14:00 Hours, May 22nd, 3013, (Military Calendar) Paragon Voyager Class Starship Challenger 1, Epsilon System just beyond known space
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All that lay before her was an endless sea of stars, planets scattered throughout them like islands, each one different then the last.

The sight excited her, filled Aeryn with wonder. There were so many things left to be discovered, and knowing that Challenger 1 was going to find something new today was equally exciting.

"Aeryn!" Called a voice from the bridge.

"Yeah?" She called back, looking over shoulder.

"Quit gawking and come help me pilot the Challenger!" Called her best friend Kane.

"Coming!" She said, jogging through the hallway and out onto the bridge of the ship.

Before her lay an array of different screens and scanners which monitored the ship's systems and surroundings. Techs sat at each station, watching the scanners and running tests. Bridge officers oversaw them, making sure everything was running correctly.

Aeryn and Kane captained the ship, a rare occurrence. Usually there was only one Commander per Voyager, but Kane and Aeryn had been inseparable since they went though the Voyager Academy back on Epsilon 5. Kane and Aeryn has been assigned to the Voyager ship Challenger 1, one of the newer designs.

The bridge of the ship was located towards the exterior of the ship so that they could see out into space through the large window. A hologram of the Epsilon System was projected in the middle of the room, the screens showing star maps, other systems and any nearby inhabited planets located to the hologram's right.

Ship system monitors, weapons systems and navigation systems were arranged . Dawn's port was located near the hologram.

When her hard drive was put in the AI could appear in a projected human form and talk to them in 'person'. Dawn normally talked to the crew through the ship's speaker or in their helmets to give them directions.

Aeryn greeted the officers working on running the systems for the Challenger 1, and went to where Kane was giving Dawn a command.

"I need you to set a course for this planet here." He said, pointing to a grey and blue planet within the hologram of the Epsilon System.

"Planet 4267?" Asked Dawn.

"Yes." Said Kane.

"Setting a course now." Said the AI.

"Course set. ETA: two hours and 19 minutes."

"Thank you, Dawn. Can you make sure that the probes and sampling machines are up and running?" He asked her.

"Yes." She answered.

"You don't need my help." Said Aeryn, grinning at Kane.

"You've got it all under control."

Kane rolled his eyes.

"You still need to be up here, not back there."

"I might need you." He said, walking behind each tech, checking their work.

"True." She said, doing the same for the officers working on creating Star Maps.

As Aeryn checked each station she thought back to when she and Kane had met during the Voyager Academy. It had been six years since they first met, and they had both had had the same dream: to command a Voyager, a ship that went out and found new life and planets beyond the known reaches of space.

Everyone wanted to be either the pilot of a Battleship, Cruiser, Starfighter or Voyager, and for all of them you have to do through the Academy.

Once you've gone through your six years of training and school you go on your first mission to determine if you will be a commanding officer or bridge officer. From there they picked candidates to become the Commanders of newly christened Voyagers.

On a Voyager ship there were also pilots, special people who flew small, light weight Probe ships to new planets or other finds to get data and samples. There were also science teams that were under the command of Lieutenant Junior Grades, who oversaw everything they did.

Those LJGs in turn reported back to Adahn, their Lieutenant Commander, who then reported to either her or Kane.

The Bridge Officers and techs often reported directly to her or Kane, but sometimes to Adahn.

Once the probes had gone in, made sure everything was safe and gotten the data they returned to the Voyager. Then the ship moved in to get a better look at things.

Once they either confirmed or denied new life they named the planet and reported it back to the Voyager Headquarters on Epsilon 5. That was the daily routine of a Voyager crew, with them returning home afterward.

Kane and Aeryn were in the same class in the Voyager Academy. When they both got cleared to go through the training for Commander they asked if they could be put together on one ship if they made it. Thankfully their wish was granted and they both helped pilot the Challenger 1.

Aeryn's good friend Chase commanded the Voyager Into the Light, and one of Kane's friends was Admiral of the battleship Armistice. So on a regular basis they were all out in space, either finding new worlds or battling unknown enemies.

Right now all they had to do was wait to get to the planet they were going to. Once Aeryn was done checking the systems she went back to check on the pilots and probes in the Hangar Bay.

Aeryn twisted through many hallways until she came to an elevator, and she pressed the down button. She stood aside as the elevator door opened and several pilots came out, and then got in and rode it down to the Hangar Bay.

Aeryn had never quiet gotten used to how big the Hangar Bay was. It housed about thirty of the small, light probe ships, ten of the heavier probes and twenty of bigger drop ships to carry scientists and sample crews to the planet's surface.

The drop ships were armed with a chain gun that the pilot could fire if they encountered a hostile group of aliens or something that tried to eat them. That's also why ten soldiers went with each team to the planet's surface armed with Peacemaker Assault Rifles. So far Aeryn had been almost eaten only six times.

They had an armory that had an assortment of guns, but it was nothing compared to the ones carried on the Battleships. Their ships weren't either. The Battleships has an assortment of combat ready ships armed with different weapons, and their armories were more like a room in a museum.

Theirs was a third that size and only carried rifles and pistols. There weren't any grenades, sniper rifles or other weapons like this on the Voyagers because they wouldn't need them.

Or so they hoped.

Aeryn walked around to each ship, asking the pilots if everything was in working order or not. Some had minor problems, like a sensor that wasn't working right or a sampling arm that had seized, things that could be fixed in the two hours and they had until they got to their destination.

After that was done she went back up to the elevator and to the training area where she spent about 30 minutes training with her Peacemaker Rifle Starfire.

She had named the rifle that because when she had first gotten it she had taken her artistic skills to it and painted it orange, with color fading to a light yellow as it got to the butt of the gun.

Aeryn had then painted stars across it, and the magazines that she used for the weapon were also orange and speckled with stars.

She had customized one for Kane called Deepspace. It had taken her longer to do his because it was painted a swirling blue and had planets scattered across it with stars speckling it. His magazines were the same swirling blue with stars and planets on them.

Aeryn held the gun steady as she moved from target to target, hitting them mostly in the head and chest. She took a mag out of her vest and reloaded the gun, putting the empty magazine where the new one once was.

These mags were loaded with blanks, as real ammo couldn't be wasted. Voyagers didn't have as much in supply as the battleships did, and in the event that needed to fight they needed every round.

Aeryn then went on to the moving targets. In this course they were above her in windows, below her behind obstacles and to her sides as well. She waited for the target above her to appear in the window and shot it, then moved to the next one.

Aeryn moves quickly through the course, her heart pounding a steady beat against her ribcage. She knew that she would most likely never have to use her skills in battle, but Voyagers came across hostile aliens every once and awhile, so those skills were sometimes necessary.

When she was done she took a quick drink from her water bottle, took a few deep breaths and picked up her Storm pistol and ran the course again.

Aeryn drank the rest of her water and stowed Starfire and her pistol in the armory next to Deepspace and Kane's pistol.

She made her way back to the bridge, twisting through the many hallways and greeting the soldiers, pilots and officers she came across in the hallways, nodding as the officers saluted.

Aeryn quickly swiped her keycard and walked over to the hologram in the middle of the room.

Planet 4267 within scanning distance. Said Dawn.

Complete scan?

"Yes, run a scan." She heard Kane say.

Running scan.

Aeryn watched as a progress bar appeared where the hologram of the Epsilon System once was as Dawn ran the scan.

When it reached 100% and the image of a planet with dark grey and navy blue swirls appeared, projected in the middle of the room.

I can do a terrain scan when we are within 2.5 miles of the planet itself. Said Dawn.

"Then you know what to do." Said Aeryn, walking over and standing next to Kane.

"Get us within two miles and gather the Probe teams. We have a planet to explore."

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I'm super excited to be starting a new story, hope you guys liked that first chapter! This will update on Tuesdays like Bounty, and I'll try to keep it pretty regular.

Hope this first chapter was up to par, let me know what you think in the comments!

~~Nightfury107