Snippet #2012098

The Admiral turned off his music and swiveled around to face the digitized artificial intelligence standing before him on his control panel. He had been disturbed by two pieces of news. Firstly, the roster had no Commander Dunaway listed, unless it was referring to Jon Dunaway, however he was merely a captain and not the detachment leader. Secondly, the isolated AIs were not brought up to attention before.

"Isolated AIs? Hmmm..." he rubbed his chin for a bit.

"Adam, remind me to address Mr. Thaddeus Jackson, and uh...Commander Dunaway."

"We'll resolve that issue during the briefing, for now, log off."

Aronimus stood up from his seat, folded his arms behind him, and walked to the general meeting hall. The corridors of the F.S.S. Salient were sterilized before it left the factories on Earth and departed to Mars. Not a soul in sight, he enjoyed this solitude for a moment before it would be swept away. He expected the hordes of recruits and crew members to pour in from the station as the ship docked in place. It brought him back to the old days, when he was once a recruit entering a star ship for the first time. It seemed like yesterday, but felt like eons ago.