Planet XI - Flora & Fauna

On the bridge of the Nomad
Joint post with Omni, Jaxx, Kudzu, and Liltroll2

Dr. Blaire took his time with the scanning process...seeming to fixate on initial results before rescanning to confirm his findings. The news he shared with the rest of the crew was as follows:

"I've found what appears to be the evidence of life. There is subsurface tunneling and underground rivers/oceans near geothermal activity on either side of the equatorial region...in an area that would be considered the tropic regions. Unfortunately... I didn't detect specific life forms, but this is very promising indeed! I'd halfway written off finding even this much here."

The idea of an ice planet had Rita bored, and then Blaire said there was a subterrain biome and he had her interest. "Hmmm."

She started to run some scans with the new found information in mind and bit her lower lip. "Well hello, beautiful." She said quietly and smiled at the sight of the data that Dr. Blaire found. "Those geothermal pockets could contain fungus, algae. I am going to need to catalog all of it..."

Povel Vieregg leaned over his console, eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of the faint signal flickering on the screen. He tapped a few buttons, enhancing the feed as much as the ship's sensors would allow, but the signal remained frustratingly weak.

Povel straightened up and turned to Captain Yoshida, who was watching him intently. "Captain, I've picked up a faint pulse coming from somewhere else in the system," he began, his voice measured but tinged with concern. "It’s too weak to pinpoint exactly, but it's definitely there. This could mean a few things, but most of all, it means we may not be the only ones in this supposedly uncharted system."

Several possibilities ran through Yoshida’s mind before Vieregg started to list some of them aloud.

Povel glanced around at his fellow crew members, gauging their reactions. "It could be an old automated probe or even some natural phenomenon. But until we know for sure, we should assume we're not alone out here." He paused, letting the implications sink in.

Maddox glanced to Povel, “You should always think that. Best to assume that and get proven wrong than go in care free and never make it back.”

Yoshida responded, "Keep an eye on that signal for now in case it seems to be moving or becomes more clear. Maddox, be ready for anything… We can investigate the signal further later… with appropriate caution. but for the moment, let us continue our survey of this world."

With a nod, Maddox gave a smile to the captain. “You got it, Captain. I’m ready for whatever may come from this world.” His easy smile reached his eyes. His confidence unwavering, but every soldier knew getting cocky led to their downfall.

Maddox wasn’t a scientist, not in the slightest. Ideas of what may exist on the frozen ice block of a planet didn't interest him. His only job was to make sure that they all made it back to the ship. Their lives were in his hands, he was security here and they had no idea what could exist here. His mind was on high alert so as to keep his comrades breathing.

He saw how excited the science nerds were about this and shook his head. “You’re both better off staying behind me.” It wasn't commanding, more like advice to keep their lives safe, even if things seemed to be exciting, it could quickly unravel to something terrible.

After listening to the others, Adama thought about where the ship should land to take drilling samples of the ice/water/soil. He replied, "Well it looks like the area around the southwestern zone near the tropics or subtropics is the best potential for finding resources. These conditions match a lot of successful conditions from past data. From there, the other scientists can decide if there is any flora or fauna nearby and if they need to move the ship or ATVs further away."

Then Dr. Adama sipped his coffee again.

With a smile, Dr. Blaire grabbed his P-DAT and muttered the word 'Excellent'. Then he said, "Excuse me...I'll be back in a few minutes," before stepping away toward the bunk area.

The pressure to find something worthwhile followed by all the excitement had left him feeling a bit stressed. He felt a need for a few minutes alone with his thoughts.

Rita did a double-take as Blaire stepped away, but then turned back to her work. She continued to look over the readings while Adama's words sank in.

"Excellent. I will start working on a list of flora to collect. Where there is flora there is usually fauna..." She trailed off as she continued her scans.