a full second.

Behind it a room not larger than his apartment filled with basic seats and screens on all sides, indistinguishable from glass showing the outside city slowly disappear as the elevator started to rise.

Again alone and left with nothing else than his thought he focused and recalled everything he needed for his new assignment. Names, Faces, Biographies, Blueprints, Plans, Commands and so on and so forth as his list of things he had to have learned for this mission was exhausting. But he was determined as it was all worth it.

When the movement of the room finally slowed down and stopped he just barely revised the most important parts, which still took a few hours. Opening his eyes and minimizing the Hud in his sight he felt the change from normal to micro gravity. Through the screens he saw the station tower over him, as it is one of humanities largest feat of engineering. And just peeking around this humongous body he saw one the elegant white rings that enabled movement from one point to another at impossible speeds without moving at all.

With energetic steps he exited the elevator, moved through a hallway almost entirely empty as all the bustle would be on the other side of the station by the shipyard.

Even though he wanted to sprint there as well he entered a private office instead and stripped nude again before pulling on a skintight suit with a slight bump on his back that could open and develop into a fully enclosed helmet within milliseconds.

After this mandatory first layer that was almost impossible to feel he put on a second layer of armor that would be normally be used by light infantry back on planetside, that could withstood most basic weapons for a short while, without being much larger or restrictive than a vintage suit for social gatherings.

Lastly he activated the holographic projector integrated into the armor which covered his current very plain attire with an illusion of an uniform with an almost imperial look to it, given by the decorative armor plates and impressive but impractical coat extending from a rather tight top. Heavy, seemingly metallic boots and a belt imprinted with a small icon of his newly formed division finished the look to displayed the militaristic and slightly monarchistic stance of the new alliance that ruled the planet after the last great war.

With steps deceiving the illusion of metallic boots by their silent nature he exited the room and marched towards the Shipyard, taking a separate path, that lead him above the masses of civilians and personell that wanted to gaze at his new assignment. As it finally came into view even his breath stopped for a short while as he took in the truly beautiful view.

In his eyes reflected the silhouette of the cruise ship sized main body of the ship he will be serving on. Its face resembling a ship designed to be an an icebreaker, its thick plates of armor hiding its large frontal engines only opening up when needed, and he knew that its currently hidden backside would be similar as the entire craft was build to be almost symmetrical from front to back, its side being entirely flat and rounded to deflect any Physalis impact from micro-asteroids, with numerous sections able to open up for equipment and personell to extend and exit when needed but be protected when not.

Around its long shape were placed three rings that connected to the main body with four arms shaped like a cross. The aft ring he saw previously but even though it is an auxiliary for the central larger ring its size and craftsmanship was impressive as it represented all of humanities pooled effort to develop the technical fantasy of the early 21st century that was called the Alcubierre-Drive into a form that was functional and operational.

After this moment that stretched far longer than it should he resumed his steps towards the ship.

His movement finally got caught by the crowd below which clamored and he was sure that more than a few pictures were taken for one newspaper or another. He care little as he strode forwards with excitement glittering in his eyes betraying his stonefaced expression.

When his gangway finally touched the airlock of the ship he underwent one final security check before he set his first and deliberately right foot on the ship as he couldn't afford any but the best luck to guide him.

Moving into the belly of the ship around him people buzzed around preparing finishing every final preparation for takeoff, but halting for a moment and saluting when he passed, some more sloppy than others since this mission exploratory focus meant a lot of civilian presence that were given a rank for the duration of the mission.

At last he stood before the bridge hidden in the deepest part of the ship. He stood there for a short while resolving himself before he decisively took his first, and right, step on the bridge slowly walking to the center, around him positioned in a three quarter ring and 3 steps all the different commanding officer, which were either engrossed on their terminal looking at the newcomer or at the screens around them showing the complete outside of the ship.

At his second step an officer that was hurriedly moving around deck giving different commands and taking information from the other officers took notice and immediately, saluted before bellowing:

"Captain on Deck"