“Twenty minutes to reaching high orbit. Escorting assault craft establishing trajectory. Pathfinder is aligned to initiate separation phase in two minutes. Prepare cubes eight, four, and six for separation.”
The computer droned the information from the bridge over ship-wide communicators. The tall woman stood among the crowd in Caydoc Park and watched the view from the external cameras on the major screen. Above them the faux sky gave the impression of a beautiful summer’s day. Down on the planet they were about to orbit, Gemocon, it was early fall on the northern hemisphere. The advance team had worked tirelessly in preparation for Pathfinder’s arrival. The woman had eagerly followed every report from Gemocon regarding their progress. They had gone through their fair share of setbacks but somehow managed to use the last two years to draw up plans for infrastructure and housing.
Every time the woman had seen her daughter’s name in any of the reports, her heart had ached. It had been so long. Too long. Every time she looked at herself in the mirror, she knew nobody would recognize her. Her black curls were now gunmetal black and her once-flawless complexion weathered and scarred. That, combined with an eyepatch covering her empty right eye socket, made her into a whole other person. Considering how the last twenty years had been, she wasn’t the same when it came to her soul either. Gone were the doting mother, the fleet-officer career woman, and the once-loving wife.
Her son was aboard Pathfinder with his wife and little boy. She hadn’t seen them in person, but the passenger manifest was easy enough to hack into, as was the surveillance system where she could watch them go about their daily routine. Her daughter, successful in her chosen profession despite her mother’s absence, waited for the young family on Gemocon.
“Eleven minutes to high orbit around Gemocon. Commencing chain separation sequence. Separating cubes eight, four, and six. Prepare cubes twelve, nine, and two.”
The computer interrupted the woman’s thoughts, and she gazed transfixed at the cubes as they appeared on the screen. The last time they had separated it was an emergency action while being under attack and nobody had an outside view of that happening. Now Pathfinder dislodged the cubes one by one, placing them like a string of pearls in orbit around Gemocon. Each cube had its own bridge to control it independently. Around them, freighters joined the assault craft, helping the bridge crews estimate the trajectory.
“Excuse me?” A man just behind her tried to pass, and she stepped aside. He glanced at her and did a double take at the sight of her eyepatch. No doubt he was astonished, wondering why she hadn’t simply had her eye replaced. She fully intended to have it done eventually. There simply hadn’t been time before Pathfinder departed.
“High orbit achieved for all cubes. One hour until departure of the first 16,800 passengers. Estimated time of arrival planet-side at the shuttle landing sites in ninety minutes.”
The computer kept delivering messages to each cube, making sure the passengers knew when to report to their respective shuttle bays. The tall woman knew it would about fifty days until the cubes were empty of civilians. Some, like the president and her cabinet, would disembark first in order to assume the offices prepared for them on the planet. The twenty-seven shuttles that had been attached to the outside of the shuttle bays could ferry six hundred passengers at a time. The schedule estimated three runs per day until it was time for the remaining crewmembers to land the cubes. Each cube would become the hub of a new city, except for cubes one, eleven, and eight. Cube one held the governmental structures, cube eleven the university hospital with all the best specialists, and cube eight harbored all the main universities and agricultural research facilities. Together they would form the embryo of the new Gemoconian capital, which had yet to receive a name.
The woman had to remain aboard cube one for another three weeks until it was her time to disembark, if the schedule held up. She didn’t mind. This would give her time to make a final decision regarding her future. She watched how people around her cheered as the first shuttles left their respective cubes and headed for the planet’s surface. So far, the woman took comfort in being a face among many, but eventually she would decide if she would remain incognito or once again become Lieutenant Commander Pamas Seclan, long-lost mother of Commander Aniwyn “Spinner” Seclan, CAG of the Advance Team and her younger brother Pherry.
Pamas watched the Gemoconian scenery come toward them on the big screen. The cube-one shuttle camera showed the web of landing sites and gates as it landed. The roaring shouts spread throughout the crowd in Caydoc Park, echoed by the cheers from the ground crew on Gemocon. Pamas wiped at a tear running down her cheek.
Pathfinder had made it. They had actually arrived at Gemocon.