Checking the time Joe decided to head for the conference room first to see the captain.
When she arrived she found the captain among several pads, the display on the bulkhead was displaying the current timetable of the departure.
„Ah, Ms. 9. Your salvage run was a success, I take it?"
„Affirmative, Captain. I managed to get pretty much all pieces of the satellite of a reasonable size. Some rubble was left behind, but that should be a no consequence."
„Very good. The operation down below is also just wrapping up."
She rummaged for a pad and turned to the screen on the bulkhead.
„The last cargo run commenced while you where out getting the satellite. The last personal is on a shuttle pod that'll dock in about 20 Minutes. I'd ask you to calculate a course based on that, please coordinate with the good doctor so we can get all the scans he wants on our way out of the system."
„Understood, I'll get right to it. A question, if I may?"
„Sure, go ahead."
„We where setting up quite a camp on that moon. I thought we would be staying for quite some time investigating. It's barely been a week, why the hurry to leave?"
She sighed and put down the pad.
„I had this discussion with Dr. Schmitz, believe me. In the end it is very simple. Commencing these kind of operations is very new to us. We're writing the book on how to do this as we're doing it. Originally we had no idea how long it would reasonably take to find out what we can. I guess this will be different on the next site of interest.
But honestly at some point I had to pull the plug on the good Dr. If it was for him we'd stay in this system for the foreseeable future. The technologies found here are interesting, yes. But they're not that advanced that they justify a prolonged stay. Our main priority is finding worlds that can be colonized, we won't find that in this system. We're taking a substantial amount of salvage with us, fulfilling a secondary objective, that will keep the science-crew busy for the time being."
„Alright, that does make sense, thanks for clearing that up. I'll go and calculate our course."
„Thank you."
Arriving on the bridge Joe found OPS manned by Pet'l but otherwise deserted.
He turned to her.
"Ensign. You're about to calculate our course out of the system to the next system?"
"Correct, do you have any points of interests I should take into consideration?" Joe answered while taking her station.
"I've already forwarded them to your station. Please send the course to me when you're done. I'll confirm it with my colleagues then."
"Alright, I'll get right to it."
Joe set about her work. Calculating a course was always a task that required a certain amount of concentration, especially when it was to be a quite complex one in a foreign star system. After some attempts Joe managed to calculate a course that would take everything into account and put the ship in a good position to serve as a starting point for the next warp jump. Joe finished her work by sending the course to Pet'ls PDA for approval.
With nothing else to do Joe checked on the preparations for the departure. These where well underway. The 'pod had already docked, all personal and equipment where accounted for, nothing and no-one unintentionally left behind. The salvage was being secured although it would take at least four more hours before the ship was ready to set out on the new course.
With downtime at her hands Joe decided to take it easy and relax a bit in her quarters. That proved completely futile after about twenty minutes. As she could not sit still she decided to visit the cargo bay and have a look at the salvage, maybe she could even lend a hand with securing the salvage.
The cargo bay was quite busy with most of the science-crew and a large portion of the freighter crew being present. The scientist where busy cataloging the salvage and dividing it up for the things they wanted to start analyzing right away and the rest that would be secured for later analysis.
Joe approached different people and tried to help them but was sent away by all of them. After several attempts she conceded the point – she had a ship to fly in a couple of hours and had to be well rested for this – and retreated to the galley for some snacks and downtime.
Joe managed to relax for quite some time, she was only interrupted once and briefly as she got the confirmation that her proposed course had been approved.
It took some time but the ship was finally ready for departure, the salvage was secured, everyone was ready.
The bridge was manned by Joe, the captain, Dr. Schmitz and Pet'l.
"Ready for departure, Captain." Joe reported
"Alright. Get us underway, Ms. 9." The Captain ordered.
"Breaking orbit."
The Hermes accelerated out of orbit around the moon and went on a slingshot around the gas giant, all sensors actively scanning to get a good look on its many moons.
"Scans are coming in. So far nothing unusual." Dr. Schmitz reported.
"Very good."
Completing the slingshot around the gas giant took the Hermes almost a full hour. After that the ship set out on a course spiraling from the inner planets to the outer ones of the system to maximize sensor coverage.
"Clearing the gas giant, course laid in for the next section. Inner planets in scanning range in 20 minutes". Joe reported.
"Very good. Anything to report so far?"
"Not yet, but we're still analyzing the data and will be for quite some time." Answered Dr. Schmitz.
"Carry on then!" The captain concluded the conversation.
After 20 minutes of flight with only the occasional comment from the scientists disrupting the monotonous sound of the ship flying and data being collected the ship neared its next destination. Again Scanners where brought to full power, gathering data to be mainly stored for now and analyzed later on in detail. The flyby took only a couple of minutes as nothing of immediate interest was found.
After four and a half hours the ship cleared the last planet and set out on the final course to get into position for the jump to warp.
"Captain, we'll be in position for warp within 15 minutes." Joe reported.
"Very good Ms. 9." The Captain answered.
"Gentleman, did you find anything so far that would justify a change of plans?" She asked the scientists.
"It will take us several hours, possibly up to two days to analyze all the data, but right now I don't see anything else of interest. This system will need to be analyzed in detail anyway, but that will be for someone else to do." Dr. Schmitz answered.
"Dr., don't underestimate our find here and what it could bring in the future. I've stressed the need for a thorough analysis of this system in my preliminary report and I'm quite positive that Earth will launch an expedition to explore these bases and the rest of the system. I'm sure that you'd be more than welcome to join them." The Captain reassured the Dr.
"Of course, but who knows if we have returned until then?"
"That is true. But I don't see this new expedition in the near future. Earth has a lot more pressing concerns. This find won't go anywhere. And there is a lot of material in our cargo bay that needs analyzing anyway."
"You're quite right, Captain." The Dr. concluded.
"Five minutes to warp." Joe interrupted the discussion.
The Captain pressed a button on her armrest, a chime signified a communication to the whole ship.
"This is the Captain. In five minutes the ship will jump to warp. Report for your stations and secure the ship for warp. Good work so far everyone."
Over the couple of the next minutes the scientists returned to the science module and crew members took the various stations on the bridge.
"Ship is secure for warp, Captain." Smyke reported.
"Very good, Mr. Smyke. Ms. 9, take us out." The Captain ordered.
"Understood. Jumping to warp in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Joe counted don't and initiated the warp drive. The ship smoothly accelerated to warp.
"Ship is stable at warp 4.5, Captain." Joe reported. "ETA to next system is two days, 14 hours."
"Engine output is normal, warp field is stable." Sunblast reported from the engineering station.
"Good work everyone."
With the ship flying at warp there was not much to do for the crew, so they tried their best to prepare for the next system by making sure that all equipment was in mint condition. That included the two mules and the probes.
Joe was put to work by Sunblast inspecting the probe that was used upon her idea. The problem was that the probe was intended as a one-use device and therefore was not designed for multiple uses. Joe spent most of the transit time disassembling, overhauling and reassembling the engine of the probe. There was no problem with the engine, they just had to be sure. Refueling the probe was deemed unnecessary and too risky. It had only used less than 5% of it's fuel supply anyway.