Outside the clear window, a wondrous darkness filled with shimmering stars gazed back at Captain Moore.

He stared at the reflection that appeared in the thermal glass, his crisp navy blue uniform blending seamlessly into the dark void. The few wrinkles on his face accented as his mouth drooped into a frown. A faded scar graced his forehead, making his brown eyes look even more tired and angry.

Looking past his reflection in the vast sea of space, he could faintly make out three small balls of fire: two were grouped together on one side while a lone orange star glowed further away from its sisters. Four planet-sized bodies orbited the twins, and while he could not see them from his seat, he knew three were barren, yet one was small and teeming with life—primitive life, with a lack of advanced intelligence, but life all the same.

That one was already being settled.

His focus shifted back to the single orb, alone yet supporting several planets within its grasp. One of which was something the United Nations Space Force had been searching for three decades.

A planet that had nearly caused a Third World War on Earth.

He expelled the negative thoughts racing through his mind while he grabbed the thirtieth-generation iPad from his desk. "It can't be any worse than Nova…"

The captain ran his fingers through his jet-black hair and leaned back into his chair, which sat behind his desk in the office. It was a small, spartan place, with only a handful of small furniture packed into the compartment. If he weren't certain that he was in space, he would've mistaken it for the interior of a seafaring carrier. A small green blanket on the couch and a coffee mug with a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge were the only homely items within the space.

A few comfortable seconds of silence passed, and he slowly sank back into his chair. His mind drifted away while he mindlessly browsed through a few documents, reading and enjoying the neverending view out his window.

Out of nowhere, a slender arm strangled his neck, and a low voice rumbled in his ears. "Yeah, there ain't many things worse than a fusion explosion."

"Christ!" Captain Moore yelped, instinctively swinging the iPad into the person's face. "Where the hell did you come from?"

The officer, one Lieutenant Randy Choi, barely blocked the smash with his free forearm and winced. "Fuck, man. That woulda been the second time you rammed somethin' in my face."

Captain Moore snorted. "You wouldn't wake up after that night out in Apollo. Not my fault you were snoozing away even after I shook you for a full minute."

"Still rememba' the ass-chewin' I got from the colonel," the Asian-American officer said with a thick Southern accent. "What got y'all tensed up?"

"You know, the fact that we're on a glorified tin can billions of miles from Earth."

"Right… From how riled up you got, seems like you ain't settled from that mission on Nova."

"Like you said, watching an enhanced fusion explosion happen live will do that to a person."

"Heard it was the biggest firework on this side of the universe," Lieutenant Choi shrugged. "Mustva been one helluva view."

"It was. Too bad you missed it." Moore's snide remark rolled off his tongue naturally. He shrugged off Choi's arm on his shoulder and rolled his chair away. "How's work on your end?"

The lieutenant yawned and waved his hand. "Same ol' shit. Reading data from the synths on the ground. Humans are crazy enough, but magic an'all the other stuff... You're doing the fun thing and actually meeting the locals. I have to stay behind and compile all the info."

"You staying on the Nimitz? Or heading aground?"

"Back and forth, probably. At least I have a buncha books and games on my iPad. Brought my Nintendo Soar, too. Got that new Fallen game that came out a week before we left; shit has been fun so far."

"Hopefully, we can go out drinking on the ground after we settle down. We barely got any leave time on Earth before this deployment."

"Who the fuck cares? There's magic and fuckin' elves man on the planet, man."

"They're not going to fuck you, you 'tard. That's why you're being stuffed in an office."

Choi let out a rumbling groan. "The one time I regret being in data analysis. But it ain't like you're better looking, ya protosoy Californian ass."

"Get out and go count the number of clouds on Roana or something," Captain Moore said, tossing a crumpled paper at Choi and pushing him towards the door.

"Fuckin' killjoy," Lieutenant Choi muttered while he opened the door of the office. "Hope ya get magical diarrhea on the planet."

"I might get it before that with the chow we're eating."

The door slammed shut, and the captain was alone, stewing in his thoughts once again. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned on his iPad. He glanced through the dossier for the umpteenth time, noting the bolded "Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment" at the top.

With a single swipe, the names of two hundred souls under his command were sprawled out on the desk in front of him, the holographic display hovering a centimeter in the air.

"Thirty new guys rotated from Fox Company… One hundred and sixty from Earth, thirty-two from Nova, eight synths…"

"Technically, nine synths, sir; I just don't have a physical form yet."

A smile tugged Captain Moore's lips as a display of a young brunette appeared in front of him. "I never knew you counted yourself as a member of the Peacekeeping Forces, Iris."

"Well, I do finish most of your paperwork and keep your information organized and tidy," the AI responded. Although her holographic form was only half a foot high, she looked every bit as detailed and natural as an ordinary human. "I've basically been a part of every unit you've led."

He chuckled, wiping away the dossier from his desk and replacing it with a map of a continent on Roana.

The planet that had changed the course of human history: Earth's, Nova's, and Roana's.

"What do you think of the mission then, Iris? I don't agree with what our government thought about the issue, but they had a point."

"Having second thoughts again, sir?"

"Somewhat."

Iris paused for a moment. "Everything is a risk, sir. Humanity took a leap of blind faith when developing the first sentient artificial intelligence, no? For all you flesh ba…"

"Language." Despite his attempt at a stern voice, his eye roll gave away his true feeling about the sarcastic term synths and AIs often used.

"Many humans were afraid of AIs, especially ones with physical forms. Plenty of popular media made that clear: Ex Machina, I, Robot, Terminator, 2001: A Space Odyssey, that AI I sympathize with in The Avengers: Age of Ultron…"

"There's a difference between creating intelligent life, and interfering in the development of a separate intelligent life on another planet, which contains humans."

"And when has humanity, of all living beings, shirked away from danger and opportunity? Especially when it came to fellow humans?"

Captain Moore sighed. "That's just it. I'm just… getting massive 'colonizer' vibes from this mission."

"Considering that half the UN Security Council threatened to nuke the other half if such attempts occurred, I doubt any attempts at exploiting, kidnapping, or threatening the natives will go over well. Which is why UN Peacekeeping Forces Oversight's Assistant Director Fletes is on this mission with us, sir."

The captain tapped his fingers and pressed a few buttons on his iPad. "Iris, activate Protocol Saferoom."

"As you wish, sir." Iris snapped, causing the lock on the door to whir. Within a few seconds, he heard various devices and lights power down around him. "Is it time for your daily rant?"

"No… Yes. It's about the Nova mission."

"Is that why you're unsettled about this mission, sir?"

"Somewhat." Moore placed his iPad on his stand and folded his hands before the hologram. "Nova is considered an "equal" of Earth, yet it's… been a struggle to actually treat them as equals. All the people on Nova can trace their lineage back to Earth, but it's clearly a secondary partner, if anything, a "colony" of Earth. You know what happened on Nova, what the separatists caused."

His AI partner blinked. "The UN learned from the blunders on Nova, hence the extreme caution towards this mission. First contact will cause some shock among the inhabitants of Roana, and exposure to our technology and ideologies may be detrimental. But the UN has prepared for thousands of worst-case scenarios."

"Still," Moore replied. "I'm afraid we'll make a similar mistake on Roana, especially due to the massive imbalance of power."

"If there is anything I am certain about humans, is that they are capable of immense good despite the horrors they can unleash. Perhaps you're right, and we will make mistakes on Roana. However, I am approximately eighty percent confident that much of the UN leadership learned its lesson from the Nova Uprising and its centuries' worth of history on Earth and will ensure all protocols are followed properly. Even with the difference in the levels of civilization between our two worlds and unknown variables still surrounding this mission."

Moore raised an eyebrow. "Eighty percent?"

"I wouldn't put it past some of the more unsavory members to attempt aggressive coercion to learn more about the local mystic arts and other anomalies. Even then, I doubt that many would attempt something blatant as kidnapping."

"Sounds reassuring."

"Nothing is certain, sir."

"And an AI telling me that assures me a ton."

Iris scoffed, folding her arms in front of her chest. "They say that an AI learns much from the human it initially meets."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's just me and not the UN coders that live in a shed in Geneva. Begin the daily log, Iris."

The room whirred to life, and the door unlocked after Iris waved her hand. "... Recording will begin in five seconds."

Captain Moore waited for a beat to pass before speaking up, ignoring the annoyed stare from Iris. "Captain Jonathan Moore of the Third Unified Division under the command of the UN Space Peacekeeping Forces. Day fifty-eight of the UNS Nimitz's mission to Petroica, formerly Sector 36 Ophiuchi. The ship has exited warp speed, opting for a more steady cruising pace to finish final preparations before planetfall. With one hundred and twenty-five million miles remaining on our journey, it will take us approximately five days to arrive in orbit around Petroica II, also known by the natives as "Roana...