Commander Saule had kept himself busy through the comparatively short trip, compared to the previous trip without the Herzog drive. He drifted aimlessly through the ship for a while, making a mental layout for himself, after spending some time doing that he went to see how everyone was getting along. First he had joined Naytani and Flik in the generator room.

"Is everything working as it should?" He asked the pair.

Flik looked up from her work as she responded, "Oh, yes it is. There's almost no stress being put on the structure of the ship, Naytani's theory that it would be like being inside a bubble appears to be correct. With the air moving outside the bubble but the interior is relatively calm."

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but it works as a quick explanation,“ Naytani added. "We still have the momentum we applied before the drive initiated, but now, it's as if space has wrapped around us and is pushing us forward as well."

"We could use your help for a moment actually, Flik said. "Would you mind going to each of the rings housing the drive with this and take a few readings," she handed Saule a clunky grey device. "It's to make sure that parts of the ship away from center mass don't experience greater stress than other places."

"Is there anything else you would like your commander to do?" He replied wryly.

"Nothing else for now, thanks." Flik said with a gleam in her eyes.

After going to each drive ring and passing the data to Flik, which had not taken as long as he would have liked, Saule went to check on Stuhkey and Yors.

He found them loitering in the cabin as Yors retold a story of his lifting days to Stuhkey who was barely paying attention, with a glazed-over look in his eyes. Stuhkey glanced towards the Commander with a look of relief. Glad of any excuse to interrupt the telling of the tale, he immediately greeted him, "Hey Commander any mutinies yet, or will I have to organize one myself?"

Chuckling Saule responded, "Not yet but I'm starting to question if I'm the commanding officer or the errand bird. Flik and Naytani had me going around the ship taking readings for them."

"What readings could there be? We've tried measuring ambient radiation but there's so little, we may as well be in an empty box." Said Stuhkey.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Yors added, " Neither Stuhkey nor I have been able to get anything to keep us busy. So we've been talking about ourselves, I was just telling him about a story of a little gisht that tried to lift me and the weights I was holding to win a bet."

"Good to hear that you two get along then, I still haven't seen what Wensly and Ozmac are up to yet," Saule said. “And since you two don't have much to do, then you can both help the engineers with their work. .”

"Well, we won’t keep you from your duties Commander. Come talk with us on the return trip. I'm sure you have plenty of stories to tell from your time in the Pan Islands," Yors remarked.

Saule left them to pass the time their way, and searched for where Wensly and Ozmac had wandered off to. As he made his way back towards the center of the ship, near the hydroponics lab, he could hear a muffled debate down the hall.

A voice that sounded like Wensly spoke "I'm telling you, the majority of any xeno species that achieve space flight will be bipedal, it's the easiest form to use tools."

"You're basing that off our own ecosystem, for all we know there could be sentient rocks flying around in meat ships! We already know that the only xeno we've encountered 'alive' was some sort of AI. They never actually told us what they looked like," Replied the second voice, which had to be Ozmac

Saule decided Wensly and Ozmac would be just fine without him checking up on them, it was best not to interrupt scientists mid-argument. As he slipped past the room, Riyn came gliding down the shaft, his tall sleek frame almost filling the space, and waved to Saule. "Hey, I'd like to apologize for how I acted earlier, I wasn't expecting you to be so blunt with your opinion of me," Riyn said.

"I am too, it's been rough since everything has taken off so fast... I've been under a lot of pressure trying to keep pace with how everything is changing,” Saule said. "Why don't we start again. I'm Commander Saule. I look forward to working with you."

"I’d appreciate that commander. I’m Sergeant Riyn, I've been assigned to your crew for security and as a designated counselor. I hope to work closely with you in the future regarding the crew's well being."

Interrupting any further conversation, a series of pink lights blinked up and down the ship as a soft-spoken voice said.

-Arriving at destination in -thirty- cycles-

“Well I guess there’s no more time to chat, I’ll meet you at the bridge Commander," Riyn said.

As the crew assembled on the bridge, Saule sat in his flight seat, a larger piece than what he had grown used to on the Daring Leap. He fidgeted trying to get comfortable without being overt about it, it wouldn't do to show any signs of nervousness.

He managed to get settled just as Wensly and Ozmac came in, still talking about potential forms of extant life., Stuhkey and Yors followed behind them. Stuhkey was stifled a yawn behind Yors's back as he finished yet another yarn. Riyn came in with Flik and Naytani, both of whom were excitedly comparing notes with each other.

"All right, let's get back to reality and hope this outing doesn't end with us becoming a stellar anomaly. Naytani, Flik drop the Herzog Bubble and slow us down." Saule ordered.

"Yes sir" They answered. At that, what could only be described as a thin line of pure light formed outside the forward windows, and quickly expanded forming a view of the gas giant Gri'oux, it's teal colour highlighted by the crisp white of its ring. One of the small moons was visible as well. A misshapen, brown lump that was just big enough to not be an asteroid. The Mad Dash slowed as it came to the desired point in its flight plan, which would eventually align it with the satellite the Human had left behind.

The second part of the mission was to further investigate the satellite, make observations about the stellar bodies orbiting Gri'oux for the incoming POI ship. After they did so, the plan was to return to Plinth, pick up the rest of the crew and supplies then head out to the nearest system in the direction the Human had gone. That had been the plan, but what arrived with a dark purple flash that could barely be seen, soon changed everything.