Conclusion to Part 1

August 8th, 2840 AD: 8:30 AM CST, Noah 2 Meeting Room

“Morning everyone” Charlotte Medina said as she sat down in the meeting room with a very imposing Captain Rachel Emeralds of the Noah 2 and the calm and collected Captain Hecht of the Noah 1.

“Glad to see you made it in on time today, Medina”. Emerald’s green eyes pierced right through Charlotte which she tried to avoid to moderate success.

“Always a pleasure, ma’am.” Charlotte smiled.

“I mean, it’s always a pleasure meeting with you both.” Arlock finally broke his silence.

“So, I think we all know why we are here. What did you discover?” Rachel Emeralds looked stern at both of them.

“Not much on our end. Just a lot of life less husks on my end.” Captain Arlock said disappointed.

“Same for me honestly. It was our first exploration trip though. I don’t think we would hit pay dirt immediately.” Emeralds tried to look positive. “What about you, Medina.”

“Well….” Charlotte scratched the back of her head.

“Oh, you did find something.” Arlock was interested.

“Well, let’s hear it.” Emeralds mentioned.

After that Charlotte Medina explained her story about her encounter with End with proper build up and everything. None of them believed Charlotte at first, but the camera feeds and copies of the universal translator said otherwise. In truth, they had to believe it now because there was too much evidence.

“But, we didn’t discover anything of note on any of the planets either.” Charlotte lamented.

“All in all, not a total loss though.” Arlock rubbed his chin.

“If anything, I never expected to find something like this at all.” Emeralds nodded. “I know it wasn’t intentional, but still good work Medina.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Charlotte smiled.

“From this point forward, I think your crew deserves at least a three week break. What do you think, Emeralds.” Arlock was as calm and collected as ever.

“I think two weeks off would be ok and I think we all could use it. Let’s take a break until space exploration.”

Charlotte was surprised at getting any time to relax at all. There was still the election to consider, but that would only take a couple days.

“Meeting adjourned then?” Charlotte motioned.

“Yes, meet you both in two weeks on my ship.” Arlock said.

“Ok, two weeks. Don’t be late.” Emeralds said it to both of them, but it was clearly meant for Charlotte.

Walking down the hallways of Noah 2 to the shuttle bay, Charlotte called Susan on her device.

“Yes, what is it Charlotte?”

“The meeting has just adjourned. Can you tell our whole crew that they have two weeks off?” Charlotte said happily through her device.

“Two weeks off? Are you sure? That’s more than we expected.” Susan sounded confused.

“Well, I’m trying to not look the gift horse in the mouth.” Charlotte said as she stood in front of her shuttle finally.

“Fair enough. What do you want to do today now that you have free time?”

“Want to eat in Noah 3 city?” Charlotte suggested.

“Sure, what about a spa visit? I feel like it's a great way to unwind.” Susan mentioned.

“Well, it’s not only officers but I can be for it.” Charlotte smiled.

“Meet you in an hour?”

“It’s a date.”

August 8th, 2840 AD: 2:00 Pm CST, Noah 3 City Spa

Laying in the hot tub after a pretty nice massage, Charlotte and Susan were just enjoying their moment in silence. Charlotte even had her eyes closed and slowly fell

“Captain Medina?”

“Huh?” Charlotte slowly opened her eyes and saw someone familiar. “Ummm. Please keep it quiet.” Charlotte kindly whispered.

“Oh, sorry.” The mysterious female slowly stepped in to join the two while lowering her voice. “I’m Amanda Waters by the way.”

“I thought you seemed familiar.” Charlotte held out her hand to shake with a smile. “Nice to see you again.”

“Pleasure to meet you again too, Captain.” Amanda shook her hand with a whisper. She did understand that Charlotte didn’t want to be recognized.

“What can we do for you today, Amanda?” Susan smiled.

“Oh for me? Nothing really. I just wanted to hang out for a bit.”

“I heard you decided to join the election.” Charlotte smiled. “Is there any reason why?”

“Well, after you brought my daughters home I thought that you both would be pleasant to work with.”

“Oh, is that all?” Susan wondered thoughtfully.

“No, I have been a leader in some of the communities that I’ve been a part of. I just was unsure about who I was going to work with here.” Amanda sighed.

“I see, I see. I want you to get this position. But, I can’t really help you on that front.” Susan answered back.

“I know. That’s up to me, right?”

“Exactly.” Susan pointed.

“So what about you, Charlotte?” Amanda pointed at her.

“Huh, me?”

“Yeah, why are you trying to be on the downlow? Or why did you personally bring my kids home?”

“I just…I don’t want to make a scene.” Charlotte whispered. “You have no idea how much commotion I make just eating at a restaurant or just buying something at a store. I don’t want to be treated special just because I’m the captain of this ship.”

“That makes sense so I see why you are so quiet.” Amanda smiles. “What about my daughters though?”

“I don’t know, that just felt right to me.” Charlotte sighed. “I just..can we talk about something else?”

“Oh, ok. Do you want to hang out? Maybe do some karaoke after this? Or just dinner? I just want to get to know you both more because you both fascinate me.” Amanda pushed onto Charlotte while Susan was laughing.

“Of course, we would love to hang out with you.” Susan smiled as much as she could at Charlotte.

“Yeah, of course.” Charlotte said shyly.

August 8th, 2840 AD: 9:30 PM CST, Susan’s Room

“I am home.” Susan smiled while entering her room at her sitting area where no one was there. “That was a lot of fun.”

Her room was exactly like Charlotte’s in design, but compared to Charlotte’s spartan design, but had more shelves of random stuff and a brighter color. There was also a small amount of anime posters on a wall too. Mainly fantasy anime from who knows when.

Charlotte wondered in after. “I’m exhausted. You and Amanda have too much energy.”

“I think you just need to allow yourself to open up a bit more.”

“I realize that, but that’s easier said than done.” Charlotte ends up sitting down. “By the way, why are we here?”

“Oh, well, would you like to stay the night? I mean, we also have the day off tomorrow and I wanted you to stay over.”

Charlotte thought about that for a bit and stood up. “Ok, but just tonight ok? I also want to get some clothes for tomorrow. Be right back?”

“Why don't you just wear some of mine?"

"Oh, you are being a little too accommodating?" Charlotte was a little too suspicious.

"Maybe, but we used to do this sort of thing at the academy all the time." Susan pointed out. “Plus, I know you still aren’t ready to go into your room alone yet.”

"In that case, that sounds like a good deal.” Susan really did see right through her.

"Let's start with these pajamas." Susan handed Charlotte a set of clothing from a drawer.

Charlotte looked at what she was given. "OH, these are cute.”

“Well, I did buy them for you. Just wait for the right time to give them to you.”

"Susan, I really don’t know what to say."

"Everyone needs a break sometimes and at the moment, the person who needs one the most is you."