When I was a kid, my father always told me to look up at the stars with bright eyes. He told me, "One day, you'll do amazing things up there!" He must've always known I would become so much more than him. He was also such an inspiration to me, a Chief Petty Officer in the Federation, in fact.

March 5th, 3299

Just past my 18th birthday, he left to go on a dangerous mission to earn his next Pilots Federation Rank. He told me how much he loved me and that he would miss me while he was gone. He urged me not to worry, but I couldn't help it.

March 6th, 3299

I worried about him only a little at first, however when he didn't come home the next day, when he was suppose to be back from him mission, I started to panic. I got on GalNews and searched for, "Chief Petty Officer William F. Anderson." The story that popped up was called, "Chief Petty Officer Anderson's Assault Ship was found crashed half of a mile from a Military Base in Sol." My heart stopped. He was gone. I continued to read the article, trying not to cry-

"The ship was extinguished quickly enough to retrieve the voice logs he recorded shortly before his death."

He was required to record these on every mission, I was just surprised they could salvage them.

"In these voice logs, Chief Petty Officer Anderson stated he was attacked by a wing of 2 pirates by the names of Bill Strong and Richie Wells while supercruising to his mission objective. They pulled him out of supercruise, however he managed to escape them and make a jump to the nearest Federal system to repair his extensively damaged ship, which included a blown canopy. He stared gliding into the planets atmosphere and then suddenly lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen, according to his suit monitors. His ship crash landed and blew up in flames about 0.56 miles away from the base. Bystanders were horrified by what they saw.

Dr. Levi Green, a Technological Engineer for the Federal Navy, stated, "It is unclear whether Chief Petty Officer Anderson died from oxygen starvation or from the crash. His suit malfunctioned seconds after he lost consciousness, leaving us unable to determine his time of death. All we have concluded is that he lost consciousness and his ship failed to activate autopilot after his suit monitors detected he was not conscious."

Admiral David Stark says, "What happened to Chief Petty Officer Anderson was unforeseeable, and The Federal Navy is deeply saddened by the loss of this wonderful Commander. He was a great officer and served us well. There will be a public service honoring his passing."

I was in shock... but something didn't add up... his suit malfunctioned? His ship malfunctioned? Why did this happen?

My train of thought was interrupted by a knock at my door. I answered it, and there were two high ranking officials of the Federal Navy in their dress uniforms standing there. The man on the right was holding a folded American Flag, rightly so as me and my father were from America originally, and the other man was holding some sort of package.

They introduced themselves, the man on the left said, "Greetings, I am Lieutenant Roger Smart of the Federal Navy, and this is," raising his hand as to introduce me to the man beside him, "Cadet Mark Lambert of the Federal Navy. We are here to inform you that your father-"

Trying not to cry still, I cut him off before he could finish speaking, "I already know... my father is dead."

Cadet Lambert asks, "May we come in?"

"Sure," I replied. I let them in and close the door behind them, the martian winds were quite cold that day.

"Well, as you already know about your father's death, let us explain why we are here," says Cadet Lambert.

"We are obligated by the Federal Navy to inform you of your father's will," Lieutenant Smart says pulling up a document on his HoloPhone, he clears his throat and proceeds to say, "In his will, he states that you, Amanda F. Anderson, shall receive all of your father's money and possessions shall he die in service. You will be awarded his Federal Drop Ship, this home, and forty-eight million credits."

Forty-eight million? That is far more money than I ever anticipated gaining from his passing, he was richer than I knew apparently. "Um... wow, that is a lot of money!" I exclaimed with little enthusiasm. I had no clue what I was going to do with this money.

Cadet Lambert stated, "There is something else, ma'am," as he handed me the American Flag.

Lieutenant Smart proceeded to say, "Ms. Anderson, you will also be awarded this box. It contains his Federal Navy Awards and his dress uniform."

I placed the flag on the coffee table, and Lieutenant Smart handed me the box, which was made from beautiful pine wood and had Federal Navy engraved on it in gold lettering. I opened it and my eyes instantly saw his badge, Chief Petty Officer Anderson and all of his awards... I teared up even more... I've seen him wear this uniform so many times in the past. It made it so much more real to me that he was gone, realizing that I will never see him wearing this again. I looked up at him and he was pulling something out of his pocket. It was a disc of some sort.

I placed the box next to the flag and Lieutenant Smart handed this disc to me with care and said, "This is a message from your father, that only you will hear, take care."

I took the disc from him and I looked down at it. In my father's sloppy handwriting, it read... Amanda. My name. Lieutenant Smart and Cadet Lambert left while I was looking at the disc. I didn't even get to ask what it was. I put the disc in my computer. It was a video... of my father.

"Hi honey," my father said with much hesitation, "If you are watching this... well... it means something not so great has happened to me... but I sure hope I went out with a bang! Haha!"

It made me smile knowing my father still had his same old sense of humor when he made this.

"What I want you to know sweetheart, is how very much you mean to me and how special you are! You are going to do wonderful things in your life and I have faith that you will get so much farther in your achievements than I did! I know how amazingly brilliant you are, and intelligence can take you so far in this galaxy! Now, what I need to tell you is this- if I die in a malicious way, I need you to find out what actually happened to me. There are so many things that could've went wrong, and so many things that could've caused it... I need you to find out what or who did it. I trust that you will realize if my death was malicious and find out what really happened to me and make it known to the whole galaxy! I don't want to keep going on, but just know that I love you sweetheart, you will be amazing!"

I was sobbing by the end of the video, and was pretty sure my makeup was running down my face... Wait... if he died in a malicious way... his suit! His ship! They malfunctioned and the Federation has no clue why! I have to figure this out... I decided to send an email to Dr. Levi Green explaining what my father had told me and asking him about his findings. While I waited for his replay, I went to the bathroom and washed my face. I've never seen my eyes so red and my face so puffy while at the same time having a determined look on my face. "I have to find out what happened to you, dad," I said, looking at myself in the mirror. I went and made a salad to eat, and when I came back to my computer, I saw that Dr. Green had replied-

"Ms. Anderson, I may need your help! Your father always said how brilliant you were and I couldn't ignore your offer! Come to my office tomorrow, we will talk."

The address was on Earth. I needed to hire someone to fly me to Earth! I've lived in an American Colonization on Mars called New America ever since I was three! I can't even begin to imagine what it will look like there!

That night, I tried to sleep, but I kept waking up... my nerves were killing me.

March 7th, 3299

6:30AM rolled around quickly. I got up and took a shower to help me wake up. After I got out, I did my hair and makeup, and put on the nicest clothes I had, which was a black suit and tie that I had for my father's award ceremonies. I arrived to the starport I was going to be flying out of and was greeted by a very kind flight attendant (who knew my name!) She took carried my bag and helped me on board a small little Dolphin. The pilot was part of a small company for luxury transport. I took my seat and waited patiently to get flown to Earth. About 30 minutes go by, and I am at my destination. I get in the taxi I hailed to take me to Dr. Green's lab. I remember thinking to myself, supercruise was such an amazing form of travel, it's so quick!

I arrive at Dr. Green's lab after a 20 minute taxi ride. He was surprisingly close to the starport I landed at. I am escorted by two Naval officers into his lab. Dr. Green is examining the wreckage of the ship when I walk in.

"Ah, Ms. Anderson, you made it! It's so wonderful to finally meet you!" He swiftly pulls of his glove to shake my hand.

"And you too, Dr. Green," I responded.

He looks perplexed has he picks up a tiny bit of metal with his still gloved hand, "This is strange... I am not really sure what this is..." He scratches his chin with his bare hand. He places it under his microscope in a petri dish, focuses it and looks at it-

"I... don't know what this is..." He says, frustrated.

"Can I have a look?" I asked.

"Sure! Sure," he says, nervously.

I zoomed in on the bit of metal, it looks like it's copper.

"Dr. Green, do you have any other fragments?" I asked.

"Yes," he says as he hands me more petri dishes of metal fragments. There seemed to be an unusually high amount of copper for anything like ships or normal electronics. One of the pieces had a sour smell wafting off of it and it looked as if it was a piece of a battery pack, another piece looked like it was a part of a circuit bored. There was also a piece that looked like a drill bit, as if it was used to drill itself into the hull of a ship...

"Dr. Green I think I know what this is..." I stated with mild hesitation.

"Well, spit it out then!" He exclaimed quickly.

"I think this is an EMP," I said.

"How could I have looked passed that? My oh my, I feel like a bad 6th grade science teacher! I will run some tests right away and get back to you as soon as possible!" Dr. Green exclaimed.

March 9th, 3299

I received a message from Dr. Green around midday.

"Ms. Anderson, your suspicions were correct, this is an EMP! Thank you for your help, you are as brilliant as your father always said! Those pirates will pay for what they did to Commander Anderson! The Federation will put them on a global wanted list for their actions! Thank you for your help, Ms. Anderson."

I figured it out. I was shocked. I am so glad I found out what happened to him. It was shared all over the galaxy, The daughter of Chief Petty Officer Anderson discovers how he died. I thought to myself, maybe I should give myself credit where credit is due, haha.

But this was only my first of many great accomplishments, that many other commanders before me have failed to achieve.

Now I just had to figure out what to do with my father's money and his ship. I decided to sell his ship back to the Federation because I figured if I'm gonna have that ship, I want to earn it myself. As for his money, I bought myself a little Sidewinder, and kept just one thousand credits to start my adventures as a commander. In honor of my father, I donated his money to a nonprofit organisation for broken families of lost commanders called Remembering our Commanders. It's an organisation that helps families in need after losing someone in their family that was a commander in space who provided for them.

From here onward, I began my journey and life as a dedicated Commander, avenging my father's death.