Desert Rose

Lily Jones stood on the main hull while her cosmo cartographer, Vespa, piloted the Desert Rose. Lily Jones was the Captain of the Desert Rose and a bounty hunter. The spacecraft served as an orbital base center for her team. However, she needed more than four people and needed to recruit more. The last mission she completed could have gone better, and it took too much of her resources and the lives of people very close to her. Vespa stayed loyal, and for her, Lily needed to stay strong and continue moving forward. This mission needed to succeed. The cash prize to catch an escaped fugitive wanted by the Dione space station was the highest value ever posted in a while. Succeeding was crucial if they wanted to survive traveling in deep space. They were on their way to Enceladus, the sixth-largest moon of Saturn. Life on Enceladus was discovered the year the Earth stood still due to the 2020 pandemic, otherwise known as 0 A.C.E. Then, one hundred years later, intergalactic space travel was possible due to stardust and the vibrational energy of the amethyst crystal from the Pallas asteroid.

On this moon, a civilization of alien species occupied the planet. The species of Enceladus were divided into six different zones, all with distinct features from adaptation to the icy climate of Enceladus. The particular zone they would land on had species with skin that was nearly translucent. Instead of walking, they hovered above ground and could use telekinesis, which is how they created their civilization. Lily has been on this moon before because these alien species are kinder than others. One area she could improve in her previous encounter was communication since they only used telepathy and could not speak to other species of low vibrational forces, which were humans and those of the Chiron Clan.

Vespa entered the coordinates so that Mimas, the smaller vessel, would be ready after their short intermission. Then Vespa stood up to stretch and was a lot taller than Lily. Lily was always short, no matter what social group she was in. She was jealous of Vespa’s height and build, which was slender and still lean with muscle. Long, curly blonde hair was pulled into a bun to showcase her diamond-cut hairline. Vespa had shaved off because she felt she had too much hair. There was also a hexagonal geometric tattoo resembling a circuit from the base of her neck to the neck, representing her time spent with intergalactic travel. Most space travelers had these tattoos, even Lily herself. Hers was in a rhombus shape on her right forearm.

“Lily, I’m worried about the expedition to Enceladus. We don’t have enough resources to make it through the week. It’s only enough for two days. How will we survive in such a harsh and icy environment?” asked Vespa.

Lily knew the consequences; these species only survived off of the high vibrational forces of the sun, and there was no communication. She wondered why the bounty ran off to this particular moon.

“I know, the consequences are too grave. But think about the prize money we’ll get once we capture Rupert Barrios. We will be living like the Chiron Clan,” said Lily.

“The Chiron Clan indulged themselves selfishly. That’s one species I never want to be compared to. They even made it from a lab; it’s inhumane,” said Vespa.

“Well then, we are not them. But we need to catch that bounty if we want to survive. We don’t need to contribute to the declining rate of humanity,”

“Fine, we better catch this guy. I want to eat a nice steak when we return to Zone Zero. Let’s go catch this guy!” exclaimed Vespa.

Lily giggled at Vespa’s excitement. She was also excited about the prize money, but it would be a treacherous journey due to Enceladus’s icy climate. They could not be there for too long as they did not have enough supplies to support themselves through the icy terrain. Vespa walked off towards the west wing of the Desert Rose. This wing accommodated at least twenty crew members because some rooms had bunk beds. Lily took the most significant room at the end of the hallway, right next to her office. Her room was simple, only a full-sized bed and a desk so she could do more work in her private headquarters. She went straight to her closet and packed her blue hard-shell backpack full of necessary items, such as water and snacks for the mission. She was a light packer. Then she heard knocking on her door.

“Mimas is fired up and ready to go. Hurry up!” said Vespa.

“I’m coming,” said Lily. Vespa was already dressed in her space suit when she opened her door. It was a dark blue suit and a helmet held by the right hand on the hip.

“You’re falling behind; go get dressed. I’ll wait for you in Mimas,” said Vespa.

Lily rushed to the east wing to get her suit just as she was about to get ready. Two space crafts attached themselves to the landing pod of the Desert Rose. One of those space crafts was the infamous Manta. A triangular-shaped black vessel with a red diamond on the center of its back belonged to Admiral Bismuth. The leader of the Chiron Clan and the clan responsible for the declining population of humanity on planet Earth. Lily heard Vespa struggling against two of Admiral Bismuth’s minions. She shuddered when she saw the two identical men dressed in black uniforms. One of them made direct eye contact with her, and when she looked into his completely blackened eye with no whites where the whites should be, the staggered breathing began.

“Vespa!” exclaimed Lily. She ran towards Mimas but was captured before she could reach Vespa, who was already struggling with two of Bismuth’s minions. Lily was then taken to her office, with Vespa following behind. When the door to her office was opened, the most infamous leader within the cosmos sat in her chair.