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RP: SSS Journeymen 3 [Mission 1.0] Baptism of Fire and Ice

SX-08 - Hill Sphere boundary

The members of the Journeymen 3 team had an uneventful departure from the Tensai. Once they entered FTL there was not much for the others to do. Raquel stayed at her station, and spent time teaching her friend some of the basics of space flight, and navigation. Their flight was projected to take them six hours to arrive at SX-08.

During that time Satoshi prepared a Quik Pak for each of the crew from the supply of Lunch meals.

"All hands, we have arrived in the SX-08 system, enroute to the third planet, we will Hill Sphere boundary in t-minus ten minutes. At that time we will drop out of FTL and proceed on sub-light. All personnel should report to their station and strap in." she called out through the Sparks intercom system.
 
Alice who was reading medical journal in her room sighed and turned her tablet off, putting it back in the backpack. She stretched and walked into the cockpit. She sat in the first empty chair and strapped in.

"Boy Raquel you sounds so serious," Alice said and laughed cheerfully. "Your announcement was very professional and all that. Still you can just call to come here and strap in next time. It is not like we are in military or something."
 
Sakura hadn't really done much during the time except listen to Raquel and followed her around learning a bit about her job.

Even now though, she hadn't left her friends side and stayed with her, she truly didn't know 'where' her station was right now given she was just a trainee.
 
Raquel made several adjustments to her controls. "Sorry about the tone of my announcement, but there is something not right. My flight instructor always said if something isn't right, best to make sure everyone secure before trying to figure it out."

Sakura, take the Navigation station, its this one here." She said pointing to the forward station on her right.

"Navigation says we are in SX-08, but the energy emissions of the sun are much higher than expected. It might be related to the communications problem.

Do we have anyone who can man the science station and try to get some more data." Raquel asked.
 
Kage sat down at his station and strapped in. He scanned the area for anything that might harm them and monitored the station for any incoming reports from his scan. He watched the others with a smile on his face but when he had heard about the the communication problem he was immediately on alert. "I can't. All my limited experience is in security." He said "I can try if you wish but I don't think that I can get any results." I just hope that the communication issue is because of something wrong with the equipment and not what I think it is. He thought to himself.
 
Sakura strapped herself into navigation and looked at the controls with a small bit of bewilderment before she shook her head and began to monitor that which she did understand.

"M-maybe we are too close?" she said nervously.
 
"Well I suppose I can try." Alice said, sitting behind the station. She was not exactly sure what to do though. "But my field are computers and putting people back together so I need some help. Tell me what to do. Chikai! I could use you technological knowledge and what not here."
 
Raquel looked at her instrumentation. "I am following the flight plan unless something is wrong with it." she replied to Sakura. She then sent a series of commands to the Sparks computer instructing it to provide the navigational data to Sakura.

On the monitor before Sakura, the screen showed the star system. It clearly showed the projected flight path of the Spark, and its position. From what she could tell, the ship was running true and was not any closer than it should have been.

-----------------------------

Kenshin was at his station monitoring the ship's functions. "Alice, fortunately you can use your computer skill to tell the computer to do the work you need. Pull up the spectral analysis of SX-08 from when the SSS explored the system. Then instruct the computer to run a spectral scan and give you a comparison." he instructed.

-----------------------------

Kage would see that the Sparks shields which were configure for normal in system travel, protecting the ship from dust and small objects were being bombarded by significant levels of ionized particles.
 
He typed out some orders on the computer to scan the particles and after looking at the shield readouts he watched the computer and tried to remain as calm as possible. The ones who actually looked at him could tell he was nervous and trying his best to remain calm. "We are getting bombarded by a large amount of ionized particles. Is there a way to strengthen the shields against it?" Kage said making sure that the shields were at a good strength.
 
"Power to the shields," Alice joked and started working on her station. She accessed older data for the installation, planet and the space around it, puling it up and started comparing with current data to see what changed. While the computer ran spectral analysis, she looked at Kenshin.

"So," she started and smiled at her friend. "What do you think we'll find down there? I sure as hell hope everyone down there is okay."
 
Kenshin looked over at Kage, "Switch the shields to tactical mode, that should strengthen them against the barrage of stellar matter."

He then looked at the data from the SSS records of the planet. "The planet was in the midst of a significant ice age. If the star's activity level has increased significantly, we could be looking at a rapid melt on the surface. The expedition site is in a box canyon."

----------------------

On the console before Alice, the computer analysis was displayed. The star in the system was definitely in a higher energy state. The sensors showed at fluctuation of 3-5 percent more energy than originally recorded.


-----------------------

Raquel adjusted the Sparks course and speed to get the planet between the Transporter and the star. She looked over at her friend, "Sakura, ask the computer to project a descent trajectory to bring us to the expedition. I would really like to get into the atmosphere before we get on the sunward side of teh planet.
 
"Roger that. Switching shields to tactical mode." He said. He typed a command on the shields and switched them over and also deciding to maintain some level of security as they flew he kept a passive scan of the area going.
 
"O-on it," said Sakura as she sent a request to the computer to project a dscent trajectory for them to use. "I think I got one..." she muttered unsuringly.
 
Alice smirked when she saw what she saw. "Oh boy," the young medic said. "The sun's energy went up to five percent. That cannot be very good. We should be careful, we don't know how fast that can melt all that ice-age down there."
 
Above SX-08

Below the Spark the planets dark side was illuminated by frequent massive electrical discharges. Some of them were massive illuminating large portions of the sky below, while others were smaller.

Unci, my first planetary landing and it has to be into a massive storm system. Someone has a cruel sense of humor. Raquel thought to herself.

"I can't say about the melting, but I would be willing to bet that those storms below are a result of the sun's increased activity. Beginning descent." she said as her hands brought the Transporter onto the trajectory that Sakura had pulled up. A quick check assured her that the course was sufficient.

She looked at her friend and gave a wink, "I hope everyone has a strong constitution, we are in for a hell of a ride."

--------------------------

Kenshin watching the discharges below made some adjustment to the ships systems. Isolating any non-essential systems from possible electrical damage.

"Kage, keep a close eye on the shields, we get hit by some of those major strikes and they are going to start draining. I've allocated some of the Sparks reserve power to your command to reinforce the shields." he said adjusting his shoulder straps to ensure he was securely in place.
 
"Glad I haven't had anything to eat yet..." muttered Sakura worriedly as she gripped the edge of her seat and got ready for the ride.
 
"I think I got through worse in past," She said and gave Chikai a look. They both had been through much worse then single rough ride. She still made sure she was buckled up. "I want everyone seated and buckled. We don't want anyone injured because of not being careful enough. Got it?" She then ordered rest of the group.
 
Satoshi upon hearing Alice's command replied, "I am going into the back module and securing myself." He then left the flight deck.

----------

Raquel brought the transporter onto the descent trajectory. Other than the flashing of the atmosphere below the first part of the entry was relatively smooth. Once they hit the lower atmosphere, she found herself fighting to keep the Spark on course. The wind shears and turbulence were unlike anything that she had experienced in training or in the simulators.

The sturdy craft and its crew were bounced around, as they flew into one of many super cyclones that were raging across the planet. The shields registered multiple lighting strikes with voltages that would have damaged the craft if not for its shields. After the third barrage the shield indicators were down to 60% of strength.

"We need to find a path through the less dense portions of the storm. "Alice, adjust the radar for weather mode, and relay the data to Sakura so she can plot a path around the more dense cells in this storm.
 
Yoshiro looked down at the shield indicators and he rerouted some of the reserve power and recharged the shields. "That was exciting." Kage said dryly.
 
Raquel did not have time for the others to respond so she pulled up the radar on the screen on her station and did her best. It would have been easier to simply follow the projected path, but after thirty minutes of white knuckle flying the Spark shot out of the massive storm and was flying free. Another twenty five minutes had them approaching the expedition site.

Aerial surveying of the site showed what was wrong. The expedition was located at the mouth of a box canyon. The visual image of the canyon showed that part of the canyon wall had collapsed. The debris from the collapse sealed the canyon and had destroyed the Ke-P1-03a - Control center. A second unit was damaged and partially covered with debris. The other two modules were fine. However the valley was covered by several feet of water which was coming from the melting ice from the walls.

"Sakura, try reaching the expedition using local radio." she said looking at her friend.
 
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