Gunslingers of the Solarsphere

The taste of stale peanut and salt filled her mouth. It was verging on grotesque. Alexis Athena popped another handful back. Then a second, and a third. The peanut snacks were a convenient distraction from the latest scenario on Tectonia . Chewing also helped to drown out Captain Baxter’s and Jen Marshall’s latest argument. “They have been back and forth for over half an hour now,” she whispered to Ezra. “I can’t keep track,” Ezra whispered back, while flipping his greasy hair and adjusting his glasses. “Which one wants to head home now?” The chief engineer’s voice raised above salience, surging out from the din in the Mainframe Domain , “…and I will be damned if I end up like Orisa and the other explorers in my lineage. Leaving to some planet or system and never coming home. Without a word. I want to make it home to Po, and that means not getting crushed and becoming an exotic snack for some alien mega-birds.” And they said us scientists were indecisive… “I think Jen does no...

Jen Marshall, descendant of a long-line of space-faring captains and admirals and explorers, gaped as Captain Baxter brought her up to speed. Her thoughts on the mission grew more pessimistic with each passing second. Chief engineer on a rust-bucket orbiting some useless planet in a useless solar system. Orisa would be pleased to know her great-great-great-whatever granddaughter is so successful... Truth be told, the Garibaldi was not a terrible ship to crew on. It would have been top of the line tech 50 years ago and runs better than any ship the average civilian would have, but is on the low end for gunslingers. Of note, the ship systems were severely outdated when they had departed from Terra Duomo . Jen’s first move as chief engineer, to much reproach and backlash, was directing her software engineers to re-code all systems up to current standards, optimized for efficiency and precision. Almost half a year later, at least their software was modernized. Thankfully for their cur...

Sombrero Galaxy , 31.1 million light-years from Earth System #1129 In orbit of planet SG#1129/2, “ Tectonia ” Approximately 146.6 million kilometres from the nearest Solarsphere   Life keeps moving, if you cannot adapt you will get trapped in the past . Captain Baxter rested his hand on the bulkhead, his heavy heart juxtaposed with the lack of gravity. The looming mission had caused him many nights of deep anxiety, but he trusted his science team to the end. He read the mission log from the Gunslinger’s Society for the 300 th time: “Jake, planet SG#1129/2 is an enigma. We received a mysterious radio signal from there, to our first probes in the system. Nothing else has come through since and we have been unable to collect any data on the planet. Figure out why our probes have pulled no data from it… If there are undocumented alien species, document them, interrogate them, and kill them if necessary. I want a full report, and do not return to the Terra Duomo until the m...