From Parralax — The Dipole Series a sci fi adventure

Chapter One

The Captain stays with the ship.

That was the directive from Solar Command and reiterated by his First Commander as they approached the new M-class planet.

“I’ll take the away party,” the man said.

Leaving out the word lead lest the Captain get jealous.

But he was, wasn’t he?

The view screens showed several enhanced images of the planet below.

A single mass continent, an environment suited to human habitation and potential colonial expansion.

His XO would be the first human to set foot on an alien planet.

Not the Captain.

“Update,” he bit back a sigh.

“Radio silence,” his comm chief answered, close to a snap.

He checked the time on the wall and thought he might have deserved the clipped response.

It had only been three minutes since his last status request.

The bridge of the Galactic Class Explorer wasn’t designed for pacing, so Richards had to content himself with shifting back and forth behind his chair.

He glanced at the Operations Warrant Officer and almost asked him for an update.