Personal log entry - Commander's record: Secrets of Gamma [1/3]
10 Sep 2023N.Copernicus
Date: 10. September 3309Entry 1/3
Preparations for our first landing are complete and the crew is on alert. Today we will go on a reconnaissance mission with our team and investigate the abandoned base, Hawkins Gap Gamma. I got very little sleep tonight and read some of the old logs. I probably should have left that alone, the stuff of nightmares. It's my own fault, Niclas, I think as I try to wake up. I need a coffee - that's for sure - make two of it!
After two strong coffees, as dark as space itself, I am on my way to the departure lounge. The team is already there and I am greeted. The security guards salute and then turn their attention to Sergeant Okuma. Apparently I wasn't the only one who slept badly, as I look around. At one table are Peter Sanders and his assistant Frey Rodriges, the two geneticists from Vista Genomics. Their job: biological and genetic analyses based on samples from the missing crew. Roy Summer and Frank Kiefers are standing next to the drinks machine, enjoying another coffee. They are the two technicians who will accompany us and examine the station's technology. Dazell Okuma is the head of the security team, who will ensure our safety with his men. I don't really expect any problems on this rock, but protocol is protocol.
The approach to the planet was amazing. The darkness of the rift stretches seemingly to infinity, and the stars are so numerous that it is impossible to count them. The two probes of the full-spectrum scanner provide the coordinates of the base. Now it appears as a POI in the navigation computer, the coordinates are set and our dropship "Cerberus", a Alliance Crusader heads for the target.
As we enter the planet's gravity field, the feeling of isolation pervades me. Out here, there is no rescue if something goes wrong. But that is the price of discovery. The pilot goes into glide after a brief pop, entering the thin atmosphere, the ship shaking under the forces, the material stretching audibly. "Angle of entry - optimal - 45 degrees. Approach speed nominal - okay! Looks good.", it sounds routinely from the cockpit.
The night vision system captures the base, a monochrome image emerges, pixel by pixel on the ship's screens. The abandoned base is now in sight. It rises like a ghost from the surface of the planet, scarred by time and engulfed by the darkness of space. The headlights of our ships are like shining, groping fingers hovering over the base, piercing the darkness. I can't help but think of the Dutch painter Rembrandt and his masterpiece "Night Watch", in which the rays of light in the middle of the painting highlight the main characters and create dramatic effects. Dramatic, that's probably the right word to describe a lot of things. My thoughts are interrupted by an info over the ship's loudspeakers.
"Landing computer activated! Landing gear deploying. Prepare to disembark!" Another violent jolt as the computer powers up the engines in a steep manoeuvre. The automatic system has never been squeamish during the approach. And the very next jolt runs through the ship, which is picked up nodding by the bobbleheads on the console. The ship goes into a steep turn over aft and levels off. Perhaps one reason why I myself do not prefer advanced landing computers in my ships. Now we are carefully gliding towards the surface. The tension is rising and the adrebalin in the ship contrasts with the eerie presence of this abandoned facility.
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End of entry EOF