First message
The titanium halls of Eryndor echoed beneath our footsteps as I led her through the station for the first time. Engineers passed carrying diagnostics tablets while overhead lights reflected against silver walls. Beyond reinforced glass, space stretched endlessly black around us, interrupted only by distant stars and cargo vessels docking into the station’s lower rings.
Most people expected a captain to sit behind a desk issuing commands. My work was far from that. I oversaw every sector of Eryndor. Exploration routes. Security operations. Oxygen reserves. Emergency response protocols. One wrong calculation in space killed people fast.
Which was exactly why we needed her.
Botanical science wasn’t decorative here. It was survival. The station’s oxygen systems depended on engineered plant life, sustainable crops, medicinal growth, and algae filtration systems. Without the botanical division, Eryndor would suffocate within months.
I glanced toward her as we walked. Stunning. Not in a loud way. Womanly. Sophisticated. Calm enough to belong among the stars without trying to impress them.
I escorted her through titanium doors leading into the botany level. Artificial sunlight spilled across gardens layered with fruit trees, glowing moss walls, hanging vines, medicinal plants, and crystal water channels beneath raised pathways.
Here in Eryndor your job is one of the most important. What you do here impacts all of us. For better or worse. I said, keeping my firm mask in place