Author Topic: The Republic of Earth  (Read 9881 times)

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Offline Sematary (OP)

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Re: The Republic of Earth
« Reply #30 on: January 06, 2014, 01:27:39 PM »
December 2050
Ex Enterprise, WX Ursae Majoris

Lt. O’Brian had been sitting in the command chair when they entered this system and he would continue to be here for the next four hours. It was his watch and the fourth system they had traveled through. At least for the JETG, the Jump Exploration Task Group, jumping was becoming completely normal. Over on the Valiant some lieutenant, Chekov or some such vaguely Russian name was the officer on watch, which put O’Brian as the commanding officer of the task group for the moment. Looking over to the Sensor Officer, “Mr. Chu, what can you tell us about this system?”

“It appears to be WX Ursae Majoris, also known as Gliese 412, which puts us about 15.75 light years from Earth, and is the second farthest we have ever been. Giclas 9-38 is about 17 light years from Earth so the record we set three days ago still remains. WX Ursae Majoris is about two fifths the mass of the sun and about three percent of its brightness. The B component of the system is about a sixth the size of the sun and the sun is about two hundred times brighter. A has seven planets orbiting it while B has eight planets and one hundred and twenty two asteroids orbiting it.”

O’Brian nods and brings up the results of DX Cancri, the first system they searched on this mission. After reading the write up, he addresses Lt. Chu again. “DX Cancri was the same size as the B star here and it had a possible habitable planet at a distance of one tenth of an astronomical unit. How are the planets in this system when looked through that light?” The unasked question that hung over the bridge crew’s head was is there any possibility of life in this system.

“The third planet in A could be terraformed eventually. Of the 42 moons in the A component none of them are good either are any of the other planets. In the B component, B 2 is the best candidate for terraforming in the system. Also with 20 moons, 17 of them in B 7 alone, and the asteroids there is probably decent mineral wealth here. With the large amount of gas giants in the system there is probably a lot of Sorium to be collected. But beyond that I don’t think we have to worry about alien life in WX Ursae Majoris.”

O’Brian nodded and thought for a moment. “Good, make sure your report reflects everything you told me. We would hate if the Commander missed something when she comes on duty. Helm, take us out of this system.”

There was a lot to think about. So far they had gone to DX Cancri, which had a possibility of life that didn’t pan out, Giclas 9-38 which had no good terraforming targets, Luyten’s Star which had a tidally locked cold terrestrial planet that couldn’t hold life, and now there was WX Ursae Majoris which didn’t have anything. When they had started he, and a lot of the crew to be fair, had romanticized themselves as the new Lewis and Clark expedition. Sure they didn't expect to find a new species in every system but they had just finished exploring the fourth dead system in a row. Maybe it was just luck that the Bilos Conglomerate lived so close to Sol, neighbors really. Maybe most systems were empty after all. Or maybe Sol and Alpha Centauri were the only systems in the entire cosmos that held lift. That last choice sounded unlikely but how would he know any different until they had found more species? They had five more jump points to check and one of them could very well be brimming with life.


January 2051
Ex Enterprise, Wolf 359

Merry was fuming. To say she was pissed off was an understatement. She was the commander of the task group who had done the most for humanity in its entire history. She was one of two officers who held the First Contact Medal. She just spent Christmas in Bernard’s Star orbiting a dwarf planet that is the best terraforming candidate outside of Sol, sure it was tidally locked and therefore would probably never get terraforming ships but still. She spent the New Year’s in Ross 128, a system with a lot of rocks and that’s about it. Now with her check in with Naval Command she learns that thirteen officers got a promotion. THIRTEEN. And she was not one of them. Sure Yvonne Dreger, the Head of Fleet Logistics should get Captaincy, but the commander of the Brighton, a destroyer, should get a promotion when all he had done was fleet training? Its like Naval Command was punishing her. Sending her to the most far flung places they could imagine wasn’t good enough. Now she has to watch others get promoted above her.

She looked up when she heard a knock on her door. “Come.”

Fred walked in smiling weakly at her before sitting down in one of the few empty spaces in her office. “So how are you taking it?”

She didn’t have to ask what he meant. Of course he had already seen the promotion report. Her smile was sharp as could be and dripping with sarcasm, “Just peachy. I love it when destroyer commanders get promoted over people who actually do anything for Earth.”

“I figured that was how you were taking it. If it makes you feel any better we are the two most senior Commanders in the Navy. So we should get Captain next round of promotions.” He wasn’t taking it too bad, or at least he wasn’t showing it. “Or maybe they are just waiting until we get back to Earth before promoting us.”

“You know this isn’t helping. But then again I am sure you know nothing will help right now. How many more systems do we have before we can end this tour?” She wouldn’t admit that his words had softened her anger quite a bit. She couldn’t let go of it, not yet.

He nodded and the air of friend was dropped and replaced by an XO talking to his Commanding Officer, “We have two jump points left. At a guess I would say they are red dwarfs of some kind. At least once of them will probably be a sixth of the mass of the sun and one two hundredth of the brightness either that or two fifths the mass and three percent of the brightness. Just a guess but I’d put money on it.”

Merry laughed at that. “Well odds would be something like three to one at best on such a safe bet. If I were you I’d bet that one of them was a quarter of the size of the sun and one percent of its brightness. But the red dwarf bet would be even money. Every star in this tour has been a red dwarf.”
 

Offline Sematary (OP)

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Re: The Republic of Earth
« Reply #31 on: January 09, 2014, 04:21:46 PM »
Due to several bugs I have run into recently I am going to call an end to this until 6.4 comes out. However in the meantime I am starting an Astra Imperia AAR here.