The Interview

As this was an emergency interview, Vorian did not have much time to go through Captain David's file and prepare the interview questions. All he knew was that a Space Station was attacked and a Voyager had gone for a rescue mission.

So, Vorian started with an apology to Captain David. "Captain, I didn't have much time to study and prepare for this interview before hand. And I am going to start with the very basic questions. I'm sorry if I sound rude to you."

Captain David was not the arrogant leader type of person so he cheerfully said, "No it's not a problem at all. I know this was all unplanned and I believe that most of the staffs are going to have to work overtime, along with you. I really appreciate that."

These words from David really calmed the nerves of Vorian. So he finally began the interview, "Thank you Captain. I will record this interview both in written format as well as audio."

He pressed 'record' on a small recording device and placed it in front of David. Vorian's demeanor changed from an apologetic teenager to that of a formal employee. "So let's start this interview with your introduction. Please state your full name, your designation and the name of your ship."

David cleared his throat and answered, "I am David Gonzales from IGT Fed base on Earth. I am the Captain of Voyager S-11."

Vorian then asked him another question, "Please state the last location of Voyager S-11 and the mission that you were in."

David leaned back on his chair and answered the young man. "The last location of Voyager S-11 was at the Galactic Coordinate 007.67|07.12|-27.40, at Canis Major Dwarf galaxy. The distance between our ship and the unidentified planet was 3169 ls."

"The mission of Voyager S-11 was to look for any signs of life in the planets of that galaxy. We basically observe the planet from the planet's orbit for a day, and land to the planet if it is deemed possible and safe."

David would frequently use hand gestures to emphasize his words. "We then collect samples like stones, metals, plants, anything that will be helpful in doing further research about life in that planet; or just the suitability of life in case there is a need to relocate inhabitants of certain planet in the future."

The Captain continued to explain further, "We had already investigated two of the planets in the duration of one week but we did not encounter any signs of life in the planets that we visited. But we did collect the necessary samples and set up a small base for our robots that we left in those planets for further explorations."

The expression on David's face suddenly turned gloomy. "If we had not received the distress signal, our ship would have gone to the same unidentified planet after two days for investigation. And needless to say, we would also have been attacked by those inhabitants."

David inhaled sharply at the thought of flying right into those attackers' planet. He got goose bumps all over his body at the thought of possibly losing several members of his own crew if they also had been attacked the same way as Space Station X51.

He did not want to admit it but somewhere in his heart, he was glad that the Voyager S-11 avoided a catastrophe. However, the cost was still paid by the crews of X51.

Vorian was typing vigorously as David was answering his questions. David had said a lot of things so he kept on typing for some time even after David had finished talking. After a while, he took off his eyes from the holographic screen that was in front of his face and then glanced at David.

Vorian could see that David had a stern look on his face as he was lost in his own thoughts. He hesitated to disturb whatever the Captain was thinking right now but he had to continue the interview. So he cleared his throat and went on to ask, "And if I am correct, the Voyager S-11 received a distress signal on the Central Date 93193?"

David was finally brought back to the reality with this question. He turned to face Vorian but he still had that serious look on his face.

He nodded his head in confirmation and replied to Vorian, "Yes, our ship picked up a distress signal from Space Station X51 which was close to our location. And after confirming the identity and number of crews of that Station with the nearest base, i.e. Earth, we planned and went for a rescue mission within the next 8 minutes of receiving the distress signal."

Vorian slightly raised his brows because he was impressed with how fast they were at planning and executing a rescue mission. "Will you please elaborate on the rescue mission that you carried out?"

David's brown eyes started to dilate when he began to recall the details of the rescue mission.

"In the distress signal we were informed that the Station was being attacked by some unidentified crafts. My guess is, as the Station was in that unregistered planet's orbit, they must have been found out by the inhabitants of that planet and were perceived as a threat. But you can get the first hand information from the survivor."

David crossed his arms and gave out the details of the rescue mission, "Anyway, I led two squads comprised of 15 fighters each in two of our battle crafts, Peregrine Falcon - 3Z. As we had no information on the attackers' capacity, I thought it was best to keep the rescue team small to limit the damage."

Then he emphasized the next sentence, "We rescued one survivor from that Station." Being able to rescue one survivor also meant a great deal because they could get first-hand information from her rather than just speculating about what might have happened to X51.

"But we had to rush back from there when a swarm of fighter crafts approached us." David was somewhat disappointed when he said this. They still had few more areas to cover and maybe there were more than just one survivor. They might also have been able to scavenge important research files or data collected by X51 if they had more time.

"We were attacked with missiles from all those fighter crafts but we were able to dodge the attack by jumping through the wormhole, which brought us here in Celine." David gave a subtle smile to Vorian when he said that because he wanted to show respect to the Celinian base who were tending after them at the moment.

Then the Captain concluded his explanation, "The whole mission lasted for about two minutes. Fortunately, no one from the crew of Voyager S-11 was hurt and there was no damage to the ship or to the battle crafts."

Vorian saved the file that he was working on and gave a subtle bow to the Captain and smiled at him, "Thank you so much for your time Captain. If I come up with some more questions while preparing the report, then I will contact you again."

David got up from his seat and straightened his uniform, preparing to leave from the room, "Thank you as well. It is good to see the young generation in the Federation."

Vorian grinned and said in a jolly voice, "Ah! It is our generation's dream to be associated with the Federation. And I feel lucky that I made it through."

David turned his back and was about to leave the room but Vorian stopped him with a question. "Captain, a question has been bugging me since you entered this room. Can I ask you a personal question, if you are okay with it?"

David gladly accepted the curious young man's request, "Yeah sure, go ahead."

Vorian continued with a slight hesitation, "Do you, by chance, have a daughter or a relative named Natalia Gonzales?"

David was surprised to hear that because his daughter had never mentioned anything about knowing someone from Celine. He looked at Vorian curiously and said, "I do have a daughter named Natalia Gonzales. Do you know her somehow?"

Vorian loved being right, so he excitedly replied, "I thought so, you two seem somewhat alike."

"So you do know her!" David said with the unfaltering inquisitive look in his eyes.

"Yes, actually she is my girlfriend's best friend. So, I know her through my girlfriend." Vorian finally tried to quench the curiosity of David.

But David was even more confused, "Your girlfriend's best friend? You mean you are Alexis's boyfriend?"

"Yes sir, I am." Vorian straightened his back and smiled.

David asked again in disbelief, "You mean our shy and oblivious girl has a boyfriend now? When did that happen?"

"It has just been over a week actually." Vorian did not want to take much of the Captain's precious time so he extended his arm and said, "It was nice meeting you Captain. I guess we will keep seeing each other in the future."

David shook Vorian's hand and said, "Certainly hope so young man."

Then he gave an intense look to Vorian and held his hand tightly with both of his hands. He moved close to Vorian and narrowed his gaze to give him a warning, "And don't you dare break our Lexi's heart. You know I'll personally hunt you down if you do that."

To be honest, Vorian was a little scared when David said that. He was a Captain after all, which meant he was also a good fighter.

David smiled and patted Vorian's shoulder with his left hand "Just kidding."

Vorian was about to smile back but David immediately gave an intense look again and said, "No, I'm actually very serious."

Vorian nervously smiled and said, "Will keep that in mind sir."

David finally let go of his grip on Vorian's hand and walked out of the room, leaving Vorian very uncomfortable.

"What was that about? Are every girl's father figure this over-protective?" Vorian mumbled and let out a sigh of relief because he would not have been able to handle that gaze from the Captain for another second.