The Great Journey

“Sound the alarm!” shouted Captain Killian as he bit an apple; it was his own way of handling stress. ”… load up the torpedoes and get the crew geared up…” he went on while everyone else started gearing up for the war that followed.
FEW WEEKS AGO
“All systems are good to go, sir!” said Mr. Dyke. “The fuel core is at maximum capacity…” a voice on the intercom went on, “… the ventilation and gravitational systems are also at capacity and good as new, sir”. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Fire up the thrusters, Mr. Dyke.” Everybody has their fingers crossed as the state of the art ship, one of its kind, the Excelsior powered up, and ready to embark on its first journey, into the deep uncharted depths of space. “Seriously, its 2525, HOW MUCH MORE TIME IS IT GOING TO TAKE?!” shouted the Captain, angry and full of excitement. “Apparently sir, it’s been only 15 seconds of the 15 MINUTES it’s going take”, said one of the bridge operators. “Thank you so very much for your sarcasm, Sara” the captain replied in his own very sarcastic voice.
15 MINUTES LATER
(Feels like years, doesn’t it? – Mike Killian)
They whole crew was scared as they were thrown back just as the ship almost instantly sped up to FTL (Faster Than Light). For the next few minutes, it was a situation they were trained to handle, just a few thousand times more intense. “Whoa! Now THAT was intense!” said the Captain, “Indeed”, replied Mr. Dyke, the deputy captain, comparatively a very calm and intelligent person. Captain Mark Killian, thigh impatient and hilarious, he was a genius when it came to strategy and crew management and had been the youngest Army General. When it came to strategy, Sun Tzu, the great Chinese strategist, the author of ‘The Art Of War’, seemed a bit like a kindergarten student in front of Killian, who carried his family’s legacy of great strategists on. Killian was the perfect example for the saying ‘a smart man is one who plays a fool.’
After a calm and quite boring few days into the depths of space, the ship finally got a transmission. They all had probably achieved a great feat, discovering alien life. The very happy Daniel Dyke went through the message and ended up with a fearful look on his face.
“What’s the matter, Dan?” said Mark.
“It’s coming from somewhere near and they’re definitely not speaking English…” Daniel replied.
“Well, what do you think it says, do you have an idea?”
“Not much, but…”
“But what?”
“Threats are clear in any language…” said Daniel.
A grave silence followed the conversation. The very idea of an alien threat struck fear into the listener’s heart.
“Where exactly did it come from?” said Mark, breaking the silence.
“A… a... a nearby planet, about 5 minutes away from our location, sir” said the bridge operator.

“Let’s go and give these people a visit, prepare a pod…” said Mike as he was interrupted by Daniel,
“We haven’t even spent a week in space and you’re planning to start an interplanetary war with aliens we know nothing about, they probably have the tech to destroy the Earth in one go…”
“Seriously, they could do that?” Mark replied curiously.
“Probably. They ARE aliens, Mark.”
An “Hmph!” was heard from Mark as he folded his arms and slung himself back into his chair. Everybody could see he was sad and was currently acting like a 5-year old.
“I say we move a bit away from their planet, probably land on one of the moons, scan the area and move on once we have defense strategy, and let’s try to do it quickly so they don’t blast us to kingdom come, huh, what do you say, Mark?” said Dyke, attempting to calmly handle the situation.
Mark didn’t reply. He had his face swollen up like child and refused to give up.
“MARK!!” shouted Daniel.
Mark, startled got back up and calmly said, “do what you want. I have matters to attend to.”
“Mark, wait! What’s more important than a potential alien threat?!” Daniel went on but could not stop Mark from walking out of the control room, who refused to even react to Daniel’s voice.
“Well, let’s land on one of the moons, the crew need to rest, for now, I’m captain” said Daniel as he slowly sat into the Captain’s chair with pride on his face and fear in his heart.
Days went by but they could come up with nothing. The crew had not a single clue about what was going on. Mark Killian was nowhere to be found even after thorough searches of the ship. It’s not really very easy finding a war and strategy expert on a spaceship as big as a small town.
“We just got another transmission, sir. This one is a text message, English, apparently and it looks like some teenager wrote it” said the bridge operator.
“Don’t be silly, how could they send us a message in English??” replied Daniel, the acting captain.
“You said it yourself, sir, they ARE aliens.” Replied the operator.
“Fine. Read it out.” Said Daniel, regretting his own words.
The message read:
Y U NO COME TO US??? :)
“What, seriously, it says that??” said Daniel, who looked just as shocked as the rest of the crew members in the control room.
Suddenly, the door to the control room opened. Mark walked in and pushed Daniel off the Captain’s chair and took it for himself and started speaking before anyone else could say a word too him, which everyone wanted to because of the previous few days.
“Sound the alarm!” shouted Captain Killian as he bit an apple; it was his own way of handling stress. ”… load up the torpedoes and bring the get the crew geared up…” he went on while everyone else started gearing up for the war that followed.
“Set up two fighters, loaded up with torpedoes behind each of the four moons. And the rest in small clusters around the ship, providing us cover. Charge up the Anti-Particle Laser and prepare a pod. Dan, you’re coming with me, to the planet. Let’s see what they want” said Mark.
Everyone now understood why he was captain, contradictory to their rudimentary analyses of him.
He was finished before anyone else could understand what was going on.
“What are you doing Mark? And how on earth…on… how in the world did you know about the message?” said Daniel as shocked as he had ever been.
“One, no time. Two, did you know they gave me this great app on my phone? I can control THE ENTIRE SHIP, ON MY PHONE!!! Amazing, isn’t it?” replied Mark.
“What?!” replied Daniel, even more shocked.
“Daniel, Daniel, Daniel… calm down, shut up and finally, suit up. I’ve always wanted to say that.”
“Always, we met a few months ago…”
“You’re REALLY annoying, you know?”
Daniel had nothing to say and could do nothing. The two suited up as the crew was told the truth about the situation and they all geared up, taking a leap of faith, getting into fighters and getting them into place.
“We really shouldn’t do this.” Said Daniel as he got onto the passenger pod with Mark.
“Did you really just say ‘we should definitely do this’?” Mark replied sarcastically.
“Ha-ha, no.” replied Daniel.
The two, according, to Daniel, had embarked on a suicide mission but Mark seemed too casual about the situation, which was what worried Daniel the most.
The fighter ships were in position. The passenger pod had been going on for about an hour. Daniel had an uncontrollable urge to discuss Mark’s absence with him. So, he turned around only to find him sleeping in his place like a baby.
“WAKE UP, MARK!!!” shouted Daniel, pouring out his extreme feelings of anger in a single sentence.
Mark woke up, startled and could not help but say, “What? Are we there yet?”
“No. Mark, you’re sleeping while the two of us are probably on a suicide mission and while there is a more than likely chance we won’t survive.”
“Yes, I know. And I don’t want to die thinking that I want to sleep. If we don’t die and I get my sleep, well, it’s a win-win.”
Daniel had no word to reply with. So, he turned around and waited for their arrival.
3 HOURS LATER
“Wake up, Mark, we’re here!” said Daniel.
Mark woke up, picked up his gear and said, “What are we waiting for?”
Once again, Daniel was annoyed but no more than he feared what was coming.
The door opened, revealing humanoid figures.
“We’ve been waiting for you. Your language took us weeks to learn. Welcome.” said one them.
“Sooooo… we’re not fighting?” said Mark curiously.
”Why would we fight?” replied one the aliens.
“Then what was the transmission about?” said Daniel, why was astonished.
“Oh, it said:
WELCOME TO OUR LITTLE CORNER OF THE UNIVERSE. WE’RE WAITNG FOR YOU DOWN HERE. WE’VE GOT DINNER PREPARED FOR YOU.
Now the dinner’s cold, but don’t worry, we’ll prepare another one.”