Chapter 4: Peltia pt. 1

A marsupial sleeps soundly with its pouched young, nestled among the branches. It is a warm moonlit summer night in the island it calls home, and the sounds of thousands of insects fills the air. For a moment, the island is covered in pitch black, and the buzzing of insects stops. The moonlight returns, and the island hums with such activity that the sound of steel slipping into the water can barely be heard.

"Submerging to ocean floor, 300 feet below sea level."

Beneath the waves, a sleek, large ship swam downward, its two engine banks at its side glowing with a subtle light. Beyond a hint of turbulence, the ship was noiseles. The ship leveled out as it approached the bottom and slowed to a stop. Anchors darted out from all along the ship and sought firm purchase in the sand.

The bridge of the ship is tiny for its size, holding only six otter-like creatures. The creature in the center stood, addressing the rest of the bridge crew. "Comms - send a message to the Amphise through subspace, confirming the arrival of the staging ship, then coordinate and relay information from upper command. Science - send out two air drones and begin imaging and surveying the vicinity. Engineering - perform final checks and prepare the child submersible in dock 12 for underwater survey immediately."

The captain gestured to the conn and security officers. "With me." The three briskly left the bridge and along hallways until they are met with a large pillar of water around eight feet in diameter, piercing through the decks of the ship and held in shape by an invisible force. The otters smoothly dove into the pillar and swam down the decks. The warm water clung to their fur as they darted out of the pillar and walked to a door labeled "Dock 12". The door smoothly opened, revealing a wall of water and a submersible held in its mooring behind it. The three otters quickly swam to the small submersible and entered through the waterlock, closing it behind them. The water inside the lock quickly drained, and the three entered the cabin. The cabin was a cramped affair - seating for three, with countless controls crammed into the consoles.

A raspy voice blares from the intercom. "Captain, the child submersible is fit for underwater survey. It is fueled for a range of 102 nautical miles. It is structurally sound for up to 850 atm. All sensors calibrated. All lights functional. Motor functional. You are cleared to embark."

"Captain speaking. Release moorings. Embarking on underwater survey." The moorings disengaged from the submersible with a hiss, and the vessel started to slowly sink. The captain pushed a button, and a hum started to emit from the back. From the outside, the submersible's engine bank started to glow, and it started to glide into the dark water ahead.

"Safe travels, Captain."

It is the seventh mission for the Amphise , star of the Peltian colonizing fleet, captained by the resilient Tal Pintar. Out of the seven colonization missions it has undertaken, five of them have been on dangerous planets that roiled with storms and had seas that boiled with the activity of frightening creatures. Under less capable hands, these missions would have been totally written off as failures. Under Tal Pintar, they have achieved modest, safe colonies that extract valuable resources buried deep under the ocean floor.

Under the standard Consortium maps, this seventh attempt is on the planet F-3102a, known by the Peltians as Arano. Fifty-eight light-years from Peltia, it is thus far the most distant colonization attempt made by the Republic's navy. Research excursions showed it to be the most promising planet for colonization ever discovered - a very calm atmosphere suitable for Peltian lungs, calm, bountiful seas, and scattered islands perfect for small colonial townships. Furthermore, its unnaturally clear skies and calm weather have fascinated Peltian scientists; a major center of climate and geophysical research is planned to be built in Arano once a colony has been established to discover the planet's secrets.

"Communication from the Captain: Staging vessel established in designated landing zone."

The bridge of the Amphise is much larger and more luxurious, with a total of twenty officers in various consoles. The bridge's viewscreen popped with activity - windows upon windows of maps and data crammed the screen. The second-in-command, Tal Rua, stood in front of her chair, adjacent to that of the Captain's, and spoke at the comms officer. "Very well. Maintain comms with the staging ship. Prepare a data packet to Peltia with our current status and all imaging and survey data, to be sent in twelve hours."

Tal Rua then turned to the engineering officer. "We will proceed with surface imaging as scheduled. Deploy imaging drones as soon as they are ready."

"They have been readied. Launching them now." The otter pressed a button in his console, and three canisters shot out from the front of the ship, in full view at the bridge's screen. "The imaging will take six hours, at most."

A chirp emitting from the screen caught Tal Rua's attention - an incoming transmission from their armed escort. "On screen."

The screen shifted from its various screens to show an otter seated in a small cockpit. "Tal Rua, a situation report. All is clear - we have performed flights around the other planets and their moons and have cleared them. There is not a ship in sight, although we detected what seem to be traces of a herd of Tiyanki as we orbited the farthest planet. We remain on patrol and will provide another situation report in two hours."

"Thank you. Dismissed." Tal Rua cut off the transmission and sank onto her chair, looking intently at the screen which has shifted back to mission control. The mission has been extremely calm so far - almost like a training exercise - but the otter restlessly shifted in her chair.

"This is going too well," she muttered. Raising her voice, she spoke to her security officer. "Security - please deploy a roaming sensor drone in a route opposite to that of our armed escort. Calibrate sensors for foreign FTL and cloaking."

"Acknowledged. Programming and deploying sensor drone." The security officer typed on her console for several minutes, then pressed a button. A small drone shot out of the ship's side and began to cruise, its sublight engine producing a barely perceptible glow before it blinked out of view.

Tal Rua switched the viewscreen to the system map, muttering. "Let's hope we do not get any surprises this time."