Solar System AXZ (Part 1)

August 2nd, 2840 AD 7:22 AM CST, Noah 3 Bridge

“Captain, if these coordinates are correct, we’ve just entered Solar System AXZ Space” Navigator Lt. Luca Bright commented as his monitor started to ping.

“Excellent. Mira, sound the jump siren.” Captain Charlotte Medina ordered from her chair.

“On it, Ma’am.” Mira commented right as he activated the signal.

The usual jump siren radiated throughout the ship once again but this time to no surprise to anyone in the ship.

After waiting a few moments, Medina ordered “Ok, Bright lets leave Jump Space.”

Immediately after Medina’s command, the large NOAH 3 left through the yellow void known as Jump through the usual wormhole and left itself into an unknown place once again.

“On screen.” Charlotte commented.

The deactivated screen in the front of the bridge displayed a blue star to the right of it and an endless amount of stars to the other side.

“Barr, please activate the heat shield.” Charlotte ordered once again. “We got a little too close to the star.”

“Activated now, Captain.” Jinto Barr followed. “Very wise decision considering everything here.”

Charlotte looked around nervously at her crew as she stood up from her chair. “Unfortunately due to ummm, circumstances…”

Susan was laughing a little bit in the chair behind her which Charlotte was trying her best to ignore it.

“...We only have three days to explore this solar system. Fortunately, I have thought about a plan to do all of that. So, here is my idea.” Charlotte gulped once more.

“We can find out how many planets there are using our scopes and larger sensors. The general plan is to have you, Barr and you, Haro to figure out the proper amount of probes and flight crews in longer range shuttlecraft to send to each of them. The ones with the beds. At top speed, each of them should get to their planets by later tonight at the latest.”

“After some rest, I want them to scan their planets for half a day for everything they can find and then report back to the ship that night. If you find anything that we could live on or possibly terraform in a short amount of time, let us know. Otherwise, day three will be some quick mining with some of our fresh crews before we jump out that night and those scouts returning for rest. Does that make sense?” Charlotte checked with her crew.

“Ma’am, makes lots of sense.” Haro smiled.

“Sounds reasonable to me.” Barr followed. “Captain, can we discuss this in the meeting room?”

“Of course, let me know when you send your crews.” Charlotte said as the two walked out of the bridge giving her a salute and she saluted back.

“Captain, why do we only have three days?” The communications officer Lt. Mira asked Charlotte innocently.

“Well..I….ummm….” Charlotte sat back in her chair in a little embarrassment. “I was late to the Captain’s meeting.”

Susan chuckled while giving Charlotte a short massage.

“Really, that’s it?” Mira sighed.

“Yeah, one of our fleet’s captains is rather strict.” Susan sighed. “I never liked Emeralds.”

“I think the best I can do is try to get along with her.” Charlotte sighed. “Otherwise, we will never go forward. Regardless, we need to complete this task.”

After a couple hours, Barr and Haro come up with a strategic plan and send three long range shuttles and 6 probes to each of the 8 planets. Meanwhile, The Noah 3 traveled slower than the decided fleets, but ran it’s sensors on full blast to pick up every bit of information possible. The mission started immediately.

The remainder of the day was the ship crew coordinating the eight flight crews into their particular portions of space to make sure it was accurate and scanning everything they could to gather all the sites they could find beforehand. Not all the flight crew will make it to their planets immediately. Some would take until night time Noah 3 times considering the further distance.

August 2nd, 2840 AD 6:30 PM CST, Noah 3 City Hot Tub

After getting her full body massage, Charlotte stepped into the hot tub where Susan, Melina Lafiel, and Steve Mintz were waiting for her.

“You know, I just realized that everything you wear that isn’t a uniform is red.” Melina commented.

“I ummm, I do have a favorite color I suppose.” Charlotte smiled while sitting down in the hot water. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Oh no, it’s not. I think the color works for you.” Melina.

“I’ve encouraged Charlotte to wear red as much as possible. Her blond hair and red just feels like a good combo.” Susan smiles too and Charlotte feels like hiding her face in the water.

“Umm, I don’t have anything to say here because I haven’t noticed at all.” Steven commented shyly. “Anyway, how was both of your days? Melina and I had a good time finding some candidates.”

“Yes, we can get that in a second.”

“Definitely more interesting than usual. Just sending some flight crews out around the solar system.” Charlotte commented.

“After relaxing in this hot tub, I do feel pretty bad about the crews in the shuttles.” Charlotte smiled. “Took a much larger amount of coordination than expected.”

“Did you use our larger ones?” Melina asked.

“Yes. It seemed most appropriate for the task. Charlotte and I put as much thought into the plan as we could.” Susan commented.

“Then your crews should be fine. I know what is on those shuttles. Those are more comfy than even our spaceships.” Melina remarked. “I know because I have flown in them myself.”

“You’ve lived a more adventurous life than I thought.” Steve was thrown back a bit.

“I wouldn’t call it adventurous precisely. I mean, I have had a couple times where I had to ride one from Mars to Earth.” Melina looked thoughtful. “Those were the shuttles provided because all the ships were busy. I had a lot of good sleep during those trips.”

“Ah, fair enough.” Steve commented again.

“Since we are talking about both of you, what have you been up to today?” Susan wondered about Charlotte being thankful for the change of topic.

“Oh yeah, you guys are going to be happy by this.” Melina smiled.

“Do you remember the family of the daughters you brought home?” Steve followed up her smile.

“Oh yeah, I was thinking about them early today. They were so adorable.” Charlotte looked up thoughtfully and Susan nodded.

“Yeah, their mother Amanda Waters, decided to join the election.” Melina bobbled in excitement.

“You’re kidding.” Charlotte leaned forward towards Melina, eyeing her suspiciously.

“She’s not, look at this.” Steve showed her through a floating screen with her appearance there. “Amanda wants to join you guys.”

There was a rapid bit of excitement and confusion from Charlotte and Susan seeing Amanda’s picture showing she was candidate 5 out of 8 so far.

“With that, I should enjoy some dinner?” Susan smiled.

“Are we going somewhere?” Charlotte wondered.

“Oh no, we can eat here.” Steve smiled with the rest of them looking at him. “Yes, I’ve done this often.”

“I didn’t even know we could do that.” Charlotte cocked her head to the side. “No wonder you are so relaxed, Mintz.”

“We could learn a thing or two from Steve, I think.” Susan thought. “We need to figure out more ways to relax.”

“Well, let's look at the menu.” Melina smiled.

“I hope we meet like this more often.” Steve laid down fully relaxed.

August 2nd, 2840 AD 11:30 PM CST, Captain’s Room

Having taken a quick shower and putting on the pink pajamas Susan bought her, Charlotte Medina fell into deep sleep three hours ago. That was until a screen was floating over her head with a noise that sounded like the worst alarm possible.

“Huh, I? What?” Charlotte wasn’t awake yet.

“Captain, Emergency.” An AI voice radiated in front of her.

“WHAT?” Charlotte immediately sat up fully awake.

“Our crew sent to the farther planet discovered an alien ship.”

“An Alien ship?” Charlotte couldn’t help but be excited. This is the first time they’ve approached the unknown.

“Yes, they are asking for instructions ma’am. I am also asking for instructions, ma’am.”

AI can just be annoying sometimes Charlotte thought before coming up with some ideas.

“Ma’am?”

“Give me a minute, please.” Charlotte sighed.

Charlotte really couldn’t come with anything in her sleepy state, so she just decided to wait until morning.

“Is it moving at all?”

“No, there are no life signs on it.”

“Computer, please tell our crew to get at maximum sensor range and then get some sleep. We will contact them in the morning.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Also, computer? Can you take the ship at a pace that will get us there by 8 am?”

“It can be done, ma’am. Is that what you wish?”

“It is, computer. I’m too tired to think of anything else.”

“Noah 3 is headed towards the ship. Have a good night's sleep, Captain.”

“I will try to. Thank you, Computer.”

After focusing her mind for half an hour with what was presented and watching some mindless shows, Charlotte fell back to sleep.