Merkiaari Wars: 01 - Hard Duty by Mark E. Cooper

FTL project should have been abandoned. She was its victim, yet she believed the elders were wrong to cancel the project. What did the future hold for her people if not the stars? Where would everyone live? Would there be feuding among clans like before the Great Pact? Her hackles raised and a shudder ran through her.
    “You’re cold, Shima. Let us go now.”
    She did not want to stay here any longer. Child of Harmony awaited her. “Let us go.”
    * * *
     

5~Survey
     
    Aboard ASN Canada, inner asteroid belt, Shan system
    Captain Colgan stepped out of the lift onto Canada’s bridge and paused just inside watching his crew with pride. Months spent hiding in an asteroid field belonging to an alien species, and they were still as excited and as dedicated to the task as they had been on day one. He could feel their excitement and shared it. It was a heady feeling, knowing he was doing something important, and yes, momentous. The anticipation they had all felt upon emergence from foldspace had not gone away or even lessened. They were learning new things at every turn.
    Colgan was eager to be on with his day, but the dimmed lighting warned him that he had a few minutes yet before the watch changed and Canada’s day cycle began. He was early, something he normally avoided so as not to appear like a mother hen. If there was anything spacers liked less than a captain who didn’t trust them to do their jobs without supervision, he didn’t know what it was.
    A minute or so passed and slowly the lights came up full. Behind him the lift doors opened and day watch personnel filtered onto the bridge. Colgan smiled and nodded greetings as they murmured their good mornings. He had never been one to insist on formalities like saluting, certainly not on his own bridge, but some did have their place and good reasons behind them...
    “Captain on the bridge!” Lieutenant Ivanova announced precisely on time, informing everyone she had passed command authority to him.
    Like that one, Colgan thought wryly. “Carry on,” he said heading for the just vacated command station. Anya removed her helmet from the rack and Colgan replaced it with his. “Anything to report, Anya?” he asked as he took his seat.
    Ivanova grinned and rolled her eyes at the chuckles from the others as they handed over their stations to their opposite numbers of the day watch. “Well yes, Skipper, now that you mention it, there are a few small things.” She leaned over Colgan’s shoulder and with a few deft keystrokes displayed a summary on his number one monitor. “It’s all there, sir; nothing to report—no malfunctions or incidents shipside, but plenty about the Shan as usual.”
    Colgan smiled. There was always a raft of knew intelligence about the Shan every morning. In fact, so much data was flooding in that his crew couldn’t keep up. Over ninety five percent had to be archived for later study, but what else could they do? They needed an entire university of researchers to keep up with things. Instead, they had a couple of hundred eager sailors to help Canada’s small but perfectly formed science department. Most of the crew had little to do with the actual day to day survey work that was Canada’s mission, most were concerned with running and maintaining the ship’s systems.
    “Thanks, Anya, have a good rest.”
    “Thanks Skipper, but we thought we would head over to the rec-room for a few hours and watch the feed.”
    Colgan nodded. Shan watching had become something of a communal pastime amongst the crew. The big screens rarely showed anything else these days. The crew could access data about the aliens and their planets from any terminal on the ship of course, and the ones in the rec room were always busy with people doing that, but for generating a buzz there was nothing better than watching a live feed from the remotes. Colgan did it himself on occasion, but for entertainment, he preferred to study the Shan alone in his cabin. He would have