The reactor room was finally in view as Dimitri finished his brooding. Bar the armory, it was the largest and most reinforced door on the ship. However, this door was not as much to keep people out as to keep the reactor sealed. Thankfully, it had the same mechanism as the previous one to help open it on a much larger scale for entering the reactor in an emergency.

With a bit more effort than the last, the door was open. Laying open to the dark reactor room.

Luckily, the reactor appeared in good shape to Dimitri, the bits he could make out. The reactor used an obscenely efficient nuclear fusion to power the pulse engine and the rest of the ship. Fusion itself was much safer than fission had been in the past, but it was still a small worry that the reactor could somehow fail.

'Old fears die hard.'

Dimitri had no idea how to restart the reactor, which was in a state of shutdown. A control terminal ran on its small battery source to run the reactor, so Dimitri made a beeline for it. Turning it on before, bringing up the interface with his cyberware.

'At least the Corpo's can make a simple terminal be run by their brainwashed inept.' With a few mental manipulations, he had the reactor starting up. Finding a strangely simple application obviously meant to be run with a spartan crew. A hum filled the air as power was finally routed through the ship. A certain hum was sadly missing. The engine should have immediately started up to an idle the minute the reactor started.

'Something for the AI to do. Hopefully, it won't fuck that up to.'

Dimitri was not looking forward to waking it up. It was the cause of the situation in the first place. Part of him considered just simply leaving it off. It would certainly make the issue of his brooding much easier. But it was only entertained briefly before he pushed it from his mind. 'As much as I don't like it. I cannot run the ship myself. Let alone control the drones.'

Making his way back out onto the main engineering deck, he was greeted by the lights finally being on. The emergency lighting was enough to make his way here the dim corridors, but the sterile white light basking the deck was much better for navigating the ship.

'I could do without the claxons.' Dimitri mused.

The intercom system immediately started blaring out alarms throughout the ship when the power was restored. None too surprising. They were beyond annoying, however.

Thankfully, the AI's housing was also on the engineering deck at the ship's bow opposite the reactor. So, Dimitri moved quickly through the deck, trying to tune out the alarms.

Arriving at the spacecraft's bow and the storage room for the AI's housing. The AI's housing was a cube several feet tall and several feet wide. It was little more than a server rack in reality. Quite underwhelming if you were to ask Dimitri. It was rather lackluster for some almighty computing power at the apex of Human AI development. Wires and cables ran out of the top of the rack with a terminal attached to the front, still unlit.

Making his way toward the back of the rack, he looked over the battery pack and connections. They all seemed fine, yet he wanted to make sure unless he fucks something up when returning power to the AI housing.

"Well, here we go. Moment of truth." With a shrug, he turned on the power to the housing using the correct power-up procedure.

'Maybe I'll be lucky, and it will fry the thing.'

A small hum and the sound of the display booting showed otherwise. 'Well, a man can hope.'

Returning to the front display, Dimitri watched as the display had turned on, and with a simple mental interaction, Dimitri could start booting the AI up.

Sitting on the floor, Dimitri leaned against a bulkhead to wait until the AI was online. Most of his work was now done. Occasionally a small pain lanced up from his insides, nerve endings still reconnecting. Dimitri could recover from most wounds. His nanites and genetic manipulation made sure of that. It sadly did nothing for the pain of having your insides ripped apart. After this, he would have to eat a week's worth of food from the galley rations to compensate for the lost tissue mass.

At least Dimitri did not have to wait long. The AI reached out to him through his cyberware minutes later.

"Contractor Krieger, repair drones are currently being deployed to repair the ship. Please report to the bridge for more information regarding the current situation of Epimetheus."

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Dimitri, with a sigh, heaved himself up. Making his way back through the engineering deck. Already repair drones were out repairing all the damage. He had to avoid the small drones as they scurried to do their work. They were the size of a small housecat pre-exodus with spider-like legs. The drones had an almost insectoid-type shape, with their distinctive alloy composite makeup. They used a small pouch of nanite material sprayed from an applicator positioned off the top of their body to fix most of the damage. They also use small appendages on the lower part of their bodies to manipulate and repair electrical damage. Mending the wires and restoring their connections.

The lift was, thankfully, fully functional again by the time Dimitri got to it. Climbing through the shaft once was enough. When Dimitri had made his way up the lift to the bridge level, most of the superficial damage had been repaired. The bridge itself was still in a state of disrepair. Drones were continuously working, dispensing their nanite applicators to repair the damage. When empty, they scurried off towards the walls, small openings letting the small drones enter the ducts that ran through the ship so they could refill on their nanite solution.

The main console and screen had already been repaired at the bridge's center. Dimitri sat in the chair, taking the cue as it was the only fully functional one. The console instantly flickers to life. What appeared on the screen was a schematic of the ship. Portions lit up in various colors, denoting damage. 'Well, that explains the engine issue.'

The entirety of the rear of the ship was denoted in red, indicating major damage or loss. Dimitri also noted the sensor suite was also majorly in red.

"Epimetheus, status."

"Contractor Krieger, interior repairs are coming along at the expected pace. We are at 57% operational capacity. However, the engine, as well as the rear maneuvering thrusters, are currently unaccounted for. The Sensor suite is also heavily damaged."

The panel flashed with warnings and focused on the ship's engines. Dimitri's face contorted, his hands clenching and unclenching on the chair's armrests.

Dimitri said with a measured tone of voice, "... what do you mean the engines are currently unaccounted for?"

There was a moment of pause before the AI responded, "Contractor Krieger, your heart is currently beating at an elevated level. Would you like a form of sedative?"

"No, I would much rather you tell me what the hell you mean by our engines are gone." all the pretense of keeping a calm tone of voice gone.

"Currently, the repair drones dispatched to try and re-establish a connection have failed. There is no longer any connection to re-establish. However, the mission may no longer need the use of the engines on the Epimetheus." Dimitri was about to begin his protest before the display in front of him lit up. Planetary data started spewing forth. Air composition, radiation levels, temperature readings, and initial seismic charts.

"What is this?"

"Presently, the Epimetheus seems to find itself located on a prime exoplanet that seems to be in the goldilocks zone of this star system. It is almost identical to Earth concerning temperature and atmospheric conditions. Yet, due to gravity readings, it can be deduced that this planet is 1.5x to 2x larger than Earth, depending on the planet's actual mass and composition."

Dimitri's anger dissipated almost instantly, replaced by confusion. His mouth repeatedly opened and closed before finally being able to croak out, "How?"

"Unknown, the best hypothesis is that the anomaly acted as some sort of wormhole transporting the Epimetheus to this location. However, due to the current understanding of quantum physics, such an occurrence should not be possible. The quantification of variables being too much for such an occurrence to be possible."

"Where are we then?" said Dimitri as he leaned back into his chair. The pent-up rage was starting to abate. Be it as slight as it might be. His muscles remained tense. 'There are still so many variables. Even if we are on a planet that could work. Are we even in a good place to begin?'

"Unknown," with another flicker, the display changed to an external view of the ship. Taking in a pristine sky. A singular sun at its zenith in the day indicates it to be close to midday. "Current observations have not been able to place us in known space. Once this system's star has set, I will make a comparison of our star maps and try to determine our location. If such a thing is to be possible."

Dimitri gave a tad nod before continuing to question the AI, "What other things have you learned about this planet?"

'This might be his chance.'

The display's camera position switched. Gone was the pristine sky and replaced by a blackened hellscape.

All for about 500 meters that is. Beyond the charred ground and smoldering debris stood an evergreen forest. The pines stretched lazily up into the sky. The camera continued to pan, making a 360-degree turn atop Epimetheus. The forest stretched all-encompassing around the ship. Nothing seems to break the horizon except in the last 60 degrees or so of the pan. Mountains in the far distance. Their snowcapped peaks poked into a thunderhead as it formed, stretching as far as the horizon.

Breath caught in Dimitri's throat, his hair standing on end. He had been around for a long time, yet this was the first time he had seen such majesty and plant life. He never imagined something this majestic would be on whatever planet Epimetheus found. Expecting some barely habitable iceball seemed the best option when determining the initial flight plan.

Such vistas had been gone from Earth for centuries before he came around. Sprawling cities replaced these natural vistas. Some cover the smaller continents of the old world fully. He only saw similar views from the super-wealthy he had previously done contracts for. Their personal gardens and getaways pale in comparison to this

"It is hard at the moment to determine any biosignatures in the atmosphere to denote any forms of civilization on this planet. The sensor suite took heavy damage upon our entrance into the anomaly. There is the possibility as this is an almost perfect planet for carbon-based lifeforms such as humans or another apex species to have progressed."

The camera then panned down toward the hull of the ship. The blackened ground met up with the immaculate hull. The ship itself seemed to be sunk several meters into the soil. Accounting for the slight forward list that the ship seemed to have.

"There is no indication for re-entry, so it is to be assumed at the current moment that anomaly 00-1 seems to have deposited the Epimetheus on the surface of the planet. By what means is still unknown. Calculations will be run to try and determine how such an anomaly occurred. However, it seems most prudent to continue with the mission. Contractor Krieger, it is time for you to determine if this is a suitable location for the colony and do threat assessments on the local terrain and potential life. Would you like a drone dispatched for reconnaissance purposes?"

With a bit of a grunt, Dimitri consented to a drone being dispatched. "Send out a light drone, stealth being the most important objective now until we can know more. Have it work a circular orbit using the Epimetheus as a starting point. Also, have the feed patched into my cyberware. If there are no hazards as far as the limited sensors can detect, I will investigate in person."

'It's time to get off this damned ship.'

"There are no hazards as far as can be determined by the sensors. Traveling out is ill-advised per company guidelines on traversing potential new worlds."

"Stuff your guidelines. Is it safe to go out or not?" Dimitri's face took on a snarl. His teeth barred at the panel.

"It is in the purview of the Contractor to determine the suitability of the colony location. However ill-advised it might be to traverse an alien land; it is without a determinable hazard at the current moment. So, it is up to you Contractor Krieger if you would wish to proceed."

"Then I am going to suit up. Launch the drone."

Dimitri wasted no time springing from the chair. Making his way past the scurrying drones and through the hiss of the door. The hum of the ship droned on as he walked through the corridor toward his room. A small tremor ran through the ship signifying the drone's launch to begin its reconnaissance orbit. Flying unhindered into the free open sky.