The time had arrived for us to make our way towards Admiralty's HQ. In the time we had spent with Ellie after her return, even she couldn’t really tell us anything about what was going to happen over there as the Admiralty had kept their lips tight so none of the people working on the ship knew what was going to happen to its crew either. Obviously she didn’t risk hacking into the Admiralty either just to be safe.

And so we made sure that we had no perishable foods left in the house as we might not be coming back anymore. We said one final goodbye to our neighbors before making our way to the train station and subsequently taking the train back to the capital before heading towards our final destination on the other side of the planet. Both Luna and I weren’t very talkative at the moment as our nerves started to play up. We did share another meal in the dinner car of the train, kind off forcing ourselves to eat a little as we were both not very hungry either. But it’s best to go into these situations with at least some food in your system. Going in empty is never a good idea after all.

The train journey took a while as the HQ was further away than the spaceport we disembarked at since it was based very much near the North Pole on the American continent. But at least the train offered plenty of comfort as opposed to what a shuttle would have done. That would’ve increased our stress even more. So I was happy to take a trip that lasted slightly longer to avoid that.

Evening had already fallen when we arrived at the station connected directly to the HQ. Once we got out we got greeted by a couple of soldiers who were waiting for us. From the insignias on their shoulders they appeared to be from the navy’s Naval Intelligence Unit.

We saluted each other after which the Corporal who was present stepped forward. “Commander, Lieutenant-Commander, could you please follow us to your temporary lodging?” As we had arrived the night before we were scheduled to return to HQ, lodgings had been arranged for us. Not uncommon for personnel who had to travel such long distances to get here. As the crew consisted of people who have their homes all around the globe, there should be plenty of my subordinates also making use of these kinds of arrangements.

“Of course, lead the way, Corporal.” I nodded.

The Corporal saluted once more and started leading us through the subterranean level of the HQ.

“How long has it been since you last visited HQ, Commander?” He asked while we were dodging a whole bunch of busy people.

“Pff, uh, good question, I’m pretty sure it must’ve been when I got promoted. It doesn’t look like it has changed that much but I have to say that it was a lot less busy last time I was here though.”

“It has changed more than you can see.” The Corporal said after which he hailed the elevator.

Once we got in and the Corporal dialed in the floor of our destination, it was clear just how much it had been changed. Back when I last visited the HQ, the rooms for visitors used to be on the third floor, now we were heading towards floor - 10. A couple of floors lower than there used to be and there seemed to be even more below that.

The Corporal saw my bewilderment at his push of the button and smiled. “We are moving most vital infrastructure below ground.” He mentioned.

“Are we vital infrastructure?” Luna asked.

“You and your crew are definitely considered to be high value to the navy, that’s for sure.” The Corporal answered.

“When were all these floors constructed?” I added while the lift made its way down.

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“There’s still active construction ongoing, but the floor your temporary lodging is on got completed last week. But don’t worry, thanks to sound and shock proofing you should not be disturbed by construction efforts.”

“Well, at least there’s that.”

The lift stopped at our floor and the Corporal guided us outside. The lighting here actually looked really natural for being this deep below ground, it even had some simulated windows here and there. If you had to stay here for a prolonged period of time that probably wasn’t the worst idea ever to keep your sanity.

A couple of turns later our chaperon stopped in between rooms 71A and 71B. “These will be your lodgings for today. The rest of your crew will also be housed on this floor. If you wish to head to the entertainment or food area on this floor, you can always look up the directions on your holo stick, it should have automatically connected to the floor’s mainframe.”

“Are we allowed to go where we please?” Luna asked.

“As long as you stay on this floor, yes.” He nodded and then looked at me. “You are not prisoners of course, but safety-wise it is preferred that you do not leave. As I said before, there’s still active construction going on in many places. Some of these areas are not safe and considering the timing of your talk tomorrow with Admirality, getting hurt now would not be good.”

I nodded. “We won’t get in trouble. Thank you, Corporal.”

The Corporal smiled and saluted us, with the two soldiers who followed us the entire way doing the same.

Luna and I saluted back as per protocol after which the three of them left. Leaving the two of us standing pretty much alone in the hallway. When I looked at my girlfriend she instinctively looked back at me.

“Do you think they provided us with a double bed?” She asked.

“I don’t think so.” I turned around and opened the door to room 71A. It swiftly confirmed my suspicion. “That doesn’t really need to stop us but it might be more comfy to sleep apart for just this evening.”

“Yeah… It’s a bit of a shame but it’s only for one night.”

I nodded and put my bag into the room after which I closed the door again after which Luna did the same. “Want to go take a look at the food area to see if any of the crew made it here already?”

“Sure thing.” She smiled and took my hand.

While there were quite a lot of corners to turn before we got to the food area, the way there was actually rather straight-forward. Many of those corners didn’t have any crossroads as the hallways were presumably built to reduce shockwaves from blast impacts. But I could imagine it being a lot harder to navigate while under attack.

Considering our findings throughout our mission, taking these kinds of precautions was rather logical to do. A military should often operate on the ‘rather safe than sorry’ principle after all.

After navigating the final corner we arrived in the food area of our floor. There weren’t many people yet, but pretty much all of the people present were members of our crew.

When they saw us, the room went quiet and everyone stood up to immediately salute us.

“At ease, everyone.” I smiled. “It’s good to see you all again.” After I had said this, most of them sat down again and continued their respective conversations.

From the corner of my eye I could see Yuki walk over to us, from what I could tell she was pretty much the highest ranked officer apart from us who was present. “Commander, LC!”

“How are you doing, Ensign.” I gave her a short friendly salute and then caught her hand in mine for a handshake.

“Pretty well. I’m happy to see you both again.” She smiled as she shook my hand, after which she quickly gave Luna a hand as well. “Had a nice break?”

“Definitely.” Luna answered. “We went on a private island holiday.”

“Oooh.” Yuki looked back at the table where she had left her drink. “Why don’t you two grab something to drink and sit with me so we can catch up?”

“Sounds good to me.” I replied. “Do you mind if we eat something as well?”

“Of course not.” She smiled. “Maybe I’ll get something to eat for myself as well.”

And so the three of us went to the line to go and grab some food and drinks for ourselves. It was back to fabricator-made military food, not bad but it is a pretty big contrast with the food we’d been eating the entire time we had been on Earth. At least the nachos with dip tasted pretty much the same so that’s what I opted for as I wasn’t that hungry anyway, just wanted something to snack on to kill the time.

With snacks and drinks at our disposal we went to sit with Yuki to talk about what we had all done during our limited stay on our blue ball of a planet.