Rock Solid

'Space. Majestic and vast. To even begin to understand its grandeur would drive one mad.'

'Status report lieutenant.'

'Fleet has succesfully arrived at target location. All ships have now exited warp and are intact. Status reports are coming in now. Bringing them up on the command screen captain.'

The command screen flickered to life. Instantly data began streaming across the screen. Captain Minnie got up from the captain's chair and approached the railings and gently placed her hands on them.

'For your information, we arrived within five kilometers of target destination captain.'

Captain Minnie smiled and nodded an acknowledgement to her navigations officer. An ambitious officer and her second in command Lieutenant-Commander Nicholas was a promising young officer and had always performed all the tasks asked of by his captain to the word with out fail. Captain Minnie did not have to say it but Nicholas knew she was proud. He returned to his work station and continued his work.

'Bringing up your survey scan report now captain. From what I can tell the asteroid belt possesses large quantities of Veldspar. Should we proceed?'

Captain Minnie knew well she could count on her bridge crew to perform all the necessary tasks with out having to even ask. She had grown with them and by now they knew exactly what was expected of them by their captain. In had become rare now for the captain to have to issue standard protocol orders as it had become second nature to her bridge crew.

'Very good lieutenant Lea. Signal the fleet to commence with the mining operation. Tell them I want to see nothing but clear empty space but the time they're done.'

Second lieutenant Lea smiled softly. She gave an aye aye captain and proceeded to relay the commands to the rest of the fleet. New to Captain Minnie's bridge crew lieutenant Lea was third in command and the ship's communications officer. Smart and quick thinking the captain had already taken a liking to the new lieutenant.

Captain Minnie remained at the hand railing with her arms crossed behind her back. She watched as her fleet broke apart and proceeded to their tasks. Before long their strip mining lasers went into action and began ripping away at the asteroids. The captain's gaze moved from the events unfolding before her eyes to her crew. This is the captain's first mining operation and her first time commanding an Orca. The industrial command ship is the captain's pride and joy. After years working aboard a Hulk the captain had finally aquired her very own Orca and was given command of her own fleet. She had named her Orca the 'Atlas' after Atlas, from one of the historical texts. Apparently a being who held up the skies. The ancients who had braught the captain and her people to this far away place is of great interest to the captain though little is known of them, if anything at all.

'Captain the corporation has requested a status report on the mining operation.' Lieutenant Lea turned from her screen for the first time since they had arrived and looked at the captain for a response.

'Tell them the mining operation is under way and we should be out of here before they know it. The fleet warp was a success and we have not encountered any obstacles as of yet.'

The captain turned around and returned to her command chair just as lieutenant Lea returned to her station and relayed the captain's message to the corporation. The captain looked out over her mining fleet ripping at the asteroid belt before them. The captain enjoyed the life of a mining ship captain. Though its not as prestigious as the life of a combat pilot or captain of a combat capable ship a mining ship captain still faced the same dangers and excitement if not more. Fate would some times present a mining ship captain with the dangers of the universe such as pirates and rival corporations and protection is more often than not close to none. These are the dangers that some captains must face every day, but the pay off is always worth the risk.

Captain Minnie got up from her command chair and made her way to the very front of the bridge. She often gazed at the stars during the long hours of mining operations. Occasionaly her search into the stars would bring her back to the ship's bridge where she would attend to the regular administrative tasks and check up on the status of the mining operation. Today prooved to be one of those days, and so Captain Minnie gazed off into the stars and the unknown.