Dr. Phillips Recalls the Reconnaissance Team

-=That's a days travel if we haul ass. =- Dr. Oliver said. He looked at the holonav in the cabin of the Catercrawler. Dr. Phillips had sent him a travel route as well as a mission briefing that entailed what to do if it's a crash, and what to do if it's not. He understood the fuss of the situation, but highly doubted it was a crash. They didn't get visitors this far out toward the Rim. There was no reason to pretend that Dr. Phillips thought there could be anything more than something to gain from this mission.

-=Emergency Team just isn't qualified if it's not a crash.=- Dr. Phillips said. - =Alicia's team will be pivotal to success and safety. Command out.=-

Dr. Oliver set the comm headset down.

He turned around and ran his fingers through his hair. He was a good twenty years younger than his boss, and frankly had been deemed unqualified to act as second in command of Lucy's Lament colony due to inexperience, but no one else wanted to be part of a mission that took then so far from Earth for so long, especially considering LV-1412 had been deemed the galactic armpit.

He raised up and adjusted his Pressure Suit. The planet wasn't a vacuum, but the levels of methane and nitrogen and low atmospheric pressure were still dangerous to the human body if they were exposed for extended periods of time, so they decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Radiation levels were low, lower even than Mars, due to the perpetual cloud cover.

They set the Catercrawlers navigation system to follow the predesignated route and went about getting in meals and sleep.

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March 10th, 2154

The opening was four hundred feet or more across leading down into a chasm that Dr. Oliver couldn't peirce with his atmo-filters headlamps. Alicia stood next to him with her echo-pack and spelunking gear. Her maroon hair and pale skin stood out through the glass of the face mask.

"Pack's only mapping about five hundred feet into the cave system." She said. She pulled a chemstick from a pocket on her belt and broke it, letting the chemicals inside illuminate before tossing it into the hole. She followed it down with her eyes until it disappeared over the lip of another chasm. "We'll have to navigate the opening manually. Something down there is interfering with the echo."

"Probably the source of the beacon." Said Julie. The Asian girl was tying the first leafs of their repel lines off with the winch in the front of the Catercrawler. "I'm going to hardline a fiber optic comm cable to the repel rope since the echo is getting interference. Don't want to be out of radio contact once we're below the crust."

Alicia nodded.

"We've got seven people, counting your team, two from security, and myself." Dr. Oliver said. "You're the expert here. Who are you taking down with you?"

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RECONNAISSANCE TEAM:

Leader: Dr. Frank Oliver (Male, Astrobiology)

Survey Leader: Alicia Graham (Female, Survey and Geology)

1st Survey Assistant: Julie Takarada (Female, Exploration and Engineering)

2nd Survey Assistant: Jennifer Angeles (Female, Biologist)

3rd Survey Assistant: Luther Gunther (Male, Mechanic and Survival Instructor)

1st Security Officer: Andy Graves (Male, Security, 2nd in command of Security Team)

2nd Security Officer: Henrietta Musgroves (Female, Security)

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