[Location: Vanguard station]
[Day 3: Ghost crew meeting]
The briefing room aboard Vanguard Station hummed with the low thrum of recycled air and distant engine noise, a constant reminder that they were floating in the void between stars rather than standing on solid ground. The reinforced viewport showed the curve of Earth below, its blue-white surface deceptively peaceful from this distance.
Lieutenant Cassandra Beaumont stood at the head of the conference table, her short Platinum blonde hair pulled back in a regulation bun that somehow managed to look both professional and effortlessly elegant. Even in standard EDF fatigues, she carried herself with the kind of confident grace that made junior officers forget their words mid-sentence and senior commanders remember why they'd fast-tracked her through the ranks.
