Solar Warden, Jakob Waechter [book club suggestions .TXT] 📗

to turn off the hyperdrive field which holds the ship in hyperspace dimension. Using the window method would just cost too much energy and time.

“Send the stealth probes into orbit and recover the others,” Fisher ordered.

Two stealth probes moved away from the ship into a position where they could spot the planet. Finally, they were on the opposite site of the moon to each other which gave a better option for scanning methods.

“No signals from the planet and no unusual visuals for now,” the sensor officer informed.

“We wait for the result of the deeper scanning then we hyperjump near to the planet.” Captain Fisher saw no threat to wait one turn of the planet.

“That maneuver we should avoid on our next destination. Sure the stealth probes have a high resolution and in this case with the small moon we are much closer. But to be sure we should after the deep scan send stealth probes to the planet if he is in a habitable zone. This cost much more time but let at least the ship stay hidden. Also we have to check our sensor ability to spot the stealth probes while they work,” Newman suggested.

“Good idea. This will cost some time but has its value,” the Captain replied. He looked at the shuttle status.

“OK, send the shuttle down to the moon. They should take probes and then wait there till we contact them,” he ordered, then continued. “Ryan, Newman get ready for your first trip to a planet.”

“Affirmative,” Ryan replied and both saluted. Then went down to the lockers.

“Deeper scan done. Nothing unusual found. The shuttle is closing in on the moon,” the sensor officer notified.

“Good. Helm jump to the planet,” Fisher ordered.

The ship nearly instantly vanished. Then they navigated to their destination using the gravity feedback of the hyperdrive system. Again two sensor probes were dropped through the hyperspace window and finally the Icarus appeared.

“Send three stealth probes into the orbit. Retrieve the scout probes. Then send the rest of the teams to the planets. Clark scan for our stealth probes on the moon,” the Captain ordered. Then he followed the start of the probes and the shuttles.

“Scans done. Nothing found,” Clark the sensor officer reported.

“Helm, prepare to jump back to the moon. Communication ask the team if they are done taking probes. I want to jump back when they are inside the shuttle. They should wait there until our scans are done.” Fisher commanded.

“They need 15 minutes. They will inform us when they are inside,” the communication officer replied.

“Clark prepare an extra scan if we can't detect them on our first run,” Fischer added.

“I will use the 270 second sweep Newman advised but with active methods,” Clark replied.

“Best we use for this the passive first, then the fast active and add 270 active then. I think time does not matter here but we have to compare the efficiency. Let also the shuttle and stealth probes scan for our activities.” Fisher wanted data that later could be analyzed in details.

“To patch resolution up I need to use 400 percent of the time so we are scanning about 20 minutes,” Clark suggested.

“Good. Prepare it.” Fisher was fine with that.

“I'm on it,” Clark confirmed.

14 minutes later a communication from the moon shuttle went in.

“They are entering the shuttle now and will be through the airlock in less than a minute,” the communication officer informed.

“Clark ready?” The captain looked to him.

“Yes, sir,” he confirmed.

“Good. Helm execute jump,” the order followed.

“Switching to hyperspace,” came the reply and the stars vanished. After a short travel they started to scan. Even the first passive scan did locate the shuttle by its heat signature. But they continued the full procedure for later analysis.

Then they entered the normal space. The Captain ordered the shuttle back. After landing of the shuttle they jumped back near the planet and entered orbit while the other shuttles came back.

The cleaning procedures of the crews and the shuttles took quite some time. It was useful for the new ones to get common with it. Also a quarantine with medical screening was part of the procedure. Then after three days the SW teams could go back to their normal quarters.

SW-5 were in the cantina. It was a place for about 100 people. With the shifts I was not too crowded. The drinks were in a special cup in a case of zero gravity.

“I read a bit in the archive about the hyperdrive. There is mentioned that Einstein coincidently had discovered some effects of it. Does that mean we had the theory centuries ago and could not develop the technology by ourselves?” Samuel asked.

“No, he had done some experiments which finally went into a disaster. Because of that the experiments were stopped and he could not complete the theory or find out what exactly went wrong,” Newman replied.

“You mean the Philadelphia Experiment?” Samuel asked.

“The Philadelphia Experiment is a perfect example how effective our secrecy machinery does cover-up. The experiment had the name Project Invisibility. It was tested at sea with different ships as the rumors tell. But the outcome was unexpected deadly for the crew. Later on as there were tests in the late 90th with the retrieved systems of a shot down alien ship. They discovered similarities to the experiment of Einstein. But the data from that time was nearly useless. We had a not completed theory that was not for hyperspace travel and no measurements like we do it today. So we are still working to complete the theory to fully understand the hyperdrive system. I worked there only short time in the last years, but this gave me at list the needed knowledge to be able to continue,” Newman explained.

“You mean with similarities people died again while testing it?” Samuel asked.

“No, we are in the age of drones and do now more careful testing. But as they tested the drone in the Moon orbit the animals were also found in the walls while other stuff was damaged. Later they figured out they turned off a safety function of this drive. This means jumping close to the gravity field of a bigger mass is something what you should avoid. It seems there are some strange effects we do not understand yet. So Einstein would never have had the chance of a success on Earth. However, the invisibility they witnessed was probably a jump into hyperspace and back,” Newman pointed further out.

“So all this secrecy let to not fully discover the secrets of hyperspace?” Samuel asked.

“Well, it’s not the secrecy only. It cost a lot of money to conduct experiments and the according research. So by the happened disaster also the funding was gone. I guess, without that there is nearly no progress possible. But that was long ago. No one knows what happened exactly anymore,” Newman added.

The SW-6 team was joining them on the bigger table.

“This means without the captured hyperdrive we had nothing then a lousy warp drive theory?” Samuel asked.

“Maybe in 100 years or more someone would have come up with this by our technology advances. The current projects have just a different more reachable focus. That is where you get money for. Exotic stuff has nearly no chance of funding. So we had luck to retrieve this and still problems with the needed funding.” Newman added.

“Funding, hyperdrive. Guys, we are traveling to a star system, get paid for it and have to deal with what we encounter. Do you think we have time to polish our hyperdrive?” Green one of the others said.

“So what do you expect?” Kelsey asked.

“That is the big question. We are on the hunt. Knowing the bug like Gray are hiding somewhere on our journey. A planet full of bugs creeping and crawling through a jungle ready to jump on us,” Green told.

“Delicious and you will be the first we throw in,” Ryan replied.

“That is my job now. Getting rid of the bugs. Without any flamethrower, napalm, or nukes. Curious.” Green said.

“I thought we are on a reconnaissance mission?” Samuel asked.

“Seems Green wants to interrogate the dead. Guess he needs alternative,” Kelsey said.

“That’s the problem. When I get called there are no more alternatives,” Green replied.

“Great, I let you be the first and cover your back to let you get all the fame,” Caine joined in.

“Caine, you are a true friend. But you know the one behind fall first,” Green added.

“I thought you are our free fall experts.” Owens said.

“You can bet on it when we have to save your asses,” Green confirmed proud.

“SW-6, it was an honor to meet you on table. But the peaceful 5 must go back to duty, in order to save worlds being overrun by you. Cheer up! We fight only if we need to.” Caine said and stood up.

“But don’t save too much. Some doesn’t want to be saved.” Green stood up and saluted.

SW-5 went back to work.

Newman was on the bridge again having a discussion with the Captain

“Those procedures we do take quite some time. I don't want say they are unnecessary, but might not practical in a critical situation where all help might be needed,” Newman advised.

“Yes, I know and therefore a visit to a planet is only allowed if there is no threat in sight. That might be a problem on our next star system visit. But you see we done all we could here. Took probes, analyzed our sensor efficiency, improved our proceedings and even used our stealth probes against us. So we have one-and-a-half-week time to think before we continue,” Fisher replied.

“For the computer scientists working in the quarantine station is no problem. But any other cases, where physical repairs are needed or even combat soldiers, are a problem I think,” Newman added.

“Well, in a critical situation I would suggest at least the combat suits if not the space suits. So certain quarantine is provided while moving around the ship. Sure this might reduce the speed of repairs but a critical situation also has risks of hull breaches. Also briefings can be done in the quarantine zone. So teams can go back to reinforce troops on the planet out of there,” the Captain replied.

“Good. But that should be added to the standard proceeding for such cases.” Newman had not found that in the proceedings protocols.

“Right. Any other suggestions?” Fisher asked.

“Not yet. But I hope we have some till our departure.” Newman was not fully pleased with the preparations.

“We also have the time till our arrival. From my standpoint, we are prepared enough and can decide when we have more data to think about,” the Captain showed his confidence.

“The problem is that then the data might be too much to start thinking. So we need solutions that fit for any cases that could occur.” Newman showed his perfection affinity.

“As Captain I always have to do fast decisions. That's just how it works. Sure it's good if we have a prepared solution for everything that happens to us. But there will be always something we have not thought about. So don't worry too much. We don't rush things. When we find a moon as cover we are fine. If not, we have a lot of time to think a lightyear away. The risk getting detected while approaching the moon won’t go away.” The Captain was calm and went to his nearby cup of coffee.

“Good, I focus further on the moon approach problem, sir,” Newman informed.

“I expect an improvement till we depart here,” the Captain encouraged.

“Yes, sir.” Newman saluted and left the bridge.

 

There were some improvements and finally the Icarus reached its destination. They used the faster active scan and went out of the hyperspace about a lightyear away.

This time they found a planet in the habitable zone and the needed moon. It was a G-class system, but younger as that of Earth. After two more jumps they had what they needed. A planet outside of the habitable zone with two moons. They selected one to close in then used the planet as cover to the