Chapter Three
January 25, 2285
It has been five days since our encounter with the Karakan ships. Considering the circumstances, things are going quite well. Chief Jordan’s repair crews have completed major structural repairs to the starboard nacelle, so we should have no issues with it crumpling when we land on Aria Prime. In addition, we have evacuated all decks with hull breaches and are no longer venting atmosphere to the depths of space.
While none of the colonists are happy with our plight, most seem to have accepted the situation and are working to prepare for survival on the planet’s surface. Myron Decker has been a great asset in this regard; he seems to have a knack for finding out people’s talents and how to best utilize their skills. I was surprised but happy to find that two of the colonists are skilled in metallurgy and metalworking. Apparently, they had planned to open some type of tourist-shop where a person could come in and watch them work. I have a feeling that their skills will be most useful when we reach the planet.
Several of the colonists have been hard at work manufacturing hand tools with our electron beam fabricator. Shovels, axes, rakes, hoes, saws… all manner of hand tools are now in our inventory. I have also instructed the fabricators to build whatever tools the metal workers will need so that they can put their talents to use. Chief Jordan initially objected to the use of our limited raw materials, but I pointed out to him how much labor will be saved with our 3D printing techniques.
I have been surprised at how many of the colonists seem to know quite a bit about gardening. Many, in fact, have brought a supply of seeds with them, with the intention of starting backyard gardens on Alpha Ceres. At first I was puzzled by this, but then Mr. Davenport told me that many families grew backyard gardens during the war because of food shortages. This was something I was unaware of, but I must admit to losing touch with what was happening back home during the war.
Our main concern now is the question of fuel for the scillion engines. Supply is tight to say the least. I must commend Chief Jordan and Captain Davenport on the work they’ve done to stretch our fuel supply, but even with their efforts, we may run out of fuel before we reach the planet. While standard protocol is to make several orbits before making a landing, I don’t think we will have the fuel to spare. Assuming the fuel holds out, we plan to land on the surface as soon as we reach Aria Prime. I would have preferred to use the shuttlecraft to transfer people and supplies from the Trident to the surface, but our short supply of fuel has made this impractical at best.
We plan to launch two of our research probes into orbit just before entering the atmosphere. It is my hope that we can stay in contact with the probes to learn more about this planet.
Colonel Christopher Nash,
PSC Trident