Joe enjoyed my time off with a nice workout. After that she tried to relax by reading a book. After half an hour she gave up as she was unable to concentrate on it. So she headed back to the bridge to see what progress has been made in retrieving the ship and with the excavation in general.
The bridge was almost empty with the ship being in a stable orbit and the operation on the moon being coordinated by the science guys mostly from their lab. Ops was still manned by a solitary crewman and the viewscreen showed a collage of helmet-cameras from the team working on it.
So far they had managed to rig up a pulley to pull the ship out of the hangar. They where currently in the process of attaching portable anti-grav units on the ship to be able to move it easier. Two other crewmen where busy setting up a portable power relay to feed the anti-gravs with power provided by the generator in the container with the workshop. Another pair of crew where busy setting up a portable imaging arch that would be able to thoroughly scan the ship before it would be brought on board. Judging from the current status it would take them at least another hour to set the anti-gravs up and test them.
Grasping a stray thought Joe sat down on her console. Out of habit she checked it over, making sure the orbit was stable and nothing needed adjustment. That being done she pulled up the sensor data and checked the position of the other moon where they had also detected an identical radiation signature. That moon was on the other side of the gas-giant. So it would impossible to get sensor readings from it. But that would have also been true for the personal on the base. Being out of contact from time to time is not a problem, but all the time?
"Crewman, do you know where I can find the Captain?"
"Yes, she is either down in the briefing room or in the science module."
"Thanks."
Joe left the bridge and headed down to the briefing room. Finding the Captain looking at the same images from the moon below them together with Dr. Schmitz.
"Captain. I hope I'm not interrupting."
"Ms. 9. Not at all. You're off-duty as far as I recall."
"Yes, but I wanted to pitch an idea to you."
"Alright, pitch away."
"You remember how we discovered the three identical radiation sources in this system. The first was just a heavily radiated crater on a lifeless moon. The second turned out to be some base which we are currently investigating. The third."
"We completely ignored that as we found the base."
"Exactly. What I'd like to propose is to take a closer look at it while the work is conducted on the base below us."
"How do you propose to do that? I'd rather not move the ship while there's so much crew on the ground, just in case anything happens. The same reason would prevent us from using the other shuttle pod. We'd need it in case of an emergency."
"Exactly. But we do carry two probes, we could launch one of them into orbit and use it's sensors to scan the moon for signs of another base."
"But we only have two probes, that seems like quite a waste."
"It doesn't have to be. We could retrieve it once we're done here. We'd have to move into orbit over the final radiation source anyway. So we'd not loose any time with this."
"Hm, I like the idea, good work. Doctor, what do you think?"
"Intriguing. You're certain we can retrieve and reuse the probe afterwards?"
"I've already checked it. The probes are rated for long-duration missions. They are not really meant to be reusable, but we have all the resources we need to refurbish them. I don't see a problem with it."
"I really like the idea. We currently do even have the manpower to spare as the excavation of the adjacent rooms to the Hangar can't start until the ship is removed from it. That will take some time. And even after that it will take some time until we can access the rooms and start analyzing their content. How long would the probe need to get into orbit?"
"According to my calculations it would take four hours to reach Orbit by performing a slingshot around the gas-giant as the target moon is directly behind it. Say two, three hours to scan the area with the radiation and another four hours to get back to us. There is a downside."
"That would be?"
"We'd loose contact with the probe once it entered the shadow of the gas-giant. It is directly between us and the target."
"Ok, that would open another question. If there is another base on this other moon, how did they stay in contact? They'd have the same problem as us."
"Probably using relay satellites in a stationary orbit of the gas-giant. We have not seen anything so far but that doesn't mean there's nothing to see. We could also use the probe to check the polar-regions of the gas-giant during transit, which would be the most logical way to place them."
"I like it. It would save us a lot of time as. We'll be busy with the Hangar bay for a couple of days anyway."
"Alright. Can you put together a proposal and send it to me before you go and retrieve the ship?"
Joe nodded.
"Good. Thank you Ms. 9."
Joe felt a bit apprehensive launching the stripped-down Mule. Undocking and orbital insertion went as smoothly as before. After two hours of uneventful flight she parked the Mule stationary 8 meters above the retrieved ship. Slowly sinking to 5 meters Joe readied the Mule and herself.
"Mule 1 to ground crew. I'm in position. Ready to open up."
"Mule 1, we read you loud and clear. Position confirmed. Ready to proceed."
The small display was showing the ship directly below and the ground crew of two a bit of the ship. The bottom opened smoothly. Slowly the cables began to extend down to the ship.
"Deploying cables."
"Looking good so far. Proceed."
On the display the ground crew was approaching the ship.
"Cables deployed."
"Confirmed. Connecting clamps now."
On the display the figures where manipulating the cables and attaching them to the ship using conveniently placed protrusions that where very likely meant for just that. In no time the clamps where secure and the ground crew retreated to a safe distance.
"Cables secure. Ready for lift."
"Confirmed. Retracting cables now."
Joe slowly fed power to the winches retracting the cables and the engines to keep it level. On the display the slack slowly disappeared and the cables tightened. A low vibration that could be felt through the Mule indicated that the winches now where under strain, slowly lifting the ship. With help from the computer she managed to level the ship out as the weight was not evenly distributed. Slowly the ship was lifted from the ground into the open belly of the Mule.
"Mule 1, looks good so far. You might want to slow down, you're coming up on a tight spot."
Decreasing the power to the winches slowed down the ascend of the ship. In two places the engineers had to grind away some hull material to make the ship fit. A low grinding noise was transmitted through the ship and the stool and made Joe grind her teeth. But the winches where keeping a steady pace and after a short minute the ship was secured inside the Mule.
"Secured, closing up now."
The bottom of the Mule closed and locked smoothly. Checking the display Joe noticed that almost one hour had passed loading and securing the ship.
"Mule 1, departing."
Joe slowly fed power to the engines and the Mule started to lift off. Slowly gaining speed and altitude the return trip to the Hermes went exactly as before. The only difference now being the nature of the cargo in the Mule. After almost three hours of flight she aligned the Mule with the docking port of the cargo module.
"Mule 1 to Hermes. Requesting docking permission."
"Hermes to Mule 1, permission granted."
"Initiating docking procedure."
Joe carefully nudged the Mule towards the docking port until the magnetic locks engaged with a slight jolt felt through the suit.
"Mule 1 has docked."
"Confirmed. Retrieving elevator now."
Slowly the Mule was moved inside the cargo module. Finally Joe was able to leave the cockpit assisted by a crewman. Removing the helmet was quit a relieve, being able to stretch even more. The crew wasted no time, the top of the Mule was already opening and the crane was in position. The cables where lowering and two ratings where scaling the Mule to attach them while Joe was on the way out to get rid of the suit. She was so in need of a shower.
As the Hermes was not equipped with a dedicated launcher that could handle a probe or a torpedo the probe was launched like a shuttle pod. Mounted on the docking arm it was slowly lowered outside of the hull. When the final checks had been completed the magnetic seal disengaged and the probe positioned itself with its small thrusters.
Once it had confirmed that it was pointing in the right direction it ignited it's small engine and started to burn on a course that would bring it to the northern pole of the gas-giant and then past that into orbit around another moon very similar to the one it had orbited only a short while ago.
As it approached the northern polar region of the gas-giant it deployed it's sensors and started scanning. According to the mission parameters it recorded the data and also transmitted it into the direction from it's starting point. Once it had polar-region it again secured it's sensors and ignited the small engine again for a burn toward the next moon.
Again Joe was descending to the excavation site in a shuttle-pod for a supply run. A mobile scanner had failed so she was delivering a spare unit together with an engineering rating to take care of the defective unit among other things. Way to little to bother using a Mule.
She landed on the vacated pad. They valley looked quite different now. Several containers connected by cables formed a base camp. The hangar was fully open and empty. Strong working lights illuminated it. Joe shut down the shuttle-pod and went over to the hangar to have a look. The engineer would not need any help from her anyway.
As she enter the now empty hangar she could'nt fail to notice the activity.
The docking arm that was mounted on the side of the hangar has been detached and was already positioned on some anti-grav pallets to be stored for further analysis. The spot where it was attached to was being examined by several members of the science-crew, easily recognizable by their white spacesuits.
On the other side of the bay there was a new opening that was cut into the wall, easily large enough to simply walk through which Joe did.
Entering the storage bay that she'd seen before on the remote control of the small robot was really different. The shelves look a lot smaller. Which made a lot of sense as they'd obviously not been designed to be used by humans. Another group of scientists was cataloging the content to determine what would be taken along later.
At the far side there was another opening that was cut recently which Joe quickly pass through. This room felt very different. A mobile scanner was set up next to the shelve containing the organic material, whatever that was. It was currently being worked on, presumably that was the one that broke down.
There where scientists all over the room busy scanning everything. A small group had gathered around the small device halfway up the wall that was still emitting some low light that was barely noticeable now with the extra lights. Joe approached the shelve with the – things to have a closer look.
They more or less looked like a small ball with something that could be legs, each had six of them. If Joe did not know any better she'd say they look like a rudimentary version of a spider.
After a moment the engineer stopped by with the replacement scanner unit and started swapping it. As there was nothing she could help with she just looked around until he was done.
On the return trip she had another passenger. Sarah was coming back to the Hermes. She was carrying one of the spiders in a small sealed container for further analysis on the ship. Docking went smoothly and they finally got rid of the suits.
Waving Sarah off Joe check the time. The probe should be on the return leg of its trip and only be a few minutes out from making contact again. So she headed to the bridge to see what is to see.
The probe enters orbit according to its programming. Once again it's sensors are deployed now focusing on the moon below. The radiation signature is easy to find and the probe starts scanning it using the full capabilities of its sensors. After it has performed all the programmed tests the sensors are again secured and the probe ignites the engine again for the next target.
As it closes in on the southern polar region of the gas-giant it deploys the senors a final time. The computer controlling the probe is only capable of executing it's programming, not interpreting the results. These are stored for later transmission as before. As it has amassed quite some data, too much to rapidly transmit it the eager minds behind the probe will have to wait a while longer. Finally the sensors are secured one last time and the probe launches home to Hermes.
As Joe reached the bridge she found most stations manned, different than before. Even the Captain was on station and acknowledged her as she took her station. Checking her console she noted that everything was fine and the probe was already on a low burn to loose speed.
"It seems this part has worked. Excellent work, Ms. 9."
"Thank you. Now it just has to have the scans we want."
"We'll see what it's databanks hold. Time to docking?"
"About 3 minutes. It is in the final maneuvering stage."
"Very good. Bridge to launch bay."
"Go for launch bay."
"The probe is almost in position. Are you ready to retrieve it?"
"Affirmative. The docking arm is deployed and ready. I have the probe on scanner."
"Alright. Continue."
After a short while that felt much longer finally the confirmation came.
"Probe is secure. Download is commencing. Retrieving docking arm now."
"Good work, Bridge out."
It did not take long for the data to download. Smyke was manning OPS and was screening it while it appeared.
"There is nothing on the northern polar region that show on the sensors on first glance. There appears to be something on the southern polar-region, judging from the size its only debris. The scans of the moon are coming in now. This might take a while."