On a satellite, drifting between stars:A soft, gentle breeze blows through the beach, ruffling your hair as you meditate in silence. You breath in and out, slowly, before lifting your gaze towards the bright blue sun that hangs in the air. Your eyes adjusting to the shimmering blue light to notice it’s dimming, flickering, dulling.
Just as you think this, the calm, tranquil beach reverts to a broad room, lined with wall-sized screens, each listing some important vital information.
And all of it is in the red.
A floating done appears in front of you, its chirpy voice calling out,
“Controller! The station’s Delta engine is sputtering. We have an approximate three solar hours before it goes out completely. Suggested emergency landing on a planet for emergency repairs.” “With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of nearby solar systems for you to peruse. Dilation effect activating.” It responds, before you even say a word, and you feel the constant ticking of time slow, almost cease as your mind goes into overdrive to contemplate where you’ll make planet fall.
Thirteen screens appear in front of you in a microsecond, listing several systems, their planets and their stars. After viewing the distance it would take and doing some math to determine how far you can travel in three hours, you narrow it down to four.
It takes longer to contemplate these, than it does the others.
[679]
Red Dwarf
Dim
[679,I]
A large rock planet.
Cold.
Lifeless.
No atmosphere.
Large single moon.[679,I:I]
[679,II]
A medium-sized planet.
Volcanic but stable.
No atmosphere.
Five(5) moons, each smaller than the last.
Difficulty with scanning Moons.
Life and atmosphere signatures detected on [679,II; III]
[681]
Red Dwarf
Dim
[681,I]
Large Planet.
Ferrous/Silicate.
Dense atmosphere.
59% Water.
1% Ice.
Warm.
Volcanic.
No detection of Civilization.
[681,II]
Ringed, rocky, medium-sized planet.
No atmosphere.
[681,III]
Trace Atmosphere
Crater containing the wreckage of a ship.
Cold.
[681, IV]
Rocky, small planet.
Cold.
[677]
Yellow main sequence.
Bright.
[677.5]
Red Dwarf.
Dim
[677, I]
Small Planet.
Thin Atmosphere.
24% Water.
7% Ice.
Silicate
STL exploration detected.
FTL traffic.
[677,II]
Asteroid Belt
High Ferrous, Hydrogen, Aurum and Cuprum content.
[678]
Orange Main Sequence.
Dim.
[678, I]
Large rocky planet.
Large moon.
Crater-marked.
Thin crust.
[Burislav]
Standard ocean world.
Standard breathable atmosphere.
Heavy FTL traffic.
Claimed by the Cro Empire.
74% Water.
23% Ice.
[678, III]
ERRORCODE_3342: ELECTROMAGNETIC STORM INTERRUPTING SCAN.
Now it's just a matter of picking where in the hell you'll crash.