Chapter 1

A ship hurtles through the darkness of the void with the name Fortuna stenciled onto the side. The ship was a large and intricate thing. With little visual appeal or sleekness, it was akin to something one may find in the vast junkyards of Ultros Alpha. The hunk of metal housed more souls than Gabriel could count, but he was responsible for all of their safety. Standing on the prow of the ship officers buzzing like bees in a hive, no one payed him any heed. Instead, they busied themselves with the constant task of keeping the ship from falling apart while he consulted the charts. They were spread for him to walk through as if he were a god. Each planet sized to its exact proportions, but diminutive before him. This would be impressive enough, but Gabriel could only focus on the large blue tear in the map before him. It had been found on the outer reaches of the know galaxy and only his crew had been brave enough to attempt to travel through it. He looks up and sees the Tear before him, and the first thing he realizes is that it is not just blue. It ungulates with color like oil spilled on water, never quite choosing one, always shifting. Looking closer there is something on the other side of the tear, through the gateway he sees a planet. One with lush green trees, mountains, and rivers. It was not unlike the stories his mother had told him of what his home world looked like before corporations came. The planet came closer and closer towards him, or was he moving closer to it? As the Fortuna entered the Tear Gabriel saw a figure with golden hair and white feathered wings. Its amber eyes were locked with his own. 

The sound of Gabriels alarm jolted him awake, and he lazily reached out to smack hellish box the required number of times for it to cease its wailing. He unstrapped himself from his bed and sat up, running his hand through his sandy colored hair. There was that dream again, always right when they made it through the Tear. That planet, that angelic figure. Why did it keep appearing to him? and why did it always seem to be beaconing to him? Outside the darkness of the void was broken by pinpricks of starlight, and the occasional planet in the distance. None could sustain humans for any length of time he knew, but it still made him wonder. If there were other life forms out here other than humans, could they have lived on these planets? Many were rich in minerals or other recourses. Planets that the Corps from back home would have no qualms about sapping dry. But without water or atmosphere, the Fortuna would not set down on them. She was a colony ship. The people on this ship left everything behind, and for some that was a lot, so that they could chart these vast reaches. It was an extremely risky venture, so far they had been out here for five years searching for any planet that they could touch down on. Gabriel was not sure how long the ship was able to sustain this many people for, but he was hoping that it was at least ten or even twenty years. So far, they have found no signs of life in this strange alien galaxy, and if food and water started to run out, things were liable to get messy very quickly. This lit a fire under Gabriel and he dressed quickly, putting on his work clothes, a simple vest and trousers and exited his quarters to set off towards his office. 

As the ship's navigator it was not just his duty to set the ships course. To be perfectly honest, setting a course for the ship was often a quick and easy affair. Once the course was set his job would usually be done. It was the pilot's job to make sure they didn't hit asteroids or other space debris. On a normal ship his role would then boil down to that of a helper or assistant. Get coffee, print documents, deliver this part. Anything that the captain could think of to keep him busy, but on the Fortuna it was much different. He was responsible for cataloging and analyzing all the new planets they passed by and seeing if they were good candidates to land. While the Fortuna had state of the art navigational and scanning equipment, that didn't mean that they could know everything about a planet at a glance, especially this far out, so often the ship would change course to get closer to some new planet only to find that that heavy atmosphere concealed only a baron wasteland. or that the ocean planet was made up of highly corrosive acid oceans and not water ones. They were on one such diversion currently and should be within effective range of the ships high powered radar in just a few hours. Gabriel hoped that this planet was the one, he knew that everyone on the ship was growing restless and some were even regretting their decision to come on the expedition. 

Opening the door to his office, Gabriel switched on the light and found the place spotless with a fresh pot of tea resting on a hot plate on his small desk with two cups ready to be used. Jasmine was always so thoughtful, for some reason she paid special attention to his office consistently leaving him snacks or teas or the like. If she wasn't Shannon's sister Gabriel was sure that his partner would be wary of the woman, but the two were as thick as thieves. Perhaps that was why Jasmine always did nice things for him? Gabriel banished the thought from his mind and turned back to the map powering it on and pouring himself a cup of tea, the scent suggesting it had a flavor whose name was shared with the woman who brewed it. The hologram of the surrounding planets and stars came to life in front of him and he stepped into it. The thought better when it was all around him instead of just in front of him. He gestured to enlarge the hologram of the planet that the Fortuna was speeding towards. It was a promising one. It had a stable atmosphere and gravity, and the green mountains and deserts indicated rich deposits of copper in the soils. The only thing they were missing was a water source. If they could find ice at the poles or springs underground, then it would be a perfect planet to set up on, and their search would be over. The planet also had two rings surrounding it, they made landing a bit tricky, but they also may contain a variety of precious resources that could help the colony thrive. Despite all these advantages, Gabriel felt like this planet, he had named it Coprum Theta, was the ninth such copper planet he had found. He felt something in his gut that the people on this ship would not be settling on a world of green soil, but he wasn't on this expedition because of his gut feelings, so he set the scanners to work. Creating a path for them starting at the poles and scanning the planet vertically and then horizontally. The scan took a while and he would need to decipher the special data later, so he finished his cup of tea, poured the last of the tea into both cups and made his way to the command deck. 

Gabriel arrived on the command deck and walked up next to Captain Teodore, handing him the other cup of jasmine tea as he sipped his own. 

"And where did you get this?" Theodore asked raising an eyebrow

"My personal supplies Captain. I thought you would want a break from the sorry excuse for coffee that you can find in the mess hall" Gabriel replied. 

"If we were back in the navy you would have been punished for bad mouthing the cook." Theodore said with a wry smile. 

"Then it's a good thing this is a civilian ship." Gabriel chuckled, thinking back on his time in the Apex Corp Navy with Theodore. They had been cadets together, and while their paths differed, they still ended up on the same ships working together. It was Theodore who had asked him to be his navigator on this mission, and while it was not the only reason Gabriel had signed up, it was an important one. He and Theodore had been through a lot together, and when Apex went under, they had been there for each other. Such a friendship was a rare thing to be cherished. "I started the scans, but I have a bad feeling about this one, I think it is more trouble than it is worth."

"It better not be." Theodore said quietly, "We are getting dangerously low on provisions Gabriel. We need to find a suitable world and fast, or else this entire expedition will go up in smoke." There it was. Gabriel stared down into his cup and watched the steam waft from the warm green liquid. 

"How much time do I have?" Gabriel asked, 

"About a month until the rationing starts. After that is anyone's guess. If the passengers do as their told we can hold out for half a year at best." Gabriel knew that was wishful thinking. The riots would start well before six months, even if they could mine asteroids for ice. 

"And the hydroponics?"

"Most of the plants died when we made the jump. We have begun utilizing the seeds that we had for the first year of crops, but if we take too much of that there will be nothing for the first year's harvest, and we will be screwed. I hope that for once in your god dammed life your hunch is wrong, but I know better than to bet on a miracle." Gabrield went silent once more.

"It will be a little while till the scans are done." He said, "In the meantime I will start surveying other planets."

"Cast your scans out deeper than protocol." Theodore said

"Is that wise? what if someone picks up on it? Dark forest and all that." 

"We can't really afford to be worried about that right now. Besides, we haven't seen so much as a spec of civilization out here yet, so I doubt anyone will pick up our signal. If they do? I will have to just pray that they are friendly." 

"Understood captain" Gabriel said, as he took both cups and made his way back to his office. 

Gabriel made it to his office to find that the light was on. He smiled as he pushed through and found Shannon standing by the map looking at the planet as the scans slowly made a more accurate 3-dimensional model of its surface. She neglected to take her eyes off the model as he closed the door behind him. 

"You are not allowed in here you know." Gabriel said with a smile as he moved to stand beside her.

"And who is going to stop me? You?" She asked as she shuffled a bit to make room for him. He easily placed his arm around her shoulder as he found her arm wrap behind his waist. The two stared at the hologram for a long while at peace. Gabriel let himself forget about the imminent doom that he and the entire mission faced as he enjoyed the digital construction of the planet before him with his partner by his side. After a while, Shannon spoke. 

"What do you think? will we find water somewhere?" She asked. 

"It is likely, there seem to be a variety of cave entrances on the surface, and the poles have mountainous regions, there is a good chance there is a spring or two somewhere in those mountains. Though I have yet to see a pool of any kind." He replied.

"I didn't ask what science Gabriel thought, I asked what Gabriel thought." She pressed. He let out a long sigh.

"I doubt we will find anything of note, but I think the captain will want to send a team down." He said. 

"Then I had better get my gear ready." She said.