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life-support, weaponry, and a myriad other functions that were performed by the ship’s computer.
    I descended the right-hand ramp and found myself standing by the captain’s chair, which was situated on a raised platform. It was upholstered in black leather and looked comfortable. A control panel had been built into the wide right arm of the chair and a small screen stood nearby. The screen was switched off at the moment.
    Three large windows curved around the front of the bridge, showing the star field before us.
    There were two other chairs in the room, located at the control panels in front of the captain’s chair. I assumed one of them was for Morrow but had no idea who would be sitting in the other. If it was Baltimore, then the bridge was going to be a barrel of laughs with her and Morrow in here.
    “Well, try the chair,” Vess said. “I think you’ll like it.”
    I took a seat. The chair molded itself around my buttocks, thighs, and back. I felt like I was floating in zero-g but not in an uncontrolled way. I shifted my position. The chair adjusted itself to accommodate me, taking my weight so that I felt like I was floating again.
    Vess grinned. “You like that? It’s something my science team came up with. It’s based on the slumberfoam we have on all the beds in the ship. You could sit in that chair for hours and never get a backache.”
    “Great,” I said. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had no intention of sitting here for hours. I was in the habit of pacing around the bridge, stretching my legs, moving my body. At least, I had been in that habit when I’d captained the Oregon and I didn’t see any reason why that would have changed. I wasn’t going to spend this mission sitting on my ass.
    A low chirp sounded from the control panel by my right hand and a small amber light blinked at me. The control panel was similar to the ones I’d been used to, so I knew that the light meant someone was trying to contact me from another part of the ship. The amber color of the light probably told me which part but I wasn’t familiar with the color coding system yet. I pressed a button to answer the incoming communication.
    “Captain, this is Sergeant Hart. Tegan Prime and I are in Conference Room One whenever you’re ready, sir.”
    “Thank you, Sergeant, I’ll be there shortly,” I replied and closed the channel.
    “I guess I’m ready to meet the rest of the crew,” I told Vess.
    He nodded. “Conference Room One is this way.” He ascended the ramp, and the door at the top opened for him.
    I looked at Baltimore and Morrow. “Is he always this enthusiastic?”
    “Only regarding this ship and this mission,” Baltimore said. “He wants his daughter back.”
    I couldn’t fault the guy for that but my own approach to missions was more reserved. I prepared myself for every outcome. Yes, I would try my best to succeed, but sometimes even the best laid plans fell to pieces when they were put into action. Vess didn’t seem to acknowledge that this mission could end in a number of ways, not all of them happy.
    Maybe I was being too pessimistic, or maybe Baltimore’s and Morrow’s personalities were affecting me. After all, this mission to save Vess’s daughter might be a breeze. We might fly to Savarea without meeting any hostile ships, land on the planet and find the survivors immediately, and then fly home without a scratch.
    But somehow I doubted that was going to happen. I’d spent enough hours in space to know that there were all kinds of dangers out here. And we were going to be flying into Horde space and landing on a Horde planet, which multiplied the dangers exponentially.
    I climbed out of the captain’s chair and ascended the ramp to the open door where Vess waited. We rode the transporter to a level where the conference rooms were situated. There were four rooms, two on each side of a short corridor.
    “After you, Captain,” Vess said when we reached the door marked CONFERENCE