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House Ma knew that they wouldn\'t hide anything from the public, and therefore, they welcomed visitors instead of keeping their doors closed. Although most of the crew aboard the ship had thought that the chance of encountering a battle was slim, the Confederation military had drafted a squadron to safeguard their journey.

There were also many scientists, since many scientific experiences would be conducted during the voyage.

In addition to the crew members who had a useful post on the ship, there were also those so-called "vacationers", who had paid their way into the expedition. Their main duty was to simply have fun.

House Ma had depleted their coffers to build the Ark and new battery, and it was time to make those investments pay back. The idea to have the military pay up-front was thrown out of the window after a few meetings in which the military was clear that they wouldn\'t pay a penny until they have a clear understanding of the Ark\'s capacity. Therefore, House Ma had to look for other sources of revenue, and space tourism was one of them. Since the ship was lauded as the largest and the most advanced ship ever built, the ticket for its virgin voyage was outrageously expensive. Thankfully, they were sold out almost immediately and helped alleviate House Ma\'s financial pain.

All eyes were on this expedition, and it was a make or break moment for House Ma. If the expedition were a success, House Ma would firmly reinstate its dominant position among competitors, but should they fail, House Ma would very likely be kicked out of the rank of the Great Houses. Like many other things, this expedition was a double-edged sword for the House Ma; crisis and opportunity were often two sides of the same coin.

So far, House Ma seemed to be doing very well, and was confident that their battleship would pass the test. Before they made the announcement, House Ma had already calculated and re-calculated their odds, and they would not make such a big decision and introduce the new ship without knowing that the odds were on their side. Once the Ark had returned to Earth, it would be introduced into the military as an integral part of the space defense program. With its long-distance cruising capability, it ought to deal a blow to the rampant pirate activities. The result would be more safe territory for humans to settle in, and more market for House Ma to unlock.

The Ark was docked at a military space city while replenishing its supplies and receiving new crew members. The entire spaceship was divided into two sections, the combat area and the living quarters. The living quarters were further divided into classes, just like a space city. It also had a capable team of security staff to maintain order.

The combat area was where the technique and military personnel would stay for most of the time during the expedition. It was where decisions were made and orders were given. The captain wielded an absolute authority on board. He or she would be both the military commander as well as the arbitrator for civil affairs.

The competition for the position of Captain was fierce; some might even say that it had waged war between different factions. The Ivantians and the Martians had decided to stay out of the competition since they knew their chances of becoming a captain on an Earthling\'s ship were almost zero.

After a few rounds of saber-rattling between House Ma, House Li, and the Golden Hawk, a final decision was made. Captain Kaost, a fifty-five years old lieutenant general, was elected to be the captain of the Ark. At the age of 39, he had already been the captain of a Zeus class battleship, and after three decades of services in the defense department, his prestige and reputation were unmatched.

Despite Kaost\'s solid resume, his appointment as the captain came out as a surprise to many people who were astute in politics. Kaost was not from any Great Houses, and in fact, his public words often bore a certain degree of resentment towards the great houses. Although he did not have partisanship, his actions and beliefs were more in tune with the Golden Hawk. While the fight for the captain had entered a stalemate, House Li had surprisingly veered towards the Golden Hawk and voted for Kaost.

Some had anticipated the increasingly larger divide between House Ma and House Li after House Ma\'s series of actions that were out of sync with the Li\'s interests.

Once the captain had been chosen, the rest of the positions were decided on very quickly.

The second in command on the ship was the first mate. His or her responsibility included mostly administrative work, and providing strategic advice to the captain. Samantha was assigned the position after a unanimous vote. The fame she had garnered for her brilliant management of Ayrlarng had helped her a long way.

The day Samantha was sworn into her position, her face showed up on the cover page of the TIME magazine.

The innocent new graduate from Capth who everyone laughed at for her innocent goals had grown up to be one of the most influential women in the confederation.

Samantha\'s success didn\'t stop there. Due to Einherjar Wannabe\'s mind-breaking performance, DREAM stocks had risen more than ten folds, making her one of the wealthiest people in the world.

Overnight, she had become the epitome of beauty, intelligence, and power. Her every smile tugged at the heartstrings of young men, and her feminist viewpoint had also won many hearts of female supporters. In a few more years, she would be ready for the position of the council chairman.

Samantha didn\'t take the appointment lightly, since she knew that her performance would be crucial for her future promotion. She scanned the data crawling over the dashboard of the ship and took a sip of coffee.

"Haha! Boss, this is awesome here! Ah! Did they tell you that all of us had been chosen to serve on the ship as well?" Karl shouted out. Almost all of Wang Tong\'s friends had been appointed a position on the ship, including Karl, Zhou Sisi, and Lumi.

"I heard there would be skirmishes against the pirates. I wish that\'s true." Hu Yangxuan announced as he rubbed his hand excitingly.

"Yes, and no. I\'m sure there will be battles, but the military will likely handle it for us."

"Well, we could be useless cannon fodder, but not bosses."

Wang Tong cracked a smile and said, "Haha, it will be great if I can go out there and fight."

Since it would still be a couple of days until the ship set sail, the group had decided to explore the interior of the mammoth structure fully. They were immediately amazed by its scale and design. Not only was it a death machine on the outside, but it was also a living city inside. It was practically a flying fortress. Although humans boasted about their perceived control stretching over a few galaxies, they barely could maintain a tight grip on various rogue factions within the solar system. The incompetence was largely due to a limited capacity of long-distance flights, and that of providing viable conditions over a long period of time. But, the introduction of the Ark would change all of that, and make the universe much smaller than it really was.

Wang Tong and his friends lived inside the combat area. Since comfort was not the main design criteria in this area, they had to sleep in bunk beds and had the most rudimentary amenities.

All high-rank officers were assigned accommodation in the living quarters; some even brought their families here. House Ma had encouraged crew members to bring families with them, since long-term separation with loved ones was proven to take a toll on the morale.