[snip]

The woman nodded rising looking more at ease on this point, going over to the display screen a series of small windows popped up for further examination. “..Right! So as Commodore Samson said, “I am one of Starfleet’s consultants to civilian sector companies that fill contracts that Starfleet provides for building and such efforts. In this case my uncle is a controlling partner in the Far Horizon’s mining corporation. They have several bases in Sol harvesting different veins of ore. But since Earth wants to expand our influence, they have been expanding themselves using unmanned survey probes for viable systems near to Sol we could claim. About 2 weeks ago we got a promising ping back from Probe-9.” She said expanding one of the windows, which showed a star system with a red colored M-class star, with two planets in its orbit. Only one was identified as being M-Class habitable. “..This is the Wolf-359 star system. Its about just under 7 light years from Sol. No known claims we know of, nor by anyone from the Vulcans, who noted that while the system does have a mineral rich inner planet, and the second planet is Class-M neither was ‘logically viable for anyone to claim’ given their distance from any other trade routes currently. Well Earth plans to claim this system and hopefully setup a mining operation there!” She said.

Adjusting the pictures and scan results she zoomed in on the first planet, “..Planet 1 here on initial survey scans shows several metals near or deeper on the surface, while the quality is perhaps not quite as high as we would like we’re hoping that is more due to Probe-9’s limited scanners then any true result. There is no atmosphere either, so any posts will need suitable habitat structures setup..” She said, then switched to the second planet, “..Planet 2 here on scans is as I said Class-M slightly higher oxygen content then Earth but nothing too troubling. Gravity is about a percent or so lighter then Earth as well. 60% of the planet is landmass and the rest fresh or salt water lakes or oceans. Mixed environmental fauna, a lot like Earth’s northern hemisphere with forests and such, from scans it seems most preferred mining sites are in the three major mountain ranges on the main continent..” She said highlighting this in order. “..Animal life is mostly mixed, nothing too dangerous from what we saw on visual scans, but indications aren’t clear on that so be prepared..” she said.

At this point, Marceau’s attention had drifted up from the PaDD and back to Beems as the explanation of the mission continued. “Sounds interesting. I’m sure we can get better scans once we are closer.”

Samson by this point took over, “..Wolf 359 would be one of Earth’s first efforts in recent years to lay claim to such prime territory near Sol. Your orders will be as follows, 1) Get there and verify the system findings of Probe-9, as well as the planet’s and their potential mineral composites, 2) Land on Planet 2 and setup claim buoys not only in orbit but ground side, so folks passing by will know who owns this strip of land, 3) Ground side we want you to cataloged anything viable, animals, plants, water, air, etc. Especially look for ideal mining posts and colony sites near the three highlighted survey markers, 4) Once you’re done deploy system drones to setup a watch till we can get a larger mining presence setup by our contractors at Far Horizons. Questions so far?” Samson asked.

GM CockRoach

No questions sprang to mind, then again, Marceau was still a bit in shock by the news in the first place. “It seems straightforward. I have until 1100 hours to come up with questions?” He asked, looking between Samson and Beems. He’d been in deep space before, or what Starfleet at the time considered such, on another ship, so at least it wouldn’t be his first time out of the Sol system, but it was still… nerve wracking.

~ Captain Renault

”..Correct, Captain. Any questions you got please communicate them by 1100 hours tomorrow morning. Get your staff briefed by 1230 hours if no issues or questions arise, and then you’ll be departing by 1400 hours in the afternoon..” Samson said.

GM CockRoach