Orca Transport Wildering, Samael Orbit...
Dr. Hertha Stone stared at the view-screen as its image grew larger and sharper, resolving into a great round mass. Beyond the curvature of the planet sat the system’s star. Hertha had been on enough voyages in her time to know that without artificial coloration or some amount of photo doctoring space was usually rather boring to look at, but that didn’t apply here. The star appeared to have a long, spiraling tongue of plasma trailing behind it, like the tail of an enormous comet, that eventually faded into nothingness at some indeterminable point far beyond. It was a beautiful sight, a piece of artwork rendered by the hands of some deity, but it was also a herald of the destruction of the entire star system.
The nameless system was trapped in the orbit of a black hole, the singularity slowly but surely stripping the star of its mass and bringing it ever closer to the heart of darkness. It wasn’t projected to be destroyed for about another ten thousand years, and while that seemed like an ocean of time from the Alversian’s perspective, she knew that at cosmic scales it wasn’t even the blink of an eye. More pressingly, the most interesting planet in the system would be gone long before then, torn apart by tidal forces. The fact that the celestial body called Samael appeared inhabitable was one thing, but more important was that all indications were that it had once been civilized. No longer -there were no ships or signals coming from Samael- so now it was a mystery coming dangerously close to destruction.
Paging over with a flick of her finger on the tablet computer, Hertha reviewed what they knew about Samael. There wasn’t much. It had been discovered by chance when a survey scout stumbled upon it, showing a large, rocky planet orbited by a single barren moon. Scans indicated that it had high gravity and was tidally-locked, with about one half of the planet scorched by endless sunlight while the other was shrouded in eternal night, with a thin equatorial band of temperate twilight between them. What was most interesting was the ring of space trash surrounding the planet, and evidence of structures across its surface: signs of civilization.
Even now, probes released from the bays of the research ship Wildering were moving into position around Samael and its satellite for closer looks. Hertha knew they wouldn’t be as useful as they would otherwise: the combination of high gravity in the atmosphere, strong magnetic fields, and the ionic radiation from the black hole limited how far they could travel and how accurate their scans would be. Even so, it would be necessary for scientists to even know where to start. After tracking the progress of the drones for a few more moments, the woman put her tablet aside and zipped up the front of her jumpsuit, sitting up so the material fit snugly over her body. With her computer stowed she stood and stepped out of the ship’s bunk room.
A left turn took Hertha into the hallway beyond, and another left had her walking into the compartment designated as the passenger lounge. The other three members of her team were there. The white-furred, red-eyed Dr. Hisashi was leaning over orbital photographs of a crumbling cityscape, the tod’s long alabaster hair held up with a cortosis hairpin. Across from him, the much taller Dr. Alex Freeman was examining charts of atmospheric analysis, the ochre escan’s purple locks done up in an identical fashion. Both were wearing the same padded, hermetically-sealed jumpsuit as Hertha, complete with anti-gravity harnesses, utility belts, and integrated packs.
The one who stood out the most was leaning against the far bulkhead. The figure was a kitsune like Hisashi, though you couldn’t even tell that she was a vixen given the power armor she wore that covered her from the tips of her ears down to her paws. Ruka was a mercenary and their assigned guard from the bulk cruiser that was escorting the Wildering. Judging from how she was standing, Ruka was bored already. Hertha hoped that she would continue to be bored throughout the whole expedition -excitement for the ex-soldier would mean danger for the rest of them.
“Doctor,” Hisashi looked over and gave a little bow to Hertha, which she returned. The gesture of respect was hardly necessary, she’d known both him and Alex for years, but it was in recognition of the fact that she was the lead researcher on this project. Not to mention that she was older than both of them and Ruka all put together. “The Genomitans are on their way over. Their ship docked with ours so they shouldn’t be long.”
“Good,” Hertha nodded and took a deep breath. This whole venture was funded by Lune University, but since it was further subsidized by the Kitsune Empire, diplomatic interests came into play. Namely, once the data from Samael had been made public in the scientific community, the Genomitans had taken a great interest -apparently, some of the ruins on this far-flung world looked remarkably similar to their own ancient structures. Hertha had never met a Genomitan before, and as far as she knew the KEX had only passing relations with the other stellar nation, but someone in the Imperial bureaucracy had apparently decided that a joint expedition would be a great way to strengthen ties. She just hoped that diplomatic wrangling didn’t get in the way of the discoveries that lay ahead.
