New Gaioterran Republic
New Gaioterra Republic
By Dream Janus
Disclaimer: All rights are protected and the story cannot be reproduced without permission.
This story is a work of fiction and contains scenes of gay sex between consenting individuals. If you find this offensive, are under the age of 18, it is illegal wherever you are to read this, stop reading now. Leave this site. If you are offended by harsh language, please exit this page immediately. You have been warned. This work of fiction is property of myself and may not be copied or used in any way without my express consent.
Much thanks and appreciation goes to Rubilacxe****, Flyboy38 and Tight141 my editors and second, third and fourth set of eyes.
Note from Dream Janus: I now have a presence in Yahoo groups.
On Yahoo it is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dream_janus_stories/
If you want, I can be emailed at dreamjanus@yahoo.com.
Reboot
Terry Poole was a heavyset boy of seventeen years. He was gay but had not been outed at least formally. Terry had been suspected of being gay by the students in his school for years. They enjoyed harassing and torturing Terry almost daily. This included attacks from both the guys and the girls alike. The school turned a blind eye to these activities and a good number of the male teachers even got into the act of making Terry's life hell.
Home was little better as Terry father was both racist and homophobic, always saying that Terry was a sissy, girl or fag. There was little that Terry could do to change the man's opinion of him, even making almost perfect grades. Terry's mother loved him but attempted to keep peace between her son and her husband.
There were gangs of boys that loved to torture, chase and beat on Terry as he made his way from school almost on a daily basis. They enjoyed beating on him if and when they caught him. It was never a good day for Terry when he was caught. It seemed to him that the beatings were getting more and more severe each time he was caught.
Terry ran down the alley trying to get away from the gang of boys that was chasing after him. His heavy frame was no match for the speed the boys could produce and he finally fell after tripping over his large feet. Terry stifled the tears from emerging in hopes that they would only harass him and not hurt him.
Unfortunately for Terry, his hope would not come true. Dutch Mackenzie was the first of the gang to reach him. He reached out with a swift kick to Terry's ribs that stunned the large boy. It was followed by several more before any other boys arrived. The boys set on Terry like vultures, hitting and kicking him.
"You ready to die, faggot?" One of them screamed
"We are going to show what we think of perverts like you!" screamed another.
Tiny Shultz picked Terry up by the collar, slammed his head into the filthy concrete, once, twice, three times, and began to do it a fourth time when he saw the blood and noticed Terry's eyes rolled up into his head. Instead of the fourth blow, Tiny just roughly dropped Terry's prone body.
"He is bleeding and either dead or something!" Tiny bellowed. He then ran from the alley. Unknown to the others he had tears in his eyes.
At that moment, Terry who had been semi-conscious faded into the cold uncaring hands of unconsciousness. His body then began to convulse with seizures. The gang of boys scattered in fear that they had actually killed him.
The dark tendrils of unconsciousness fought to keep Terry from returning to the world of awareness. He became semi-conscious and sought out the expected pain from his inert body. Instead of finding pain, he heard the light slapping of water on the sides of his body and something that surrounded him.
Terry opened his eyes and quickly closed them again. He was inside a tube of some kind and laying in some kind of water. Terry opened his eyes again and noticed that a small area of illumination above his head. He now began to freak out.
"Let me out!" Terry screamed banging his fists on the part of the tube above his face. "Help me!"
"Grea nay yerta," a voice echoed in the tube. "Hernar nay poiusle"
"Hey, let me out!" Terry screamed back at the voice.
"Eranapo..." the voice responded and then plainly said, "English"
"Yes, English, now let me out!" Terry responded even louder.
"Calm yourself, Terrance Allen Poole," the voice then said in English. "You have been repaired and are safe."
"Let me OUT!" Terry yelled at the voice.
"You will be released momentarily," the voice began. "May we ask you a question?"
"Sure, I guess," Terry responded realizing he would have to wait either way.
"We are without pilot and crew. You are without a companion," the voice spoke stating the painfully obvious to Terry. "We seek mutual companionship. Do you?"
"Yeah, I guess. Who are you?" Terry asked.
"Apologies, Terrance," the voice said in the same tone. At that moment the tubes wall seemed to disappear and was replaced by a scene of outer space.
"This is the spacecraft Talis, formally of the Gaioterran Empire," the voice explained. "It has a fully aware artificial intelligence and is constructed of what you would understand as biologically created mechanical tissues."
"What happened to the rest of the crew?" Terry asked.
"One hundred and twenty Earth years ago we were fleeing from the Zharal," the voice began. "We crossed a large ribbon of what was thought to be stellar radiation. It was not." The voice paused. "The exposure to the ribbon of energy caused all crewmembers to get sick and die within an Earth standard week."
"If all the crew died, who are you?" Terry asked.
"I am Talis," The voice explained. "I am the ship and you are within me."
Terry then began to be fearful of his situation and began to thrash around in the tube. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!" he screamed.
"Please calm yourself. You are possibly going to harm yourself if you do not," Talis directed in a firm but calm voice.
"Where are we?" Terry cried almost terrified. His trashing slowed and stopped.
"We are presently in a low geosynchronous orbit on the dark side of the Earth's moon," Talis explained. "I retrieved you from that alleyway while cloaked."
"Why?" Terry asked.
"I searched the planet for specific genetic markers and while I found thousands with the most basic of the markers, you were the only one with every genetic marker I was programmed to look for," Talis answered. "You are the perfect match to be my new captain, pilot and first of my crew." Talis then paused and said, "I could not allow you to perish."
"What all is required to be your pilot?" Terry asked. He intentionally avoided the comment about his death.
"I will explain." Talis said as it began three-hour explanation of what was needed, what would be done to and for Terry and a brief history of the Gaioterran Empire. The presentation was both spoken and video projected.
After the presentation was over and Terry asked a few clarification questions, Terry said with a slight smile, "I accept being your captain, pilot and crew." He then relaxed and prepared for the treatment to begin. Within a few moments, he was asleep as the ship configured the tube to change Terry's body so he could become connected to the ship.
The healing tube introduced the genetic material that would re-write and augment Terry's own genetic code. When the genetic material introduced had a chance to activate the changes that it was created to make, the healing tube began to reconfigure his body until it was the most genetically perfect that it could obtain. The changes caused Terry to begin to lose weight and gain muscle instead. The genetically based changes began reforming his flabby arms and legs into sculpted and muscled pieces of genetic perfection.
While Terry was asleep, he had a reoccurring nightmare in which he had been chased by the boys from school but made it home. Unfortunately, when he arrived inside his house his father was waiting with the boys that had chased him and the whole group began beating on him. Terry thrashed around in the tube as he suffered though the nightmare.
While Terry was going through the genetic modifications and enhancements, Talis began preparing for the eventual awaking of its new captain. The ship activated atmospheric systems on the bridge, the remaining portions of the medical deck as well as the upper recreation and housing decks. Talis then activated communication systems so he could make a cellular phone call directed at the earth, North America continent, the United States of America, to the home of Terry's parents.
"Hello," Talis began the phone call. "May I speak to Mr. or Mrs. Poole?"
"This is Mrs. Poole," the woman's reedy voice answered.
"Mrs. Poole, my name is Talis Gaio and I am calling about your son, Terry," Talis responded.
"Is he in trouble, Mr. Gaio?" Mrs. Poole asked in a very nervous voice.
"Oh no, not at all. He was in a slight altercation with some older boys and I brought him to my home to clean him up and help him relax," Talis answered with a half-truth and a lie combination.
"Is he alright?" Terry's mother then asked.
"Yes, he is fine, just a bit shook up," Talis explained. "I am calling to ask and inform you that he will be staying with me over night so he can calm down and rest."
"I understand," Mrs. Poole said with obvious discomfort. "His father will not be happy, but there is nothing that we can do about that now."
The woman then noticed tone of her voice and perked up, "Well, thank you Mr. Gaio for the call. When should we expect him home?"
"Please expect his return no later than one pm tomorrow afternoon;" Talis answered and then added, "I plan on feeding him brunch or lunch when he wakes in the morning."
"Well, thanks again," Mrs. Poole finished the phone call and said, "Bye", before hanging up the telephone.
After the telephone conversation, Talis activated the top tier shuttle launch bays. It then brought one of the smaller shuttles online and introduced transformation protocols for several different earth vehicles into the shuttles transformation matrix. The shapes varied from a small subcompact car, a sports car, a small SUV, a dually truck and a small RV.
Finally, Talis brought online the matter converter units in the medical decks as well as the living and recreation decks. It then began the process of creating a human carried holographic generator and a portable hovering holographic unit. The human carried version was in the form of an ornate necklace that was fashionable those days. The portable unit resembled a silver baseball.
Back in the healing tube, Terry now had two different sets of genetic material changing his body. His original 23 pairs of chromosomes were corrected for any genetic abnormalities that could be passed on and brought to genetic perfection. The newly introduced 96 pairs of chromosomes began enhancements on his body making it into Gaioterran and soon to be no longer human.
Terry again began to dream. It began as another nightmare but soon changed. His dream self melted into a super hot and super strong version of himself and he was able to defeat his past abusers, including his own father. He eventually came out on top of all those who had hurt him in the past.
Terry was due to be released after the new genetic material had a chance to make several invisible changes and establish a permanent place in his body. The total changes would take several days and would require vast amounts of energy on Terry's part. It would make him weak and tired for at least two or three days as it worked the changes.
Terry woke up late the next morning and looked around after finding himself in an immense bed. The room he found himself in was almost cavernous and was decorated in what Terry could only identify as some sort of reddish wood. The room was divided into three sections with large archways dividing them. The sections were bedroom area, office and meeting room. He rightly guessed that this was the captain's quarters. The room had a total of four doors but Terry was afraid to investigate
[Are you fully awake now, Captain?] Terry heard Talis' voice in his head.
"Yeah, how are you doing that?" Terry asked with a bit of fear.
[With your augmentations, you and I are now mentally linked,] Talis began to explain. [It is not telepathy strictly speaking in that it is created by a microscopic organic transceiver that is now inside your brain.] Talis paused and anticipated the next question. [No, sir, I cannot read your mind. It is like using one of your earth based walkie-talkies and you only transmit when you choose to do so.]
Terry thought for a moment and then thought, [Like this?]
[Right in the first try, sir,] Talis transmitted in congratulations. It then spoke in a voice that appeared from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "I took the liberty of contacting your mother and your parents are expecting you home this afternoon at one"
"How the fuck are we going to pull that one off?" Terry almost shouted in fear. "They are going to expect my fat ass instead of this," he continued pointing at his now muscular body.
"Captain, we have the technology to allow them to see the old you instead of the enhanced you," Talis spoke calmly. "Please come to the mess hall next door so you can be outfitted and have everything explained." A door directly in front of him began to glow bright green and another began to glow a lighter shade of green.
"Both doors can grant you access to the mess hall, the brighter door is direct access." Talis explained. "The lighter door allows you access to the hall and access to the main door of the mess hall."
Terry walked toward the brighter door, which simply disappeared as he approached. He walked into a room setup with six small four-person tables. Each table was a different color. The one nearest Terry's new room was a light blue with matching chairs. "Welcome to the Captain's mess, sir," Talis announced.
"You may choose whatever you want to eat," Talis explained as Terry looked around the room. "I have categorized all foods of the earth and can prepare them or any of the Gaioterran dishes when and if you wish to try them."
"How do I order?" Terry asked holding the back of a nearby chair.
"Please have seat and consider what you want, Captain," Talis answered. "When you are ready just speak the order and it will appear."
Terry sat down and smiled, "I am not on any restrictions am I?"
"No sir, other than it is requested that you consume at least 5,000 calories per meal for the next week as your body is still changing and it is going to need fuel," Talis responded.
"Well, then I would like eggs, sausage, biscuits, apple jelly, apple juice, orange juice and milk," Terry requested. Before he took a second breath, his requested lunch appeared in a wave of distorted space in the center of the table. The space returned to normal and Terry then reached for his breakfast.
As Terry ate, Talis explained that it had created a necklace that would act as a cloak to his real body's form and project a fully touchable hologram of his previous body form. It then replayed the conversation it had with Terry's mother so that he would know everything that was said.
"They are going to want to meet you since you called," Terry said with a touch of fear.
"I assumed that and took another liberty," Talis said. "Please observe the far door." It made the main door red briefly.
A moment later a man that appeared to be in his forties walked into the room. He smiled at Terry and walked in Terry's direction. When he reached the table, the man smiled and said softly, "Hello, Terrance."
It took Terry by surprise that the man had a voice like the ship's AI (Artificial Intelligence), and then he realized that it was not just a similar voice but the same voice. "Talis, is that you?"
"Talis Gaio, at your service," the man said shaking Terry's hand. The man then took a step back and appeared to fade slightly. Inside what appeared to be the man's head was a floating silver baseball sized sphere. The man then returned to normal appearance. "It is a floating holographic projection unit. "I am your ship."
Terry was shocked but a slight smile formed as he realized the potential benefits. "How does this necklace thing work?"
"When it is placed around your neck, it will automatically activate the desired hologram," Talis the man explained. "If there ever was a need to make it cease functioning for a time, you can press both sides of the center stone and the hologram will cease until restarted by depressing it again."
The man version of Talis then handed Terry the stylized necklace. The necklace was quickly put on and the hologram of Terry's old body surrounded the new one. The illusion was perfect and even Terry could see the changes though they did not affect his ability to move.
"Our next stop after you finish eating is the shuttle bay to get our ride to your house." The man version of Talis explained. "The shuttle will get us onto the planet, thanks to cloaking technology and then we will travel on the surface in a transformed version of the shuttle."
The table's surface acted as a monitor so that Terry could be shown the shuttle and its possible transformation forms. Terry selected the SUV model and explained. "My folks would accept either one of us driving that with my old fat ass than they would the smaller ones."
Twenty minutes later a small shuttle escaped the confines of the spherical shaped ship. Talis the man explained that the ship was constructed out of biological polymers and was after a form alive. It was able to shift its outer form into several different shapes depending on the need. Terry was surprised to see that the ship was in fact one quarter the size of the moon, meaning the ship was over 530 miles in diameter.
Terry's first sight of the earth from space was breath taking. He was surprised about the intense colors that the planet's surface produced. He sat spellbound until they began approaching his hometown. Terry finally spoke a moment after they touched down on the road five miles away from his parent's house. "Wow."
Terry watched as Talis began the transformation sequence that would alter the form of the shuttle. Within a few moments, the skin of the shuttle began to look as if it was melting. Within a minute, the inner and outer appearance of the shuttle had transformed into the shape and design of one of the most popular, light blue SUV models. The cloak discontinued once the small ship had become a car.
The last mile they rode in silence. Terry afraid of what his father would say or do and Talis running a ship board diagnostic. When they reached the final street, Terry's heart fell as he saw his father in the middle of the yard look up and down the street, waiting for his return. Even though they were early, that meant nothing to the man when he was mad.
Talis noticed the elevated blood pressure and other stress related symptoms coming from its Captain and launched three security drones in stealth and cloaked mode to their location. Talis was not going to allow any harm to come to its captain, even emotional harm. The drones ETA were exactly five seconds after their arrival at Terry's parent's home.
The SUV drove up into the short gravel drive and barely parked before Terry's father, Jake, launched a verbal assault on the young man. "Who the fuck do you think you are staying out all night and sleeping at some stranger's house with barely a call home?" the man raged.
Jake then continued to rage, "This fucker is my age. What were you doing, letting him fuck your fat ass?"
"He slept in another area of the house than I did, sir," Talis said softly but with power.
"You need to shut the fuck up and get off my property before I bust you in the mouth!" Jake demanded.
"That would be your worst mistake," a strange male voice stated with menace. The voice emerged from the SUV itself.
Terry was just as shocked as his father was. He looked at Talis for an answer.
"I did say we, remember?" was all that Talis said in the way of explanation.
Terry immediately was given the technical data on the Ship's artificial intelligence matrix and how most of the higher used systems had their own personality programming, including the shuttle they had arrived inside.
"What the fuck was that?" Jake screamed.
"It is what Mr. Gaio does for a living," Terry tried to explain, "and I am going to be working with him."
"The fuck you say," Jake bellowed. "All this fucker wants is to keep you in bed fucking you like you wish he would."
Terry was momentarily confused about what his father said and then turned to his father and said, "Never talk to my friends that way."
"This is my house and I will talk to anyone that is here any damned way I please," Jake ranted loudly, "and if you don't like it you can leave."
Just as Terry's mother walked out the front door was when her husband yelled his threat. She began to walk toward Terry in an attempt to stop the argument from escalating further, but she arrived too late. Neither parents thought for a moment that Terry would do anything other than back down and attempt to stop the yelling. They both were surprised by Terry's response.
"Fine, asshole, I am out of here forever—bye," he said at the same volume as his father. He then returned to the SUV, got into it and slammed the door shut.
"NOOO!" screamed Terry's mother as she saw her greatest fear come to life. Her bigoted and homophobic husband had finally run off her one and only child. She then turned on her husband and with a powerful voice said, "Pack your shit, Jake. I am not having you here if Terry leaves."
Jake Poole spent a brief second attempting to see when and where his control of his family was lost. He was not able to do anything but look at his wife in shock. "But honey..."
Talis stood in the same spot totally confused by this human interaction until Mrs. Poole, whom he found out was named Sally looked in his direction. "Pack your shit, Jake," she said even though her focus was now on Talis. "You are out of here tonight."
Sally Poole then walked over to Talis and asked, "Can we go to Jude's Java on 3rd and have a little talk?" She then glared at her husband, "Just you, me and Terry? My husband will be packing his stuff." She then glared at Jake and said, "And getting out!"
The three security drones remained at the Poole house: one in the back, one in the front and the last monitoring Jake Poole's activities. Each drone remained cloaked. The two that were monitoring the house recorded everything. The third drone not only recorded but also had its stun projector aimed at Jack, prepared to incapacitate the man if something happened.
Jude's Java was the local hang out for all the high school and college students. It was usually loud and busy, so no one was interested in other people's conversations, and the coffee, lattes and other drinks were superb. Terry had only been there a couple times with his mother, being it was a hangout for the high school. It was not really safe for him to be there by himself. The other students liked to pick on him and occasionally abuse him.
"I do apologize for my husband's actions. He can be nasty toward things that are different," Sally said as they entered the building.
Sally and Terry ordered caffé mocha with chocolate sprinkles and whip cream. Talis did not order anything since holograms could not consume food or drink. They found a table near a corner of the shop and sat down to talk.
"Well, Dad's actions made things easier on me," Terry said with a small voice.
Sally stared at her son in disbelief, "What do you mean?"
"Mr. Gaio has offered me a job working with him and I accepted," Terry said with a weak smile.
"And this means you are leaving home, or are you leaving `cause of your Dad's actions." Sally asked with tears in her eyes.
"I didn't plan on moving out just yet," Terry said, [of course that was knowing I could move to the ship in a blink.]
"So your Dad just moved your plans up, huh," Sally said with a single tear sliding down her face.
"Well, Mrs. Poole, the plan was for Terry to finish the remainder of this year at the school in which he is presently enrolled," Talis began. "But if his father is going to be a problem, I agree moving the plan up would be in the best interest of Terry."
"So what is this job that Terry will be doing for you?" Sally asked.
"Actually Terry will not be working for me but working with me on releasing new technology and making the world better for everyone, not just the USA. Plus there are several secrets projects as well," Talis said, surprising both Sally and Terry.
Terry drank his caffé mocha slowly as he transmitted, [Talis, you are going to have to explain that to me later.]
[Of course, Captain,] Talis transmitted and then said, "It would be up to Terry if he were to now continue to get his education at his present school or allow me to provide him with tutors to complete his education. Now I will have him tutored in all school subjects."
"Well, I do not like this situation at all," Sally said with sadness, "but if you promise me two things I can accept it."
"What are those?" Talis asked.
"If you are interested in my son for sex at least wait until he is eighteen to do things," Sally said softly so her comments were not overheard. "Second, I want to be able to contact him and vice versa whenever I want."
"As for your first request, that is not a problem as I am incapable of having sex at all," Talis answered.
"As for contacting him at any time, that is not a problem. Our main line is area code 555, 555-9678. His private line is (555) 555-1545," Talis continued. "He can be reached through either line at anytime."
"Thank you," Sally responded and then asked, "What about visits?"
"Terry is able to visit you whenever he wants and whenever he is not in school," Talis responded quickly.
Over the next hour Talis, Terry and Sally visited about everything and nothing specific. They just gained a familiarity with each other that made the changes easier for both Terry and Sally. Talis and Terry then took Sally back home. Sally found her husband was indeed moving out of the house and offered no way for reconciliation. She was tired of his nasty mouth and vile opinions.
As Terry and Talis drove away, Terry demanded, "Explain everything!"
"Of course, Captain," Talis said with a smile. "I shall explain everything from the moment we arrived."
"Introduce yourself, Slava," Talis then commanded.
"I am Slava, the artificial awareness that is the Captain's personal shuttle," stated the same strange male voice from the radio speakers of the SUV. "I am both transport and protection to the Captain and anything else within his traveling group. I offer plenty of traveling entertainment and have access to the same from many different worlds."
"Well, it is nice to meet you, Slava, and understand what happened," Terry said with a bit of humor in his voice.
"The next point I am sure that I need to inform you about is the use of security drones," Talis began. "I have sent three security drones to securely monitor and protect your parent's home," it continued.
"The security drones posses an exterior skin that is bullet proof, cloaking technology, have onboard cameras with sound and low grade stun weapons," Talis explained. "They are making sure your father does as directed by your mother."
Talis paused for a moment and was almost interrupted by Terry before it continued, "The contents of your room are presently being copied and placed in your stateroom on board."
"What about the telephone numbers?" Terry interjected.
"We have full access to all earth-based communications including satellite radio, FM/AM radio waves, Cable and Satellite Television, cellular lines all over the planet as well as covert and supposedly secret forms of military and government communications," Talis explained with a slight smile.
"When I said main line that number codes directly to me and I can reroute it to you. The other number codes directly to you without going through me," Talis continued.
"How?" Terry asked.
"It is one of the modifications that you are presently going through genetically." Talis explained.
It was momentarily interrupted as the SUV began transformation back into the shuttle, cloaking as it went.
"To show you what I mean, concentrate on locating the nearest cellular signal." Talis instructed.
Terry concentrated for a moment and then cocked his head to the side as he began listening to a conversation between a man and his girlfriend. He then smiled as he concentrated again to seek out his favorite radio station. Within a second the FM radio station could be heard better than if he was using a radio. Terry's smile increased as he listened and began bobbing his head up and down with the music.
[You need to adjust the volume of the signal so you can hear around you, Captain,] Talis transmitted over the radio signal.
Terry then visualized a volume control and lowered the volume of the radio. It surprised him that the visualized volume control became visible and remained in his field of vision on the left hand side. "Why is that volume control remaining in my vision?" Terry asked nervously.
"You have two different heads up displays available to you at anytime," Talis began to explain. "The first is your everyday display and the second is your ship display. You have subconsciously activated the everyday display," it continued to explain. "If you wish to alter the appearance of the volume control you can simply by visualizing something different."
Terry immediately replaced the knob version of the volume control with a smaller slider version of the same control. He then placed it on the furthest point on the right near the bottom of his field of vision. Terry then said, "That is so cool!"
"You can also create a visual reference for a telephone dialing pad, radio module adjusting and representation, a human internet browser interface and most anything else you can visualize." Talis continued the lesson. "You will gain new skills, abilities and interfaces as your body finishes the changes."
"I want a heads up display of the ship," Terry said suddenly. Immediately the other images in his vision were replaced. He suddenly had an image of the moon in the center of his field of vision. Several other meters and bars also filled the remainder of his vision. Those meters each had alien symbols around them. Terry could not understand any of it. The information being presented to him was overwhelming and caused him to close his eyes.
"Refocus only on your regular heads up display and all that information will be gone," Talis directed calmly, but it had become worried that the information would be too much for the new Captain.
Terry did as directed and the normal heads up replaced the confusing ship's information. His breathing slowed as his mind was able to comprehend this information easier than the other was. [What were those symbols?]
[They are the written language of the Gaioterran Empire. In few days when your enhancements are further along, I will upload the language to you,] Talis said.
[When you say upload the language,] Terry began to ask, [you mean I will be able to understand it?]
[Yes, the upload will only take a brief moment and within five minutes, you will have a complete understanding,] Talis explained.
[If we can do that, why do I have to go to school?] Terry asked with a slight pout.
[It was never said that you would have to go to a school, I said I would tutor you in all school subjects,] Talis said with a smile. [By the end of next week, you will have all the information taught in your school, plus Gaioterran, and other languages that you wish,] Talis then cocked his head in an almost human manner. [You will have more information than even the teachers at your school as you will have a complete understanding of the subject matter even beyond human high school levels.]
As their conversation ended the shuttle had entered the shuttle bay and was completing landing procedures. "I am happy that we have a new captain," Slava said with smile in his voice. "We will be able to complete our missions now."