(Page 1 of 2) Survey by john walker
 (6 ratings)
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SUMMARY: A salvage mission turns up some interesting facts..The ship named Seeking Aleph began its deceleration just on the outskirts of the planetary system. The ship had been running for months now with the only controlling influence being the sentient on-board computer. Now it was time to start waking the crew.
The cryopod ejected a stream of cold air as it opened. A few of the lights on the built-in display turned from red to green. Captain Miinor Ortieth was always the first to be woken after interstellar travel. For a man who captained an epsilon-class marauder, this was a little bit unusual. But then, so was the man. Ortieth slowly climbed out of the cryopod and stood with a slight swaying motion. It was always like this after interstellar travel, but he was used to it by now.
"Computer, wake Surveyor Jiya Seraanis. Authorisation Captain Miinor Ortieth, Code 1-2-6-Zulu-Delta."
"Code verified. Authorisation accepted, will now proceed with cryogenic re-animation sequence."
Jiya Seraanis climbed out of the cryopod and stood to attention before the captain, with her back straight.
"Jiya, start waking the rest of the crew" said Ortieth. "I want this ship back to ops status in 2 hours. Also, there will be a command group meeting once we are at ops."
"Yes sir!"
To Ortieth, talking to his crew like this wasn't derogatory; he was giving them a challenge that he knew they could handle. Other crews aboard epsilon-class ships usually took around 4 hours to bring a ship up to operational status, but his crew was the best. They prided themselves on being so and had no less time for slacking than Ortieth himself had.
Ortieth walked into the main command area.
"Jiya, Orta. Status report."
"Sir, were are at fully operational status. Nothing further to report." Said Jiya.
"Thanks. Orta?"
The tactical officer sat up just that little bit more.
"Yes sir. All offensive and defensive weaponry is armed and ready sir." he said, his tone professional.
"Thank you. Well done crew, I think you just beat your own record that's only been 1 hour 40 minutes to go from stellar mode to full ops."
A wave of smiles passed around the room.
"Now, down to business. Jiya, what do we have?"
"Well, sir, the system is a typical type-b system. It has a total of 8 planets in the main stream, with a comparatively medium scattering of sub-planet sized bodies.
"Do we have confirmation of civilisation?"
"Yes sir. One of the planets was in the temperate zone of this star in the recent past. My scans show evidence of at least a stage 2 civilisation. The may even have progressed to stage 3 sir, which as you know involves establishing the 1st off-world colony, but we would need to be closer for more detailed analysis."
"Ok. What about the outer planets?"
"They are untouched by civilisation sir, we have no evidence of the usual mining associated with these types of gas giants, especially the larger one. I would say that this civilisation did not reach stage 4, sir."
"I concur. Helmsman Gor'an, take us into the edge of the inner system, about 20 million kilometres from the main planet"
"Yes sir" said Gor'an.
The ship decelerated once more and moved into position.
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