Solar Warden

Icarus Part 13

Newman and Ryan were on the bridge. The Captain was preparing the exit from the hyperspace.

"Open the exit window," he ordered. Then in front of them a part with stars appeared.

"Send the probe," was the next order.

An about two-meter sized cube object flew away.

"Readings coming in. It is clear. Scanning the back now," the sensor officer informed. The probe made a turn and moved to the side.

"Also clear. We can exit now," the sensor officer finished the protocol checks.

"Helm, engage the dimension change," the Captain ordered.

"Affirmative," came the reply from the navigation. More stars came to sight all around the ship and they were back into normal space.

"Start the position determination and all passive scans." The Captain turned to Newman. "This is the normal procedure to check for all objects in a star system we scan now some time. Then we fly a bit closer and do it again. After that we can calculate the position of the planets and moons we spotted. We could do a third approach to check from another angle but for a normal approach this is enough data. At that distance we are, there is no possibility to spot us. Light travels not that fast and we would be surly out of range with our size and heat signature."

"At that distance of about one light-year away from the habitable zone we could even use active scanning for the surroundings. It would not matter much except secure the Icarus more. Also we could move closer to a half lightyear if needed. But it would not solve the main problem. If they radiate like we do it on Earth, we would detect a civilization here without a problem. However, if they don't and have sensors also in their moon orbits, we will be detected on our closer approach we have to do later. The only option we have is to optimize the sensor scan out of the hyperspace to avoid running into a trap. They could have defense system on the back side of their moon. Much more difficult it will be if they have no moon," Newman replied.

"Yes, that's the critical phase but we need to do it like we did with the passive mode. There is not too much to improve. Opening this window out of the hyperspace costs a lot of energy. Maybe we can use a smaller window. I'm open for any suggestions," the Captain replied.

"We have two launch tubes at the front. The size of the window can be lowered to the size of the probe. Then we send two probes through. The first one immediately turns to the side and flies a bit back, too. With the second one we scan also the front and more important hold the connection to us and relay to the first one. So we have 100 percent of the windows back and even can triangulate if needed. The other question now would be. Do we active scan the surface of the moon or passive and how much time we want spent on this," Newman suggested.

"I guess you already have an answer for this?" the Captain suspected.

"I made simulations and calculations and came to 25 seconds with active scanning. 270 seconds passive. But it's better we make some real testing," Newman replied.

"Good. Then we will make it so," the Captain confirmed.

The scanning was done and the target was set for a tiny moon of a planet outside of the habitable zone.

"Newman, I have a question. I thought the hyperdrive system detects any gravity field around. So why we scan our back?" Ryan asked.

"It detects only the gravity fields that would influence the dimension change. This means smaller ships or sensors further away we could not see or even dangerous micro particles are a problem. But that's a quite different story. This means in normal operations an active scan is a must do to be sure," Newman informed Ryan.