Sep — Roleplayer Guild

For the past several minutes, as crew members on the bridge busied themselves with their duties William watched the hologram before him. His homeworld below the fleet, the largest fleet humanity had ever assembled under one banner. It wasn't Martian, Fed, Conglomerate or Armani. It was a human fleet through and through. Then an even larger number of red icons appeared, a wall of death and it was then that William let out a sigh, turning to Joanne he nodded. She keyed in her command code into the console as he keyed in his. Massive clamps along the side of the Vitae released, it could barely be felt but there was a slight drop before the ships systems kicked in to fight against the force of gravity bearing down on the behemoth. He keyed into the console, the figure of all the other Admirals appearing on the table. William nodded at all of them, coming from all different walks of life these eleven people plus him were responsible for the safe guarding of humanity.

"Is everyone clear on the Exodus protocol?" This wasn't the first time William had been in a room with Admiral Constantine and wodnered what the hell was going on. This time it wasn't him that had to speak up, instead Admiral Rita Haworth of the Rejuvenation was the one to speak, he was glad for it too. He didn't want to always be the one to question the will of one of humanities greatest heroes but also of the representative of the council that got him this job, and allowed him to keep on living. Though there were times when he considered resigning to instead help put up the good fight, had he had thought about it early he might have. Doing so now would only jeopardize the Ark he was leaving behind, giving it a commander that wasn't as prepared for the task as he was. After all he had been living on it for near five years.

"Excuse me sir, but does this protocol not contradict the entire point in Genesis? I mean if we execute Exodus then by all means-"

Constantine cut her off before she was even finished, the man was a brilliant tactician even in conversation. Always one step ahead. He seemed to only get better at it with age. "Exodus is a last measure, and only to be used in those circumstances. The whole idea behind Exodus is that lives sacrificed are not wasted, you need to remember that everything currently being done all over the planets is being done for these vessels. Everything. We've already made the choice to save a few so that humanity can survive, and that's the way we're going to keep doing it. You need to understand that, and get on with that program." He turned to William, giving him a look that almost made William believe that he could read minds, knowing that he himself had the same problems. "I know it isn't ideal, but nothing about this situation is. Anyway, you have your briefing packets. Get back to your ships, the next batch of command crew should be arriving today."

William got up, picking up his notes and turned to walk out the briefing room. They were onboard the Rejuvenation which was currently the only Ark sitting finished, at least mostly. She still had parts that needed finished but she was the only one to look whole. William couldn't help but wonder how the Vitae would compare, ships could look identical but they all felt different. As career navy that was something he believed wholeheartedly. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see the face of Rita, smiling he gave her a small salute. Technically she did outrank him, she just hit him on the shoulder. "At ease." He chuckled slightly as he looked at her, definitely European decent... the red hair and pale skin gave it away as well as the shocking green eyes that just drew you in.

"Oh, well. If you say I can be at ease, I guess I better be at ease. After all, I wouldn't want to annoy the commander of Constantines Pride."

"Now, listen here Locke..."

She was the first one to speak, she always was. "It's confirmed, the Devastator fleet is moving into weapons range to engage the fleet above Mars." She cast a quick glance at William, though he stood firm. While every military instinct at the back of his mind burned on fire, they were his people and he was just going to leave them behind. He was at war with himself, almost tempted to go hop in the Nyx and join in the battle. Though, he understood the importance of his mission and doing something as foolish as that wasn't going to help anyone. Not that she ever believed the stoic look anyway. She always saw right through it to what he was thinking. 

"Per Constantines orders, the Rejuvenation will launch first, closely followed by the Vitae then Destiny,Relentless,Hope,Mirai,Citadel,Taweret,Inlustris,Xīng lièrén,Nueva Vida and finally the Jinsei no akashi. The next ship in the sequence should be ready to kiss sky the moment the previous ship breaks orbit. We can't waste any time, jump drives should be spooled up for the largest jump possible should Exodus be implemented, begin calculating your emergency jump co-ordinates." William and turned to Joanne, who then walked off in order to speak to the tactical officer, they were the second ship in the chain so it was unlikely they would need them. Though it was impossible to be over cautious at this stage of the project.

"Genesis is now underway gentlemen, and ladies." The hologram version of her looked directly at William. "Good luck." He merely nodded as the hologram faded away. 

He turned to Anderson. "Helm, prime the engines for a full burst the moment the Rejuvenation breaks orbit, have the course laid in however keep the alternate route on standby." At this point he was pacing around all the officers that sat in the pit with him, all responsible for teams all over the ship. "Have all first response medical and engineering teams on standby-" At this point the bridge was a serious buzz of activity. It was real. "-All weapons primed and ready to fire, first response squadrons should be ready to launch on my command. Keep the shields primed and ready to activate the second we break free of Earths gravitational pull, divert the extra power to the engines. Run a full diagnostic on the jump core, if we need it to get out in a hurry I want to ensure it's fully operational and ready to go."

At that moment his earpiece buzzed, he tapped it with his right hand as he turned back to the holographic display. Changing the scene to that of the shipyard, watching as the Rejuvenation pulled away. "This is the Admiral speaking." 

"Sir, we have a priority transmission from Admiral Haworth." William had to suppress a sad smile.

"Put it through-" There was a brief pause and then a soft click. "-Admiral, what can I do for you?"

"For a start, you can call me by my real name William. I mean it is the end of the world after all."

"Yes Ma'am, I suppose it is. Though you know us Martians, sticklers for protocl and procedure and technically we are both on duty."

"Would it help if I fired you?"

"It might, but then who are you going to get to command the Vitae?"

"I'm sure I could rehire you."

"Not quite sure if I'd accept." There was an awkward pause, William knew what part of the conversation they were coming too. He had known it was coming for a while. They both had, it was something they knew from the very moment they met, that everything was going to end with the launch of the Arks. It was something they had never discussed, and they probably should have.

"You know William-" He cut her off.

"I know, you don't need to say anything."

"I just feel that I should say Go-" 

"You are not saying Goodbye. Goodbyes are final, always hated them." He himself paused. "What I will say is, I'll see you later. That's a promise."

He heard her chuckle slightly. He wasn't sure why she was, whether she was trying to hide the fact she was upset or found it genuinely funny. "I hope so William. Be happy."

The line went silent and he had to fight to compose himself. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he watched as the Rejuvinator broke orbit, now capable of going full thrust it careered away from Earth, and she careered away from him. Part of him broke at knowing that he'd never be able to fulfill that promise, that he never would see her later. Though he could live with the fact, that she would survive. There were no ifs, no buts. She would, she was a real fighter. 

"Helm, take us away."

He tapped his comm into the ship wide PA. This time keeping it brief. "This is the Admiral. I would just like to inform you that the Rejuvenation is away and in moments the Vitae will follow her course to the Eye and make it's jump out of this system. I would recommend that all civillian personnel who are not currently working to find a place out of the way to allow essential personnel the freedom to move if the need arises. For those that wish it we are now streaming footage of our takeoff through the window screen system, and all observation portals are now available for use. Thankyou all, and good luck."

As the engines roared to life, and the bow of the ship lifted as the engines pushed the Vitae towards the sky, all that could run through Williams head that this was truly real, this was the moment they had been training for for years. Everyone had in one capacity or another, but here they were now. 

There really was No Turning Back anymore.
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