My alarm buzzes, rousing me from my sleep. Great, I thought to myself. Another day of space, another day of big, blank emptiness. I rose from my bed and, after a cup of coffee, dressed and began making my way towards the bridge, mutter greetings to those I met along the way.

"Captain on the bridge." Came the greeting as I stepped through the door.

As the call rang out, everyone snapped to attention and saluted towards me. "At ease." I responded, barely managing not to roll my eyes.

My Lieutenant, Marcus, strode towards me, a data tablet in his hand. "Morning Captain." He said as he handed me the tablet.

"How many times do I have to say it Marcus, call me Miranda." I stated as I read what the tablet had to say. I could almost sense Marcus smiling at me as we went through our usual morning ritual. I sighed and handed the tablet back to Marcus, he slid it into its port. Allegedly it would beep if anything important occurred. I had never heard it do so. "So in other words today will be the same as any other day?" I asked, almost hoping that the answer would be no.

"Pretty much." Came the Response.

"Of course.' I muttered under my breath. Marcus smiled, sympathy mixed with humour evident in his eyes. I asked one of the stewards to bring me a coffee and settled into my chair, prepared for another long day of nothing.

Several Hours Later

I had just finished my lunch in the mess hall and had begun the trek back to the bridge when someone called my name. No, not him, anyone but him. Flashed through my mind as I sighed and turned to the man who had called my name.

"Hey Miranda, how are you?" he asked; I sighed again.

"You ask me that everyday and everyday it's the same response. Do I really need to answer that?" I asked with an exasperated expression.

"No," He replied. "I just wanted to hear your voice again."

I rolled my eyes. "Well good job, mission accomplished." I said, becoming more annoyed by the second.

He smiled brightly and stepped forward. "Yes, I suppose I did, now how about you help me with my next mission?" He asked, a cocky smile gracing his features.

"And what would that be?" I asked innocently mind racing as to where he could be headed with this.

"Oh nothing tricky," He responded. "Just trying to get a kiss from my beautiful Captain." He moved closer again and placed his hand on my upper arm.

I punched him, hard.

"Never going to happen, Private Lachlan. I know your reputation and if you value your life you will never talk to me about matters unrelated to work." I walked away without waiting for a response leaving him sitting against the wall with his nose clutched in his hands.

On the Bridge

After that little incident I returned to the bridge and my chair, determined to do my job right. Marcus approached me with the tablet.

"Miranda…" He started. I stopped him with a raised hand.

"Marcus, you of all people know how I feel about wastes of time." I stated. "Is there anything there that I haven't read everyday that I've been Captain of SlipSpace?"

"No, Miranda."

"Good, put it back into its port." He did so before turning back. "I trust that this morning's reports were sent back to Earth?" I asked.

"Yes, Miranda." He replied. "The hyper-transmitter worked perfectly, as always."

"Good, I just wish we could have some real news to send home."

"Well it isn't really our home is it?" He responded.

I sighed, it was true; all of us were born on SlipSpace. Bred to be the crew, trained to explore space. Inoculated at birth to counteract any ill effects that the interbreeding might cause. We were the second generation born on SlipSpace, and now roughly one hundred and fifty years away from Earth we would send reports detailing everything that we found back to Earth. A beeping sound drew me out of my thoughts.

"What is that?" I asked. "I've never heard that before." Marcus looked around.

"It's the tablet." He said, pointing at the tablet port.

No way. I thought. Finally something is happening. I grabbed the tablet from it's port and began to read.

"There's a planet ahead, previously unknown, breathable atmosphere, signs of civilisation."

I stopped; this was more than we had ever hoped for. I looked to Marcus, excitement bursting from his eyes.

"Prepare a landing shuttle, slow the ship and put her into orbit around the planet. Tell Alpha Team to suit up and be ready for anything." I ordered, replacing the tablet into its port.

The Next Day

I turned the rifle over in my hands, excitement and fear flooding through my brains, adrenaline flowing through my veins. I had no idea what was going to happen when we landed on the planet. It was truly the unknown. But as the saying goes, fortune favours the bold. I hope it would ring true. I stood, all eyes turning to me.

"I see before me fear, fear of the unknown, but I also see determination and bravery. So I say, lets us do Earth proud, let our names live ever on, let us be remembered in the annals of Earth, let us go forward, onward into the Unknown."

My crew cheered as their fear evaporated.

I returned to my seat, ready for the unknown.