At 1000 hours, The Executioner finally arrived at Io.

“Admiral Ichika, we have entered the restricted area surrounding Io,” First Lieutenant Rodgers said. “We have sent a transmission to the space station asking for permission to enter Io’s atmosphere.

Admiral Ichika nodded and gazed outside view screen at the sight before him—the Io before him was no longer the Io he remembered. The yellowish, greenish hue that had once surrounded the planet had disappeared and replaced by a blue-greenish hue resembling that of Earth.

“Sir, we have received acknowledgement to land from the Fleet Admiral, himself.”

Admiral Ichika nodded and watched as his helmsman slowly steered the ship into the docking station.

“Rodgers, you’re in command while I’m gone. Someone notify Lt. Commander Erikson and Ensign Polvov to meet me at my office. Let them know that they will be accompanying me to the meeting.”

“Yes, sir.”

Admiral Ichika got out of his seat and headed to his office. Upon arrival, he noticed Lt. Commander Erikson and Ensign Polov outside his door. Without faltering, Admiral Ichika walked up to his door, keyed in his entry code, and entered the room. He headed to his desk and sat down.

“Why are you still standing out there?” he asked. “Come in, sit down.”

He gestured at the chairs in front of him and laughed as they hesitated for a second before sitting down.

“I’m sure both of you are wondering why I summoned you to my office,” Admiral Ichika began.

Lt. Commander Erikson and Ensign Polov both nodded their heads.

“I asked you two to meet you here for one reason. I want to know your opinions on whether we should take the offensive and bring the war to the aliens,” Admiral Ichika said. “Take some time to gather your thoughts.”

As Ensign Polov and Lt. Commander Erikson slowly collected their thoughts, Admiral Ichika stood up, walked to his window, and gazed outside with his arms folded behind his back. He chuckled as some of the scientists and soldiers assigned to the base stopped what they were doing when The Executioner landed in the hangar.

“Sir?” Ensign Polov asked.

“Don’t mind me, Polov. I’m just laughing at the people who dropped whatever they were holding the moment The Executioner landed in the hangar. I’m wondering what excuses they will come up with if they ended up breaking something valuable.”

“Uh, sir, I, uh, am ready to voice my opinion.”

“Oh? Go for it, Ensign.”

“If push comes to shove, I recommend we go on the offensive.”

“Why?”

“We learned from year one in the Academy that offense is the best form of defense. In the past, the strategies of many of our famous leaders—from President Washington to Mao Zedong—all emphasized the need to take the initiative and strike first. For they believed the surest form of success occurs when one thoroughly eliminates an enemy’s ability to attack. Based off of their success, if we are to win this war, we should strike first to carve fear and doubt into the hearts of the aliens. With our advanced weaponry and new ships, I don’t think we will be on the losing end of the war.”

Admiral Ichika nodded and took some time to think about what Ensign Polov said.

After a few minutes he turned to Lt. Commander Erikson and asked, “What are your thoughts on this issue?”

“Sir, I think we should remain on the defensive.”

“Again, why?”

“For starters, we do not know anything about the alien invaders at all. Our weaponry has advanced, that is true, but who’s to say that the aliens haven’t advanced at all either?”

Admiral Ichika nodded.

“Furthermore, the aliens haven’t launched an attack in 200 years. Why haven’t they attacked in force by now? Surely, after their defeat at our hands, they would’ve sent a full fleet of ships to eliminate us all. I know if I was in their shoes, I would do it—eliminate humanity. Not only that, we don’t know what they have been up to in the past 200 years. Maybe they are lying in wait, waiting for us to attack them.”

“But—“ Ensign Polov said.

“Let her finish,” Admiral Ichika said.

“Rather than spend all our time planning for an all out attack directed at the aliens’ home planet, we should be spending our time exploring known galaxies and discovering their strengths and weaknesses. Once we discover them, we will be able to set up locations for ambushes as well as hidden areas to retreat to if needed.”

“Interesting… Now what were you going to say, Ensign Polov?”

“The alien technology might’ve advanced, but so did ours. Furthermore, we dealt them a huge blow last time, so we could’ve frightened them off with that display of firepower.”

“Are you an idiot, Ensign? Did you learn nothing from the Academy?” Lt. Commander asked.

Ensign Polov turned red with anger, “I-I-Idiot? Me? I’ll have you know that I graduated at the top of my class.”

“So the rest of your class is dumber than you? I find that hard to believe.”

“W-w-why you!”

Admiral Ichika chuckled at the exchange before saying, “Play nice, Lt. Commander.”

“Yes, sir. For the record, the “huge blow” we dealt the aliens consisted of destroying their 3 ships, while they destroyed thousands of our ships and killed countless of enlisted men and women. Is that what you consider a deterrent?”

“No, but—“

“Exactly, so please think before you say something.”

“Hahaha!” Admiral Ichika burst into laughter. “Lt. Commander, you took the words out of my mouth. Maybe I should be calling you Admiral now.”

Sylvia blushed. She didn’t mean to burst into a rant, but what Ensign Polov had said really irked her.

“Sir, I have one more thing to say.”

“What is it?”

“We don’t know anything about our enemies, but I’m pretty sure they know everything there is to know about us. In my honest opinion, fighting a war, without knowing the enemy, seems like a disaster waiting to happen.”

“True,” Admiral Ichika said. “You both have made good points. Give me a few minutes to digest all of what you two said.”

He fell silent once again as he closed his eyes and replayed the statements over and over again in his mind. After thirty minutes passed, his pager buzzed. He opened his eyes and checked the message.

He turned away from his window with a slight frown on his face and said, “We are heading out now. The meeting is about to begin.”