After months away the victorious USS Lilith returns home. Nimbus Station quickly launched low-yeild torpedoes into space around the vessel to create an effective light show as 9th Gemini Wing launched an honor guard for the vessel to escort it to the Umbral Shipyards for repair. Reporters were on hand for the docking of the vessel at the ship yards where her command crew disembarked. Everyone was in high spirits and responded stoically when asked about the mission and how it felt to have completed such an important mission.
The crew of the Lilith was also treated to a banquette in their honor, where Fleet Admiral Lance Thomas personally congratulated each member of the command crew and the team of Operatives which lead to the resolution of the Infinity Wave. In the following days the command crew is slated to obtain Distinguished Service Medal while the actual infiltration team that boarded the enemy vessel and cleared the anomaly will receive the Solas Tempus Cross. Other awards to the vessel’s crew will be handled by the Commanding Officer, Neo Akazuli.
Lance Thomas, when reporters spoke to him briefly during the reception had this to say;
They went into an unknown situation and knew they could not fail, that we were all counting on them and they didn’t let anyone down. It is gratifying to know that the faith we put into them was not misplaced. It isn’t an easy thing to repair the timeline and keep the fabric of what we know from unraveling, but that is what my Operatives do. It’s like running into a burning building with a war zone inside, you have no idea what you’ll find inside, you know the longer you’re in there the closer you come to catastrophe, but you don’t have much of a choice. Someone has to deal with it. They did exceedingly well and I’m very proud of them.
The Commanding Officer, Captain Akazuli, commented;
To put it simply, failure was not an option. When failure isn’t an option, there is only one option that remains, period. We had our orders and we saw it through.
Vladimir Zima, who served not only on board the vessel but on the actual team who boarded the enemy ship, is quoted as saying;
Not bad for a coal miner, I’d say. I need a drink.
Tal Ravis, who also served on the actual team that went aboard the enemy vessel had something far more colorful to say;
These fuckers need to learn that im a lot scarier than they are.
One thing is abundantly clear, whatever can be said about Solas Tempus and the leadership of Admiral Thomas, he picked a team that came through from a very difficult and unpredictable situation.