Void Bound: Origin

Chapter 2: Exploration

"This is the captain's logbook, entry 4. Everything has been study so far, and the ship runs like a dream. Morale is high, and our goal seems to be within reach. There's nothing stopping humanity from conquering the stars now... and as our great president said, we will be an interstellar nation that spans millions of planets...
This is Captain Evergreen, signing off."
-Captain Evergreens Audio Logbook, November 11, 21xx

"CAPTAIN ON DECK!"
Captain Evergreen walks on to the command deck of the bridge and stands at his podium, overlooking the bridge crew and the spinal column of gun batteries. Beyond the ship is the famous Red Planet itself... Mars...
"Sir, we're around a day or so from reaching Mars"
The captain looked on in glee,
"Officer Yamato, Contact high command."
The Communications officer nodded, before contacting Republic Space Command back on Earth. The bridge was silent for a bit, waiting for the line to go through so the report to command could be made. The commlink then flared to life, with the live feed of blond woman in a green uniform appearing on the screen holographic screen being projected by the captain's podium.
"This is Communications Officer Amalia Maes, I'll be your communications patch in into the Republic Space Command from now on. I'd like a status report and mission progress report."
Captain Evergreen gazed at Mars for a bit, before answering,
"We're a day out from Mars and the ship is running phenomenally. What are our orders once we get to the red planet ma'am? Are we to scan out areas for potential bases, or begin the terraforming process?"
"Hold on, let me check in with the higher ups."
The comm goes silent as Officer Maes checks the mission parameters. Five minutes later the commlink opens up again and Amalia's voice is once again heard,
"I've gotten your mission parameters, and they have changed slightly from last time. Your current mission is to survey mars, collect metal samples, scout out possible base locations, and then dump the ships entire store worth of green houses gases into Mars' atmosphere. After that you will return to the Millennium to get the ship checked, before being assigned to sector patrol."
The captain cocked an eyebrow at the last part,
"Why sector patrol?"
The woman sighs on the other side of the line, for whatever reason annoyed at the captain,
"The REV Explorer is our only finished space craft with weapons other than the Millennium, which is a stationary space craft. While the AOC grid (Anti Orbital Cannon grid) is Operational, it would be a good idea to have some kind of ship hovering over Earth. HICOM is absolutely terrified that rebel elements of aliens might attack, even though it's a silly fear... There's also been rumors of a break through in FTL technology. If they are true, the Explorer will be outfitted with FTL drives, which will require you to be close to Earth anyways. Are your orders understood captain?"
The captain nods, before gesturing to his crew, telling them in a single hand movement to get the ship moving towards Mars as fast as they could.
"Understood."

The woman nods before opening her mouth to speak again,
"Well then, I'll be closing the commlink now. There is work to be done on HICOM's side as well."
The commlink then shuts off, the woman disappearing from the screen, before the screen itself shut off.
"Alright boys and girls we have our work cut out for us! Let's keep this machine moving!"
The bridge returned to it's usual buzz of activity, the captain smiling at the efficiency of his crew.

<Fleet HICOM Command Tower, Earth>
(Admiral Maximillius' POV)

"Sir the reports just came in that the Explorer is a day away from Mars."
Maximillius seemed to smile, before composing himself and turning to Amalia.
"Their status?"
Amalia nods before bringing up a holopad. She taps the screen a few times, before clearing her throat and looking up to read the status report.
"According to the crew and captain, the ship is running phenomenally. The ship's engines seem to be working better than expected as they will be arriving in Mars orbit in a day or so. They have yet to test out the weapons systems, as there has been no need, and the scanners work perfectly fine."
The admiral nods, happy with the information. He then gestures for Amalia to follow him as he begins to walk to the main meeting room in the RSC HICOM Tower.
"Do the planet based ship yards have a definitive answer on when the next Explorer class vessels will be done?"
Amalia nods tapping once again on her holopad to bring up the answers received from the ship yards.
"They said that the next five Explorer-class capital ships will be ready in fourteen days. The ships are being built as fast as they can while still trying to keep the quality up."
"So they'll be done eight days after the Explorer itself returns?"
"Yes Admiral."
The Admiral nods, happy about the efficiency of the dock yards.
"Have we been able to make an efficient supply train between the Millennium and our raw resource deposits here on Earth?"
Amalia looks hesitant to respond, before gulping down what seems to be anxiety and answering the admiral.
"No... While we are able to ship most of the required resources up to the Millennium, it's mostly done by old cargo rockets, as the cargo-ships aren't done yet do to the increased production speed of the Explorer-class Capital Ship production line...."
The Admiral grunts in annoyance,
"Understandable... yet very frustrating..."
As he says those words, the two reach the doors of the meeting room and the admiral turns to look at Amalia,
"This where we part ways. If you could ask the government for more funds to build more shipyards it would be appreciated. There may even be a promotion in it for you."
Amalia snaps a salute, before rushing off to contact the financial heads of the URE.

The admiral walks into the meeting room, greeted by the sight of the others similar, equal, or higher rank than him.
"I am Fleet Admiral Ronald Adams, today I have gathered you all here to talk about our plans for..."
Maximillius knew this was going to be a long meeting, but he had really wished it was going to be like this...

<Mars Orbit, REV Explorer>

"We're moving into position to begin scanning the planet."
The Captain nods and stands up, and sets his eyes upon the red ball of dust that is Mars. As the Explorer orbited over Mars various scans where taking place. Full surface scans of the planets terrain and mineral content where being taken from orbit as the Explorer silently floated through the void. Over the course of two hours the scans where completed and the engines began to burn ip again to begin the journey back to Earth when suddenly an unknown energy signature was found by the constant sensor pulses emitted by the navigational systems and detection arrays on the ship.
"We're picking up strange readings coming from a canyon on the surface of mars sir. Our initial scans were unable to identify it due to the high energy signatures, but the detection systems where some how able to... what should we do?"
The captain looks to the man who had just spoken up.
"Send a report to command and send a drone in to investigate. If we can acquire samples order the drone to do so."
The man snaps a salute,
"Understood sir!"

<10 Minutes Later>

A fighter shaped drone flies out of the hangar bay of the Explorer and begins it's descent to the Mars canyon. It flies down to the red surface of the planet, and when it gets there it sees the canyon, glowing red, with a plasma like substance coming out of it. The skies are stormy, with lightning striking down ever so oftdn from gas clouds forming above the canyon. The drone dodges lightnjng continuously as it moves in to capture a sample. Getting it's objective it pulls up and puts all of it's power into it's engine and shield systems to make sure it's journey back to the Explorer would be done successfully.
WOOoooom
"Alright! The drone has touched down, let's see if it brought back a sample!"
A hangar technician shouts, rallying up the others behind him. They begin to preform maintenance on the drone all the while checking it's storage bays,
"IT GOT A SAMPLE!"
The hangar bays goes up in a roar of cheers as the science team is brought in to analyze this new substance.
"Alright then boys let's finish up maintenance than we can party in the mess!"
The techs give a loud whoop,
Before getting back to work refueling, and repairing the drone.

<REV Explorer Bridge>

"Sir we have reason to believe this new resource is extremely valuable, with it having the ability to increase the power of our weapons and be used a s a power source..."
The captain nods before waving the scientist off,
"We'll. Alert command when we get back to Earth. We'll have em send three of the new Explorer-class' here."
The scientist nods
"Understood"A
The captain gazed into the deep black void that was space...
"Well... it seems life is about to get interesting."

<Unknown Location>

"Sir... the Blackbeard is almost ready, and the troops are preparing to mount their distraction assault on the AOCs. Shall we commence the attack now?"
A mysterious figure sits a top a lavish seat made from velvet, a glass of wine in his hand.
"No... we shall wait for a month... then our attack begins. We shall restore... order... to our world."

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