Markus Blythe was currently recalibrating and running diagnostics on the Ambane, a military survey ship. The Ambane’s mission was to jump into uncharted space and catalogue planets and star systems. Finding habitable planets in the process helped further the Captain and his crews prestige and careers. The Ambane was currently in a drydock Thazae, currently one of the farthest habitable planet in the human sphere. The crew of the Ambane were currently on Thazae getting ready for their next exploration mission into uncharted space. Mission lasted anywhere from a few weeks to a whole year, though most only lasted six months. The only reason Markus was stuck on the Ambane was the fact that at least one engineer had to stay on the ship at all times. While that meant he had to stay on board by himself Markus didn't mind. In all honesty he prefers to be by himself with machines, at least with those he knew he would mess up or embarrass himself.
He usually fumbled over his tongue when he was near or talking to the ships lead medical officer, Myra Tharam. When he first joined the crew he'd gone around and introduced himself to everyone. In no way did he consider himself to be a ladies man; he always treated everyone on equal terms until he met Myra. He'd been smitten by her. It wasn't just her appearance, it was also how she acted and how awesome she was. She was just a few centimeters shorter than Markus, she was what would be called black Irish; that refers to someone of Irish origin with dark hair and blue eyes. Her skin was almost completely flawless, except for a scar that started at the edge of her widows peak that disappeared into her hair that she almost always had in a tight ponytail. Markus’s face grew bright red as he thought of her. He'd had the hardest time talking to her, he'd rather sit there and watch her laugh at one of his terrible jokes or the way he acted or how excited she'd get when talking to him about the things she liked. He knew that she'd probably not like him. He guessed from the she acted that she either had someone she already liked or is in a relationship already. And Markus was far too nervous to even ask about such a thing. In fact he'd rather not ruin their friendly relationship.
Markus shook his head clearing his head of such thoughts. He'd only been on this boat for a year and a half while everyone else had been here for three plus years. He'd taken the empty spot the lead engineer left after he'd retired. The crew was nice enough, but most had doubted his abilities and experience. Markus never let it get to him, he knew he was worth it and that's all he needed.
A heavy thump shook him from his reverie, it didn't help that he jumped. It didn't help that he mumbled to himself when he was deep in thought. Hoping against all hope he looked around to see if anyone was here to have possibly heard him. To his great relive no-one was in sight. Another smaller thump sounded. It was from the outside. After connecting himself to the ship board super computer he routed himself to the outbound cameras along the hull as he tried to find the offending masses. To his dismay they were armor chunks from another ship. His eyes were glued to the monitor on his wrist computer. Another ship… how had it lead to this? Markus poured over the systems security and news feeds. Nothing was pointedly out of place, that was odd. An idea came into his mind, along strategic points where Intel satellites. These satellites are meant to inform planets and ships in system of impeding jumps, asteroids, and other spatial debris that could harm or impede many of the proceeds in the system. Markus was aiming to see what had happened with this particular debris.
None of the satellites had picked up any information on what happened. The only thing was the registering of the debris and classifying it as none important. Only one piece was catalogued as important. The Intel satellites couldn't make it out completely, but it was a large chunk nonetheless. And at current it was making its way toward the starstation. Markus began a computer program that would catalogue and plan drift or possible impact path. While the computer ran its course on the projection, Markus made his way towards the bridge. Once there he punched in his command code (one of the benefits of being an engineer with admin access) the ship began to thrum to life as the Bridge computers woke up. The wrist computer chirped signaling it had finished its task. The engineer hooked his wrist computer into the ships main console causing both to sync. The main computer console flickered to life bringing up the projected path and time. A nervous smile began to form on Markus’ face…
The captain of the Amdane, Irwin Ivanov, is a man pushing forty, his hair was already streaked with gray. He loathed to admit it but he was becoming overweight and losing his touch. He's been a military man for life, just like most of his entire family line. Irwin had been on six different tours during his career, each had lasted four years. Most had been campaigns against insurrectionists, pirates, separatists, and smugglers. The whole human sphere was split between the original parent nations back on earth, now called Terra or in some cases the homeworld. There are also planets controlled by religious groups and alliances. Both factors tend to lead to wars for one reason or another.
Once Irwin had joined the Astral Corps, the spatial military, he had left all that behind. Besides many of the planets had fallen under one of the three governments, that includes all two hundred and nine planets… and whatever resource commissions they had. Irwin was currently in a bar enjoying a Martian zero gravity brewed rum, most planets in the Sol system had been terraformed and had exports of their own. Though he was partial towards mars where he'd been born. Even at his age, Irwin was debating if it was worth a shot to seek out romance from one of the natives. He shook his head, his wasn't a sexual need. All the captain really wanted was a companion he could confide in. He sighed wistfully. No one on his crew would do; that'd be him showing weakness and ultimately losing his crews trust, them believing him not a worthy captain. In more ways than one was he an odd captain. Instead of splitting his crew, he'd done his best to mesh them together and get them to be a well oiled machine. It had worked well instead of rivalries between officers they were friends and in some ways family. His fellow peers believed him mad for such tactics, but not many would argue with his results. The only two he'd feel he could talk to that weren't hardcore militants would be Myra or Markus. Myra would make the most sense with her being the lead medical officer… though many of the crew have talked to and spoken of Markus’ kindness and friendliness. He finished the rum in a single swig. Still both were under his command, he'd have to–
His wristcom began chirping signaling he's being hailed. Who could be calling him at this hour? Irwin tapped the computer face with his index and middle finger accepting the call. Markus’ came up on the screen, he was obviously nervous about interrupting the Captain. Markus stuttered for a few seconds then clumsily saluted. “Sir!” The flustered engineer practically shouted. It was a good thing that the wristcoms had a subdermal implant that allowed the user to be the only one to see or hear what was on screen.
“What is it engineer?” Irwin ordered. The man on the other side of the called flinched and opened his mouth, stopped himself and looked to be carefully thinking over what he was about to ask “spit it out boy.” The captain said simply. The man on the screen nodded “Sir, roughly five minutes ago I spotted debris and what is possibly an armored piece of another survey ship. Most of what I've seen is through the Intel satellites and the ships sensors,” the image of the engineer spun away and the layout of the ships sensors took it place. A series icons of various sizes and denotations were spread across the screen. That doesn't make sense the captain thought as he watched the small display. This far out in the fringes of human space there wasn't any enemies because of the fears of being completely abandoned by the rest of the human sphere. “permission to retrieve the larger piece floating towards us? I have already gotten Yuki Palmerton on board to relieve me for my brief shore time.” The old captain began to stroke the short stubble on his face. Yuki was a savant at engineering and technology, though she was always serious and refused to waste time. She was tall for someone of Asian descent. Her home planet had less gravity than earth causing the inhabitants of the planet to grow taller. At first it was almost detrimental, but after years of living on the planet human inhabitants had adapted to the gravity. Yuki was about one hundred and eighty two centimeters tall (roughly six feet). Her no nonsense attitude and intimidating manner had earned her the name Ice queen or ice giant in the crew, no-one had the balls to say it anywhere near her. Though Irwin suspected she knew about it. The engineers on board the Amdane we're technically note military personnel and that allowed them some personal freedoms the rest of the crew wasn't allowed. Yuki always took advantage of that and always had taken advantage of that and modified her uniform and hair. It always seemed different every time he saw her. You could say that was the only thing unserious about her.
“Sir?” a small voice asked. Irwin nodded his head “You have permission to collect that thing. I don't want that to damage our ship” he spoke firmly. “Aye aye, sir” Markus saluted and the feed went dark. Irwin sighed heavier this time as he pressed the recall all on his wristcom. That would send a single over the military channels call all hands to report back to the ship. He drained his drink as he got up and threw down bills. The only reason bills still existed was for places such as this where the money card systems have not yet been set up. The solid currency was a special kind made to withstand most punishment and only ranged seven bills based on old American currency. Simple does what simple does.
Markus made his way towards the hangar bay there he'd get on one of the ship’s cutters and retrieve the wreck. His blue fatigues sat on top of his underlying space armor and suit. The suit was a nanoweave smart fabric that made perfectly fitting clothing on any person. The suit had standard armor padding made up of a synthetic and highly resistant armor polymer. The suit were dubbed Zero G Armor or ZG armor for short. Marine fatigues were standard for all those about a military ship. Even those who are considered civilian personnel, the main difference between them and full fledged marines was that their uniforms didn't not denote rank only name and occupation. Not being of military crew, Markus rarely wore the blue cargo jacket. He normally just wore his simple gray tee and the uniform pants. Fear of being vented into space caused Markus to always carry the hood that acted as a helmet and always carried the recycling rebreather. The prospect of being vented into space made him shudder even though he wore and carried the safety gear he'd have a microsecond get the gear on; it would likely not be fast enough. Markus shook his head. Even so it made him feel far safer than without. He keyed his access code into the computer and gave dock control to the closest of the four cutters. The Ambane was roughly six hundred meters from stem to stern. While not large in the human fleet she wasn't small. She was also fitted with a loading dock the could carry at least four Ox half tracks with breathing room. An ox half track was about the same size as a standard Semi truck and attached trailer. Though there weren't any on board now, that meant if need be Markus would be able to bring back the floating hulk.