Possibilities

A voice broke through her slumber, the dream of her mate and offspring broken with the word.

"Captain, please wake up, sir."

"What is it Ensign?" The Captain asked as she rolled over in her tiny bed.

"Captain, we are one hour from the planet, you requested to be awoken at this time." replied the Ensign.

"So I did Ensign" she moved to get out of the bed and reached for her robe, "Tell the Pilot on Watch to head straight for the moon orbiting the planet. I will be on the bridge in 30 mins."

"Yes Sir." The Ensign did a slight bow, turned and shut the door as she left.

Captain Ravid Le'aner walked into her bathroom cubicle and glanced in her mirror. At 42, she still maintained her looks.
 

Her birth years before was a blessing. Her proud mother Alira, had given up hope of ever bearing a female child, and was facing being outcast from the matriarchal society in which they lived. Alira had been considered unlucky to have a mate that only sired male children. During her seventh pregnancy, she had decided that this would be her last attempt to produce a female child. When it was heralded that Alira had finally safely delivered a female child, the celebrations lasted for a week.
 

Alira named her only daughter Ravid, after her own proud mother, hoping that she would follow in her grand dame's footsteps. Ravid had been a peaceful baby and a serene child. Alira had once taken Ravid to consult the family doctor about what was considered, her abnormal behaviour. Female were usually taller, faster and stronger than the males of the species. After having her fears alleviated, Alira put down Ravid's serenity to the influence of her six older brothers. 
 

However, once Ravid became a youth adult on the 13^th commemoration of her birth, Alira saw a subtle change in her daughter. While Ravid had always been fair at her studies, now she excelled. Her body growth suddenly caught up with her, and Alira saw her daughter blossom into a desirable young woman. Alira had hoped that her daughter would follow herself and her mother, and choose a career in politics, but it was not to be. At her senior youth celebrations 5 years later, Ravid voiced her intention to enlist in the Stellar Corp. Alira had objected strongly to her only daughter putting herself at risk in the depths of space. However, Ravid, knowing her mother would object, had already applied and been accepted into the Corp. Knowing that her daughters resignation now would put any future career for her in jeopardy, Alira had no choice but to accept Ravid's decision. Three days later, Ravid left for training.
 

Ravid reveled in the Corp training, excelling at everything she did. Continuously at the top of every course, she thought it ironic that her mother was now proud of her.
 

Once her training was completed, she applied to the Alien Investigation Unit. An elite group of mostly women, who monitored emerging alien species. She was accepted at once, and within a month of reaching her adult status on her 21^st commemorative celebration, she was on an interstellar craft, heading for distant worlds and new species.
 

A ship wide charm rang bringing Ravid out of her day dream, and pushed her towards the shower. During her shower, Ravid reviewed the data about the planet they now approached. Ravid had been 22 the first time she saw the planet. Its beauty captured her as it did everyone else who had seen it. From a distance the planet looked like most other planets of its type. It was only when you got close that its brilliance shone. The deep blue oceans had shouted out the possibilities of life. The land expanses, with the massive mountain ranges, deep lakes, arid deserts and the ice covered poles only confirmed the possibility.
 

When Ravid first saw the planet, it was teeming with life. Aerial life soared through the planets skies. Aquatic life, from the tiniest microbe to the biggest of aquatic animals, swam in the deep oceans and seas. Then there was the land dwellers, including the planets prime sentient beings, so much like her own species. Massive cities lined the coastal areas of the continents, smaller cities were dotted through the expansive land masses.
 

Having completed her shower, Ravid dressed in her uniform and obtained her breakfast from the food dispenser. Sitting at her table, she reviewed the Corps file regarding the planet.
 

Having discovered that the sentient species was close to space travel, a single scout ship had been sent out to initiate first contact. However, a few minutes after entering the planets atmosphere, contact had been lost with the scout ship. The ship and its occupants were never heard from again. During the following years, several ships had been sent to establish contact and to try and recover the first ship and its crew. All attempts failed. Many people felt at the time, that the emerging species were hostile. Contact attempts were canceled, and instead, vessels were sent to monitor the planets and its habitants for possible future threats.
 

Ravid finished her breakfast, disposing of the dishes and cleaning her small cabin, she headed for her small office off the main bridge. There she reviewed the previous days reports and activity charts. After signing these, she stood and strode towards the door that led to the bridge. As the doors opened before her, she once again prepared herself for the brilliance of the planet, now only hidden by the moon. She took her seat in the centre of the bridge.
 

"Pilot, what is our position please?" Ravid asked of the small woman seated to her left.

"Sir, we will achieve lunar orbit in 15 minutes." replied the woman.

"Very good Pilot. Conn,"she turned to the woman seated on her right, "when shall the planet be visible?"

"Sir, the planet should be visible in 5 mins."

"Very well," Ravid stood and walked to the front of the bridge, she looked at the view, then turned and addressed her communications officer. "Seran, opening channels to all decks please, I wish to address the crew."

"Yes sir," the woman could be seen working her console, she then looked up to the Captain, "all channels to all decks open sir."

Ravid cleared her throat, and then in a determined voice, addressed her crew. "You are about to see a planet that only 100 others have ever seen. This planet is considered top secret because of the emerging species. In my 20 year service with the corp, never have I seen a more beautiful planet. Do not let this misguide you though, the dominant species can be very hostile, towards one another as well as aliens."

"Sir," the Conn interrupted the Captain.

The Captain looked down at the woman seated in the Conn chair.

"Yes Conn?"

"Sir, planet rise in 1 minute."

"Very good Conn." Ravid turned her attention to her crew, "Please be alert and enjoy the scenery of this planet."

Ravid nodded to the communications officer, who proceeded to close the channels. Ravid walked across the bridge and sat in her chair. She leant forward slowly, as the planet started to appear over the moons horizon. Slowly the planet rose against the black backdrop.
 

Ravid instantly know that something was wrong, the planet had taken on an eerie glow. Flashes of light could be seen on the planets surface, even from this great a distance.

"Conn," Ravid continued to stare at the screen, "what is happening down there?"

"Sir, I am reading many high level energy bursts around the planets surface. Also reading several hundred metallic objects in low trajectory orbits. One of the objects has just exploded, it would appear the metallic objects are weapons of some kind. The objects are all on intercept courses with the cities on the planet surface." The screen changed to show a devastated city, in ruins, many buildings on fire. " The explosions are massive, although they vary in size. The explosions are causing mass destruction on the planet surface. It is estimated that the last missile will impact in approximately five minutes."

The Captain stood and looked at the devastated city.

"Any life signs:" asked Ravid.

"No sir," the Conn officer replied, "I am not reading any life forms on the planet surface at all."

"A pity, "said Ravid, "They were a promising species."
 

The ship remained in orbit for another 72 hours, checking for life signs on the planet surface and taking various readings of the planets atmosphere.
 

That evening as Ravid sat in her office entering her days entry to the Ship's Log, she looked out her viewport, and watched the now dead world spinning beneath them. She turned to the machine and continued.

"After investigating various transmissions from the surface before all power was lost, it would appear that the males of the species were dominant. There also seems to have been many religions. It is believed that religious differences are what caused this planets final extinction. We have been able to ascertain that the weapons used were called 'nuclear', possibly they had developed the same weapons that our forebears had. The weapons are thought to have been computer controlled, as when we arrived in orbit, there was a total of 672 warheads in flight. We determined that all life had been extinguished on the planet surface approximately 12 hours before our arrive. The warheads however, continued to be delivered to their targets for another 2 hours after our arrival. We have determined that there was over 15000 nuclear explosions on the planet surface. The planet surface and atmosphere is highly contaminated with radiation from these warheads. Life on the planet surface is currently not possible. However, with current clean up procedures, the planet could be made habitable in approximately 100 years. Our investigations did uncover the missing scout ship. It would appear the sip was struck by a meteorite just after entering the atmosphere, unfortunately, we were unable to recover the ship, or her crew, due to the contamination."
 

Ravid put her microphone down and turned the machine off. She stood and walked through the doors leading to her bridge.
 

"Conn, is our work here complete?" she asked as she took her seat.

"Sir, yes sir, all crew are back on the ship, all tests have been finalized and all engines are at the ready."

"Very good Conn," Ravid dipped her head slightly at the woman. "Pilot, take us home."

"Yes sir!"
 

Later, as the ship sped towards their own blue planet, Ravid was in her cabin adding to her personal log.

"As I looked down at the destruction below during the last few days, I was reminded of a story that my mother told me as a child. A story about how close our own species came to being extinguished in a similar manner. Is it possible that we would have ended up the same way as the Europan civilization if the women of Earth had allowed males to continue to dominate?"