"Well your mentor was a wise person. However i would like to add that humans don't need scarcity to commit violence against eachoter for whatever reasons. Now before i get into more details about my research and show you the contents of this datapad. I must ask you how will this help your reasearch?" His expression hardened a bit as he looked into the eyes of the young scientist in front of him.
She nodded, an exchange for an exchange, as was agreed before her enthusiasm nearly overtook her professional obligations. "Before the loss of my ship I was also in the process of attempting to mark, map, and survey as yet uncharted systems. They were all either lifeless, rendered inert by some cosmic catastrophe, or could sustain life but would cost way too much in manpower and resources to pursue." Her lips pursed, some small frustration showing. "Or they were infested with Nomads and their constructs." .
Evan listened to the woman in front of him. And he started to piece together the puzzle. She was dangerously close to nomads. Her ship was destroyed. Well it doesn't take a genius to add theese two together. If it were some sort of accident she would'Ve already told him how the ship was lost. The only reason to keep the details secret is because of those damnable space jellyfish.
"I see. And since the destruction of your vessel? What were you working on? I mean loosing your ship and crew must have took its toll. One would think that you'd request some time off." Taking another deep smoke and watching the woman's reactions. Hoping that his line of questioning would not make her realize completly what is happening and of course that she was willing to part with more information. It's not like he was about to just interrorgate her and leave. He was determined to hand over the results but knowledge is power he thought. This was when he realized he sounded like a certain person he hoped would not meet again.
And across Sirius a certain middle aged man sipping his coffee suddendly felt the need to sneeze.
She smiled at the mentioning of the ship she'd lost, lost in the sense that it was no longer operational. She had spent so much time in a sterile, lab environment that sometimes she forgot that being specific and nuanced was an important part of conversation. "No, I apologize my ship wasn't destroyed per-se, simply damaged beyond the SLRC's limited ability to repair. My crew, all save a dozen or so, survived and are happily working on Ikarus Station assisting with it's day to day." As the conversation continued on she noted that they hadn't approached the topic of the datapad, their original purpose. Noting her own thirst she held up a hand for a pause to their talks as she got up and headed back over to the bartender. She placed her hands on the counter, back turned, their conversation unheard but whatever words had been exchanged she came back with a tall glass filled with a fizzy, carbonated blue-red liquid; an umbrella neatly pinned to the side.
Sitting down with her drink she took a sip and hummed contentedly, the sugar revitalizing her from the journey. "Apologies, as I was saying, my personal research was simple exploration and analyzation of the anomalies that have been appearing all around Sirius," She took another sip before placing the glass down, crossing her legs under the table as she faced Chandler with her hands folded. "Nothing consequential, I'm afraid, and also nothing I can reveal until Doctor Wright returns from his own projects. As for time off, well, I had plenty of it while waiting for my ship to be repaired. And when it couldn't I made preparations and headed off on my own."
"Oh. I thought that you..never mind then." He said as he internally cursed at his own stupid impatient self. In any case what was done was done. He might as well salvage as much as he can. He did get some information out which he could later use to further refine his now growing theory. Dropping the cigarette in the ashtray he picked up the datapad activating its screen and inserting the acces codes for it to make the file on it available. He slid the pad across the table to Doctor Genda.
"Well. I'm sure that you are interested in this. So I'm not going to keep you waiting. I'll give you some time to read through it. And then tell me your thoughts. Untill then i'Ll go get myself another drink." As he stood up he forgot to keep his coat tight to his body and if one was looking it at him they could make out the unmistakeable shape of a gunholster and a gun.
The system is a binary one with an M8 type dwarf and a G2 type main sequence star. The red dwarf we designated P3X-234/Alpha has the following specifications: Luminosity Ib, Color: Red, it has a Temperature of 3000K, Mass: 1.59 x 10e33 kg, Diameter: 8.02 x 10e9 km. The G2 type main sequence was designated: P3X-234/Beta. It has the following specifications: Luminosity: V, Color: Yellow, Temperature: 5000K, Mass: 1.99 x 10e30 kg, Diameter: 1.39 x 10e7 km.
Arround theese stars we found two gas giants that are in orbit. Designated P3X-234/1 and P3X-234/2. P3X-234/1 had three moons orbiting it. We designated them M7G-451, M7G-452, M7G-453.
P3X-234/1:
Diameter: 120 535 km
Mass: 5,6846 × 10e26 kg
Temperature: N/A
Terrian: N/A
Escape velocity: 35,49 km/sec
Initial scanns of the planet's atmosphere concluded that it is comprised of hydrogen and helium. In detail the outer atmosphere contains 96,3% hydrogen and 3,25% helium. Trace ammounts of ammonia, acetylene propane, ethane and phosphine along with methane have been detected in the atmosphere as well. The upper clouds are composed of ammonia crystals while the lower clouds appear to consist of either ammonium hydrosulfide or water. Ultraviolet radiation from the stars it orbits causes methane photolysis in the upper atmosphere, leading to a series of hydrocarbon chemical reactions with the resulting products being carried downward by eddies and diffusion. Similar to other gas giants it exhibits a banded pattern in its atmosphere. The bands are fainter and wider near the equator. We also observed extremely strong winds in the atmosphere with a peak velocity of 500 m/s.
M7G-451 and M7G-452 are extremely small asteroids that consist mostly of nikel and iron. And M7G-452 is on an extremely low orbit and after anylizing it's behaviour we came to the conclusion that it will collide with P3X-234/1 within the next 200 years.
M7G-453 on the other hand was more interesting to survey. The moon itself is mostly comprised of silicate rock similar to rocky planets and it has large ammount of water on it in the form of a thick lair of Ice. We also suspect form the scans that it has liquid water below said ice wich surrounds the rocky silicate crust. The moon also has a thin atmosphere comprised mainly of molecular oxigen and water vapor.
Diameter: 3 121 km
Mass: 4,80 x 10^22 kg
Temperature: 50K to 125K
Terrian: See above.
Escape Velocity: 2,025 km/s
Moving on further we later examined P3X-234/2. After entering orbit we sent probes to the planet and determined that it consists largely of hydrogen with a minimal ammount of helium and methane. To be precise the upper atmosphere consists of arround 91% hydrogen, 5% helium and 4% methane. It also contains trace ammounts of ammonia, water and silicon. We also detected carbon ethan hydrogen-sulfid, neon, oxigen and sulfur in various ammounts. The upper atmosphere also contains frozen ammonia in a crystalized state. Infrared and ultraviolet scans also detected Benzene among other hydrocarbons.
Diameter: 142 984 km
Mass: 1,989 × 10e27 kg
Terrain: N/A
Temperature: N/A
Escape Velocity: 59,60 km/sec
After finishing up the surveys of the planets and their moons. We moved further away from the system's center to an asteroid belt. Preliminary scans showed nothing extraordinary as the asteroids were comprised mostly of rocky silicates with any noteworthy traces of metals being iron and nickel. After sampling multiple rocks however we found high concentration of platinum in one particularly large rock and it's surroundings. Further research required.
The system also contained a small gas cloud. Scans indicated large concentration of explosive gas pockets making surveys difficult but we believe it consists mostly of methane.
Adjusting her glasses, Lillian's blue eyes followed the datapad as it was produced from Chandler's coat, smiling as he seemed to have been caught off-guard somewhat by the sudden shift and change. Pocketing her notebook and slipping the pen back into it's secured velcro holder, the researcher explorer flipped the datapad over and held it in a hand; looking over it's contents. Her eyes flicked briefly to his concealed weapon, humming somewhat in approval as even knowledge seekers needed a little cold steel, especially so out in the edge worlds. As he moved away to get his drink she buried herself in the contents of his research, looking for something that may or may not help the SLRC overall.
"Interesting .." She would mutter, humming quietly as she continued scrolling through.
He was making his way back to the table and just set his whiskey down when a couple of drunk patrons started beating up eachother while everyone else was just minding their own business. That is untill another patron looked up from his table holding a couple cards in one of his hands while a gun in the other, clearly annoyed by the ruckuss those two drunks were making.
"HEY SHUT THE HELL UP BEFORE I TOSS YOUR ASS OUTA HERE DAMN IT!" The man with the cards shouted at the two idiots fighting. Evan simply growled as he sat down and looked at the woman who was looking through his data.
Having finished her examination of the datapad, Lillian pushed it back towards Chandler's end of the table for when he returned. The commotion at the other end of the bar temporarily taking her attention before it was redirected back towards her new researcher friend. "That we've more or less reached the same conclusions, at least for now, in that finding a new system of habitable planets will have to be looked for beyond the Sirius star system. Regardless, I'm sure Doctor Wright will want to look at this whether or not it will be beneficial." She took her glasses off, folding them together as she slipped them back into her front pocket before reaching over to her glass to drain the remnants of the fizzy liquid. "Is there anything else you might want me to let him know of?" Lillian would ask, resting her head against her hand, eyes closed. The casual nature had returned, shifting away from the professional. Multiple layers with her. Like an onion.
"Oh this isn't for him. As i said during our conversation in space this was for you. Besides if anyone Wright knows about this journey as he was part of the GRG as was i when this report was made."
After finishing he took a sip from his drink. He grabbed the datapad back and dropped it into the inner pocket of his coat.
"As for your conclusion. i would not necessarily agree with it. There are a lot of systems within Sirius that are currently unreachable at the moment. Or i should say that they lack jumphole connections and can only be reached by conventional engines which take time. Too much time. Taking one last sip from his drink and setting the empty glass on the table he stood up and noticed several members of the malteese cartell entering the bar and taking a glance at them they looked pissed not only that one glance at the bartender told him everything. And the rest of the patrons also slowly left. "I suggest we get out of this joint. The cartell seems pissed and i for one don't want to end up a corpse before my time because i didn't know when to quietly leave before open season starts." He turned arround walked away towards the exit. Looking back to see if Genda was following him or not. The bar was slowly getting empty with only the cartell thugs the bartender and one person still sitting and drinking at the table remaining.
"Ah, my mistake then, I had expected to be used as an interim secretary between two long-time friends and professionals."Lillian would quip, smiling after as she moved to stand. Her attention moved towards the entrance, hand sliding across the table as she didn't need a degree to know when trouble was starting. She wasn't much of a fighter, even with the small amount of practical experience she had, but Lillian wasn't about to go down for wanting a better tasting drink; so she followed after Chandler, trailing behind as the rest of the patrons left and the Maltese came shuffling in all their glory.
"No need to tell me twice, I'm a thinker not a fighter .." She'd mutter.