It was beautiful; every little thing blew Kenny's mind. Space was in no way boring, or bland. Every star they passed was unique in its own way and eye-catching.

Kenny is well aware that they are only balls of gas, but they are still beautiful. If he had known that space was going to be this beautiful, he would have become an astronaut a long time ago.

The Navigator left Earth's atmosphere approximately two hours ago, and Kenny has yet to achieve something instead of sitting by the small round window.

"Ken, dude - it's already been forever since we left. Have you even gone to your room yet?" Kat appeared and came to sit down beside him. Kenny merely hummed, his attention quickly caught by another star.

It was a lovely bright green, with strings of blue ribbons that lashed out from the core. Kat sighed, scanning their surroundings. She wasn't surprised to find out that her friend has been sitting in this short hallway for about two hours now.

"I'm pretty sure your room has a larger window," Kat commented nonchalantly, looking down at her short nails. Kenny turned to his friend, wide-eyed, and grasped her shoulders. "Are you sure?" He doesn't want to miss another sighting of a star.

"Yes, duh. I helped build this beauty." Kenny hurriedly stood up and let go of Kat, choosing to remember the directions to his room that he had already nearly forgotten. Kenny has selective hearing. If he doesn't care about something - he'll just tune it out and become lost in his thoughts.

Sure enough, when Kenny arrived in his room, he found a large, wide window that took up a good portion of the wall. Right by it was a single chair, one that looked comfortable to sit in and watch the stars go by simply. He smiled, approaching the window as he became absorbed by the sights.

A knock on the door broke him from his thoughts. The door was open though, but when Kenny turned around, he knew why they knocked. It was Gunner, and despite his stoic persona he really is quite polite.

"I requested this for you; I remember you mentioning that you are fascinated by space." Gunner leaned against the door with his arms crossed, not fully meeting Kenny's eyes.

"Thanks, though now I may not meet my work requirements." Kenny chuckled at his own words, glancing back over his shoulder to look out at the vast expanse of space. Gunner stood up straight, concern flashing across his face. "I can get it removed - if it's going to cause problems." Gunner didn't hear the joking tone in Kenny's voice.

"I was just teasing, Gunner. Don't worry; I will do my fair share of reports. I stand by what I said, thank you." Kenny watched Gunner digress his words, before the tall veteran chuckled - almost embarrassingly, and scratched the back of his head.

"That's good to hear, I was wonder-" Gunner abruptly stopped speaking as both of the men were forced to grab onto something as the spaceship rumbled and shook. This went on for only a few minutes before stopping.

"Captain, you should come see this." Miguel's voice broke out over the intercom, immediately setting Gunner back into ' captain mode. "I have to go, enjoy the view." Gunner didn't wait for Kenny to reply before leaving the room. Kenny waited till Gunner was out of sight, then he began to unpack his bags.

There was plenty of storage in the closet for all his items, and a modern desk with drawers to hold all his papers. The large bed off to the side of the room looked all too tempting to Kenny, who had been up since two in the morning to prepare for launch off. It didn't take long for Kenny to pass out on the sheets, too tired to even bother going under the blankets. He slept on his chest with his arms under the pillow beneath his head; his legs stretched out straight behind him.

Stars and meteor showers passed by, but soon the balls of gases and chunks of rocks began to decrease in frequency. A couple of hours later - and there was only darkness. No stars, meteors, or small planets. Just a vast, empty darkness that was darker than any night on Earth.

"All Alpha Members, please report to Main Deck." Is the first thing Kenny heard when he woke up, and the first thing he saw was pitch black.

"Lights," he called out, and the lights turned on in an instant. Kenny groggily sat up, reaching up to rub his forehead as he yawned. He didn't bother changing into anything else, leaving his room in the now wrinkled clothes.

He easily reached the main deck; having remembered the whole layout of the ship. Everybody was already there, and all those eyes were turned on him when he entered the room.

"Hey Ken, you alright?" Brooks approached him, tilting her head back to look closely up at his face. Kenny frowned, reaching up to place a hand on his face. He felt fine.

"You look a little pale - or perhaps you are dehydrated?" Kenny shook his head at her question. "No, I've drunk plenty of water. Thank you for concerning, but I'm fine." Brooks finally gave in, and retreated to the previous spot in which she had been standing. Gunner cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"We have found the mothership." Gunner admitted then looked down at Miguel, who was sitting in the pilot's chair. "Open the shutters." Miguel gave a nod, flicking on a few switches which made the metal panes over the windows rise.

The sound of collective gasps sounded from those who had yet to see the sight. Sure, they had already seen it in pictures, but they gave no credit to it. The mothership is absolutely massive, Kenny even questioned if it is half the size of earth. Their ship is only close to size to a few of what could be scout ships circling the mothership. A static beep emitted from the microphone, alerting the crew that another one of the ships are trying to contact.

Miguel looked up at his captain for consent, which he received after a few moments. Miguel pressed a button, and kept his finger down on it. "Alpha Flight here," Miguel answered the call.

"This is Charlie and Delta Flight on Delta Ship. We along with the Foxtrot ship are positioned behind Alpha Ship. Waiting for orders," the other side went quiet as they awaited orders. Kenny looked at Gunner along with everyone else, awaiting the orders that Gunner undoubtedly already had.

"Delta Ship and Foxtrot Ship, stay in your positions. Alpha Flight will move in first with utmost caution. You are to remain on your ships and stay in your exact position. You are not to intercede unless another human's life is at risk or you are given orders from me. Do you understand?" It only took a second before both pilots from the Delta and Foxtrot Ships responded. Gunner showed a pleased nod, waving his hand at Miguel to turn off the communications.

"Alright, you heard me. We will be going in there on our own, just the ten of us. Ollie and Honey will do most of the talking and interacting." "Captain, how does Ollie plan to communicate with the aliens?" Brooks looked at our captain in confusion.

"They seem to understand code, so Ollie will be bringing a computer along to communicate on the same line we have used previously." Gunner nodded at Ollie, who revealed a small computer that was definitely military grade judging from what almost looked like armor on it.

"Everyone, go gear up. Annabeth, Benny, bring only two pistols. One concealed, and the other on your hip." Annabeth and Benny dutifully nodded, neither questioning Gunner's order.

Kenny couldn't believe that this is finally happening. He will be meeting extraterrestrials, something anybody can only dream of.

Sure, being a biologist has always been Kenny's dream job ever since he was just a little kid, but he can't deny his interest in space. How could someone not be interested in space?

It's almost like the ocean, just more mysterious and endless in size. Kenny's eyes were glued to the large window, even after most of the crew members had left the room.

Now that he moved his focus from the mothership and the smaller vessels circling it; Kenny noticed the lack of stars. Where are all the stars at?

"Miguel when was the last time you saw a star go by?" Kenny placed a hand on the wall by the window, being careful not to accidentally hit any of the multiple glowing buttons.

"Eh? Oh, uh about an hour ago- now that I think about it." Miguel went back to preparing the ship to move to the mothership. Kenny didn't respond, but his fascinated expression morphed into a frown.

Honestly, Kenny knows something must be wrong for all the stars to be gone from this area, but he is no astrologist. He sighed as he backed away from the window, turning to go prepare to meet the aliens.

All too soon Kenny was back - decked out in slim armor while Annabeth, Gunner, Cas, Benny, Miguel, and Kat were in heavy sets of armor plates. Kenny, Brooks, Ollie, and Honey were in a lighter form of the armor meant to withstand bullets or blunt damage. Brooks and Kenny both wore lab coats underneath, while Honey and Ollie dressed somewhat professional despite the vests around their torsos.

"Everyone ready, safety on?" Gunner crossed his arms, examining everyone and his eyes lingered on Kenny before he turned to Miguel. "Change of plans Miguel and Cas, higher-ups want you to stay here on the ship in case we need you to help us out. Keep the call on at all times between us, and mute your side of course."

Miguel seemed to deflate slightly at the orders, and the rest of the crew could only give their pilot sympathetic glances. Everyone is excited along with other mixed emotions to meet these extraterrestrial beings that they have yet to lay their eyes on. Meanwhile, Cas honestly didn't seem to care.

"Maybe next time, Miguel." Kenny walked over to Miguel and squeezed the pilot's shoulder in sympathy. "Yeah, just promise to get some pictures of them or something." Miguel sighed sadly as he turned back to the primary controls and sat down with Cas beside him.

"Ken, c'mon! I want to see if they have butts! What if they have like natural Kardashian butts? Ah, never mind. Stuff like that isn't natural." Kenny quickly caught up with the rest of the crew, pausing to look at his friend like the idiot she is.

"Kat, for your sake I hope they don't know English." Kenny walked past Kat, not surprised to hear her bust out laughing at his remark. "Maybe they'll think the way we talk is sexy!"

"Kat! Prepare the shuttle! Everyone else strap in!" Kenny chuckled at Gunner's bossy tone, but Gunner is a natural leader. They probably wouldn't have passed the team building exercises if it weren't for him.

Gunner glanced out of the corner of his eye at the team biologist, noticing his dimples that show whenever he smiles. Gunner cleared his throat, as though doing so also clears his thoughts. Fortunately for Gunner, his line of thoughts and eyes went unnoticed by Kenny who had finally strapped in.

"Brooks, are you okay?" The shuttle was considerably small, with four seats on each side up against the walls, and two seats at the front where the controls sat. Brooks sat beside Kenny, and she was starting to turn green.

"I don't know- I just got this bad feeling." Brooks murmured, clutching her stomach. "It's alright, besides you know Annabeth isn't going to let any aliens hurt you," Kenny smiled at Brooks, turning his head to hear Annabeth's confirmation.

"Damn right, I'll fuck'em up." Brooks laughed, already looking better. "Alright, everyone double check you are strapped in." The crew did as told.

"Everyone's ready captain," Annabeth stated once she had seen everyone was fully strapped in. Everyone looked to their captain, awaiting further instructions.

"We trained for this, and I fully believe that we are all equipped and prepared for whatever takes place when we reach the mothership. Do not hesitate to defend yourself, but do not assume anything either. We are two races from different galaxies, so who knows just how different they will be. In the past, our kind made the mistake of always looking down upon or being distrusting towards something different. Whether it be a person's appearance, culture, religion, or ancestral origin - we tend to judge someone on that based off of history. Let's not make the mistakes that our ancestors did. Be prepared to see anything." Gunner turned back to the shuttle controls.

Everyone was quiet as the shuttle detached from the Navigator 2.4, and soon the engines could be heard running as they headed towards the mothership.

"Captain, they are attempting contact." Ollie looked up from the tablet in their lap, but a beep came from the device drawing their attention back to it.

Ollie was quiet for a few moments, moving their lips silently as they seemed to read something. "They are allowing us to board," Ollie looked out the window.

"There, the opening right there." Everyone leaned in against the straps, attempting to see the place they would be boarding the massive ship. "I can't get over just how big it is," Kat murmured, eyes wide in fascination of it. Kenny nodded in agreement.

Gunner controlled the shuttle, being careful to not come too close to any of the smaller vessels that went by them. The Alpha Crew seemed to hold their breath as they went into the gap, a docking bay for smaller ships.

Kenny, Kat, and Brooks all jumped when their shuttle was grabbed by metal- holding it in place in the docking bay. "Alright everyone, put your masks on." Gunner reached up to his neck and pressed a button on his armor.

It set down a slider that would lock in the oxygen and provide him it. The others with heavy armor did the same, and those with the light gear merely pulled out small masks that they attached to the front of their face. It covered only their lower face.

Kenny took a deep breath approaching the door, but was stopped by Annabeth. "Aye, let me handle it. Who knows what they got out there for us." She patted him on the back then grabbed the red bar, pulling it upwards. A rush of air hit their faces when they were exposed to the outside.

Benny approached them and stood by Annabeth, his hand resting near the pistol hidden in his armor. They glanced to Gunner, who nodded in permission. Benny and Annabeth shared a look, took a breath, and they stepped through the door.

Then it was Gunner, Ollie, Kat, Brooks, and last but not least- Kenny. Kenny gasped at the sight. The interior of the docking bay was incredible. The technology that surrounded them was obviously far superior compared to their technology.