They all stood up and looked around the landing zone. The fire from the ship's nozzle had melted the cold ice, walking on such a surface was only possible on all fours. "Dylan, find a suitable rock and crumble it around the ship or we won't be able to get any further than the ship with all our gear." said Gordon "Yeah no problem" replied Dylan fumbling for his plasma gun in his holster. "I always get the best job." he continued, sliding towards the nearest clump. "Mateo, sort out the gangway, we'll need it later." Gordon said and Mateo nodded silently. "Everyone else, let's get back on board, we need to get all the gear and our rover ready for the trip." said Gordon pointing his hand in the direction of the ship.
Climbing aboard, they got down to business, beginning to prepare the scientific equipment needed to further gather information about the planet, its tectonic activity and atmosphere. "So, shall we start by looking for debris?" clarified Alice. Gordon shook his head negatively "We won't have time for that later. Let's set up the equipment now so we can concentrate on the main thing afterwards. Dylan, how about you help install the wheels on the rover" they installed the wheels using a special device as one wheel weighed about the weight of several people. Gordon inspected the rover for any faults but externally everything appeared to be fine. "I suppose we could use this" said Gordon, to a container lying nearby. Gordon noticed that this rover had external antennas, which would allow them to contact Kadesh or Hyperion at almost any time. "Indeed, I missed that part." nodded Gordon and they fitted them together on the outer panel as they were quite heavy, but compact, thanks to telescopic design.
The team prepared the rover and all the equipment they had loaded aboard the Alexandria, everything seemed to be ready for the journey. Everyone climbed aboard the rover, keeping a close eye on its condition, as it would be their shelter for the next few days, in the vast expanse of the frozen world. "Alice, is everything all right?" said Gordon. Alice nodded affirmatively "I've activated all the equipment and activated the solid fuel so I don't have to freeze my hands in place." there was a look of displeasure on her face "I'll have to fiddle with the seismic station though, it will need to be drilled a few metres to get enough anchorage in the ground." Gordon nodded in the affirmative and said "Well, is everyone ready?" The crew reported affirmatively that all systems were in order. Gordon pressed the rover's console, which was also synchronised with the Alexandria's board, the cargo bay opened and the ponderous rover rolled out silently to the surface.
The rover headed north-west, bypassing the mountain range. The distance between the landing zone and the site for the weather stations was several kilometres in a straight line, but due to the difficult terrain the team had to take a detour through gorges and crevasses, guided by maps drawn up by the observatory aboard the Kadesh Orbital City. Vehicle climbed a gradually rising gradient that gradually transitioned into a gorge between mountains.
"The wind is picking up," remarked Mateo, not paying attention to the instruments. Gordon nodded "According to the map, we're moving into a gorge between two ridges, we can expect wind gusts of up to 40 meters per second." The Rover passed the point of ascent and the wind increased manifold. Given its mass and low profile this was not a major hazard, but it did get on the team's nerves. They were almost through the gorge, opening up a new vista, and in the distance they could already see the plain, the site of the meteorological equipment. Gordon turned slightly to the left, straightening the course to the arrival point. And at that moment the wind, which was smoothed by the rover's aerodynamics, began to pull into the gorge. The wheels of the rover, covered in spikes, clung to the ice like a cat trying to get a grip. Alice shrieked, everyone clung to their seats. Mateo immediately realised what the matter was, "Turn right!" Gordon nodded without distraction fighting the gusts of wind. He returned to the original direction of the rover and the wind was like a satiated predator lost interest in the prey and let them go. Dylan looked at the camera output display "Any more and we'd have been swept into a crevasse of no doubt of discernible depth" he said taking a deep breath. Herald turned pale "That's how heroes pass away, and I still haven't finished my Sabre" Mateo patted him on the shoulder "That's not even a risky. But when I was about to pass away from lack of oxygen, that's what I saw..." Alice cut off with feigned anger, though she herself was trembling inside "Everyone is alive and well, stop talking like that!". Gordon, not paying attention to the conversations drove the rover, they had already almost arrived at their desired destination.
The team stopped in the middle of a barren field covered by minor rocks. Unlike other places, this location was not chained by ice. Gordon looked around and walked around the console to set the rover to park and switched on the sensors. "Okay, what have we got here? Radiation is normal, wind ten meters per second. Temperature minus 126 degrees. Well, this planet can surprise you with worse weather" Alice looked exhausted, but still smiled back "Let's not brag, dear. You almost got us killed on the way here." Gordon spread his hands and said in a soothing tone "I was driving a rover, not a car on the highway on Erie. Let's make this quick. We need to unload the two modules and get back to Alexandria."
Dylan took control of the support crane beam, Herald hooked the first module onto the hook, preparing it for shipment. Alice and Gordon stepped outside the rover to look around. Alice activated the sensors by pressing a panel on the sleeve of her spacesuit "The location is perfect. The modules will be secure, and the data will be most accurate here, considering the tectonic plates are colliding beneath us." Gordon nodded in agreement "And the winds aren't as blowing strong here. They might even have time to run on solar panels when the solid fuel runs out" he waved his hand in the direction of the rover for Mateo to open the cargo hold. "Well what's he fallen asleep in there or something?" The cargo hold door reluctantly began to release, it felt like it was being lowered more by gravity. Dylan, operating the crane pulled out the telescopic crane arm and unloaded both modules, Alice and Gordon walked around them and additionally drilled and set anchors and stretched cables to ensure a secure grip in case of a big storm. "Alice, switch on the rigs and run back." said Gordon, gathering all the equipment. She nodded and switched on the modules through the console. They hummed and began to unfold - various sensors and antennas came out, the rig started working. Alice glanced at the statuses of all the systems and lowered her hand "Everything's fine" Gordon nodded his head "Let's go back, we'll observe their work while we're there, before it reaches first signals to Kadesh Orbital City. After us I doubt anyone will come down here." They entered through the cargo bay of the rover and tried to close it, but the door wouldn't budge on command.
The team inspected the mechanisms for damage and malfunction but all appeared to be in order. Dylan examined the hydraulic cylinders and noticed that the reinforced hoses had lost their shape. He waved to the others "I think I've found the fault. The hydraulics are frozen." Gordon's mind went blank at this news "How could they not get the rover ready to go into the frozen world? Although, we have missed that point too." Mateo sighed and said "Perhaps a separate circuit is responsible for the door hydraulics." Gordon nodded "We have suitable hydraulic fluid on board, let's temporarily connect the new hoses to the pump directly. Once we can close the doors we'll fix it properly." The team set to work and connected the pump directly to the cylinders, which took quite a long time considering the nature of the work at this temperature. But the effort was not in vain. As Dylan shook the fluid and warmed the cylinders with the torch, Gordon switched on the pump and the door rose smoothly into the flaps, the rover was ready to move on.
They drove back as carefully as possible, already anticipating the problem areas, everyone was tired so they drove in silence consumed by their own thoughts. When they were almost to Alexandria, Gordon said in a cheerful tone, hiding his fatigue, "All aboard the ship." Gerald replied sleepily "What, I thought we are going to the first Generator possible wreck site?" Gordon parried "I need everyone on alert, not the sleepy realm. There's no need to run amok right now. Today’s accident had shown, we should be prepared for everything." Gordon stopped the rover, about to stop it next to the ship "You know what, let's better get into the ship. Before we leave we'll check all the systems some more and fix the rover's malfunction" Mateo yawned and agreed "Indeed, it's about time to hit the bed. To be frank I’m quite exhausted." The Alexandria hangar opened and the rover slipped inside. Gordon was trying to collect all the puzzles into the whole, as it still seemed unclear what location they should have to pick up first to arrive. Not all the points could be reached by rover, the biggest generator wreck sites would have to be traveled on foot, so most of the climbing equipment would be needed. The crew left and silently went to their quarters, Alice and Gordon were left alone. Alice stepped towards him and asked "What's eating you?" Gordon turned to her and put his arm around her waist and prevaricate from the answer "It doesn't matter, the important thing is that we are together. Let's go to the cabin, we need full strength and good spirits for tomorrow" said Gordon and winked.
They have prepared the rover for the longer journey by loading all the necessary mountaineering equipment, provisions and oxygen. Although the air on Palmyra in theory can be breathable after terraforming processes, the planet's complicated location between the great powers makes it unlikely at best. Due to low air density of the air and temperatures the team is still tied up to spacesuits just like in space.
Mateo and Gordon were in Alexandria's briefing room plotting the way forward through the gorges "We'll go west across the plain to the point closest to us" Gordon said and drew a visual line to the point "Then we'll explore the terrain, if we find the necessary data storages it will be an easy walk." he shrugged "But if there's nothing of interest there other than burnt remains which I don't rule out we'll proceed to one of the main accumulation points labelled SITE B." Mateo looked at the path and summarized "Quite reasonable, though we'll have to increase the route many times over. No point in taking any more risks." Gordon nodded "Let's hope that's where our target will be waiting" then his voice trembled slightly "If we don't find what we're looking for, then the last section is SITE A. Even though we have all the equipment, I have the least desire to go there on foot." They outlined the next steps and the rest of the team joined them, all ready for the final part of their planetary mission.
The next day they prepared the rover for the longer journey by loading all the necessary mountaineering equipment, provisions and oxygen. Although the air on Palmyra in theory can be breathable after terraforming Everyone boarded the rover and took their seats. After resting and completing their first mission, the team's spirits were high. Well, thought Gordon, at least the first part of our mission had been successful and we had not fallen foul of Christian. What remained was to find or at least visit the main points of the generator's remains. It was hard to say that anything there could have survived the explosion and the fall to the planet. He had a feeling they were stuck here and were just going through the motions, but a job was a job.
The rover dived into the snow bank, scattering snow in its path. This time they traveled west, to the very base of the mountain. Tadmura grew closer with each kilometer, impressing the travelers with its outstanding size and beauty compared to the surrounding mountains. Gordon carefully drove the car following the points previously laid out with Mateo. Dylan shouted "Look!" just to the right of the travelers an avalanche rolled down the mountain, raising a white veil for hundreds of meters in the surrounding area. Alice commented anxiously, "Careful, dear. The slower we go, the less chance of something like this hitting us." Gordon nodded automatically, not paying attention to his surroundings. "We'll be there soon, here, look - " he nodded at the display, with the route laid out. The rover climbed gradually, taking the difficult terrain route. He was tossed from side to side now and then, the terrain getting more difficult, but so far he was doing fine. The rover came to an almost sheer cliff, at the foot of which nothing but snow could be seen "It must be around here somewhere" said Gordon. He stopped the rover turning slightly to the right and drove off into the distance, given the amount of snow on the peaks you have to be prudent.
They walked to the airlock, checked their spacesuits and tied rope around the carbines of their suits. Given the gusting winds overboard and the blizzard it would be difficult to find a man in there if any of the crew got lost in space. "Let's make this quick." The wind swept across the space, the white shroud like white noise made indistinguishable silhouettes more than 1 meter away. "Spread out. Switch on dosimeters and metal detectors, we're only looking for something really big, anything small should be fried in the atmosphere by now and of no value to us." The team spread out and went forward. The wind was picking up as if the weather was against their search. Gerald shouted out to the others "I've got something, appears to be part of the fuselage, scanner shows elevated amounts of iridium and titanium, dosimeter scale is spiking" the team gathered around the point and began digging with shovels and by hand, exposing the metal debris. Gordon studied the outside and said bitterly “Badluck. This part must have been previously located near the reactor, the dosimeter is off the scale here and there's no electrical equipment." Alice glanced around and whispered "Damn, we're not going to find anything here." Gordon climbed out of the hole they had dug "And apparently we won't. We walk back to the cliff and come back." They walked through and found nothing of note except a burnt rock with a gouge - the shard had hit the mountain hard before being buried in the snow forever.
"Nothing," Alice said in syllables. Mateo Dylan and Gordon had already turned round and strode in direction of the rover, and Gordon was thoughtfully examining the evidence of the accident. "Come on, darling. What are you standing up like a stiff?" she continued. Gordon shook his head as if shaking the snow off his helmet "Sorry, I was thinking. Time to move on." they proceeded back to the rover, hoping to find the one they were looking for at the next point. The wind continued to be fierce and then they heard a rumble coming from the top of the mountain. An avalanche was coming down in their direction.
Gordon and Alice ran in the direction of the rover, the white veil was thickening and Gordon could see nothing ahead. Alice stumbled and fell, shrieking "Gordon!", he did not hesitate and unhooked the carbine from the rest of the team, helped her to get up and quickly ran in the direction of the rover. The rumbling increased, the ground seemed to shake "Where are you guys?!" shouted Gordon desperately over the radio, having lost his bearings. A moment later he saw a faint glow "We're moving up the rover in your direction, jump in!" said Mateo on the radio. Alice and Gordon ran towards the light and in 2 meters jumped into the rover. Dylan closed the door and the car sped away. It seemed that the rover would be torn apart, the surface of the area was not favourable for fast driving. Mateo steered the rover higher up the slope, trying to miss the impact of the snow wave.
Gordon looked around not believing his eyes, they had escaped the inevitable "I don't think I'll ever set foot on this planet again" he said "You're damn right" remarked Mateo "They should give us a threefold raise after all this, nobody said the planet would try to kill us" Gordon grinned and said "I had a bad feeling about it, so did e Alice. Let's hope it's all behind us now. How are we doing on the route, are we on track?" Mateo nodded affirmatively, inviting me to read the information on the display "Oh, right on track. We're lucky."
Moving further towards one of the main generator crash points, the team steadily climbed upwards and had already passed the thick clouds, presenting a dazzling view of the Tadmura tops, the light reflecting off the surface of the snow dazzled the travelers.
Mateo continued to drive the rover, Gordon helping him navigate. After a few kilometers they were almost at the point, the team saw the wreckage of a generator that rose several stories above the snow "What a huge thing" remarked Alice, Gordon tried to see the outline, identifying which part of the generator was in front of them "It's hard to tell what it is exactly. Mateo, park nearby and let's go check it out."
They left the rover and walked in the direction, looking around and scanning the space around them. Finding nothing that could be useful they approached the generator hulk "There's a corridor just above me, I think." Gordon chimed in. Alice stepped closer "Push me over there, I'll try to get in there. With your build you probably won't fit through there" she remarked. Gordon gave her a push, himself continuing to look round the hulk of the generator. "It's all burnt, we won't find anything on the outside." Alice, creeping further down the burnt corridor, saw half the door open. With difficulty, but she managed to push its flap inside the wall. Distinctly it was formerly a technical room, something like an emergency control panel, but now it was a mess of junk, wires, and microcircuits burnt up in unremarkable mess. Amongst the mess, she found some sort of media and went back inside, carefully jumping down "I found something. Some kind of data storage." Gordon ran up and inspected them "No visible damage... Good job, let's try to hook them up to the rover." The team wandered around some more and after finding nothing worthwhile returned to the rover.
Gordon impatiently went to the power stand and plugged them into the internal mains. "Well let's see what we've got here. Expectedly, it's all encrypted." Gordon applied the key that had been given to him earlier and went through the contents of the drives "Technical records of equipment statuses..." he said frustrated. "Well that leaves one last point. Although this data can be useful for the scientists too." he looked at Mateo "But it's just the two of us going there. It's too dangerous to leave the rover, and there will be a dangerous road further on" Alice objected "You are missing the most point, dear. I'm not leaving you behind."
Gordon, Alice and Mateo were packing their gear, preparing for the sortie to the last incident point. There was a working atmosphere in the rover. Although this was their first experience landing on previously uncharted planets, but given their experience in rock climbing and modern equipment, the new conditions shouldn't have affected the travelers much. "Gerald, you're in charge." Gordon said, "Try to keep the rover in one piece until we get there." Dylan grimaced, he wasn't happy with the arrangement "Can I come with you?" Gerald shook his head negatively and put a hand on his shoulder "If I could say no Alice, but you know her. She's afraid, but she climbs into the fray. We can't leave one person behind, you know the regulations. Those are set in stone." Gerald nodded "Fair enough, you have more climbing experience than me and Dylan" Gordon grinned, Gerald as always tried to appear older and more experienced than he was "I'm only 20 years older than you, it'll be your finest hour" Gerald laughed "All right, well, don't leave us too long, okay?". The team packed up their gear and headed off on foot towards site A.
They came to an almost sheer cliff, Gordon looked at the display on his wrist, "It's time to reminisce" he selected the point needed to secure the anchor and switched the display off. "It's easier now than it used to be" remarked Alice "That's right, blindly searching for the anchor point was a lot of fun" replied Gordon, pulling out a device behind his back, something between a shotgun and a tube. He pointed the device upwards and pulled the trigger. A bright flash illuminated the space and the hook drill swung into its target, unravelling the high-strength rope. Gordon raised his hand and switched on the display, to see how it went "Alright, the bird's in the nest. I'll go first. As I ascend, I'll fix the safety role and let you know." Gordon took the rope and threaded it through the special device on his belt and making sure it was in working order switched it on, the device buzzed and he began to gradually climb to the top.
When he reached the top he drilled an additional hole and threw the rope down "Look out, I'm lowering the rope!" he shouted over the radio. As he waited for his travelers, he checked the map once more. They still had three more of these climbs to go, but first they had a few kilometers to go. Climbing up, the team moved on, gradually getting closer to their goal.
On the last climb Gordon was looking apprehensively at the lifting mechanism, the sharp and gusty wind did not bode well and Gordon was ready to switch to manual mode. But the machine did the job, he drilled the extra hole again and waited for his travelers. They were almost there, they had only to pass the hillside and they should be there. Gordon helped Mateo and Alice to get up and they moved forward, looking round by habit.
Finally they approached site A, and the wreckage was clearly visible. Unlike even site B, it was a huge chunk of generator that they needed to examine. "Well if we don't have any luck here, I don't know what might help us." Alice said as she scanned the remains "From indirect indications nothing inside was burned on re-entry, let's go have a look." The team followed ahead and spread out around the remains. From the first sign there was no way to tell if there was any kind of entrance "There's nothing, maybe we should try sawing it open?" said Gordon, Mateo disagreed "with our inventory it would take too long, don't forget we're limited on oxygen..." Alice interrupted them "Guys, I can try to get into this hole, it looks like a vent." they took a closer look at the place "Well, give it a try. Just don't risk it if it's too small and don't try to go any further in or we won't get you out." she nodded "No worries." Alice squeezed inside and crawled to the nearest exit. She kicked the net and jumped to the floor. Looking around, she realised that all the rooms here looked the same - a mishmash of rubbish. Shining her torch, she walked around and noticed a rack piled with debris from wiring and cladding panels. Examining it, she retrieved the drives and carefully connected them to the tablet. Entering the decryption key she ran her eyes over the data "Gordon, I think we found what we were looking for. I'm transferring to you the data now" Gordon stood up as if in a daze, not believing that everything was behind him if Alice was right. He looked at the information from Alice "Okay... I see the coordinates that were put into the generator and... Logs of all the subsystems... You're my good girl, get out of this rubbish, I'm going to kiss you!" Gordon high-fived Mateo, Alice snuck backwards and jumped off the ruined generator. Gordon picked her up in his arms and spun her around, to Mateo's approving cheers. Mission accomplished and it was time for the team to go home.
They made their way back down to the rover without incident, and shared their news with Gerald and Dylan. Confused, they looked at Gordon questioningly "What are you looking at me for? Send a data message to Hyperion via Alexandria’s relay" they nodded and departed, setting up the equipment to signal. In the meantime went to check all the information from the storage capacitors "Maybe there is something else there that will be useful to the scientists" they decoded the data and sent all the information they found to Hyperion. As they moved back to Alexandria and pulled in, Gordon looked back at the frozen bizarre world that was as beautiful as it was deadly.
"Well it's time to move out" said Gordon as he sat down at the captain's chair, switching on all the ship's systems. Waiting for the engines to warm up and leave this world "What do you think of our journey?" everyone remained silent, but Alice answered for the others "Honey, you're probably the only one who likes winter extreme sports.". Alexandria took off gently, gradually rising above the ground and increasing her speed. Soon Tadmura and the entire mountainous landscape of Palmyra was hidden behind fluffy clouds as if nothing had ever happened.
"Alexandria to Hyperion, we are requesting permission to dock" said Gordon putting the transport into orbit to Hyperion. "Alexandria, we have no docking permission listed for your vessel. Clarify your route?" replied the control room "Unscheduled visit from the surface of the Palmyra" replied Gordon, barely containing his emotions. Some confusion was heard and another dispatcher replied "Alexandria, yes, we've been expecting you. Excuse our confusion. Docking Gateway 3Z, please." Gordon engaged the autopilot for docking to the airlock and was about to get up from the captain's chair when a hologram of Christian appeared on the panel "You did a great job. Thank you for setting up the weather stations at the foot of Tadmura. Perhaps this will be the first step in building an underground Orontes settlement" he said. Gordon saluted his old friend "In glory of the Phoenix!" Christian smiled "Let's have no formal honours. You have earned your rest, your quarters await you on board. I will also have a job for you, but this time more in your specialty. When you're settled in, come to the bridge to discuss the matter." Gordon nodded and the hologram went out, the crew looked at each other. Alice exhaled and said "Anyway, I don't think he's come up with anything more extreme than he already has?" but the question remained unanswered.
The Alexandria docked with the battleship and the crew boarded it, walking down countless long corridors and decks towards the living section. They was tired, they needed rest after all they had been through, but the feeling of uncertainty knocked Gordon out of his sleepy thoughts and was already attuned for further plans, a sense of curiosity was burning his mind.
Gordon opened his eyes abruptly, his pulse racing. He thought he'd overslept his alarm, but the alarm hadn't been set and he had no pressing matters to attend to. He'd lost track of time, a fairly common syndrome on spaceships and stations, but he still tried to close his eyes and sleep, though all sleep was gone. He opened his eyes and looked at his watch, stretching and chasing away the remnants of dreams. Gordon sat on the edge of the bed rubbing his face. Well, he thought, eight hours of healthy sleep, and the habit he had developed doesn't allow any more. Alice started fidgeting in the bed, apparently Gordon had woken her up. Which was quite surprising, given his periodic dithyrambs of snoring, which many could appreciate with him. He tiptoed toward the shower, business calling. He took it quickly and donned the standard dark grey clothing with the Phoenix worker's emblem on Hyperion that would be equivalent to the rank of sergeant in the army, if those ranks were applicable here. He cleaned himself up, shaved and scrubbed himself diligently backwards and carefully slammed the door to his quarters.
Gordon walked at a leisurely pace to the bridge, slowly coming to his senses. He stepped out of the elevator and walked down the last wide corridor, which gradually widened from the manual control areas of the Hyperion's subsystems to the main room, which was more like a concert hall in size, filled with various equipment. The room had a near 360 degree display that filled the room with purple ambient light overlooking Palmyra. In the middle stood Christian and was talking to someone on the comms. Christian noticed him and ended the conversation and beckoned him over with an inviting gesture.
They shook hands firmly in greeting "Good to see you rested" Christian said, inviting Gordon to sit down at the seat "As soon as you sent the information our scientists began to analyze it immediately." he continued and Gordon looked on with a questioning look. "Ah yes, I completely forgot to fill you in on further plans. The information that is now available to us has allowed us to understand the cause of the generator's unstable operation, which eventually led to the explosion. Our engineers pre-built the jump generator itself, and now with the information from the first prototype, have stabilized its operation by understanding what led to its destructive stabilization." Gordon nodded affirmatively, realizing where Christian was going with this "And how can my Apamea team be of any use?" Christian walked over to a panel and pressed a few keys on it, a hologram of containers appeared in front of him "As promised, this time I will need help closer to your normal work. These containers contain everything you need for Vega - mobile atomic generators and a new type of jump generator, an identical module to the Hyperion recently installed. We're going to jump on Hyperion at the coordinates of an automated SOS buoy calculated by our scientists. Your job will be to transport these containers from Hyperion to Vega. And to help their crew as much as you can with the hookup, since they're supposed to have a problem with the propulsion and or powerplant system." Gordon felt a little silly but wanted to make a remark "But none of us are good at engineering, especially on a ship like the Vega" Christian looked at him reassuringly "Don't worry, you won't be alone out there. There are people there who will take over the technical part, but the ship may not be fully functional. Several other ships will also be traveling with you to dock with Vega. We can't say for sure if her crew is alive, but as they say prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Gordon nodded slightly, imagining what horrors Vega's crew might have endured and if they had survived at all. "As I understand it, the Hyperion is jumping alongside the moored ships. Are we also still working on Alexandria? Well the most important question for me when do we move out?" asked Gordon. Christian walked over to the panels that were still showing the containers, made a few gestures and pressed a key, a schematic of the Vega's compartments and rooms appeared in their place "I've sent the Vega's schematic to your quarters. It is slightly different in the living section, as these are Gas Miners Guild blueprints they provided us with earlier. Study them while you have some free time, you'll need it. We're in the process of getting Hyperion ready for the first jump, so you've got a couple days." Gordon nodded, stretched without hiding a yawn "Will do, Chris. Then off I go to do the team briefing. Or anything else?" Christian waved his hand and the hologram disappeared, he turned to face him "Yeah that's it, can you..." a bell rang, another transmission for Christian to answer. Gordon nodded silently and headed back to his own, Christian had a tight schedule as he preferred to keep all major Phoenix matters under his personal control.
A siren wailed signalling the Hyperion's preparation for hyperjump. Though it had little to do with Gordon and his crew, they secured themselves securely into their chairs with the four-point harness in their quarters. "I'm so worried" said Alice, squeezing into her chair. Gordon smiled and put his hand on her knee "Don't worry, it's practically no different than jumping through a wormhole." she looked at him incredulously "Have you forgotten how we walked around Palmyra looking for the remains of that generator? The technology is too new... We should have waited and done more trial runs." Gordon smirked, Alice was being cautious as always, but now it wasn't appropriate. "The scientists have calculated everything and found the cause of the malfunction, don't worry dear." the siren made one last shrill sound and fell silent. It was as if a growing noise came from far away and the vibration increased with each second and suddenly stopped. Gordon nodded "Entering hyperspace, we'll be there soon. Let me turn on the external cameras, let's see what's overboard" Gordon said, raised his hand and made a few taps on his bracelet. The room was filled with a bizarre glow of blue and white streaks cutting through the black space. Suddenly, the vibration increased and silence filled the cabin. Green light filled the entire space, the gas giant Tirane seemed to splash in the sun's rays, a bizarre gleam at the top of its atmosphere. Gordon couldn't confuse the sight with anything. They were back in Omicron 74, once homeworld to most of us in the Phoenix.
The corridors came alive outside the door, people began to leave their quarters and began their duties. Gordon turned on his team's internal comms and said "Meet me at the residential bay exit in ten minutes."
The crew gathered at the site Gordon looked at them paternally admiring them, all dressed to the nines like a parade "Well, the job calls. Let's go to airlock 3Z, I'll give you the brief details." Mateo, Dylan and Gerald were looking at Gordon attentively, Alice was walking ahead, whistling a tune, as she already knew all the details beforehand. Dylan noticed this and asked "Judging by Alice, we don't have a walk in minus 140 planned for today. Is that correct?" Gordon smirked "How observant you are! Well, you know the general outline of the mission, but the details... We're moving out with the other armoured transports, Giza and Sakkara. Giza will lead us, as she has advanced sensors, so it won't be hard for her to find Vega. Then we will moor to the ship and provide as much help as we can on the spot, and then act according to the situation. Is that clear? " All seem to be agreed. After reaching the airlock they put on their spacesuits and boarded the Alexandria. The cargo was already loaded and the ship was waiting for the launch command from Giza.
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