Chapter 4- Orders and Departures_Endless Expanse Online

Promptly at 0800, John woke up, his computer was beeping with his orders.

 From: Imperial Fleet Command

 To: Commander of Riptide

 The following systems need to be re-surveyed for any celestial bodies (i.e. Astroids, Meteor Storms, Energy Storms) that have changed since the last survey 10+ years ago.

 Abraxxus System

 Caldear System

 Beyond these systems are 12 star systems that need to be surveyed, this should take the better part of 6 months to do properly. The coordinates are included with your orders, if you detect any ships from the core of the galaxy or any energy signatures that match archived files you are to immediately withdraw and notify Fleet Command.

 Abraxxus System

 Red Sun, 6 Planets (2 Gas Giants), 16 moons, 8 notable Asteroids and Comets throughout the system

 Further Notes:Both Gas Giants have an abundance of Helium 3 deposits, 2 Inner planets have vast deposits of Iron, Nickel, and minor amounts of Titanium

 Caldear System

 Yellow Sun, 7 Planets (1 Gas Giant), 20 moons, 6 notable Asteroids and Comets throughout the system

 Further Notes:Caldear 3 has a primitive tribal herbivore species, long-term study is possible from Moon orbit; Helium 3 deposits noted in the Gas Giant and 4 of the moons in system

 Recommended that an observation post is placed in the system to make sure no-one interferes with the natural evolution of the species

 Below that were a dozen coordinates in space. He presumed that these were 12 systems Command wanted him to explore.

 Cool, they could see ancient civilization in a primitive form John thought. When he had originally played this game he had never explored beyond being able to find back doors into systems he was working in. He never had time to look at places like this. Time for a shower and food. Then head to the bridge to make sure everything was running smoothly, then head out. The transit time between theIonian Systemand theAbraxxus Systemwas 18 hours. During that time he would make sure the veteran crew members were training the fish up on stations and their duties. They should only be inAbraxxusabout 12 hours and then 24 hours to theCaldear System. The second transit he would run battle drills and target practice for the Point Defense Crews when they actually got toCaldear.

 He needed to brush up on procedures for entering unexplored systems. If it had been him on his old freighter, he would just drop in deep in the system but he had over 100 people depending on him. He would do that during the time atCaldear.

 As he entered the Officers Mess, most conversation quieted down, "At ease people. We got a long day ahead of us. Eat your fill and get to work or sleep. We will be leaving on time at 10:00. Lieutenant Commander Stein, can you make sure everyone is accounted for by 09:30. If we are missing anyone, please let me know so we can track them down. Lieutenant O''Hansen the coordinates for our tour will be waiting at your station so you can start planning out our path. Chief Letts, can you make sure your babies are up and running and not causing us problems?" The room chuckled at his last comment, but the Chief nodded his affirmation. With that John headed off to get his own food, it really would be a long day and he needed to eat before he hit the ground running.

 30 minutes later he walked onto the bridge, every station was manned. It didn''t look anything like yesterday, everything was cleaned up and ready to be used. His station was lit up and beeping for his attention. Whatever needed his attention could wait, he walked slowly around the bridge talking to the various bridge officers and checking their stations to make sure everything was running smoothly.

 Time to see what his station needed. He sat down and his screen lit up with Information...

 Ship status:

 Shields-Down

 Engines-Standby Mode

 Warp Drive-Standby Mode

 Missile Tubes-Unarmed/Unloaded

 Pulse Cannons-Powered Down

 Point Defense Cannons-Standby Mode/50% Manned

 Fusion Generators-Online/15% Capacity

 He swept the ship status icon away and it minimized itself so he could bring it back up at a moment''s notice. He was sure any damage reports would come from that window too. A burst message from his XO stated that all supplies, equipment, and crew were aboard. The Marines were assisting in stowing what still needed to be put away. The Chief said his babies were up and running and whenever he needed them at 100%, they just awaited his call. He had dozens of messages waiting for him to read through ''Jeeves, set an alarm for 0945 so we can get going''. With that, he started reading through reports from the various department heads High Commands congratulations about getting a command...blah, blah, blah

 As 09:45 rolled around station alerts started rolling in as departments acknowledged their readiness at being ready. He hit the comm "Chief Letts, I can see your babies are running well, how are their legs??"

 The Chief came back immediately "Ready to run whenever you need them, Sir."

 John smiled "Good, thanks Chief. Comms, signalBlack Horse StationControl and get clearance for us to leave. Lieutenant O''Hansen standby on thrusters and engines. All hands all stations standby for departure."

 Five minutes later we were cleared to leave for control and all stations signaled as manned and ready. "Lieutenant O''Hansen, take us out. 25% thrust on the engines until we are clear of the station traffic. Once we are 15 light minutes out go to full thrust until we hit the edge of the system. Then engage the Warp drive and get us on the road for Abraxxus. XO, as soon as everything is settled down we need to set up a training regime."

 Lieutenant O''Hansen responded, "Sir, we will reach the system''s edge in 30 minutes, then about 18 hours to Abraxxus at cruising speed. Once we get there we can top off our Helium 3 tanks, take a look around to see if any pirates set up and then be on our way again. Any other orders Sir?"If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

 John shook his head "Steady on Lieutenant, steady on." John brought up the ship status page again.

 Ship status:

 Shields-Active 10%

 Engines-Active 25%

 Warp Drive-Standby Mode

 Missile Tubes-Unarmed/Unloaded

 Pulse Cannons-Standby Mode

 Point Defense Cannons-Standby Mode/100% Manned

 Fusion Generators-Online/50% Capacity

 Everything was running well, minimum shields incase of micro meteors or surprise attacks, energy drain was at 50% until engines went to full power.

 The XO walked onto the bridge and John flagged her down and talked to her about what he wanted to do as far as training up the new people. About having the vets train up the fish on their stations and duties during the travel between Ionian System and theAbraxxus Systemand the combat training betweenAbraxxusandCaldear. She actually smiled at his ideas, and her face no longer looked like she ate a pile of shit...cool. "We can definitely work with that, it will give the green crew members time to get used to their stations and duties. The Marines can do mock boarding and repelling actions as well."

 He nodded "Agreed, but only mock actions inAbraxxusandCaldear. Once we reach the unexplored systems we can face to many unknown threats." was his response. "Now XO, finish what you have too then get some rack time. You will be relieving me in eight hours." She nodded her head saluted and left.

 ''Kate, once we reachCaldearsystem start a twenty-four-hour clock and call three General Alarm calls during that period of time. Our crew needs to be tested. Chart out their reaction times so we know what the crew needs to work on.'' John called to the ship''s AI.

 ''Yes Sir, anything else?'' was her response.

 ''Yes, can you find any reports or deep space scans on the systems we have been tasked with exploring?'' John asked.

 ''Absolutely, but until we get toAbraxxusI can only pull what has been archived within our data core. Once we get there, I can link up again and query the Imperial data net.'' she said

 ''Understood Kate, thank you.'' John responded.

 TheRiptidestarted slowing down "This is Lieutenant O''Hansen, all hands secure your stations we are about to transition to warp. I repeat we are about to transition to warp." with that Lieutenant O''Hansen turned to John "On your command Sir."

 John looked around at all the officers on the bridge before looking at Lieutenant O''Hansen "Take us tooAbraxxusLt. O''Hansen." with that he turned around and his hands flew over the console. John could feel the Pulse engines thrum with energy as the Warp drive spun up and then it felt like he was getting stretched paper-thin between two points as they transitioned between normal space and sub-space. In three-D the transition was bad, in FVIR it sucked...

 Time to check his character sheet

 Note*Know this, because you are a Legacy, your stats and some skills and abilities will be changed, available, or different

 Name: John Port

 Primary Class: Explorer

 Path: Command

 Sub-Class: Starship Lover/Ship Master

 Level: 1 (500/1000)

 Constitution: 20

 This stat determines how much health you have and helps determine your stamina (50 health per point in Const for the first 50 points invested, then 25 after)

 Strength: 25

 This stat determines how much physical damage you deal, how much you can carry, and helps determine your stamina

 Intelligence: 30

 This stat will assist you with various skills and abilities, your ability to develop new technology, and how to apply technologies to various tasks

 Dexterity: 25

 This stat will determine your movement speed, assist in aiming long-range weaponry

 Agility: 25

 Skills that are based on hand movements are enhanced by this stat, various other skills will also be enhanced by this

 Health: 1000

 Stamina: 550

 Skills:

 Mantle of Command (Captain)

 Increases your subordinates stats and abilities by 5%

 Ship actions (maneuvers, fuel efficiencies, defenses, weapons) are increased by 5%

 Driven

 You increase your subordinates ability to absorb trained skills/abilities by 10%

 Potential

 Your subordinates have a 5% chance to unlock hidden skills or abilities under your command

 Explorers Instincts

 You will instinctively know which systems have potential (resource-wise, habitable planets, and possible indigenous species)

 Abilities

 Sure Shots

 Increases the accuracy (Ship-based and Hand Weapons) by 10% for 30 seconds (Cooldown 5 Minutes)

 Crew Proficiency

 Increases your subordinates Skills and Abilities by 10% for 1 minute (Cooldown 10 Minutes), during ship combat they will also respond to your commands at an increased rate

 Gut Shot

 The closer your target is (Ship-based targets and First Person combat), the more damage your target will receive (Cooldown 5 Minutes)

 Time would tell if those skills and abilities would be useful or not.

AliNovel

Chapter 4- Orders and Departures