5028

Maroona System: Tanahen

Galactic Date 00:08:479 5028

Rings of golden light flashed from Maroona, the whitish-yellow star that homed Tanahen. The past seven days had been quiet, relatively. At Rex's suggested, I focused on resting my body over the course of the week. With Koratha having such a large head start, it would be hard for us to tell what state the planet was going to be in. We all knew we'd have to be at our best. Thankfully, with the repairs done to the Sparrow, she was running better than ever. We could relax with the extra time not spent on upkeep. However, with the long journey to Maroona came a sense of ease mixed with an undeniable air of caution. The longer we had to wait, the more our minds raced on about the state the planet would be in.

I stood on watch as our officer on deck at the time we finally arrived in the system. The lights were low, and there was a soft hum and whir in the air, mixed with barely audible blips from the computers. With every shift of the engines, every movement of people through doors in the halls behind us, extra little touches of noise would pierce the blend. With just Gatha, Lux, and me on watch, there was a silence between us as we all focused.

My fingers tapped at the railing as I leaned over it, my brow furrowed as I peered out, scanning every inch of space in front of the ship. A dim orange dot sat far ahead of us. Tanahen. So far, I couldn't make out a blockade of any sort, but we still had time before we could really see what we were dealing with. I sighed as I continued to tap away at the railing until a sound broke the silence between us.

"Ortell." Gatha said, barely above a whisper. I looked up from where I stood to see her holding out a holopad to me. I took it without a word, the two of us nodding in silence to each other as I moved over it line by line. Looked to be scan results for the planet. Natasha must have set the ship to automatically put it out when we got close enough. My finger slid down the lines as I skimmed through it, the blue light of its pages almost blinding in the dimness of the main cabin. One particular note caught my eye. As I looked it over, though, more footsteps moved in from down the hall.

Through the entrance to the helm, the rest of the crew poured in, having gotten word that we'd arrived in the system. I looked up from the pad to see Olivia pass through the opening last. As she approached, her eyes met mine.

"William. What's our status?" She asked. I handed her the holopad, turning once more to Tanahen in the distance. Her eyes darted down to the pad, then back to me as I responded.

"Minimal Soulless presence around the planet as far as our sensors were able to pick up." I said, "However, a large amount seemed to be grouped near a set of mountains along the Fushanin Ranges."

"Perhaps," Tara began, "they didn't want to draw too much suspicion. A large force guarding the planet could draw the attention of the Federation." Arneli tapped at her chin.

"That's a possibility. It's also possible that they just gathered all their forces there for defense. The Commander knew we were following her, after all." She said.

"All we know is that they are likely more prepared for us than we know. Whatever we do, we should do with caution." Olivia said, her arms tucked behind her back. Since our near brush with death on our way here, she'd seemed like an almost completely different person. There was a sense of confidence in her I had yet to have seen. She looked back up at me. "Was there anything else?" I nodded, gesturing for the holopad. She handed it over to me.

"At the end here. We're picking up a distress signal near to the location the Soulless were inhabiting." Her brow furrowed.

"I'm... unfamiliar with the language." She said. Rex stepped forward, peering over her shoulder.