A week later we arrived at the rebellion fleet, or what Will told me was the rebellion fleet. At least 20 asteroids, ranging from large to small dotted across a 50-kilometer box near the remains of the asteroid belt.

The three of us stood on the bridge, gazing at the spectacle.

“Its just a bunch of mined out asteroids placed here by the Alliance. Just to keep track of which ones are mined, and which ones aren’t mined.” I surmised.

Will smiled, “Nope, Emma. These are the finest ships in the rebellion fleet: The Bright Tomorrow, the Freedom’s Lance, the Lightning, the Intrepid, the Bellum Iustus, and finally the capital ship, Noble Sacrifice.”

I looked to Harry. He nodded, “Our resources are still scarce, so we have resorted to transforming inhabited cylinders embedded in asteroids into our warships. All of the tech here is ancient, but very useable.”

The shuttle flew towards the largest asteroid of them all in the center of the horde. Unlike the others, it had enough gravity to be shaped into a lumpy sphere.

Harry elaborated further as we flew towards the asteroid, “These habitats contained people in them, who joined the rebellion. The descendants of these first rebels still occupy the ranks. This makes the ships generation ships.”

Will butted in, “Our dreadnoughts, namely the Noble Sacrifice, Intrepid, and the Bright Tomorrow, all are generation ships. One of my ancestors roughly 700 years ago married into an old family of shuttle captains. Its one reason I am a shuttle captain.”

“Anyway, we are now approaching the dock.”

The shuttle shot towards the asteroid in front of us. I couldn’t see any entrance.

“Um, are we going to crash?”

“There is a small chance that we are, only 30% chance.” I looked at Will in horror. He laughed, “Ah, don’t worry, we’ll make it through just fine.”

Harry snorted.

The asteroid grew larger and larger. The point we headed towards seemed to be the center of a large crater which sat underneath a massive outcropping. Ice reflected the limited light into my eyes.

I closed my eyes for a second, waiting to feel the ship slam into the asteroid.

Everything went dark, and then light once more. I opened my eyes. We flew through a transparent tube. The tube ran through a habitat embedded into the rock. I gazed around in awe at the sight of the skyscrapers reaching high for the ceiling, while skyscrapers on the other side reached downwards.

“This is habitat Duke. It’s the main civilian habitat.”

“You have civilians on these Dreadnoughts!” I exclaimed.

“Yes, don’t worry for their lives. It has been hundreds of years since a habitat was breeched.”

I watched in silence as the Eternal Legend passed through the habitat and entered a massive hanger. All manner of shuttlecraft waited here, docked to the interior of the Noble Sacrifice.

“How many shuttles are there here?” I asked as the shuttle slid into a spare rack and docked.

“No more than a couple thousand.” Will replied. “And if you will follow me, I’ll show you the wonders of habitat Impervious.”

I followed him down a ladder to the very nose of the shuttle. Harry in turn followed me. There an open passageway lay ahead of us.

“Come on!” Will walked at a fast pace to the exit. I exited into the habitat. I stood in a massive habitat. Much larger than habitat 3091 or the previous civilian habitat.

A huge spacecraft floated in the middle of the habitat, supported by six massive towers. Four towers supported its axis and the other two reached from the ends of the habitat. The spacecraft must have been kilometers long, its pointed end pointed towards me.

When I looked down, I saw one of the towers coming out from below me and supporting the spacecraft.

“What’s that called?” I asked, pointed at the spacecraft.

“That is the Shackleton!” Will beamed. “It will be the first interstellar spacecraft ever designed and constructed. Its nuclear drive can deliver a human to the nearest star system in 80 years.”

“Why did they build it?” I asked.

“We still don’t know. Only the high military brass knows its purpose. Whatever it is for, it will do its job well.”

I glanced at Harry. He gazed at the construct, with a knowing smile on his face.

“Do you know Harry?” I asked.

He nodded, “I am aware of its purpose, yes.”

Will lead us to an elevator and then dialed in what I assumed to be the ground floor. I sat in one of the four cushioned seats and strapped in. Suddenly the elevator shot upwards towards the ceiling.

“We’ll have to visit the inspector-general and tell him that the Eternal Legend has docked here.” He explained. It took much longer than a usual elevator. I waited for 3 minutes before the elevator finally stopped, and I felt the full force of gravity for the first time in weeks.

A man waited in front of the elevator. He looked down at us, almost taller than Harry. He was extremely thin though. His gaunt face looked through a Virtual Reality Visor, or VRV.

I looked around at our surroundings. A landing pad stood on either side of the passageway. In the middle another platform stood. On this a building sat, were captains and other officers walked purposely in and out, returning to ships or going someplace else.

“Ah, I see you have arrived.” He croaked, drawing my attention back to Will and Harry.

“I’m Captain Will of the Eternal Legend. This is Emma Miner. She needs to meet with the top brass here because she needs to deliver information.” Will stated.

The man looked to Harry, “Can you confirm?”

Harry answered, “Yes. As Harry Judge, member of the ISN, I can vouch for her.”

The gaunt man nodded, and he made some motions in the air with his long fingers. I assumed he was using the VRV this way and noting our arrival.

“An envoy from the military is coming now. It will arrive shortly and pick Miss Miner and Mr. Judge up.” He turned his bulging eyes back to the thin air in front of him.

“My XO, Margarite, will be here shortly. She will deal with the details of the mission. Jim Bozos is dead from the assassination mission. Arachnids got him, and my arm” Will lifted up his metal arm, displaying the fact.

“Unfortunate.” The man stressed every syllable.

I looked towards the Shackleton, and then I saw a black speck flying towards us.

A minute later an Aerial dropped from the skies and landed on the pad. A side-door opened. Harry climbed in first and strapped into the far chair. I waved good-bye to Will.

“I guess I’ll see you later.” I said.

“Good-bye Emma. Save the rebellion for us, could you?” He smiled a little, and then turned back to the other. I entered the Aerial.

After a brief ten-minute fly over to the main complex, the automated Aerial landed on another pad.

Doors on both sides opened, and we got out. A pair of guards in interesting armor stepped out of the complex which loomed above us.

“Follow us, please.” The lead one spoke. I fell in behind him while the other one stepped in behind Harry. We marched into the complex where I was to prove my worth to the rebellion.